Simon Barrington, production manager says: "As co-designer for the stages, and lighting designer for the site my concentration on the looks for all the stages was always going to be biased towards lighting. I have always had the belief that punters should walk away from the gig, having experienced the ultimate in audio and visual shows."
Barrington says: "My reasons for choice of fixtures were threefold. Firstly the two headline acts, Daft Punk and Fatboy Slim had both specified Martin Fixtures, which included MAC 2000 Profiles and Atomics. Secondly, Martin fixtures are a known quantity to me. Although I wasn't physically operating any of the desks, I wanted fixtures that not only I knew, but ones that my programmers and operators knew as well. MACs are such a predominant fixture on the UK hire market that they were the obvious choice. Thirdly and finally, whilst it is great to throw loads of lights onto the various stages, there is still a budget to adhere to. The MAC range of fixtures offer reliability and quality at a cost effective price."
He says: "The brightness of the MAC 2000 was imperative. The Beach / Radio One stage was scheduled to shut at 11pm, so it was a predominantly daytime show. Even when it got dark, there was a lot of LED video screen to cut through. The MAC 2000s held up in both instances."
Martin lighting, which was present on most of the stages, was supplied by HSL and Bandit to Zig Zag who installed it. The Essential/Bedrock area had Martin lighting supplied by Audile.
Neil Hunt from ZigZag supplied some of the Martin kit including the Atomic Strobes, of which he says: "They are now seen as the industry standard, big, powerful and as reliable as you can expect from a strobe, a good tool."
Also supplied were several Jem machines including ZR33s, ZR12 DMXs, ZR24/7s, a Roadie, a AF1 fan and a couple of old TechnoHazes which Hunt describes as a "brilliant product". The ZR24/7 and Roadie were used in the main arena. Hunt says of the ZR24/7: "It is the tool of choice for smoke and haze."
Martin Phillips, LD to Daft Punk, lit the Electric/Godkitchen stage using MAC 2000s, MAC 600s and Atomics, and it was operated by Matt Holden Jones and Will Miller for the event.
Essential/Bedrock arena was lit with 10 MAC 550s and Atomics, which were controlled by Grant Knox via Pearl 2004 and Hippotizer.
The Beach (Outdoor stage) was supplied with MAC 2000s, Atomics and MAC 600s. These were supplied and installed by Colour Sound Experiment. Fatboy Slim's design had MAC 2000s on trusses flown over the stage, as well as on upright trusses around the LED screen.All were controlled by Haydn Cruickshank and crew of Colour Sound Experiment via a Hog 3.
Strongbow Rooms were designed with MAC 300, Atomics and MAC 250 Entours. All controlled by Tom Nicolson via Pearl 2004 and Hippotizer.
Inside the Hed Kandi VIP Tent, four MAC 700 Profiles and four MAC 250 Kryptons were placed on the floor by the stage and a Maxxyz console was operated by Mark Buss from Martin Professional.
The Carl Cox Stage was designed by Gerry Caulderhead and the gear was supplied by Colour Sound Experiment, which Included MAC 600s. Simon Barrington says: "Global Gathering is a DJ led show, with over 150 DJ's. A DJ needs a theatre of visual experiences to be created around them to help create the atmosphere." The MAC 2000s were supplied by HSL and Bandit Lites, the MAC 600s were supplied by HSL and the Atomics supplied by ZigZag and HSL.
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