Chris specified 20 x Robe BMFL Blades as a major part of the lighting scheme for the Sunset Cliffs (main) Stage of the three day event, a music 'experience' and a specially curated 'sound voyage', combining rock music and some EDM with comedy, food, contemporary art, great vibes and premium amenities.
Chris worked closely with co-designer Erik Parker and assembled a hand-picked team of lighting programmer / operators to run and coordinate lighting for all the stages. Music headliners included The Killers, No Doubt, Snoop Dog, The Zac Brown Band and many, many more.
The goal was to make each stage look different and dynamic while keeping everything user-friendly for guest LDs.
Both Chris and Erik work as touring LDs and know the scenarios and the pressures of producing good shows in short timescales at festivals. "We wanted to make it as straightforward and satisfying as possible for visiting LDs in terms of them being able to clone / swap fixtures and provide a good layout of lights to give anyone arriving over the weekend the chance to have a great looking show," he explained.
The 20 x BMFL Blades were positioned on one of the upstage trusses and used primarily for back lighting and as general effects lights for the Sunset Cliffs stage.
Approximately nine of the bands playing Kaaboo's Sunset Cliffs stage brought their own LDs, and the others were lit by 'house' LD / programmer Matt Shimamoto. Many of the guest LDs used the BMFLs for big backlight looks taking full advantage of the optics and gobo selection.
Lighting on the Sunset Cliffs and Grandview stages was supplied by Solotech and included grandMA2 control systems, with the other four stages supplied by Visions Lighting.
(Jim Evans)
