We’ve worked with Roger Waters in the past, notably on his record-breaking Roger Waters The Wall world tour and his 2017 Us + Them tour of North America. That relationship meant that TAIT was a natural choice to build critical elements for his This Is Not A Drill tour. However, conversations stalled due to the pandemic, and the tour that was initially slated for 2020 didn’t get underway until mid-2022. The entire project was managed and delivered from our Lititz, PA location.
One of the most striking element of this spectacular show was the immense LED video wall, built in six levels with ladders and work platforms for technicians to easily service the wall and to provide extra structural support. Two technicians remained in the wall during the show to provide last-minute maintenance as required. The wall structure was built by our Lititz team and integrated with the LEDs panels.
Bricks In The Wall
Given the in-the-round configuration, the video wall consisted of one large wall with two smaller walls bisecting it to form a cross with the screens visible to everyone in the crowd. The real challenge was how to suspend such a vast system from the mother grid with limited places to hoist the massive screens. With the combined weight of the three video walls weighing around 45 tons, the largest being 432 m2, we overhauled jumbo hoists with modernized electronics and a many mechanical updates to improve performance. The hoists feature a single chain shared by two motors to ensure it could still be operated in the event of one of the motors failing. Our proprietary TAIT Navigator Automation Platform™️ monitored the positions of each hoist and gave continual feedback on their operating conditions.The video wall was the central element of the show and configuring it to be visible to the whole auditorium in-the-round was key to its success. With such a huge structure and so many other moving elements in the show operating within the same space, Navigator was essential to ensuring everything was perfectly synchronized and safe
The stage build itself was a mammoth undertaking with two giant runways intersecting the fully carpeted 52 x 39 ft stage, each with two hydraulic lifts at each end. The hydraulic lifts are electrically synchronized using Navigator to ensure they operated seamlessly together to prevent motion of the lift system if either one of the paired hydraulic lifts moves outside of the acceptable range of the other one to prevent structural damage
Center stage are four TAIT mod lifts that move up and down, allowing the drummer to be dropped below the stage clear of the video walls in their down position before being rotated on a turntable and re-emerging facing a different direction at several points throughout the show. Again, Navigator ensured pinpoint synchronization between the drum riser and the video wall as they ascended and descended, ensuring there was no danger to the drummer as he was raised and lowered above and below the stage. Beneath the seven-foot-tall elevated section in the main stage was a subdeck for the drummer and technicians to operate under the stage.
Lower the Hammer
Finally, we provided eight Kabuki roll drops, dotted around the stage and adorned with the familiar ‘crossed hammers’ motif from Roger Waters The Wall, which delivered a powerful visual statement, in stark contrast to the moving imagery on the video wall.
The tour comprised 43 dates in North America, opening in Pittsburgh on July 6th and continuing through the US and Canada, before rounding out the schedule with two dates in Mexico City on October 14th and 15th, 2022.
Thanks to our partners: Production Manager Chris Kansy, Stage Manager Jesse Thayer, Stage Manager Shawn Saucier, Head of Automation Doug Sager, Head Carpenter Niles Anderson, Tour Accountant Michael Zweck, and Photographer Brian Lima.
