PRG Lights Teddy Swims' Tour with New GroundControl Multi

	Teddy Swims' I've Tried Everything But Therapy Tour

Having amassed over 8.7 billion streams globally, Teddy Swims is out on the 2025 UK and European leg of the I've Tried Everything But Therapy Tour. The singer's team chose PRG to provide lighting, automation, and video, this time upgrading to the company's latest followspot product -- the GroundControl Multi.

The GroundControl Multi system can control up to 16 lights through a single GroundControl controller, and up to 99 in total, using the GC Multi Server media node to take any light within the rig and control it as a followspot. This eliminates the need for in-house spots at different venues, ensuring a clean and consistent key light in every space. The system integrates into an existing show network and only requires four points directly from the console for calibration, reducing setup time and the need for complex tracking equipment.

The lighting, including the GroundControl system, was designed and specified by Louis Oliver, with Dylan Shaleen on the road as lighting director. "The GroundControl has been amazing," Shaleen says. "It allows us to take any light in our rig and use it to follow our artist, which gives us the versatility to be really creative and not have to rely on in-house spots or other inconsistencies."

As this was a new product from PRG and the design included a challenging multi-level set with only sidelight and backlight used to follow the artist, the team was in regular contact with PRG's chief innovation officer, Chris Conti, who designed the system.

"The support has been great," adds Shaleen. "We would come to PRG with some feedback and some changes that we needed, and almost within half an hour, they had a software update for us."

The stage designer features soft rounded edges to represent Swims' teddy-bear persona, designed by creatives Chris Jablonski and Amber Rimell, of Tawbox. The set was supplied by Tait, with plenty of hidden surprises, including major pyro and Swims' actual tattoos painted across the set.

The lighting package included ROBE Spikies, Ayrton Huracans, and Ayrton Perseo Profiles, controlled by a grandMA3 Lite console. The main flown truss was hidden by a lightbox, adding softness to each look.

Video also played a big part in the storytelling with a large upstage screen of ROE Visual CB5 panels and a secondary oval-shaped screen as the centre piece, all controlled by Disguise VX4 media server with Brompton Technology Tessera SX40 processing and Lightware Matrix switcher.

The tour covered some of the biggest venues the Swims team had encountered in the UK, including two nights at Wembley Arena and CoOp-Live in Manchester, which meant consistency was key to nail the same bold looks with all the moving parts every night. "PRG gave us the consistency for every show," continues Shaleen, "We had the gear that's long-lasting and gave us the best show we could possibly have."

Before heading out for the opening night, the team spent time in THE BRIDGE, PRG's in-house rehearsal space in the UK, to test-build the ambitious design.

Taking care of business from PRG UK's side was account manager Gemma Jaques, who has been at PRG for six years. "We've loved having Teddy Swims and his fantastic crew back this year," she says. "Taking on a new system can be challenging, but they took everything in their stride, put their trust in us, and gave fantastic feedback to continue improving our GroundControl System. They've been an absolute pleasure to work with, and the show looks amazing. We're so excited to see what they do next!"