ELP on song at Cân i Gymru 2007 (Song for Wales)

Wales’ biggest annual music competition took place in the Afan Lido, Port Talbot on 2nd March. The Song for Wales contest ties in with televised St Davids Day celebrations across Wales.

ELP were in charge of supplying lighting, power and rigging services for the S4C production which featured nine live performances on the night.

ELP Crew Chief Darren Fletcher comments, “This job gave us a great opportunity to show off our new Martin MAC TW1’s and MAC 700’s. We are one of the first hire companies to offer these state of the art moving lights. They have received a very good press and they did not disappoint on the night. Lighting Director John Penny Williams was able to create varied and contracting effects.”

The MAC TW1 is a powerful silent tungsten wash light with a clean, even, soft-edged beam, a motorized zoom, rich CMY colour mixing and both internal and external electronic dimming. While the MAC 700 Profile is compact combining a full CMY colour mixing system with an 8 position colour wheel and a gobo animation system for dramatic projection effects. “The combination of the two lights provided rich warm colours contrasting with sharper colder beams” comments Darren Fletcher.

In addition to 14 x MAC TW1’s and 14 x MAC 700 Profiles, ELP supplied 20 x MAC 250’s and 10 x MAC 2000’s. The team were able to create nine different looks to accompany the styles of the nine different performances.

ELP’s Sinbad and John Lockwood were the ‘Sparks’. ELP also created an assortment of circular and arched trussing systems for the show. These included 20m, 9m and 12m diameter arches and a 25 ft circular truss. Gary Smith was the rigger on site. An ELP 200 KW twin set generator chaperoned by Genny Op. Colin Goodacre provided all the power.

Darren Fletcher concludes. “These St David’s celebrations have meant a busy and successful few weeks for ELP. In addition to the Song for Wales event we have also been involved with a Hymn for Wales production for S4C and a BBC special Songs of Praise from St. Asaph Cathedral presented by Aled Jones. They certainly love a good sing song in this part of the world”