New Zealand band SIX60 became the first ever to play Auckland’s Eden Park stadium in front of 50,000 fans. Show and Lighting Designer, Ben Dalgleish of Human Person designed a high impact lighting show fitting the occasion – utilising over 200 Robe moving lights, supplied by rental company Spot-Light Systems – to create the televised event.
The pressure was on to create a production design – which included over 550m of LED screen – in just five weeks from the show being confirmed to the gates opening to allow fans onto the hallowed turf of New Zealand’s biggest sports stadium. Production Manager, Leon Dalton did a “fantastic” job of pulling everything together in this timeframe,” observed Dalgleish.
Dalgleish required a large number of high output fixtures, so the lighting plot included 97 Robe BMFLs, a mix of Spots and Blades, which were dotted all over the trusses above stage, along with a row of 36 across the stage deck. A further eight BMFL Blades were rigged on the two delay towers running on a remote tracking followspot system.
Joining the BMFLs on the rig were 28 Tarrantulas, five of which were positioned along each of six finger trusses located above the performance area in upstage / downstage orientation. Each automated finger truss was also rigged with two MegaPointes.
Another four Tarrantulas were specified per side for low-level side lighting. The Robe count was further boosted by 75 LEDBeam 100s which were deployed on five automated lighting pods that moved extensively throughout the show helping to create fluid kinetic effects and looks.
Over 50 automation cues in the show facilitated a diverse range of looks. “The goal of the pods was to recreate a bit of old school club flash-and-trash for a specific segment of the set,” Dalgleish explained. “I wanted to have a contemporary interpretation of one of those classic enormous ‘80s Parcan rigs.”
A total of 24 MegaPointes on the front truss were used for audience lighting and aerial beam effects. Inclement weather prevented a full-dress rehearsal, so the team had one take to get it right-on-the-night, they were fortunate enough to have been able to achieve a serious amount of blocking and groundwork during pre-vis.
An MA Lighting grandMA2 system was used for lighting control with Dalgleish programming and operating alongside Lighting Programmer, Jade Fraser. Video was run on a disguise media server system, operated by Evan Dilworth. Notch Designer, Ryan Sheppard worked remotely from Toronto, Canada, dialing in looks last minute as the set list was updated.
Video content designed by Human Person was developed in close conjunction with the band. Animation Designer, Ian Valentine incorporated a large amount of UV mapping into the show, allowing the IMAG camera feed to be embedded into the visuals in a unique way.
The 13-camera director for the live show was Wendy A’bear who expertly handled the different mapping configurations, sometimes even cutting a 4ME mix, and the livestream was directed by Matt Clode.
The Spot-Light Systems team included Crew Chief, Gavin Philpot and Account Representative, Alex Oldham as well as Scott Wickham, Tim Mason, Nat Turner, Brian Mahoney, Ben Cooper, Mike Bowerman, Nathaniel Gaudin and Brad Gledhill. Follow-Me Systems Tech, Jason Steel and Automation Director, Steve Hedges.
Head Rigger, Raymond Hodge and Show and Tour Production Manager, Leon Dalton of Global Production Partners were also key members of the team.
