On December 24 each year, Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl lights up as families and friends gather to celebrate the festive season with performances of their favourite Christmas carols. A crowd of 10,000 attend the event while many watch from home on Channel 9.
The lighting for the 2023 event was designed by Shane O’Dwyer along with Associate Designer Daniel Saveski. Lighting was supplied by PRG Australia and Media Servers by Colourblind.
“We faced a setback when we lost one load in a day due to another production at the venue, causing a ripple effect across all departments and tightening our load-in schedule,” revealed Daniel Saveski. “The challenge lies in the unpredictable nature of the music and talent rundown, which is usually finalised a week before the show. Despite this, we strive to prepare as thoroughly as possible, making on-site tweaks as needed.”
The show ran from an MA Lighting grandMA3 full-size, programmed and operated by Daniel with a full tracking backup. Additionally, a grandMA3 XT, operated by Shane, handled all the white light while a second grandMA3 XT controlled the media servers with an onPC tracking backup run by Chris Lewis.
The show is live, without timecoding, and adjustments are made throughout as it transitions from daylight to darkness.
“Having previously used grandMA3 in live-to-air broadcast shows, I was confident in its stability,” commented Daniel. “The expanded capabilities motivated the decision to switch from MA2 to MA3, particularly with phasers and recipes. To accommodate the tighter schedule, I invested in Capture Symphony and a grandMA3 viz-key for pre-programming.”
Gear List
60 x Claypaky Unicos
38 x Martin MAC Quantum Wash
47 x Ayrton Perseo Profiles
38 x GLP impression x4
23 x ShowPRO LED Fusion Wash 27
28 x Chauvet ColorStrike M strobes
12 x ColorKinetic Colorblast 12
16 x PRG Best Boy HP
3 x PRG Bad Boys Ground control followspots
2 x Best Boy ground control followspot
11 x GLP impression x4s
8 x GLP JDC-1 strobes
4 x Nanlite Forza 720
Various amount of LED and Festoon Including star cloth
All consoles running in MA3 mode
2 x grandMA3 full-size (main and backup)
2 x grandMA3 XT (white light and media server consoles)
1 x MA3 onPC backup for the media console
Green Hippo media servers from Colourblind
Main console programmer and operator: Daniel Saveski (CH9 Lighting)
White light and followspot console operator: Shane O’Dwyer (CH9 Lighting)
Media server console programmer and operator: Chris Lewis (Colourblind)
Screens technical producer: Lynden Gare (Colourblind)
FOH lighting system: Hamish Lee
Lighting crew chief: Matt Drinkwater
Lx Crew: Patrick Neff, Paul Buck, Ken Wallbridge, Claire Casement, Peter Mills, Neil Baxter, Alister Blaney, Pete Taylor, Shaun Hackett, Jake Batten.
Creative technology screen crew: Rob Nelson, Dean Pentz, Andrew Watson, Sam Stephens, Andrew Youngson, Jamesy Buys, Brent Bamford.
