Robe in control for Kensington
- Details
Belgian based lighting designer Michiel Milbou of Never Fear Shadows was asked by technical and show production co-ordinators Bush Cherroud and Albert Deltour from Nexxt Technology to come onboard and create a light show; he spec’d over 200 Robe Spiiders and BMFL Spot moving lights to be at the core of an epic visual extravaganza.
Milbou worked closely with Jop Kuipers, the band’s lighting operator, set designer Ronald van den Bersselaar from BEEO and graphic designer Mo Assem from Mr Beam, and together they devised the look and aesthetic of the show.
It was the first time that Milbou - well known for his flair and imagination in the television and live music sectors - has worked with the band. He was asked to take on the LD role, and was “delighted to be working alongside such a talented and innovative production team for one of The Netherlands’ best-known bands”.
Milbou suggested assorted lighting proposals after acquainting himself with the music and set list. He wanted to keep it simple.
The band wanted a substantial upstage video screen, so he designed lighting with that in mind first and foremost. The video wall ended up being an impressive main 56-metre-wide section with two narrower strips of video running top and bottom at staggered depths.
Lighting supplier Phlippo had four custom manually operated follow spots made for the back of the stage, where they were positioned on the floor each featuring a 6x6 matrix of ACL bulbs. Milbou had two large Svoboda-style frames made up of PAR 64s which were deployed each side of stage, just offstage from the set, for intense warm looking blinders blasting out into the crowds. The 58 BMFL Spots were his primary effects lights.
“I wanted BMFLs because it’s a stadium, so I needed the brightest light source available, and the one that was the most versatile to keep everything moving! There was only one choice,” he explains.
That most of the show was in daylight was another factor. For curfew reasons they had to finish at 11pm so the first half of the show saw plenty of natural lumens still flooding into the Arena.
BMFLs were rigged in four rows in between the primary LED screen and its four border banner strips - giving him two dynamic low volleys and two high ones of powerful, precise, eye-popping profiles.
The 129 x Spiiders were divided between the central 12 metre-wide performance area - above and below the screen elements for a big battery of powerful wash and beam fixtures immediately behind the band.
The rest were deployed on the floor and around the sides of the stage to cross light the band from a mid-stage location.
He utilised seven BMFL followspots - also a first for him using Robe’s remote follow-spotting RoboSpot system.
Each was rigged with its own individual motion camera - operated via seven remote BaseStations which were all positioned at FOH, directly under the spots. The remote operators had control of pan, tilt and iris, and Michiel had all other parameters on a separate grandMA2 console, operated by Cedric Eestermans.
In addition to these, he had another 11 conventional manually operated follow spots dotted around the room and over the stage.
The main stage lighting console was another grandMA2 operated by Dimi Theuwissen. With most of the show running to timecode from the band, Michiel called all 18 follow spots.
A grid of 160 spot moving lights in the centre behind the band, came in and out four times during the set, and there were also over 100 other wash lights on the rig plus 75 strobes.
(Jim Evans)
