23.11.2015 | Life is Beautiful for Elation, AG Light&Sound and Steve Lieberman

Elation Colour Chorus™ LED battens and Platinum Series™ moving heads used on Las Vegas music and arts festival. Also feature on Victoria’s Secret PINK Nation Game On! Bash

For those who live in the warmer southern latitudes of the U.S., the outdoor festival and show season extends well into the fall. Two examples are the Life is Beautiful Festival, which took place in Las Vegas in late September, and the Victoria’s Secret PINK Nation Game On! Bash that stormed the University of Texas San Antonio campus on October 28th. Production for both events was handled by AG Light & Sound (www.ag.tc), who supplied lighting packages that included Elation Colour Chorus™ LED battens and Platinum Series™ moving heads.

Life is Beautiful Festival
With a life-affirming name like the Life is Beautiful Festival and an opening night that featured a performance by Stevie Wonder, it’s no surprise that the third incarnation of the music and arts festival was a success. Held September 25-27 in Downtown Las Vegas, the three-day festival focused on four cultural elements:  food, art, learning, and of course, music.

This year, LIB secured the services of top lighting designer Steve Lieberman, who worked with the festival for the first time. Lieberman handled lighting design duties on the high-energy Troubadour Stage, where some of the world's top dance music artists performed. The Troubadour Stage was hosted by promotional events company Insomniac, who specially designed a new 120-foot wide mega structure for the event.

“This design had to suit several days of performances, various artist riders, and still stand up on its own laurels with a design aesthetic that would be impactful and creative,” Lieberman explained. “One of the most noticeable things about LIB is that it is a show based around artistic expression and creativity so that put an added level of expectation for the creation of this stage.”

Already well familiar with Elation’s Color Chorus 72 LED battens from having used them on EDC 2015 as well as the Nocturnal Wonderland festival earlier in the month, both festivals where he has been the top designer for years, Lieberman again incorporated the 6-ft long strip lights into his design at LIB, where they served multiple purposes. “We used them to highlight the truss details throughout the space,” he explains. “This added a high level of impact to show off the shape and geometry of the design. Additionally, we used them as foot lights at the downstage edge of the stage for uplighting performers. In both instances, these fixtures had more than enough output and a great light quality to fill out the environment.”

Doing the heavy lifting in the design however was the Elation Platinum Spot 35 Pro, a powerful feature-packed 800W moving head. “This fixture has a great set of stock gobos,” Lieberman stated. “Output stands up to the rest of the rig, color mixing is quick, and the zoom range is large. It’s an overall great light and withstood three days / 12 hours a day of getting pounded on.” Warming the large number of truss elements in various shades of color were Elation Opti Tri 30’s™. “They fit perfectly into 12" box truss and their output really exemplifies the truss work," Lieberman said of the compact LED Par lights.

Victoria’s Secret PINK Nation Game On! Bash 2015
A month later and 1200 miles to the southeast, after beating out 98 other colleges in various social media challenges, students at the University of Texas San Antonio got to host a one-day party as winners of the PINK Nation Game On! Bash contest by Victoria’s Secret.

Held on October 28th on the UTSA campus, Grammy award-winning EDM artist Zedd headlined the EDM spectacle with AG Light & Sound supplying Elation Colour Chorus 72™ LED battens, Platinum Spot 35 Pro™ moving heads and Cuepix Blinder WW2™ powerful white light blinders. “I’ve been using Elation for quite a while,” stated AG Light & Sound owner Andrew Gumper on why he turned to Elation gear for the event. “It’s reliable, holds up well and is very cost effective. It’s a very stable product that is perfect for events like these.”

Positioned beneath a giant arch structure was a large stage with central DJ booth and three large backdrop LED screens, all dripping with lighting effects. Mounted on virtually every truss, Colour Chorus 72 fixtures provided color matching looks and linear effects while mid-air beams from 800W Platinum Spot 35 Pro’s cut through from a variety of positions. Cuepix Blinders added explosive energy from vertical and overhead trusses.

Lighting design for the event was handled by Zedd’s own visual team. Nearly 15,000 students attended the party, which also featured musical guest DJ Irie and appearances from Victoria’s Secret models.

Photos: Adam Kaplan - ASK Media Productions Inc.

Fixtures involved:
Colour Chorus 72
Platinum Spot 35 Pro
Opti Tri 30
Cuepix Blinder WW2