Simon Hammerstein and Richard Kimmel of Outside the Box developed the initial creative concept for the show: A multi-act journey through a day in the life of Usher, tracked through a list of global hits spanning the artist’s 3-decade-long career.

“Loosely, we journey from a club to the city streets, back to the pad,” says Jeremy Lechterman, Lighting Designer. “In Act IV, we are transported to outer space, because, well, everyone loves outer space!”

“Most of the audience is probably focused on Usher himself, but the storyline here is taking us on a literal space journey to another party. What a fun idea!” says Sydney Asselin from FragmentNine.

To bring this vision to life, the team created a clean and modern stage design with 12 enormous 3D tracking ROE CB8 LED columns with custom smoked fascia that could be reconfigured throughout the show to create new environments for each song. Weighing in at 1200 lb. and standing 40 ft. tall, the columns independently travel in all directions and rotate 360 degrees.

To achieve an epic visual experience, LMG Touring utilized disguise GX2c media servers for real-time rendering that is responsive to its environment. This allowed the performers to interact seamlessly with the visuals, creating a captivating experience for the audience. Disguise rendering provides ultra-high resolutions and excellent frame rates as well as vivid color, clarity and complexity.

For uncompromised image quality, LMG Touring used Sony 4K YHD HDC4300L Studio Cameras to deliver an unparalleled live video production experience.

Lighting was also key in creating a high-energy experience for the show. LMG Touring provided grandMA3 full lighting consoles to control more than 500 moving lights to create an enriching visual experience for the audience. For this performance, the team pulled together a one-of-a-kind, massive lighting rig featuring Chroma Q Color Force IIs, ROBE Robin Mega Pointes, ROBE Robospots, Magicpanel-602, Impression X4 Bars, Martin VDO Sceptrons, Elation SixPar 200s, and many more. This combination along with the sheer volume of lighting on this show allows for fast re-focusing to produce a high-energy, dynamic experience.

While the Usher residency was delayed by a year due to the pandemic, the team had only a few months to design and execute the show – and for many crew members, this was their first live event since before the pandemic.

“We were contacted only about four months before opening day, so it was a truncated design process, an even shorter pre-pro process to nail down all the technical details, and then suddenly we were loading in,” says Jeremy. 

With time as the number one challenge leading up to opening day, LMG Touring was able to respond quickly to the evolving production with their extensive inventory of technology.

“Having LMG be present throughout the tech and creation process gave us the ability to endlessly try and swap out products and fixtures as the show naturally evolved with its design. Every day was a day of reinvention until we felt the show was right for opening night,” says Paul. “I couldn’t be more grateful for the willingness and ease to have LMG by our side as the show technically progressed towards our vision.”