After only three years, the Parookaville music festival in Weeze, Germany, has grown
to become the country’s largest EDM festival and with a motto of “madness, love and
pure happiness,’ who wouldn’t want to attend? Parookaville turned the Weeze Airport
into party central with the 2017 version attracting 80,000 music lovers. Some 150
DJs, including some of EDM’s top names like Tiesto, David Guetta and DJ Snake,
played across ten stages.
The POOLgroup once again acted as general contractor for the main stages, as well as
the Cloud Factory and Center Shelter stages. As a technical planning office, the
company was responsible for the conception and implementation of the media and
lighting design, in coordination with the stage concept and content creation, as well as
a successful “show control and ceremony’. “As a result of the even more sophisticated
storytelling, the design and illumination of the ambience around the stages was even
more important this year,” explains POOLgroup’s Robert Sommer, who was responsible
for the lighting design and concept.
Sommer took the opportunity to test Elation’s hybrid Platinum FLX moving head under
live conditions, where a total of 60 units were used on the main stage. “The Elation
Platinum FLX was introduced to me at LMP and sparked my interest. As a result, I
decided to test the fixture under real-world conditions,’ recalls Sommer. “I suggested
Parookaville because an EDM event of this size is probably the hardest test for any
light. A lamp that performs without problems here is then tested and proven for the
show and entertainment sector.’
The award-winning Platinum FLX is a fully-featured hybrid moving head light that can
be used as a beam, spot or even as a wash. With 23,000 lumens of total light output,
its power is in the range of 1,200-watt luminaires, and its two dedicated optical
systems make the fixture an uncompromising spot and beam in one.
“As the Platinum FLX is a hybrid light, I had a wide range of options at my disposal,”
explains the lighting designer. “The FLX works perfectly as a spot, but can also be
used as a beam. We already had a relatively high proportion of beam lights in the set,
but a cool spot still eluded me. Also, I did not want to place two different lamps in one
position. The FLX offered an ideal solution.’
As a result, the Platinum FLX was predominantly used as an effective spot in relation
to the beam lights and provided the necessary full visual look. Sommer confirmed that
the FLX lights fully satisfied his expectations. “The light has a strikingly good spot
function for a hybrid fixture. Also, the change between beam and spot works very well
and supple. Regarding reliability, I have no reason to complain. We had only one
failure in advance of the show; in the running operation of the show, there were no
problems. It is a very clean light, which I will use again.’
