The event, held on Saturday 23 July, is the successor to London's Pride festival, and hosted 20,000 people at the Big Mutha main stage and 11 other stages and tents in Finsbury Park.
"For the main stage, we created a big automated lighting rig, to cater for all requirements, and offer greater flexibility live," said lighting designer Mike Sobotnicki, contracted by PRG Europe from Imagination. "Until we saw the rehearsals, we had no idea what would be needed. We had three overhead lighting positions, to create symmetrical patterns of beams through haze, while the cross stage lighting positions which we used were great for the trapeze routine, and meant it could be lit from the side to great effect."
The equipment was continually being added to, right up to the last minute, including four 3K Syncrolites for Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the headline act on the main stage. Three Wholehog IIs controlled the lighting for each of the main stage, the Terradome dance area and the Popstarz alternative music area.
"We designed the Terradome to be dark, and used a lot of moving lights to replicate the 80s look," continued Sobotnicki. "There was some equipment we'd like to have used but which is no longer available, such as Club Strobe Flowers, which were shaped strobes, so we used Mac 2000 spots to recreate them. We also put in an awful lot of lasers."
Project manager for PRG Europe Loz Wilcox worked with programmer Dave Hallet and crew chief Ross Corbett. He said: "PRG have worked with Big Gay Out since it started three years ago, and each time our input has increased. This year we supplied an ever greater number of moving lights: some 85 on the stage, including VL2000 spots and washes and Mac 2000 profiles and washes, plus 32 in the Terradome and 22 in the Popstarz tent, which was the main alternative music area."
Faceparty, working with production management company So Just Add Water, had already chosen some of the lighting - such as lasers - and had also placed some of the lighting positions. "There were predetermined positions, such as over a PA tower, which had already been sited," said Sobotnicki. "They also decided they wanted a circular truss in Popstarz, so we lit from that, and from a goalpost truss arrangement over the stage and DJ area in both Popstarz and Terradome areas.
"The first challenge for me was that I am usually involved from the beginning, so I would normally get much more involvement in the project as a whole. For this one, Faceparty had already made a lot of decisions based on the previous year's experience so the challenge was to achieve and hopefully surpass their expectations. All went smoothly and I was really pleased with the efforts of everyone involved, especially those of PRG Europe, who provided a first class rig and crew and were able to make all the late changes without difficulty."
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
