Luxembourg – Chance encounters! No one expects them to have any lasting effect… but every once in a while, they surprise us. Such was the case years ago when Martin Dudley set out to light a Christmas show.
There, another lighting company was also working on the same event. Dudley struck up a conversation with the technician who was working on that show. As they spoke, the tech told Dudley about a new lighting console he was in the process of developing.
The man turned out to be Chris Kennedy, who would go on to cofound ChamSys. Fast forward a few more years when Dudley found himself in need of a new, more versatile console. He turned to the tech from that Christmas show and became a ChamSys user. He hasn’t looked back in since.
“That was 15 years ago this summer,” recalled Dudley. “Now that I am celebrating an anniversary of sorts with ChamSys, I’m still very happy with my decision. The big things that about ChamSys that have really helped me over the years are simplicity of programming, portability, and the great technical support when needed.”
Chance crossed Dudley’s path again this summer as he was celebrating his “ChamSys Anniversary.” Though this encounter was not nearly as monumental, its effect had some beautiful consequences. Lighting James Morrison when the Brit Award winner headlined the Echterlive Festival in Luxembourg, Dudley unexpectedly encountered a stage with a transparent dome.
The stage offered a captivating setting with its elegant symmetry and clear view of the 18th century buildings in Echternach’s historic Abbey Courtyard. It was an idyllic setting for an outdoor festival featuring a singer with the raspy soulful vibrato of James Morrison. But it was not 100-percent what Dudley was anticipating.
“I didn’t deliberately set out to accentuate the dome structure, although the shape of the structure perhaps complemented some of my looks,’” said Dudley. “We didn’t even know that the stage covering was transparent until we arrived at the festival, but that allowed me to incorporate the lighting on the building behind the stage into my show.”
At the Echterlive Festival, Dudley came equipped with some familiar tools: the ChamSys Compact Connect, Extra Wing and a laptop PC. “I always take the Compact Connect, and the touchscreen laptop PC, as carry-on baggage, so that if the Extra Wing, as check-in baggage, doesn’t arrive at the same time as us, I can still do a show,” he said. “I run the main show with a cue stack on a playback fader per song on the Compact Connect, and I like to have all my front light, crowd blinders, haze/smoke, and other stuff I need available to grab quickly on the Extra Wing.”
Dudley drew on some familiar advantages of his ChamSys when lighting James Morrison at the festival. “It all starts with simplicity,” he said. “I’ve yet to make the jump to group cues (but soon!) so, I like the simple cloning and morphing of fixtures. I like how quick it is to add in more and different fixtures to my show and generate new FX. This matters, because every festival has a different set of LED panels/battens/blinders to incorporate into the show. It’s also very quick and easy to get connected to festival lighting systems via network connections. I’m a big fan of the network port on the Compact Connect, so I no longer have to hope that a USB to Ethernet adapter doesn’t disconnect itself halfway through the show. The locking USB connection on the latest Compact Connects is great too!”
As for James Morrison’s show itself, it came off beautifully under the transparent dome with Dudley’s lighting providing a seamlessly supportive setting for his client’s music… something he has done with grace and style on his ChamSys desk for years and is likely to do for many more years to come.
