Cheek enlisted Visual45 to create the entire show design, including staging, video content and lighting, after the company designed two of the rapper's sold-out shows back in 2013 at the nearly 8000-capacity Ice Hall in Helsinki.
"After the Ice Hall shows, the artist was really impressed with our work so got us on board for the fantastic Olympic Stadium concert," says Helle. "Our brief was to create something completely exciting and never-seen-before for the artist, so working closely with him we specified the Sharpy, Alpha Beam 1500 and Alpha Spot HPE 1500 fixtures from Bright Finland. When it comes to choosing moving lights, I like fast, smooth and reliable fixtures with super powerful output and that's exactly the kind that Clay Paky makes. The fixtures also produce really vibrant colours, and the gobo selection is fantastic.
"The whole design was based on a large LED video wall and so I needed fixtures that could hold their own against it," continues Helle. "At some points I wanted to merge the two, making the lighting part of the video. For example, for one specific look I used the circle gobo from the Alpha Beam 1500 next to video content of a starry sky, which looked awesome in the huge open space of the Olympic stadium. It's a moment I'll remember forever, and the moment I fully realised just how powerful the Clay Paky fixtures are."
(Jim Evans)
