PHOENIX – For Depeche Mode’s current “Global Spirit” tour, Sooner Routhier of SRae Productions noted how the visual design team makes use of two Hippotizer Boreal media servers to manage the show’s video playback. The tour, slated to travel to 32 cities in 21 countries, supports the venerable band’s latest album release, Spirit, with a production design by Anton Corbijn.
More details from Green Hippo (www.green-hippo.com):
Depeche Mode, formed in 1980, continues to astound with its epic live performances. The Global Spirit Tour sees the band crossing the globe in support of Spirit, its 14th studio album. During the European leg alone, the boys will play to 1.5 million fans in 32 cities in 21 countries. And at each venue a pair of Hippotizer Boreal Media Servers will provide the technology required to manage the show’s video playback.
SRae Productions, the full-service design and production company owned by Sooner Routhier and Robert Long, takes charge of the tour lighting direction for Anton Corbijn’s production design. Commenting on the Global Spirit Tour, Sooner described some of the duties she and her team demand of the Hippotizer gear: “For Depeche Mode, the Hippotizer is a playback machine. We used the system for IMAG effects on the rear wall. We also used the colour block system in some way, shape or form. We trace the screens to give them the look of being lined in modern, neon-esk lines. We also were able to use each LED tile as a lighting fixture, taking a bit of pressure off the content team.”
Key to the success of this world tour’s video & lighting show is Hippotizer, Green Hippo’s award-winning proprietary software, including its ZooKeeper user interface. ZooKeeper talks to ‘The Engine’ (the core of the Hippotizer system) and the latest version enables best-ever real-time control. Sooner is a ZooKeeper fan: “We love the new layout and its workflow,” she said. Evaluating the latest version of Hippotizer V4 with previous release, Sooner added: “It’s still similar to V3, but with a bit of added flare, new functions and features. The ViewPort controls are fantastic! And we were absolutely thrilled with the technical support. It was really easy to get someone on the phone, the instant we needed help with anything at all.”
The resulting show is a triumph for the band, SRae, and Hippotizer Media Servers. With a set-list bulging with hits from Depeche Mode’s extensive back catalogue, as well as new favourites from its critically acclaimed new album, Depeche Mode continue to show other bands how it’s done. As critic James Hall said in his Telegraph review of the London Stadium gig: “Depeche Mode managed something you don’t often experience at such large gigs: I could not see a single member of the crowd, from the front to the back of the enormous stadium floor to the very top of the place’s towering stands, without their arms aloft.”
Cory Froke, SuperTech at Green Hippo Media Technology, commented:
“SRae has really become one of the foremost driving forces in touring production design today. Sooner and Robert love to push the limits of technology with their designs, requiring every piece of the system to work in unison in order to give the show the cohesive, seamless relationship between lighting and video that they are so well known for. We, at Green Hippo couldn’t be more honored to be given the opportunity to support their designs, while also expanding the toolset. Hippotizer affords designers who are looking to push the limits.”
