STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, U.K. – Blackburn, U.K.-based HSL has again supplied site-wide lighting equipment, including gear from Avolites, i-Pix, Green Hippo, Martin Professional and Robe, among others, for the GlobalGathering dance festival, staged at Long Marston Airfield. For the third year running, HSL was working for Electric Fly Productions, whose Phillip Winward and Nick Jevons created the production lighting, video and show designs for the main stage, four indoor arenas, two terrace lounges and the VIP zone, working for promoters Angel Music Group.
HSL's Tim Fawkes managed the project, which involved five 45-foot trailer loads of gear, including trussing and rigging, which he also coordinated on site, working with Electric Fly's crew of lighting technicians/operators and riggers.
"HSL as always have provided brilliant service, great value and immaculate equipment," said Jevons. "We could not do a production of this scale without this level of excellence." Also supporting the event with equipment were key manufacturers including
The different area's designs were all based around moving lights – primarily Robe – and a combination of Pixled F-30 or Martin Professional LC video screens supplied by XL Video. The idea was that each tent had a different appearance and aesthetic but fit within a consistent look as a whole.
Electric Fly's main stage design was based on a matrix of 36 Pixled F-30 screen panels hung on the mid and rear trusses, each with two sub-hung trusses below. Moving lights and strobes were positioned in the gaps between the screens, and this configuration added visual depth and volume to the space.
Both headline acts (Faithless on Friday; Dizzee Rascal on Saturday) brought in their touring festival rigs, which were used with the house rig. The house screens were simply flown up and tucked into the roof, allowing the guest productions to shimmy in below. Faithless also hooked the F-30 screens into content being run on their own upstage LC screen.
For this stage, HSL supplied 14 Robe ColorWash 2500E ATs, 16 Vari*Lite 3000s, 16 Atomic strobes, 22 4-lites, eight 8-lites and six Source Fours.
Jevons used an Avolites Diamond 4 Elite desk to control the rig, and ran the screens from a Martin Maxedia media server, with an input from the sound desk for specific artists.
The Global arena stage featured 24 of the new Robe ColorBeam 2500E ATs, about which "should come with a health warning!" Fawkes said, referring to their brightness.
The stage space was defined by 12 columns of LC screen, all of varying lengths hung off pre-rigged truss. Twelve matching floor-mounted columns came up to meet the flown ones and a large rectangular screen in the middle. This brought a widescreen feel to the large tent, which featured performances by Chase & Status, 2manydjs, Carl Cox and others.
Along with the ColorBeam 2500E ATs, operator Nathan Wan had 16 Robe ColorSpot 2500E ATs, 36 Atomic strobes and 16 4-lite Moles at his disposal, all positioned in the gaps between the screen columns and on two audience trusses running the length of the tent. The lights were run off an Avolites D4 Vision.
A Maxedia system ran the video, linked to the lighting console via a merge box, so CMY data from the video could be input into the lights to match them to the video for specific effects and moments.
The Godskitchen boombox stage featured the return of the video projection cube for a fusion of lighting and video at midnight each night. Headliners included Armin van Buuren and Above & Beyond. The Boom Box is constructed from Layher scaffolding with a DJ window in the center, flanked by dance podiums left and right, all clad with white projection material.
Framing this were 22 Robe ColorSpot 700E ATs. Twenty-six Atomic strobes and 16 linear 4-lites were incorporated into the Boom Box, and the DJs and dancers were illuminated with seven i-Pix Satellite LED brick lights.
Audience lighting featured 16 Robe ColorSpot 1200E ATs and four ColorWashes, rigged on trusses running down the tent.
HSL supplied Simon Barrington with a Chamsys MagicQ 100 console – his desk of choice.
Nic Ayres operated in the Bedrock tent, happy to play with 20 of HSL's new Robe Robin 300 Spots and 20 Robin 300 Washes, which he described as "incredibly bright."
The stage featured six floor mounted columns of Pixled F-30 at the back and a long spine truss running the full apex of the tent, rigged with alternating Robin 300 Spot and Wash fixtures.
There were another six Robin Washes and Spots onstage plus 16 Atomics distributed between the stage and audience truss, with 4-lite Moles also filling in the gaps between the screen strips.
An Avolites Pearl Expert was the console with a Hippotizer to run the video, which was installed with a beta version of the latest Video mapping application to give it a bit of a test run.
The stage design for the House/Random arena consisted of two ground-supported concentric arches made up from Tomcat ground support trusses, with Pixled F-30 hung beneath in a center section at the back, and Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 1200E ATs positioned on the arches and stage floor.
There was a single audience truss with more ColorWash and Spot 1200s and a total of 16 Atomic strobes divided between stage and truss. Source Fours were used for key lights and 12 2-lite moles for a bit of punch along the front of the DJ booth.
HSL's Mike Docksey also managed a completely different project at the festival, co-ordinating the specials lighting supply for Steve Angello's set via his show producers, BPM Productions. Steve Angello – known for his highly visual performances – brought in his own lighting production to boost his hi energy Friday headline slot.
This consisted of a wall of 32 Jarags split into two sections at the front and back of the DJ booth. HSL fitted the Jarags with mirrored front panels for a touch of retro that doubled as bounce points for the lasers. All these visual elements added to the atmospheric engineering that's become an Angello trademark. His lighting rig also included Robe Robin 300 Beams.
The house desk in here was a Pearl Expert operated by Ben Hyman, with a small Maxedia for the F-30, and Angello's rig was run by Ben Mansfield on a Hog 3, with the Jarags pixel-mapped via a Hippotizer media server.
The Spectrum arena stage shape featured two concentric arches built out of HSL circular truss 4.5 and 6 meter diameter respectively with LC screen panels mounted on the front one, and a 15-meter circular truss rigged off the tent poles for audience lighting.
Martin Professional kit took center stage with six MAC 3 Profiles on the stage and floor and eight 301 LED wash lights underneath the arches, all pointing forwards into the room, together with 12 Atomics distributed between audience and stage.
The audience were further highlighted with Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 2500E ATs, with Toby Hogarth using an Avo Pearl Expert and a Maxedia for the LC screen.
2010 marked the first year that Electric Fly/HSL lit the VIP area as well as the performance arenas.
This year's VIP arena featured a smaller tent with a stage surrounded by an arched ground support system on the front of which they hung six of the new i-Pix BB 2x2s. The DJs were backlit and sidelit with four BB16s, and there were also 4 Robin 300 Spots, all run off a Pearl Expert.
It was the first time that they have had the chance to use this latest i-Pix product, which was first used at Glastonbury just a few weeks earlier. Jevons also used the BB 2x2s in the main stage front-of-house mixer area.
"i-Pix has always supported us ever since we first designed this event site-wide two years ago, and it's great to get a chance to test out their latest technology and innovations and put it through its paces," said Jevons, who credited the BB 2×2 for its color range and quick response time. "For such small units, they kick out a massive amount of light," he added.
For the VIP area, six BB 2x2s were rigged to the trussing surrounding the front of the stage/DJ booth, blasting the dance floor with solid blocks of color and an array of effects.
The back and sides of the stage in the VIP tent were lit with BB16 units, and an additional four BB16s were also used to wash the Live Terrace from the back of the stage.
Outside the VIP area were a series of recycled wooden sculptures by Do Lab and some large scenic flowers, which were illuminated by PAR 56s in Lee 158 orange to give them a nice warm, ambient glow and Source Fours.
This area was looked after by Simon "Boff" Howarth, and was a relatively late addition to the Global lighting plan. "Massive credit to the HSL warehouse crew, who were also simultaneously prepping a large amount of kit for several other large projects," said Tim Fawkes. "They did a great job of getting Global prepped and ready for site on time whilst maintaining the highest standard of prep that our customers expect."
i-Pix BB16s and James Thomas Engineering PixelLines were used to light the structures and sculptures on the Live Terrace, and the DJ Terrace was lit with 96 Pulsar 1200mm ChromaStrips, hung at different heights.
Fawkes noted that everything ran smoothly for HSL and Electric Fly. "Many of the crew were the same as last year, and practicalities like knowing the site and how to negotiate it – as well as rigorous pre-planning – really make it rock."
For more information, please visit www.hslgroup.com.
