Tiësto Rocks Bratislava with Robe

Monday, April 30, 2007 || Robe Show Lighting

Leading Dutch trance-master Tiësto and 6,500 enthusiastic dance music fans rocked the Incheba Expo Arena in Bratislava, Slovakia, together with one of his renowned, block-busting theatrical shows, featuring over 60 Robe moving lights.

The lighting rig was supplied by Ministry Light and Sound from Banska Bystrica, who supplied the trussing, rigging and all lighting fixtures including the Robes, plus an Avolites Pearl for control that was operated by Ludek Kovarik.

The trussing was sculpted into an interesting shape. It featured three long ‘fingers’ linking the stage with a circular truss that was suspended over the audience, together with several wide straight trusses, running the width of the building, positioned at FOH and at the rear of the stage.

The Robes – a mix of ColorSpot 1200 ATs and ColorSpot and ColorWash 575 ATs – were distributed all over the various trusses – to give maximum coverage of the stage and the multi-level audience area.

Ministry’s Rudolf Tucek explains that they were the first company in Slovakia to start investing in Robe fixtures – nearly 10 years ago - and before Robe was actually marketed as ‘Robe’ in its own right.

He’s been Robe ever since, and swears that he’d not look at another product as he is so happy! The company has a full range of Robe moving lights on which he comments, “They are reliable, bright and offer everything you need in a rental fixture”, adding that the comprehensive breadth of the range is also good, enabling him to use Robe in multiple situations – from club installations to concert tours.

For the Tiësto show, Ministry also supplied 3 spectacular full colour lasers, 5 green lasers, the stage video system and the audio.

Programmer and operator Ludek Kovarik is also a regular Robe user. He likes the fixtures – particularly the 1200 ATs - for their speed, ease of programming and excellent optics, as well as for their range of features.

The Tiësto show certainly tested both his creative skills and the scope of the fixtures. He had to make a two hour high-octane lightshow look different throughout, keeping the pace moving and grooving with visual surprises as well as working in laser and video elements. He thinks Robe fixtures and the Avo Pearl are ideal tools for working a ‘hands-on’ show like this, emphasizing that Robes are extremely easy fixtures to use in this ‘live’ spontaneous operation context.

He made much use of the ColorSpot 1200 AT’s cone and radial gobos, and other laser simulation effects like split-beam patterns to compliment the laser show. At other times, he used the lights to produce totally contrasting colours and beam effects – all the time keeping the rhythm pumping along with Tiësto’s energetic and inspired set.