beabadoobee

FRAY created the video design for beabadoobee’s The Powerlines Tour 2026, her first arena tour, in support of her fourth album Pylon. Working closely with production designer Daniel Richardson of 1826, FRAY developed a visual world rooted in the landscapes of the American road, combining original location footage, photographic treatments and projection to complement the physical stage environment and carry a continuous visual narrative through the show.

Pylon was written on the road. While beabadoobee toured This Is How Tomorrow Moves across America, the electricity pylons lining the highways became a reminder of her connection to home, and they gave the new album its name. The design retraces that road. The pylon becomes a symbol of connection, distance and isolation, and the show follows a journey through America in which power lines, empty roads and distant horizons return as motifs. Rather than treating each song as a separate visual moment, the content forms one connected sequence of environments, pausing on expansive skies and quieter scenes so the music and imagery can exist together.

Working with 1826, FRAY developed the content for projection onto a printed scenic backdrop, transforming large areas of the printed image through changes in landscape, light and atmosphere. In contrast to the clean finish of an LED screen, projection gave a softer, more film-like quality that reinforced the analogue world of the creative brief, and the interplay between printed surface and moving image tied the video into the set. Programmed in disguise, the content moves between restrained photographic compositions and more dynamic sequences, following the changing energy of the setlist.

The photography of Todd Hido was a key reference for Richardson’s production design, particularly his atmospheric pictures of ordinary American landscapes. Within that framework, FRAY built a photographic approach that put texture, atmosphere and the imperfections of the physical world first. Finn Ross travelled 2,000 miles across America’s empty middle to shoot original footage for the production, documenting the roads, pylons and landscapes that became the foundation of the content. No stock imagery was used. The footage was assembled, layered and treated into a single continuous journey, with analogue-inspired treatments preserving its photographic character as it moves between recognisable landscapes and more abstract compositions.

The result is a show that travels back along the route the album was written on. Rooted in real places and shaped by analogue imperfection, the concert visuals change the stage landscape by landscape while holding one consistent visual identity from the first song to the last. For more of FRAY’s work with 1826, see Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving tour.