New Fred again.. documentary shares an intimate look into USB002 tour

‘Behind The Sound’ trails Fred and his crew through the chaotic final days of the run, narrated by a fan who simply sent an email.

Most tour documentaries are made by the people inside the machine. Yet, this one wasn’t. ‘Behind The Sound,’ the new 20-minute film chronicling the end of Fred again..‘s USB002 tour, was written, shot, and edited by Mexico City filmmaker Gawx, who admits he only got in the room because he drafted an email with nothing to lose.

Fred read it. Days later, Gawx was following the crew around his own hometown with no plan beyond the final destination: Expo Santa Fe, the last night of a run that stretched across 10 cities and delivered a brand-new song every single week.

The film opens with the origin story – piano, drums, and guitar as a kid, then Logic at 14, and the mentorship of ambient pioneer Brian Eno that eventually became a two-way street – before landing in a studio where Fred is bouncing ideas around with LATIN MAFIA. From there it’s all process. USB002 shows don’t happen in concert halls; they happen in hangars and warehouses, four hours long, no screens, crowd on all sides. To make those spaces feel like something, the team brought in Dutch artist Boris Acket, whose gossamer canopy hangs over the audience and reacts to their body heat, undulating along with the room.

The day before the show, Fred and his team are non-stop creating. Watching the fabric get rigged section by section was oddly gripping, so the team decided to shoot a raw sequence under the gossamer canopy, while the stage was still being built. Creative director Lucy carries it, calling action somewhere around 1 AM.

The rest is show day: soundcheck, doors, Fred still tinkering in the dressing room while 15,000 people wait, then a USB in hand and a walk to the stage.

The takeaway, as the narrator puts it: build a team as obsessed as you are, let go of control, and see what happens.

About The Author

Saracha

Heralding from sunny South Florida, I am a proud Florida Woman. In my free time, I surf the swamp, wrangle gators, open fan mail, and tend to my pets. In the wild, I’m most often spotted at immersive art spaces, step tappin’ in a shadowed corner of the club, hater blockerz on, totally incognito as your resident EDM spice girl. Although I generally tout my spicy side, if there’s one thing I’d love to impress upon the world, it would be this: it’s not a waste to give love to those who do not deserve it – it’s a gift. The world would be a better place if we gave, in kindness and in mercy, to those who need it most with no expectation in return.

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