STOCKHOLM - It has been said that we live horizontally (our eyes naturally move from side to side when reading or scanning a landscape), but we dream vertically (who hasn’t when looking up at the night sky or a towering building?)

Jonathan Rikner used the CHAUVET Professional COLORado PXL Bar 16 to draw on the emotional power of both perspectives when lighting Swedish hip-hop powerhouse Hov1.

“The original idea for this show was to be able to build ‘rooms, of light with emotions,” explained Rikner of NCOAB Productions. “I chose the PXL bar for this reason-- it has a nice uniform light output, which really can confine a space. That was in the concept phase, later when I had the rig out for the first time, I played around with different looks and expressions. That’s when I saw that it makes a really nice effect to alternate between horizontal and vertical bars.”

After experimenting with this design concept on different Hov1 shows, Rikner rolled out a full-fledged version of his vision for Hov1’s “Farewell Show” at Gärdet Stockholm. The record-setting crowd of 52,236 (the previous record was held by Metallica) at the outdoor venue was taken on an expansive visual journey, as the stage metamorphized through a compelling series of radically different looks, all while amazingly maintaining its common thread of identity.

At times, the stage was mostly black with shafts of bright light running from its deck to the top of its trim. At other times, it took on sweeping horizontal looks dominated by a video wall accented by bright light, before it was transformed again by pyro effects and haze.

“Smoke/Haze is really important, especially with a fixture such as the PXL Bar,” said Rikner. “This makes the show seem like more than only a post stamp on stage -- it actually reaches out over and into the audience.”

Rikner used 178 PXL 16 Bars, supplied by Creative Technology Sweden, in his deeply layered 178-universe show that had 44,000 parameters. He outlined the entire stage and catwalk with the pixel mappable RGBW motorized battens, in to having an upstage frame around the entire video wall, a mid-stage LX with vertical framing sides, and two vertical LX downstage near the PA. 

“I ran the PXL fixtures in 186-channel mode to be able to make smooth fades and transitions through the entire rig,” explained Rikner. “To be able to make a constant nice fade for more than 30 seconds is really, really great!

“The PXLs were the main fixture type for the show,” he continued. “They acted as a wash, beam, and effect fixture. Add some clever planning on which groups to use when and why -- and it’s really a versatile product. My rig made this show work as did my wonderful crew: Fredrik Jönsson doing key lighting, Edvard Hansson doing the follow-me system, Bombee doing SFX -- and of course a thanks to our FoH sound guys, Johan and Søren along with the entire crew.”

Looking back on his show Rikner says it was the element of surprise that made it extra special. “It was nice having the horizontal bars in unison giving the song its absence energy, and then using the vertical bars for something completely different,” he remarked. It’s easy to get stuck in thinking only a strobe can be a strobe, or only a wash can be a wash. But to surprise and make a punch with all the vertical bars as strobe for example really switches things up.”

Such is the unexpected magic that happens when the horizontal and vertical worlds meet!

About CHAUVET Professional
CHAUVET Professional offers innovative professional lighting fixtures for the production and touring market as well as permanent installation in theaters, hospitality venues, cruise ships, clubs, television and architainment applications.