For BL°F's recent show at Amsterdam's 17,000 capacity Ziggo Dome lighting designer Patrick Kramer did exactly this ... with a little help from over 200 Robe moving lights including 26 of the new BMFL Spots.
Patrick cut his professional lighting career teeth in the theatre and has always liked to work as part of a creative team. On this one, he collaborated with set and video designer Bart van Rooy and between them, the concept of building geometric shapes, squares and rectangles evolved. These were based on a Layher scaffolding superstructure clad with a mix of LED and scenic panels.
He then needed powerful lighting fixtures to fill the venue's vast interior that would offer a good range of spot, beam and wash options and the ultimate flexibility to craft an intricate show requiring plenty of attention to detail.
He chose Robe for almost all his moving lights. The total number of fixtures was 26 x BMFL Spots, 40 x Pointes, 80 x CycFX 8s, 34 x LEDWash 800s and 32 x MMX WashBeams.
Each set of fixtures had a specific functionality and combined, these enabled Patrick to produce a stunning, eye-catching and emotive show that thrilled and captivated the audiences and impressed the press.
BMFLs on the over-stage trusses were used for potent front lighting, while those on stage at the back were used to create huge all-encompassing long-throw beam-tastic looks, high-clarity gobo effects and vibrant band washes.
The 40 Pointes were positioned upstage in five vertical lines, their primary role to increase the depth and three dimensionality of the set / stage ... and help accentuate its scale.
The 80 x CycFX 8s framed the top and bottom of the set / stage, emphasizing the architecture of the space and completely changing the appearance of the stage. Also they were connectors between the energies of the band onstage and the audience, wiping across the space with huge sweeps of colour and masses of beams so the stage appeared to be floating!
The 34 x LEDBeam 800s were ensconced in the Layher scaffolding structure and used to backlight the stage making it glow and shimmer.
The 32 x MMX WashBeams were used for side lighting, highlighting the contours and lines of the set as well as for adding pulsating washes.
The scope of the design and the versatility of all these Robe fixtures meant that Patrick could cut between enormous epic looks one second to cool, subtle, fluid, intimate looks the next.
Patrick ran the lighting and lasers (from Resal Laser) for the Ziggo Dome event on his Avolites Sapphire Touch console, with an Avolites Ai Infinity server playing back the video content and live camera feed.
Lighting, rigging and sound equipment was supplied by PRG EML, video kit came from Faber AV with content produced by Bart van Rooy and programmed by Tenfeet's Leon Driessen. The stage structure was built by Interstage BV.
(Jim Evans)
