Lighting designer Steven Couliez was asked by the organisers to produce a design which encompassed lighting, video and structural set elements for an evening of pumping techno, trance, house and retro sounds from a landmark quarter century of Cherry Moon, with video content produced by Nachtcollective.
Steven took the spherical shape of the Cherry Moon logo as his starting point. A circular 10m diameter video screen centre stage was flanked by three curved vertical trusses either side and more circular trusses above - so there were circles in multiple directions all around the stage.
The 46 x Pointes were dotted all over the trusses and used for the barrage of front-facing effects into the audience - it's a perfect fixture for this type of event with lots of variations and high impact features. The Pointes were the workhorse lights of the rig.
"It's extremely versatile - you can switch from a beam to a wide flower-style projection in split-seconds," Steven commented, explaining that he and the lighting operators he works with are not big on using huge amounts of lights, they would rather make fewer fixtures go a longer way.
"You have to be more creative and clever with fewer fixtures and that's a good way to work. You can end up with a more complex and considered show than if you simply have lots of lights to throw at it."
Splendit were chosen as a rental partner because they have a large stock of the most up-to-date fixtures including all the Robes that Steven wanted.
The eight CycFX 8s were used to light the dancers at the front of the stage - Steven finds the zoom on them very useful and likes the range of colours.
The LEDBeam 100s were also dotted over the trussing and used for accenting and fast moving beam effects.
The design made the most of the full width of the stage and also reached out into the audience and drew them into the action, also producing many intimate moments evoking a vibey club feel in a large arena, another goal that was central to the overall aesthetic.
Werner Dries operated lights for the show - it was the first time that he and Steven had worked together, but Werner is a regular for Splendit and an experienced operator who also brought his personal touch to the show.
"It's been really smooth and seamless working with Splendit," says Steven, "and I am sure we will collaborate on many more projects in the future."
(Jim Evans)
