AIG 100 Event Dazzles with Robe

	The stage design and LED screen layout was created by Muller, featuring three large LED surfaces upstage, a central 9-by-16 screen plus two slightly angled supporting 16-by-9 screens on either side. Photo: Kief Kreativ

A special Afrikaans is 100 Jaar Groot concert was staged at the DHL Stadium in Green Point, Cape Town, South Africa. Produced by Coleske Artists and featuring over 30 collaborations by leading Afrikaans artists, it marked 100 years of the Afrikaans language being officially recognized. The event sold out in a single morning.

The lighting design was imagined by Joshua Cutts and Andre Siebrits from Visual Frontier, featuring over 450 Robe moving lights. All lighting, video, audio, and rigging equipment was supplied by the South African rental and production company, MGG, project-managed by Gunther Muller.

Earlier in the year, MGG made a huge investment in Robe iFORTE and SVB1 units, adding to an extensive Robe rental inventory, which was utilized in the show. These comprised four iFORTE LTXs running on RoboSpot remote follow systems, 24 iFORTES, 22 Tetra2s, 16 Spiider LED wash beams running in Mode 4, 26 ESPRITE Profiles, 38 LEDWash 600s, 24 BMFL Blades, 24 MegaPointes, 47 LEDBeam 350s, 24 Pointes, another eight Spiiders running in Mode 2, 36 Spikies, 48 SVB1s, 98 LEDBeam 150s, and eight BMFL WashBeams. These were a vital element in a rig of more than 1,000 lighting fixtures.

Cutts and Siebrits dipped into MGG's extensive stock and designed lighting that was flown underneath a massive StageCo roof system and 25m-wide stage below. This was supplied by Gearhouse South Africa (GHSA) together with other structures. GHSA also supplied elements of the L-Acoustics PA together with MGG.

The stage design and LED screen layout was created by Muller, featuring three large LED surfaces upstage, a central 9-by-16 screen plus two slightly angled supporting 16-by-9 screens on either side, multi-layered LED riser fronts for the house band/orchestra, and two portrait-oriented IMAG screens.

"The whole process was highly collaborative," Cutts says. "Coleske is a fantastic client with a brilliant team that respects the technical expertise of the various departments and trusts us to bring solutions to the table. All of us were dedicated to the end goal of producing the very best show for all to enjoy!"

"Robe was a natural choice for us," he adds, "for all its brightness, versatility, and reliability. "Apart from the fact that MGG owns so much Robe, it would have been our go-to anyway for functionality," Siebrits says, "With so much LED and so many performers on stage, and a 3.5-hour show, we needed plenty of firepower and flexibility, and the Robe products gave us all of that and more!"

On the four front-of-house delay tower positions -- a hugely important element of the rig, as audiences needed to see the performers before any visual effects took over -- the 24 Robe iFORTES were deployed, six fixtures per tower. The four iFORTE LTX FSs, complete with integral camera running on the RoboSpot system, were also rigged here, one per tower.

This configuration provided precise remote followspot control and front light over long distances. It ensured consistent, accurate key lighting across the entire venue for a production that featured a 22-piece house band, up to 30 guest performers onstage at various times, plus numerous MCs, dancers, and TV personalities. Each delay tower also incorporated a selection of eye-candy and effects fixtures.

MGG was the first rental company in South Africa to invest in the iFORTES and iFORTE LTX systems, delivered by Robe's South African distributor DWR. Thanks to their IP rating, output, and versatility, they were a suitable choice for front lighting this show.

The ESPRITES were spread out along the most upstage of four sets of trusses shaped into chevrons, each made up of a stage-right and a stage-left stick of truss. Five ESPRITES were positioned upstage center on their own truss, also holed into the RoboSpot system and used for strong backlight on individual artists.

A row of Spiider LED wash beams alternated with these upstage ESPRITES, and three ESPRITES were on their own front truss for high-angle key lighting and specials.

Half of the BMFLs were on the next downstage set of trusses -- alternated with LEDWash 600s -- with the others on the most downstage chevron, also with LEDWash 600s spaced in between.

The iFORTES and ESPRITES were the show's workhorse fixtures, with everyone agreeing that in terms of power and color, they are "the best currently available." Another array of LEDWash 600s was positioned on the second most downstage chevron, together with some moving spot units; a comprehensive general stage wash made up of Spiiders and LEDWash 600s traversed all four chevrons.

The 24 MegaPointes were on a 50m continuous header truss flown from the downstage section of the roof and extending along the top of both PA wing structures. They were used for blasting out into the audience and pulling them into the onstage action, alternating with 40 LEDBeam 350s.

On the floor, the 48 SVB1s were deployed around the risers on all levels, together with some of the LEDBeam 150s and the Spikies. A wide line of LEDBeam 150s graced the front of the stage, used as dynamic footlights and boosting the stage wash from a lower angle when needed.

Cutts and Siebrits did extensive previsualization to establish the basic show building blocks in as much detail as possible. "Every song had its own narrative and was effectively a story-within-a-story," Cutts notes. Ahead of the event, they also spent time with the creative directors, including Hayley Bennett-Freidin, to ensure the lighting was stylistically synced with the various choreography segments and costumes.

The biggest challenge was the tight timeframe on site, for which Cutts and Siebrits hail their "incredible" MGG lighting crew, chiefed by Pierre van Wyk, together with a six-person"bomb squad" who came in during the last two days to blitz the final stages and get the rig ready for handover.