Robe once again proved itself as the festival moving light fixture of choice, with over 200 Robe units used site-wide at the 2008 Electric Picnic Arts & Music Festival, supplied by leading Irish lighting rental company Just Lite, who lit all 15 performance stages at the event.
Set in the exceptionally picturesque environs of Stradbally Hall, County Laois, Ireland's favourite boutique festival was presented by Pod Concerts & Aiken Promotions. Electric Picnic is the brainchild of the hyperactively imaginative John Reynolds, who talked incessantly about this festival many years prior to the first gates opening. It celebrated its 5th year with a fabulous line up and 3 days of action packed fun and chilling.
Liam McCarthy, who also stage-managed the main stage, designed lighting for all stages.
The designs were based on the need to accommodate the requirements of the headlining acts along with any specials packages, also providing a dynamic 'house' rig for everyone's shows. McCarthy comments, "Robe is an excellent moving light for events like this - they are mega bright, reliable and stand up well to the unpredictable weather!"
There were 5 main music stages including the Main Open Air Stage, The Electric Arena, Crawdaddy, The Little Big Stage, Cosby and the Body Tonic Dance arena, which also included 2 smaller areas, Twisted Pepper and Bernard Shaw. The festival's myriad of other performance stages encompassed everything from poetry and the spoken word to cabaret, circus, physical theatre, live and installation art, helping make Electric Picnic a truly multi dimensional cultural experience.
The Robes used were a mix of 2500s, 1200s, 700s and 575s - of which Just Lite has the largest stock in Ireland.
On the main stage, which measured 60 x 60 ft and consisted of 4 arches, the lighting rig was hung off a series of sub-hung overhead and side trusses. The moving lights were 28 Robe ColorWash and 24 ColorSpot 1200E ATs, arranged across all the trusses.
Six ColorSpot and six ColorWash 2500E ATs were rigged along the top of the PA wings and used to shoot big, bold, bright beams into the audience.
Additional lighting included 2 and 8-lite blinders, single PAR cans and ETC Source Four profiles.
Control was via 2 Road Hog Full Boars and a Wing, babysat by Darragh McAuliffe, and crew chief for this stage was Brendan Swanton.
Headliners included Sigor Ros, Goldfrapp, George Clinton, Franz Ferdinand, The Gossip and the Sex Pistols.
Electric Dreams
Over in the Electric Arena - a 6000 capacity tent - the Just Lite team erected a large ground support system onto which the lighting and PA was rigged.
The core lighting was 18 Robe ColorSpot 700E ATs, joined by PC Beams and Atomic strobes, along with 4-lite Moles, Source Fours and 11 bars of 6 PARs. These were all arranged for maximum flexibility and stage coverage.
Control desk was a Hog iPC console and a Wing operated by Nick Malbon.
Acts in here included a dance orientated mix including Digitalism, Underworld, My Bloody Valentine, Sinead O'Connor, New Young Pony Club, CSS and Grace Jones.
Crawdaddy
The Crawdaddy Stage featured an eclectic mix of performance from Christie Moore to Tindersticks, lit with kit rigged from a flown 12 metre front truss and a 15-metre rear truss on Superlifts.
Lighting was run by John Ryan using a Hog II and a Wing, and the moving lights were 12 Robe ColorSpot 575E ATs. Generics included Source Fours, 6 bars of 6 PARs, 4-lites, ACLs and strobes.
Body Tonic
Over in Body Tonic, it was the turn of 4 Robe ColorSpot 575E ATs and 8 ColorWash 575E ATs to do their stuff, combined with a large assortment of generics, all run off an Avolites Diamond 4 Elite console operated by Kristian Berzins.
Most of the other stages included a basic rig of 48 PARs and between 6 and 12 Robe moving lights depending on size, along with Avolites Pearls for control Stradbally Hall itself was also architecturally lit. The lighting scheme was designed by Paul Smith and included 6 ColorSpot 2500E ATs, used to produce funky gobo chases at strategic moments throughout the evening.
Just Lite's crew of 22 were project managed co-ordinated by Alan Smith and Lisa Browne, and the live stages production manager was Ian Smith. The company has been involved with the event since its launch in 2004, and in that short time it's grown into one of the most enjoyable and sought-after events in the country.