LONDON – Back in mid-2010, Danish lighting designer Christian Bonde prepared to scale up the design for the Bullet For My Valentine's shows, which had appeared at a variety of club-type venues in the U.S., in preparation for European arenas. Knowing the vagaries of heavy traveling and short load-in times, he needed a floor rig that, while powerful, required no more than a one man set up. GLP impression fixtures proved well-suited to the task.
The Download Festival in the U.K. marked the start of the upscaling process – from an inventory of 10 original impression RGB moving heads to 44 RZ 120 Zooms – in anticipation of the Welsh rockers' current tour.
The RZ 120s and 700W profile discharge moving light became the mainstays of the new rig – with the lighting support for the European leg coming from Neg Earth.
The number floor lights grew, with 20 GLP impressions now deployed along with strobes and blinders, and the grid setup now includes six ladders, constructed from one single pipe. "We were able to do this because of the small size and low weight of the fixtures," noted Bonde.
As for the new design rationale, he said, "Once again, we have limited space on the trucks, so therefore the task was to design a ‘smaller' rig, with a back, mid and front truss – along with two wing trusses in the U.K. for the I-Mag screens and lights – with the ladders dropping down from the trusses.
"This tour needed to look big, but not to be big – and using an entire wall of lights has given the show a big look," he added.
Along with the power-to-weight ratio, Bonde credited the impressions as reliable and quick, with a super-fast response. "They also have a nice hardware design, easy menus … plus you get lots of output from a small fixture; in some situations these are similar to a conventional wash."
The lighting designer has been using the full zoom facility of the RZ 120s – both as an effect and also on the backdrops. And controlling the fixtures from a grandMA console has enabled him to initiate 0-sec cues for fast breaks in the music.
In terms of output, the RZ 120s have been holding their own alongside the high wattage profile spots and the 72 square meters of WinVision LED screens used on the U.K. leg of the tour.
The RZ 120s have also proven to be reliable. "We have been touring with GLP impressions since April – including two American tours, one European festival tour and a European/UK tour – and in that time I have only had one fixture break down," Bonde noted, also crediting GLP for its service and support.
For more information, please visit www.glp.de.
