Fineline Lighting’s association with Shambala Festival dates back 12 years, and it was the ninth year for Project Manager Stu England who led a large crew.
Fineline supplied lighting for the main stage – a Wango’s tensile structure featuring a large central pole and a free-standing arch at the front; the four-pole big top Kamikaze stage utilised for fun sports in the daytime and as the dance tent at night; and The Playhouse, a theatre cabaret venue with a lively variety programme, which was crewed by students from Truro College on a work experience initiative.
Main Stage
A bit of ingenuity on the rigging front was required, involving an eight-metre span of truss bridled off the saddle-span’s central pole, which supported two 16.5-metre runs of Supertruss also picked up off an eight metre spreader truss at the front that doubled for front lighting positions. This effectively created a large ‘V’ shape and also a ‘rag’ truss at the back. A mid truss was added by resting an additional on top of the two V spans. The basic trussing concept was originated by Fineline’s Wingnut and has been used for the last few years to optimise the non-linear space whilst respecting the elegant aesthetics of the saddle-span design. In this configuration, it is also important to load the trusses evenly to keep the weight balanced, all adding to the challenges.
Lighting wise, the installation comprised eight SGM Giotto 400s, six Robe 600E Spots and 12 Robe LEDWash 1200s for the moving elements supported by eight bars-of-six PARs, eight 4-lite linear Moles, four 8-lite Miles, six Source Fours and four Atomic strobes. These were all run off an Avolites Tiger Touch II console with a fader wing. Fineline also provided two 12m high V-Towers to fly the main stage PA.
Kamikaze
Stu designed the rigging in this venue, based on a large ‘X’ truss – with the two spans of truss measuring 12.5m end-to-end – flown between the four tent king poles. Over the stage, the Fineline crew rigged a 38ft wide by 12ft high goal post at the back to support a projection screen and provide lighting positions.
“We worked very closely with Totem-FX who designed the extensive eye-catching décor which worked hand-in-hand with the lighting towards the visual enrichment of the environment,” explained Stu. This year they created five giant scenic ‘funnels’ which were hung from Fineline’s trussing.
The central one was hung apex up from centre X via a one-metre diameter circle truss above and a 4.4m circular truss below, and each of the four tent poles had an apex-down funnel attached to a three-metre diameter truss rigged about half way up the truss. 16 Miltec LED PARS were used to internally light the funnels, rigged on the trussing circles and highly effective in boosting the visual ambience.
The stage and dance floor lighting was designed to give a plethora of big old-skool rave looks … utilising eight Atomic strobes attached to the lower truss ring of the centre funnel, the main moving lights were all CHAUVET – a mix of SR Beams, RH1 Hybrids and R2 washes – and these were augmented with eight 4-lamp PAR bars, eight 2-lite blinders, plus some Strand 500W codas for the daytime activities and 1K fresnels for key lighting on the stage and DJ booth. The console was another Tiger Touch II with a wing, and two lasers supplied and operated by Martin King from X-Treme Lasers were also rigged onto the stage goal post truss.
The Playhouse
Stevie J Brown, Lighting Designer and Lecturer from the BTEC Production Arts Extended National Diploma in Production Arts course at Truro arranged for four of his students to work as Fineline crew in the Playhouse venue.
The rig consisted of three 9m long trusses flown between the tent king poles covering the front and two sides of the stage area, and a ground supported 10 four-metre goal post built at the back of the stage with a projection screen hung in the middle and lighting all around. The entertainment line-up ranged from aerial artists to magicians and comedians so they had to take a multi-purpose approach and devise a lighting scheme that would work for everything – with a limited amount of kit and time.
The lighting supplied included 20 conventional PARs, 12 LED PARs, 12 ETC Source Four profiles, 24 Harmony fresnels, 10 500W fresnels, with four High End Studio Spot 250s, six CHAUVET R2 washes and six GLP Impressions for moving lights, together with a third Tiger Touch console and 48 ways of dimming for control.
Fineline’s crew chief was James Harrington, Wingnut designed lighting for the main stage and on the technical team were Rachael Mule, Shoki, Ian “Cookie” Brooks, Jan Osborne, James Box, Chris Lundburg, Kevin “Chippie” Beulet and Steve Walsh.