USA - On Sunday 13 April, Chase & Status brought their musical kingdom to California, transforming Coachella’s massive Sahara Stage into a giant dance club with their signature sound and guest appearances by stars like Stormzy. Enhancing the vibe and energizing the entire stage was a production designed by High Scream, with management by NTRP, programming by Olly Walker, and onsite lighting by Elliott Mountford of Ti²² Design.
The lighting element of this dynamic stage panorama drew on the intense output of 172 Chauvet Professional fixtures. Of these units, 104 were Color Strike M motorised strobe washes, part of the Sahara’s house rig, supplied by Volt. The remaining fixtures, part of the Colour Sound Experiment supplied floor package, featured 48 Color Strike M and 20 Maverick Storm 4 Profile fixtures. The impressive collection of Color Strike M fixtures was instrumental in creating intense strobe effects that were brilliantly timed to match the music through the show.
“It was a big, impactful show,” said Mountford. “We were hitting around 120 universes between the house rig and the floor package. Volt designed the house rig, placing the Color Strike M units in the air and on the floor around the stage. As for the floor package designed by High Scream, it had another row of Strike units along the whole of the video wall downstage. This helped frame the whole stage.”
“We had the Maverick Storms placed behind the DJ area for essential backlighting,” continued Mountford. “The two central Storms were used to silhouette the DJs for 90% of the show.”
Programming and controlling the 120-universe show was a considerable undertaking. “Olly Walker spent five days programming in London,” said Mountford. “Everything was time-coded so nothing was ran live, except for some busked key lighting.
“Olly and I have worked a lot together before. Our styles are similar, based on contrast and very timecode-heavy shows,” continued Mountford. “We steer away from lots of effects and use more hits together with the music. His role was to work on the show-file back home, as he knows the music very well. Once he handed me a show-file, my job was to check that everything worked in previz, and on the rig. We reworked some song changes, and program SFX + Lasers into the show, and then I operated the show both weekends.”
This collaboration resulted in some sweet looks that more than met the moment during the festival. For Walker, one of the highlights was during the song Innocence, when a dazzling array of pixel effects moved in harmony with the music.
Mountford’s favourite moments came during the first laser drop. “We teased the audience, and then brought them all in at once – you could feel their reaction. I also loved Olly’s work with the big hard looks, then switching straight to dual backlights, it really created contrast. A lot of the other artists on that stage used lots of effects, and busking – we felt it had to be so tight timing wise.”
