Around 20 Ayrton 300W Diablo fixtures were used for the German leg of the Ghost: Nachricht von Sam Tour.
Co-written by Glen Ballard and Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart, Ghost: Nachricht von Sam is a re-telling of the film classic which is currently touring several major German-speaking cities until the end of April.
As the tour’s Lighting Designer, Phil Kong rigged five of Ayrton’s, ultra-compact 300W Diablo fixtures across the downstage truss, three across the upstage truss, six as head highs on the booms (three on each side) and three on each side of the stage to be used as high sides on the stage left and right trusses.
Kong of Kong Design said: “We used 20 Ayrton Diablo’s on Ghost: Nachricht von Sam for ShowSlot GmbH. I was very happy with them for all of the things they were able to do, and how fast they were. The flat field, the gobos, the colour rendering and the size and price point are great.”
He explained how Diablo came to be chosen: “When we were designing Ghost: Nachricht von Sam, one of the stipulations from the producer, ShowSlot GmbH, was that our entire show would be on a ground support truss. That limited us primarily to fast, lightweight LED fixtures with framing shutters, rotating gobos and CMY mixing all with a good zoom range.”
Kong added: “We use the Diablos most often to carve out acting areas on stage, and provide height and shape through the air both with and without gobos dropped in. The nice even field is amazing when it comes to creating gobo washes across the stage or for aerial effects during some of the show’s more flashy numbers.”
He also used the Diablo fixtures as onstage automated followspots. “They surprised us with how well and how quickly they tracked the actors, who were often running around the stage. We used them as back spots and sidelight spots, often with a clean hard edge, punching through the rest of the colour we threw onto the stage.”
Diablo’s compact form factor is also proving its’ worth on the tour, able to handle both the variety of venues and make load-ins and techs easier. “This tour goes to venues of all shapes and sizes, and our fixtures need to be capable of handling trims that vary drastically from 4m tall to 7m, so Diablo’s large zoom range was a must,” said Kong.
“Our show also involves lots of moving slider panels that whip around the stage. The quick and accurate movement of the framing shutters helped us keep the entire show looking clean,” Kong added.
This was the first time Kong, who has previously used Ayrton MagicDot R and DreamPanel Twin, has incorporated Diablo into his design. “I was very happy with their performance,” he concluded.