Pushing Boundaries: Disguise Powers Glass Animals’ Immersive Psychedelic Tour

Electric, experimental, and psychedelic indie rock band Glass Animals wowed audiences across Europe, North America, and Australia for their 2024 ‘A Tour of Earth’. Playing in more than 40 arenas and amphitheaters in their largest tour yet, the band delivered fully live performances on a cosmic, visually-spectacular scale.

To coincide with the album release ‘I Love You So F***ing Much’, the band opted for live performances at every venue – eschewing tracks, timecodes, and clicks. This meant that the tour’s groundbreaking visuals needed to respond in real-time to the music and to the spontaneity of each performance, which posed a technical challenge.

Video designers FRAY Studio chose Disguise to power the spectacular, sci-fi-style visuals onto all 23 surfaces for each concert. Disguise, with more than 20 years’ experience behind the largest stadium shows on earth, provided the critical technology to handle the unique demands of each show.

The challenge

FRAY Studio needed technology that was powerful and reliable, as well as flexible in responding to real-time triggers during live performances.

Keeping 23 video surfaces running simultaneously required extensive power, with FRAY opting to mix real-time footage and pre-rendered animations. The team needed to find technology that could process high-resolution content, which could also handle real-time effects, such as Notch blocks and NVIDIA background removal.

As the band did not rely on clicks or backing tracks, each performance was live – meaning more unpredictability, immersion, and interaction with audiences. Without timecodes, the technical teams needed to ensure that all visual effects would synchronise with live music and could handle the spontaneity of each performance.

This also meant that they needed to find a solution that could pre-programme sequences and allow for last-minute changes and feedback, without disrupting existing workflows.

The Solution

Disguise technology, particularly the GX3 server, was vital for powering the tour’s spectacular, psychedelic, visuals. The go-to media server for touring artists, the GX3 guaranteed an immersive concert experience at every venue.

To sync the visuals without time codes, the team split pre-rendered content into shorter segments. These segments were then manually triggered by the operator at the relevant moment of the show.

Meanwhile, the GX3 allowed FRAY to use multiple features and other technologies without limiting creativity. This included integrating with TouchDesigner, running complex Notch effects, and using in-built features on Disguise’s Designer software, such as frame replacement.

Disguise also enabled the teams to fully rehearse the show and make instant changes without disruption, thanks to its easy-to-manage workflows, where the teams could pre-programme as much of the show as possible. The teams could also use Designer to visualise the entire stage setup and plan accordingly.

The Solution

Disguise technology, particularly the GX3 server, was vital for powering the tour’s spectacular, psychedelic, visuals. The go-to media server for touring artists, the GX3 guaranteed an immersive concert experience at every venue.

To sync the visuals without time codes, the team split pre-rendered content into shorter segments. These segments were then manually triggered by the operator at the relevant moment of the show.

Meanwhile, the GX3 allowed FRAY to use multiple features and other technologies without limiting creativity. This included integrating with TouchDesigner, running complex Notch effects, and using in-built features on Disguise’s Designer software, such as frame replacement.

Disguise also enabled the teams to fully rehearse the show and make instant changes without disruption, thanks to its easy-to-manage workflows, where the teams could pre-programme as much of the show as possible. The teams could also use Designer to visualise the entire stage setup and plan accordingly.