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Robe at the Tripod
A Robe moving light rig has been installed at Dublin’s newest and highest profile night venue – the Tripod.
Located in the same building as the legendary Pod Club, the new 1300 capacity purpose-built Tripod is a multi-functional club and live music space also created within the charismatic original shell of the old Harcourt Station. The original building dates back to 1859, and was an active train terminus for 100 years. Taking ‘industrial chic’ as its base aesthetic, Tripod is contemporarily designed to be unique, inspiring and individual, fusing architectural style with the very hottest of contemporary live music.
Owner John Reynolds also wanted nothing but the best in terms of a technical infrastructure, and so contacted Paul and Ian Smith of Dublin-based Just Lite Productions to specify and supply an appropriate lighting system.
They immediately chose Robe moving lights. Reliability – a must for any installation – was right at the top of the agenda, as was versatility. With the great array of features and effects on offer from Robe units and their impressive brightness, they are equally as usable for lighting bands onstage as they are for creating exciting and atmospheric moods around the whole room for club nights.
Just Lites supplied six Robe ColorSpot 575 ATs, six ColorWash 250 ATs and two MS Zoom 250 XTs. These are being supplied by Just Lites to Tripod on a long-term lease basis. “They are absolutely perfect for the job,” says Just Lites’ Paul Smith, who also supplied the Avolites Pearl house console.
Just Lites has had a Robe rig installed at The Ambassadors Theatre in Dublin for the last three years. This has just kept on going without a hitch, lighting acts such as Amy Winehouse, Motorhead, Green Day, Artic Monkeys, Fall Out Boy, and My Chemical Romance. It’s needed very little maintenance and is a working testament to the rugged nature of the fixtures.
At Tripod, the ColorWash 250 ATs are positioned at the back of the stage, rigged to an over-stage grid structure. The ColorSpot 575 ATs are attached to the same grid, slightly downstage and directly over the centre of the stage, ideally positioned for key lighting and overall stage lighting. There are also two more ColorSpot 575 ATs over the dancefloor. The MS Zooms are hung above the front of the stage.
The positioning of the lights is crucial, as the turnaround time to transform Tripod from a live venue to a full-on DJ setting like Sasha or Paul Oakenfold, complete with video screens, has to be quick. Tripod’s dance events are proving every bit as popular as their sellout live music shows.
“The Robes are absolutely brilliant,” says Tripod’s stage manager Stephen Digham, who is also a lighting designer, “They work for every situation we have here, and visiting LDs are also really happy with them.”
There are currently two regular house LDs at Tripod, Ronan Conway and Nick Maldon. Conway (also a busy touring LD with The Automatic, Echo & The Bunnymen and others) says he’s “Extremely happy” with the fixtures. He first used Robe’s on the 2007 NME tour, and this is also now the first time he’s encountered them in an installed situation.
In addition to staging some great live acts – ‘recent and upcomings’ have included Brand New and Kila, Duke Special, Michael Franti and The Rapture – Tripod also hosts some seriously large club nights with the likes of Paul van Dyke, Timo Maas, et. al. It’s open to the public Wednesday through Saturday and is also available for hire to private parties and corporate events.
With such a wide variety of potential users and uses, it was vital that the lighting rig matched the dynamics, flexibility and considerable style of the venue.
14th June 2007
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