USA - Pitbull recently wowed audiences at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas resort hotel, the first phase of a residency.
The task of adapting his recent Party After Dark tour for a show renamed Vegas After Dark fell to his long-term creatives, production manager Victor Martinez and creative director Yamil Charif (of YC3 Design).
Charif explains that having toured with nine trucks of gear, they needed to scale back – integrating with the existing house rig at the hotel’s 3,800-seat BleauLive Theatre and at the same time introducing some new lighting solutions from GLP: “We already had GLP equipment out on the tour – a bunch of JDC1 [hybrid strobes] – and we kept most of these because they are a key element of the show.”
In fact, Charif is such an advocate of JDC1 that he earlier invested for his own production company, PLP Entertainment. He was thus naturally keen to try out the new JDC2 IP. “In fact, I wanted to try it last year,” he admits, “but we were already on the road when GLP released it, and so we thought the Fountainebleau would be a great opportunity to try the fixtures.”
Fortunately, he had some days off between tour end and the residency starting, enabling him to evaluate GLP’s new-generation fixtures, as suggested by GLP’s Jim Fuller. And the two products that stood out were the JDC2 IP and impression X5 Compact.
The 16 JDC2 IP – eight either side of the stage on mini-trusses – provided not only high visual impact but opened up a range of options to light the stage ensemble, comprising seven band members, six dancers and Pitbull himself. The larger face plate of the JDC2 IP is the result of the new beam line, equipped with 84 high-performance LEDs, giving it an imposing presence.
“Using them as part of the floor package made them stand out more,” says the LD. “I’m impressed with the size and the look of the JDC2 IP; it’s a great fixture with a lot of output, and they really stand out.
“Having the capacity to send NDI video signals is also pretty cool, and we used the NDI input to receive video,” he confirms. Up to four different external NDI streams can be captured and displayed directly on the JDC2 IP.
Charif also notes that the colour palette is richer: “Some colours are more saturated and ‘contrasty’, though of course we can still match them.”
A further 24 classic JDC1 are used to ring the giant circular videowall at stage centre, where Pitbull makes his grand entrance. The backdrop at the BleauLive Theatre is based on the tour logo of a planet with a neon border, “so I was trying with the JDC1 to emulate that circular shape of the planet, and you can see that reflected on the chandelier that we have hanging in the middle of the stage,” he continues. Most of the remaining JDC1 are on trusses – high on the overheads up with the spots.
Both Charif and Victor Martinez agree that their number one priority is to ensure that audiences enjoy the show – and because of this ethic the reviews have been magnanimous: “Victor and I are involved on what fixtures we pick including sound, video – the whole creative element – and that’s what creates a great show. For instance, we change the video design every year.”
As for the 24 impression X5 Compact deployed, Victor Martinez in particular was still trying to square the enormous output delivered from seven 40 Watt RGBL LEDs, with the ultra-compact chassis into which they are shoehorned. “When I saw the size of them, I never thought they would have worked the way they do,” he comments.
Charif agrees: “The size is insane! I hadn’t expected so much output from them, but once we started using them they were pretty powerful, and certainly fun to work with.” Located around the sides and stage floor, they also displayed their dexterity from an impressive 16:1 zoom range. “The size of the focus is very narrow and sharp so you can create a lot of finger beams. I can also wash the band and use them as beam fixtures – with the zoom either very narrow or open.”
