LD Patrick Rabus brings show lighting to small basement nightclub with JDC Line and Exo Wash.
Young German pop singer Nico Laska recently presented his debut album, NI/CO, at a sold-out event at the Frankfurt club Nachtleben. Working alongside him was lighting designer and operator Patrick Rabus, a long-time friend of the musician. In order to give the small basement club an atmosphere worthy of the occasion, Rabus turned to GLP’s JDC Line and FUSION Exo Wash.
“The Nachtleben is a typical basement club, with everything that basement clubs have to offer: low ceilings with nowhere to hang lamps, limited power availability, and very spartan house lights,” laughs Rabus. “And then I come in with my own lighting set when the house technicians haven’t worked in the club for months due to the pandemic. That was exciting for everyone involved.”
Rabus searched for a place on the club stage to place six GLP JDC Line and eight FUSION Exo Wash. Since there was nowhere to hang anything, he placed the Exo Wash in a line behind the band. He then hung the JDC Lines at an angle on speaker stands to visually echo the slashes that run through Nico Laska’s entire album design.
The designer used both products in a live setting for the first time, and afterwards he was full of praise: “I love the JDC Line – it is nice and small and can easily be introduced anywhere into the set. In addition, it offers many design options thanks to the two RGB pixel and strobe lines. And it is incredibly bright! Thanks to the shape and the super easy assembly, it supported my idea and the album design to perfection.”
The Exo Wash also more than proved its worth: “These are also nice and narrow, and offer a good zoom range and incredibly beautiful colours,” Rabus continues. “Nico’s album design is all red, so every now and then I needed a really bright red… no problem with the Exo Wash. Plus, thanks to the IP65 rating of the spotlights, I didn’t have to worry about drinks tipping over in the narrow space of the stage.”
Rabus has been happily using GLP products for many years. “I really enjoy working with the JDC1 and the X4 Bar 20 in particular,” he explains. I take them with me almost everywhere and they are real all-purpose workhorses. I think the JDC Line and the FR10 Bar will be joining them in the near future.”
One reason for this is the great cooperation with GLP and Andreas Brandt. “With Andreas, who is my primary contact at GLP, everything is always wonderfully uncomplicated,” Rabus concludes. “Without exception, everyone at GLP is incredibly accommodating. No matter who I speak to, everyone offers support where they can.”
Photo: © Martin Müller @analogweekend