Held on 10 July at the Sails Pavilion at the San Diego Convention Centre, Aspect Lighting of Southern California, managed by owner Sid Khera, supplied the lighting and truss structure for the event. Lighting design was by Phil Shearer of lighting and production design company Shearer Entertainment with Aspect Lighting's Larry Doerr providing creative design and layout input. Lighting design assistance was from Nick Coauette.
Underscoring the importance of the event was the fact that Fall Out Boy LD Robb Jibson flew in for the show as did Akon LD Lenny Douglas, both of whom had at their disposal a flexible rig that served both as performance lighting and lighting for the Bash party.
"We had to be mindful of the performers and their system needs while keeping the look of the party," LD Phil Shearer explains. "The rig was used twofold - as a performance rig and as a party rig for decorative looks and dancing. Programming time was very limited and there was no pre-visualization so there were separate control systems that were discreet of each other which meant that the guest LDs were not hindered by the party lighting."
Elation's industry staple Platinum Beam 5R Extreme beam lights were mounted on vertical pipe up- and downstage of the proscenium while Platinum SBX hybrid moving heads were positioned over the stage for backlighting the entertainment.
"We used the SBX for a nice flood of light and used the diffuser wheel for a nice, flat beam for the camera," Shearer said of the 15,000 lumen hybrid fixture that can be used as a spot, beam, or wash light. "There was 270-degrees of video projection so we had to be mindful of fixture placement as we didn't want to spill on to the screens."
A visual highlight of the rig was a baseball diamond-shaped truss lined with ACL Bar 360 colour-changing LED battens, each fixture with seven 15W RGBW LEDs and capable of continuous 360° rotation. "The ACL 360 Bars were perfect for the baseball diamond truss," Shearer says, who adds that the design idea came from Larry Doerr. "We wanted something that would complement the diamond and the ACL's worked out great. We used them to their fullest. They are very dynamic and were used for both the performers and the dance at the end of the night."
(Jim Evans)
