The music starts at 9pm and continues virtually nonstop until morning. This process is repeated over the course of four days inside 100,000 square meters of cavernous airport hangers. But one could wander through Rennes Airport Parc Expo for the entire Les Rencontres Trans Musicales (aka “Transmusicales” or “Les Trans”) without ever hearing the same music twice.
Such is the diversity of this iconic festival, which was founded 44-years ago by Béatrice Macé and Jean-Louis Brossard, who still run the event today. An assault on the boring and predictable, the festival serves up an outpouring of fresh, original music in a mind-boggling array of genres from a variety of places, which this year featured over 30 different nations.
Whether it’s Iranian American trip-hop innovator Rahill, or French Israeli jazz drummer Roni Kaspi, the festival embraces a potpourri of artists for the express purpose of finding “the next big thing.” Les Trans has done quite a good job in this quest. Nirvana got what many regard as their first big European exposure at the festival, so too did Björk, Cabaret Voltaire and Daft Punk.
Future stars, as well as established artists, performing in the festival’s spacious Greenroom hanger were supported by a dynamic and colorful lightshow with all the flexibility necessary to reflect their highly individualized styles and personas. This was accomplished thanks to a skillfully crafted lighting design by Julien Trochu the LD of West Evénement, that featured a collection of CHAUVET Professional fixtures.
Drawn from West Evénement’s own inventory, these fixtures included 10 Rogue RH1 Hybrids, which were used to provide parallel beams above the stage, as well as for counter lighting; and 24 Rogue R2 Washes, positioned on the periphery of the room and arranged in blocks of six. Also adding to the visual impact were six Vesuvio II RGBA+UV LED color mixing foggers in equal numbers on both sides of the stage.
“We chose the RH1 for its versatility, power and beam quality, while the R2 was chosen for its compactness and robustness, and the Vesuvio II for its smoke power,” said Trochu. “At this live event, the challenge was to meet the customer’s request by lighting both the stage and the audience. Our aim was to guarantee an immersive 360-degree visual experience for the audience.”
Working with Fabien Dupont (Pupitreur), Trochu and the West Evénement team accomplished this goal in stunning fashion, immersing the entire room in bold colorful hues, reaching out to fans with intense audience light, and animating the stage with riveting crossing beam patters, which together with the aerial effects, played off dramatically against the fog.
The variety of artists who graced the Greenroom stage came from many different places, both geographically and musically, but over the course of the festival, they all had one thing in common: their creative spirit was supported visually by a rich and nurturing lighting environment.