NLD: Philips Showline Delivers ‘Distorted Reality’ Strobing On Chvrches’ Global Tour

Chvrches © Giles Smith

Philips Lighting (Euronext Amsterdam: LIGHT), announced that its industry-leading LED RGBW strobe the SL NITRO 510C is out on tour with synthpop trio Chvrches. As part of the band’s brief to create ‘distorted reality’, the Philips SL NITRO 510C delivers mind-blowing effects as part of a lighting design by Louis Oliver and James Scott of Okulus.

The design house – which also created the concept for the band’s 2013 tour – specified 46 of the award-winning strobe from Philips Lighting. The units were supplied by PRG for the UK leg and Special Event Services (SES) in the States. Oliver and Scott augmented the design with 33 extra units for the larger headline shows.

The designers explain the band wanted a strong video element but without using a conventional screen: “Any video content was to look more like lighting and effects than actual high definition video,” says Oliver. The solution was to create five slightly curved LED video monoliths onto which the striking content is displayed.

Several of the SL NITRO 510C strobes are grouped horizontally in the six openings between each structure to create one cohesive visual picture. The remaining strobes are rigged in the overhead truss in an arrowhead-style formation, where they deliver vibrant strobing and fast-paced custom effects and sweeps, drawing the audience’s eye to the stage.

“We chose the Philips SL NITRO 510C for its capability to use multiple cells as an eye-candy effect surface but also as a a saturated color strobe,” explains Scott.

“Both James and I have been big advocates of the Philips SL NITRO 510C strobe for the last few years,” Oliver adds. “If you look at our designs I don’t think you will see one that doesn’t have them hiding somewhere. This is due to the versatility of the product and that you can get so much out of them.”

“We tend to run the fixtures in full control six cell mode so that we can create some fantastic, almost pixel mapped looks very quickly,” he continues.

“What’s also great about the Philips SL NITRO 510C strobes is they’re really versatile on the rigging front,” adds Scott. “For Chvrches we’ve actually bolted multiple units together, making them more of a batten type fixture. This means they become a seamless surface and, due to the versatile rigging options on the rear of the units, the crew is able to attach the pods to pretty much any structure.”