Large Elation LED Lighting Package for Neushoorn, The Netherlands

	Neushoorn entertainment venue with its new Elation LED lighting rig. Photo: Gerben Duijster, www.darkster.nl

Neushoorn (Rhino) is a new entertainment venue in the heart of Leeuwarden, The Netherlands, a multi-functional locale in the north of the country that opened in October with Elation LED lighting rigs in several of its performance spaces.

Housing two rooms with stages along with a café, exercise, and cultural production areas, and rooms for workshops, Neushoorn can host a wide range of events -- dance and club nights, rock and pop concerts, and theatre and dance performances. It also serves as a school for developing talent. Its two main stages, the 350-capacity Arena and the venues largest live performance space, The Big Room, feature all-LED Elation lighting rigs, as does a small performance space in the café.

The Neushoorn lighting set-up was designed from a concept created by Klaas Visser, head of audio, video and lighting at the venue. He says: "The concept was to create a fixture combination that was rider-friendly and had the potential to create new and old style light shows using LED lighting only. There were two LDs who supported us in making the decision on which fixtures were best for us. Elation was the only brand that had the fixtures we needed at a good price."

Lighting supply and installation of the Neushoorn lighting system was undertaken by Elation partner Lightco, the lighting sales division of the Ampco Flashlight Group. The relationship began, says Visser, at an older venue where Lightco was part of a shoot-out with other vendors. "Elation had what we needed across the board," he says. "The competitors did have a few good fixtures but were not close to the quality or quantity we required."

The Neushoorn lighting package includes several varieties of Elation LED lights -- PARs, striplights, blinders, moving heads, ellipsoidal spots, and more. "It was important that the lighting be all LED," Visser says. "The local authorities wanted an environmentally friendly venue yet still get a lot of firepower from the lights, so LEDs were the only option." Both the Arena and The Big Room stages feature more than 90% Elation fixtures while the café, where performances also take place, has a complete Elation lighting set-up consisting of SixPar 200 LED PAR lights.

The venue's first big concert was held on October 21 in The Big Room, a 750-capacity space that is outfitted with all LED lighting, including the ACL set-up. "It was very hard to find an LED replacement for ACL looks but the Elation ACL PAR 200 does the job," Visser says. "It is a very nice ACL replacement with RGBW and has a nice beam that is strong enough to emulate an ACL." Other fixtures in The Big Room include SixPar 300 LED PAR lights, Colour 5 Profile ellipsoidal spots, Platinum Wash ZFX Pro, and Platinum Wash ZFX Pro XL moving heads, warm-white Lumina Matrix panels, Cuepix Blinder WW2 white light blinders, and Protron 3K LED strobes. Horizontal and vertical lighting set-ups can be rigged on The Big Room balcony while the back balcony area provides for easy access to backlights and pulling of backdrops.

The Arena is a multifunctional room with surrounding balcony and a stage that can be placed at different locations for customizable set-ups. Complimenting some older fixtures in the room are SixPar 200s, 6-color LED PARs that include a UV LED that Visser says is "excellent for club nights." The Arena also has Platinum Spot LED Pro moving heads, which Visser calls "simple but very effective little beam lights," as well as Cuepix Strip Tris which is "also suitable as a blinder." White-light ELED Fresnel 150 lights work from the front of the room. The lighting fixtures in the Arena can be rigged from several locations on and under the balcony, as well as from four trusses on rolling chain hoists.

As a new cultural home for pop and youth culture, Neushoorn is thriving with its multi-functional theme, impressive variety of acts, and not least its state-of-the-art LED lighting system. "We made the right decisions and the installation has been a success," Visser concludes. "By only using one brand we've been able to realize real benefits in service, ease of use, and last but not least, on price."