Taking a pre-programmed show into a festival rig: the role of the ChamSys MQ250M Stadium

For Callum Beattie's 90-minute headline set at Scotland's Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, Steve "Mac" McCracken of Mac-Events combined the festival lighting rig with his own pre-rigs, controlling the entire setup from a ChamSys MQ250M Stadium console.

Belladrum takes place on the 465-hectare Belladrum Estate, west of Inverness. McCracken's aim for the headline performance was to create a visual story that evolved with the music.

We wanted a strong visual identity, with intense reds, ambers and fiery tones creating a feeling of heat and aggression. The lighting was intended to feel like part of the performance, rather than simply illuminate the stage, explained McCracken.

Programmed looks and live control

The team used the MQ250M for both programmed sequences and live busking on the lighting rig supplied by Limelight Event Services.

"Our lighting followed the music and energy of the performance", he said. "We could build looks gradually, strip things back and then hit the bigger moments with maximum movement, colour and intensity. The MQ250M was ideal for this because we could have a large number of programmed looks and effects available while still retaining full live control".

"We also used our own floor package to create a specific look for Callum while using the festival rig to complement the design", continued McCracken. "The festival rig formed the main structure for the larger-scale lighting system, particularly the overhead coverage and fixtures already installed. We then integrated our own hanging and wheeled pre-rigs into that system to achieve the specific looks we wanted for Callum".

The challenges of festival environments

"Even under the best of circumstances, taking a pre-programmed show into a festival environment always presents challenges because the available lighting rig can be different from the one the show was originally designed around", he explained. "The MQ250M made that process much easier. We could quickly adapt the patch, fixture selection and programming, and integrate our own hanging and wheeled pre-rigs with the festival system".

McCracken highlighted flexibility, programming speed and playback capabilities as the console's main advantages.

Playback and busking capabilities were critical, allowing us to have programmed looks ready to go while still being able to react live to the music and performance. The MQ250M allowed us to build a large part of the show in advance and then adapt it once we knew exactly what the festival rig looked like. That saved a huge amount of time.