zactrack for Adele in Munich

A fully redundant zactrack PRO remote tracking system – covering the largest zactrack mesh field area mapped to date – was used to track essential key lighting for Adele’s acclaimed Adele in Munch residency shows, a series of 10 epic performances by the artist throughout August, staged in a specially built stadium venue designed by Florian Wieder, with an audience capacity of over 73,000.

Adele in Munich was the second concert residency by English singer Adele. Photo © Alex Waespi

zactrack was specified by lighting designer Cory FitzGerald (Silent House), who has been Adele’s LD since the 2022 Weekends with Adele residency in Las Vegas. The system was supplied by UK-based lighting rental company, Neg Earth Lights (NEL), together with all the event’s other lighting equipment, with zactrack tech’d on site by their technical solutions manager / chief systems engineer, Joao Magalhaes. 

The zactrack system comprised 25 active anchors used to track up to 25 x Robe iFORTE LTX moving lights which were positioned on several towers around the front-of-house area of the arena containing the banks of fixtures utilised for key lighting. The zactrack field comprised 14,000 square metres and ensured that high quality key lighting could remain on Adele and her three backing vocalists throughout the performances.

A cornerstone of the scenographic design by Stufish Entertainment Architects was a massive –  over 4000 square metre and Guinness Book of Records busting – LED video screen, shaped like an unrolling film reel, so with high levels of ambient light onstage, the artists needed to be gracefully and effectively keyed at all times.

Additionally, the shows started in daylight, proceeded through dusk, then ran into and concluded in darkness, and during those long evenings – many of which were radiating with late summer sunshine – up to 18 x iFORTE LTXs would be needed at times to balance Adele’s face juxtaposed to the big follow spot in the sky.

This dynamic elemental factor that required daily adjustment to get the precise light levels correct and looking perfect on camera and screen. “We needed a stable and accurate technology to ensure that Adele and the backing singers could be lit wherever they were in the vast performance space, and zactrack was the best available option,” stated Cory. 

The stage was equipped with a 220-metre-long, 4,159.7-square-metre curved LED video screen, costing 40 million euros, which enabled Adele to connect more intimately with her audience. Photo © Alex Waespi

Joao explained how each zactrack anchor provided a 35-meter radius of coverage and the 3D tracking space was created by the strategic positioning of anchors at various heights throughout the performance space to maintain accuracy of the algorithmic calculations. “A major challenge with automated and semi-automated follow-spot systems is measuring this tracking space,” said Joao, adding that zactrack’s proprietary tools and workflows “were essential” in making this process “smooth and efficient.” He highlights their utilisation of zactrack’s Terrain feature to recognise the different levels on stage, which was “invaluable in ensuring that the fixtures remained consistently aligned with the artist.”

Cory and Joao both noted that the wardrobe department did an excellent job of integrating the trackers – two per artist – into the various stage outfits. The positional data from the zactrack servers was integrated into the grandMA3 full size console giving lighting director / operator Nick van Nostrand full control of the zactracked lighting fixtures, while zactrack managed all the remote movement.

It was actually the first time that Cory had spec’d a zactrack system, and a great tribute to the brand’s reputation that he was confident to do this on such a high-profile series of shows delivered on an impressively large scale to the highest and most exacting production values. He and Joao began discussing the potential follow spotting scenarios some months in advance. From a wide range of remote follow systems offered by NEL, zactrack was picked as the most appropriate for this application.

For her 10 shows in Munich, Adele set the total attendance record at Munich Messe, attracting a crowd of more than 730,000. Photo © Alex Waespi

With the assistance of zactrack’s UK distributor Ambersphere, and sales director Philip Norfolk in particular, Joao and his team tested everything on a football field to ensure its capabilities over long distances. They further considered the major technical challenges like signal strength / reliability, tracking to DMX algorithms over huge distances and the general equipment reliability in an outdoor environment. Satisfied that both the tracking system and fixtures would remain “accurate, stable, and smooth during all of the movements,” they confirmed and specified zactrack for the event, elucidated Joao.

Cory, Nick, Joao and all on the creative, production and tech teams were delighted with the results of using this technology to such great effect as part of an ambitious and striking design concept. Joao comments on the excellent support and great collab from zactrack’s team, especially Luke Chikkala, Patrick Röling, Manuel Ewers, Christoph Rosenberg, Werner Petricek, Stephen Baird-Smith and Paul Roch “whose attention to detail was vital in helping ensure the success of delivering this fantastic show!” he concluded.

Adele in Munich was production directed by Paul English. 

The structures were built by STAGECO (black steel) and TAIT (automation and staging), the video content was produced by Treatment Studios, overseen by Matt Askem (also the IMAG camera director); Clair Global supplied audio, communications, radios and data services, sitewide production IT and Wi-Fi infrastructure. Creative production of the extensive ‘Adele World’ public area that was part of the overall 75,000 square metre stadium site was delivered by LarMac LIVE.