In February, Paul decided to get out of his 'comfort zone' so together with Tom, a younger member of the lighting team, took a day's training at A.C. Lighting and came away with a Vista T2. The console's first outing was for The Nth Fest, a groundbreaking twelve hour Christian Rock Festival featuring over 30 bands.
Prior to the Festival, Paul and Tom familiarised themselves with the desk by just patching the fixtures and arranging the rig plan on screen. Staging, PA and lighting were loaded into the venue and set up on Friday in preparation for the 12-hour stint on Saturday. The lighting rig consisted of thirty Par64's, four Source Fours, 2/4 moles, 4/2 moles, Atomic strobes, ten Martin Mac 250's and four Tourwashes.
The venue was cleared at 7pm and Paul spent until 9pm programming and using the desk for the first time. ESP's Lighting team were amazed how much was achieved in a couple of hours and received many remarks about the console's abilities from bands during the show the following day.
Since the show ESP have used the Vista on various events, including a three day music festival featuring over twenty international rock 'n' roll bands, with many more events lined up over the coming months.
Paul commented on his recent Vista T2 purchase: "I think to date we are the smallest company to take a Vista in the UK. Prior to purchase, financial decisions and new technology dilemmas were mulled over, but having now 'road tested' the Vista T2 I have definitely made the right choice for an exciting new way in lighting control. I've used the console on many one night productions with as little as half an hour programming time and managed to create some stunning effects that I know I wouldn't have been able to achieve on other desks in the same amount of programming time. I would advise any company, big or small, to take a look at the Jands Vista - it's amazing!"
(Lee Baldock)
