Part music festival and part product intro event, the 909 Day Celebration featured performances by a wide range of artists like Linda Perry, Smallpools, Echosmith, Mike Garson, Saint Motel, DJ Pierre and more.
Lighting these performances for the event, which was marketed under the banner The Future Redefined, was an appropriately cutting-edge collection of Chauvet Professional gear, including Rogue R1 FX-Bs, Rogue RH1 Hybrids, Rogue R2 Washes, Rogue R1 Washes and Next NXT-1 moving LED panels.
"The concept of 909 Day is 'The Future Redefined'," said the event's lighting designer Justin Preston of Three-Phase Productions. "For the Live Stage we needed something that could look both traditional as well as embrace the futuristic aspects of the brand. For the Piano Stage, a stripped down, more classic approach seemed appropriate. Then with the DJ Stage, we really wanted to emulate the eye candy-laden looks similar to what you'll see at Ultra and Electric Daisy Carnival."
A good thing about the CHAUVET Professional fixtures, says Preston, is that they gave him the flexibility to create a wide array of fresh futuristic looks on stage without having a lot of space or time at his disposal. This versatility was especially important given the large number of artists who participated in the 909 Day Celebration.
"Because of the vast number of acts on the Live Stage, I was concerned about getting enough unique looks for each artist," said Preston. "I wanted to make sure we could create really powerful looks that reflected the personality of each act on the Live Stage. The Rogue R1 FX-B fixtures really helped with that. We hung them pointing straight towards the audience, so I was able to use them vertically, horizontally, and at an angle. Those different focus positions, along with the unique number of pan/tilt effects of the FX-B, helped create different looks for each act."
Preston used six Rogue R2 Wash fixtures as back light and three Rogue RH1 Hybrid fixtures for aerial beams on the Live Stage, in addition to having the nine Rogue R1 FX-B fixtures on vertical pipes yoked towards the audience as a backdrop. On the Piano Stage, he used two Rogue R1 Wash fixtures, two Rogue RH1 Hybrids on upstage deck corners for texture and two Rogue R2 Washes for overhead specials. For the DJ Stage he used eight NXT-1 fixtures in a horseshoe shape around the back truss, and two NXT-1 fixtures on the deck. "Roland really wanted a mini rave - something that you could see at Ultra - for this stage," he said.
(Jim Evans)
