Show designer Ray Woodbury adds Spot Ones to Pacific Amphitheatre rig.
The annual Orange County Fair in California, which this year took place between July 15-August 14 across multiple venues, saw GLP’s Volkslicht Zooms and new impression Spot One LED moving heads out in force.
They were specified by production manager/show designer Ray Woodbury of RK Diversified Entertainment, who is accustomed to the output and performance of the German company’s LED platform, having run the Volkslichts on a number of events (such as the huge E3 computer games exhibition) and at the recent NKOTBSB sell-out arena tour, where he was creative director. Woodbury has worked with the state-run OC Fair for the past eight years, taking on multiple tasks, including production management of several venues and lighting vendor for the Pacific Amphitheatre and The Hangar. His company also provides the event with staging and rigging services.
The production manager had first encountered GLP moving heads in Germany while working with Shakira — at the time when he was looking for a quality moving head LED fixture. “Then Butch Allen brought my attention to the new Volkslicht Zoom which we used on the NKOTBSB tour. I thought they performed well, so I bought 36 for my company.”
His entire Volkslicht inventory has been on duty in the Hangar, which has been used largely for a succession of tribute acts during the festival. So what makes them special? “They are powerful, quick, light, 110v and easy for my team to use in a variety of situations — from corporate to concerts,” came the reply. At E3 (on the Activision project) they worked perfectly around a circular prop, which provided some ‘pop’, and on the upstage and midstage trusses.”
With 60 Rebel LED’s (21 green, 21 blue and 18 red) creating a full color palette — from strong saturates to subtle pastel colors plus dimming, strobe and motorized zoom optics from 10° to 26° the Volkslicht has needed to punch above its weight, with a capacity audience of 1400 inside The Hangar and a further 2000-plus looking in from the outside. The shows have been operated by a wide range of lighting professionals, including Joel Muir, Bear Blizzard, Andy Figueroa Jr. and Sean Coates — with the general consensus pinpointing the speed and response of the Volkslichts.
At the same time, Ray Woodbury also took the opportunity to run the new impression Spot Ones in the 8,500-capacity Pacific Amphitheatre, using them mainly as upstage floor effects in support of a number of rock bands. This fixture has already provided a reference for a high output performance LED spot, which harnesses the output of numerous LED sources and runs them through the optical system of a spot fixture to create an even beam for color mixing (and at the same time achieve a focusable area for color projections).
“The Spot Ones have performed really well,” confirms Woodbury. “We have had a different LD every day coming through with nationally known acts — and everyone seems to like them. We have about 200 other fixtures in this rig and it’s a great compliment to the system that the Spot Ones really hold their own. They are powerful and quick color changing … and very beamy. I really like the fixture.”
He praised GLP for their overall support — particularly with fixture availability.
