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Niller Bjerregaard uses ChamSys consoles for Volbeat shows

For Danish rock band Volbeat’s latest tour of Europe (before the lockdown), Niller Bjerregaard created a 40-universe light and video show powered by the designer’s two ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium consoles. The 22-song set’s images were part programmed and part busked.

The band’s special performance at the 15,000 capacity Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, Germany, was streamed on a pay-per-view platform. “The Stuttgart recordings were part of numerous recordings on that tour, but no elements were used from other shows, so what fans saw was exactly what happened”, says Bjerregaard. “This video is a close as possible to that night.”

The show’s dramatic opening featured a video wall rising to reveal the band. “We had been using a kabuki front drop in the beginning of our shows, so we were looking for something different this time, while still keeping the element of surprise when we introduced the band”, says Bjerregaard. “We had a slightly curved full video wall 6 meters high and 14 meters wide with the Volbeat skull wing logo. As the show started the hole screen moved up in one piece above the band - and after few songs started to move up stage in various positions and formations, showing content and live feeds on them.”

The “screen” that opened the show was actually made up of eight different single screens that could be combined as one, or positioned individually on a 360° truss track. In addition to up and down movements, the individual monolith screens could be turned 180°. On the back, Bjerregaard mounted lights and drapes for special songs. Aside from the monolith screens, all surfaces of the stage set and pods were also covered with screens.

Bjerregaard used the M-Box Media Server. “Michael Austin Smalley, a light/media designer from Las Vegas and great friend, helped me in setting up”, says Bjerregaard. “My MQ500 controlled the media server with special designed video content, including movie clips with matching sound effects through the PA, as well as all camera live feeds. I programmed all of this onto my Cue List, patching the media server as I would any other fixture. I used my palettes to ensure that I had a consistent work flow and handling. A big shout out to Smalley and PRG UK for the support and help.”

To maintain a sense of spontaneity throughout the show, Bjerregaard mixed busked effects in with his cue lists. “I made a page for each song and had matching effects and color cues”, he says. “The MagicQ was invaluable for this purpose. I could enhance the cue stack by adding effects such as strobes, and fixture beam fly outs. I also used the Execute Window for macros and between song looks.”

The entire light and video show was programmed in different stages over several weeks on Bjerregaard’s two MagicQ MQ500 desks. He began at his home studio building the design into the plot window to ensure that all fixtures were placed correctly. Then he trimmed trusses and lights to make sure he had the correct look in the Visualiser for making pallets and pre-patching. He also made output window plan views for different parts of the light plot to allow easy access and programming.

Next, Bjerregaard moved on to London where he spent two days at Neg Earth putting the finishing touches on the patch plan and fixture modes. At Neg Earth, he also looked at video walls and screen automations and live cameras for the first time with live camera director Shelby Carol Cude and PRG UK. From London, he journeyed with the entire production crew to Poland, where they spent five days at an arena programming lights, video, automation, sound, and pyro before doing the first pre-run of the show in advance of heading out on tour.

(Photos: Brittany Bowman)

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