Photos Christoph Spindler, Jozo Cabraja/kolektiff, Jure Erzen/kolektiff, Axel Heimken/kolektiff, Uros Hocevar/kolektiff, Eva Manhart/kolektiff
Halftime Arena Shows. This was a very special year.
Looking back at all the projects that happened, the European Handball Final (EHF) in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne was one of my biggest so far. Maurin from ProdLive contacted me very early in the year to ask if I was interested in designing a lighting rig for five halftime shows. At first, it was just for a pitch to give the client a feeling of what could be achieved with modern lighting systems. In the end, the client booked the whole package, including a large floor set, six standardized frontlight trusses, and four movable effect pods. Even for me, this was a big surprise and something nobody had thought would happen.
The process of designing such a big show, rethinking the core idea, and adapting it to the real world were some of the lessons I learned during this project. In the end, I’m proud of what we achieved, even though the process felt sometimes like a gravel road.
Thanks, Maurin, for your trust and the great partnership.
Thanks Stefan – your experience from past years was incredibly helpful. I couldn’t have imagined a better programmer for this show.
Thanks to the entire TheHeg Team – it was a blast working with you. You all kept a cool head in every situation.
Thanks to BTL and the whole crew – loading in and setting up in just 10 hours was incredible!