SJ Lighting is one of our industry's top production design firms with demanding clients like Insomniac Events, headed by CEO Pasquale Rotella, calling on Steve Lieberman and his team to create spectacular environments for some of the US.'s top festivals, year after year. With the dance music festival season now extending well into the fall and growing globally, EDM revellers can party nearly year-round. Dreamstate, Escape Psycho Circus and EDC Orlando, all fall festivals that included Elation gear, are three successful examples of EDM's continued expansion.
This year's Dreamstate expanded to four stages with new stage designs and enhanced production to go along with the costumed performers and high-energy sounds from some of the world's most-renowned trance artists.
"We go big for this show," stated Lieberman, who worked on the festival for the second year running. "Video and aesthetics is a big element so we use a big canvass to tell their story, portray their message. It's a futuristic style and philosophy, a very intense atmosphere with lasers, lights, video and strobes."
SJ Lighting brought the festival's Dream stage mega-structure to life using 76 Platinum Spot 35 Pro moving heads, eight Colour Chorus 72 LED battens, and 120 Opti Tri 30 compact LED Par lights. Placed throughout the setup, the powerful 800W Platinum Spot 35 Pro moving head is a fixture that Lieberman says has great aerial geometric gobos with very clear definition and looks great up in the air with fog. "They also have clarity of focus and a nice defined edge," he adds.
The acknowledged designer again turned to Elation's small Opti Tri 30 Par light to warm and highlight the spectacular truss elements in various shades of colour.
Meanwhile, on the festival's Sequence stage, some 30 award-winning Platinum FLX hybrid moving heads provided beam and spot looks while 24 Opti Tri 30 Par lights kept the truss sufficiently coloured.
Insomniac's Halloween EDM festival, Escape Psycho Circus, returned for its fifth year in October at the NOS Events Centre.
The festival features state-of-the-art production and creative stage designs to match the chilling atmosphere. On the festival's Slaughterhouse stage, some 184 Colour Chorus 72 LED battens were used to line the set's horizontal LED screens top and bottom.
Sixty-eight ELED TW Strips and 172 Opti Tri PAR lights provided colour for the mega-structure at the Ghoul's Graveyard stage while 40 Platinum Beam 5R moving heads, 24 Protron 3K strobes, 14 SixPar 300 Par colour changers, and 60 EPAR Tri Par lights worked the Cannibal's Tea Party stage.
Orlando has hosted its own version of Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) since 2011 and Steve Lieberman has been lighting it ever since. Produced by Insomniac, the sixth incarnation of EDC Orlando took place 4-5 November at Tinker Field with Nero, Bassnectar and RL Grime playing the Circuits Ground stage and Jamie Jones and Markus Schulz headlining the Neon Garden stage, both dressed for the occasion with Elation lighting.
(Jim Evans)
