Drawing on the power of its wildly imaginative and elaborate stage scenery, Fantasia succeeded in cocooning festival-goers in a multi-sensory experience that intensifies the power of its electronic music.
Forming the central visual backdrop to this year’s stage was an awe inspiring representation of an exotic burlesque palace measuring 15-meters tall by 45-meters wide. Providing dramatic visuals to accentuate the mystique of the stage was a lighting design by Creative Rental Solutions (CRS) that included a collection of CHAUVET Professional Rogue R2 Wash, RH1 Hybrid, COLORdash Par H12IP, STRIKE P38, and COLORado Panel Q40 fixtures.
“Given the ambition of Fantasia’s organizers to create ever more impressive stages, we went back to the drawing board to come up with something especially unique this year” said Thomas Vandekerkhove of Creative Rental Solutions. “Our solution was to develop a lighting rig that awarded a certain mystique to this year’s stage theme by creating powerful looks and vivid colours.”
To douse the palatial stage designed by CRS’s Lieven Tacq (complete with three large burlesque masks) with a variety of pulsating atmospherics, Vandekerkhove and his team incorporated a carefully curated combination of 18 Rogue R2 Wash, 18 RH1 Hybrid and 28 COLORdash Par H12IP fixtures into their design. The resultant blend of saturated colours and powerful wash effects gave a vibrant feel to headliners Gers Pardoel and Cherry Moon Trax, while awarding a sense of mystery and exoticism to the surrounding stage area.
“Having the output and power of the Rogue and COLORdash combination was essential for a stage of this magnitude,” continued Vandekerkhove. “What’s more, even though the majority of the festival takes place during daylight hours, we were still able to create genuinely powerful looks to underline its multi-sensorial mystique.”
With the huge stage structure acting as a landmark that was visible from all corners of the festival site, Vandekerkhove and his team were also tasked with ensuring appropriate illumination of the structure during the festival. Specifying 10 IP65-rated COLORado Panel Q40 fixtures, they achieved flawless edge-to-edge colour mixing over the whole stage structure, drawing attention and luring attendees to the stage’s burlesque themed graphics.
Adding a level of excitement to the integration of scenery and lighting, were the 41 STRIKE P38 fixtures positioned within the structure of the stage. With a combination of audience blinder and strobe powered by a 90W tungsten emulating warm white LED source, the discreet, punchy and outdoor-ready STRIKE fixtures provided the perfect match for the relentless EDM and trance DJ sets without distracting from the central scenographic elements.
“The end result was simply magnificent,” said Vandekerkhove. “Our lighting concept truly elevated the scenography while adding mystique to the party atmosphere. The festival immediately asked us to design the stage for next year too.”
