After six decades of groundbreaking performances, legendary British rock band The Who is taking its final bow with an 18-date North American Farewell Tour powered by Modulo Pi‘s Modulo Kinetic media server platform.
Montreal-based Monochrome Project, specialists in touring and video mapping, handled the video technical design for the production, selecting Modulo Kinetic to drive the show’s large-scale visuals and live camera effects. “We are now halfway through The Who tour, and everything is working perfectly,” said Louis Buxin, innovation director and media server specialist at Monochrome Project.
The tour’s visual centerpiece is a 15-by-6-meter ROE LED wall with a resolution of 2496 by 1040 pixels, flanked by two 7.5-by-4-meter side walls. In some venues, the side walls are replaced with projection systems using dual projectors per screen, ensuring consistent visuals regardless of the venue’s configuration. A single Kinetic Designer workstation connects to two V-Node servers (main and backup) to manage playback and real-time effects across all screens. The system also uses Modulo Pi’s free Warp Remote app to fine-tune projection alignment on-site, allowing operators to make precise warping adjustments directly from a laptop near the projection surfaces while keeping the main workstation at front of house.
The content blends live camera feeds and pre-programmed graphics. Using Modulo Kinetic’s GPU-based render graphs, the team applies real-time effects such as 1970s-style television looks, black-and-white filters, and vibrant color treatments — all with minimal delay. “The effects are entirely based on render graphs, which give us more flexibility for adjustments,” Buxin explained. “We also use them to manage live masks whenever we want to display camera feeds in complex shapes.”
Lighting and video are partially synchronized via Art-Net timecode, with additional elements operated live. GrandMA3 Full Size lighting consoles communicate directly with Modulo Kinetic, enabling lighting designer Tom Kenny to control video intensity from his console and maintain visual consistency between light and screen. This seamless integration helps deliver a cohesive, immersive environment that matches the energy and legacy of The Who’s final performances.
The farewell tour began August 16 in Florida and spans Canada and the U.S., with stops at Madison Square Garden and the Hollywood Bowl before concluding October 1 in Palm Springs, California.