Lighting designer Olly Suckling presented a novel solution and lighting effect using 28 of Robe’s CycFX 8 LED battens to create a giant illuminated M-A-X-I-M-O sign upstage on UK alt rockers Maximo Park’s most recent tour. This celebrated 10 years since the release of their seminal debut studio album, ‘A Certain Trigger’ in 2005, which was also nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.
This high impact visual effect was part of Olly's first design for Maximo Park, for which he toured a neat and flexible floor package comprising 59 fixtures, 46 of which were Robe, all supplied by rental company R & M Productions from Stokesley, North Yorkshire.
The Maximo letters utilised six CycFX 8s for the two Ms and the O, four for the A and the X and two for the L, all of which were outrigged from aluminium pipes standing in heavy-duty tank trap bases.
In addition to the CycFX 8s, Olly also spec'd 12 x Robe LEDBeam 100s and 6 x LEDWash 600s.
The LEDBeam 100s were dotted in and around the top and sides of the letters - also clamped to the aluminium pipe structure, together with blinders and strobes. They splattered the stage with sharp, bright pin-spot style beams.
The LEDWash 600s were located on the floor, three each side of the stage for cross lighting the band during the vibrant and energetic show which visited theatres and academy venues throughout the UK, and also played a European leg for which Olly took a B-rig.
Olly likes the CycFX 8 as a "good all-round LED batten with no compromises on colour mixing or dimming". A favourite feature is the tungsten emulation and he used this heavily throughout the Maximo show.
He likes the punch and the beam of the little LEDWash 100s as well as their reliability and is always impressed with the way – for their size and weight - they "hold their own even in larger venues".
Olly first encountered Robe whilst working at Liverpool Academy back at the start of his industry career.
"I like Robe as a brand and especially how they value LDs and their opinions and keep in touch with the community. I believe their products are the best on the market right now in terms of reliability and quality.”
Olly is a freelance LD based in Stoke on Trent, UK. He first became interested in lighting at college where he worked as a theatre technician before studying Theatre and Performance Technology at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA). After graduating, he cut his teeth as a live designer and operator at Liverpool’s Academy venue, leaving there in 2013 to concentrate on his touring work which has also included Wild Beasts, Temples and Hadouken.
Photos: Olly Suckling