Eurovision Stage Lighting features 500 Robe moving lights

Over 500 Robe moving lights were used on the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), which culminated in last night’s final, staged at the Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, won by Serbia’s Marija Šerifović with 'Molitva'.
The event was broadcast to a worldwide audience in excess of 200 million by Finnish national TV channel, YLE.
This year’s lighting was designed by Mikki Kunttu, who created one of the most innovative, fresh and eye catching Eurovision shows to date. He utilised a wide range of Robe fixtures – the new all-powerful ColorSpot 2500E AT, the workhorse ColorSpot and ColorWash 1200E ATs, the new ColorSpot 700E ATs and ColorWash 250E ATs.
The deal with Robe was instigated by Eurovision 2007’s technical production manager Ola Melzig, working for lighting and video suppliers/technical co-ordinators Spectra Stage & Event Technologies from Stockholm, Sweden.
Melzig – production managing his sixth ESC – also used Robe moving lights for the 2005 event in Kiev, Ukraine. This proved such a positive success, that he was keen to repeat the experience when he and Spectra won the contract to technically produce the 2007 ESC .
“Robe lights are just so unbelievably reliable – that we had to have them again,” stated Melzig, who cut the deal with Robe’s International Sales Manager Harry von den Stemmen. The fixtures were supplied direct from the Robe factory in the Czech Republic, complete with brand new bulbs from Phillips, with whom Robe worked very closely. This ensured that all fixtures had similar colour temperatures.
Melzig added: “The support and the attitude from Robe is absolutely spot on – just what’s needed to make part of a good ESC team, which has to be really tight and work to an intense schedule”.
Spectra’s crew – hand picked by Melzig - numbered over 70, emanating from 9 different countries.
The gently asymmetrical over-stage rig was made up from a series of curved trusses and designed to look good on camera in addition to its practical role for hanging lights. There was also a 26 metre trussing circle above the audience with a series of fingers, plus assorted other trussing constructions positioned around the arena – together totalling over 1.7 Kilometres of truss! Robe fixtures were rigged all across the over-stage and over-audience structures.
There were also 18 ColorSpot 1200E ATs on the floor (pulled from a total count of 100 CS 1200s and 96 ColourWash 1200E ATs).
ColorWash 250E ATs were used to illuminate the inside of a curved ‘fish spine’ scenic piece on stage right as they were the ideal size to fit inside. The elegant abstract set design – based on a mythical pike’s jawbone used for making the kantele, an ancient Finnish musical instrument - was a collaboration between 4 art students from Helsinki University and YLE designer, Riikka Kytonen.
Sixteen moving truss pods were flown behind a giant 200 metre MiTrix video screen, all of them rigged with Robe ColorSpot 700E ATs – among other fixtures.
The aesthetic result of the whole show was truly stunning and became a huge talking point of the 2007 event. In addition to the MiTrix screen, there was a Barco O-Lite catwalk thrusting out from the front of the stage, and a central, curved O-Lite tower running right up to the roof at the back – dubbed ‘the cobra’ – splitting the MiTrix in half.
Chief moving light technician was UK-based Dik Welland. He found had plenty of time on his hands as the Robe’s ran virtually trouble free throughout the whole 2 week day programming, pre-production and show period. He was however kept busy repairing other fixtures!
Robe Media Spinner 100 ATs were used to suspend eight bars of Studio Due CS4 moving PARs over the audience, attached to the circular truss in the centre of the auditorium.
Robe also supplied 48 of its new StageQube 324 LED panels, used for mood lighting and ambient effects in the Green Room – a fabulously inviting contemporary area designed area by YLE’s Teija Vilkkovaara.
(SP)