Elton John's Red Piano Show

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Elton John's Vegas show comes to London's O2 arena

On 5th of September Elton John premiered his long running "Red Piano" show for the first time outside the purpose built arena at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

The unique show which was designed to alternate with Celine Dion’s production at the Coliseum follows a visually spectacular journey through Elton’s Life and musical career. As with all thing Las Vegas it is bigger and bolder than any of Elton's previous performances, featuring an impressive array of giant inflatable's depicting everything from bouquets of Roses to phallic representations of rockets and fruit framed by an enormous pair of stoking clad legs.

Numerous specifically created set pieces including a 100' wide array of neon signs and imagery were built for the London show and surprisingly are scaled down representations of the Vegas originals.

The show is built around an enormous screen which dominates the stage and would dwarf all elements of the production were it not for the sheer scale of the set pieces etc. Throughout the performance the screen displays a series specially commissioned films created by photographer/film maker David La Chappelle, the imagery is stunning if at times bizarre taking the audience through Elton's early years with Justin Timberlake playing the giant spectacled young Elton, through surreal footage of Marilyn Monroe to psychedelic montages for the rockier finale to the show.

The purpose built sloping stage measured almost 100' wide and was backed by a MiTRIX screen 25m wide x 8m high a total of 200m2.

Creative Technology supplied the screen and all video production after a number of tests to decide on the most suitable product for the job. The MiTRIX was ultimately chosen as it offered the right combination of weight and resolution. Despite the 24mm pixel pitch the overall display resolution was 1024x328 considerably higher than most LED screens used in concert situations however the overall weight was only 4 tonnes meaning the screen, along with all of the other set pieces could be flown in the O2 and potentially other large arenas around the world.

2 projected Imag screens were added as the only time main screen shows live images is during the band introduction and a sequence where the live image of Elton is seen on a Television Set within a room set.