Nearly 300 MACs for Eurovision Song Contest in Jerusalem

Organized by the Israel Broadcasting Authority’s Channel One for the European Broadcasting Union, this year¹s contest was witnessed live by 2,000 guests and was broadcast to an estimated 100 million viewers in 30 countries.

The popular show, brought to Jerusalem by last year’s winner, Dana International, featured three hosts, a wide variety of musical talent and a stunning lighting rig with over 400 moving heads. The massive lighting rig took three weeks to install with the Jerusalem Congress Hall stage converted into a giant television studio for the event.

The lighting specification for the contest boasted an unprecedented amount of Martin equipment with 288 MAC 500s and 600s and 60 PAL1200s controlled by Compulite Sabre and Micron 4D consoles. All equipment was supplied by Procon of Hamburg and installed by Isreal’s leading lighting company, Danor Theatre Systems.

The set itself was an enormous lighting project, the main focus of which was a huge sun with rotating beams forming the centrepiece of the stage. In addition to lighting the stage, the moving lights swept over the audience as well as the singers nervously awaiting the final results in the Green Room.

Hot on the success of the Brit Awards, lighting designer for the event was one of the UK’s best, Mark Kenyon. He provided another stunning light show, the stage described by the BBC as "a feat of engineering and light" and the show itself "Quite something - a real treat and what one might call a visual extravaganza."

In recent years Mark Kenyon, chairman of STLD (Society of Television Lighting Designers), has been working closely with Martin UK’s Theatre and Studio Lighting Consultant, Ashley Lewis on a number of highly successful projects including an Audience with the Spice Girls, Noel’s House Party and the Brit Awards.