Often hailed as the ‘Czech Pink Floyd’, progressive
rock legends Stromboli have played a special one-off sold out show at Prague’s
O2 Arena to celebrate their 30th anniversary, with lighting and set designer
Radek Havlí?ek choosing to use an array of Clay Paky fixtures to complement his
impressive volcano-themed set.
Havlicek, of design agency and rental operation Pink
Panther, worked alongside his colleague Petr “Panki” Volek to choose 50 x Clay
Paky A.leda Wash K10, 20 x Sharpy, 12 x Alpha Beam 1500, 24 x Alpha Spot 1200
and 12 x Shotlight Wash fixtures for the vibrant and immersive design, which
was centred upon a vast volcano set piece to represent the band’s name.
“We rigged some of the Clay Paky fixtures on ringed
trussing around the volcano,” explains Havlícek. “We positioned 14 of the K10s,
which we used for vibrant washes of colour, on the top ring and 20 Sharpys on
the middle ring. The Sharpys were employed for their intense beams of light and
aerial effects, coming out over the audience.”
The ‘volcano’ was made from textile strips with a high
reflection coating for optimised video projection and measured 16 metres in
height and 30 metres in outer diameter. Havlícek rigged the Alpha Spot 1200s
above it, with the 12 Shotlight Washes inside it to backlight the stunning
projecton and the remaining Wash K10 and 12 Alpha Beam 1500s making up the
sophisticated floor package.
“We made sure to use all the Clay Paky fixtures to
their full potential,” says Havlícek. “They worked in harmony with the video
projection and really made the volcano come alive. They’re also incredibly fast
and respond to commands smoothly.”
Stromboli are set to play a couple of festival dates
this summer in the Czech Republic, including Vysocina Fest in July.
Photo credit: Frantisek Ortmann
