GES circle round with Robe at the Cirkus
- Details
The lighting and visual stage design was created by Palle Palmé, based around the architecture of this circular-shaped venue which was also where the tour had originally kicked off all those months ago after the first Covid restrictions were lifted.
The design featured two truss circles – large and small – and a curved LED screen on an automation system, with an all-Robe lighting rig in the air.
Backed by a versatile band, the whirlwind-paced show romped through a string of hits from the collective and individual careers of GES to which the audience knew all the words! Palle’s major task was keeping everything looking fresh and vital for two hours.
The overhead rig comprised 64 x Robe LEDBeam 150s, 16 x MegaPointes, 17 x BMFL WashBeams, with three RoboSpot systems running six of the BMFL WashBeams – two for each member of GES. The RoboSpot system had also been an important element of the touring lighting system.
All of these Robe fixtures, supplied to the Cirkus dates by rental company Musiklagret from Borås, were chosen for their versatility and power, the essential requirements needed to create lots of dynamics and fluidity.
The 64 x LEDBeam 150s were equidistantly spaced out around on the larger 10 metre diameter circle truss, which offered the perfect size and geometry for this set up, a format extremely easy to programme this quantity of fixtures with as it was divisible by 8!
Palle wanted LEDBeam 150s for their small size, speed, and uniqueness as a compact LED wash luminaire.
A volley of 16 x MegaPointes rigged in the smaller 3m diameter truss worked in conjunction with the LEDBeam 150s.
MegaPointes are a go-to light for effects and Palle maximised the gobos, prisms and other features that make this fixture an ultimately useful addition to any lightshow.
Palle remarked on how well the two fixture types – LEDBeam 150 and MegaPointe – blend and contrast in this case and notes the great match in colours. The interaction between the two fixture types becomes more pronounced during the closing numbers of the set where the circles are flying into multiple dramatic positions, pitching, and flying in and out within one another.
Automation was also integral to the show, used judiciously and carefully to bring an edge to an already spectacular looking stage.
Eleven of the BMFL WashBeams are on the front truss, used for keys and specials, with the other six upstage on the floor, shooting through from the back.
The six RoboSpot controlled BMFL WashBeams were all on the front truss, with two lights dedicated to each member of GES.
“I’ve tried a lot of different remote systems in recent years, and this is one of the best and the most straightforward to set up and use,” Palle stated.
All the BMFL WashBeam parameters were run through the grandMA console, so all the RoboSpot operators had to do in this case was concentrate on following their targets.
The show’s grandMA2 lighting console operator Edvin Nyström worked on the whole tour and will also work for Palle on pop and country singer Jill Johnson, who plays multiple dates at the same venue through the first months of 2023, also using a large Robe lighting rig.
