TAG Supplies 264 CHAUVET Professional Fixtures For Patrick Dierson's Ultra Main Stage Lighting Design

	Some Color STRIKEE Ms were arranged around the iconic Ultra "U" truss that adorns the top center of every Ultra stage around the world.

Richard Milstein's design for the main stage at this year's Ultra Festival in Miami, Florida featured a central diamond configuration and myriad geometric patterns, providing a captivating backdrop for the performances by the likes of BZRP, Skrillex, Steve Aoki, Swedish House Mafia, DJ Snake, Afrojack, and Armin van Buuren. Joining Milstein was lighting designer Patrick Dierson and Technical Arts Group (TAG), which supplied and installed a rig that featured 52 Color STRIKE M motorized strobe-washes and 212 COLORado PXL 16 motorized battens from CHAUVET Professional.

"Kevin Mignone and his team at TAG returned this year as our lighting, video, and rigging vendor for their third Ultra in a row," Dierson says. "This year saw some significant multi-day delays in the overall site and stage build due to drastically inclement weather. TAG made up for that lost time in spades and, in the end, was ahead of schedule and 100% operational upon my arrival at the site. It really was a testament to their attention to detail and commitment to the teamwork of trying to keep an entire production on schedule."

The Color STRIKE M served two critical functions. Some were used to create two linear runs emanating offstage left and right from the center diamond configuration. The others were arranged around the iconic Ultra "U" truss that adorns the top center of every Ultra stage around the world.

Described by Dierson as "the LED workhorse of the rig," the 212 COLORado PXL16 battens were affixed to all the geometric truss shapes, mounted 90 degrees straight out toward the audience. "Our lighting crew chief, Scott Carpenter, and front-of-house technician, John Flanagan, both from TAG, directed the crew meticulously to ensure that all orientations were correct as each of the truss elements was raised," he adds.

"This fixture arrangement was one of the many vessels that are there to assist in Richard Millstein's inspired vision," Dierson says. "We take the geometric ideas and simply bring them to life in a way that is going to work best for all our guest artist teams. In the end, my role is simply to be in the service of others when it comes to festivals. Sure, I get creative input, but my prime directive is to ensure that our guests are well set up with what they need to create the best performance possible for their artists."