The New Year's Eve party at the Brandenburg Gate has been Germany’s largest live event of the year for some time, attracting several million revelers into the party area which now extends over two kilometres from the Brandenburg Gate to the Victory Column and is rated as one of ‘THE’ places to be to see in the new year.

At the hub of the action is a live stage, which this year featured performances by a host of national and international talent including Udo Jürgens, Andreas Bourani, Cassandra Steen, Culture Beat, DJ Bobo, Hot Chocolate, Kim Wilde, The Boss Hoss and the Scorpions, which was broadcast live on Germany’s ZDF channel.

Gerd is always keen to incorporate new technology in his designs, and he chose to use 40 of Robe’s ROBIN 600 LEDWash fixtures as the main stage and set  lighting units.

Apart from the LEDWash 600’s numerous features, he also chose Robe fixtures for this show because of their robust and good quality build, and their reputation for performing well in adverse weather conditions – ever an unpredictable element in any outdoor European in mid-winter event!.

The 40 LEDWash 600s were arranged in symmetrical pairs on four runs of overhead trussing flown at different levels and depths – lower at the back and higher at the front  - to bring a three dimensionality to the stage.

Additional LEDWash units rigged directly above one another at the sides were used for cross stage lighting and to wash the audience area immediately in front of the stage in colours and beams.

Says Gerd, "The ROBIN 600 LEDWash has a wide range of features and functions and I really like the unit, especially the zone effect (individual control of the three rings of LEDs) and the large zoom. The ability to provide different colour corrected whites is also very useful for television / broadcast environments and really helps when working in conjunction with the colour saturation of the cameras".

The starting point for Gerd’s lighting vision for this show was Jens Meinecke’s impressive stage set. The idea was that the stage became a holistic entity in spite of its imposing size, and that it had an architectural harmony with the landmark Brandenburg Gate which formed the ‘natural’ backdrop immediately behind.

Other challenges were lighting the stage simultaneously for TV broadcast and live audience, giving each act a different look and feel for their set, and making the action look equally spectacular for both.

Lighting equipment for the event was supplied by Schönefeld based Helicon Media GmbH, for whom it was project managed by Stefan Krawietz  and Tobias Müller.

The stage and band lighting for the evening was operated by Udo Thimm using a GrandMA console.

The telecast was directed by Pit Weyrich and produced for ZDF by Harry Seedorf. The production manager was Jens Meinecke from Wohlthat Entertainment, and the event organizers were Silvester in Berlin GmbH, working under the auspices of Berlin’s modern New Year Party celebration founders, Rainer and Willy Kausch.