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Raquel R. Incertis Madrid
Madrid
Updated Thursday, January 25, 2024-15:38
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First it was
Rosalía
hesitantly chewing gum before performing her hit
Bizcochito , then
Beyoncé
's gigantic inflatable horse and the golden arch, like that of the mythical gates of paradise, from
Elton John
's farewell tour
.
This display was followed by the resurgence of Matty Healy, lead singer of
The 1975
, eating raw meat on stage in a kind of macabre
performance
.
And Coldplay
's galactic display
before their
Music of the Spheres Tour
audience .
And the different stagings, themed down to the smallest detail, of
Taylor Swift
's millionaire
Eras Tour
.
The list is long.
"The audience no longer comes just to hear music, that is no longer surprising. You have to give them a total show, enhancing the experience with special effects, lasers, choreography... and telling a story throughout the
show
that moves them," he explains. Manuel Tortajada, head of the music department at Fazeta Producciones.
Since 2018, he has directed projects for artists and designed shows for the musical tours of
Bad Gyal, Vetusta Morla, C.Tangana, Coque Malla or Alizzz
.
Rosalía took a playful approach on her
Motomami
world tour , performing her songs in front of a white background and in front of different
selfie cameras that revolved around her and her corps de ballet
and then projected her image on vertical rectangular screens in each venue where she performed. acted.
It was a simple concept, yet masterfully executed: recognize, invest in, and ultimately accept the reality of big stage productions in the digital age and the way it has changed the dialogue between artists and their fans.
In 2023, almost all festivals opted for verticality in the side production screens, joining this trend.
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"Rosalia's minimalist and vertical presentation was innovative, her scenography was a paradigm of a movement designed entirely for the mobile format. She addressed more to the camera, to the community that was on the other side of the smartphone
,
than to the public. assistant," explains Miguel Saucedo, CEO of Impulsa Eventos e Instalaciones, the company responsible for managing the WiZink Center in Madrid.
For Saucedo, the staging of concerts increasingly seeks to reflect
our current relationship with technology
.
The case of
Rauw Alejandro
also stands out , who offered a "very interesting in aesthetic terms" concert at WiZink a few months ago.
The scenic 'storytelling' and how you tell it through the cameras is totally related from the design
Miguel Tortajada, head of the music department at Fazeta Producciones
The trend, especially in the urban music scene, has been aimed in recent years at promoting
LED
displays in stage designs, according to Tortajada.
This implies giving
greater importance to visual content
and, especially, to exploiting camera production in a creative way.
"It is no longer enough to make a production 'let's see what you get', like in a soccer match or an unscripted show. Now stage
storytelling
and how you tell it with the cameras is totally related from the design," he points out.
In the case of Bad Gyal
's
La Joia
show
, which Fazeta Producciones designed and took on tour around the world in 2023, they had
a
16:9 horizontal
display
at the back of the stage for visuals and backgrounds along with
two side production screens. of vertical cameras, at 9:16
.
Essentially, set designers have to make sure that what fans point their phone's camera at looks good on screen.
It's what the industry calls the "
Instagram moment
";
Far from the perfectionism associated with the application, each element has to work even in the least favorable conditions.
Because we all know how complicated it is to record a video or take a photo while you dance to the rhythm of a great song or try to avoid the person in front of you who blocks your entire vision.
Tortajada says that, when working with large stages, he chooses to provide greater service to the public by "momentarily covering the main artist with a cameraman and disturbing those in the front row watching it live." What do they offer in exchange?
A spectacular sequence shot for the 15,000 attendees who see it on the screens.
"That vertical recording that a TikTok user can make by pointing at the side screen of the stage
produces the sensation of being in the front sectors
. In many videos that are uploaded on the networks, one is not able to determine if the person recording is really there. so close or not," says Itziar Oltra, marketing expert and creator of MIGA, a project to enhance the creativity of brands on the internet.
The live
shows
collect contemporary aesthetic and functional influences, adapting in form and substance to the particularities or audiovisual narratives that triumph on TikTok.
Why this radical change?
Nothing seems to be more valuable on TikTok than a viral
clip
from a concert, whether it's an interaction - spontaneous or forced - with the artist or a funny improvisation between songs.
A single video can accumulate millions of views and
likes
, generate a global trend or even
completely change someone's perception of the artist
in question due to what is being shared on networks about their tour.
In many videos, one is not able to determine whether the person recording is really in the front row or not.
Itziar Oltra, Marketing expert
"The artists and their teams are extremely aware that everyone has a cell phone in their hand and during the concert itself 'stellar' moments begin to go viral. This helps to greatly amplify the dissemination of the show, beyond the music. When developing stage proposals,
the creation of content is taken into account
: the objective is to ensure that the greatest number of videos are recorded with the best possible quality," says Oltra, something with which Saucedo agrees.
The exchange of likes for "exclusive" clips from a live show is, therefore, indicative of an evolution in concert culture itself, which prioritizes content creation over repertoire or choreography.
This forces musicians to invest extra efforts to make their shows a unique and memorable memory.
"The online content of
the tour announcements, the
lyric videos
and the
aftermovies
(compilation videos) of the concerts have been worked on from the recording and vertical assembly, since platforms such as TikTok or Spotify work in that format," says Tortajada.
The conversation between those on and in front of the stage is not only established during the live performance itself, but the bond comes from behind and is strengthened in various ways.
The common denominator is the channel: social networks.
Oltra maintains that, nowadays, simply announcing which artists are going to perform at a festival involves
entire communication and marketing campaigns
.
"If all the artists are going to be in all the top festivals
,
the key is how to differentiate themselves from the others."
During her
2023
Alpha Tour ,
Aitana
set
dress codes
following a chromatic pattern in each of the cities in which she performed: Madrid, purple, Málaga, green, Valencia, pink, Barcelona, white, and so on.
Her followers, of course, worked hard to meet her expectations to enter the ranking of best
looks
that the singer promised to share through
stories .
"The music fan phenomenon is very, very strong and very radical, even more so than in sports. It is more transversal, it is aimed at men and women and all age groups," says Saucedo.
Something similar, although improvised, happened with
Harry Styles'
Love on Tour
: those attending his concerts replicated the seventies aesthetic of his last album with striking hairstyles, boas and glitter suits, blending in with the concept proposed by the British artist. to turn the
show
into
an immersive experience
with all the letters.
According to Saucedo, unlike other areas in which digital is taking over other formats, in music it happens the other way around.
"You want to share every moment with the artist and the community, there is
a constant need to communicate the moment
, and the more spectacular the experience, the better. Hence the rise of live music," he concludes.