eclipse supplies three Dubai World Cup events
Published: MEA
UAE: eclipse Staging Services was called in to supply equipment to three major events taking place at the Dubai World Cup. The company provided gear for the welcome reception, the opening and closing ceremonies and the Janet Jackson concert.
The welcome reception was arguably the biggest project for eclipse, and the only part to include an audio element. The audio equipment unleashed on the event included a DiGiCo SD8, four stacks of d&b audiotechnik J-Series with J-Subs on stages in the lagoon and 12 d&b E5s as lip-fills to cover the large audience area. In addition to this were six flown d&b Y7/10P delays for the garden area. A further eight Y7/10P were placed in the entrance walk way fed via Neutrik Xirium from FOH to the roof of one of the villas.
The SD rack was placed at FOH to handle the video feeds, IEM sends, RF inputs, SMPTE and FSK timecode distribution. There was a further SD rack 200m away to distribute FSK to Pyro then two SD Mini racks another 200m away on the lagoon stage to handle signal distribution to the J-Series PA. All the DiGiCo racks were connected via OpticalCon fibre in a fully redundant loop.
‘A large stage was being built in the lagoon which would house our speaker and signal distribution systems,’ noted eclipse head of audio, John Parkhouse. ‘We utilised over 1.2km of Cat-5 for the antenna distribution as well as RF scanning. We had to ensure and plan for uninterrupted coverage of all RF and comms on the 400m wide by 400m deep site. We also integrated our system into CT’s Tempest comms system, giving us the ability to communicate in any direction. We even ran a 400m line to give the stage managers wired backup comms which functioned without any issue for the duration.
‘I am extremely pleased with how the audio team performed and delivered on this event in what were testing and ever changing circumstances,’ he continued. ‘We met every deadline with time to spare for rehearsals and even though it seemed impossible or unrealistic at times there was no chance or hint that we would not deliver – what actually pleases me most of all is that we delivered in style.’
The main show lighting consisted of four stage platforms in the lake, each with four Sharpys, two Mac Auras and two Sharpy Washes. Small platforms to the left and right of the outer stages gave positions for a drummer on one side, and a DJ on another, each of these platforms had two Mac Auras and a single SGM P5. Front light for the stages came from Alpha Profile 1500s rigged to the circular ‘skyliner’ truss from across the lagoon in the main seating block. Aerial beam effects came from the 48 Mythos rigged in pairs, on the upstage side of the lagoon firing back into the audience and P5s were positioned next to each bank of Mythos focused on the trees behind the lagoon. The main rig was controlled by a full-size GrandMA2 with a GrandMA2 Lite as backup. Fibre-optic looms ran out to the main NPUs behind the lagoon which distributed the main bulk of the DMX.
Away from the reception, eclipse supplied over 100 lights for the opening and closing concerts. These included Clay Paky Supersharpys, Mythos and B-Eyes, LED battens, Vari-Lite moving heads and Lycian follow spots. Teaming up with A&O, the crew utilised the Meydan in-house infrastructure and provided a fully redundant fibre network system using Artnet and Lumix Boxes.
As for the Janet Jackson concert, this provided eclipse with the opportunity to use some fixtures for the first time. ‘As well as 11 Vari-lite 4000 Beam/Wash which I believe was a first for the region, there were also 58 Ayrton Magic Dots and eight Ayrton Magic Blades,’ said project manager Duncan Shortt. ‘The Ayrton fixtures feature continuous rotation of their pan and tilt functions, and this allowed for some very strong looks across the back of the stage where there was a line of 40 units just above the upstage LED screen. There was also a much bigger scenic element this year, with three huge Austrian blinds across the front of stage which were brought in and out at various points during the show to act as full width projection screens, where the content interacted with some clever back lighting on Janet’s silhouette.’
Following the performance, Malcolm Weldon, Janet Jackson’s production manager was clearly happy with the work done by eclipse. ‘Thank you so much for all of your guys’ hard work and dedication,’ he stated. ‘It was such a great pleasure working with you all. From start to finish I felt you and your team doing their best to provide an excellent product with a smile on your face while doing it which means a lot to us all.’
‘The eclipse crew displayed a truly Herculean effort this weekend, delivering a series of successful events, working to the highest standards and overcoming challenges including some tight time scales. Considering the size and timeframe of these events, I am immensely proud of the whole team,’ concluded Martin Lubach, general manager for eclipse Staging Services.