Project Type
Concert (Stadium Tour, primary venue capacity 20,000+)
Project Name
David Tao <Soul Power II PLUS> Concert Tour
Client：B‘in Live Co., Ltd.
Artist: David Tao
Venue: Guangzhou Tianhe Sports Centre Stadium
Chia-Ying Shen, lighting designer, ANH Design Company
Design Criteria
Soul Power II PLUS is a stadium-scale evolution of David Tao's Soul Power II concert tour. The original arena version was built upon a refined and introspective lighting language, closely responding to the Soul and R&B rhythms, vocal warmth, and nuanced emotional layers of David Tao's music. For PLUS, our goal was not merely to scale up the existing production, increase brightness, or pile on grand visual effects. The true challenge lay in preserving the emotional core and musical delicacy of the original performance within the expansive scale, open atmosphere, and distinct site conditions of an outdoor stadium.
Music remained the definitive starting point for every lighting decision.
Rather than viewing the stadium simply as an enlarged arena, we sought to integrate the open outdoor environment into the overall visual language. The lighting had to seamlessly connect the artist, musicians, stage architecture, audience, and the open sky above into a unified ecosystem, while honoring the rich detail and musicality cultivated over three years of the Soul Power II tour. Consequently, our design objective was to create a lighting system capable of fluidly shifting between intimacy and grandiosity—one that keeps quiet, voice-driven moments focused and delicate, yet effortlessly expands the stage's energy to fill the entire stadium when the music demands it.
Project Description
Transitioning from Soul Power II to Soul Power II PLUS was not merely a change in production scale; it forced a fundamental rethinking of our entire lighting architecture.
Moving from an indoor arena to an outdoor stadium rendered many of the structural logics that supported the original version obsolete.
Within a massive structure exceeding 30 meters in height, and deprived of a conventional indoor roof or fixed rigging grid, every element—from fixture placement and truss configuration to the overall visual composition—had to be established anew.
We no longer viewed lighting simply as a tool to illuminate the stage, but rather as a form of 'Visual Architecture.' Through precision beams, delicate layering, vertical lines, depth of field, and intentional negative space, the lighting dissolves the physical boundaries of the stage structure. It seamlessly bridges the artist and band to the vast stadium environment, while meticulously preserving the nuanced emotional depth of David Tao's music.
Ultimately, PLUS represents a dual evolution in both visual language and design methodology: transitioning from intimate to open, from indoor ceiling to open sky, and from a controlled indoor stage to a dynamic field system that harmonizes with natural elements, massive structures, long-throw projection, and high-altitude technical execution.
Yet, even as the scale expanded exponentially, our core anchor remained unchanged: music stays at the center of every design decision—it is the living soul of this tour.
Challenges and Solutions
The primary challenge of this project lay in scaling an established indoor arena lighting design into a stadium-grade production, without forfeiting the musical intimacy and audience connection of the original.
The original 2024 Soul Power II design relied heavily on controlled lighting layers, subtle transitions, and close interplay between light, performer, and music.
Transitioning to an outdoor stadium transformed every operational parameter: the absence of an indoor roof structure to define visual boundaries, significantly extended throw distances, a superstructure soaring over 30 meters high, and fixture positions that required complete reconfiguration within a much grander architectural scale.
Our solution was not merely to proliferate fixtures, but to rebuild the lighting architecture around 'depth, direction, and spatial relationships.' By reconfiguring truss alignments and fixture placement, we established multi-layered visual planes across the stage. Long-throw beams stretched the canvas upward and outward into the open sky, while precise, highly controlled lighting layers maintained focal clarity on David Tao, the band, and the performance itself.
This enabled us to generate massive stadium-scale visuals without sacrificing the intricate detail required for quiet, emotionally resonant ballads. Further complexity stemmed from the outdoor elements. Weather conditions, wind loads, equipment exposure, high-altitude rigging limits, long-range focus, and elevated technical operations evolved from external logistics into integral components of the design methodology.
Consequently, the system had to deliver both absolute visual precision and robust resilience across diverse city environments and site conditions. A core concept of “Soul Power II PLUS” was shifting our view of the lighting rig from a 'collection of fixtures' to an 'open-air visual architecture.' Light itself became a structural element—at times defining the stage, at others reaching outward to envelop the audience, and at moments causing the physical stage superstructure to vanish entirely into the night sky. Ultimately, the design fluidly navigates contrasting spatial dynamics: from an intimate solo moment isolating David Tao in restrained, focused light, to a sudden transformation that activates the entire stadium with energy. Innovation here transcends technical execution—it lies in preserving the emotional precision and musical integrity of the original work while articulating it through an entirely newly evolved visual medium.
For us, the innovation of Soul Power II PLUS extends far beyond technical execution. What truly matters is that despite radical shifts in stage scale, environmental conditions, and operational methodology, we meticulously preserved the original work's musical precision and emotional authenticity—reinterpreting them through an entirely fresh visual language.
The primary challenge lay in translating a mature indoor arena lighting design into a stadium-grade production, without sacrificing the intimate connection between the music and the audience. The original Soul Power II design depended heavily on tightly controlled lighting layers, subtle transitions, and a delicate interplay between light, performer, and music.
Transitioning to an outdoor stadium upended these parameters: the absence of a traditional indoor ceiling or roof structure to frame the visual canvas, drastically increased throw distances, a superstructure reaching over 30 meters high, and fixture positions that required complete reconfiguration within a vast architectural scale.
Our response was not simply to add more fixtures, but to fundamentally reconstruct the lighting architecture around 'depth, direction, and spatial relationships.' By reconfiguring truss alignments and fixture placement, we established multi-layered visual planes across the stage. Long-throw beams reached upward and outward into the open sky, while precise, highly controlled lighting layers maintained focal clarity on David Tao, the band, and the performance itself.
This empowered us to construct visuals truly commensurate with stadium proportions, without forfeiting the intricate nuances required for quiet, emotionally resonant ballads.
Another critical challenge stemmed directly from the outdoor environment itself. Unpredictable weather, wind loads, equipment exposure, high-altitude rigging constraints, long-range focusing, and elevated technical operations evolved from mere external logistics into active variables within the design process itself.
Consequently, beyond delivering visual precision, the entire lighting system had to possess exceptional stability and structural adaptability to accommodate the varying conditions of different cities and venues. A defining conceptual shift in PLUS was transitioning from viewing the lighting rig as a 'collection of fixtures' to conceptualizing the entire system as an 'open-air visual architecture.' Light itself became a structural element—at times defining the spatial boundaries of the stage, at times reaching outward to extend its footprint, and at moments causing the physical stage superstructure to dissolve completely into the night sky.
Ultimately, this design fluidly navigates starkly contrasting scales: from an intimate solo moment enveloping David Tao in restrained, ultra-focused light, to an instantaneous surge that activates the entire stadium with luminous energy. For us, the innovation of Soul Power II PLUS transcends mere technical execution. What truly matters is that despite radical shifts in scale, environment, and operational methodology, we meticulously preserved the original work's musical precision and emotional nuance—reinterpreting them through an entirely newly evolved visual medium.
Photography： Colorsola 躁彩視覺
Equipment
The lighting system for 《Soul Power II PLUS》 was designed specifically for the scale and physical conditions of an outdoor stadium.
For the Guangzhou production at Tianhe Sports Center Stadium, the rig incorporated more than 2,100 lighting fixtures, combining high-output wash and profile sources, long-throw beams, multi-cell moving fixtures, strobes, pixel-controlled linear fixtures, and conventional audience lighting.
The main system included 165 ACME AECO 30 IP, 425 EK Terminator BSW, 150 ACME XP 500 BEAM IP, 172 ACME TORNADO TB5 IP, 484 ACME Lightning STROBE 6 IP, 535 ACME PIXEL LINE 3 IP, 51 ACME BLB 10 IP, 90 Desheng WC-315, 40 eight-cell Molefays, and 32 ACME XA-1000 LYRA fixtures.
The scale of the system was not intended simply to create greater brightness. Each fixture family was assigned a specific role within the visual architecture of the show.
The AECO 30 IP and BSW fixtures formed the primary lighting layers, providing coverage, color, texture, and dimensional control across the large performance area.
The XP 500 BEAM IP fixtures were used to create long, highly defined lines of light. In an outdoor stadium, where there is no ceiling to visually contain the image, these beams allowed us to extend the lighting composition vertically into the open sky and outward beyond the physical stage.
The TORNADO TB5 IP introduced a more dynamic and transformable lighting language. Its multi-source movement allowed individual lighting positions to shift from a single visual mass into more complex geometric patterns, helping the rig itself respond to changes in musical arrangement.
A significant part of the visual system was built around 484 Lightning STROBE 6 IP fixtures and 535 PIXEL LINE 3 IP fixtures. Rather than treating these simply as effects, they were integrated into the scenic and structural framework of the stage. Through pixel control, rhythmic movement, and large-scale graphic patterns, they helped turn the physical stage structure into part of the lighting composition.
Additional BLB 10 IP, WC-315, XA-1000 LYRA and Molefay fixtures provided further layers of architectural, atmospheric, audience, and accent lighting, allowing the visual scale to expand or contract according to the emotional intensity of each song.
Two 4kW follow spots, together with an additional ACME tracking system and dedicated follow-spot operators, maintained precise visual focus on David Tao across the large stadium environment. The show was controlled using three grandMA3 Full-Size consoles, with timecode and communication systems integrated into the production workflow.
The central principle behind the equipment selection was therefore not quantity, but function: every fixture needed to contribute either to musical detail, spatial depth, architectural scale, or the connection between the performer and the stadium audience.
Even with a rig of more than two thousand fixtures, the objective remained the same as in the original 《Soul Power II》 production:
To allow the lighting to become as large as the stadium when the music demands it, and as intimate as a single voice when it does not.
Team
Artist： David Tao 陶喆
Client / Production：B’in Live Co., Ltd. 必應創造
Lighting Designer：Chia-Ying Shen 沈佳穎
Creative / Show Director：David Tao 陶喆、Tsung-Chun Yang 楊宗韕、Crystal Chuang 莊惟惞、Ruru Yang 楊涵茹
Production Designer / Stage Designer：R.W Studio 無際設計
Lighting Programmer：ANH Design Company 禾火設計
Lighting Director / Operator：Chia-Ying Shen 沈佳穎
Lighting Crew Chief：ANH Design Company 禾火設計
Video / Visual Team： RAQOON STUDIO 晚熊創意、ACT Creative Co., Ltd 做事設計、VR STUDIO CO., LTD. 共振頻率、Fang-chun Wang 王芳俊
Production / Technical Vendor：B’in Live Co., Ltd. 必應創造、SHOW IN Co., Ltd. 有秀必應
Lighting Vendor： SHOW IN Co., Ltd. 有秀必應
Photography： Colorsola 躁彩視覺