NEW YORK – This February everyone seemed to be commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ American debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. For one group of fans, however, celebrating the legendary quartet is more than just a once-in-a-half-century event. Every year these devotees gather in New York at The Fest For Beatles Fans, the longest continuously running Beatles festival anywhere. The event was lit with 18 Q-Wash 419Z-LED moving heads from Chauvet Professional.
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Given the significance of 2014 in Beatles history, the event’s organizers pulled out all the stops this year, offering performances by rock ’n roll Hall of Famers and creating a Sgt. Pepper’s-like rainbow of colors on stage with the help of 18 Q-Wash 419Z-LED moving heads from CHAUVET Professional.
Held over a three-day period at the Grand Hyatt at 42nd and Lexington, just over a mile from the Ed Sullivan Theater where the Beatles made their debut, The Fest For Beatles Fans featured appearances by British invasion stars like Donovan, Chad & Jeremy, Billy J Kramer, and Peter Asher of Peter & Gordon fame, as well the legendary ’60s DJ Cousin Brucie, Steve Holley of Paul McCartney’s Wings, Mark Hudson of the Smithereens, and Ringo Starr’s current musical director Mark Rivera.
To convey the spirit of the Beatles, lighting designer Kevin “Tank” Jamison of Pro Sho Productions (New York) illuminated the main stage in rich, lively colors with ample helpings of reds, greens, yellows and blues reminiscent of the bands psychedelic era attire. Jamison relied on the Q-Wash 419Z-LED, with its full range of bold saturated colors and variable whites, homogenized Quad-Color mixing and smooth quick movements to help him achieve his desired rainbow effect on stage.
“The color mixing of these units was excellent,” he said. “The Q-Wash fixtures produce a better front light than other units in their range. They were small, light and not power hungry, which was a big plus. They also helped us meet budget expectations from the client, while still delivering a top-notch show.”
A moving yoke wash using 19 Quad-Color RGBW LEDs, each at 15-watts, the flicker-free Q-Wash 419Z-LED features built-in color macros and three individually controlled LED zones, which made it well-suited to the job of creating front light visual effects at The Fest For Beatles Fans. The fixture’s smooth 7°-25° zoom and 16-bit control of dimmers were also used to highlight different artists and lend added variety to the light show during the three-day event.
Aside from being impressed with the color mixing of the Q-Wash 419-LED, Jamison was also pleased with the reliability of the fixtures. “Everything went very smoothly,” he said. “It was a great show.” The 8,000 fans from five continents who attended this festival honoring history’s most iconic rock band shared that view wholeheartedly.
