Robe moving lights - including 24 ROBIN 600 LEDWashes – were the key fixtures of the design, supplied by Johannesburg based Techrig, who provided lighting equipment and crew to the entire Clover event for the first time.

Acclaimed set designer Michael Gill produced a large and innovative scenic design for the Gala Dinner. Grobler initially gave Hutch - as he's widely known - a basic show brief, which included several high profile live performances, plus an idea of the look they wanted to achieve, to which Hutchinson soon added a myriad of ideas of his own and produced the lighting plot, all based around Robes.

The main challenges of working in the room were getting sufficient height and lighting positions in the right places above the stage, whilst also avoiding a series of large and prosaic chandeliers which can’t be moved. The lateral solution was to install a series of short trusses hung in an up/downstage orientation ensconced as much as possible into the ceiling coves, which  maximized the available height and avoided the chandeliers!

The ROBIN LEDWash 600s were hung on these trusses, together with 16 x Robe ColorSpot 700E ATs, with a few other moving lights, plus a selection of  profiles, PARs and some LED fixtures hung on FOH trusses.

It was the first time that Hutch has used the Robe LEDWash 600s - Robe's fastest selling luminaire of all time!

He was “well pleased” with the wide beam angle of the LEDWashes, which enabled him to cover the entire stage and set with ease when needed for the large production numbers. The 15 degree narrow beam angle reminded him of classic beam projectors from his theatrical roots, and he really enjoyed playing with their ‘fat beams’.

Robe LEDWash 600s were specified for the job for a number of reasons including their light weight which helped enormously in dealing with the venue's weight restrictions. Added to that was the versatile 15 – 60 degree zoom, the super bright light output and smooth colour mixing ….. and also because it was the first chance that Hutchinson has had to have a good play with them!

It was Grobler's first time seeing them in action on a show as well, and he was also well impressed!

Robe CitySkape48s – another ever popular fixture – were used to internally light seven black-and-white fronted light-boxes, which broke up the walls and stairs of the streamlined, very ‘televisual’ set. Grobler describes these as “Little Killers”. In fact, so much was this the case that the black vinyl fronting turned grey, and so they ended up pulling them right back and running at very low levels!

All lighting was programmed and operated on a grandMA lighting console run by Hutch.

The lively entertainment line up included performances by George Meiring, Vicky Sampson, Jay and Lianie, Yollandi Nortjie, Flip A Coin and Dozi and Nianell, all of whom went down a storm, together with the stunning environment created by the technical and creative team, which provided a colourful, dramatic and interesting setting for the 800 guests.