Pete's Big TVs Debut New LED Flex Screen on Styx/Yes Tour

The Styx/Yes 2011 summer tour is entertaining US audiences with their iconic hits. Embellishing those legendary sounds behind the bands is a wall of creative content displayed on a new high resolution LED video screen supplied by Pete's Big TVs.

"It is a nice lighting rig, but the LED screen is visually the whole show," said Pete's Big TVs' president, Peter Daniel.

The 22-city Progressive U.S. Tour features a 12.5' high by 48' wide LED screen made up of 230 Elation EPV15 flex LED panels. Daniel was instrumental in the manufacturing of the 15mm flex panels. Seeking higher resolution, he approached Elation about cutting the size of the 19mm flex panels to just under half a square meter. Thus, the EPV15 flex was born with 1,024 pixels. Pete's Big TVs has purchased 600 panels to add to its rental inventory.

"It was a smart purchase," Daniel said. "Everyone on the tour is happy with them."

Happy for many reasons, he added. The new technology of the EPV15 flex LED panels have a huge advantage over other LED panels. At 15lbs. each, compared to 105lbs. for an older brand of LED panels, the EVP15 flex panels are easier for stagehands to carry and assemble. This also enables a faster and safer load-in and load-out as these smaller-sized panels do not block other equipment. The panels also pack tighter in trucks, thus saving on space.

The flexibility of the panels allows them to be hung on a truss designed with curvatures, allowing the screen to go concave and convex. But they don't have to be flexed. This particular set design didn't call for that and so the panels lock in to hang straight. They're IP rated for outdoor use as well as indoors, and are high resolution for TV events along with the usual concerts and corporate shows.

Pete's Big TVs will again provide the screens for Styx's fall tour when they perform their "album shows" featuring 1977's Grand Illusion and 1978's Pieces of Eight in their entirety. Pete's will also provide the panels for Andrea Bocelli's Central Park concert in September and an upcoming BET show, Black Girls Rock.

The Styx lighting team includes lighting designer Jeff Ravitz, lighting director Libby Gray, programmer Stan Green and content creator Andy Clark. On the YES team are lighting directors Scott "Yogi" Badeau and content creator Steve Jones. LED/catalyst tech for both bands is Rob Villalobos.