Robe for Spectacular Belters Only Gig

A team from Dublin-based Spectrum Productions led by David Lawless and Jack Quirke supplied a large quantity of Robe moving lights rig for a rumbunctious, sold-out electro-extravaganza gig by popular Irish mixmasters, Belters Only, at Dublin’s 3Arena.

David and the team have been working with the artists for the last year and designed the floor lighting package for their 2023 festival appearances. Their brief for the 3Arena show was to make it BIG, bold, and breath-taking visually, helping pump the energy and excitement everywhere in the room – from the stage to the back of the auditorium.

On the lighting plot were over 100 Robe moving lights – 52 Robe Tetra2’s, 12 TetraX’s and 32 MegaPointes – comprising most of the moving lights, joined by strobes, some other profile moving lights and 10 x 30-Watt lasers.

The lighting design was based on a 10-metre diameter circular truss centrepiece, inspired by the ‘circle of life’ in the musical duo’s logo, which was flown vertically and prominently in front of a large LED screen masked into a spherical shape.

The DJ booth sat on a riser downstage of both these elements.

Four two-metre upright truss sections in front of the riser were rigged with the 12 TetraXs, providing whizzy and crazy effects to fill the space where there was no screen and for dramatic back lighting for guest vocalists and dancers using the space in front to perform.

28 Tetra2s were rigged around the perimeter of the large circle.

More were on four floor-mounted vertical truss towers measuring 3 metres and 6 metres respectively and positioned left and right of the circle at different depths.

The entire lighting design was carefully calculated to maximise the depth of the stage space.

The balance of the Tetra2s was distributed between two horizontal 3-metre truss sections also downstage left and right, with two fixtures on the front rail and three on the back of each truss section. It was somewhat of a Tetra-fest!

A 6-metre truss circle flown directly above the DJ riser was rigged with 12 MegaPointes, with another 6 of Robe’s omnipresent and popular original multi-purpose moving spot light on the two 6-metre vertical towers, three each on the 3 metre verticals, with another 3 each on the ground trusses… making up the 36.

As with the Tetras, these were positioned to achieve as many dynamic angles as possible.

“We wanted the Terta2s specifically to frame the large circle which was the epicentre of the action and the stage design,” explained David. “The idea was to make this circle pop out into the audience in a series of completely unexpected ways!” …effects which were achieved to everyone’s delight!

David likes the crispness, tightness, and definition of the Tetra2 optics, and how the lightsource can become a dense wave of light blasting out into the audience if used in conjunction with properly managed haze. “Mastering the atmospherics is key to getting this style of lighting design looking properly amazing,” he noted.

He is also impressed with the Tetra2 colours, especially the greens and blues, and comments that they were “ideal” for colour matching with the video content appearing on the scene.

On this occasion, they didn’t use the Flower Effect, but he says, “It’s great to know it’s there when needed.”

The TetraXs created a kinetic space all of their own with features like the random strobe effect running, adding to the general visual craziness, with the rest of the rig kicking in with full impact on the drops.

David appreciates the brightness of MegaPointes, which are still one of Robe’s most popular and most frequently spec’d fixtures for numerous electronic events. He says that being able to go from the tight pencil shaft to the “high volume” fat beam is “super-handy”. He also thinks the colour mixing is good and notes that Tetras and MegaPointes make a great combination for full on dance music environments.

“Our goal was to produce a properly immersive show and lots of mayhem for Belters Only, and these fixtures were great for this,” he stated.

He thinks Robe’s reliability is a great asset generally, and essential for a large one-off show like this with a big design to implement in a tight timeframe with no room for errors!

The get-in was 6am for 6pm doors, and the lighting installation was masterfully coordinated on-site by chief lighting tech, Emmet O’Donnell and the Spectrum team.

An Avolites Arena was used for lighting control, which David commented was an “excellent choice” as this show involved a high degree of busking and improvisational operation together with some timecoded moments.

Spectrum also supplied the LED screens and a d & b sound system, together with a substantial amount of pyro, SFX – flames and CO₂ jets – as well as the aforementioned lasers, while Shane Fogarty and the gang from Emerald Isle Rigging worked tirelessly to get everything in the air in time.

Spectrum Productions is a rental, show and production specialist passionate about the industry, based in Dublin and working all over Ireland and Europe.

Photos: Pete Regazzoli Photos.