Disguise X1 powers the European leg of Charlie Puth’s Whatever’s Clever! 2026 World Tour

Charlie Puth is a multi-platinum, award-winning singer, songwriter, producer and musician. His Whatever’s Clever! 2026 World Tour is his most ambitious live production to date, taking him across North America, mainland Europe, the UK and Asia.

Spanning nearly 50 shows, the tour includes headline dates at venues including New York’s Madison Square Garden and Los Angeles’ Kia Forum, alongside European theatre dates and festival appearances.

For the European leg, the production deployed two Disguise X1 to deliver the show’s rendered visual content, bringing its existing Disguise Designer workflow into a more portable touring setup.

The Challenge 

Maintaining a consistent visual production across different touring environments presented a logistical challenge. The show had originally been programmed for the North American leg using Disguise GX 3 media servers and Designer software. When the production moved to Europe, the video team needed to adapt the setup for a mix of smaller theatre dates and festival appearances.

The GX 3 servers used in North America could not be transported to the first European show because of their size, while additional GX 3 units were not available within the required timeframe.

At the same time, the team had only one week between rehearsals and the first European date. Moving to a different playback platform would have meant additional programming and testing at a critical stage of the production.

The team therefore needed a more portable solution that could retain the existing Designer show file and workflow while delivering the same visual content across the European dates.

The Solution

For the European leg, the production decided to deploy two Disguise X1. Because the show had already been created in Designer, the team could move from GX 3 to X1 while retaining its established programming workflow and existing show file. This removed the need to rebuild the production for another playback platform and provided a more portable hardware setup for the European run.

Disguise’s Designer software also supported the team during the short preparation period. The production used the software to previsualise the show, allowing the team to review the setup and make adjustments before arriving on site.

The team also used Disguise’s Feed Map tool to configure how content was distributed across the show’s screens. This gave the video team a clear way to adapt the visual setup for different venues while retaining the core show programming.

The Results 

Despite it being the team’s first experience using X1, the media servers delivered the production’s rendered content reliably throughout the European dates, providing a portable playback solution without requiring the show to move to a different platform.

“It’s scary to have to programme a show without the hardware because, when I use Disguise hardware, I trust that it works,” said Otto. “Disguise’s X1 was, however, very reliable, and it has never failed us once on this tour.”

By moving the existing Designer show file from GX 3 to X1, the team was able to preserve its established workflow while adapting the production for a different touring environment.

The result was a more portable setup that enabled the video team to deliver Charlie Puth’s visual production consistently across European theatre and festival dates, without the additional time and complexity of rebuilding the show on another platform.