One Of The World's Biggest Bands Joins The LED Revolution

In a move not inconsistent with their apocalyptic paranoia, the rock band Radiohead has updated its current live show (on tour now) with ultra-efficient LED lighting. According to a June 30th post by Richard, their tour production manager, "the (original) lighting system required an electricity supply of 600amps 3phase (that's 1800A)" while the new LED system (which includes multiple video monitors) "is exclusively LED and uses 140A 3phase (420A in total) when turned on fully." This means that the transition to LEDs has reduced the tour's carbon footprint (the portion attributable to lighting, anyway) by more than 75%. Not only that, LEDs are much more rugged, stand to last much longer, and are so easily programmed and coordinated that they make previous technologies appear ungainly. Joel Slavis believes that this is only the tip of the iceberg: "Artists are always on the cutting edge. It makes perfect sense that a terrificly modern band like Radiohead would opt to utilize the efficiency of LEDs in some capacity. But efficiency aside, they are incredibly capable, and their show is surely benefiting on many levels." Radiohead and their LEDs will be back in North America in August. Catch them if you can! Thanks to Shane Richmond and Laurat for the story heads-up and photograph respectively