Moment Factory, a multimedia entertainment studio specialising in the conception and production of immersive environments, harnessed next-generation technologies to reimagine the concert experience for each of the four nights of Phish’s four-night residency at Sphere in Las Vegas.
Phish Live at Sphere marks the latest collaboration between Moment Factory and the prolific rock band, continuing a long-term creative partnership. A shared passion for innovation and experimentation has led to a series of concerts where multimedia enhances the band’s performances in groundbreaking ways.
Pushing boundaries together
Moment Factory played a central role in the co-creative direction of the four shows, collaborating closely with co-creative and show director Abigail Rosen Holmes. The studio’s involvement extended to set design, video design, and production, as well as contributing to lighting concepts in collaboration with the band’s longtime lighting designer, Chris Kuroda.
Marking a bold step forward in live concert experiences, the studio took a future-forward approach to real-time generative video content, bringing unique visuals to the world’s highest-resolution LED screen each night. Combining scenographic elements, 360° live performance capture, technologies including Unreal and Notch, pre-rendered imagery, and visuals generated with the assistance of AI, Moment Factory uses a number of tools and techniques never before seen at Sphere.
Rising to this creative and technical challenge, the team worked closely with a trusted network of collaborators. Disguise’s innovative real-time technology platform seamlessly powered Moment Factory’s extensive hours of pre-rendered and real-time visual content on a vast 16k x 16k canvas.
Additionally, Fuse Technical Group played a pivotal role as the technical integrator for the video system. It managed the incorporation of Moment Factory’s content into the Disguise servers and provided supplementary servers for real-time content delivery. To bring additional aesthetics to the shows. Moment Factory also assigned screen content production to Behaviour, Myreze, and Sila Sveta, while Troublemakers designed the audio for Phish’s stage entrance.
Powered by the venue’s 21st-century technologies, each night, set apart by a curated setlist and impromptu jam sessions, explores a unique theme inspired by a state of matter: solids, liquids, gas, and plasma. These themes are expressed through a custom orchestration of music, visuals and lighting. The four-night series represents the longest Real-Time show in history with a total of 14 hours of curated content.
Innovation at heart
“Phish Live at Sphere is an incredibly audacious project that we are thrilled to have worked on,” says Daniel Jean, producer at Moment Factory. “We feel extremely privileged to have legendary bands like Phish entrusting us with creating immersive universes around their music and identity, enabling them to connect with fans in completely new ways.
“Moment Factory got its start VJing in the late 90s, and we are particularly proud, nearly 25 years later, to have maintained this initial passion. We are now pushing it to an unprecedented level, creating the longest-ever real-time content show on the world’s most immersive canvas at Sphere.”
This innovative endeavour demonstrates Moment Factory’s expertise in ‘hijacking’ technologies to redefine the landscape of entertainment, with artificial intelligence as a standout example.
The studio views AI as a transformative tool that supports its commitment to innovation, collaboration, and pushing creative boundaries. This fusion of tools and workflows not only enhances the creation of new aesthetics and methods of engagement but also enriches the audience experience by blending digital innovation with the physical world.
Phish’s concert series is an example of this vision in action, where every night brought a one-of-a-kind show with Sphere’s cutting-edge technologies allowing to power that creativity.
To showcase the creativity and innovation involved in this project, Moment Factory documented the process from ideation to execution, providing an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at this achievement.
Last month, Moment Factory celebrated the opening of The Messi Experience in Miami, Florida. This innovative venture, produced, created, and designed with Primo Entertainment, will tour around the world.
