The celebration began in the early evening and featured star-studded performances on two stages by the likes of Miley Cyrus, Blondie, Melissa Etheridge and other crowd favourites. An estimated one million people gathered in mid-town Manhattan for the event, which culminated in the famous ball drop, with millions more watching on television and via live streaming throughout the world.
Powerful lighting effects and New Year's Eve go hand in hand with bursts of colour and light streaking through the air a natural part of the experience. Enter the colour-changing Platinum Beam 5R with 2.5 degree beam angle, which was used to shower narrow, dense ACL-type beam effects from above the main performance stage, from behind performers, and from the far side of the stage.
"We were really excited to use the Elation Beams this year on New Year's Eve," commented LD Paul Miller. "In the midst of all the light and colour that comes with doing a television show in the middle of Times Square , we're always looking for something that will really 'pop' and rise above the background and the Elations really helped us do that. Especially in the long shots from the top of #1 and #2 Times Square, they really drew your eye to the stages as well as allowing us to get some beams in the air - even when the cold wind blew all our atmosphere away."
Rental company Christie Lites, who supplied the lighting for the New Year's Eve celebration for the first time this year, has also supplied Platinum Beam 5Rs for the Broadway musical A Night with Janis Joplin (playing at the Lyceum Theatre in New York) where LD Justin Townsend added them to give a nice punch to the show.
Painting the trussing elements in colour across both stages at the NYE event were Elation ELAR 108s, handy RGBW Par lights that are IP65-rated to protect against inclement weather. In a coincidental note, Christie also supplied 500 ELAR 108s for the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie, where they were used through the rain and snow on a set that is an exact replica of Times Square.
(Jim Evans)
