The gig was part of the multi-city fundraising effort in aid of the 2009 BBC Children in Need Appeal, which resulted in donations of over £20 million, which will be used to fund projects aiming to help make positive changes to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people in the UK.
Lighting was designed by BBC Northern Ireland's Jim Devlin and programmed by John Gallagher. PSI's project manager was Brian Reilly, who comments: "It was great to work with Jim Devlin on another prestigious event for BBC Northern Ireland. All went very smoothly for a production of this size, and the teamwork between PSI's staff and the BBC production team worked brilliantly."
PSI has a long history of servicing BBC Northern Ireland's events, and has supplied lighting to the annual Children In Need concert for several years.
This year lighting equipment comprised 80 Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 700E AT moving lights - 40 of each type, five bars of Studio Due CS4s, 30 i-Pix BB4 LED blinder/wash lights, 20 Thomas Pixel Pars, a selection of 2, 4 and 8-lite Molefeys and Arri 2k fresnels.
PSI also supplied 20 1-tonne Lodestar motors for lighting rigging and four Robert Juliat Ivanhoe follow spots, which were installed on a 'flying carpet' platform above the auditorium.
A comprehensive power distribution system was included as part of the package, featuring two of PSI's custom GSL PD racks and Avolites ART dimmers. One of the main technical challenges was designing and providing the distribution and cable infrastructure, all of which was pre-planned in great detail for smooth running on the day. The control desk was John Gallagher's own Compulite Vector Green.
The star studded artist line up included Ronan Keating, N-Dubz, Sugababes and Tinchy Stryder, plus Escala, Eoghan Quigg, Sinead Quinn and the Dawn Breakers and home-grown rockers Ash and The Saw Doctors. They all contributed to an action-packed evening presented by John Daly.
Jim Devlin commented: "As we had a production in the studio at the same time, we turned to PSI to supply the full lighting production for Children in Need 2009. I was very pleased with the slick service, and PSI crew were a delight to work with."
John Gallagher adds: "The service from PSI has always been second to none. Their crew was headed by Joe Byrne for the fit up and show standby, and the staff were great. The RDM (Remote Device Management) system in place to remotely communicate with the Robe 700 fixtures was fantastic."
(Jim Evans)
