These two leading UK lighting rental
companies didn’t mess around when it came to placing their orders for Robe’s
new Pointe fixtures, and were among the
first two on the UK mainland to receive delivery of this latest, hugely popular
multi-purpose moving light.
Southampton based GLS took 24 and
Bristol based Fineline took 12 units in this initial delivery … which was
co-ordinated by Ian W Brown of Robe UK.
However Fineline’s fixtures also went
directly from Robe to GLS – and straight out on their first cross-hire – on
European shows for the Flaming Lips, with lighting designed by Eric Cathcart.
After that, they finally found their
way to Fineline where they directly out again on the Eden Sessions staged at
The Eden Project in Cornwall for which Fineline was contracted to supply
lighting and rigging for the first year.
Fineline’s Rob Sangwell comments, “We
are delighted with the Pointes. They are small, bright and really versatile
units that do a whole load more than the nearest competitor product”.
He adds, “We like Robe and the way
they do business – they are great people with the right attitude, and apart
from that, there is an excellent range of products which are quality engineered
and reliable!”
He adds that Robe is a continually
requested brand by LDs, and that the ROBIN range in particular ticks all the
right boxes for them as a busy rental company.
Fineline also has a stock of Robe
LEDWash 600s and ROBIN 600E Spots.
His feelings about The Pointes are
echoed by Ian Turner, who states, “We bought them because they are really
bright and feature packed”.
GLS now has over 300 Robe moving
lights in its hires stock and is the largest lighting rental company on the
UK’s South Coast.
He appreciates the ‘camera-friendliness’
of The Pointe and particularly of the 8-facet dark centred prism effect. He
also likes the fact that they make a very effective wash fixture when zoomed
out and the frost filter applied.
“Combining the prisms and the
Pointe’s focussed narrow beam enables you to do air effects like laser
simulation with substantially more power than any other fixture around!” he
declares, “It’s genuinely a fixture that does something completely different”.
On The Flaming Lips, 20 Pointes were
rigged on a truss flown on Kinesys motors that moved into several different
positions above the lead singer’s head throughout the performance. The other 12
were scattered upstage of their Stealth LED screen back wall, firing through
its semi-transparency.
Both Rob and Ian were keen to be the
first in the UK with Pointes and both companies are so impressed … that they
plan to buy more soon!
That’s making a pointe!
