The Warfield Theatre in downtown San Francisco has upgraded its stage lighting with its latest LED technology. Now using the new Philips Vari-Lite VLZ Spot fixture, plus wash lights from Signify’s Showline range, the venue is enjoying the benefits of the company’s latest innovations.
The Warfield, operated by Goldenvoice, has a rich history. Since opening in the 1930s it has hosted a Who’s Who of stars, from Al Jolson and Charlie Chaplin to Bob Dylan and Nirvana. With an eye on the future, the lighting upgrade had 2 aims. Firstly, to continue to deliver the highest standards of performance lighting, and secondly, to exploit the latest advances in LED technology to reduce both environmental impact and operating costs.
The choice of the Philips Vari-Lite VLZ Spots, along with the Philips Vari-Lite SL BEAM 500fx and Philips Vari-Lite 300fx wash fixtures, meets all these criteria and is paying multiple dividends for the Warfield. “The LED sources mean a drastic decrease in power consumption, heat generation and, perhaps most importantly to management, the possible zeroing out of our lamp-restocking budget,” said the Warfield’s lighting director Rob Robertson.
At the same time, the Warfield needed quality optical systems for smooth fields of light, powerful output, high-level colour rendering and all the features and effects capability expected of market-leading stage lighting tools. The fixtures from the Signify Entertainment portfolio are meeting these requirements too. Of the Philips Vari-Lite VLZ Spot, Robertson said, “The dimming is fantastic. In particular, I’ve been impressed by the unsurpassed brightness for an LED source, the best-in-class optical range and the quality and clarity of the light output.”
He added: “We were drawn to this as the only LED spot in this class of light output. Others in the market have a robust feature set but lack the output, which we felt was important in a venue of our size. Having high-output spot fixtures over our stage gives us greater flexibility and variety in lighting positions and looks. They also cut down on time taken to focus, giving the LD more programming time.”
Robertson concluded: “We strongly recommend checking out these fixtures in person when looking for a high output spot fixture.”
