"We wanted something completely different," said Harrison. "Thus the design became a joint venture, also involving Phil Parsons, who produced all the drawings for the lighting rig."
As a result, the £5 million conversion of the former two-level Smilin' Sams near Croxteth has, as its centrepiece, an aluminium-fabricated full mechanical rig bearing Futurelight scanning and moving effects (distributed in the UK by DiFuzion, the lighting division of Fuzion plc) alongside a DMX Starlite ceiling. These are augmented by various generics, strobes, neon and pinspots - while LED and fibre-optic lighting around the bar represents the technology of the 21st century.
Creating the beam geometrics are eight Futurelight PSC-575 scans, four PHS-700 moving heads, eight PHS-220 PRO head spots and four CF-200 Flower effects. Control is from a ShowCAD Artist.
It is the octagonal section in the centre of the 11m x 11mt 3D star shaped rig that rotates and drops through 340°. "Mounted on a cranked arm, it moves vertically, tilts and then rotates through the horizontal plane," explains Barron.
With the aid of a huge half-mirrorball in the centre of the rig, the lion's share of the choregraphed beam work is attributable to the PHS 220's - providing a separate show within a show. These are complemented by the eight PSC-575 scans on the cranked rectangles, while the outer section of the rig is decorated with PHS-700 moving heads.
"With the rig clad in pinspots and edged in neon we have used modern technology to create the spirit of those wonderful lightshows of the early and mid 1980's," adds Barron. "The importance of dancefloor lighting seems to have become downgraded of late, and I firmly believe it's time for a revival of this exciting genre over the next few years."
(Jim Evans)
