Netherlands – Springing forth from the human heart and soul as they do, all songs have their own unique personalities. This is especially true of those created by an iconic band that has been turning out heartfelt and refreshingly original singer-songwriter hits for close to 30 years. As the lighting designer for the Dutch acoustic pop-rock legends Racoon for 20 of those years, Erwin Van Lokeren is intimately familiar with the qualities that connect each of their songs to fans in a way that’s so personal the singalongs at their concerts feel like family reunions.
On the band’s sold-out arena tour, Van Lokeren is reflecting the unique flavor of each Racoon song with a series of moving video walls coordinated with light from a variety of CHAUVET Professional fixtures, supplied by Splendit.
“For this show, I wanted to create different atmospheres throughout the performance using moving video elements,” he explained. “For the bigger and more uptempo songs, we have a large, dynamic video setup, while for the smaller and more fragile songs, we use minimalistic looks. Because we had so many configuration options in the video setup, we are able to build the show in a way that almost every song has a completely different look.”
Van Lokeren’s design called for two large video screens to be positioned on a moving trolley beam up in the air. These screens can be opened and closed at different times throughout the concert. He also has five smaller screens on moving risers that take different positions for different songs.
All of the screens are blow-through, which allows Van Lokeren to position them in front of one another to create captivating, layered looks. “With the combination of movement and transparency, the setup offers endless possibilities to shape and transform the visual atmosphere throughout the show,” he explained. “The interesting part is that, due to all these shifting configurations, many people can’t really define the actual size of the screens, as everything is constantly moving, and we are shooting against black. Even though we do not have that many screens with us, it still looks huge. Mission accomplished!”
Working in harmony with the fluid video wall configuration to give each song its distinctive visual personality were 98 CHAUVET Professional fixtures. Included in this group were 24 COLORado PXL Bar 16 motorized tilting battens. Van Lokeren flew the RGBW fixtures in two straight lines .
“The impressive output and versatility of the PXLs, along with their 200-degree tilt made them ideal as toplight for the band and extra front light for the horn section, that we added especially for this show. I used them to create striking effects during songs, but also as wash lights to cover the stage beautifully.”
Also in the rig were 16 Strike Array 2 fixtures that delivered the crowd lighting so important to singalongs and other special moments between the band and its fans; and 21 STRIKE Bolt strobes with frost that were used to create dynamic effects around the band.
The “workhorses” of the rig, however, were 10 Maverick MK3 Wash units (key lighting for the band and horn section) and 27 Maverick MK 1 Storm Hybrids. Speaking of the latter, Van Lokeren praised their versatility.
“We used the hybrids a great deal,” he said, adding that they helped him create “all sorts of looks during the show.” Each of those looks was put to good use reflecting the distinct personalities of so many moving songs.
