Lighting designer was Johan Ferreira who is also the LD and operator for the main stage at the Innibos Festival in Nelspruit, which sees some 100,000 people pass through the gate during the week and well over 45 000 people on the field for the Saturday performance, that usually includes international acts like Boney M (2008) and Smokey (2007).
InniBosVeld (In the bushveld) is a partnership festival between InniBos and Kurt Darren. "This is the second time that we did the Kurt Darren en Jukebox vriende show," said Ferreira. "The first time was last year at InniBos and it was a huge hit. I helped conceptualize the stage look, both set and lighting, for the production."
MGG Productions supplied the lighting, AV, truss, screens and crew for this event, with Herman Wessels at the helm. Besides other gear, the event saw 24 Robe 700s and six Robe 700 Beams controlled by an Avolites Pearl console. A triangular shaped truss hung over the stage. While Wessels confesses that the crew worked solidly without any sleep for 48 hours, the gig was fun and the client's positive response made it all worthwhile.
An extra drawing card for the ardent fans who attend this festival is that InniBosveld is held on singer Kurt Darren's farm, situated just outside Naboomspruit, about 180Km from Pretoria.
"There were no big complications on the farm involving the rig," commented Ferriera. "Alvin Bruinders from Soundheadquarters and his crew did an amazing job with the stage, uneven terrain was the only thing that was really difficult, so getting the stage deck level was a huge task. The other thing we had to keep in mind was that we were working on a game farm with quite a number of animals.
"Because of the concept of the show, I wanted the lighting to have a theatrical feel to it, even though it is on an open stage in front of a crowd of 25,000. It was very important to me to be able to light the individual parts of the stage as there was so much going on. One thing that complicates this type of show is the fact that there is no set list. We have over 40 songs in the show, but the audience can choose what they want to hear and when, which can play havoc on the technical team and band.
"I was not sure what to expect from the 700s as I have never seen them before and had heard very little about the fixtures. All of this changed however when the units were turned on by Herman of MGG and I saw the capabilities for the first time. I could not believe the power of the units - I think that it is the perfect light for an open air stage."
(Jim Evans)
