The Netherlands - Spot is an umbrella organisation set up to run music productions staged at two busy venues in the city of Groningen – De Oosterpoort and the municipality’s main theatre, Stadsschouwburg.
Since 1973, De Oosterpoort has been the leading music venue in the area and is the home of the Noord Nederlands Orkest and the four-day Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) festival, plus numerous other shows, productions and business events. Last year, Oosterpoort’s first Robe moving lights arrived as part of an upgrade to start replacing their old halogen stock with LED luminaires, with more recently delivered, so all their moving lights are now LED-based.
The venue has three halls. The Grote Zaal (Main Hall) can accommodate 1,850 standing and 1,150 seated, the Kleine Zaal (Small Hall) has a capacity of 750 standing and 450 seated, and the Binnenzaal (inside hall) has a cosy 300 standing only.
Last year, the Main and Small halls received a total of 32 x new Robe Fortes fitted with the HCF (High Colour Fidelity) engine and 32 x Spiider LED wash beams to enrich their palette of creative lighting tools. “Every seven years or so, we look at upgrading to stay relevant and in line with the most appropriate tech available,” explained Spot lighting designer Henk Geuzinge.
This is their third moving light upgrade, and the first to see a major shift to Robe.
Binnenzaal is an intimate but high-energy space that hosts a diverse range of music shows and is known for its atmosphere, which is now boosted with the arrival of 14 x Robe Paintes and eight LEDBeam 350 moving lights.
Henk and colleague Jack Rozema, also an LD, are delighted with the progression as previously an external rental company serviced the hall, so now they have full control over lighting and audio and all the kit to take Binnenzaal experiences to a new level’.
Four of the new Painte profiles are used for front lighting – covering the 7m-wide, 5m-deep stage, with the rest rigged on one of the overhead upstage bars. This positioning illustrates the fixture’s adaptability. “They are also excellent for dance parties and events, very nice multipurpose lights and in my opinion, one of the best in Robe’s current range,” notes Jack.
Last year, when upgrading the Large and Small halls, the final pick of lights was also based on a series of shootouts, for which Robe’s Benelux distributor Controllux brought Robe to the table. Forte was picked as the overall best option for their needs, “the main ones being that it was bright and relatively compact,” noted Henk.
The Spiiders work well in conjunction with the Fortes. “We are very happy also with this combination,” Henk confirms. And they have just added 13 x Paintes and 10 x LEDBeam 350s to the inventory.
De Oosterpoort stages over 500 shows, events, concerts and commercial and private events annually, featuring all types of music from rock, metal and pop to opera and classical, and they also present theatre and musicals.
Henk and Jack both enjoy the daily variety of action, which ranges from top-level international tours and shows to local am-dram productions, all enabling them to light or facilitate lighting for this healthy megamix of entertainment and business.
