Robe visits the Palace
- Details
Lighting designer Steve Bewley - well known for this work with Enter Shikari, London Grammar, Dizzee Rascal, Tinie Tempah and a string of other interesting alt artists - was asked to light a recent showcase gig at the Electric in Brixton, London, for which he chose to use an all-Robe floor package which was supplied by Dragonfly Lighting.
The show came up at short notice, the stage space is limited at the venue and the budget was expedient, so a good practical solution was needed using fixtures that were small, light and powerful, and could be ensconced in any gaps and spaces. He chose eight Robe Spikies, eight LEDWash 300s and eight CycFX 8s which were combined with elements of the Electric’s overhead house rig.
His design also included projections from the FOH over the band and onto a backdrop which brought its own specific texturing treatment to the stage and was very much in harmony with the space bluesy ambience of some of the music. He worked on this and the video content creation with Bronski (Chris Jablonski) of Tawbox.
With everything on one level – band, backline and the lights, Steve could create big fields of light and combine them with different Spikie beam looks and effects from the back. It was the first time he’d used Robe’s Spikies, launched earlier in the year and proving a big success, which were a recent purchase by Tom Mason at Dragonfly.
“Spikies are a great little light” commented Steve, “For the size, I’m really impressed with the output”.
The LEDWash 300s were utilised for side-light, so the audience caught glimpses of the band via smaller fields of light, contrasted with the larger pools of light. They were also used for silhouetting, which always adds mood and flair to an intimate show like this.
The CycFX 8s were right at the back of the stage, so using the zoom, he could either bring them in as powerful backlighting or use them to create weird and wonderful effects as well as the more standard duties like washing the white cyc which came to life in blazes of colour.
Steve programmed and ran for the show and his own Green Hippo media server was used to run the video.
(Jim Evans)
