With the additional resonance of a personal appearance by Nelson Mandela and being staged on World AIDS Day 2007, the Ellis Park Stadium concert was broadcast live to many millions by the South African Broadcasting Association (SABC). The Gearhouse group of companies supplied full technical production for the show – lighting, sound, video, stage, set, power, rigging, etc – and all associated crew and technical expertise.

Dunn’s distinctive design had a contemporary edge and strong sense of architectural form, streamlined to meet the demands of both the global TV broadcast and the live performance. Six curved end upstage/downstage orientated trusses demarked the ceiling of the roof space, with the 12 ColorSpot 2500s attached to the ends of these and used as front of stage key lighting – their extra power and punch were ideal for a stadium show of this size.

The ColorWash fixtures were distributed along the length of the trusses. The design also utilised 38 Robe ColorSpot 700E ATs and 24ColorWash 700E ATs around the rig, lighting the stage and the set. All these Robe fixtures were supplied to Gearhouse this year by Robe’s South African Distributor DWR Distribution.

Such was the occasion that core members of the Robe team came to town to enjoy the great vibes of the concert. Service manager Ales Grivac – who was delivering DigitalSpot training workshops at DWR at this time – was joined by Robe MD Josef Valchar, international sales manager Harry von den Stemmen and John Saunders from Anolis. Together with DWR’s Duncan and Sherryn Riley and all their staff they enjoyed an fabulous line up including Just Jinger, Freshly Ground, Johnny Clegg, Jamelia, Corrine Bailey Rae, Goo Goo Dolls, Razorlight, Live, Peter Gabriel and Annie Lennox.