Country singer Scotty McCreery’s Cab in a Solo Tour is making its way through the U.S. with a versatile setlist that transitions between upbeat anthems and touching ballads, backed by three upstage LED screens driven by tvONE’s Green Hippo brand of Hippotizer Media Servers.
Landing at Boston’s new MGM Musical Hall at Fenway at the beginning of March, the North Carolina native’s production was ramped up as fans flocked to see McCreery. He performed hits from across his five albums, including new single and tour title namesake, Cab in a Solo – the first from forthcoming album Rise & Fall, out on May 10. Striking graphics, animations and imagery from McCreery’s music videos were displayed on the three portrait LED walls, which were made up of ROE Visual’s ultra-fine 8.33mm pixel pitch CB8 LED panels. The content was delivered by two Green Hippo Hippotizer Karst+ MK2 Media Servers sourced from 4Wall Entertainment, and controlled using a grandMA3 console.
Production Designer Drew Hornback of DH Production Designs created the concept for the 2024 tour in collaboration with McCreery and his production team. “This is the first time in a while that Scotty is carrying an LED wall on tour,” explains Hornback, who designed the set, lighting and video elements. “I chose Hippotizer Karst+ because it is quite the workhorse. Scotty and his band are playing many different types of venues this year, including festivals and varying-sized spaces, and I knew that this server could handle the amount of different content and output at each gig.
“Some festivals will only require a 16×9 output for a center LED wall, others will only use house side screens. Using the Karst+ system, I knew the team would be able to pull off each of these different setups. The smaller formfactor allows for it to fit nicely into the rack but also have the power you need to do these different shows.” Green Hippo designed the Karst+ MK2 to offer tour–proof hardware and a tour-ready, robust case, while packing in two 4K outputs and fast processing within its slim, single 2U chassis.
McCreery himself commented on the video elements for his tour: “Everything feels bigger this year. The music has always been there, but the new visuals are taking our show to the next level. I can tell that our audiences around the country are really enjoying the new production as well!”
Alec Takahashi served as Lighting and Video Programmer for the tour. “It’s my job to create visual story alongside the artist for the artist and the whole show focuses mainly on the LED walls with supporting production around it,” he explains. “I’ve always loved Hippotizer’s easy integration with a lighting console and I programmed everything through the grandMA2 – the workflow between Hippotizer and MA is fantastic.
“I’m very meticulous to blend lighting and video with purpose and intention and there were lots of moments where the video shined. I find Hippotizer to be very reliable, easy to use, and a powerful tool for driving media on any scale production.”
The Cab in a Solo Tour kicked off for 2024 in January and will visit San Diego, Port Charlotte FL, and more before breaking in April.
