They were specified by production manager/show designer Ray Woodbury of RK Diversified Entertainment, who is accustomed to the output and performance of the German company's LED platform, having run the Volkslichts on a number of events (such as the huge E3 computer games exhibition) and at the recent NKOTBSB sell-out arena tour, where he was creative director.
Woodbury has worked with the state-run OC Fair for the past eight years, taking on multiple tasks, including production management of several venues and lighting vendor for the Pacific Amphitheatre and The Hangar. His company also provides the event with staging and rigging services.
The production manager had first encountered GLP moving heads in Germany while working with Shakira - at the time when he was looking for a quality moving head LED fixture. "Then Butch Allen brought my attention to the new Volkslicht Zoom which we used on the NKOTBSB tour. I thought they performed well, so I bought 36 for my company."
His entire Volkslicht inventory has been on duty in the Hangar, which has been used largely for a succession of tribute acts during the festival.
The shows have been operated by a wide range of lighting professionals, including Joel Muir, Bear Blizzard, Andy Figueroa Jr and Sean Coates - with the general consensus pinpointing the speed and response of the Volkslichts.
At the same time, Ray Woodbury also took the opportunity to run the new impression Spot Ones in the 8,500-capacity Pacific Amphitheatre, using them mainly as upstage floor effects in support of a number of rock bands.
(Jim Evans)
