The 34m high stage - a reconstruction of the Schonbrunn castle in Vienna - includes a ballroom with gilded chandeliers, majestic fountains, and even ice for skating. Lighting the massive set is an equally impressive Martin lighting rig made up of 30 MAC III Profiles, 185 MAC 2000 Washes, 58 MAC 2000 Wash XBs, 114 MAC 250 Washes, 10 MAC 2000 Performances and 14 Exterior 200s. Lighting contractor is Rent-All BV, one of the largest rental companies in Holland, who have been supplying lighting for André Rieu shows for years.
Lighting design for the tour is in the hands of Maurice Verbeek who has been designing lighting for André Rieu for nearly 12 years. Verbeek turned to Martin's popular 1500 watt MAC III Profile to span the set's enormous trim heights. "When I started to draw the plots for the World Stadium Tour I realised the size of this stage was enormous." Verbeek says. "The trim of the main rig needed to be 15m and we needed a lot of strong lights.
"At that time, the MAC 2000 Profile/Performance was the strongest spot but I needed something stronger with a bigger zoom range. After finishing the European tour, Rent-All informed me about the new MAC III Profile. After seeing a demo we decided to exchange the VL 3000 with the MAC III."
For more on the Andre Rieu see the November 2008 issue of Lighting&Sound magazine.
See Martin Professional at PLASA Focus - Leeds 2009 (April 28 - 29)
(Jim Evans)
