U2 finds what it is looking for with EMC

“The ability to easily access, modify and deliver the massive amounts of data required to drive the huge screens that are central to this tour gives them, and U2, a huge amount of flexibility and allows the group to evolve and tailor the set list and visuals for each show.”

Flash storage has become a strategic priority for EMC in recent years and in its most recent financial results, it claimed the tech was booming.

EMC said its wares help concert organisers and the band deliver “dazzling sets and special effects”. On top of this, it claims footage of the band’s sets are now recorded much more efficiently.

“Each show is recorded on over 20 high-definition video cameras focused on the band members with long and wide shots across the stage, as well as cameras capturing audience reactions,” said Ratcliffe. “On a global tour, that can add up to thousands of hours of high-definition video.

“At each concert, video streams are recorded from every camera and stored on the VNXe 3200. The team achieves additional efficiencies by archiving each night’s show from the VNXe 3200 to an EMC Data Domain 2500 to ensure they can reliably access the creative content and images from every camera from every angle.”

Improving the concert experience is a priority for bands across the music industry, EMC said, claiming bands are relying less and less on recorded music for profit. It cites figures claiming artists can earn as much profit from the sale of a branded T-shirt as it can from 25,000 plays of a song.