National Post (National Edition)
ROCKED VIDEO
Montreal firm’s firm’s interactive interactive screens were just just what U2’s Bono was looking for. for.
MONTREAL • When U2 took the stage at Montreal’s Bell Centre this week, Bono was illuminated on an elevated catwalk, pacing through scrolling dreamlike video images of his childhood neighbourhood in Dublin as he sang Cedarwood Road.
Behind the visual wizardry of the iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE tour’s two massive see-through LED video screens is Montreal-based Saco
Technologies Inc., a company that changed forever when it first aligned itself with the iconic rock group nearly 20 years ago.
Before 1997, Saco had never worked in entertainment and was making control panels for nuclear and hydro power plants.
“I never thought of going in this direction,” Saco CEO Fred Jalbout said in an interview.
“My head was more focused on industrial-type projects because at the company we loved the quality of our projects and the quality of our clientele.”
Saco was, however, in the final stage of developing the world’s first LED screen, using coloured pixels to create images.
Before this, bands would use video projectors or thick heavy screens that resembled giant television sets.
A consultant for U2 heard about Saco’s prototype and came to Montreal to see the company ahead of the group’s 1997 PopMart Tour.
“U2 were looking for something new that is easy to carry with their show and at the same time they needed a huge screen to go on their stage,” said Jalbout.
The band’s management came to Montreal that same weekend and the next thing he knew, Jalbout was flying to Dublin to meet U2.
He says he presented his technology to Bono and the band in a warehouse where they practice.
“Of course I was nervous,” said Jalbout.
He says the prototype was about one square metre, but the band wanted something bigger — several hundred times bigger. It also had to be compact enough to fit in two touring trucks.
“It’s something that had never been done before so it was a risk that we all took together,” said Jalbout.
“Bono has a very special way of communicating with people. He loves to take risks and encourage new technology.”
The pixels were mounted onto 4,500 separate aluminum tubes, which were then broken down into 187 foldable panels.
It also put Saco in the Guinness Book of World Records for the Largest Touring Screen in the World.
“These shows are getting so big and are bringing in so many people that you have to think of us as a visual megaphone,” said Saco ExecutiveVice President Jonathan Labbee.
After the tour, the company began focusing on custom lighting and screens for buildings, including the largest LED screen in the world at New York’s NASDAQ Market, and the world’s largest chandelier in Doha, Qatar.
“When we started working with U2 doing their project, the whole thing changed,” said Jalbout.
Saco has also worked with acts such as Madonna and Paul McCartney, a far cry from a time when their clients included Hydro Quebec and Ontario Hydro.
“The thing with Saco is that they are extremely creative and what’s very rare is that their word means everything to them. They’re the most honourable people we’ve ever dealt with,” said Bob Brigham, CoPresident at PRG Nocturne, an event production company that first worked with Saco during Paul McCartney’s 2005 US tour.
“My guess is we’ve spent with them $50 million-plus, and it’s all been on a handshake.”
As U2 continues on their 20-city tour after four shows in Montreal, Jalbout says the company hopes it brings the same attitude to its clients that the band brings its audiences.
“They always like to show their fans something different and something new,” said Jalbout.