Benjamin Dube was joined on stage by a large group of other performers
Zimbabwe - Blessing Bero, Tatenda Gaylord Rushwaya, and the rest of the Events Evolution team faced a formidable task recently when they worked a noon to 8pm pay-for-view show by platinum Epic Records star Benjamin Dube.
A noted South African gospel singer (he performed at Nelson Mandela’s Freedom of the City Award presentation), Dube was joined by a large group of other performers on stage. This helped the Events Evolution team achieve the diverse looks they were after. Also contribution to the variety, was a flexible lighting rig that included 11 Maverick MK2 Spot, four Rogue R2 Spot and four Rogue R2 Wash fixtures, plus a Net-X node from Chauvet Professional.
“We created a wide range of backgrounds with our videos and the rainbow of colours we were able to get from our lighting fixtures matched them all,” said Rushwaya, who programmed the show and ran the videos, while Bero handled the lighting design. “Colour was key to keeping things visually fresh and interesting throughout the entire show. The design we went with called for a great many bold colour mixes.”
Relying on the wide beam angles of their fixtures, which were hung on three rows of overhead truss, as well as on stage left and stage right structures, the Events Evolution team frequently changed the coverage area of their colourful displays. They also didn’t hesitate to overlap shafts of light in different bold colour combinations, going with red, green and yellow one moment, they moving to purples and blues for another song.
Changing the configuration of shapes from the overhead and side lighting and altering the combination of colours was one way the designers kept things interesting. Another was by working split white beams and rotating gobos from their Maverick MK2 Spot fixtures with compelling video images and ample amounts of haze.
Setting these beams and gobo patterns against the rich purples from their washes, the team created sleek elegant looks on stage. This contrasted with some of the intensely powerful impressions that resulted from the bold colour combinations; but in the end both worked toward the same goal.
“We wanted to create scenes that were very different, but all supported the same message of the program,” said Rushwaya, noting that this support involved “keeping things interesting visually”.

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