U2 “Claw” at Loveland Living Planet Aquarium under Obsidian NX4™ control

Brent Andersen, founder and CEO of Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, who saw the U2 show in Barcelona in 2009, acquired the massive 16‐story set piece when the Aquarium expanded in 2019. An iconic piece of concert touring, ‘The Claw’ is now a major part of the exhibit as a science and learning plaza. Brayden Gardner has worked at the Aquarium for the last two years as an AV Technician, handling lighting and sound for EECO and other Aquarium spaces such as on‐site theatres and new Virtual Reality experience.

Brayden has been using an NX4™ lighting console from Obsidian Control System to control lighting for shows and events at EECO, including all the lighting on and around the claw structure. It is a lighting board he has been using for the past 18 months. “Our previous board kept crashing,” he explained, “and as I had experience with the NX4 from a previous employer, I knew it could handle everything we wanted to do here. It was a big upgrade I must say. I love it because there is so much you can do with it.” Brayden uses the console to control lighting mounted on the EECO structure – LED bars and PAR lights, orange ‘button’ lights that sit atop EECO, and LED tape – along with ground and fence lights around the plaza and the occasional rented‐in moving heads. “The NX4 is so easy to use. With the encoders and the small touchscreen on the right side, it makes a huge difference when designing. In fact, my design time went down by two hours per show because it is so easy to use. With all the presets and parameters that you have control over, you don’t waste time trying to jump through menus to find what you need – it’s right there and easy to access,” said Brayden.

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