ING REPLUGGED: WHEN CULTURE REFUSES TO STOP

In 2020, every concert was cancelled. Venues were empty, artists had no stage, audiences had no music. Shadow to Live refused to accept that reality and brought ING a proposal: what if we replugged culture?

ING was already a longstanding partner of Belgian music festivals and live culture. When everything shut down, Shadow to Live approached them with a fully-formed concept: transform Palais 12, Belgium's largest indoor concert hall, into a living festival studio. The name wrote itself: ING Replugged. Replug the culture. Replug the artists. Replug the audience.

The challenge went well beyond the technical. Producing a concert without an audience in a venue built for 15,000 people, generating festival energy in an empty space, and designing a completely different set for each artist to match their visual identity: all of this was Shadow to Live's responsibility, from creative concept through to streaming on a private platform exclusively for ING clients.

On stage: Loïc Nottet, Portland, Balthazar, Blackwave., Daniel Romeo Band and Typh Barrow. All on active tour schedules before the pandemic, all suddenly without a stage. Each artist performed for one hour on a custom-built set of over 100m², captured by 6 multicam cameras for a cinematic production quality. Camera operators, sound engineers, video teams, set designers: the project mobilised dozens of cultural industry professionals who were also out of work. That was Replugged too.

Two editions were produced, in spring and autumn 2020, generating over 500,000 views in total. The event was covered by Belgian press including DH. The concept has since been replicated across the industry.

From initial concept to final stream, Shadow to Live conceived, produced and delivered ING Replugged in its entirety, in partnership with ING Belgium. When the stages went dark, we found another way to turn the lights back on.