MANCHESTER, UK – Lighting and rigging company dbn supplied stage lighting for the city’s 2012 Festive Season lighting switch-on. dbn’s Andy Kennett designed the lighting, making sure to light the audience as well as the stage action and to create effects that involved everyone as a whole. This is also why there was a concentration of beam type effects in the design to skim over the audience and also to highlight some of the buildings.
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MANCHESTER, UK – Lighting and rigging company dbn supplied stage lighting for the city’s high profile 2012 Festive Season lighting switch-on.
Working for the Manchester City Council, dbn has been involved in the event for the last decade. However, this year was hailed as ‘the best’ to date. It drew 20,000 people packing Albert Square in front of the Town Hall in torrential rain to see leading UK boyband The Wanted headline the live line up and hit the button.
dbn’s Andy Kennett designed the lighting for the show.
In front of the Town Hall a large open steel structure was constructed to support a giant Santa Christmas lighting feature which sat 11m (433 ft) above the square.
In front of this, a four legged Prolyte stage structure provided cover for the performance area. dbn installed truss spreaders within the Santa structure to enable a box truss to be hung. Stretching a waterproof canopy over the truss enabled a larger performance area to be under cover.
dbn also added truss spreaders cantilevered out from the structure to allow four PA hangs.
Two trusses were sub-hung from the truss box to provide basic back and mid stage lighting positions.
Black drapes were also hung from the box, from around the mid-stage point to create a backdrop and also to allow backstage access for the artists and back-line equipment. Short trusses were rigged on the sides in-between the stage legs to facilitate side and audience lighting positions.
The lighting rig consisted of 12 Clay Paky Sharpys, 8 CP Alpha Beam 700s and 8 Alpha Wash 700s, 12 ARRI 2K fresnels, also 2-lite and 4-lite Moles for audience illumination.
dbn also supplied a unique hazer which joined the rain in doing a fantastic job of picking out the light beams.
The Sharpys were rigged to the upstage truss legs in two vertical rows of six and created fanned effects stretching over the audience. The open sides of the stage enabled the beams to be panned all the way round to the audience standing alongside.
The Alpha Wash 700s were positioned on the back, front and side trusses for good overall coverage, adding depth and lots of strong color.
Four of the Alpha Beam 700s were placed on the back, two each on the sides and two on the front truss, producing beams over the stage and into the audience.
dbn drew on their extensive previous experiences and knowledge of lighting the Switch-On in terms of knowing what is needed and what works. As a major crowd-puller it was vital to light the audience as well as the stage action and to create effects that involved everyone as a whole.
This is also why there was a concentration of beam type effects in the design to skim over the audience and also to highlight some of the buildings surrounding the Square.
dbn’s Nick Buckley ran the lighting using a Jands Vista S3 control console.
For the first time Manchester ex-pats worldwide were also able to tune in and enjoy the show via a live web stream that allowed another estimated 50,000 to join in the fun, which ended with fireworks.
Andy Kennett comments, “It’s great to see how many people come out to support the Switch-On in the rain! The beams and the Sharpys did a brilliant job of making Albert Square become part of the light show.”
