Robe in the fast lane for Fiesta Latina
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This year, Tom worked his creative magic with the help of a large rig of over 200 Robe moving lights supplied by rental specialist LPS Production, also based in Miami. This included 62 MegaPointes, 77 Tetra2s, 10 Tetra1s, 58 Spiiders, 16 BMFL Blades and an eight-way RoboSpot system with five BMFL Blade and three BMFL FollowSpots.
Maximising the features and multifunctionality of these powerful Robe products, Tom ensured that the line-up of Latin stars - Ricardo Montaner, Fonseca, Servando y Florentino, Luis Figueroa, GALE, Menudo, Chayanne and others - all looked good onstage as they lit up with the vibrance and dynamics of Latin music.
The pacey one-day show featured a 48ft-wide turntable stage for quick changeovers and each artist was allotted a 20-minute performance slot, resulting in a whirlwind ‘festival’ broadcast which required lighting for fans enjoying the show live and all those tuning into livestreams on Hulu or the Hulu app.
Lighting was programmed by Tom and his FOH team comprising David ‘Fuji’ Convertino and Scott Cunningham, both using grandMA3 consoles, with Fuji taking care of all the show lighting elements while Scott concentrated on all the key lighting and specials.
Due to the intensity of the show schedule, Tom’s team did all the operating, taking onboard any specific requests from any artist LDs. They also have a bank of faders available to guest LDs if they choose to highlight certain elements of their act’s set.
“There’s always many people to keep happy on this style of show,” explained Tom. Effectively it is like a big TV show, but everything must happen super-fast, and while there is also a nod to a compressed festival format, practically there is no time to load individual show files, clone fixtures etc. "So us running it is the way to go,” he explains.
Tom worked closely with Charlie Cook and Lindsey Mayer from Atomic Design Inc., who produced the production design, as he crafted the look and style of the lighting, and also with screens director Patrick Eaton and Sean Green, who coordinated the video content.
There were two large sections of screen onstage - upper and lower - with a horizontal gap in between, plus side IMAGs, so there were serious quantities of LED to contend with, which was another reason for the choice of the very bright Robe luminaires.
The BMFLs were mainly deployed upstage in the centre of the rig where they provided potent beams and back lighting. Tom never tires of using them. “They are still among the brightest fixtures around and a truly outstanding light that was always way ahead of its time,” he enthused.
The MegaPointes were all over in the mid and upstage trusses, with some on the floor. “You absolutely can’t beat a MegaPointe, and you can never get enough of them,” noted Tom.
Tom has recently started incorporating Robe’s Tetra2s into large multi-artist line up shows like Fiesta Latina, where he layered all the Tetras across the trussing and vertical set ‘bookends’ to create a massive linear lighting look.
The LPS crew were led by master electrician and RoboSpot tech Anthony ‘Gato’ Bolano, working with lighting technicians Harold Trenhs, Daniel Lugo, Victor Villamizar and Omar ‘Omi’ Maldonado, with Juan as the project manager.
