The Gatecrasher Classical club night landed at Sheffield City Hall in January for a sensory overload, with dramatic lighting controlled by Avolites consoles.
Birmingham-based Stage Production Co provided the technical know-how for the laser and lighting spectacular, achieving that ‘Gatecrasher feeling’ by hitting the crowd with myriad effects. The team supplied all lighting, rigging, staging and technical production for the event and designed the light show.
Stage Production Co managing director Jordan Lake was Production Director/Designer for the gig, working alongside Ben Butler as Lighting Director/Designer. The duo used an Avolites Sapphire Touch and Tiger Touch II console with Fader Wing to control the ambitious production.
“Gatecrasher fans expect massive lighting shows and it was up to us to deliver,” says Lake. “Gatecrasher has always understood that it takes more than a big-name DJ to make a party successful – it’s a combination of the perfect sound, the best lighting, the biggest lasers, the most outrageous effects and performers.”
One of the main things the team had to take into consideration was the on-stage orchestra, which performs as part of the classical/dance event.
“None of the lighting could distract or obstruct their ability to see or play, so we designed a powerful, even wash with only colour changes, and positioned all blinders, strobes and eye-candy units carefully,” Lake continues. “The bulk of the lighting was mid-air FX and beam-work, which spent the majority of the time in the air or on the crowd, rather than on the stage.”
Both the Avolites Sapphire Touch and Tiger Touch II consoles were powered by Avolites’ Titan 10.1 operating system.
“My favourite features of Titan are the power and ease of use of the three main shape and effects generators,” says Butler. “Even doing simple movements is super quick and I love the new direction tab that was recently added to the Shape Generator. You can get some really cool, distinctive looks at a touch of a button.
“And the Key Frame Shapes feature – I don’t know how I would programme without this anymore. The possibilities are endless and you’re only limited by your imagination. Things that you can now create in just a few touches would have in the past taken forever. It’s such a user-friendly, intuitive tool and I just love it!”
Butler chose to timecode the majority of the show, including colours, gobos, positions, movements, chases and FX on a cuelist. However, eye-candy effects, strobes, blinders and architectural lighting were all controlled live on the night.
“I’ve always used Avolites consoles, they sit naturally with me and you can get the desk to work with you and how you like to work, rather than it dictating to you how it should be,” Butler continues. “Stage Production Co is all Avolites and the Sapphire Touch is our go-to console for almost every show.”
Following the success of Sheffield’s January Gatecasher Classical, Stage Production Co has numerous similar events in the pipeline already for 2018.
“New brands are hearing what we are doing with these shows and are coming to us to create a show for them too,” says Lake.
Photo: © Stage Production Co.