The country's best known club and concert venue is located appropriately in the Avenue du Rock 'n' roll in the epicentre of the magnificent steelworks which once dominated the region of Esch-sur-Alzette, now the site of a 450m Euro redevelopment project to preserve the former industrial magnificence of the disused plant, in the process transforming the area into a bustling scientific and cultural centre.
The Rockhal, opened in 2005, is also the largest major concert venue in Luxembourg and regularly hosts a string of international artists who can play its 6500 capacity main hall, a smaller Club space for 1100 people or the 250 capacity The Floor.
It also has a Music & Resources Centre with an infrastructure of rehearsal rooms, a recording studio, a media library and a team of professionals working together with the local music scene in order to guide and support them with their artistic projects. Heading up all the technicals is technical manager Elmar Hubert.
The Club space has always had its own lighting rig since the Rockhal opened, and the moving lights purchased at the time were Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 575 E ATs which are still going strong.
The first equipment investment for the Main Hall happened in 2009 with the purchase of d&b J PA and d&b monitor system , after which the first Main Hall lights - also Robe - were bought in 2011, comprising 14 x ColorSpot 700E ATs, 14 x Colorwash 700E and four LED Blinders.
As the success of the Rockhal mushroomed and they were staging an increasing number of shows, the time to upgrade the lighting rig soon arrived. Elmar explains that they wanted fixtures that were brighter and more powerful than the 700 series luminaries, and at the start of 2014 started looking at what was available and what would be coming on-stream.
Lighting designer Dan Robinet takes up the story, "We wanted a new fixture and something for the future, a unit and a brand that would be accepted by all the major artists playing here as well as one that would ideally have value as a cross-rental item."
A shootout was conducted between the offerings of the major brands, with the BMFL Spot being chosen. The BMFLs were delivered via their Showtrade, headed by Christian M?ller.
The 16 x BMFLs, together with 16 x LEDWash 800s bought at the same time, arrived just in time for the Sonic Vision Festival, a new three day event including workshops and seminars related to rock music as well as a series of live performances. The set-up included an outdoor stage and Dan was the production designer for all areas that needed to be lit. For control there is the choice of grandMA2 or Avolites.
The Rockhal stages around 200 shows a year and welcomes in excess of 200,000 visitors. Recent artists appearing include Prince, Stevie Wonder, Nickelback, OneRepublic and many more.
(Jim Evans)
