“From the moment you approached Utilita Arena, you could feel the excitement and energy in the air.” That’s how one journalist described the 26th annual MOBO Awards. True enough — but the magical mood was even more transformative inside the 11,000-capacity facility, thanks to the persona and performances of the special guests and honorees at the UK’s biggest celebration of Black music and culture.
Enhancing this mood and supporting the dynamic music on stage was a bold and very versatile lighting design by SJ Grevett and operated by Liam Griffiths and Kris Goodman that featured 98 CHAUVET Professional fixtures.
Drawn from the company’s own inventory, the kit included 24 Maverick Storm 4 Profiles,
30 Maverick Storm 3 BeamWashes, 32 STRIKE 1 units and 12 COLORado PXL16 motorized tilting battens. “We went for the big and bold look with brightest fixtures, so we could really punch through against so much LED screen space on camera,” said SJ.
Adroitly utilizing the wide zoom range and color rendering capabilities of his Maverick and COLORado fixtures, as well as the intense output of his STRIKE units, Liam unleashed a myriad of looks to reflect the mood of the moment and music. At times, he would endow the stage with a bold multi-layered background, then have it disappear to be replaced by a more subtle, dreamy panorama.
Throughout the show, Liam changed color combinations, careful to coordinate them with video content. Kris expanded and contracted the amount of dark space and key light to ensure that is looks were varied and interesting for both the lived audience and television viewers.
The looks that were conjured up were always reflective of the aspirations of the performers on stage. “We didn’t see content until a few days before the show, so everything was a bit of a stab in the dark, then tweaked on site. It was a real team effort to bring the creative ideas of the artists to life,” said SJ.
SJ set these looks within a clearly defined framework on his 12-meter trim stage. “Essentially, when it comes to award shows, in my opinion are two options – either frame a stage as we did in this case, or just go huge on the back with massive open stage,” he explained. “Budget dictated that we framed it for this show, so we squeezing as much kit in as small as possible space. This ensured that every camera shot was filled with light and screen.”
