Pretori- based rental company Stage Effects, run by Theo Papenfus, has provided the site-wide lighting and visuals using Robe MegaPointes for OppoKoppi 2018.
Production lighting for the Main Stage was designed by Erik de Bruin, who this year was delighted to be able to use Stage Effects’ new Robe MegaPointes to WOW the crowds.
He also used 12 standard Robe Pointes, plus some other fixtures including LED washes, LED battens and 4-cell blinders.
With OppiKoppi and the opportunity of running several dynamic shows after dark, he declared, “I am seriously impressed with what I’m seeing”.
The Main Stage is a permanent thatched structure on the OppiKoppi site with an apex roof, limited height, no flying facilities and a cosy performance space. It’s been used as the main stage before but not in the event’s most recent years, so with it returning to its roots and hosting the largest headliners this year, Papenfus decided to spec more lights than ever before.
3 trussing goalpost structures were installed to maximise the space. A larger one square-on upstage, flanked by two smaller and slightly angled ones left and right, to give side lighting positions.
Robe MegaPointes were all rigged on the cross members of these goalposts, 6 along the back and 3 on each side.
8 Robe Pointes were placed along the front lip of the stage and the other four were squeezed in upstage together with a small LED screen fully utilising what was a very tight space by the time any band’s backline was onstage!
With these 24 Robe fixtures, de Bruin created some fantastic structural framework looks utilising the beams, and when these shot past the ceiling rafters and pierced the pitch-black night sky, they could be spotted from across the site and far beyond.
With 12 Robe MegaPointes and 12 Pointes on the rig, he certainly didn’t run out of options for creating new and different colours, styles and effects.
Lighting control was an MA Lighting grandMA2 console.
Stage Effects has been a DWR customer for some time, although they already had a large stock of competitor moving light products. More recently they have started looking at Robe as it is being repeatedly requested on riders and tech specs.
de Bruin and 8 crew from Stage Effects started work on site on Sunday to be ready for the event which opened the following Thursday. Everything ran on generator power, and being in the middle of the bush, the prep had to be meticulous, as it wasn’t a case of ‘just nipping back to the warehouse’ to get any bits that might have been left off the truck!
