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Review 03

DESIGNER / WILLO PERRON

DRAKE'S AUBREY & THE THREE AMIGOS TOUR

Ever since Kanye's 2016 Saint Pablo tour in collaboration with set design Es Devlin, the rules of what constitutes a stage were rewritten. 

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It is clear to see how Drake has taken inspiration in the transformation of performative space. This is witness in the utilisation of two hundred drones, a digital LED floor and a flying yellow Ferrari.

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The digital LED screen was installed on the floor of the stage that projected videos throughout the set, from a 3D scorpion in a box (a reference to Drake's album Scorpion) to a projection of a plane of ice, which used motion sensors to crack when stepped on. To create this reactive content Drake wore a small motion detector which tracked his movements and fed them back to motion sensors installed on stage.

 

In relation to Kanye's concert, Drake's stage design took inspiration from the use of giving the wider audience a better view. Kanye's 'stage' saw him hover and float throughout the venue enabling everyone to experience front row viewing. In Drakes's concert the audience was positioned on all four sides of the stage, rather than a traditional end-stage layout. This construction of space enables the audience to have a more immersive experience, Perron notes "the show is super democratic ... if you sit in the seats, you'll have a great visual thing, and if you're on the floor, you'll have a great connection".

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A challenge Perron faced was enabling a 3D digital rendering of a scorpion to be seen from every position around the stage: "typically, when you do 3D effects, you can only view them from one vantage point, which is directly in front ... the challenge was to see how we could achieve the 3D effect for all four vantage points". 

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Perron overcame this obstacle by rotating the image across different vantage points to give the illusion of three-dimensionality.

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Arguably one of the most impressive visuals was the foam replica of a Ferrari which floated above the stage. In order to create the floating/flying effect, the foam Ferrari shell was filled with a giant helium balloon and supported by a fleet of tiny drones that were controlled by off-stage engineers. The propellers of the drone spin so fast the human eye can not register them.

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The innovation of space and technology which is seeping into tour production, continues to break the boundaries of set design, in turn evolving and pursuing new advances.

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Therefor the futuristic stage design of Aubrey and the Three Amigos Tour is 100% ...

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© 2019 by ASD.

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