Robert Juliat’s Grand Range of followspots are the ones to call on when you want to
party on a big scale. Robert Juliat’s Aramis and Lancelot long-throw models have
been out in full force in the Netherlands for two of the countries most exuberant
parties.
Lighting designer Martin Beekhuizen used no less than sixteen RJ Aramis 2500W
followspots on Amsterdam’s biggest party night of the year as huge audiences
flooded into the Amsterdam Arena for the 11th Toppers in Concert extravaganza.
Billed as “the singalong festival of the year’, the annual event filled the massive
arena – home of Amsterdam’s Ajax football team – for five nights at the end of May
2015. Audiences of over 70,000 people per night – dressed in white with “a colourful
touch of summer’ – sang along with Dutch superstars, at this bright, bold and
colourful Crazy Summer Party. Clearly followspots as bold and bright were required
to highlight the stars.
“The show is performed in the round and the followspot positions are located at a
distance of 80m from the stage,’ explains Beekhuizen. “I needed something with
the muscle-power to handle those super-long throw distances, power through a very
bright lighting rig and cope with the fact that the first half of the show was in
daylight hours. It was also important to have sixteen uniform followspots of the
same model, output and quality – which is no small requirement!’
“I was confident we were in good hands for this mammoth event and I knew the
Aramis would be up to the job. Robert Juliat followspots have really good lenses, a
great output and are extremely easy to colour-correct. The company takes good
care of its reflectors during production by maintaining consistency of the coating
which results in a uniformity of colour across every followspot. This makes my job
as a lighting designer so much easier especially when we are recording the show,
as we were on Toppers, where any discrepancy would be picked up by the camera.’
Meanwhile, in the Philips Stadium in Eindhoven, eight Robert Juliat Lancelot 4000W
HTI followspots were used by lighting designer Marco Driessen to illuminate Guus
Meeuwis’ anniversary show Groots met een zachte G. The fast moving, energetic
show celebrated ten consecutive years at the stadium for the Dutch star and has
been dubbed the biggest annual music event by a solo artist in the Netherlands.
Over five nights in June, 175,000 visitors and 1,300,000 viewers saw the Lancelot
followspots in action. One of the largest and most versatile of Robert Juliat’s
followspots, Lancelot’s 4000W powerful output is backed by a fine 2°-5° variable
zoom and a superb optical train which minimizes the size of the fixture. A unique
cooling system allows the incorporation of modular accessories to adapt it to
become the most powerful long-throw effects projector ever built.
“For the Jubilee edition of Groots met een zachte G I again deliberately chose the
Robert Juliat Lancelot followspots,’ says Marco Driessen of The Art of Light. “This
year for the first time in history we were broadcast live on Dutch television, and the
Lancelots once more gave the decisive output, colour temperature and reliability for
which I had chosen them.
“It was a small effort for the Lancelot to cover the distance of between 60m and
120m to the stage and put Guus and his bandmates in full light, even against the
powerfully strong lighting rig and video back wall. The output of the Lancelot
remains impressive, and the design features make it an easy job for the spot
operators to deal with.
“Next year for the 11th edition of the show one thing is already clear – the Lancelots
will be back in action!’
All Robert Juliat Lancelot and Aramis units were supplied by Dutch rental company,
Ampco Flashlight: “Ampco Flashlight is known as a full service rental company for
theatre, broadcast, live events and concerts,’ says account manager, Juan Neele,
“The reason we use Robert Juliat is because they guarantee good performance in all
these different areas. The output and reliability of the RJ spots on shows such as
Toppers and Guus Meeuwis is great – they are truly plug and play units with a big
performance!’
