Hamburg
dance / trance trio Scooter – considered the most successful German singles recording
act with 23 top 10 hits and over 30 million records sold – kicked off their
2016 tour with an eye-catching lighting and set design by Jerry Appelt, one of
the best known lighting and visual professionals in Germany also with a stellar
career!
Twenty-two
of Robe’s new LED strobes were right at the heart of the design which is being
looked after on the road by lighting director / associate designer Marc Brunk
Hardt.
The
design’s architecture is formed from five raked pods flown above the stage and
loaded with lights. The idea of this ‘roof’ can be altered and adapted to fit
into different sized venues on the tour – with capacities of between 2000 and
12000 – whilst retaining the basic depth and integrity of the design. It’s also
a great solution for dealing with varying headroom – looking equally good with
tall trim heights and also when flying lower, just above the band, which completely
changes the dynamics of the performance space.
Below
these pods are the two-level band risers with a staircase in the middle, and
the 22 Robe Strobes are built into the riser edges pointing forward so they
blast into the audience.
Far upstage
is a large LED wall.
The
overall look and feel of the show is stark and raw to match the energy of the
band and also the harder, faster, edgier ‘Fifth Chapter’ of their remarkable
career and musical development.
The
strobes were also chosen to allow the band to see right out into the audience
and to the back of the hall as they blast into the arena at punctuating moments
in their characteristically high energy set.
The Robe Strobe – these were the white versions – is one
of the brightest LED strobes currently on the market with 120 x 7W high powered
cool white LEDs which are individually addressable and therefore ultimately controllable, configurable and array-able.
They were delivered to the tour by rental company PRG.
Super-fast bursts and
pulses of light can be adjusted in frequency, duration and intensity. The units
are easy to rig and programme individually or in multiples using the direct
segment control or a series of pre-defined macros.
\”The
Strobes are perfect for the job,\” enthuses Marc. \”They are extremely
bright, very versatile and also the single cell control offers plenty of scope
for creativity. They also seem robust and well-built for life on the road\”.
Scooter’s
eighteenth studio album ‘Ace’ was released in February. Their tour kicked off in
March and continues in Europe through April and beyond.
http://www.robe.cz
Photos : Ralph Larmann
