Pete's Big TVs Provide for Springsteen's Wrecking Ball World Tour

Pete's Big TVs of New Castle, Delaware, continues its long-running relationship with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band by providing video production/projection, equipment, and crew for his Wrecking Ball world tour. The US arena tour started March 18, hits Europe/UK this summer, and returns to North America in the fall. Pete's Big TVs will be with the tour all the way.

Pete's Big TVs is providing its new DigiLED MC7 high resolution LED panels to ensure everyone in the venue has a look at The Boss and the band. "For this tour, we will be lighter, brighter, tighter, quieter," said Pete's Big TVs president Peter Daniel. "The MC7 high resolution LED video panels are lighter in weight than what we used on Springsteen's past tours. Their resolution is higher at 7mm, which is perfect for broadcast quality. We're tighter as we've got custom designed tour cases made by Tait Towers for the panels. Each case fits six panels, so load in, set up and load out is faster."

"But the biggest news is that we're quieter because the MC7 panels emit no radio frequency interference. We didn't want the 'noise police' in Europe to shut down the show because of any radio frequency interference from our screens -- I heard about that happening to other shows last summer so I made sure, with these screens, that there was no way it would happen to this tour."

Daniel began working on the "no radio frequency interference" LED panels a year ago, once he found out that it was an issue in Europe, to prepare for Springsteen's tour this year. As a result, Pete's Big TVs is the exclusive North American distributor for the DigiLED screens for the next two years.

There are 384 MC7 panels comprising six screens: One huge screen dead center, two screens left and right, and three little screens upstage for the fans sitting behind the stage. Rigged in a shape like an upside down T, the panel configuration allows for video director Chris Hilson to achieve different camera looks.

"When Bruce has a guitar in hand, Chris shoots the wide screen, the bottom of the upside down T, and Bruce is nine feet tall on this screen. But when Bruce is off his guitar and with the mic or not playing, we go into the hero mode -- and in the center part of the screen, Bruce goes from nine feet tall to 18' tall."

For the stadium shows, Daniel said the look will be similar to the look of the summer 2009 stadium tour with some surprises. "That last summer stadium tour, we put him in Hero mode at 35 feet tall in Europe, and he loomed up to 50 feet tall at Giants Stadium. Bruce's team absolutely love it. It is so cool to see the image that large."

Hilson is basically directing three different shows on each night of this tour, Daniel said. "He's doing a show for the fans watching on the side screens - which is a different aspect ratio. Then for the people behind the stage, he's directing the images for them. Then he's doing the big dead center screen in the middle of the P.A. for the recording of a possible DVD, if one is done."

Pete's Big TVs video team includes award-winning video director Chris Hilson, video engineer Paul Whitfield, camera operators David "Legs" Driscoll, Kim Hampton, Mike Colucci, Will Farnham, and Matt Travis (son of production manager George Travis), with Rob Villalobos on robotic camera. Phil Summers is LED technician.

Pete's Big TVs has worked with Springsteen since 1999, Daniel said. "It's so comfortable to work with the management team of Jon Landau and Barbara Carr, production manager George Travis, and of course Bruce. Along with lighting designer Jeff Ravitz. It's a warm, inviting place to be."