South Africa's Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank held its annual meeting in Sun City to relaunch itself as Standard Bank with an event that included a musical performance by Johnny Clegg.
“When the CEO announced the name change, we used gobo effects and stirring music, but we were saving the big guns for later,” says MGG Productions' Mark Gaylard. During an hour-long break, the seating in the Superbowl had to be replaced with cocktail tables, floor screens had to be flown in, six Martin MAC 300s were lifted onto the stage, and the festoons hiding the food stands raised.
“When Johnny Clegg appeared, the excitement was electric. That's when we pulled out all the stops with the lighting,” Gaylard says. “We're talking eight Martin MAC 250 Entour moving head spots, eight MAC 2000s, six MAC 300s, three Martin Atomic 3000 strobes, eight MAC 250+ moving head spots, four Jem ZR 24/7 hazers, twelve Martin RoboScan 1220 moving mirrors, and 16 High End Studio Color moving head washes.” MGG Productions supplied the Martin gear distributed in South Africa by Electrosonic.
Upstage's Kurt Du Preez controlled the lighting for Clegg using a Martin Maxxyz lighting desk that had only been in South Africa for two days. “Kurt had very little experience with it, but you'd never have known,” Gaylard added. Other gear included six AV screens — two linked to Barcos that Sun City had brought in, and four on the floor, linked to Sanyos that MGG provided.