Rolling loud with Robe

Photo © Technical Arts Group

Photo © Technical Arts Group SJ Lighting created spectacular lighting production designs for four stages and the Main Stage VIP area at the 2021 Miami Rolling Loud Festival which took place over 3 days / nights at the Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens in Florida, offering 75,000 hip hop fans their first chance to see A$AP Rocky, Post Malone, Travis Scott, and many more great artists perform live since March 2020. On three of these stages, Robe moving lights were integral to the design spec.

Ninety‐two MegaPointes graced the Ciroc (Main) Stage, while the Audiomack stage featured 66 x MegaPointes and 36 x BMFL Blades, with lighting for both of these supplied by 4Wall’s Miami office.

Twenty‐four Spiiders for the DRYP Stage were supplied by New York and Miami based event technology specialist, Technical Arts Group (TAG), together with the other lighting for this space.

SJ Lighting’s principal, Stephen Lieberman, well known for his fresh and innovative show and environmental visual designs for nightclubs as well as epic EDM and hip‐hop events, was given an open brief from the client to design as appropriate, following some basic brand guidelines. He also ensured that each stage had the requisite production requirements for all artists to have a great show, with sufficient breadth and enough creative elements to give each area a bespoke look. The Robe elements on each rig were chosen to help enhance and balance the lighting, picked by Stephen and informed by his great experience of using the brand over many years and multiple projects. MegaPointes were chosen for their high impact as a ‘festival favorite’ with extreme brightness and an excellent array of features to throw looks and energy from the stage out into the crowds. BMFL Blades were also picked for their intensity, plus the accurate shuttering allowing Stephen and his team to light specific areas of the stage and very effectively key (light) artists. Spiiders were selected as a great all‐round LED wash beam light for bathing the DRYP stage and set in vibrancy and colors.

Ciroc Main Stage - Courtesy 4Wall (Photo © Gabe Palmer)

The lighting rigs were all carefully thought‐through and designed with the demands of the numerous LDs using them over the weekend in mind. “Whether it was our ‘house’ LDs or a raft of guest LDs, all of them could focus fixtures efficiently and produce, big, bold, clean looks,” explained Stephen. He commented that Robe had “many choices for high‐powered stadium‐style fixtures which are reliable and effective with lots of features,” and he also respects the commitment and passion of the “people behind Robe” developing the brand’s products. “Their attitude is paramount to us,” he confirms.

Some headliner acts also brought in their own specials rigs ‘underneath’ the house systems on each stage, and anyone onstage without their own LD had their lightshow looked after by Stephen and his hugely talented and experienced team of programmers and operators.

Photo © Technical Arts Group

grandMA consoles were used for house lighting control, operated by Stephen’s team including Marcus Jessup (Ciroc), Maxwell Robin (Audiomack) – also SJ Lighting’s event project manager – with David Hauss (Monster Energy) and David Gonzalez on the DRYPStage.

The overall most exciting thing about Rolling Loud 2021 Miami, said Stephen unequivocally, was “seeing all our event industry colleagues back at work, hustling and making things happen on a large live event in the way that only event production people can do to deliver shows like this!” “After 17 months of shut down, everyone returned with HUGE energy and enthusiasm … and the end results really illustrate so much hard work and determination!”

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