Rock and Bowl grows with Chauvet
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To reflect the festival’s coming of age on its 10th anniversary, its organisers committed to making their stage bigger and bolder than ever for headliners like Rews and Think Floyd. Ashley Heritage and Nic Farman helped them achieve this goal with a dynamic, fast-moving lighting rig anchored by Rogue and Nexus fixtures from Chauvet Professional supplied by CSPAV.
The duo deployed 30 Rogue R2 Wash and 12 Rogue R1 FX-B moving fixtures, along with 20 Nexus 7x7 warm white blinders/audience washes, on four levels of trussing to create massive tour-like lighting displays throughout the three-day festival. "Given the growth of the festival in recent years, and the stature of our acts, we wanted to create a powerful impression with our design,” says Heritage.
Providing the central visual focus in that design were 12 pixel-mapped Rogue R1 FX-B fixtures that were suspended from drop arms of differing heights to create a staggered multi-dimensional effect. Adding to the depth of the stage lighting were the infinite pan and tilt rotation of the fixture’s five individually controlled 15W RGBW moving heads.
“The R1 FX-B played a key role in crafting a large-scale visual feel,” says Heritage. “The combination of incredible brightness, saturated colours and 360° rotation gave us a lot of looks to play with, including creating light curtains and sharp energetic effects to whip up visual energy when required."
Complementing these scissor-like looks was the colourful output of the Rogue R2 Wash fixtures that were hung on trussing 9m and 6m high. Utilising the wide (12° to 49°) zoom range of the wash units, Heritage and Farman were able to vary coverage areas, along with colours, to provide a continuous flow of fresh looks.
While the Rogues provided captivating stage lighting, the Nexus 7x7 units in the rig connected the performers to the crowd with audience lighting. "We hung the Nexus fixtures from varied heights of scaffolding poles to provide eye candy for daylight and evening performances," adds Heritage. "The warm white pixel mapping created a unique visual element on stage and also further supported our goal of creating the large festival stage atmosphere."
With this year's attendance numbers once again exceeding even the most optimistic expectations, Rock and Bowl is steadily proving itself to be a force on the UK festival scene.
(Jim Evans)
