Europe – German heavy rock superstars Rammstein have embarked on their European Stadium Tour, with lighting designers Roland Greil and Patrick Woodroffe of Woodroffe Bassett Design utilizing over 100 VL6000 Beam lighting fixtures from Vari-Lite, a Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) entertainment lighting brand.
Rammstein has always had an unrivalled appetite for spectacle on a grand scale, and their latest production is no exception. Woodroffe and Greil joined a world-class creative team which also included renowned production designer Florian Wieder. In creating the show, they drew on the visual impact and large-scale performance features of the Vari-Lite VL6000 Beam to achieve those all-important extra layers of visual impact.
“After a brief from the band,” said Greil, “we jumped right in and explored the Rammstein world before starting to brainstorm and create the first designs.”Discussing the main requirements for the Rammstein lighting rig, Greil said, “We were looking for bright, unique but also versatile fixtures, which would fit into the overall design as well as into the specific Rammstein ‘world’.”
It’s a world of snarling rock music and superlative visual effects, and the designers needed lighting to match. The VL6000 Beam was chosen for several reasons – for its unique appearance, with its large diameter front lens - something Greil and Woodroffe were looking for - plus its high output and reliability. It also fitted perfectly into the overall design.
Woodroffe and Greil specified 122 VL6000 Beams in total, supplied by Neg Earth Lights. “We have 104 positioned as part of a wall of lights upstage, four are integrated into the big pods on stage, while the remaining 14 live underneath the stage, shooting up through the fully grilled deck,” said Greil.
He added, “We use them solely as beam effects, sometimes with a bit of frost. It has a strong look; when we reveal the upstage wall of VL6000s for the first time, after a few songs, it completely changes the scenery and delivers that energy that is needed for Rammstein.”