Robe goes large at Lollapalooza Berlin
- Details
Lighting production was delivered to the Main Stage North by rental specialists TSE, Main Stage South by Media Resource Group (MRG), Alternative Stage by Sound Projekt (SPS) and Parry’s stage by Colour Sound Experiment.
Robe’s On the Road show truck was also on site, located backstage left at Main Stage North, as for the first time at this event, TSE located their WYSIWYG pre-vis studio in the truck -offering all lighting designers access to the service. With all-day personal support by Thomas Heydthausen from Berlin-based pre-viz specialist pre-focus, most LDs gladly accepted the offer and enjoyed the access to the hardware, hospitality and the cool vibe and yet quiet space.
Apart from its role in the creative production process, the Robe truck top deck functioned as a cool networking area welcoming all crew and anyone from the technical production community on site, who could enjoy their ‘down’ time with a perfect view across almost the whole festival ground and extraordinarily good weather, which saw the mercury top 30 degrees.
Six of Robe’s new Footsie2 footlight fixtures with wide diffusers and integral cable tray were made available on the thrust of Main Stage North - the first time the product has been used at a European festival.
The Footsie2s were embraced by Imagine Dragons and their lighting designer Mitchell ‘Mitch’ Schellenger, and tour lighting programmer Dennis Brasser, who could swiftly integrate them into their show.
Their show lighting production design typically had footlights along the thrust on podiums lower down from the stage - which was not possible at Lolla Berlin - so the Footsie2s were welcomed.
Thomas Stütz was TSE’s project manager for Main Stage North which utilised 12 iFORTES and eight iSpiiders on the front truss. They were accompanied by 34 Spiider LED wash beams positioned on the main overhead trusses, together with 30 Fortes.
Alongside them were 36 MegaPointes, also integral to the design, positioned on the side ladder trusses in a Matrix of 5x3 each side, and some on the deck.
Main Stage North production lighting design was created by Klaus Gräwert and Janine Lutz.
Imagine Dragons brought their own touring RoboSpot systems including BMFL FollowSpots & BMFL FS LTs rigged on the back truss, plus two on the FOH towers. They have been touring Europe with this for the summer.
A total of 60 TSE crew and staff were on duty across all the shifts, headed by project leaders Thomas Stütz and Marty Lemke and working closely with Janine Lutz, who also took on the head of lighting role.
Alternating in flip-flop style, the South Stage lighting technical production was supplied by another major German rental company, the Media Resource Group (MRG), and project managed by Kilian Körber.
Robe MegaPointes were a major part of the lighting scheme for this stage, with 120 on the rig, together with 30 BMFL Blades, 70 Spiider wash beams, 27 Tetra2s and eight PATT 2013s.
The production lighting design started in classic festival style with a spot / wash base combination, augmented as additional rider information from individual artists became available.
This year, the leading specification came from David Guetta whose lighting design by the team at High Scream most influenced the Stage South. Their specification focused on beam lamps with reliability and precision, in this case the MegaPointe, to help unlock the creativity of their aesthetic.
Paris-based ambient electronic / dance duo The Blaze added another 24 of their own floor based MegaPointes to the 120 already in the rig on Main Stage South, while for American singer and rapper Macklemore, MRG provided an additional floor package comprising MegaPointes, strobes and Robe PATT 2013s.
grandMA3 fullsize consoles were used for lighting control and all apart from two visiting lighting operators used the house control desks.
Lighting for the Alternative stage - with performances from Kiel-based Leoniden, known for their energy, attitude, and invention; indie rockers Lovejoy from Brighton in the UK; American indie pop band AJR from New York City featuring three multi-instrumentalist brothers that alt rocked the house - among many others - was supplied by Sound Projekt Veranstaltungstechnik from Stralsund (SPS).
It included 72 Robe moving lights, a combination of iPointe 65s, MegaPointes, Spiiders and iSpiiders among which were rigged (with other fixtures) on the overhead rig and deployed on the floor, again all chosen as universally rider-acceptable.
Alternative Stage project manager Fabian Schwabe commented that working festival stages always requires the most flexible stage setups that can be used by multiple productions and artists. “That's why we used MegaPointes and Spiiders both in the air and on the deck in consultation with the festival organisers,” he explained. These were supplemented by weather-proof iPointe 65s and iSpiiders in the front truss.
Lighting for Perry’s Stage - named after Perry Farrell from Jane’s Addiction, the event’s creator - was supplied by Colour Sound Experiment from the UK, who have also been a long-term supplier of the Berlin edition. Their rig this year included Robe Spiiders and two RoboSpot remote follow spot systems in combination with BMFL Spots.
