One of Romania’s most popular festivals, the three-day Summer Well event, recently celebrated its 12th edition in spectacular style.
Promoted by SC Livada Advertising, and held annually on a picturesque 24-hectare meadow and forest site outside Bucharest, Summer Well peaked last year when Arctic Monkeys were headlining. However, it emulated this success in 2023 when Florence and the Machine, Röyksopp, and Yungblud headed a line-up of 30 artists, featuring both international bands and DJs.
Production manager since the very first festival is a self-confessed fan of GLP lighting fixtures, Vlad Darie, who runs Film Location. So impressed was he when the JDC1 hybrid strobe first came out that he decided to invest personally for smaller shows he was producing, later adding FUSION Stick FS16 Z, followed by FUSION X-PAR 12Z and impression FR1. JDC1 in particular had caught his eye when he noticed a rider insisting that “no substitute product was permitted”. “The JDC1 is a benchmark, and I always expect to see this as a mandatory fixture despite all the copies on the market,” he says.
However, for larger events such as Summer Well, which saw around 30,000 people per day descending on the site of the Știrbei Domain estate in Buftea, he turned to his regular dry hire supplier, Heli Heinrich at German-based Motion GmbH. This was because he needed more than 300 fixtures – mostly to decorate and power the main stage, but also for the three subsidiaries.
The principal stage saw the deployment of 48 JDC1 and a further 40 JDC Line 1000. The JDC1 was run in maximum SPix 68-channel mode while the JDC Line was programmed in DMX Mode 7 MultiPix Quadpix (76 DMX channels).
In addition, production deployed 52 of the large impression X4 L, 47 impression X4 Bar 20 battens, 34 impression FR10 Bar, and six impression FR1.
Finally, installed at other locations around the site were 24 FUSION Stick FS16 Z linear battens and 32 IP65-rated FUSION X-PAR 12Zs (affectionately known as the Oom-Pars).
When arranging main stage lighting design, Vlad Darie says production was fortunate in being sent the plot by Florence and the Machine’s lighting director, Sam O’Riordan, and then adapting it slightly for Yungblud LD Liam Griffiths – both seasoned users of GLP devices. It was the task of local lighting designer Gelu Popescu to turn O’Riordan’s plot into 3D reality.
Meanwhile, handling the lighting for Norwegian electronic duo Röyksopp was their LD, Dave Ross. “They also wanted some small fixtures for around the DJ booth,” reveals Darie, “so I provided some impression FR1’s.” He said these and the FUSION Sticks – notably the FS16 Z – were perfect for illuminating the DJ booths.
Other key personnel who played a major role in the event’s success included stage manager Rik Benbow – a long-time friend of Vlad Darie, who took an unscheduled break from his stateside touring duties with 50 Cent.
The production manager stated that the stage itself had been enlarged this year to enable it to accommodate any size of show – making the task of lighting the stage dynamically all the more important. However, this was made easy by the fact that such a high percentage of the fixtures specified were from the GLP portfolio. “I was surprised, but in a very positive way,” he says.
The partying generally went on well into the night. Once activity on the main stage ended (around 1 am), the After Party stage, which faced onto it, kicked in. Traditionally entirely DJ-related, this year its scope expanded to feature live sets. These were supported by another hip hop-focused stage, while the fourth ‘Hidden’ stage featured local unknown niche acts.
The overall impression was one of complete positivity. Gelu Popescu was quick to endorse the impact created by GLP’s high output range of fixtures. “Working with these GLP fixtures was an absolute game-changer for me as a lighting designer,” he says. “Their versatility and precision allowed me to create stunning visual experiences that perfectly complemented the music on stage.
“The JDC1’s unique dual-mode capabilities, combining strobe and wash effects, added a dynamic dimension to the stage design, while the impression X4 L’s powerful output and beam control allowed me to sculpt the environment with precision and finesse. The impression X4 Bar 20 and impression FR10 Bar were indispensable tools in my arsenal, providing seamless color mixing and a wide range of creative possibilities.
“In short, GLP fixtures not only met but exceeded my expectations in terms of performance and reliability, and by elevating the visual experience for both the artists and the audience.”
And main stage LX crew chief, Vlad Stoenescu, agrees: “Despite having more than 200 GLP fixtures on the main stage rig, across more than 50 DMX universes, over the three days we had no issue with any of the GLP fixtures. In fact these fixtures revolutionized our festival with their technical prowess and reliability – from pixel-perfect accuracy to real-time synchronization without any latency.”
Photo credit: Diana Dumitrescu (www.dumivisuals.com)
