Italian
superstar Vasco Rossi is currently engaged in his summer Live Kom 15 stadium
tour which is completely sold out, and will see the legendary singer play to
nearly 1 million fans, with another stunning lighting and show design by his
long term LD, Giovanni Pinna.
This year
Giovanni has incorporated 34 Robe BMFL Blades and 16 BMFL Spots into the
design, which are the work-horse spot fixtures of the tour. He has also deployed
100 of Robe’s LEDBeam 100s which are dotted around the back wall of the main
set. One of Italy’s leading designers, he has been using Robe products in his
work for some years, but this is the first full-on project for which he has
specified BMFL Spots.
Giovanni
worked closely with Claudio Santucci and Florian Boje from set design company
Gioforma who produced the imposing industrial stage set constructed from
aluminium and fabricated by Rome based rental company BOTW, who are also the
tour’s lighting supplier. Giovanni ensured that the set was designed so that
his lighting fixtures could be fitted into and around it.
As usual,
the stage presentation contains a lot of video. The set has a 68 metre span
widthways and is built around a Space Roof giving 22 metres of clearance from
the stage to the roof. Behind the central set centrepiece is over 200 square
metres of Pixled F-37 LED surface, and eight lighting pods in the ceiling –
moved on a Cyberhoist system – are also bordered with the same LED surface.
There are
four large portrait IMAG video screens (two stage left and two stage right) in
the stage wings made up of Compass 8 mm LED which are angled to offer good
viewing to all watching the show from the sides of the stadiums, so they can also
receive the full Vasco Rossi experience.
Having
attended the very first ‘soft’ launch of the then new BMFL Spot last year at
the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Giovanni reveals that BMFL Spots were “Number
one on my wish list for this tour”. He wanted them for their extreme power and
brightness and incredible range of effects.
They were
positioned all over the set. Eighteen were on the back wall of the centre
section of the set. Sixteen were on the moving pods and another 16 were spaced
out on the wings stage right and stage left – all nicely spread for maximum
coverage and impact and lots of ‘power’ looks.
The BMFL
Spots were used extensively throughout the show, contributing to all the major
stage and band looks as well as for illuminating the audience.
“It’s the
first time – and finally – that I have actually been able to light a stadium
audience with lights from the rig and see
the effects – even in darker colours and with gobos inserted!” he declares.
Using BMFL Spots he’s been able to achieve this effect without having to spend budget
on a load of additional fixtures just to light the crowds.
Rossi is
a great communicator and well known for having an amazing rapport with his
fans, so lighting the audience is a huge part of the show.
The first
hour of the epic 2.5 hour performance is in daylight, so Giovanni is also
appreciating the fact that – out of all the fixtures on the rig – the BMFLs are
the ones that also stand out in the daylight.
“They
make a huge different all round, but particularly during the daylight section
of the set,” he commented. All the fixtures are run in white for this section.
The stage
is only partially covered, so some of the BMFL units have been exposed to the
weather in what’s been an unusually wet summer so far in Italy, but they have
continued working. (Along with the other exposed fixtures, they are covered by
custom weatherisation material from BOTW.)
The
LEDBeam 100s – which Giovanni loves – are dotted all over the centre section of
the set wall and their piercing little beams are used for eye-catching matrix
effects from the third section of the show onwards. “I love these little fixtures,”
says Giovanni, “They can be fitted almost anywhere and are fantastic beam
effects”.
Giovanni
operates all the Robe units and other lights from a grandMA console and a
grandMA light is used by Marco Piva to run the media servers playing back the
scenic video elements.
The performance
is divided into four sections. The first gets everyone in the mood with a
selection of stomping anthems from Rossi’s extensive back catalogue of 26 best-selling
albums and numerous hits. The pace then slows down for an acoustic section, for
which the pods descend from the ceiling, closing down the space … before entering
the third section, a full rock-out with all-visuals-blazing and massive finale guaranteed
to send the audiences away with burning retinas and a great dose of Rossimania!
This is followed by more of the same for a 4-number encore.
The show
has all the accoutrements of superlative stadium rock with the high-energy lighting
design at the centre of the action, plus a great combination of scenic and IMAG
video, a large laser system from ER and a serious battery of large CO2 effects
and a great sound system supplied by Audio Rent.
These all
provide the appropriate production values and excitement for Rossi – one of the
last classic showman performers – to bring his magic right to the heart of his
adoring fans.
