Merlin worked its magic on the Stagelight team at Lucerne's Light and Sound show in October 2014, where they immediately placed an order for four of the 2500W HMI touring giants from Robert Juliat's Swiss supplier, Electric Claudio Merlo.
"It was time to replace our old, big followspots, so we were looking around for a good alternative and found Robert Juliat's new Merlin," says Stagelight's managing director, Peter Lemmenmeier. "We decided on Merlin because of its excellent new technology: the newly developed integrated PSU with the 2500W HMI arc lamp provide great brightness; the zoom range from 3° to 12°allows an extremely wide spectrum from 30m to 100m; and, finally, the low consumption of electricity with the 16A connector is really good and convenient. There is nothing similar on the market."
The Merlin followspots arrived in time for the busy Swiss Festival season and have been put to full-time use from the day they arrived.
"Our very first use for the Merlins was Olly Murs' show in Bern," says Lemmenmeier. "We then took them to Open Air St. Gallen, one of the oldest festivals in Switzerland for which Stagelight has been providing lighting for the last 30 years." The Merlins were rigged front of house and used on a stellar line up of bands which included Placebo, Paolo Nuttini, Royal Blood, The Chemical Brothers and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.
"Last weekend our Merlins were at the Open Air Frauenfeld Hip Hop Festival and this weekend they are again booked for the main stage at the Gurtenfestival. Many festivals are to follow, including Heitere Open Air and Summerdays. The Merlins are going to have a very busy summer."
Stagelight's technician for Open Air St. Gallen, Stefan Rüttimann, was very happy with the new giant: "Merlin is a device that covers all I need as a lighting technician," he says. "Size is a problem almost everywhere when positioning powerful followspots, but Merlin's size and built-in power supply require minimal space. Merlin's good optics mean distances in excess of 100m are no problem. The operation is very simple - it includes all the features you could desire - and the production and processing are very clean. All in all, for me, Merlin belongs at the top of the followspots."
(Jim Evans)
