Cameo Spotlights Set New Standards for Lighting Design on the NATURE ONE Mainstage

This year’s motto: Where We Belong – this is where they belong, the EDM disciples. To the Hunsrück, to the legendary rocket base Pydna Kastellaun, to NATURE ONE. The festival for techno, house, trance, hardstyle and all other varieties of electronic dance music is one of the biggest open-air festivals of its kind in Europe and attracts the best DJs and live acts of the EDM scene year after year. In 2023, around 65,000 visitors partied over three days to the beats, leads and drops of 350 acts, including Alle Farben, Moguai, Paul van Dyk, Sven Väth and many more. For Cameo, this year’s NATURE ONE marked another festival milestone: with over 450 spotlights, the lighting designers relied more than ever on the models of the German lighting technology manufacturer on the various stages.

The highlights of NATURE ONE are not only the artists themselves, but also the stage constructions on the main stage. Every year, the organisers and event technology service providers of NATURE ONE come up with something new and spectacular. This year, pyramid-shaped truss constructions dominate the scenery.

Open-Air Mainstage
“NATURE ONE’s stage designs have always been different from other festivals,” explains Marek Papke of Gerdon Design, who is responsible for the stage and lighting design of the Mainstage and has many years of NATURE ONE experience. “While stage design at most festivals is limited to the stage itself, we’ve been working for years with floor setups where the lighting and video elements are above people’s heads, making the audience feel more like they’re in a club.”

When it comes to lighting design, Marek Papke and his team also have to get away from the familiar concert thinking: “On Saturday, the acts play for more than 14 hours at a stretch. To be able to offer the audience a varied experience here, we need an extremely versatile setup that ideally also works in bad weather.” With its hybrid concept of beam, spot and wash, the IP65-capable Cameo OTOS H5 fitted perfectly into the requirement profile: “The OTOS H5 is our main spotlight on the main stage, with which we realise all spot and beam effects,” explains Marek Papke. “The output is fantastic. Plus, it’s been raining on and off for the last few days and the OTOS play without any problems.” In addition to the 150 or so OTOS H5s, Gerdon Design also relies on the OTOS B5 IP65 Beam Moving Head to shoot powerful, cutting 1° beams through the pyramid.

The Cameo spotlights for the main stage were supplied by the responsible technical service provider schoko pro and by NicLen in DryHire.

Century Circus
Just a few steps away from the main stage is the Century Circus – a gigantic 10-mast tent with 5,000 m2 of space. In the “Home of Techno”, Benedikt “Bemo” Moser has the faders in his hands. “There are only a few decorative elements in the Century Circus, which is why the lighting design must not be too playful either,” explains Bemo, who has also been at home at NATURE ONE for many years. “We work more with technology here to be able to transfer the strict lines of techno well.” After the experienced lighting designer created several concepts for the visualisation of the Century Circus in advance, the decision was made together with the technical service providers BSS events and Actionlight Veranstaltungstechnik for a setup with many variation possibilities for the long evenings and nights.

As the proven combination of Moser, BSS & Actionlight had already had good experiences with Cameo spotlights at NATURE ONE in the past, the team again relied on the lighting brand of the Adam Hall Group in 2023: “There are 120 AZOR B1 LED Beam Moving Heads in the roof, with which I mainly trace the straight lines to bring out the depth in the tent. There are also 60 AZOR S2 Spot Moving Heads on a second height level, with which I can reach the entire width of the tent thanks to the large zoom.” The AZOR models are complemented by ZENIT W600 and ZENIT W600 SMD LED Outdoor Wash Lights for powerful strobe effects.

For more information on the implementation of Cameo spotlights at the NATURE ONE Festival, watch the video on the Cameo YouTube channel.

The following Cameo products were used at NATURE ONE 2023:
156 x Cameo OTOS H5 IP65 Beam Spot Wash Hybrid Moving Head
18 x Cameo OTOS B5 IP65 Beam Moving Head
120 x Cameo AZOR B1 Beam Moving Head
60 x Cameo AZOR S2 Spot Moving Head
30 x Cameo ZENIT® W600 Outdoor LED Wash Light
20 x Cameo ZENIT® W600 SMD Outdoor LED Wash Light
60x Cameo TRIBAR 400 IR TRI LED Bar