- GLP Creos Washlights Take the Accolades at this Year’s Eurovision Song Contest

Tim Routledge became one of the first production designers to specify GLP’s new versatile and supercharged Creos – part of a cornucopia of lighting that animated Florian Wieder’s coruscating set design at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Basel.

These washlights were joined in the designer’s toolkit by another newly released GLP fixture, in the shape of 12 MAD MAXX CW fat beam searchlights, along with 200 impression X5 IP Bars and well over 100 randomly dispersed JDC1 hybrid strobes.

But it was Creos, with its 18 × 40W RGBL LEDs, motorized 1:12 zoom and seamless pixel clustering that took the accolades at the 12,400-capacity St Jakobshalle.

Tim Routledge had been seeking a particular fixture to sit underneath the transparent LED screen. He contacted Simon Barrett at GLP UK, who instinctively suggested Creos. “And it turned out to be precisely the thing I was looking for,” says the designer, following a demo. “I don’t like to see outlines of lights in front of a screen and this was all about keeping it clean.”

He continues: “Although I have used X5 IP Bars many times, Creos was the perfect opportunity to try something different.” Describing it as being “a three-high X5 IP Bar”, Routledge was particularly encouraged by its slickness, the number of options it afforded and the fact it performed flawlessly: “Having a playground that gave me a thin to a chunky light curtain, movement, sparkle and point source of light provided the opportunity to make each country’s delegates look different.”

All 75 heads were set prominently in one perfect line under the screens. “They were also everything we wanted them to be on camera,” he summarizes. “They were absolutely stupendous and were a dream fixture for us to have.”

The expansive 2,000m² stage bore an Alpine theme, with virtual mountains. “The mountains were one part, but what grabbed us more was the frame and the transparent screen,” acknowledges Routledge.

And with the virtual mountains, the 12 MAD MAXX CW fixtures – six a side rising up behind – came into their own. With their insanely strong 750mm beam diameters, Routledge acknowledges that these fat beams had been selected for one specific purpose: firing skywards when the rig was in its home state. “The generic state of the show was all about these big searchlights appearing to come over the mountains in the distance, and that gave us what we needed – to fill the wide shots and cross shots in our home state, which they did that in spades,” says Routledge. “They are brilliant, they are bright, and they are fun… a very cool extra toy.”

A further 200 impression X5 IP Bars, arranged in a matrix, were concealed behind the screen, making three so-called ‘hero’ grid squares. Aside from blowing light through the screen, their main raison d’etre was at the ‘Stage Ready’ activation moment – a ‘woosh’ of light blinding through the screen as each country’s flag was displayed. Completing the GLP complement, a further 100-plus JDC1s were seen providing extra flash within the set. These were provided by ESC’s vendor, Neg Earth Lights.

The event proved another major triumph for the Eurovision lighting veteran. As Tim Routledge himself puts it, “Everyone was blown away with the production.”