Olivia PowellRobe moving lights were used across Lollapalooza Berlin, supplied by a number of different companies.
At the Main Stage North, the production design and top rig was created by Marco Hoch from TSE AG, a German company. This allowed artists bringing in their own specials packages to be accommodated, and have a adaptable range of lights in the roof ready to be hooked into their consoles.
This year’s house rig featured 90x Robe moving lights – a mix of MegaPointes, Spiiders BMFL Spots, and BMFL WashBeams. These were accompanied by strobes and blinders as well as fog and haze, all controlled via two grandMA2 full sizes.
The Robes were chosen for being ‘rider-friendly, reliable, robust and stable for a festival scenario’, as well as for all the ‘features offered’.
Ludwig Laudan, the Main Stage North house LD / operator said: “BMFLs are currently simply THE festival fixture of the moment. Their strong output and excellent colours make them ideal.”
Laudan created the lighting plot offering BMFL Spots and Spiider LED wash beams accompanied by BMFL WashBeams as front lighting and Pointes in the rig and on the floor for backlight effects.
Lighting and video for Perry’s stage were supplied by leading UK rental company Colour Sound Experiment, which has a large Robe inventory. Their team designed a production lighting design which included Robe Pointes, MegaPointes and Spiiders – 132 x Robe fixtures in total – in addition to other lights.
Perry’s Stage was located inside the Olympia stadium arena, and the line-up included Underworld, Martin Garrix, Don Diablo, Scooter, TV Noise and many others.
Martin Garrix brought in his ‘Anima’ festival touring system underneath the production rig, which included 110 x Robe Spikies and 4 x SuperSpikies operated by his lighting designer Gabe Fraboni.
The house rig lighting was operated by Dave Ross, Colour Sound’s FOH lighting director for the event, and the crew chief was Ricardo Lorenzini.
Black Box Music, also from Berlin, was the lighting and audio rental suppliers for the Main Stage South, where the lighting design included 40 x Robe BMFLs – 20 x BMFL WashBeams and 20 x BMFL Spots – plus 24 x MegaPointes all in the top rig, with another eight BMFL Spots available as the ‘house’ floor package. The operator was Markus Axmann.
Black Box Music also supplied lighting and sound for the Alternative Stage where 15 x MegaPointes were integral to the house rig. The lighting was operated by operated by Felix Wingerter.
At Main Stage North Front of House, a special Robe-branded dual refrigerator was there to provide cold refreshments for the crew and their guests including visiting lighting directors and operators.
The inspiration for this came from Julian von den Stemmen and Jens Langner from Robe Germany.
Von den Stemmen said: “Schedules are always tight at festivals and crew often have little time to go anywhere apart from FOH as any ‘spare’ time will be dedicated to getting their show as near perfect as possible under pressure, so we thought ‘refreshments’ would be a great asset to any FOH scenario,”
The fridges were installed in special cases with enhanced cooling and airflow, and were stocked by TSE. The fridges have been appearing at selected festivals throughout the summer.
TSE’s project manager on site Marcel Kuch said: “The fridge – supplied via Robe Germany – was a great inspiration, highly practical and really helped with the FOH camaraderie and working conditions! All the techs and crew have really appreciated them, and we look forward to doing it again next season.”