XL Video is again providing full video production including projection, LED screens, media server control and full camera / PPU package to the critically acclaimed Arcade Fire Reflektor world tour, for which set and visuals have been carefully sculpted by Show Designer Richard Stembridge.
The band are well known for their penchant for the experimental, the off-beat and for embracing creative challenges. Stembridge worked on the last tour, The Suburbs in 2011 as Video Designer and has now taken on the role of show designer with great enthusiasm.
XL Videos Project Manager Phil Mercer comments, Its fantastic that Richie has stepped up to Show Designer. The show is real proof of his imagination, vision, talent and ability to think differently. As always we are really enjoying working with him, and its great to see show video encouraging a real engagement with the audience, rather than just blasting out generic looks and images.
With up to 12 people onstage at times, one of the briefs from the Canadian indie rock / art band was that the performance area was clean and sharp, and the visuals reflected the dancier and more carnivalesque direction of the album. The reflektor theme was prominent from the start and evolved from the initial low profile warm-up shows in the latter half of 2013.
Stembridge wanted an expedient but versatile lighting rig for the tour, and started thinking about how his set and video surfaces could be developed to also reflect light in the process becoming secondary lightsources. That all the video surfaces should be truly multi-purpose and look interesting and relevant even when no footage is playing is one of his trademarks, together with using the medium subtly, intelligently and judiciously throughout the set. Less is more!
He started investigating the possibilities of using a mirrored video screen at the back of the stage that would reflect light when not in use, and then jump to life as a screen when video was running.
During the warm-ups he hit on the solution for this, which was to cover XLs Pixled F-11 LED tiles which they are using on tour - with mirrored Mylar polyester film material. Its a simple idea that works fabulously!
A total of 120 x F-11 LED tiles are used to create two rectangular screens with mirrored fascias, and these are flown in an out throughout the show via a Kinesys automation system. They can go all the way out to the roof so they are completely invisible.
A total of nine Barco HDF W26K projectors are on the tour, three of which beam on to an impressive 60 foot wide by 30 foot tall video back-wall made from Frazzle, a metallic sheen fabric etched by half circle slits that track across the entire surface from Rose Brand. This is behind the mirrored screens, and both takes light and projects it beautifully.
The other six Barcos are used to feed the IMAG screens which are also integral to the overall stage aesthetics. Their intricate hexagonal lines are based on the Arcade Fire logo and made up from four individual interlinked mini-hexagons ... resembling a honeycomb!
This involves the side screens as part of the bigger design picture forming a harmonious bond with the stage, and as you would expect - he wanted something completely different from conventional rectangular IMAG screens!
Mapping each side as four individual hexagonal zones enables the creation of different and more exciting pictures and the possibility of using it as one large surface area, four separate ones or any other combination thereof, hence the need for three projectors per side.
The shows playback content is run from four Catalyst v4 media servers which are triggered from a Road Hog Full Boar console operated by Stembridge at FOH. He runs the Hog very much as a live console with multiple layers of video at his fingertips on the faders, all of which helps mould the organic visual picture as the set unfolds.
Alongside him on the riser is Chris Bushell, whom he asked on-board as Lighting Designer. The two have collaborated closely on evolving both elements of the show, together with Video Director Charles Woods who is directing the camera mix.
The camera package comprises five of XLs Sony HXC-100 operated and two Sony BRC H700 robo-cams.
The operated cameras are positioned two at FOH with long lenses, two in the pit on track-and-dolly and also pneumatic pedestals, specified to provide the dynamic range of movement that Stembridge wanted.
With so many people onstage, there is an entire upstage riser with musicians, and he wanted the cameras to be able to get high enough to get good clear shots of these areas.
The final operated camera is a hand-held onstage, and the two robo cams are clamped to the upstage riser to cover the percussion and keyboard areas.
Woods cuts the cameras backstage using a Blackmagic 2M/E Switcher.
He does a full live cut for the IMAG screens and also sends four auxiliary camera feeds to Stembridges Catalysts, so the latter can make use of these to do his own camera cut to the onstage screens.
At the FOH position, a hydraulic lift forms the B-Stage, and Stembridge can utilize the pit cameras on their pedestals to capture the action on that while Woods IMAG mix continues uninterrupted to the side screens.
The playback content is a classic fluid Stembridge mix of abstracted and slightly obtuse materials, designed in particular to work well when woven in with live cameras basically the complete antithesis of a music video!
Some of the content he made himself, some he commissioned out to various video artists he knows and one songs worth was produced by Moment Factory from Montreal. Approximately 35% of the show features playback content.
The tour started in February in the US and Latin America and now comes to Europe where Arcade Fire play a mix of their own shows and festival headliners including Glastonbury. In August, they return to
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
XL Video is again providing full video production including projection, LED screens, media server control and full camera / PPU package to the critically acclaimed Arcade Fire Reflektor world tour, for which set and visuals have been carefully sculpted by Show Designer Richard Stembridge.
