Roland Greil harnesses BRUTUS firepower for Arabian Gulf Cup Opening Ceremony

With decades of lighting experience, including expertise in designing for large‐scale shows and spectaculars, lighting and production designer Roland Greil understands what it takes to create a lasting impact.

“When lighting a magnificent, 360‐ degree, theatrically produced stadium ceremony, where you’re dealing with throws of 50‐100 meters or more, besides lighting the stage or field of play you also want to achieve some magic and theatrical spice, and what you need there is firepower.”

For the Opening Ceremony of the Arabian Gulf Cup in Kuwait that firepower was provided by 173 PROTEUS BRUTUS LED wash/beam fixtures along with 49 PROTEUS EXCALIBUR beam lights, both IP65‐rated moving heads that Greil turns to when he needs reliability and exceptional output for challenging outdoor events.

Using 222 moving heads to light a major event stadium ceremony may sound like a substantial number, but compared to many similar opening ceremonies, the fixture counts for the Arabian Gulf Cup was more modest.

For the Asian Cup Opening Ceremony in Qatar a year earlier for example, Greil had over three times as many moving heads at his disposal.

“There are not many lights on the market where you can realize such a large‐scale stadium ceremony with such a small number of luminaires,” he said, referring to the PROTEUS BRUTUS.

“Considering that the stage was in the middle of a stadium without any possibility to rig lights above it or close to it, and the field of play where all the action takes place is more than a third of the football pitch, usually you achieve the firepower you need by having 800, 1000, or even 2000 lights. Thanks to the BRUTUS, it gave us the firepower to do it with a smaller number of lights. One BRUTUS substitutes easily two other lights.”

Lighting gear for the Arabian Gulf Cup Opening Ceremony was supplied by Creative Technology Middle East (CTME), who Greil said did an amazing job, as they also did on a show with him in Riyadh a few weeks earlier. “Great kit, great crew, and super service,” he said. “They’ve built an excellent lighting department from the ground up over the last few years and their kit is new. The kit is one thing, but they also have the right people who are wonderful to work with.”

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