Robe fixtures were an integral part of Selah Sue's show - her lighting designer Joris Vandamme used 12 x Robin 600 LEDWashes on floor stands as a 'specials' package, an idea also being tried out for upcoming shows. He also used eight Robe MMX Spots that have just been installed as part of a new lighting rig at Het Depot along with Robe Actor 600 units.
Additionally, the first of Robe's new MMX WashBeams in Belgium were made available for these Het Depot shows by special arrangement with Robe's Benelux distributor, Controllux.
Selah Sue's material embraces an eclectic mix of styles including soul, R'n'B, reggae and blues. Her rich, deep, raspy voice is very distinctive and she's carved out a unique influential niche already, with her eponymous 2011 debut album being a massive success.
Sint-Niklaas-based Vandamme has designed Selah Sue's lighting for the last two years, and he's been using Robe products for about the same period. "They are very flexible, robust well-priced moving lights," he comments.
The 12 LEDWash 600 'specials' were rigged on four floor stands positioned asymmetrically around the stage. They were used for a whole miscellany of effects as well as for close-up washes on Selah Sue - who prefers minimal front lighting - and her four piece band.
Due to the quirky angles of the stands and the physically low levels of the lightsources as they swept dramatically across the stage, the whole space was bathed in intimacy.
Vandamme underlines the good relationship with Bram De Clerck and his team from Controllux's Belgian office who are very pro-active with service and product support. He had first seen the MMX WashBeams during PLASA and was keen to get them on demo, however he didn't think the opportunity to actually try them out on a show would materialise quite so quickly!
He used a new Clarity LX 300 console from LSC to run lighting for the Het Depot shows, and the LEDWash 600s were supplied by local rental company, D-Events.
(Jim Evans)
