Robe lights alternative Martin Jensen shows
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At the heart of ensuring that all concerts on this tour were visually and sonically engaging experiences was lighting designer Mathias Skall Hansen from Frontsound.
For five of the seven shows, Mathias specified and used quantities of different Robe moving lights – MegaPointes, Spiiders, BMFLs – which were supplied by Nordic Rentals.
Mathias has been using Robe products consistently in his lighting designs for the last six years. “They are very powerful with good colour mixing and gobo selection, very fast, easy to programme and above all reliable and well-engineered,” he commented.
For the Parken show, Martin was positioned right in the middle of the pitch, his DJ booth set up on a 10 x 10m video floor. Around this were three concentric circles of moving lights, the first and second comprising 42 x Robe BMFL Spots in total and the third outer ring made up by 56 x MegaPointes.
The 139m-long Niels Juhl – a fully working Navy frigate – was anchored at the Navy base in Korsør at the time of the concert.
Martin’s DJ decks were set up on the helipad with the 24 x MegaPointes arranged in a V-shape behind him, used to create assorted patterns, looks, and camera candy effects, while the FOH area was set up in the helicopter hangar immediately behind.
The SFX included flames and gas jets, and the trademark Martin Jensen show fireworks were rigged on barges positioned around the ship for a massive wide-shot panorama.
The challenges for this gig included craning all the kit onto the ship for which the Navy fully embraced the show and made their considerable resources available. One thing that no-one could control on the night was the wind, so the multiple strategically positioned smoke machines had their work cut out, but the MegaPointes were so bright that they pierced the night sky even without enhancement from the smoke.
The Hjejlen is one of the world’s oldest operational paddle-steamers, built in 1861 and now used to ferry tourists between Silkeborg, where she is moored and Himmelbjerget one of Denmark’s highest points.
Picturesque Silkeborg is also Martin’s hometown, so this show was a big deal for him and the city that nestles on the Gudenå River in eastern Jutland.
The ship is considerably smaller than the Niels Juhl, so there was room only for the DJ booth and some minimal battery powered wireless LED key lights on the deck. A smoke machine was secreted in the boiler room and atmosphere fed in from behind a large seat, with all the major lighting and effects elements – including 24 x Robe MegaPointes – deployed on pontoons rigged around the boat in the harbour, with the FOH control on another.
Copenhagen’s ILLUM luxury department store was the pop-up location for the final show of this series so far.
To accentuate the opulent interior, Mathias used 86 x Robe Spiider LED wash beams positioned on flightcases deployed around the ground and first three floors, allowing the whole inside of the building and all the shopping areas to be illuminated.
The 16 x MegaPointes used for this show were set up in a circle on the floor directly below the flown DJ riser. Two Robe BMFL Spots at one end were used to shoot gobos all around the atrium including onto the escalator structure opposite.
Mathias programmed and operated lighting for all these events using his grandMA3 light console.
Frontsound also co-ordinated the audio, and supplied the pyro, fireworks and SFX for locations where they were used.
Trust Rental was the video supplier for the ILLUM and Parken performances, while the drone footage was supplied by Book1drone and cameras by Mike Sønderby AT Rafnpv.
