Created
by music lovers for music lovers, KAABOO is a three-day event that combines
rock-n-roll, world-class art, and the finest culinary cuisines to appeal to all
five senses. Located in Del Mar, CA, it is described as the ideal live music
event that takes place in a wonderland off the shores of the Pacific Ocean. For
the 2015 KAABOO, Lighting Designer Chris Lisle was brought on by Production
Manager Jim Dorroh, and he worked with Solotech to create a powerful and
expansive rig using 36 VL4000 Spot, 41 VL3500 Wash and 12 VL3500 Wash FX
luminaires.
“While
this was my first year working with KAABOO, Associate Designer Erik Parker and
I knew that we needed to provide a rig that would be easy to clone to/from the
touring artists normal show file,” began Lisle. “A good mixture and placement
of wash, spot, and beam fixtures is always critical, and since I’ve used
Vari-Lite in my designs for years, I knew they would be a hit for the incoming
LD’s.”
Getting
started with the design layout, Lisle and Parker began looking at the rigging
points provided by KAABOO to decide where they might be able to place the
Vari-Lite luminaires throughout the design. Understanding the varying
preferences of the artists who would be performing, they needed to find the
delicate balance between lighting diversity and functionality.
“In the
design, we wanted to give all the artists the most diverse lighting options
possible, but still make sure the rig would go up and down easily,” explained
Lisle. “To accomplish this we decided to use the Vari-Lite luminaires primarily
on the main stage because they have great optics, a wonderful output, and many
other fantastic features that lighting designers really love to dig into.”
The
Philips Vari-Lite VL4000 Spot luminaire uses state-of-the-art technology to
bring new features and innovation to productions around the world. Based on a
Philips 1200W Fast-Fit lamp, the luminaire achieves over 33,000 lumens of
output and also includes the all new Infinity color mix system, a 9-47 degree
zoom, dual rotating gobo wheels, two adjustable animation wheels, framing
shutters, an independent rotating prism with divergence control, variable frost
and more. Additionally, a new selectable Studio mode now allows designers
and technicians to further reduce the noise level of the luminaire and operate
with an output of 25,000 lumens when desired.
Lisle
continued, “We placed the VL4000 Spot and VL3500 Wash luminaires on the ‘five
finger’ trusses in an alternating pattern in order to lay a good base of color
and beam effects with gobo pattern projections when needed. We then placed the
VL3500 Wash FX luminaires in the main stage wings and used them for their big
aerial capabilities.”
With an
output that exceeds 70,000 lumens, the Philips Vari-Lite VL3500 Wash and Wash
FX feature internal zoomable beam optics, an interchangeable front lens system,
CYM color mixing, variable CTO color temperature correction, dual five-position
color wheels, a separate dimmer, and an independent dual blade strobe
mechanism. The VARI*BRITE mode also allows each luminaire to create a
tight column of remarkably intense light. The VL3500 Wash FX model allows users
to harness the tremendous intensity of the luminaire to project effects
patterns through a pattern wheel that provides four rotatable and indexable
positions in addition to open.
“With the
amount of Vari-Lite luminaires we had in the rig, we were certainly able to
create some nice, big looks with a ton of horsepower,” concluded Lisle. “I
really like Vari-Lite luminaires because they hold up very well to the
unpredictable weather elements that outdoor festivals bring and they are very
user-friendly for incoming LD’s. Also, for tour designs that may need to clone
from another fixture, the Vari-Lite luminaires work outstanding as they offer a
complete package of power, optics, color and many other design capabilities.”
