
Fire Fight Australia posted: 25/02/2020
Over 20 hugely talented artists including Queen Adam Lambert, Olivia Newton-John, John Farnham, Alice Cooper, Delta Goodrem, 5 Seconds of Summer, Tina Arena, Ronan Keating, Hill Top Hoods, Amy Shark, k. d. lang and many more entertained 75,000 music fans - and a worldwide TV audience - all helping Fire Fight Australia raise over A$10 Million for bushfire relief during an emotionally charged, high energy day of performance at Sydney's ANZ Stadium.
Throughout the day, the heroic and super-real efforts of people uniting and the dedicated commitment of the firefighting community were highlighted in the context of the massive fight to save lives, homes and land. The extraordinary spirit and resilience of Australians has shone through and continues with the many efforts and initiatives contributing to rebuilding after the fiercest and most destructive bushfires in Australian history.
The nightmare scenario has touched people worldwide and seen people galvanise in incredible generosity and support with donations of money, general supplies and services to the various organisations assisting the recovery effort. It's brought the need for urgent attention to climate change - once again - into sharp focus.
Presented by comedian Celeste Barber - who has herself raised over A$50 Million for the relief fund - this was arguably THE most significant gig in the world that weekend.
Dave Jackson, Jeff Pavey and a crew from Queensland and New South Wales-based rental specialists Creative Productions were extremely proud to provide the lighting which included nearly 130 Robe moving lights including BMFL Spots, Blades and WashBeams and Spiider LED wash beams.
Their many challenges included an exceptionally short planning period and get in time on site.
Queen Adam Lambert played the stadium the night before ... utilising the same roof but with their own production lighting rig, so that was completely stripped out before Dave, Jeff and their crew of 8 could start their build at 4 a.m. - to hand over for a show-start 8 hours later.
Creative Productions donated the entire lighting rig plus all the preparation expenses and crew wages for this landmark occasion after they were contacted by Colin Skals of promoters TEG DAINTY who organised the event for Fire Fight Australia.
It coincided with three major international tours that they already had in progress - Q AL, Alice Cooper and Michael Bubl - of which the latter was performing in Melbourne that same night, so a portion of this show was beamed live on to screen at the ANZ Stadium.
Dave's production design for the show had to provide great looking lighting for the 20 diverse artists on the bill - and the cameras once the decision was made with about 10 days to go that it would also be a live telecast beamed worldwide.
The only essential brief that they received on lighting was that there would be a large upstage LED screen plus left and right IMAGs so this plus the fact it was in a stadium and had to be available from rental stock during an already busy period Led to Dave's choice of Robe BMFLs as the main workhorse lights on the rig.
I needed something with serious punch, he commented, not just because it was a stadium show, but also for the daytime filming, which covered most of the artists.
Dave thinks that BMFLs are still the only moving light where colours are properly perceptible in daylight, especially the BMFL WashBeams.
The 32 x BMFL Blades were on the floor upstage, making a big, dramatic contrast to the overhead rig, with some on the four overhead trusses, The 36 x BMFL Spots and 36 x BMFL WashBeams were also rigged on the overhead trusses, making up the core of the stage and effects lighting.
The 30 x Spiiders - 15 a side hung on three ladders stage left and right - were added once the telecast was confirmed - picked for their great range of colours and CT whites and also for excellent pixel and ring-control back-of-camera' effects for the side shots. They worked brilliantly in these positions, confirms Dave.
Creative Productions owns over 300 Robe moving lights and has been investing steadily in the brand over the last two years.
In addition to the Robes, Dave used an array of LED battens, strobes, and 4 and 8-lite blinders, together with some additional waterproof beam lights for Q AL's B-stage.
All of these were controlled from a grandMA3 full size which was the main event house' console, with a grandMA2 full size for backup. A Hog 4 was provided for LDs preferring to work from that and a greandMA3 lite was available for any LDs who wanted to take advantage of pre-vis time during the day.
Throughout the day there were around five guest LDs including Queen Adam Lambert's lighting director Graham Feast (the LD is Rob Sinclair) and Scott Warner who is touring with Alice Cooper. Australian LD Brad Alcock from Melbourne ran lights for four bands - Tina Arena, Ronan Keating, Guy Sebastian and Delta Goodrem.
Dave and Pavey looked after all the visiting LDs and ran the lights for all those who didn't have an operator.
The average 15 - 20 minutes sets and quick changeovers were interspersed with video footage capturing some of the incredible efforts and initiatives that are part of the post-bushfire rebuilding programmes, with many stories of survival and heroism.
Celeste Barber yelled thanks repeatedly and with much passion throughout the night in particular to the thousands of volunteer firefighters around the country who battled to exhaustion and some to their deaths we can never, ever say THANK YOU enough, reverberated around the stadium time and time again in an emotive, intense evening that illustrated so much unity in the face of the crisis.
It was the third bushfire fundraising event that Creative Productions has donated its
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
27/03/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
27/03/2026
Comcast Business deployed network infrastructure for the 2026 PLAYERS Championsh...
27/03/2026
Czech production company CS live has equipped its newest outside broadcast van w...
27/03/2026
Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Western Australia has developed new broad...
27/03/2026
Deltatre has announced that CEO Andrea Marini will step down after five years in...
27/03/2026
DAZN has announced plans to launch DAZN Inflight, a live sports service for airline and maritime passengers, slated for 2027. Aviv Giladi, President of DAZN Par...
27/03/2026
Grass Valley has announced the completion of a live production deployment with NVP, a European media company specializing in live sports production, for LALIGA ...
27/03/2026
The Masters and Prime Video will debut Inside Amen Corner, a dedicated feed that...
27/03/2026
ESPN and the World Series of Poker (WSOP) have reached a multi-year agreement to bring the WSOP Main Event back to ESPN platforms. Coverage will include a three...
27/03/2026
USSI Global has opened its Media Transport Solutions Lab on its Melbourne campus. The engineering center provides a platform-agnostic environment for testing al...
27/03/2026
From 14-camera coverage to official review from Variant Systems Group, Sellitto ...
27/03/2026
The United Football League (UFL) has named Sportable its Official Connected Ball and Player Tracking Partner. Sportable's connected football and wearable pl...
27/03/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
27/03/2026
The Atlanta Braves and FuboTV have announced a multiyear distribution agreement to carry BravesVision on Fubo's live TV streaming platform beginning Opening...
27/03/2026
Besides restructuring for Season 3, the league worked with FOX and ESPN over the...
27/03/2026
The Atlanta Braves open their 2026 MLB season tonight against the Kansas City Ro...
27/03/2026
With new teams and new venues to adapt to, the spring-football league's part...
27/03/2026
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...
27/03/2026
New Classic, Amplitude & FlexRange units introduced
GIK Acoustics have just introduced a trio of new bass trap designs that bring improved low-end absorptio...
27/03/2026
Offers personalised Dolby Atmos headphone monitoring
Sonarworks have put their calibration expertise to work on a new mobile app that allows users to create...
27/03/2026
NITV to broadcast farewell to Rhoda Roberts AO with special coverage and week-lo...
27/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/03/2026
Marshall Electronics Showcases New Feature-Rich CV320 and CV520 IP and 3G-SDI PO...
27/03/2026
Sony Electronics Inc. Elevates Professional Video Workflows with Powerful Update...
27/03/2026
GatesAir Extends AirWatch365 Managed Service with Edge Gateway Site Appliance
Brie Clayton March 27, 2026
0 Comments
NAB marks global launch of servic...
27/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/03/2026
At NAB Show 2026, Net Insight will showcase the next evolution of Nimbra Edge, its orchestration and control layer designed to manage live media services across...
27/03/2026
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced powerful new innovations that further elevate the company's sports streaming solution. The advanced capabilities enh...
27/03/2026
Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced significant new capabilities for Player Web X, its next-generation web video player...
27/03/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Czech-based production company CS live has equipped its newest outside broadcast (OB) van with an integrated Riedel i...
27/03/2026
130 Industry Experts Confirmed as Show Celebrates its 10th Anniversary
MPTS, the UK's largest and most influential event for the media, production and tech...
27/03/2026
Grass Valley today announced the successful completion of a major live production deployment with NVP, a leading European media company specializing in live spo...
27/03/2026
Showcases resilient solutions for satellite-to-IP migration, REMI and hybrid live production
Appear ASA (Appear, OSE:APR), a global leader in live production t...
27/03/2026
San Francisco, California, March 2026 - Microsoft Ignite, a major annual conference hosted by Microsoft for developers, IT professionals, partners and business ...
27/03/2026
Clear-Com is proud to highlight its support for worship teams through professional communication solutions, with the deployment of its EQUIP wireless system a...
27/03/2026
Orban Collaborates with Sage on Virtualized EAS Technology Demo
Brie Clayton March 26, 2026
0 Comments
Sage Alerting Systems (SAS), in cooperation wit...
27/03/2026
Berklee Alums Bring GIANT to Broadway Brian and Dayna Lee BM '13 met and fell in love at Berklee, and now their production companys first Broadway debut i...
27/03/2026
RT Supporting the Arts
RT is Supporting 20 Arts and Cultural Events all over Ireland this April
RT is proud to support an exciting month of arts and cul...
27/03/2026
Average of 1.37 million viewers watched Irish World Cup heartbreak on RT 2
Over one million streams on RT Player
Highest number of streams for any single eve...
27/03/2026
March 27 2026, 01:30 (PDT) Dolby Unveils Dolby House Shanghai, its First Global Flagship Experience Center
A New Global Platform Showcasing Dolbys Innovatio...