Patchbay 2025 – Hilton Liverpool
Overview
On paper, the brief sounded simple: make the stage look unreal, keep it rock-solid, and make it feel like a proper show. In reality, that meant delivering high-impact visuals in a hotel venue — with the usual real-world constraints like tight load-in windows, limited rigging flexibility, and the need to keep everything clean, safe, and venue-friendly. The client needed a setup that could handle branded visuals, dynamic motion content, and the option for live camera feeds — while looking sharp from every angle in the room (and even sharper on camera). The challenge wasn’t just installing screens and lighting; it was creating a stage environment that felt designed, not “dropped in,” and that stayed reliable throughout the night. The other key factor was balance. LED walls bring serious presence, but they can overpower a space — or get undermined if lighting isn’t planned properly. The goal was a cohesive look where lighting supported the screen content, transitions felt intentional, and the whole room stayed in the same visual rhythm. In short: maximum impact, zero drama — and a setup that looked premium in the room and in the content afterwards.
Solution
a) Planning & Creative Decisions
We approached the build as one complete stage “look,” not separate LED and lighting elements running independently. The plan was to create a bold focal point that grabbed attention the moment guests walked in — while staying balanced from the back of the room, the sides, and every phone camera pointed at the stage.
We centred the design around a main LED canvas to carry the story (branding, visuals, live content), then introduced vertical elements to add height, symmetry, and presence. The result was less “screen on a stand,” more “this venue has a production team.”
Lighting was designed to complement the LED rather than compete with it — building movement and atmosphere that matched what was happening on screen. That’s what keeps a setup feeling premium: one cohesive show, not multiple systems doing their own thing.
b) Technical Delivery
Our team installed a 4m x 3m LED video wall as the main stage backdrop, flanked by two 0.5m x 3m vertical LED towers. This created a clean, powerful frame and a seamless canvas for dynamic event visuals, brand content, and live camera feeds when required.
We then layered in a complementary lighting design using washes, beams, and pixel-style effects to bring depth and energy to the space. Cues were timed to support the screen content, keeping everything in rhythm and maintaining a consistent atmosphere throughout the show.
From start to finish, our crew handled the full technical delivery — truss and rigging, LED installation and alignment, media server configuration, and show playback. The priority was reliability and clean execution: stable playback, precise alignment, tidy cabling, and a system the client could trust to perform all night.
The end result was a high-impact stage environment that blended precision engineering with creative design — transforming the Hilton Liverpool into a vibrant visual experience and showcasing the collaborative strength between Vivid Collective and Studiocare.