MAC Viper lights up Les Francofolies

Les Francofolies is an annual summer music festival held in Spa, Belgium, that promotes francophone music and attracts huge crowds.

The main audio visual partner for the festival, ARTO, handled production and lighting design and turned to an all-Martin lighting rig that included Martin Professional’s MAC Viper Profile.

“I chose to work with the Viper for many reasons,” states Lighting Designer Gilles Mathieu. “First of all, the colors are very nice. The red especially is a real primary red. The speed and range of the zoom is excellent and I was surprised that it didn’t draw much power – only 5A. Logistically, they were really simple to hang or place on the floor.”

The MAC Viper Profile is a new breed of high-output profile luminaire with an exceptional feature set, superior light quality and a highly efficient optical system. It outperforms all market leading profiles in the 1200 watt range and is even an alternative to 1500 watt fixtures. The Viper Profile is not only brighter; it is also a faster and more compact solution. With its 1000 watt HID source, the Viper consumes less power, making it over 50% more efficient than its 1200 watt rivals.

Other Martin fixtures on the rig
Gilles used other Martin fixtures as well, including the MAC 2000 XB Wash, which he liked for its power and good color mixing, and the MAC Aura, which he praised for its colors, zoom and power savings. He also calls Martin’s industry-standard Atomic strobe one of the best on the market.

All Martin lighting was supplied by ARTO, a high quality production company near Brussels. Each unit was very well maintained and there were no errors during the five-day festival. This was extremely satisfying and contributed to the success of the project.


Martin equipment (main stage):
28 x MAC Viper
26 x MAC 2000 Wash XB
24 x MAC Aura
8 x Atomic 3000


Photos: Joslin Morel