Portugal - Rock in Rio Lisbon 2024 marked the festival's first edition at the newly inaugurated Parque Tejo. The two-weekend extravaganza, held on 15-16 June and 22-23 June, featured Ed Sheeran, Scorpions, Evanescence, Europe, Calum Scott, and Jonas Brothers.
With the opening of Parque Tejo, which debuted during the World Youth Day in 2023, the festival needed a lighting design that could match the venue's state-of-the-art infrastructure. Enter Woodroffe Bassett Design. WBD is no stranger to Rock in Rio, having been involved as the main lighting designers since the festival's inception.
The design team included Terry Cook, John Coman, and Aiden Bromley of WBD. The lighting team in Portugal consisted of Pixel Light as their main suppliers, with Ramiro Martins, a renowned Portuguese lighting designer, acting as the bridge between WBD, Pixel Light, and the incoming LDs. Martins spearheaded the inclusion of Wysiwyg in the festival.
Wysiwyg was integral to the success of Rock in Rio Lisbon 2024. The software's powerful CAD tools enabled Martins and his team to create detailed and accurate lighting plans, ensuring that each performance was perfectly lit.
"Using Wysiwyg was essential for us," said Ramiro Martins. "The software's precision in lighting calculations allowed us to visualise and plan our designs down to the smallest detail. This level of accuracy is crucial when you're working on a festival of this scale."
Pixel Light, the company responsible for supplying the lighting for the festival, went above and beyond to support the incoming lighting designers. They set up an on-site Wysiwyg room, a dedicated space where the band's lighting designers could do their pre-programming before the show. This facility ensured that each band's unique lighting requirements were met without any hitches.
"The on-site Wysiwyg room provided by Pixel Light was a game-changer," Martins noted. "It gave the lighting designers from various bands the flexibility to customise their setups and make any necessary adjustments before the live performance. This not only saved us time but also ensured that the lighting was perfect for each act."
One of the standout features of Wysiwyg is its ability to combine precision with creativity. The software's intuitive interface and powerful tools allowed Martins and his team to experiment with different lighting effects and sequences, pushing the boundaries of what was possible.
The meticulous planning and execution, supported by Wysiwyg, ensured that each performance was a visual masterpiece. The festival's success demonstrated the importance of using advanced tools and technology to achieve excellence in lighting design.
"Wysiwyg has become the de facto standard for lighting design, and it's easy to see why," Martins remarked. "The software's precision, ease of use, and powerful CAD tools make it an indispensable part of our toolkit. Our pre-production work at RiR wouldn't have been the same without it."
