MA Lighting and Clay Paky at Diamond Jubilee

22 June 2012

UK - Centrepiece of the recent spectacular celebrations for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in London, UK, was a massive concert staged just in front of Buckingham Palace around the Queen Victoria Monument, which was lit by Durham Marenghi and broadcast live worldwide on the BBC.

Six grandMA2 consoles and over 200 Clay Paky moving lights were utilised in programming and lighting this part of the event, which included a stellar line up of UK artists and performers.

Marenghi specified Clay Paky moving lights for the stage, while his associate LD and lead programmer Tim Routledge chose two grandMA2 full-size consoles (live and tracking backup) to control all the stage lighting on the night.

grandMA2 control was picked for its flexibility and stability - it is the preferred control platform of both Marenghi and Routledge - and has proven itself time and again on major events like this.

Marenghi and his visual team were also responsible for lighting the huge crowds that congregated in and around The Mall to catch the action, and also for the stunning lighting and projections onto the front of Buckingham Palace.

To handle all the audience and TV key lighting, programmer Alex Passmore used another grandMA2 full-size and worked closely with television lighting director Steve Nolan. The visuals on the stage LED screen were created by Miguel Ribeiro and Paul Clutterbuck.

Responsible for programming lighting inside the Palace compound itself was LD Dave Hill, who also picked a grandMA2 full-size for control. The Palace lighting augmented a projection system designed by Durham and Steve Greetham and Andy Joyes of XL Video which, once darkness finally fell, featured the amazing animations created by Sam Pattinson, Trunk and UVA.

Overall technical production for all these sections of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee was co-ordinated by Kenny Underwood and Albert Lawrence for Robbie Williams Productions with event design by Malcolm Birkett.

In addition to all the grandMA2 consoles on site, Marenghi and Routledge used two grandMA2 light for plotting and 'virtual rehearsals'. This was done during the daytime using a WYSIWYG suite at the LH2 rehearsal facility in the week long lead up to the event. After these sessions, they then went to site to programme the overnight shifts in situ down at the Palace.

The elegant 'crown' shaped set built around the Queen Victoria Monument for the occasion was designed by stage architect Mark Fisher. It also formed a roof over the circular stage and via its supporting structure and horseshoe shaped trusses, provided the lighting positions which were kept to a minimum to preserve the transparency of the roof.

Marenghi used over 200 Clay Paky fixtures in the stage show, a choice driven by compact size and their current reputation amongst the world's lighting professionals for reliability and optical excellence.

Sixty Sharpys were positioned around the Queen Victoria Monument (one for each year of HM Queen Elizabeth II's reign) with 32 x Alpha Spot QWO 800s and Alpha Wash 700s on the stage trusses.

A single Sharpy was used for the magical 'Diamond Moment' when The Queen took the stage after the concert to light the last in a network of 4200 beacons burning around the world in her honour. She placed a crystal glass diamond into a special pod, triggering a 6m flame.

Ten Alpha Spot QWO 800s were positioned on the stage deck at the back for beam effects, and six striking Union Jack branded Sharpys, specially produced by Clay Paky for the occasion, made great camera candy around the front of stage.

On the FOH towers were 32 x Alpha Beam 700s with four Alpha Beam 1500s for key light, and around the stage, another 60 Alpha Beam 1500s were utilised to create high-impact aerial effects and to ring the stage with light for the overhead shots.

The Palace façade was highlighted with 32 x Alpha Wash 1500s, with four Alpha Spot QWO 800s used to light the band Madness playing out their set dramatically from the roof of the building.

The grandMA2 stage console also controlled a number of other lights, including 120 x i-Pix LED fixtures, 30 Syncrolite Arena Colors lighting the Palace and 32 x Philips CK Color Blasts lighting the Royal Box.

The grandMA2 running the audience lighting system was itself controlling over 200 fixtures - including PARs and Syncrolite SXL 7/3 moving lights washing the audience.

All lighting equipment for these Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in this area of central London was supplied by Neg Earth together with a crew chiefed by Fraggle (Andy Porter).

(Jim Evans)