Armin rocks Amsterdam ArenA with Robe
- Details
Creating an equally awesome lighting and visual design for the occasion were Andre Beekmans of The Art of Light and Marc Heinz, who united the worlds of live events, opera and drama in a visual extravaganza to match the energy and diversity of the performance.
There were over 900 Robe moving lights to help achieve their imaginative goals which were delivered by lighting contractors Focus Amsterdam B.V. and Rent-All.
The breakdown included 200 x BMFL Spots, 112 x BMFL WashBeams, 186 Pointes, 180 LEDBeam 100s and 231 Spiiders and is one of the largest ever Robe lighting rigs for a single artist show, which was organised and promoted by ALDA Events under the technical direction of Maarten Hoogland.
As with all stadium shows, one of the first steps is to ensure there are enough lights to provide the sheer spectacle and wow factors needed, especially for the high expectations of this show. These 900 plus Robe fixtures were joined by around another 450 luminaires together with 2.5 miles of DiGidot LED strip. The large upstage 8mm video screen measured 60 metres wide by 18 high and comprised four sections which rotated with lights on the reverse.
The Armin Only (AO) showcase has included four live tour extravaganzas by the artist – Imagine, Mirage, Intense and Embrace - and dates back to 2005, complete with a selection of interesting special guests producing a vibrant creative musical space encompassing numerus musical styles infused into trance including jazz, hip hop, pop and rock.
They took elements from previous AO tours - the latest being Embrace, which has just ended – with a set designed by Freek Cornelissen from 250K based on a giant ‘A’ form, with a triple level stage and a central 15 metre diameter circular truss centrepiece which was rigged above a circular ‘B’ stage below.
Various stage lifts were also incorporated into the decking and the circle had two long trussing bridges at the stage end forming the ‘A’, which were rigged with a double row of Spiiders underneath and moved down to the stage level later in the evening.
“BMFL is the only fixture you can use at these heights and have impact,” stated Andre, “so it was an easy choice to go with the Spots”. All BMFL WashBeams were dedicated just to key lighting artists. Above the DJ booth on the main stage between the legs of the A was a big grid of LEDBeam 100s, an excellent small fixture to use en masse to fill gaps like this.
LEDWash 800s were used as down-lighters over the stage areas, while the 186 Pointes were distributed everywhere, including on a truss around the entire arena perimeter, where they were ideally placed to provide essential background and camera candy for the live RTL4 telecast on the second night.
48 Pointes were used in the centre - 24 in the air around the circle (O) truss and 24 on the floor up-lighting the underside of the circle, which featured three concentric rings of lights and an access platform for the aerialists.
All lighting was controlled from two grandMA2 full size consoles (fully backed up) operated by Andre and Armin’s long time lighting operator on the road, Michael Seeverens.
All 2.5 kms of DiGidot LED strip was supplied by Invent Design and controlled and mapped by The Art of Light with their Hippotizer Karst. Video was run by Carlo Ruijgers and special content was created by Eyesupply.
(Jim Evans)
