Westlife: The 25 World Tour

As the Camera PPU Systems Engineer for Westlife's 25 World Tour, I am responsible for the camera and vision systems, working with Adlib's Xenon PPU and the Panasonic Kairos Switcher.

We have 7 x Sony HDC-3500 broadcast cameras, 4 x Panasonic UE160 PTZ cameras, 1 x Panasonic UE70 'Spy' camera, 1 x DJI Ronin camera, and the 'Bandcam', which is a 3D-printed camera case containing a Marshall camera and DJI transmitter.

We are outputting the 3 MEs from the switcher directly to the Disguise GX3+ servers, which are feeding the LED wall. We also have 3 Aux outputs, two of which are feeding the AI server used to apply effects in real time over the audience shots.

I love using the Kairos system — it's such a great piece of kit. We are using all 4 multiviewers: one for the Director, one for me in Engineering, one for the PTZ operator, and the last is being used by the Monitor Engineer, Playback Tech and Stage Manager so they can see what's happening on stage.

We are also using Stream Deck Pros with Kairos macros to help with the complex switching requirements that this technologically demanding show requires.

For the Panasonic PTZs we're using the Ereca Topas 4K — a specialised optical fibre transmission system built specifically to integrate, power and control Panasonic PTZ cameras (like the UE150, UE160 and the legacy HE120/130) over a single SMPTE hybrid fibre.