The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Dallas
USA - Amidst the thousands of celebrations happening world-wide for the 2018-2019 roll over, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO) played a special Great Gatsby themed party in the super-plush lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Dallas, which required diligent lighting to produce the correct ambience.
Randy Cline of Time Matters Entertainment, based in Plano just north of Dallas, was the event’s technical producer, coordinating all the staging elements, and working for communications agency Wheelhouse Marketing & PR. He asked lighting designer Eric Wade of Crossfade Design to create a dramatically different lighting scheme to set the scene and a stylish tone for a classy evening of fun and music.
Challenged for power and lighting positions in and around the lobby, powerful LED light sources were the only way to go, so Eric selected Robe LEDBeam 150s and DL7S Profiles as his main fixtures.
This was also a one-off presentation in that there was no conventional stage, instead, the 16 NOJO musicians were positioned in the lobby, all on the deck, with a dancefloor and a VIP area set up immediately in front of the orchestra, near the bar entrance.
In response, Eric deployed lights wherever he could fit them. Fixtures were ensconced around the floor, on the PA stacks, secreted behind couches, tables, and even around the hotel’s front desk!
“I like to take a truck load of lights and design onsite to cover all bases on these type of shows” he explained. “I took the ‘Grip Truck Theory’ quite literally and then just had my guys grab what I needed from it to light all the different areas.”
The DL7S Profiles were used to light the lobby celling. Two fixtures covered the entire ceiling evenly and Eric was able to create striking multi-layered patterning and texturing. “It’s a great light,” he said, impressed with the zoom, focus, and gobo selection.
The LEDBeam 150s were the “perfect fixture for this job – wonderfully small with more than enough horsepower for the size and application! They made a huge impact in the limited available space”.
He also used some wireless battery powered LED fixtures and some LED battens, all supplied via Time Matters Entertainment’s dry hire division TMELED.com and controlled from a grandMA2 console.
(Jim Evans)

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