Robe gets spaced out for Transmission
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Adding to the occasion was lighting designer Bas Kemper, who likes a dynamic and flexible palette of lights. For this show his spec’ featured over 100 Robe moving lights, with 72 MegaPointes, 19 BMFL Blades and 48 LEDBeam 150s incorporated into the rig.
Kemper works closely with a diverse team, including visual artists Vision Impossible who develop the show narrative and create all the screen content, to bring the production alive, uniting all the technical disciplines of lighting, lasers, video and staging. This year’s concept featured a semi-circular stage design that Kemper had conceived earlier in the year as well as a storyboard based around the universe, space travel and exploration, a theme that emanated from the stage design.
Lighting, LED screens and lasers for the show were delivered by Slovakian rental company Ministry Rental Service, owned and managed by Rudo Tucek. The event was production managed by United Music’s Anco van der Kolk, who is also Transmission’s founder.
Large LED screens and elaborate décor have always been prominent at Transmission events since their start in Prague 12 years ago. This year, there were five prominent portrait-orientated LED screens following the convex arc of the stage that gave Kemper the starting points for his lighting layout.
The other major objective, as with all large venues and a dance atmosphere, was to make the vast space of the O2 Arena intimate, clubby and community orientated to fit the underlining ethos of community associated with Transmission’s parties.
72 of the MegaPointes were rigged in between the screens in 12 vertical rows of six.
The 48 LEDBeam 150s were all rigged in four long trusses that traversed the side of the stage. They were arranged in square-shaped arrays of four and were used for lots whizzy effects - for the tiny size of the fixtures, the beams stood out dramatically as they grazed over the audience and to the back of the first tier of bleacher seating.
In addition to all the Robes, Kemper utilised around 400 other lighting fixtures - some more moving lights, strobes, blinders, LED floods and some good old active Sunstrips together with ‘shed loads of MDG haze’.
All of this was used to provide the vibrant production that kept pumping throughout the night, operated by Bas’s regular FOH lighting team of Zis Ankone and Martijn Deenen.
(Jim Evans)
