PixelFLEX LED Curtain Reaches New Heights Thanks to Custom Hardware on Casting Crowns' Thrive Tour

When a music artist has big ideas for a tour, it's up to the guys behind the scenes to bring that vision to life. Casting Crowns' production manager, Carter Hassebroek, and lighting designer Chris Lighthall worked with Peter Streiff, an account manager at Elite Multimedia Productions, a PixelFLEX rental partner, to create the visuals necessary for the emotions related to the contemporary Christian act's Thrive tour.

The creation process for this project just happened to result in brand-new, custom rigging hardware for a personal record-breaking PixelFLEX LED wall.

"I don't think we had even started designing anything yet, but we were at a conference and there was a smaller PixelFLEX wall set up behind the guys and [Casting Crowns' lead singer] Mark turned around and said, 'Can we have this on our tour?'" Hassebroek says.

Using 20mm panels, the wall is six panels (24') wide by four panels (32') tall -- the tallest FLEXCurtain that has ever been used. Because of weight constraints, Streiff immediately began working with PixelFLEX, SetCo Inc., Griplock Systems, and Custom Sling to design new rigging hardware. It was designed to take pressure off the rigging bar joints in between each panel, and a safety feature has been added as well.

"When Carter told me what he wanted, I knew we needed to redesign the rigging," says Streiff. "It was a collective effort that resulted in a custom solution. PixelFLEX has really opened up a world of possibilities with this new rigging."

The FLEXCurtain was originally designed with the touring world in mind. Both lightweight and flexible, PixelFLEX LED Curtains are able to bend and shape around structures for a more creative display effect. FLEXCurtains weigh between 4.5lb to 19.9lb per sq. m -- 60% to 90% percent less than most other LED screens -- which provides substantial savings on transportation costs and space. With the latest improvement made by PixelFLEX, touring with their products is only getting easier.

"We are constantly looking for ways to improve upon our products to make them more tour and user friendly," says PixelFLEX's director of marketing, David Venus.

With touring contemporary Christian artists, the visual needs are unique in that they need to remain emotional and intimate while still bringing a certain entertainment value. Displaying lyrical content as well as IMAG were the biggest requests that assisted in accomplishing that need. By having a wall taller than it is wide, Lighthall was able to discover a new and creative way to present Casting Crowns' songs.

The bigger, the better wasn't the only benefit of bringing PixelFLEX out on the Thrive Tour. The FLEXCurtain takes up less space in a truck compared to products Casting Crowns' production has used in the past, and the price for the size of the wall made sense for the budget. The clarity of the product continued to impress as well.

"That 20mm curtain product to me looks more clear than other 20 mils I've seen before in person," Hassebroek says. "I'm looking at it from the side, from 30' away, and it's clear. I can see every single thing on it."

See PixelFLEX at PLASA Focus: Baltimore, May 8 - 9.