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ChamSys MagicQ Stadium Connect selected for record-breaking Lado Bizovicar live show

Slovenian comedian and TV personality Lado Bizovicar set lofty goals for his live show “Slovenska Muska A-Z”, in which he went through the entire Slovenian alphabet, linking it to a recording artist (“A” for Avsenik Ensemble), or genre (“R” for rap) to reflect on the state of music in his country.

For Bizovicar and his many guests on stage, the production team that supported this show - which took place on January 27, 2024, at the sold-out 13,000-capacity Arena Stozice in Ljubljana - created a 360-degree stage and worked with hang points that reached 34 meters. The team included director Nejc Levstik, set designer Greta Godnic, and TD Rok Lozar, along with lighting designer/programmer Crt Birsa.

“This was the first 360-degree stage in the history of Arena Stozice”, says Birsa. “There were 540 fixtures in the show, probably the most in any project in Slovenia’s history. Programming and focusing for a two-hour circular stage show, along with an hour of supporting acts, was a challenge.” He chose to use a ChamSys MagicQ Stadium Connect console at this show.

“Being winter, there is always the possibility of snow here, and we had to take that into account when considering the total load of the arena roof structure”, continues Birsa. “As a result, we were limited to hanging just twenty tons of equipment in the central part of the arena. Due to that situation, we could not make a proper mother grid that would allow us to make the most of the rigging points on the floor. This slowed down the rigging process.”

Complicating matters, there were a lot of bridles and points attached directly to the roof steel structure, which is 34 meters high. Moreover, there were no catwalks and classic steel grids in the arena. Birsa and his team, including assistant Klemen Krajnc, had to come up with ingenious rigging solutions, and figure out ways to run cables to their center round stage without obstructing views. They also had to use the arena scoreboard as part of the set, running square truss under the scoreboard to connect to fingers of the center stage.

“Greta Godnic and I wanted to achieve a central ‘lighting pillar’ that would start above the stage center and rise up and spread out in the end”, explains Birsa. “We wanted to include the scoreboard as IMAG, but also wanted to have lights below it. This was quite challenging, because the scoreboard is built like a cone and getting the trusses under the board was very hard. The main idea was to build eight lines of lights that would go all the way up. So, if you look at the rig from this perspective, it was very simple - everything was multiplying by eight.”

Directing light up from floor mounted fixtures, and down from units flown on the overhead truss structure, Birsa wove together a matrix of light that rivetted attention, while at the same time supporting the performance on stage.

(Photos: Marko Alpner/Jani Ugrin/Anze Vrabl)

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