Lighting designer Shaniel Laloo of Sounds Ideal (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) used the STRIKEs 4s and a collection of Legend 230SR Beam moving fixtures to engage the massive crowd at the celebration. The high output of both fixtures was essential to the designer achieving this goal, given the large size of the outdoor uMhlathuze Multi-Purpose Sports Complex, where the festival performances took place -- and the size of the crowd, estimated at 40 000.
"The STRIKEs are nice for eye candy effects," said Laloo. "At Richards Bay I used them to light up the artists from the back, while blinding the audience at the same time. I appreciated being able to have 10 STRIKEs on one 16a power source."
Laloo positioned the 10 STRIKE 4 fixtures in his rig on the internal truss grid of the sport center's outdoor stage roof. The STRIKE 4s were divided into groups of four and six, with the smaller group flying on truss at mid-stage and the larger arranged on the upstage overhead truss.
The eight Legend 230SR Beams in Laloo's New Year's Eve rig were arranged on the downstage deck. Positioned four each on either side of the stage, the high-output fixtures (96,000 lux at 15 meters) provided eye-popping aerial looks in a rainbow of colors. They were also used for overhead audience lighting.
(Jim Evans)
