USB002 FRED AGAIN TOUR

In an era when electronic live shows often rely on towering LED walls, hyper-synchronized lasers, and digital maximalism, music producer Fred Again... chose a radically different path for his USB002 project. Instead of building a brighter screen, he built a softer world, one suspended in the air, shifting like a living organism.

For this European leg of the tour, Fred partnered with Dutch visual artist and scenographer Boris Acket, whose monumental fabric installation redefined the spatial experience of the first five concerts in Glasgow (Scotland), Brussels (Belgium), Madrid (Spain), Lyon (France) and Dublin (Ireland). Across these dates, Acket’s design became not just scenography, but a shared emotional architecture.

Five Cities, One Evolving Structure

The European dates of the USB002 tour brought with them a scenographic gesture unlike anything else on the circuit. Hanging above the audience was a sweeping fabric structure — approximately 70 meters long — engineered to move, breathe, and fall in response to the energy of the performance.

Rather than decorating the stage, the installation absorbed the venue, transforming arenas into soft, kinetic chambers. During crescendos, the surface rippled in great waves; in quieter passages, it hovered like a suspended horizon line. The effect was both sculptural and cinematic: a ceiling that behaved like a sky.

Each of the five European shows revealed new behaviors in the material, shaped by airflow, tension, performance rhythm, and crowd movement. This variability was a feature, not a flaw the installation existed somewhere between a scenographic object and a natural phenomenon.

Acket’s approach foregrounds materiality and the emotional resonance of physical objects. 

In an Instagram reflection shared shortly after the five European shows, Acket described a pivotal moment in the development process:

“One of the most beautiful moments I had happened just before the tour: While showing the fabric in real size for the first time, we performed a free fall with it. When releasing such a big surface of fabric from tension the amount of detail and movement happening in front of you is endless. We saw everyone around us just about dropping to the floor when it happened.

Fred told me about a memory he had, one he felt close to in that moment; when he saw a humpback whale jumping and creating an immense spray when landing back into the water.

His writing about core memories got me thinking a lot. I feel that is where our practices meet. I love when an experience pushes you so far out of your ‘normal’ state, it feels like you become filterless and childlike. I guess that’s a big part of what we’re both trying to achieve with our work, and why it was so easy to collaborate creatively, starting with the same fundamental values.

In the many messages of everyone I received I saw these new memories taking shape during the last 5 shows, thank you so much for sharing.”

This account reveals the conceptual heart of the installation: memory as medium, emotion in motion.
Acket isn’t building a stage effect; he is designing an experience that activates the same mental space as a childhood memory or a natural spectacle. The whale analogy is telling that the fabric’s “free fall” becomes an echo of nature’s overwhelming, unrepeatable gestures.

An impressive set design that stood out for his powerful concept. The material became a character soft, unpredictable, and deeply human. The audience wasn’t watching a stage; they were inside the scenography. A set that is a thoughtful alternative to contemporary touring rigs dominated by rigid steel and LED infrastructure.

A remarkable project, an emotion-generating show.

Credits:

Creative direction, production — Boris Acket

Creative production — @luizaguidi

Creative coding, operating — @coreyschneider.art

Production assistant — @mooscrebolder

Additional creative coding — @timo_lejeune

Winch technology — @wahlbergmotiondesign

Winch expert — @lille_kris

Light operating by @roeland_schuijren