Robe MegaPointes get Vertical in Kyiv
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In Kyiv, Ukraine, ‘Vertical Concerts’ were initiated by rock band Green Grey who performed on the rooftop of a building opposite the city’s Bratislava Hotel where fans occupied nine stories of rooms with separate balconies, each with a socially distanced view of the gig.
Ukraine rental and technical production company Alight was asked to provide lighting for the rooftop stage – actually atop the Hotel Bratislava’s separate restaurant building – with a production lighting design created by Eugene Kostyra which included 10 x Robe MegaPointes. All the equipment was craned up to the rooftop, rock ‘n’ roll style.
Green Grey played the first Vertical gig, followed a couple of weeks later by hip hop act TNMK (Tanok na Maidani Kongo) and then another popular rock band, O’Torvald.
For Green Grey’s show, the MegaPointes were deployed behind the stage, creating powerful backlight shooting up into the night skies, illuminating the architecture of the stage and highlighting the unique urban landscape.
For the O’Torvald gig, the MegaPointes were placed on the stage floor and in front of the main lighting gantry upstage.
Eugene – who works full time for Alight and is a prolific LD with The Voice Ukraine among his recent projects – specified MegaPointes as they are one of his go-to fixtures. “They are just so versatile that I use them on virtually every project I design,” he stated.
There were several other lights on the Vertical Concert’s rig, including small beam lights and matrix panels, together with the MegaPointes, all programmed and run by Eugene from a grandMA 3 console.
The Vertical concerts have created a buzz of excitement and been very popular, selling out fast. Instead of buying tickets, fans booked hotel rooms – with up to four people from families / household bubbles – per room.
For Eugene, who has lit shows in some interesting places before, the most enjoyable aspect of working on the Vertical Concerts was “the incredible teamwork”. This included with Alight’s lighting crew chief Katunin Vitalii plus Green Grey’s leader and guitarist, Andrii ‘Diezel’ Yatsenko who started the ball rolling.
Sound and staging were supplied by Zinteco and LED screens from ScreenPro.
At time of writing, the Ukrainian national lockdown measures had been extended until 31 August, so the concert industry is struggling there like in most places.
