FL Group gets in festival mode with Robe
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With the full permission and support of FL Group owner Francois Lamberdière, they activated a plan to utilise the company warehouse and other available resources like equipment, and with a little help from their friends, have started producing spectacular ‘full production’ live streams working with a number of contemporary French artists.
When the French live event and production industry ground to a halt in March, as with all the rental companies, all FL Group’s immediate work was cancelled, the country went into lockdown to contain the virus and all the staff found themselves in a technical unemployment situation.
Lucas and Quentin started by creating a lighting and video design inspired by the conical shape of an hour-glass timer. Three chevron-shaped trusses were rigged in descending order of size - largest at the top - in the warehouse roof, each truss with an LED video border on the front edges.
Each truss was loaded with Robe LEDBeam 150s, 24 in total. Ten were on the highest two trusses, eight on the middle two and six across the two lowest sections which were just above the performer’s head.
For back lighting were 12 MegaPointes. Two Tarrantulas were used to side light the artist, and at the front for key lighting were four BMFL WashBeams on stands. All fixtures were pulled from the company’s 400-strong fleet of Robe fixtures and were programmed and controlled via a grandMA2 console.
“The idea was basically to make it appear like a festival main stage, with lots of drama and impact,” explained Lucas.
To test out their creation, Lucas and Quentin asked French rapper Rim’K - who has several connections with the company - if he would check it out, which he did while shooting the official video for his new release Midnight.
Following a lot of hard work, a raft of popular and cutting edge DJs and music producers lined up to take a streaming spin in the warehouse – including Rakoto3000, Hony Zouka, MG, Jam Hill, Stéphane dos Santos, Livoo, Tony Vegas, DJ XLR, DJ Seif and Don Darrell.
“It’s been a fantastic experience getting back into some ‘almost live’ music and being able to operate a real lightshow,” enthused Lucas. “Right now, this is the closest we have been able to get to the real gigs and the incredible atmosphere and vibes of being live and being there that we all love and miss so much.”
Normally at this time of year, FL Group would be full-on supplying a whole range of events - from corporates to music - with lighting, video, and sound during their traditional peak season between April and October.
Now, like everyone, they are anxiously awaiting a post-COVID-19 world that will see a gradual return to people being able to gather and enjoy live music together again.
(Jim Evans)
