Fantasia has built a loyal fan base (SWD Photography)
Belgium - Although the Fantasia festival succeeds in attracting some of the hottest EDM and trance DJs year after year, it’s built a loyal fan base with much more than music alone. Drawing on the power of its wildly imaginative and elaborate stage scenery, Fantasia succeeds in cocooning festival-goers in a multi-sensory experience that intensifies the power of its electronic music.
Forming the central visual backdrop to this year’s stage was a representation of an exotic burlesque palace measuring 15m tall by 45m wide. Providing dramatic visuals to accentuate the mystique of the stage was a lighting design by Creative Rental Solutions (CRS) that included a collection of Chauvet Professional Rogue R2 Wash, RH1 Hybrid, COLORdash Par H12IP, STRIKE P38, and COLORado Panel Q40 fixtures.
“Given the ambition of Fantasia’s organisers to create ever more impressive stages, we went back to the drawing board to come up with something especially different this year,” says Thomas Vandekerkhove of Creative Rental Solutions. “Our solution was to develop a lighting rig that awarded a certain mystique to this year’s stage theme by creating powerful looks and vivid colours.”
To douse the palatial stage designed by CRS’s Lieven Tacq (complete with three large burlesque masks) with a variety of pulsating atmospherics, Vandekerkhove and his team incorporated a carefully curated combination of 18 Rogue R2 Wash, 18 RH1 Hybrid and 28 COLORdash Par H12IP fixtures into their design. The resultant blend of saturated colours and powerful wash effects gave a vibrant feel to headliners Gers Pardoel and Cherry Moon Trax, while awarding a sense of mystery and exoticism to the surrounding stage area.
"Having the output and power of the Rogue and COLORdash combination was essential for a stage of this magnitude," continues Vandekerkhove. “What’s more, even though the majority of the festival takes place during daylight hours, we were still able to create genuinely powerful looks to underline its multi-sensorial mystique.”
"The end result was simply magnificent,” says Vandekerkhove. “Our lighting concept truly elevated the scenography while adding mystique to the party atmosphere. The festival immediately asked us to design the stage for next year too.”
(Jim Evans)

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