by Roberto Landini

Thanks to a consolidated specialization in the production of live performances, EMG Italy was chosen to take care of the video shooting of many live concerts throughout the summer of 2022.

These were musical events with a large audience presence, similar only in their genre, but totally different for production procedures.

EMG Italy has made available some mobile vehicles to follow many concerts throughout Italy, such as the live broadcast of the Radio Zeta / RTL 102.5 party from the Cavea of the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome in June, the first date of Alessandra Amoroso's tour at the stadium of San Siro on 13 July and the live broadcast of Power Hits Estate 22 from the Verona Arena at the end of August.

Among these, the production of Vasco Rossi's new Tour, in the months of June and July, was certainly the most significant in terms of use of resources.

Vasco Live '22

For the production of Vasco Live '22, EMG Italy took care of all the video shooting and airing on the led walls in the location, on behalf of Except customer in Milan.

The tour opened with a first technical setup in the Arena Musica in Trento on May 16th and 17th, rehearsals with the artist and the band took place on 18th, while the special evening of general rehearsal took place on 19th, open only to members of Vasco's official fan club.

On May 20th, the Tour was officially inaugurated with the first date, followed by the dates of Milan May 24, Imola May 28, Florence June 3, Naples June 7, Rome June 11 and 12, Messina June 17, Bari 22 June, Ancona 26 June and Turin 30 June.

To give an idea of the huge use of energy and the turnout of the public, it is enough to point out that all the dates mentioned were sold-out with an overall turnout of about 700,000 spectators (data disclosed by the media).

The production of the Tour

All the video footage was handled by EMG Italy with a mobile OB-Van unit set up with six GrassValley LDX80 system cameras and five "action cameras": Marshall micro cameras, mounted on remote sliders that made it possible to create moving shots of the musicians, keyboards, percussion, winds, and drums.

The direction was handled by Pepsy Romanoff directly on stage, thanks to a sub gallery connected to the mobile vehicle, and this allowed the director to be in close contact with the artist on stage.

All cabling was made with the use of optical fibers.

In the two days of shooting at the Circus Maximus, on the occasion of the shooting for DVD and Blu-ray, five film cameras were added, one on a steadycam with RF system, one on a jimmy jib, one on a dolly trolley complete with a track of approx 30 meters and a hanging cablecam that could cross the whole Circus Maximus.

The main direction and the sub-direction

The main control gallery vehicle chosen for the concerts was an agile van, indicated for its small size, given that in the spaces provided at the stadiums it was often impossible to park with the typical large truck usually used by EMG in filming sports and major events.

The mobile direction provided for two separate environments: a video and audio control and a direction area for director and assistant.

The sub-direction set up for Pepsy Romanoff was instead composed of an additional remote video mixing panel, a complete multiview visual control system with two 50 "monitors, an EVS panel for managing contributions and three intercom panels for director, assistant and video mixer.

From here the director, in addition to looking for even more close images, was also able to intervene in person on stage and make some personalized shots thanks to a shoulder camera with a cinematic feel.

The main direction was thus performed most of the time from the close position on the stage, while from the mobile vehicle all the control operations were carried out on the cameras and on the EVS for recording and, last but not least, the management of service communications by means of intercom systems.

For a series of events of this magnitude, the technical crew had one day available to set up and test, while the afternoon of the day of the concert was dedicated to the finishing touches.

The same mobile vehicle and the same full operational staff followed the stages of Vasco's tour from start to finish, precisely for stylistic and technical continuity and perfect harmony between director and crew.

Massimiliano Anchise, Sales Manager of EMG Italy who followed these events with a crew of 12 people, said: "It was a wonderful experience and a special thanks goes, first of all, to all the technicians who worked on this project and to Pepsy who "directed" all of us throughout the summer tour".