The annual Hillsong Colour Conference was hosted at the Grand West Casino in
Cape Town from 15-19 April. Rental company C&S supplied and set up the custom
built stage, lighting – which included over 160 Robe fixtures – rigging, trussing, LED
Screens and the Backline. Bad Weather, for the third consecutive year, helped
Hillsong South Africa redesign and primarily execute the lighting and video
elements whilst assisting all areas of the technical production.

“As the conference was hosted over three countries, our equipment had to meet
with international standards,’ commented Henning de Villiers, Production Manager
at C&S. “We worked with the Hillsong team to achieve and surpass all expectations
and were delighted that the event was a major success.’

Jonathan Bandli, Creative Director at Bad Weather elaborates. “This process is very
complex. The Colour Conference production is designed and creatively birthed each
year in Sydney by Hillsong Australia and their team, where it is executed first on
the series of stops around the world.’

The full design package is sent to Hillsong South Africa where it is unpacked by
their production and creative departments. The design is amended to fit local gear
supplier kit lists, quantities and venue capabilities.

With reference videos from Sydney as a guideline, Bad Weather recreated the key
items of the conference as accurately as possible. There is more creative flexibility
with praise and worship, and this is conceptualized alongside talented Hendre
Bloem.

“The conference itself was a diverse musical and theatrical journey and we needed
not only variety, but flexibility when it came to lighting fixtures,’ Bandli said.
Robe ColorSpot 700E ATs were used for primary key light and specials and also
moved into the audience and arena for special effects – alongside the Robin 600
LEDWash, used for overall front wash.

“Using a large quantity of ColourSpot 700E AT on the overhead cubes added big
aerial effects, breakup gobos, stage textures, special pick ups and theatrical
backlighting effects. These were surrounded by the Robin 300LEDWash to handle
backlight, and to frame the cubes beautifully. This led to some great in-depth
programming opportunities and fantastic visual lines.’