18.05.2015 | Elation Lighting Helping XS Nightclub Stay on Top in Competitive Vegas Night Scene

XS Nightclub at Encore at Wynn Las Vegas knows success and has every intention of retaining its title as the top-grossing nightclub in the United States. Its latest recipe for success in the ultra-competitive Las Vegas nightlife scene involves a multi-million dollar production re-design with lighting design by Steve Lieberman of SJ Lighting and a large state-of-the-art technology package that includes Platinum SBX, Platinum Spot 15R Pro, Protron LED Strobe, and Lumina Strips from Elation Professional.

Although Steve has a long-standing relationship with the operators of the venue, this is his first time doing design work for XS. There are multiple reasons why the club has been successful for so long, he says, one being the fact that it’s located in one of the most well-known, most successful casino hotel properties in Las Vegas in Encore/Wynn. “Another is the fact that everything at this property is 100% designed complete; nothing falls short and the club venue lives that same mantra,” he explains. “The details have been looked after and there are no open ends. They do it 100% correctly.”

In Vegas, there are so many new properties that have opened up the past few years with new technologies and designs that night venues cannot be complacent if they want to stay successful. At XS, it was time to put a fresh look on in order to stay relevant and carry them for the next 4-5 years.

All new lighting and designAlthough the layout of the club has stayed the same, the renovation features all new lighting and a new fully-immersive lighting design that covers the entire club, inside and out. Steve calls it a “99% technology and production renovation” where “guests are participants and not merely spectators” no matter where they are in the club.

The entire dance floor lighting package was replaced and features added to the rest of the club that highlight and detail the architecture and design. “Over the dance floor we wanted something that was a hybrid fixture that could give us the functionality of a beam light and move us into a profile fixture as well,” Steve states of the powerful hybrid fixture that also includes a frost system for wash effects. “The Platinum SBX has a really great output and up against the Clay Paky B-Eye’s we have, we needed something that could really keep up with it and punch through and the SBX fit the bill.”

LED efficiency
“In order to be efficient, we specified as much LED product in the club as possible,” says Steve, who swapped out the club’s original 3K Xenon strobes over the dance floor with Elation Protron LED Strobes, saving on power while maintaining brightness levels. “For me, the best part of LED is the efficiency – less fans, less cooling, less power, less maintenance.” Steve increased the amount of lighting equipment in the venue by three or four times compared to what they previously had without having to put in twice as much service. “The power savings was huge which allowed us to consolidate fixtures by putting more lights on a single circuit,” he said. “For example, I can now put 8 or 10 LED strobes on a 20 amp circuit whereas before I could put only one 3K Xenon strobe.”

Pool party
The outdoor pool area is a huge revenue generator for the club, especially in the summer when it is often as crowded if not more so than the inside of the club. Steve needed a powerful fixture in the pool area that could compete with the ambient light of the pool and again turned to the Platinum SBX, which is used to shoot out across the area for big rock ‘n roll looks.

Also outside are Platinum Spot 15R Pro moving head fixtures in white housings, which are used for texturing and coverage out at the pool area, and blend in with the rest of the architecture. “I needed a fixture that was more of a traditional profile fixture with a wider beam angle than the SBX gives,” Steve explains. “I also needed something that was more appropriate color-wise as far as the aesthetic look of the fixture in white and Elation offers the 15R Pro in white off the shelf. So, at this beautiful pool bar I didn’t have to worry about hanging big, ugly, black moving lights.”

Located in the open doorway between the interior of the club and the outdoor pool area is a DJ booth with overhanging LED video screen. Lining the LED screen’s custom truss structure are LED-based Elation Lumina Strips used for warm white blinder or wash effects. “They have a really nice warm incandescent look,” Steve says, “so they actually look like real MR16s but you get all the benefits of an LED fixture and they look fantastic.”

The production renovation, which includes a host of other new lighting fixtures, as well as LED video and a new laser and pyrotechnics system, was unveiled in late December in time for the New Year’s celebrations.

Elation Equipment:
28 x Platinum SBX
14 x Protron LED Strobe
14 x Platinum Spot 15R Pro
17 X Lumina Strip

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