GLP Lights Up Beer Crate Wall for German Rockers Engst

German rock-pop-punk band ENGST are currently on a sold out tour following the release of their new album Irgendwas ist immer (There is always something), with a full complement of fixtures from lighting specialist GLP.

The production design for the tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland is the work of Jonas König of Koeniglicht who, in addition to using exclusively GLP fixtures, will deploy many empty beer crates within the set.

This is the epitome of stretching a tight production budget for a young, up-and-coming band: “A beer crate costs practically nothing and fits the theme quite well,” said König, who uses a matrix made of GLP impression X5 Compact behind a central wall constructed of beer crates. On the floor in front of the wall he has placed impression X5 Bar 1000. Other crates, stationed in the rows between, house a line of FUSION X-PAR 12Z from FUSION by GLP.

“The beer crate wall is the centrepiece of a stage design, which boasts a dramaturgical structure,” explained the designer. “In other words, the wall reveals its lighting secrets step by step. In addition to the lighting, we also project onto the front.”

The impression X5 Bar 1000 on the floor illuminates either the wall from below or, thanks to the tilt, gives a very flat, dramatic backlight to the band. The side (alley)-lighting is delivered from the FUSION X-PAR 12 Z.

“This simple wall is extremely versatile and super easy to assemble and dismantle,” noted König. “With the help of the lighting and projections, we generate a wealth of beautiful, strong looks with clean lines, which creates a very tidy look on the relatively small stages.”

The designer for the ENGST tour had been flirting with GLP products from the beginning: “Since I'm not accompanying the tour myself, I wanted the reassurance of having all the lighting from a single source,” he said. “At GLP I know from experience that I will get quality, and not much can go wrong.”

So far, the designer has mainly used impression X5 Wash from GLP’s X5 series. With ENGST, due to limited space, he has opted for the smaller impression X5 Compact: “The impression X5 Series is great, the brightness and colour rendering of the devices are simply fantastic. The X5 Compact in particular can be used very flexibly,” he added.

The FUSION X-PAR 12Z fitted well into the beer crates that characterise the set: “They are also very bright and offer a nice zoom,” said König.

The operators of the recently completed tour were Oliver Thomas and Simon Matuszczak. Thomas Haine was the technical director. A&F audio+frames Veranstaltungstechnik GmbH from Berlin provided technical services for the production.

Photos credit: Sascha Göttsche