GLP's Largest Ever Coachella Deployment at this Year's Festival

	Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. Photo: Felipe Miranda

GLP fielded its largest ever deployment of fixtures at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival for the recent 2025 event, including all its latest touring products.

The massive global event has been staged successfully across two weekends since 1999 at its Empire Polo Club location in the California desert, close to Palm Springs.

Various stages -- including the main stage and Sahara tent, as well as the Yuma club tent -- were awash with GLP fixtures specified by international LDs, adding extra floor package drama to the existing generic house rigs.

The industry got a first look at the might of the MAD MAXX -- used by Dan Norman with rapper Travis Scott on the main Coachella Stage -- while production designer Rob Sinclair gave a sneak preview of the JDC Burst 1 in a taste of what to expect on Post Malone's upcoming tour. Fragment Nine made use of GLP fixtures with its design for first-night headliner Lady Gaga. However, much focus was given to GLP's recently released JDC2 IP across the festival site.

Sara Landry performed at both the Sahara and Do LaB stages, debuting her Eternalism show on the former stage, with Elliott Mountford (from the collective Ti22 Design) overseeing the lighting direction. He made full use of 80 JDC2 IPs, a fixture also used abundantly by Alexander Hesse (from A Light Production) to highlight Brazilian electronic producer Alok's expansive show.

The IP-rated JDC2 hybrid strobe offers an integrated beam line equipped with eighty-four 10W LEDs, while a built-in Dual Cortex CPU with 3D graphic processing offers over 100 designed GLP DigiFX. The range of digital content is enhanced by the ability to capture up to three different external NDI streams and display them directly on the JDC2 IP via the two gigabit EtherCon ports.

Elliott Mountford used the JDC2 IP to animate a design created and programmed by Joe Allan at High Scream (which was also responsible for another of Mountford's charges, Chase & Status).

"The most interesting thing is how we actually used the JDC2s," he says. "The package that toured [with Sara Landry] through the UK had JDC1s, but at Coachella the vendor [Maktiv] had JDC2, so it was my job to make them work with the programming already in place. The floor package was the biggest part of the show, and the JDC2 was our workhorse behind all the looks."

The design utilized 40 fixtures on the downstage edge and 40 behind, just in linear rows. "The output is insane -- they are awesome fixtures," he continues. "We had a rig of 200-300 moving lights, and we ran the JDC2s at 20% because they were so bright. Also, the fact that they were waterproof helped, as we got some bad weather in the second week. Although Sahara is covered, coming in and out of the dock, we didn't have to worry if they got wet. It was also dusty and windy, and so the fact they are IP was awesome." Finally, he adds: "GLP have really thought about the fixture; the DMX channeling is similar to a JDC1, making them easy to use."

Alex Hesse, another Coachella veteran, had a similar experience with JDC2 IP as he prepares for a massive Alok show at Sao Paolo's 40,000-capacity Pacaembu Stadium with 900 fixtures, including vast quantities of the JDC2 IP. Coachella provided a preview opportunity.

Hesse has worked with the artist, who is heavily engaged with Brazilian culture and indigenous awareness, for the past four years.

Three symmetrical rows of 13 JDC2 each, supplied by Maktive, were hidden behind the grille facade of the massive riser, programmed among a unique display of tight choreography from a team of 45 dancers.

Hesse had first seen the JDC IP at the PLASA Show in London. "As we are looking at touring this concept further, we will integrate the NDI feature [incorporating video signals into the fixtures]. We will run grandMA3 with video content, applying that on the screens and on the fixture," he says.

"I used the DigiFX and the built-in macros. I used the individual segments and the pre-effects, and there were some really nice features in there, so I'm really looking forward to using this in full programming mode and doing more cohesive work with video and connecting all the elements."

In summary, he says, "It was the first time I had used [the JDC2] and I really enjoyed the experience. It's really impressive just how bright it is."

Elsewhere at the festival, Stephen Lieberman, of SJ Lighting, lit the Yuma stage, using 140 X4 Bar 20s and 34 JDC1s. SJ Lighting also used the X5 IP Bar on the LED wings of the Quasar Stage. Felix Lighting provided his inventory.

He reports: "The [34] JDC1s were positioned down each side of the tent, one per column bay. The [140] X4 Bar 20s were lined on two trusses installed down the middle of the tent, creating a curtain effect."

In its second year as a late-night stage, Quasar was designed by Vita Motus, with SJ Lighting providing lighting design support. "Quasar has a very bespoke look, and the design philosophy was to keep it very clean and precise. The X5 Bars did exactly that - and gave us the continuous lines of lighting to make sure the shape of this stage really popped," says Lieberman.

In conclusion, Lieberman says, "Coachella is a fantastic show to be a part of, but it is critical that equipment is of the highest quality and in top shape, as the conditions can be extreme. The GLP equipment performed flawlessly. IP ratings are important...rain, dirt, and other contaminants are brutal on theatrical lighting. Coachella is a prime example of this."

Others who carried GLP fixtures in their armory included Parker Genoway, with LISA (Sahara Stage), and Jonny Kingsbury, with Charli XCX (Coachella Stage).