Over 100 Robe moving lights were supplied by Clifton Productions for Australia’s 2008 Future Music Festival, which was headlined by The Chemical Brothers along with a line up of top international DJs.
Clifton supplied lighting for all the festival’s auxiliary stages, all of which featured Robe at the core of their rugs. The event was project managed for them by Michael Parsons, who states, “Reliability was the key factor we looked for here, and that’s why we chose Robe for this event.”
For the Sydney and Brisbane legs of the tour, lighting for the main Future Music Stage was also operated by Parsons during the afternoon, who elucidates that the biggest challenge was to cut through the daylight, so he chose Robe ColorWash 2500 fixtures fitted with PC lenses, which were hung on side trusses and positioned so as not to impede on the Chemical Brothers’ rig. These were used to wash the stage and audience. “Their brightness and punch is amazing,” he says, adding, “They even made the strobes in the rig look like blinking LEDs!” ColorSpot 2500E ATs were hung on the front and back trusses which were also utilised in the Chemical Brothers’ show.
Lighting production for The Chemical Brothers slots was supplied by Phaseshift Productions for all shows except Perth, and specified by the band’s lighting designer Tom Lesh and Ricardo Lorenzini who directed and operated the show.
Behind their 12 x 7.8 meter Stealth LED screen which featured their famous visuals show, Phaseshift was asked for a powerful wash fixture to blast through the semi-transparent screen, which came in the form of 27 Robe ColorWash 1200E ATs, rigged on angled pods. Phaseshift project manager Simon Aitkin says, “The ColorWash 1200E ATs are a great unit and proved totally reliable for the whole tour.”
For the Melbourne gig, the Mischief Stage lighting was operated by John Stanley of Light & Sound Solutions, again with equipment supplied by Clifton Productions. This included 8 Robe ColorSpot 700E ATs and 6 Robe ColorWash 1200E ATs. Stanley, who has used Robe extensively on his shows, says, “I chose Robes for their fast CMY mixing as I needed to produce extremely fast color flick effects. I think Robe has the fastest colour flick on the market, and of course their reliability is excellent—always a consideration when you are driving units to their limits during an event.”
Other stages featuring Robe on the 2008 Future Music tour were the Fan Klub stage, with 6 ColorSpot and the Famous Stage, each of which featured 6 ColorSpot and 6 ColorWash 1200E ATs. The main trance stage had 8 ColorSpot and ColorWash 700E ATs, and the Silent Disco had 4 ColorSpot 700E ATs. The Future Funk stage utilised 4 ColorSpot 700E ATs, while the hugely popular retro Roller Disco lighting included 4 ColorSpot 575E ATs on its rig.
Parsons sums up, “The Robes were all trouble-free throughout. I did tour 6 spares, but they never had to leave their cases! They withstood everything—rain, heat, and dust—without a glitch.”