March 12, 2009
Keane to make history with 3D web broadcast
(Max Bodson)
Keane will make history with their 3D broadcast
Patrick Foster, Media Correspondent
Multi-million selling British band Keane are to enter the history
books by making the first live broadcast over the internet in 3D.
Keane, whose three number one albums have sold nearly ten million
copies worldwide, will perform for 20 minutes on April 2, at Abbey
Road, from the studio where the Beatles made the world's first live
satellite broadcast, in 1967. The event will cost nearly £100,000 to
produce and has been in development for six months.
The band will play four tracks from their latest album, Perfect
Symmetry, which viewers will be able to see in 3D on their monitor
screens by wearing anaglyph glasses, with red and blue frames, which
will be given away with their latest single, Better Than This,
released next week.
The desire to bring 3D technology to the home, considered the Holy
Grail for television manufacturers and film producers, has stepped up
in the past couple of years, with Sky pouring money into research and
development of the format. A number of television manufacturers
already have 3D sets on the market, using new methods that require
polarised glasses, rather than the traditional bi-coloured lenses.
That technology can not yet be used over the internet, as computer
monitors are not able to render the images. But now that broadband
internet has become widespread across UK, observers are keen to gauge
public appetite for 3D web broadcasting.
Adam Tudhope, Keane's manager, said: "It's going to be all about 3D in
the not too distant future. The band felt like they wanted to be doing
something when it's at its early stages, and doing it in a way that no
one has ever done before. It's about exploring every single possible
creative outlet.
"They're approaching it like a live music video. They have a large fan
base all over the world and with stuff like this on the internet they
can be everywhere at once."
Keane are known in the music industry for being at the forefront of
technological innovation, and were the first band to release a single
on a USB memory stick, as opposed to a CD, because of the dominance of
the digital format among young people.
Tom Chaplin, lead singer of the band, said: "We believe that the
tradition of rock'n'roll is to always innovate, to bring new ideas and
concepts into music. We hope that this will become a similarly
powerful new way for music to connect people all over the world."
The performance, which will go live on at 8pm on April 2, will also be
the first live broadcast of music in three dimensions. U2 led the way
in the format, releasing a film last year, U2 3D, that featured
footage from nine of their concerts spliced together into what was the
first live-action film to be shot, produced and screened in digital
3D.
Vicki Betihavas, head of Nineteen Fifteen Production, the company
that will produce the broadcast, said she was working with other major
bands to perform in three dimensions.
She said: "3D seems to have a buzz about it. We thought it would be
really cool to up the stakes and take the technology to the next
level, and Abbey Road was the ideal place because of its heritage with
the Beatles satellite performance. That was groundbreaking for its
time."
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