The Netherlands - The 3,000-capacity Poppodium 013 concert hall was transformed into a nightclub when NachtCollege brought its all-night party to the Dutch city of Tilburg in mid-April. Technical production was led by the venue’s in-house team, headed by senior lighting designer Paul Cox.
To help deliver the immersive experience the event called for, 48 ADJ Vizi Beam CMY fixtures were dry-hired from local rental supplier Spectrum AV to supplement the venue’s house rig. Paul arranged the fixtures across four trusses – two on each side of the dance floor – running the length of the hall. The upper trusses were mounted near the ceiling with fixtures suspended downward, while the lower trusses hung directly below, with fixtures positioned upright. This layered setup allowed Paul to fill the air above the crowd with intricate, overlapping beam patterns that brought intimacy and energy to the expansive venue.
“To deliver what the client was looking for, I knew that I wanted to bring in some dedicated beam fixtures,” explains Paul, “and I think the Vizi Beam CMY is one of the best options available on the market at the moment. I reached out to Lex [Willems, COO at Spectrum AV] who helped me finalise the plan. Spectrum AV is a very easy company to deal with – they have a great team and are located close to Poppodium 013, which made things very easy.”
The Vizi Beam CMY is the latest evolution in ADJ’s extremely popular Vizi Series of moving heads, a versatile beam luminaire that combines immensely powerful output with an extensive collection of beam-shaping features.
“The Vizi Beam CMYs performed very well, and the effects I was able to create with 48 of them above the crowd area were stunning,” comments Paul. “These fixtures are very bright but also extremely fast and precise, which was important for this type of event. I also like the beam itself, because it is very narrow, and on top of that there are the beam reducers, which create incredibly tight beams. I used the CMY colour mixing a lot – which isn’t offered by many beam fixtures – to create some really nice colour fades.
“And of course, it has a colour wheel too, so I could also get those regular beam effects with bumps between vibrant solid colours. I didn’t use the Vizi Beams for the first couple of hours, saving them as a surprise. But from that moment on they were the focus of the light show. Beams were everywhere – all around the crowd – which created a truly massive, immersive show.”
