With a life-affirming name like the Life is Beautiful Festival and an opening night that featured a performance by Stevie Wonder, it's no surprise that the third incarnation of the music and arts festival was a success. Held 25-27 September in Downtown Las Vegas, the three-day festival focused on four cultural elements: food, art, learning, and of course, music.
This year, LIB secured the services of top lighting designer Steve Lieberman, who worked with the festival for the first time. Lieberman handled lighting design duties on the high-energy Troubadour Stage, where some of the world's top dance music artists performed. The Troubadour Stage was hosted by promotional events company Insomniac, who specially designed a new 120ft wide mega structure for the event.
"This design had to suit several days of performances, various artist riders, and still stand up on its own laurels with a design aesthetic that would be impactful and creative," Lieberman explained. "One of the most noticeable things about LIB is that it is a show based around artistic expression and creativity so that put an added level of expectation for the creation of this stage."
Already well familiar with Elation's Color Chorus 72 LED battens from having used them on EDC 2015 as well as the Nocturnal Wonderland festival earlier in the month, both festivals where he has been the top designer for years, Lieberman again incorporated the 6ft long strip lights into his design at LIB, where they served multiple purposes. "We used them to highlight the truss details throughout the space," he explains. "This added a high level of impact to show off the shape and geometry of the design. Additionally, we used them as foot lights at the downstage edge of the stage for uplighting performers. In both instances, these fixtures had more than enough output and a great light quality to fill out the environment."
A month later and 1200 miles to the southeast, after beating out 98 other colleges in various social media challenges, students at the University of Texas San Antonio got to host a one-day party as winners of the PINK Nation Game On! Bash contest by Victoria's Secret.
Held on 28 October on the UTSA campus, Grammy award-winning EDM artist Zedd headlined the EDM spectacle with AG Light & Sound supplying Elation Colour Chorus 72 LED battens, Platinum Spot 35 Pro moving heads and Cuepix Blinder WW2 powerful white light blinders. "I've been using Elation for quite a while," stated AG Light & Sound owner Andrew Gumper on why he turned to Elation gear for the event. "It's reliable, holds up well and is very cost effective. It's a very stable product that is perfect for events like these."
Lighting design for the event was handled by Zedd's own visual team. Nearly 15,000 students attended the party, which also featured musical guest DJ Irie and appearances from Victoria's Secret models.
(Jim Evans)
