
Robe for Berlin Back to Live' Waldb hne shows posted: 20/11/2020
Germany has been noticeably proactive in its quest to stage Covid-compliant live shows and events to attempt to get some of the industry moving again and people used to going out and about. One of these was the Berlin Waldb hne Back to Live Concerts, a socially distanced event concept running throughout September at the city's famous open-air venue organised by promoter Semmel Concerts Entertainment GmbH. Berlin-based full production service specialist TSE was asked by the venue management team, CTS Eventim AG, to supply a flexible festival-style production lighting and video rig complete with visual design that would work for a wide range of performing artists. Lighting for this was specified by TSE's Ronny Rud Reinhold and included Robe BMFL WashBeams, MegaPointes and Spiider moving lights among other luminaires.
The venue has a large stage covered by a tensile roof that normally holds 22,900 guests, but this was revised - in relation to government restrictions at that time for outdoor shows - to 5000 for Back to Live including staff, artists and crew, with the line-up including popular schlager superstar Roland Kaiser, rapper Sido, comedian, jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist Helge Schneider, singer Wincent Weiss and a special schlager-extravaganza night with Peter Maffay, one of Germany's top-selling artists.
We chose this classic festival lighting setup, stated Ronny, to make things as smooth and straightforward for all the guest LDs and lighting operators, which included the choice of fixtures as all these Robe luminaires are commonly used across many different event sectors in Germany.
With these Robes in the rig, shows could early and painlessly be adapted, a strategy that was proved right as they didn't have a single discussion with an LD about the types of fixtures apart from Roland Kaiser's LD Andreas Kisters who requested four additional BMFL WashBeams for the front truss!
These were to cover backing vocalists and soloists who stepped forward onto the stage apron.
Ronny and the TSE team also consulted the assorted artist rider requests before picking their fixtures, and finally, we needed fixtures robust enough to hang outdoors for five weeks in September where the weather can be erratic! he said.
The fixture placement on the rig was coordinated by TSE's head lighting systems tech Klaus Graewert who took an operator's perspective when doing this.
The ten BMFL WashBeams were on the front / advanced truss, six each of the 24 x MegaPointes and six each of the 18 x Spiiders were on the three over-stage trusses.
The BMFL WashBeams used for general front washes, keys, and specials and for livelier and louder pop, hip hop and rap acts they doubled up for eye-catching audience illumination.
The Spiiders and MegaPointes were used for general stage washes and effects respectively. The Spiiders did a good solid job in stage washing, reports Ronny, commenting that the bright razor-sharp beams could be seen from all over the Waldb hne and beyond.
These and the other fixtures - which included strobes plus 8-lite and 2-lite blinders - were all controlled via a grandMA2 system.
Everything worked extremely smoothly and efficiently, commented Ronny. Everyone on site was basically VERY happy to be working again onstage and get a little bit of a festival feeling at last in 2020 after such a tough year and all missing it so much! Any special requests by artists were swiftly accommodated and there were many smiling faces!
It was simply amazing to be back doing what we love - that was a huge motivation for all of us and we had SUCH a good time, he enthuses, adding that they also believed it was important to show the industry and the government just what is possible in terms of safely staging shows and events during the pandemic, including getting the public to once again trust that it's safe to buy tickets, go out and enjoy some great evenings with their favourite artists.
This might sound like a simple thing, but with the whole Covid scenario, statements like this are HUGE! And take on so much additional significance for the industry.
The relevant Covid protocols - as designated by the local Berlin regional government - were coordinated on-site by a team of hygiene-trained staff led by Alexandra von Samson for Semmel and David Busse from the Waldb hne.
All crew wore masks at all times and kept 1.5 metres distance as much as possible and the load in / outs were scheduled over longer periods with measures taken to ensure that departments could work in their own zones when possible. More trucks were utilized to keep the pace going and flowing so equipment could be loaded and unloaded faster and easier.
Everyone had to be registered for the government's track-and-trace system, but happily, there were no cases on-site for the period.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
An effort uniting News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo, the 50+-camera live produc...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiativ...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Docume...
02/07/2026
Maxon Autograph: Introduction to working with Tables
Simon Ubsdell July 1, 2026
0 Comments
An overview of Autograph's ridiculously powerful tables...
02/07/2026
Boston Conservatory's Soir e Breaks Records to Fund Student Scholarships The event achieved 127 percent of its fundraising goal in an evening celebrating ...