Canadian hitmaker and award-winning R&B superstar Drake hit the road in Europe this summer with lighting, video and rigging supplied out of PRG’s UK base in Longbridge, Birmingham, working closely with USA counterparts, PRG North America, in an impressive intercontinental collaboration to ensure the artist’s production enjoys full continuity and technical integration wherever in the world the show is playing.

The European tour started immediately after the 2025 Wireless Festival, staged in London’s Finsbury Park, where Drake became the first artist to headline each night of the 3-day event, performing different setlists and with a selection of other artists across the three days, utilising a super-sized version of his touring lighting rig.

PRG UK also supplied lighting and rigging for Wireless, which was a seriously scaled up version of the original touring show concept.

The first and second legs of the tour had already taken North America and Australia by storm earlier in the year with lighting and video production supplied by PRG North America.


Creative Originality

The concept crafted by Matte Babel of two ‘bare’ stages connected into a 360 environment by elevated transparent acrylic walkways running around both sides of the arena – with the audience on all sides and in the middle – gives the artist maximum proximity to his fans, and started germinating last year.

Matte Babel, who joined Adel 'Future' Nur on the management team in 2017 and oversees Brand / Marketing / Creative, commented, “Working with an artist of Drake's calibre and stature is more collaborative in nature”.

He believes that the best ideas come from “understanding an artist, who they are and what they want to accomplish, so by default they are always providing an element of creative direction … and my role is to develop and facilitate this.” 

After 2024’s IAAB (It’s All a Blur) North American tour, a massive production with robots, dancers, lasers, flying props, and a three-story Virgil statue, Matte was keen to take things in the opposite direction, so he pitched the idea of stripping it all the way back to Drake.

“I was inspired by the simplicity of galleries that were minimal with a slightly raw and industrial feel. Spaces where lighting brings the art to life; and the people, their presence, energy, and reactions to the art create all the emotional stimulus needed for a show,” he commented.

The goal was to create something simple and different that people would remember. Something unexpected.


Starting with Lighting

Matte’s vision started with the lighting.

To keep the floor as clean as possible, all the kit had to be in the air, which meant an emphasis on lighting and audio, knowing there would be weight restrictions, with video approached differently and with some lateral thinking!

“I wanted a giant lighting rig that was different and interesting enough to keep people engaged.”

Around that time, he saw an installation by Japanese duo Nonotak – a collaborative installation and performance project founded by visual artist Noemi Schipfer and architect-musician Takami Nakamoto – who had built custom versions of a lighting fixture very similar to what Matte had in mind.

“Their work was stunning. I actually reached out to see if they would be interested in collaborating, because the manufacturer of the fixture I wanted to use kept insisting it couldn’t do what I envisioned!” he explained.

Nonotak were generous with their insights, but Matte was under serious time pressure, so he brought them on to consult, while Guy Pavelo, Drake's technical director, moved mountains to find a practical solution for making the kinetic lighting he had in mind work.

Matte also noted the substantial differences between creating a semi-permanent art installation for casual browsing where all the variables can be controlled, versus designing a fixture for Drake that has to be continuously evolving throughout a two-hour show.

“It was a stressful process – tour lighting design and concepting is really tough,” he admitted.

“You need something dynamic, but also durable enough to withstand the physical demands of touring – loading in and out of every city – while meeting the weight requirements of each venue and maintaining the visual coherence across changing atmospheres, vantage points, and the unpredictable glow of thousands of cell phones!”


Off To the Races!

As luck would have it, just as he was starting to think he might have to explore other directions, Guy, who has worked with Drake for 15 years, called and said that after extensive discussions with a manufacturer, he’d found a way of making spinning lighting bars happen!

“We were off to the races,” recalls Matte, delighted that his idea of 300 or more lights that all have to spin / reset and align within seconds, plus 16 automated trusses could actually be replicated on tour! “It was a pretty incredible feat!” he enthused.

With the lighting concept locked in, next on the agenda was finding a complementary stage to get Drake as close as possible to his fans, a phenomenon he’s always been adamant about.

“We've come up with some crazy ideas for doing this along the way,” elucidated Matte, “like in Australia when he ventured onto the floor with 4000 fans and only a handful of security guards. He really wants the most intimate and democratic experience possible, so everyone feels like they're a part of the show.” 

This is a big reason Drake has always preferred playing in-the-round rather than end on, and arenas as opposed to stadiums.

The full 360 design – basically an extension of what Drake needs as a performer – is an idea Matte has been playing with and imagining for a while, but says, “It has never really felt totally right until now, with the lighting trusses above, and the plexiglass floating floor all accentuating the notion of uninhibited space.”

The bottom line was keeping Drake visible from every angle while fans walked the floor freely under and around the raised walkways for different experiences and viewing points. “Like a giant free flowing party in the middle giving him the ability to have an up close and personal experience with fans around the entire arena.”

Theatrical Light Art

John Torres is a New York-based lighting designer working across multiple genres and primarily theatre, dance, and opera. The fundamentals that he has learned and experienced in the world of theatre and performance, are the basis for all his projects, whether it is live music, fashion, gallery exhibitions, etc.

“Theatre teaches you that there is poetry within light which is essential to help establish a narrative. Drakes’ music takes people on a journey, and we try to ensure that the lighting speaks to that.”

His own journey with Drake started in 2022, and for this tour, once Matte had conceived and developed the creative direction with the minimal architecture and kinetic lighting elements reinforcing the communication between artist and audience, John’s role was to interpret how the lighting rig should move and energise and relate to the setlist.

“Sometimes lighting is what sparks the initial creative conversation; other times, it’s layered in once the broader design framework has been established,” he stated.

As always, the role of lighting in any show is to assist in everyone feeling and enjoying the music and the experience, in this case leveraging the huge dynamics of the kinetic lighting rig.

It was an innovative and highly collaborative approach to building an art piece – as John describes it – the ultimate goal to provide fans with an immersive and genuine experience for maximum enjoyment of Drake’s stagecraft.

John underlined that the most satisfying element of the whole process was seeing the fans for the first time as the show unfolds: “It always brings the greatest, most electric and inspiring energy!”

Assisting John on lighting programming before the tour hit the road were Kelley Shih and Eric Christian, and his associate for the project was Danielle Elegy.

On The Road

Guy Pavelo is lighting director on the road, and he likes to keep busy, so in addition to making sure that John Torres’ lighting design is replicated as closely as possible on every continent, he is also the touring technical director.
Guy has worked with Drake’s team for the last 15 years, and for the “Some Special Songs for EU” (SSS4EU) leg of the tour, worked closely Matte Babel on the show design.

“Guy is a genius at putting together the entire system technically and liaising with all of our valuable partners both on and off the road,” explained John Torres, “We are working in lock step throughout the pre-production and on-site rehearsal periods, with Guy is supporting the creative vision from start to finish. His contribution is invaluable.”

Tech challenges

The design concept unlocks multiple classic positive psychological plays on light as cavernous venues bathed in light and movement were transformed for the performance, which recreates that intimate, intense and very subjective clubby atmosphere.

As a visual concept, this scenography is a perfect backdrop for Drake’s very individual style of performance delivery.

It was a bold move in terms of visuality, having the two stripped-back stages at each end of the room, with open space and maximum viewing angles where more conventional designs might normally have the comfort of stage and production infrastructure.

While refreshingly different and an ideal show playground for Drake, the idea presented some great challenges for production, one of which was keeping all the technical infrastructure extremely neat, tidy, and hidden from view.

Hanging below a large 180ft x 50 ft mothergrid comprising 6 x 80 ft spans, three wide and two deep, the lighting rig over the arena is hung on 16 x 70 ft long pre-rigged trusses, which were specially modified by PRG.

Each of these is fitted with 7 x 10 ft sections of spinning truss attached to Claypaky Panify 2 motorised platforms, which have also been customised by PRG’s workshop to be tourable.

The Spin of Lighting

Each of these 112 ‘spinners’ in turn is rigged with 2 lengths of Martin VDO Sceptron linear strips and 2 x GLP impression X5 Compact moving lights, giving 1180 fixtures on this kinetic and highly dynamic part of the rig.

The 16 x 70 ft trusses are each flown on 3 x TAIT 1-ton NAV hoists and move in and out of the arena space in a variety of configurations, sometimes so the lights are barely skimming heads, creating a hugely exciting and very dynamic environment.

Operating the TAIT Navigator system was Sydney Rush with cues worked out and developed between her, Guy, John and Matte, and Navigator programming initially handled by TAIT’s Doug Sager.

The ‘spinners’ are controlled together with all the lights via Guy’s grandMA3 console – and when they start doing their tricks – a whole new layer of automation is revealed to the delight of audiences!

The movement is a major defining hallmark of this show, and gives rise to all sorts of shapes, angles, and offsets, sometimes moving imperceptibly, and other times vary dramatically, all the time allowing Drake’s stagecraft to remain the centre of attention.

A Bit Flash!

Up in the mothergrid, 64 x JDC1 strobes were scattered around and, depending on the height and position of the 16 moving trusses, had very dramatically different looks and effects.

In addition to the above arena lighting are four audience trusses, one running along each side of the arena outside of the central grid area, two at 100 ft long and two at 70 ft, and these are rigged with a total of 68 x Ayrton Veloce moving lights, alternated on each truss with 13 x JDC1s.

The Veloces – a new investment by PRG UK – were in the perfect location for hitting positions all along the runways and on both stages.

Also in the mothergrid were two follow spots, with another two positioned on the long side audience trusses, plus another four in the audience bleacher seating – all of them run via PRG’s Ground Control remote follow spotting solution, with the operators tucked away backstage.

Bare Stages

The stages at either end of the arena directly mirrored each other. Both feature grilled surfaces with a sub-deck one metre below loaded with 62 x JDC1 strobes for some impressive flash-through effects!

The balance of the lighting was ensconced into the floor level of both stages, with a bank of 25 x JDC1 Bursts at the back, 22 x GLP Impression FR10 LED Bars in two lines – in front and to the rear – with 10 Astera Titan Tubes around the front lip of the stage. 

All of these lights are meticulously positioned in the design to retain the clean lines, raw and open appearance of the stage, again giving fans the best possible views of Drake, who utilises the entire set extensively throughout every show, playing directly to as much of the arena as possible.

This whole scenographic creation is geared to enabling him to achieve this.

Illuminating the runway – scalable in length according to the venue – are around 200 Astera Titan Tubes, which are clamped into custom brackets below the special decking, built by TAIT.

The Titans – chosen for practicality, robustness, and max neatness – are charged in their cases during the afternoon, then clamped into the custom brackets beneath the runway sections and run wirelessly for the show, all controlled by Guy’s grandMA3.

In Control

Two hundred universes of lighting data were running back to Guy’s grandMA3 full size console, on which he ran the show in Europe. He has been using grandMA3 since it was first available, so it was a natural first choice that enabled him to also seamlessly control the video feeds.

Guy has an eye constantly on the bigger picture, so it is essential to his role to have these major elements under his control.

Assisting in ramping up the clubby, intimate vibes are 8 x strategically positioned MDG theONE hazers and fans. Hazers and fog management on a big open plan arena show like this is an art in its own right.

Lighting equipment and a crew of 14 were being co-ordinated and overseen on the road by lighting crew chief, the unflappable Ronnie Bealfrom PRG North America, who was involved in some intensive pre-prepping for the various lighting elements at PRG UK’s Longbridge HQ before hitting the road in Europe.

He enjoyed the “fantastic support from the UK team,” which is project managed by Yvonne Donnelly and her team at PRG Longbridge in conjunction with Jon Morrell from the LA base of PRG North America.

Video Moments

Video was required to work slightly differently – but equally as importantly – as a visual medium in this design in a departure from the standard screen-on-stage scenario.

With Drake’s desire to be as close as possible to the audience, the six IMAG screens were designed and positioned to ensure exactly that – keep the sightlines clean while ensuring that everyone there enjoys a great view of the artist.

Weaving all the magic together live onscreen was award-winning camera director Colleen Wittenberg, who picked up the coveted 2024 Total Production (TPi) Award for Video Specialist of the Year. She is a freelance video director based in Nashville, Tennessee, who joined the production – via PRG – for Wireless and continued on the SSS4EU leg of the tour.

Her mix incorporated feeds from four operated Grass Valley LDX 135 cameras fitted with 99x zoom long lenses – sports event style – and positioned at the lower mezzanine levels on all four sides of the venue, plus an LDX 86c on a Steadicam rig fitted with a 24x zoom lens for extra depth.

In addition to these were four Panasonic PTZ 150 and two PTZ 130 robo cams. The 150s were set up in a zig zagged pattern downstage on both of the stages, while the 130s were used for the DJ section of the show, where Drake plays a DJ setup – typically – located in the bleachers along one of the venue ‘long sides’ for which a physically smaller camera setup was specified.

The second PTZ 130 also provided a wide ‘architectural’ cross-shot looking at the whole venue, capturing the structural elements of the automated lighting rig as it morphed into different patterns.

SSS4EU was Colleen’s first 360 video direction touring project, a challenging environment enough itself, but one that she has embraced with great enthusiasm.

With all the video emphasis on IMAG, Colleen’s task was a complex one to enhance the show narrative, underline a good story, ensure Drake was visible at all times and that his considerable energy levels are communicated onscreen and in sync with what is happening in the room.

Quick Thinking

This entails plenty of quick thinking and ability to imagine full vistas instantly i.e. how her mix will appear in the context of the greater overall show.

For this, she used a Grass Valley Karrera 2M/E switcher. Both M/E buses plus two Auxs were used in the show. Colleen worked alongside her two engineers, Randy Ice and Braxton Carico, together with 8 others on the video crew. These included Colin Mudd, video crew chief for PRG UK, who also entertaining the whole crew with his razor-sharp acerbic wit in addition to running the video operation!

As a performer, Drake is very organic, so while there is a structure and a setlist, there is also contingency for improv, which happens constantly, making every show completely unique.

Colleen’s mix fed into 6 x PRG M-Box video servers (3 live and 3 hot backup) which were output to screens by Guy triggered via his grandMA3 system. The M-Boxes were running V5 software version, and were the first rental units to do so, which Guy reported are “solid”.

Colleen enjoyed working with the PRG UK team, who she observed were “very responsive whenever anything was needed, or dealing with last minute replacement requests or any issues that required solving at vendor level, which is essential when moving through multiple countries.”

The Wireless Challenge

For PRG UK’s sales director for music Yvonne Donnelly Smith, while building and co-ordinating the European tour was intense, the biggest challenge without doubt was duplicating the USA tour lighting rig twice to achieve the unique 360 aesthetic needed for Wireless Festival, essentially the first gig of the SSS4EU leg.

Working at the Finsbury Park site was very different to staging an indoor show and the scale substantially larger than the touring show. The 360 look was achieved using three ground support systems and a huge amount of calculation, calibration, and teamwork to safely build a system to accommodate the amount of dynamic loading needed for this show with all its moving elements.

All this was done in just three days, involving up to 140 combined Wireless and touring PRG crew.

Yvonne collaborated closely with her counterpart in PRG North America, Jon Morrell, throughout the project.

“We all enjoy challenges, and the incredible teamwork and determination enabling us to deliver the full Drake experience for fans at Wireless was truly inspiring,” she concluded.

The tour schedule was tight with several back-to-backs and only a few days off over a 10-week period. Keeping everything rolling smoothly on the road in Europe was production manager Joseph Lloyd and 32 trucks, three carrying duplicated elements of the stage and rigging that were leap-frogged to ensure maximum efficiency and achievability in the timescale. Audio was supplied by Clair Global.

Aaron Siebert was the production manager for the earlier Australian leg of the tour, for which all the lighting and video kit was flown from PRG North America, illustrating the global reach and capacity of its operation. Paul Lovell-Butt PM’d the previous North American leg, and also Australia, together with Aaron. Aaron has now returned to his role at TAIT and Joseph production managed the tour until it concluded in Europe and returned to the USA.