Lucie, Czech Rock Band, Celebrates 40th Anniversary with Robe

	"It's great that on such a large stage with so many LED screens and other lights, iBOLT will always stand out," Patzenhauer notes. Photo: Marco Polasek

The Czech rock band Lucie celebrated its 40th anniversary with concerts in four major cities around the Czech Republic: Brno, Ostrava, Prague, and Plzen. The technical production was coordinated and managed by SMART Production, headed by Josef "Pepa" Zenisek. The band's lighting designer is Lukas Patzenhauer, whose rig included, from Robe, 24 iBOLTS, 48 WTF! strobe/wash lights and five BMFL WashBeams running on a 5-way RoboSpot system.

Patzenhauer has been lighting the band for 12 years; on this tour, he worked with stage designer Michal Dvorak to create a spectacular lighting aesthetic while also focusing on the music's dynamics.

Lighting equipment was supplied by Ostrava-based High Lite Touring.

Some iBOLTS were positioned on the floor -- four below the stage revealed by moving grills above, and five per side along the upstage/downstage edges at deck level for side lighting. The remaining eight were rigged on a circular truss above the revolving B stage in the center of the arena.

The WTF!s were positioned on three automated upstage lighting pods, arranged in a three-by-three matrix pattern, nine per pod, with the remaining 15 along the front edge of the most downstage of the mid trusses, pointing out into the arena. The iBOLTS were picked for their brightness and speed. "It is fantastic to be able to use one light for so many different functions," Patzenhauer says about both products. The lighting units had to work with five LED screens. "It's great that on such a large stage with so many LED screens and other lights, iBOLT will always stand out," he notes.

Four stage lift platforms, custom-built by the Brno-based company Gradior Tech, at the front elevated four of the band up and out towards the audience. On the B stage, connected to the main stage via a runway, were five industrial robot arms of two different sizes -- normally found in the automotive industry, but moonlighting on this show to help create some truly stunning stagecraft.

The smaller robots were on the downstage edge of the B stage, with the larger ones on the upstage edge. They held two different types of objects -- either circular mirrors or "diamond" deco pieces comprising a half sphere covered with cut mirrors.

Patzenhauer programmed the show himself using an Avolites D7 console, having recently purchased his own T3 Wing. "Avolites has made great strides in development," he says.