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HSL Gets The Cream

HSL supplied and co-ordinated lighting for the Main Stage and the massive Cream Arena at Creamfields 2008 - marking the leading UK dance festival's 10^th anniversary - for producers Loudsound Events.

The event featured a host of international DJs and bands including main stage double headliners Fatboy Slim and Kasabian, and took place at the regular Creamfields site in Daresbury near Warrington.

It's the 7^th year that HSL has supplied lighting to the festival, which was coordinated by Mike Oates in the office and crew chief Simon "Piggy" Lynch on site. Oates comments: "This year, being a special year, we really concentrated on ensuring that production values were the highest yet. We had a strong team on site who really made it happen very smoothly despite challenging weather and a tight schedule."

The Main Stage was a 20 metre wide by 15 metre deep Vertech roof supplied by Star Events. The screen for Fatboy Slim's set on Saturday night - supplied by XL Video - weighed six tonnes and was flown five metres from the downstage edge of the stage. HSL worked closely with Star Events on the logistics of rigging all the production lighting also needed for his show from the same area of the roof.

Fatboy's lighting was designed by Steven Abbiss, who additionally oversaw the Main Stage production lighting for HSL. He used 26 Robe ColorWash 1200E ATs and 24 Robe ColorSpot 1200E ATs for moving lights, 10 Martin Professional Atomic strobes, eight 8-lite Moles and 16 JTE PixelLines, brought in specifically as specials for Fatboy. All this was controlled off an Avolites Diamond 4 console.

For the Sunday night, all the Fatboy lighting was stripped out and LD Jonny Gaskell brought in Kasabian's entire touring rig - also being supplied by HSL.

To ensure this intense overnight changeover went smoothly and seamlessly, the HSL crew pre-rigged Kasabian's three trusses which included additional metalwork in the roof to hang Gaskell's six Stealth screens (also supplied by XL).

Lighting wise, Kasabian used 16 High End Showguns - eight on the floor and eight in the air; 10 Robe ColorWash 1200E ATs and eight Robe ColorSpot 1200E Ats, 12 i-Pix BB7s, just purchased by HSL, positioned on floor-based pipes, eight BB16s: four rigged in the air and four on the floor, 40 2-lite Moles framing the screens and scattered across all the trusses, 12 ETC Source Fours: eight on the front truss and four on the mid truss, and 26 Atomic strobes. Gaskell ran this from a WholeHog II and a Wing.

Lighting in the Cream Arena was operated by Nathan Wan, and designed with the need to have lots of creative variety available to blast the arena with fresh looks and energy throughout many continuous hours of operation. HSL and the Cream team including event director Jim King spent considerable time pre-planning the look and feel of this Arena to make it different from pervious years.

Headline DJ's included Sasha, Pete Tong, Paul van Dyk, Eric Prydz, and many others.

HSL installed a two tonne ground support system in the tent over the stage, from which was rigged three trussing semi circles measuring six, ten and 15 metres respectively from top to bottom. Hung from each of these, was a two-metre drop of ColorWeb125 LED. The onstage trusses contained 16 Robe ColorWash 700s and 14 ColorSpot 700 moving lights, 10 Atomics and eight 8-lite Moles. SSE's PA was also flown off the ground support, with their delays rigged off the audience trusses.

Running down the long sides of the tent were two flown 28 metre audience trusses, loaded with 32 Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 2500E ATs and another eight Atomics. Wan operated stage and audience lighting from a Jands Vista console with a Hippotizer v 3 digital media server running the ColorWeb.

HSL's rigger was Rory McKay, and the rest of crew were Andy "Paris" Hilton, Chris Connolly, John Pemberton, Tim Oliver, Adrian "Paddy" Neilly and Ryan Hopkins.

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HSL Gets The Cream

12th September 2008

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