Creating a Light Show for Miami's Biggest Nightclub

By Thomas S. Freeman | PLSN

May 2010

Miami's Winter Music Conference, aimed at DJs, recording artists, producers, promoters, and anyone else plugged into the world of electronic music, got its start in the mid-1980s. In 1998, a companion event, the Ultra Music Festival, was born, staged on the sands of South Beach at the close of the conference.

Since then, the Ultra Music Festival, or UMF, has taken on a life of its own, drawing crowds that have exceeded the constraints of beach permits and even the limits of Miami's Bayfront Park. In 2007, the festival moved to its current location, Miami's Bicentennial Park, and also grew from a one-day to two-day event, drawing a total attendance of close to 50,000.

The 2010 event, held in late March, doubled those 2007 attendance stats with the crowd reaching 100,000 – a complete sellout. DJ Tiesto and Deadmau5 headlined on the two-day event's main stage, and with 11 other stages, there was a plethora of DJs, live bands and celebrity guests – more than 200 DJs and bands in all.

AG Light and Sound provided lighting designer Stephen Lieberman with Coemar Infinity Spot XL and Infinity Wash XL fixtures for the main stage–the first time AG Light and Sound's recently-acquired Infinity Spots were used.

"We supplied Stephen with more of a dance lighting/concert rig," said AG Light and Sound's Andrew Gumper. "Two fixtures lit the DJ, and everything else was dedicated to making the stage look like a giant nightclub."

Lieberman, the president of SJ Lighting Inc. in Agoura Hills, Calif., has worked on 11 consecutive Ultra Music Festivals. The event, he noted, has "always been an electronicbased, cutting-edge environment," adding "this year was the biggest and most successful. It definitely raised the bar for this kind of show."

Lieberman explained "the primary purpose of the fixtures was a visual experience, to create a light show for the audience. It wasn't about lighting the monstrous stage.

"The Coemar fixtures performed very well and there was no shortage of power," he added. "I used the texture in the Spots, but mostly the Coemars provided big, fat beams of light. Even during some rain on Friday, everything held up.

"When you're doing a show for 30,000- plus people, the lights need to have a lot of impact," Lieberman added. "We mixed the Coemar Infinity Spots and Washes with a lot of other lights, and they all complemented each other very well. Everything was high intensity and high impact, and the Coemars fit in perfectly."

Gumper agreed, also testifying to the reliability of the gear, despite the inclement weather. "There were no problems and the lights held up really well. Everyone loved them."

Original article written in Projection, Lights & Staging News or view a PDF.