ADJ rig illuminates Zwarte Cross Festival
- Details
The Zwarte Cross Festival, which takes place each year in the Dutch town of Lichtenvoorde, is the largest paid festival in the Netherlands. This event combines live music, theatre and stunt spectaculars with the biggest motocross event in the world. This year, it attracted 220,000 visitors and featured more than 150 bands and 1000 theatre artists performing across a variety of themed stages and tents. A popular regular fixture of the festival is the Tiroler tent, which is an Oktoberfest-themed area that features traditional folk musicians from across the Netherlands, Germany and Austria.
Ruud Pellemans, owner of Dutch production company TEC Audio, has worked on the Tiroler tent for a number of years. However, for the 2019 edition of the festival, his company took care of all the area’s technical requirements for the first time. Working on behalf of the festival’s overall technical supplier, Purple Group, TEC Audio were responsible for supplying, as well as operating, all of the audio and lighting equipment. ADJ fixtures were used exclusively for illumination, with over 50 units deployed to provide both a concert lightshow on the stage and atmospheric lighting throughout the tent.
The main moving light selected for the stage rig was ADJ’s Vizi CMY300, which is a versatile hybrid fixture that operates interchangeably as a beam, spot or wash. For the Tiroler tent, eight of the fixtures were positioned across a truss that wrapped around the back and sides of the performance area, which allowed projected beams to shoot out from behind the performers into the crowd.
“We were really happy with how the Vizi CMY300 performed,” says Ruud, “serving as our main beam fixture on the rig. The Gobos are-well chosen, the colours are brilliant and the beams are really sharp. We were particularly impressed by the output, it was very, very good, especially for an LED fixture, punching through the front light to create very well-defined mid-air effects.”
This front light was also provided by ADJ LED-powered fixtures. Four of the popular Encore FR150Z units were mounted to a bar attached to one end of a central truss, which hung down the length of the tent and was rigged directly to its apex.
“We’ve been using the FR150Z for around a year and half now,” explains Ruud, “and find that it works very well for this kind of application.”
Blinder duties in the sizeable tent were ably covered by four of ADJ’s Encore Burst 200 dual lens fixtures, with two mounted at the back of the stage and a further pair positioned at the end of the two stage-side trusses.
“I really like the Encore Burst 200IP, it is really bright and I also like the flexibility - all of the different possibilities for coupling two or more together and they are also IP-rated, so can be used outdoors in the rain. The build quality is also very good, they are constructed from a strong material. It really is it a lamp with a lot of possibilities.”
The main wash fixture used for the tent was ADJ’s 12P HEX IP, which is a versatile IP65-rated par loaded with 12 x 12-Watt 6-in-1 RGBAW+UV LEDs. Eight of the fixtures were interspersed with the Vizi CMY300s on the stage truss, while sixteen additional units were mounted to the truss running down the centre of the tent. These lights were rigged in pairs - facing in opposite directions - and used to provide ambient light for the main body of the tent.
Ruud and his team also utilized six of ADJ’s 32 HEX Panel IP multi-function wash / blinder / strobe fixtures, which each feature 32 12W RGBWA+UV LEDs.
ADJ equipment was also used to cover atmospheric enhancement for the tent, with Ruud and his team making use of an ADJ Entourage pro-grade ‘faze’ machine alongside an ADJ Entour Cyclone DMX-controlled fan.
“The conditions in the Tiroler Tent were not kind to the equipment!” says Ruud. “There was a lot of dust in the air, the temperature was very high and there was a huge amount of beer flying through the air! But all of the ADJ fixtures worked without a problem throughout the whole event. Of course there was some cleaning necessary when we took the lights down, but we experienced no errors or failures with any of the units.”
(Jim Evans)
