Ed Warren Busks Connectivity at C2C With ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M Stadium

TURIN – It’s important that everyone in the audience feel like part of the show, says Ed Warren, especially when lighting a festival that features DJ and EDM performances. The award-winning designer was determined to achieve this level of connectivity when lighting multiple A-list acts at the C2C festival in early November, even though the venue he was working at, Lingotto Turin, wasn’t exactly conducive to creating a sense of intimacy.

Opened in 1923 by Fiat, Lingotto Turin was the largest automobile factory in the world back in the day, employing some 16,000 workers in three 24/7 shifts. The building may have been a paradigm of productivity when it was turning out automobiles a century ago (something it stopped doing in 1957), but as a live music venue…? Well, despite its many wonderfully evocative features as a concert setting, the sprawling structure does create challenges for anyone looking to connect audiences to the stage.

“The venue is absolutely gargantuan,” said Warren. “C2C, which was formerly known as Club-to-Club, has a nightclub vibe, so you want to make everyone feel included, like they’re a part of the show. A lot of the acts are DJs, so I felt it was essential to extend the show out beyond the stage all the way to the back, regardless of the size of this place.”

Warren accomplished this goal with a dynamic and captivating 12-universe show that he ran on his ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M Stadium Console. Creating rectangular patterns of light and video on the stage, he also repeated them with similar configurations on the ceiling. As a result, he turned the entire space into an immersive geometric configuration that blurred the lines separating the stage and audience.

“We extended light and video throughout the big room, even onto the ceiling,” said Warren.“This is a festival look that we have been working on for a few years – and now, we expanded the concept by adding overhead LED screens, an upstage screen, and screens/lighting hung horizontally over and around the dance floor. This year I was also asked to design the second stage, which was an in the round style. The festival directors had seen a show I designed in that style earlier this year and wanted a similar kind of experience.” 

Busking his way through the entire festival, Warren coaxed the maximum level of versatility out of his distinctive rig, ensuring that his lighting reflected the distinct style of Flying Lotus, Moodyman, Marina Herlop, Slauson Malone and the other acts, all whilst limiting his palette to selective (and very bold) colours.

“I had a busk show file ready to go and just added the festival’s fixtures to it,” said Warren. “My MQ500M was ideal for this. It was important for me to have a good busking setup, since I busked every artist that I lit over the weekend. I can’t think of an easier, more user-friendly way to do this than with ChamSys, because the console is so intuitive.”

Warren praised his console’s Group FX and Intensity Faders for saving him time during the busy festival weekend. Another time-saver was the direct link to Capture on his Mac when he used the Patch Import Function. He also used an Execute Window to house his palettes and groups, all of which helped his show run smoothly.

Together, these and other features contributed to Warren’s show flowing with a variety of intensely focused artists, as he transformed this Goliath of the industrial age into an immersive contemporary nightclub.