Robe lights Pablo Alborán
- Details
Chus chose to work with Robe moving lights, picking 40 x MegaPointes, 48 x Spiiders and 32 x BMFL WashBeams as the work-horses of the rig, all supplied by rental company Fluge.
It is Chus’ second year as LD, lighting director and operator for Alborán, and he and Salva - who also creates the video content - worked out numerous multi-level ideas and looks to ensure that all the different visual elements had their chance to shine.
With a large upstage 4.8mm LED screen measuring 16m wide by 7m high and a moving ceiling of 72 x 5x5 matrix LED fixtures as a special feature, both these aspects can change the shape and architecture of the performance space.
Chus therefore needed very intense and highly adaptable fixtures to create the desired lighting looks and effects.
The upstage truss above the screen contains 16 x MegaPointes, and four diamond orientated trusses around the 5x5 ceiling feature are rigged with 24 x MegaPointes - six per section of truss, so both these sets of MegaPointes make powerful borders around these two set features.
Thirty-six of the Spiiders are positioned on both sides of the stage in diamond shaped frames, with the other 12 Spiiders and 12 of the BMFL WashBeams on the floor, dotted around the risers and stage set.
The final 20 x BMFL WashBeams are positioned round the sides of the screen.
Chus explained how he is using these different Robe fixtures. The BMFL WashBeams provide “exceptionally strong” back light which can also be directed into the audience and involve them in the action, while at other times they are utilised for texturing the environment.
MegaPointes have an important role due to the “sheer potency and brightness of the lightsource”, which enable some “truly great” effects on the stage. The Spiider is also vital to the show, and Chus uses them in wide mode so he can maximise the ring-zone effects.
The most important visual goal for the Prometo tour is to combine video - including the IMAG mix cut by Iván García and David Hidalgo - and lighting, so both medias are working together as an elegant and effective live treatment for the stage.
Chus also programmed the show, and for him it is fundamental to be involved in all these parts of building a lightshow - from the designing, blocking and programming, right through to the operation.
During production rehearsals at Fluges Studios in Arganda del Rey, Madrid, he worked with two assistant programmers, Juan Manuel Lazaro and Javier ‘Rubito’ Lapuerta, and on tour, Rubito is his lighting design assistant.
The Fluge lighting crew chief is Bochi Piaggio. Miguel Angel Almagro is the video crew chief, Iñaki De La Vega operates the automation and Nacho Jipi is the stage manager. Keeping everything running smoothly on the road is production manager Gorka Mondragón and tour manager Ricardo Badal.
(Jim Evans)
