"We designed, supplied and operated all the equipment for the main Bridge Party concert stage and performance arena," explains Russell Cobden, who was Black Light's project manager for the job. "It was an exciting thing to be involved with as it was a high-profile event that attracted a lot of media attention."
Black Light worked on the project with the organisers Unique Events. The two companies have a long-standing working relationship having collaborated for many years on world-class events such as Edinburgh's Hogmanay. Feedback was extremely positive, with Rab Randall from Unique Events commenting, "Thanks for the Forth Bridge job it looked great!"
The success of the project highlights Black Light's expertise at working on large-scale outdoor concerts for which technical proficiency and creative flair are both equally important.
Black Light's team on the Forth Bridge project included a rigger and lighting technicians. They employed a wide variety of equipment, including Robe LED colour-changing lights, spots and washes, to make sure that the concert was a visually dynamic and eye-catching spectacular. Cobden also set up and programmed the wide range of effects that the organisers needed. This required careful liaison with the team putting together the concert and a number of days of pre-preparation at Black Light's Edinburgh HQ.
"It was vital to test the lighting scheme before hand to make sure that everything was working before we set it up by the bridge,' says Cobden, who explains that his team only had a day at the bridge to put their equipment in place and that everything was prepped in such a way that it was plug and play once his team arrived on site. "Because we got the planning right, the event went without a hitch, even though we had significant time constraints to deal with."
The Bridge Party concert (which took place on 13 September) was headlined by legendary Scottish rock group Big Country and took place after thousands of torch-bearers had formed a kilometer-long river of fire across the bridge. Other highlights of the evening were a spectacular firework display and a giant outdoor ceilidh. The party formed the finale of the Forth Bridges Festival, which attracted over 100,000 local, national and international visitors over a 10-day period.
(Jim Evans)
