Metallica’s groundbreaking M72 world tour, renowned for its innovative in-the-round stage and “no repeat weekend” format, has taken a bold step forward by adopting the PIXERA media server system from AV Stumpfl. This transition enhances the tour’s massive video setup, delivering an unparalleled visual experience across its eight 100-foot-tall towers, each featuring three 50- × 30-foot LED screens, totalling 24 discrete surfaces – the brainchild of creative director and production designer Dan Braun.
The M72 tour, which began in 2023 and has captivated upwards of 80,000 fans per night, relies on a sophisticated technical infrastructure to match its ambitious creative vision. Metallica’s switch to PIXERA, first tested at the Soundstorm festival in 2023, has proven transformative. “PIXERA’s rendering capabilities, especially for Notch effects, are unmatched,” says Tom Denney, media server engineer for the tour. “These boxes handle up to two simultaneous Notch effects without dropping frames, which is critical for our 38-camera setup and dynamic visuals.” David Leonard, media server programmer and operator, echoes this sentiment, highlighting the system’s reliability and flexibility: “PIXERA version 25 has been great. I’ve had zero drops or restarts. The layer-based interface and tools like layer referencing make it easy to manage 50 different screen mappings per show, keeping the visuals fresh and immersive.” Leonard programmes a timeline per song and then builds out his cue list based on the band’s set for the evening. Leonard’s ability to adapt on the fly is crucial, as Metallica’s setlists – drawn from the band’s vast discography – are finalised just before showtime.
The PIXERA system, comprising eight servers (four main, four redundant), supports a true one-to-one redundancy workflow, ensuring seamless performance. “The band and creative team prioritise reliability, and PIXERA delivers,” Denney notes. “Each tower receives a 4K signal, and our utility machine handles additional outputs for festivals or broadcasts, like when we streamed to 3,000 cinemas worldwide.” The system’s 16-terabyte drives (upgradable to 60TB) accommodate the tour’s 3.5TB content folder per show, enabling effortless transitions between the main “tower show” and festival configurations without time-consuming offloading. The eight PIXERA servers make up one of the six custom “barges” that comprise the tour’s video infrastructure, and fibre lines connect video village to the racks of the eight towers in the stadium hundreds of metres away. “The barges cut our server and camera setup time to under an hour, despite hundreds of cables,” Denney explains. “PIXERA’s Hub tool simplifies managing eight servers, from network configuration to fan speeds, making our workflow incredibly efficient.”
Video director Gene McAuliffe, who spearheaded the adoption of PIXERA, praises its creative potential. “The system lets us play with perspective, wrapping visuals across multiple towers or isolating them for impact. It’s about giving fans a unique view from every angle,” Leonard recalls from discussions with McAuliffe. The support from PIXERA’s team has also been a game-changer. “From Soundstorm to now, their support is the best I’ve experienced,” Denney adds. “Whether it’s a bug fix or a new feature, they’re responsive across time zones.”
Now in the middle of a 10-week US run, PIXERA empowers the M72 tour to push boundaries further, blending cutting-edge technology with the live energy Metallica brings to every show. “PIXERA feels futureproof,” Leonard says. “We’re already planning to adapt these files for other shows – it’s that versatile.”
