The Castle of Love Festival, a two-day music festival, returned for the ninth year to the historic and wooded environs of Castle Park Erenstein near Kerkrade, a city on the Netherlands side of the Netherlands/Germany border Aug. 16-17, 2014. With 20,000 visitors looking to dance to the beat of popular acts including The Partysquad, Yellow Claw, Sick Individuals and Jay Hardway, LD Tom Franken was looking for gear that would inject electrified excitement into the normally serene surroundings.
Franken, who worked with technical manager Tim Vreuls for this event, has designed the lighting for big crowds drawn to other major events (Tomorrowland, TomorrowWorld, Dance Valley).
Franken turned to U Rent for the main stage lighting rig, which included an ample assortment of fixtures from ADJ. (Both U Rent and ADJ’s European headquarters are located in Kerkrade.)
The main stage was situated in front of the historic castle itself, on the water that surrounds it. The dance-floor overlooked the water-filled moat. That gave Franken the opportunity to make the most of the setting with ADJ lighting to illuminate the building and send beams flashing out across the water.
After mounting nine Matrix Beam LEDs to create one large LED screen behind the DJ booth, Franken used DMX-programming to create an inward moving love heart — the logo for the event — utilizing the 225 3-watt warm white LEDs.
Franken also deployed six 3 Sixty 2R fixtures, taking full advantage of their 360-rotation, dual heads and Philips 2R discharge lamps to throw beams of vibrant color across the water and onto the dance-floor, generating an energetic and vibrant atmosphere for the audience.
Franken also specified eight Vizi Roller Beam 2Rs to create a mesmerizing display of rolling 360-degree multi-beam effects, along with eight multi-faceted Vizi Beam Hybrid 2Rs.
The use of four FREQ Matrixes provided 16-zone LED strobe effects, adding to the energy of the light show, which kept pace with the House and EDM music created by the roster of DJs and artists.
To keep the dance-floor and stage immersed in color, Franken used 16 WiFly QA5 IPs, making good use of their 5-watt quad (RGBA) LEDs to bring the whole area to life with vibrant hues and smooth color mixing. (The IP65-rated fixtures are suited for outdoor use.)
On top of all this, Franken added 10 Inno Color Beam LEDs, used with four Fog Fury 3000s to amplify the sharp beams of color that cut through the smoky haze hanging above the audience.
“Music festivals are an essential aspect of our modern culture and are enjoyed by music fans of all ages and backgrounds across the world. We were, therefore, delighted when Tom and the team at Castle of Love chose ADJ products with which to light their event,” said Dirk Kast, CEO of ADJ Europe.
“ADJ fixtures, such as our 3 Sixty 2R and the Matrix Beam LED, were not only essential to creating the atmosphere of the festival, but also to reinforcing the branding,” Kast continued. “Seeing thousands of dancers using their hands to copy the festival’s ‘heart’ logo as it flashed across our Matrix Beam LEDs proves just how successful this collaboration was; the audience interacted with the lighting, which is great.”
Crew
Lighting Co: U Rent
Lighting Designer: Tom Franken
Technical Manager: Tim Vreuls
Gear
6 ADJ 3 Sixty2Rs
8 AD Vizi Beam Hybrid 2Rs
8 ADJ Vizi Roller Beam 2Rs
9 ADJ Matrix Beam LEDs
10 ADJ Inno Color Beam LEDs
4 ADJ Freq Matrix units
16 ADJ WiFly QA5 IP fixtures
4 ADJ Fog Fury 3000s
For a video, go to www.plsn.me/1qB4fx3
