Pushing the limits in search of the ultimate rave experience

Rave Rebels has become synonymous for breathtaking and fully immersive Techno Experiences, leading the way in both technical innovation and audience experience.

At the heart of this visual extravaganza we can find Thomas Boets. Thomas is an established and well respected designer, having earned a lot of praise for his work in outdoor spectacles, awards shows, television shows, fashion shows and large scale dance events. He’s fond of creative and technical challenges, making his designs stand out and truly unique.

Kristof Blancquaert is a renowned operator, deploying his natural feel and timing in many areas of our industry, ranging from concert lighting, theatre, major events and everything in between.

Founding Fathers Jens Grieten and Nick Ramoudt, have a very strong artistic and aesthetic vision for the Rave Rebels concept. Incorporating influences from light art installations, the best underground clubs from around the globe and their own vast experience, they aim to stage the ultimate rave experience and better it, time and time again.

This quest for the best of the best has made for a perfect match with Thomas and Kristof. Thomas’s designs translate this vision to reality, while adding and improving key elements. He is active on many levels of the production, always making sure a superb result is achieved, making the impossible possible. Employing all of these design elements to shape perfect settings for the soundtracks provided by the top Techno artists in the world, is where Kristof comes in. He is key in making the design come alive with jaw dropping looks and perfectly timed cues.

Rave Rebels is very much a team effort, with each of the key members of the team giving creative input. Motion (Rik Uyttersprot from Gravity), Video (Rene Van Dijk), lights and sound all work together and push each other to new astonishing heights.

MA lighting is the preferred platform of Kristof, used to control all lighting and lasers, utilizing PSN (PosiStageNet) for Motion Triggering as well as communicating with Resolume for video. Rave Rebels is all about unique light installations and in the latest edition some truly amazing custom builds were on display.

Flanking the stage, two giant customized Kuka Robots drew many amazed looks. Weighing in at 15 tons each, these big and extremely viable machines were equipped with an Ayrton Perseo Beam, enabling the big and powerful beams to be cast in every direction and angle imaginable.

It took a truly heroic effort of the team and especially Bram Van Hansewijck (Blink IT) to incorporate this heavy industry equipment into a fully functioning and integral part of the design.

The Perseo Beam was the perfect fit, a heavy hitter with maximum output.

‘’The big lens and fantastic output combined with the awesome functionality impressed me a lot” says Thomas.

Kristof has had a lot of good experiences with the Ayrton brand and agrees “The output, colour mixing, infinite pan and great zoom range of the Perseo Beam are simply awesome”

Another sight to behold were two custom ‘’Anaconda’’ structures. These two giant tube shaped cone structures existed out of no less than 720 Lucenti BW100 fixtures. All controlled by PixlDrive1 and PixlDrive8 Pro controllers as developed by Lucenti with the new Klstr. technology natively on board. With the newest version of the controller addressing the pixels became a matter of minutes instead of days.

Once again, the Rave Rebels team have raised the bar and established themselves as the leading brand in Techno Events. We’re sure the next edition will blow our minds again.

Text & Photos: Courtesy of Face Belgium – Michiel Declercq