Location
Rabat, Morocco
Client
PRG Projects, Belgium
System
160x Beeblade Minima
Sector
Live Events / Ceremonies
28 January 2026
Africa Cup of Nations opening ceremony
PRG’s Hex Panels Gen 2 deployment for the Africa Cup of Nations opening ceremony in Morocco – a stadium-scale production with a wearable LED canvas – was powered by 160 HIVE Beeblade Minima media engines.
When you’re producing an opening ceremony for one of the biggest sporting tournaments on the continent, the expectation is simple: it has to feel unforgettable.
For the Africa Cup of Nations opening ceremony in Morocco, producers Balich Wonder Studio set out to deliver a show with scale, emotion and precision. A live performance designed not only to fill a stadium, but to tell a story – one that would be broadcast and replayed around the world.
“The Africa Cup of Nations is more than a football tournament – it is a celebration of identity, pride, and unity. Designing an Opening Ceremony for AFCON 2025 meant creating a moment where cultures, stories, and emotions came together, and where light became a powerful symbol of connection across the continent.”
Simone Merico, Co-Founder of Balich Wonder Studio
At the heart of that ambition was a creative approach that went beyond conventional staging. Rather than relying solely on fixed scenic structures or large-format LED screens, the production introduced wearable visuals as part of the choreography itself – turning performers into moving pixels across the stadium floor.
“160 media servers, wireless, synchronized like a philharmonic orchestra – who else to charge with the task than the HIVE team. Thanks again for another Mission Impossible perfectly executed.”
Frederic Opsomer, CEO at PRG Projects
To deliver this vision, PRG Projects deployed the second generation of its Hex Panels system: a modular wearable LED tile concept developed specifically for large-scale ceremony environments, where visual content must remain aligned to music, lighting cues and live choreography.
A wearable system at stadium scale
The production required 160 Hex Panel Gen Two tiles, each behaving as part of a unified visual sequence while performers moved continuously across the performance space. In this type of environment, the playback system needs to do more than output high-quality visuals. It must maintain stable timing across a large number of endpoints, while remaining practical to deploy, monitor and control during tight rehearsal schedules.
PRG Projects also needed complete performer freedom. Sync had to be maintained without physical tethering or restrictive cabling, while still staying locked to a master show timeline.
Why HIVE Beeblade
To power the wearable system at scale, PRG Projects partnered with HIVE, deploying 160 HIVE Beeblade Minima media engines, each integrated into a custom performer belt pack.
For PRG, Beeblade provided the right foundation for a wearable deployment. Its compact form factor and low power requirements made it well-suited to belt packs where space and weight are limited, while still delivering the performance required for stable playback in a high-pressure live environment. Just as importantly, the platform’s ease of deployment and operational control helped keep the overall system manageable at scale.
This decentralised approach placed media playback directly at the endpoint. Rather than relying on a small number of central servers and complex distribution infrastructure, each tile had its own dedicated playback device running content locally at the point of display.
PRG’s workflow: one 4K canvas, 160 endpoints
Managing content across large numbers of devices can add significant operational overhead, particularly when rehearsal schedules are compressed. To keep the workflow efficient, PRG delivered content as a single master 4K video canvas, with each Beeblade assigned a specific sampling region.
This allowed PRG to deploy and manage visual sequences as one unified piece of content, while still delivering unique playback output to each wearable tile. The approach reduced asset management complexity and supported fast updates and validation during the production period.
Wireless timecode for synchronised movement
With performers moving freely through choreography, synchronisation remained a critical part of the system design. Each belt pack incorporated a wireless timecode receiver, ensuring all 160 tiles remained locked to the master show timeline throughout rehearsals and the final performance.
This enabled PRG to maintain tightly controlled playback timing without compromising the movement and flexibility required for a stadium opening ceremony.
Tested in real rehearsal conditions
As with many stadium productions, rehearsals in Morocco introduced real-world conditions that required the wearable system to perform under pressure. The belt packs were deployed through extended outdoor rehearsals, including periods of heavy rain, with electronics exposed to repeated handling, movement and environmental stress.
PRG’s experience delivering ceremony-scale productions, combined with HIVE’s decentralised playback model, helped ensure the overall deployment remained stable and operationally manageable as rehearsals intensified.
“We had 160 discreet playback devices that all operated flawlessly. Despite the challenges of having to deploy the whole system in under 25 minutes, the flexibility of the HIVE architecture meant that we could have scaled it up to many more devices without much trouble.”
Ben Vaughn, HIVE On-site Support Engineer, Cucumber Productions Ltd
A major ceremony delivered flawlessly
For the opening ceremony itself, the Hex Panels system performed as intended, delivering 160 synchronised wearable screens moving across the stadium floor as one visual element. Sequences played with clean timing, supporting the choreography and stadium narrative while remaining aligned with wider production cues.
“PRG Projects set the bar extremely high for this project. Driving 160 wearable LED tiles in a live stadium environment demands a playback platform that’s reliable, scalable and operationally simple for the crew on the ground. The team delivered an outstanding opening ceremony in Morocco, and we’re proud HIVE could support the deployment with 160 Beeblade Minima engines and wireless timecode synchronisation.”
Mark Calvert, CEO, HIVE
As live productions continue to incorporate more decentralised and wearable LED elements, this project demonstrates how a scalable playback ecosystem can support ambitious creative concepts without adding unnecessary complexity on site.
Image credits: Luca Parisse