ABU DHABI, U.A.E. – "Yasalam", the Arabic word for "fantastic, amazing and astonishing" was the name for a Formula 1 Grand Prix last year, which included four nights of post-race concerts featuring Beyoncé, Aerosmith, Jamiroquai, and Kings of Leon. The shows were lit by more than 100 Clay Paky fixtures. The four concerts, produced by Flash Entertainment, were held at Ferrari World on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi and were open only to ticket holders for the auto racing events, but each show still drew a big crowd. Production Technology LLC delivered the lighting, rigging and staging.
The stage design was wide and open, with clean sightlines for everyone in the audience. With no roof and no front truss, the back wall carried the bulk of the lighting along with a giant high-resolution screen. It was flanked on both sides with 45-meter-wide LED "wings" with additional effect lighting, supplied by TechnoPro. Towers placed at the front corners of the stage contained front and side lights.
On the back wall, there were 44 Clay Paky Alpha Spot 1200 and 42 Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1200s, with 20 Alpha Beam 300 fixtures placed on the wings for additional effects. Control came from 3 grandMA full size consoles and 2 grandMA media servers.
Luke Bonner of Production Technology, who worked with Steve Shipman, the festival LD, noted that "in events such as this, the last thing you need are lights that do not work properly or keep constantly breaking down," adding that "of all Steve's concerns, the Clay Paky fixtures did not seem to be one of them."
"I've done a lot of work with Alpha 1200 Spots and Washes over the last few years, they're great workhorse fixtures," said Shipman. "They were the main fixtures on the back wall for the F1 show. It was big! The top truss trimmed at just under 17 meters, the width was 37 meters. I needed lights with good output and good zoom range. The Alphas were perfect. They were also very reliable, we had 86 fixtures working for 8 days, about 8 hours a day. Total number of swap outs: One! That's a good average in my book."
"I was also very impressed with the Alpha Beam 300s," Shipman added. "My draft one design had truss-mounted searchlights on the wing trusses and I needed lights with a very bright and narrow beam to line the top of the wings. I was asked to make some compromises for budget reasons and the searchlights were replaced with Alpha Beam 300s. I wasn't sure at first if a 300-watt fixture would cut it. The total width of the stage and wings was 93 meters, I thought a 300-watt light might get lost. My concerns were unfounded. They looked great. The Alpha Beam 300 is the punchiest 300-watt moving light I've ever seen. It's a moving ACL on steroids!"
For the Aerosmith show, LD Paul Dexter noted that "the Alphas add a layer and dimension unlike other profile and wash luminaires that reminds me more of an air graphic ACL beam through the haze, except with more punch and ability to add saturated color and movement. I was very impressed with the intensity of the Alpha Beam 300s that lit the two long thrusts into the audience because it appeared as though, even with a long throw distance that the beam stayed intense from the source to the stage. They definitely held up to the size of the stage."
Bonner summarized, "At Protec, nearly all of our fixtures are Clay Paky – the Alpha Spot HPE and Wash including 300, 575 and 1200 through to the older Stage Series including Scans, Zooms and Colors. We also own Alpha Beam 300 and 1500 and Clay Paky 400s. This shows our faith in the brand."
For more information, please visit www.claypaky.it .
Photos: Courtesy of Paul Dexter
