With four premiere shows at Europa-Park in Rust, Germany, in mid-January, Swiss Eurodance icon DJ BoBo launched his latest live production. Titled “The Great Adventure,” the artist’s major 2026 European tour runs from May 1 to October 14 and comprises a total of 28 dates. Lighting design is once again in the hands of GERDON DESIGN, who have been working with the artist since his last tour in 2022.
DJ BoBo is one of the defining figures of the Eurodance era. With more than 15 million records sold, he is among the most successful artists in the genre. He first rose to prominence with a blend of pop and dance music, later increasingly incorporating elements from pop and rock productions. To this day, DJ BoBo is known for elaborately staged shows that combine music, storytelling, dance and visual effects.
“The premiere shows at Europa-Park went very, very well,” reports Thomas Gerdon, Managing Director of GERDON DESIGN. “Once again, this is a projection-based design, with the entire stage set serving as a mapped surface. For us as lighting designers, that means working with great precision and attention to detail, because a lot of white scenic surface is used for video content.”
Projection as the production’s visual guiding principle
The set itself remains deliberately minimal and serves as a canvas for the visual narrative. “Projection defines the staging, with the lighting design complementing it wherever needed,” Thomas notes.
The extensive lighting system comprises 113 fixtures from GLP’s X5 Series: 49 impression X5, 46 impression X5 Compact and 18 impression X5 IP Maxx.
“I’m a real advocate of the X5 Series fixtures,” the designer continues. “The show works more like a musical than a conventional concert. The entire stage becomes part of the visual content. For that, we need exceptional color brilliance in the lighting. The impression X5 allows us to reflect virtually any color in the content, either by matching it or contrasting it. It was also important to create a consistent visual language, which can only be achieved reliably with fixtures from the same series.”
Between musical staging and dance show
The production is shaped by two contrasting creative approaches: “There are songs where so much is happening on stage – dancers, flags, acrobatics – that the lighting primarily has to ensure visibility without distracting from the action. In the dance numbers, by contrast, the lighting has to actively enhance the energy. In those moments, the lighting becomes a performer in its own right.”
Above the main stage, two trusses – mid and back – equipped with impression X5 provide the broad, even base wash. With up to 22 dancers on stage at once, this creates an intense wash of color that visually connects performers and projections.
The entire performance area, from the main stage to the catwalk and B-stage, is lined with impression X5 Compact fixtures. They provide effects and ambient lighting while also serving as footlights along the performance areas.
Dramatic imagery with impression X5 IP Maxx
A central element of the show is the large-scale B-stage, which is used by a range of performers, including some of Switzerland’s top artistic gymnasts. Installed beneath grated platform sections, impression X5 IP Maxx fixtures create striking uplight accents that are particularly prominent in two key moments of the show.
During the song “Pray,” the singer stands alone on the B-stage, accompanied only by a followspot and red uplight columns from the X5 IP Maxx. The fixtures support this stripped-back, focused moment atmospherically and lend the scene visual depth without dominating it.
In “We Make a Change,” by contrast, they become a defining visual element: a light fabric cloth moves in the airflow of fans and is illuminated from below in intense blue, causing the material to glow with an almost magical quality.
A visual journey through “The Great Adventure”
The show follows an overarching narrative, with DJ BoBo embarking on a journey through different worlds under the title “The Great Adventure.” The staging is further enhanced by large-scale inflatables, including two twelve-meter-high skeleton kings, crowned by a gigantic “flying” eagle with an impressive wingspan of 26 meters, hovering majestically above everything at the end of the show.
With its outstanding color mixing, consistent light quality and versatility, GLP’s X5 Series forms the lighting foundation of a show that unites projection, performance and music into a seamless audiovisual experience.
Photo Credit: Julian Huke
