Spectrum Entertainment Services LLC expands investment in Ayrton as Scorpions world tour reaches Abu Dhabi
Dubai-based Spectrum Entertainment Services LLC has been an advocate of Ayrton lighting fixtures since its first investment in 2022 when it started building its stock with 100 Ayrton Cobra, 50 MagicBlade FX and 24 Zonda 9 FX units. “The Cobra was an absolute must, especially for our outdoor events, in areas like AlUla in Saudi Arabia,” says Spectrum Entertainment Services LLC lighting designer, Andre Westraad. “The harsh outdoor conditions can be very tough on fixtures and we needed a solution that can handle all of the elements, plus being very bright and versatile at the same time.
“This year we began a search for a replacement for our workhorse profile fixtures. We also needed an upgrade in our LED Wash area as well. We had to keep in mind we need a product that is not just IP rated, but can take the punch when installed outside for extended periods of time. There’s a lot of competition out there, but nothing came close to the Ayrton Domino Series.
“In March of this year, we boosted our stock of Ayrton fixtures by purchasing 50 Ayrton Domino Profile, 20 Ayrton Domino LT and 48 x Ayrton Argo 6 FX. We made the decision to invest in the Argo 6 FX to complement our stock of Zonda 9 FX.”
In purchasing its new Ayrton stock, Spectrum Entertainment Services LLC partnered with Procom Middle East, the authorized Ayrton distributor for the region. Procom Middle East provides an in-house service centre, technical support, training programs, and efficient delivery times. This strategic partnership ensured Spectrum Entertainment Services LLC had the necessary resources to maximize the potential of their Ayrton lighting investment.
The new stock arrived perfectly in time for Spectrum Entertainment Services LLC to supply the Scorpions tour dates for the Abu Dhabi leg of their world tour, managed and run by Live Nation Middle East, with lighting design by Manfred Nikitser. The Ayrton-dominant rig included 16 Ayrton Domino LT, 48 Domino Profile, 32 Argo 6 FX, 12 Zonda 9FX and 58 Cobra.
The Domino Profiles and Domino LTs were all rigged above stage, spread across eight 10m long ‘fingers’ raked at different angles from outside to inside. This created an 8 x 8 matrix of Ayrton Domino above the stage.
The Cobra and Zonda 9 FX fixtures were rigged on ladders on stage left and stage right, flown at an angle parallel to the fingers above stage, with 5 rungs of ladders per side and a total of 6 fixtures per rung. The Zonda 9s were rigged on the downstage ladders and utilized as side lighting for the band. The Cobras were rigged on 4 rungs of ladders per side, positioned from downstage to upstage to create a matrix of 6 x 4 per side.
“Manfred Nikitser used the matrix of Domino and Cobra to create very punchy rock and roll looks, with strong beam work and very sharp gobo effects flying through the audience,” explains Westraad.
The Argo 6 FXs were used as part of the floor package, out-rigged on 8 truss totems facing the audience each consisting of 4 Argo 6 FX and topped by a Cobra. “The Argo 6 FX were a great addition to the floor package, they are very bright and the colours were rich and strong,” confirms Westraad. “All of these fixtures had more than enough output to beam and punch through the brightness of a massive 18m x 9m LED screen situated far upstage. The end result looked amazing. Manfred had no issues with migrating his tour show file to work with the Ayrton dominant rig. All of the lighting looks worked very well and looked amazing in complementing the video content on screen.”
Westraad is very happy with Spectrum Entertainment Services LLC’s investment in their new Ayrton fixtures, concluding that all the features were ‘absolutely great’. “Domino is extremely powerful and can achieve very tight, sharp beams. The colours are very bright and vibrant, from saturated colour through to tints and CTO, and we found the framing system very accurate and smooth. Cobra is a great hybrid fixture, extremely bright, with low power consumption and a massive gobo choice for aerial gobos and beams. With both Zonda 9 FX and Argo 6 FX, the colours, especially the saturated colours, are very vibrant. The effects zone is amazing, from mapping video content on to the FX zone to the main pixels, to using the built-in macros, they are just great. And Zonda 9 is super bright, even at full zoom.
“All of the Ayrton fixtures are of extremely good build quality and are easy to setup and configure, but most importantly, they are reliable and can handle all the workload you throw at them.”
Credits for Scorpions Abu Dhabi leg:
Concert Management: Live Nation Middle East
Lighting Design: Manfred Nikitser
Spectrum Entertainment Services LLC Team:
Julien Beyrouthy: CEO
Gregory Angelo: Head of Lighting
Gideon Egel: Technical Manager
Andre Westraad: Lighting Designer
All the crew: Thank you to all the crew that worked tirelessly from prep to loading in and loading out.
Photos: © Spectrum Entertainment Services LLC
Text: Julie Harper
