SGM Fulfills NorthSide's Summer Vision by Delivering the "Wow Factor"

	Photo: Morten Rygaard

NorthSide in Denmark recently held its fourth successful festival -- this year bigger than ever before. With nearly 27,500 visitors each day, the three-day event, which has a high focus on sustainability, really achieves the "wow factor."

With an LED vision in mind, NorthSide's production manager, Jesper Philbert, approached SGM to discuss his ideas. Says Philbert, "Being neighbors with SGM [in Aarhus], it was natural for us to present our initial ideas and outline sketches to SGM CEO, Peter Johansen." Typically, his reply was 100% affirmative.

The cooperation caused much media coverage, as one of the concept ideas brought to reality consisted of an impressive 18m wide NorthSide sign (inspired by the famous Hollywood sign) designed for the main entrance, which was made from no fewer than 820 SGM LD-5 LED domes. Philbert comments, "We were looking for the 'wow factor' in terms of the scale of our sign," while another objective was to create the right atmosphere, giving the audience the feeling that a major effort had been made in making the site look nice and stylish.

Installation was also carried out in positive collaboration between NorthSide's lighting designer, Jacob Baekmand, Philbert, two product managers from SGM, and a small team of six volunteers from the festival. According to Baekmand, the entire process -- from idea to reality -- was dynamic. "From the very first meeting, we were met with enthusiasm and professionalism from everyone involved, making this project proceed smoothly and resulting in a finished installation well ahead of schedule," he adds.

Besides the effect-rich LD-5 installation, SGM also supplied 45 bright P-5 wash lights and 140 SixPack halogen emulation blinders for entrance areas and tents. "Of the more than one thousand SGM products being put to use, not a single one buckled in the face of, at times, violent rain, the sizzling direct sunlight or the large volumes of dust we experienced on the site. There was not a single faulty unit, which I find extremely impressive," Baekmand appraises.

He continues, "SGM's products met our full expectations of effect-rich lamps capable of resisting a festival environment of all these different elements. Besides the smart design, all products seem very robust and have been thoroughly tested by SGM."

Many of the P-5 wash lights were placed at emergency exits and escape routes. "The P-5 is perfect for this purpose, as these areas require bright illumination in case of evacuation," Baekmand explains, predicting a great future, in particular, for this fixture. "I really look forward to using SGM's products for other future projects, especially the P-5, which is an amazing lamp for lighting up large surfaces or as an effect light, both for indoor and outdoor use."

With an extensive résumé, this lighting designer has worked with many leading industry fixtures over the years. However, SGM was still able to invigorate Baekmand, inspiring his creativity to team up for more projects, according to the company.

"I have been exceptionally pleased with the cooperation with SGM and hope this is just the beginning," he says. "Already we are playing around with ideas for next year's festival which will go way beyond what we have done this time." Philbert adds: "We are looking for ways to make big scale use of the SGM LED-tubes [LT-100/200] in a way that would grab everyone's attention and amaze our audience. Watch this space!"