Gunther Hecker harnesses the enormous power of GLP’s latest generation of hybrid strobes to make rooms behind the stage visible

It is 40 years since Harold Grönemeyer’s album 4630 Bochum was released – and in the time since, the city of Bochum and Grönemeyer have created a special kind of musical love story between them. Now, with seven open-air shows in Dresden, Berlin and – how could it be otherwise? – four evenings in Bochum, the artist celebrated his legendary album, his personal story and the fans who have been loyal to him for decades.

At his side again were lighting designers Rob Sinclair and Gunther Hecker, who developed a new stage and lighting design for the tour. In a set dominated by large, transparent LED surfaces, 60 GLP JDC2 IP played a crucial role.

“In Dresden and Bochum we played in football stadiums where there are usually very large rooms behind the stage. In order to make these spaces visible and at the same time create depth, we chose transparent LED walls and used the enormous power of the JDC2 IP to occasionally illuminate the backgrounds and thus make them tangible for the audience,” explains Hecker.

With the JDC2 IP placed behind the LED walls, the designer could freely play with the video content, the physical space behind the walls, or a translucent mix of both levels to keep the stage design vibrant and variable. To illuminate the large areas behind the stage, he needed a spot with very high power. After a trade fair encounter with the new JDC2 IP hybrid strobe, his ideal solution for the tour was found.

All JDC2 IPs were suspended on several ladders behind the transparent LED surfaces (both side and behind the stage) and distributed across the entire area, to create a “mega effect”, as the designer put it.

Even though the JDC2 IP sets a new standard in terms of creativity and playfulness, Hecker demanded one thing from the devices first and foremost: brightness! “We're talking about really big spaces that we wanted to make visible. In addition, the shows began in daylight, which is why the lighting had to be very assertive in order to be effective from the first bar. A correspondingly high level of performance was required – and that’s exactly what the JDC2 IP offered us,” he says.

“They are very, very bright. I will have to explore all the other exciting features of the fixture in other applications, which I am looking forward to.”

The technical service provider for the tour was TDA Clair.