Robe lighting fixtures were used to illuminate a sell-out concert by Slovenian singer-songwriter Nina Pušlar, in Ljubljana’s 14,400-capacity Stožice Arena, which was also recorded for broadcast on national TV. Lighting designer Amadej Šuperger, from design studio Blackout, specified large quantities of Robe moving lights. The designs developed around a large upstage LED screen and two side LED screens, which meant an emphasis on top lighting to leave clear sightlines.
Amadej used 36 x Robe FORTES, including two which were on two RoboSpot systems for key and back lighting. The RoboSpot operators were off to the sides of the stage. He added 28 x MegaPointes to this, 42 x Spiider wash beams, 40 x LEDBeam 150s, 26 x CycFX8s and eight PATT2013s, plus strobes, blinders, and fog machines, all supplied by Slovenian rental company Event Lighting.
Eleven of the FORTES were used for front light and keys, with the other 25 rigged along at the back of the trussing grid and filling in the main triangle piece, positioned for outlining, silhouetting and rear beam work. The key lighting was programmed by Šuperger’s Blackout colleague Crt Birsa – an LD in his own right – and was run live as dancers and guests came and went.
He mixed FORTES with the MegaPointes, which were mostly rigged around the upstage areas of the horizontal trusses. Šuperger says MegaPointes are his favourite fixture to date, but he also likes Spiiders, deployed for all the rear washes and in the top part of the triangle on this show. “You can do so much with Spiiders – they are fast, have a great output, good colours and are excellent fixtures even with long throws involved,” he commented.
He also deployed 20 LEDBeam 150s, 10 each side, to accentuate the lines and form of the triangular shape and to create cool eye-candy effects. Šuperger notes that the LEDBeam 150s also looked great when framed by the cameras at the back of the arena capturing the long shots of the stage. Another 20 x LEDBeam 150s were used for side light onstage. “They did a great job,” he added, “and running 10 of them together gives a substantial output.”
He had originally specified Tetra2s, rather than CycFX 8s, but these were busy on other event lighting jobs, and he was happy with the predecessor CycFX 8 LED moving batten fixtures once they were all in place on the rig. They provided efficient and striking ‘fillers’ around the back of the stage, across the downstage edge and along the thrust.
He’d originally planned to use the PATT2013s for the acoustic section of the show, for guests at the end of the catwalk and for the softer songs in the set, but this changed and they were positioned much more prominently behind the band and beneath the two side screens where their visibility enhanced this black space and offered more interesting camera shots.
The stage design was facilitated by an angled triangular truss in the centre, with four bracing trusses flanked by raked grids of crisscrossing trusses in the roof above the stage, which brought a structural look and industrial tone to the performance area. It also amplified the depth of the performance space.
Šuperger has been working with the artist for some time. But this was a bigger show demanding a completely new concept. “I wanted it to look impressive even without any lights turned on, hence the geometry, style and look of the metalwork,” explained Šuperger.
He collaborated closely with VJ Rasta – who produces all the playback content – on this aspect of the design. The 20-camera shoot was directed by Nik Gradišnik and Anže Škrube. The main objective of the show was to present a “big, bold, modern, mainstream pop, glossy-floor pop fill of colour, life and excitement to get Nina’s fans on their feet, moving and grooving,” concluded Šuperger.
