Ayrton hits the Fun Radio Ibiza Experience
- Details
“The Paris show is a little taste of resistance,” says show director, and founder of High Scream, Romain Pissenem. “To stand up and dance and have fun is the only response we can show to the threats to which our city has been subjected.”
Helping Pissenem bring the spirit of Ibiza and the Ushuaïa vibe to Paris were over 200 Ayrton lighting fixtures, including over 100 MagicBlade-FX, 50 MagicPanel-FX and 50 MagicDot-XT. The fixtures were supplied by Ayrton as part of a collaboration between the Parisian manufacturer and these masters of spectacular party nights to bring the party to Paris.
“The Paris event is important because it is a big show and everyone’s expectations are high,” says Pissenem. “Plus, it is my home town and I want to give it something special. At Ushuaïa we have seven different shows - a separate one for each DJ - with a new show every day of the week; and every year we create seven new productions which get bigger and better each year.
“In Paris, we have just one chance, once a year, to give people the best party possible. So, when people walked into that massive arena this year, even those who came to the first Paris edition in 2016, I still wanted to blow their minds with a huge new show.”
This year’s design incorporated an enormous stage, a linear arrangement of newly introduced LED screens and a long line of lighting fixtures framing a representation of the curved stage at Ushuaïa
“We can’t replicate all the productions from Ibiza,” says Pissenem, “but we can bring the same energy, the same attraction of an international DJ line up, and the same crazy effects show, condensed into one mad, dance-filled party night.”
Pissenem delineated the top of the stage with a long line of alternating MagicPanel-FX and MagicDot-XT fixtures, and added more down the sides, interspersed between the strips of LED screen, to create the massive wall of light. Inside of this he placed fifteen angled trusses to replicate the arch of the Ushuaïa stage, each of which was alternately loaded with four MagicBlade-FX and a MagicPanel-FX unit. Six truss towers located far upstage each carried half a dozen more MagicBlade-FX, while a long, stage-wide row of MagicDot-XT was located in front of the DJ booth.
“Our challenge was to make each of the six DJ’s sets different from each other and special to themselves, all in the space of one evening. I therefore chose to hide the truss a little and to conceal the fixtures until I was ready to use them. We then added a different product/feature to each DJ set and gradually built them up over the six acts until, by the time the headliners, Afrojack and Hardwell, were playing, the whole rig was in full use and the crowd were going wild.”
(Jim Evans)
