Clay Paky and Protec made history in the Middle East with their lighting shows in 2007-2008, supplying the lighting equipment on many occasions for the most important artists on the world music scene.
ELTON JOHN
The most recent was Elton John, who held a concert at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Dubai (U.A.E.), one of the largest and most prestigious locations on the planet. The Lighting Designer Kevin Bye used a selection of lights consisting in Alpha Spot HPE 1200, Alpha Spot HPE 575 and Alpha Wash 575, for a total of 80 projectors.
Production Technology LLC (Protec), owned by Steve Lakin, was the sole and official light supplier and appointed to install the lighting system for the event. The operations director, Rick Wade, explains that the Clay Paky products were specifically requested by the LD and Protec – who has been proposing and using Clay Paky Alpha in the Middle East for some years now – was able to respond to all his demands.
The event was an outstanding success, with 13,500 fans of all ages cheering this British artist who performed all his lifetime hits.
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
The American star chose Dubai as the location for his final concert on his FutureSex/Love Show world tour produced by IMG. Once again the location was the Emirates Palace Hotel, where all the top stars in music are starting to perform. An impressive team of 350 persons was required to build the specific concert set.
The Protec team supplied and installed the Clay Paky motorised projectors: 24 Alpha Spot HPE 1200, 22 Alpha Wash 1200, 34 Alpha HPE 575 and 32 Alpha Wash 575, requested by the tour LD, Nick Whitehouse.
The artist highlighted the importance of the event, firstly because it was the “first time” he was performing in this Country, and secondly because it was the final location of a most exhausting tour that had seen him perform in 60 cities. The audience was absolutely ecstatic.
AEROSMITH
Aerosmith are a legend in the music world. They started in Boston in 1969, and have had forty years success all over the world, contributing to the development of various music genre such as hard rock and heavy metal.
Protec supplied and installed the whole stage structure, which took 7 days to assemble with the work of over 30 lighting, audio and video experts. The lighting system included 12 Clay Paky Alpha 1200 HPE, 18 Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1200W and 168 Par Cans, controlled by 1 Full Size Grand MA .
Protec owns the only covered stage in the Country which can be adapted to suit any arena or stadium which organises music concerts. Protec’s efficiency was severely put to the test by the crowd of nearly 16,000 which arrived at the Exiles Rugby Club in Dubai, the same location that holds the prestigious Seven Nations annual tournament.
Rick Wade tells us: “everything worked perfectly, I had no complaints at all, regarding the set or the materials supplied. This is a most encouraging result which gives us the incentive to design future solutions which are even more avant-garde.”
OTHER EVENTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
The Protec and Clay Paky partnership has been most successful at numerous other events hosted by the Emirate state over recent years. Among the most important was Shakira’s Oral Fixation Tour held at the Dubai Autodrome, which was literally assaulted by a huge crowd of 25,000 where a stage with over 80 Clay Paky Alpha projectors was installed. Or the launch of the Audi Q7, the most impressive event ever organised in the Middle East, which was held at the Sheikh Rashid Hall International Convention Centre in Dubai (LD Paul Smith).