This was the first year the Mardi Gras had been held in Hyde Park and it followed the Pride Parade as usual, which has been a high point in the annual calendar for the UK's gay and lesbian community since 1972. Bocking faced a diverse set of challenges as he produced cutting-edge lighting designs for five very differently themed areas. Arriving on site two days before the show, he immediately saw where additional equipment would help improve his designs still further. Fourth Phase London demonstrated both the excellent diversity of its rental equipment stock, pulling out all the stops to ensure Bocking's visions were realized: "We were on site with my drawings and equipment lists, but I saw there was the potential to use additional equipment," he says. "Fourth Phase agreed that I could use anything in its UK stocks that wasn't already on a job, so we brought in extra strobes, mirror balls, Stage Scans and smoke machines."
Forming the focal point of Pride in the Park was the main stage, which saw performances from a range of top artistes and gay icons including Appleton, Blue, Liberty X, Mis-Teeq, Tom Robinson, Jimmy Somerville, Heather Small and Soft Cell. As the acts would be primarily performing in daylight, Bocking opted for a wholly conventional rig, This included 15 bars of six pars, six bars of four ACLs, four 8-Lite molefays and 12 Diversitronics Data Strobes, controlled from an Avolites Pearl console and 72-way dimmer. Two cracked oil machines and a Jem ZR33 smoke machine were also employed.
The rest of Bocking's brief was to light four tents, three featuring a mixture of DJ action and personal appearances, while the fourth had a much more laid back vibe. The Club World Tent was sponsored by BT and a number of major gay clubs, featuring sets by DJs including Steve Thomas, Tom Stephan and Gonzalo. For this, Bocking gave an outing to a selection of Fourth Phase London's intelligent lighting stock, including 16 Martin Professional MAC 2000 profiles and 14 High End Studio Colors, alongside conventionals. Control was from an Avolites Sapphire with two Cirrolite cracked oil machines and a Jem ZR33 again adding atmosphere.
Sponsored by Ford, the Urban World tent saw more Martin Pro fixtures in the shape of 12 MAC 600s and 12 MAC 500s strutting their stuff with further generics to sets by DJs including Sugar Bear, Luke Howard and DJ Supadon. Providing the 'official women's dance arena', the Girls World tent was given a brighter look than the conventional 'blackout' space of the Club and Urban World tents. "Because it was fairly bright, you didn't need a lot of equipment, so we put a fairly simple system into it which worked really well," says Bocking. This included 10 High End Studio Spot 575s, 10 High End Studio Color 575s and a Wholehog II desk.
The final task was to light the Delta Airlines 'Hot Spots' Tent. This featured a chill-out zone and travel fair, where Delta, as a main sponsor of Pride in the Park, provided a space for participants to relax for a while. With an overall Florida theme, in contrast to the other four areas Bocking took a very architectural approach, using four Studio Due City Colors and bars of six to provide a subtly relaxing environment.
(Lee Baldock)
