Showtex Supplies Waterproof Drapes with Integrated Water Resistant LEDS For Take That Progress Live Tour

May 27th marked the kickoff of Take That's European Progress Live Tour 2011. Just over 54.000 people attended the opening concert at Sunderland's Stadium.

This highly anticipated tour is the first time the band is back on the road as a five-piece since 1995. The show celebrates the group's biggest hits, sees Robbie Williams perform the best songs from his solo career, and incorporates an elaborate stage and set design.

ShowTex Belgium was brought in to supply customized and printed fabrics. The prints are based on the cover design of Take That's last two albums, Progress and Progressed -- a reference to the evolution of men... and the band.

ShowTex produced five panels, measuring 33' high and 19.5' wide each. The panels were built up in different layers of ShowTex's Bannerdrape fabrics. Each panel holds two layers of Bannerdrape Silver and one layer of Bannerdrape Print. Bannerdrapes were specifically designed for outdoor use and are therefore perfectly suitable for this production. ShowTex also manufactured Molton CS Black curtains cascading behind the panels to black out the set behind it. In all, 1200 sq. m. of flame -retardant and waterproof fabrics were produced for the Progress tour.

The prints were realized in cooperation with ShowTex Middle East (ME). Next, ShowTex Belgium integrated no fewer than 1,712 water-resistant ShowLED Classic LEDs into the print outlines. The result was integrated in the overall lighting program of the show and operated through ShowLED Classic Controllers.

For the hit song "The Flood," the set transforms into a gigantic dam on the verge of breaking through. This is the point where acrobats come down a huge wall of water while the band is performing at the highest level of the stage. Next, Robbie Williams throws himself off the top to the floor via suspension cables. At the finale of the song, the tailor-made ShowTex curtains are released simultaneously by means of a kabuki drop unveiling a fully operational 65.5' mechanical man as the stage centerpiece. All 36 concerts of the Progress Live Tour were sold out in record time for a total of 1,75 million tickets.