GLP JDC2 IP makes US live show debut with Love & Laughter in Las Vegas
When Love & Laughter, a collaboration between R&B singer Toni Braxton and stand-up comedian Cedric the Entertainer, took up a Las Vegas residency in the spring, the demand for tickets was such that they are now undertaking a repeat season in the autumn. The venue was the 3,200-seat Chelsea theatre at the Cosmopolitan Hotel, and the shows marked the American concert debut of GLP’s JDC2 IP versatile new hybrid strobe – specified by lighting designer Ryan Healey, who had been brought in by the show’s director, Mark Swanhart.
Healey, whose work ranges from global esports events to TV spectaculars, adopted them following a demo set-up by GLP’s Rick Potter. “I was honoured to be the first to have my hands on one – they totally impressed me and Joe [Holdman, lighting programmer]. They had so much potential use for our show.”
Twelve of the fixtures, along with 12 each of the impression X5 and X4, provided by LA-based Volt Lites (from its warehouse in Las Vegas) formed an alluring floor package – and a bonus for Healey was that that JDC2’s forbear, the JDC1, features in the venue’s fixed overhead rig to help provide a homogenous design.
Knowing the ground package had to work harmoniously with the overhead rig, he says: “When the JDC2 IP came along it was the perfect combination: a floor package that was unique to the show which would interact with the existing overhead and feel like one complete design. With one fixture I could do so many different things… the JDC2 dominates the whole show.”
The JDC2 IPs were programmed on a grandMA3 (95% timecode in Mode 4 – Segment 12/24) by Joe Holdman. “This gave us full pixel control alongside the built-in DigiFX,” he explains. It was then left to board operator Mo Epps to animate them.
“Being the stellar programmer that he is, Joe came up with things that I wouldn’t even be able to think of. He’s a genius,” notes Healey. “With the DigiFX being scalable and moveable on the face plate, Joe created musical hits where the DigiFX could move left to right, up and down, grow bigger or grow smaller. It was a super cool new way to pick up on something musically and also have something visually unique from what you can get out of a regular flare.”
Notes Holdman: “The way that the DigiFX features are implemented and interact with pixel/strobe control is similar to other strobe units’ built-in FX macros, so it’s a very approachable fixture.” In summary, he says: “The JDC2s were a vital part of the show, adding much-needed punch and dynamics to the floor package – and when running the JDC2s alongside the JDC1s, the response was identical.
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