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The opening ceremony of the 2002 Dubai Shopping Festival was the most spectacular and technically complex show ever staged in the Middle East.

All technical production and equipment was supplied by Dubai-based production and staging house Protec, and the whole project – literally from the ground up - was managed and co-ordinated by Protec’s Stephen Lakin, collaborating closely with his right hand people Damien McGurn , Hares Shehab , Rick Wade and Jason Strange.

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A world class event

    There are few people in the production industry with the vision, tenacity and sheer balls to see a project of this stature through, specially in the Middle East which is a demanding working environment with very specific cultural requirements and codes about what does and doesn’t go!

    Lakin’s client was the Dubai Shopping Festival Committee, which is run by the government.  

    As well as supplying all the technical expertise, equipment, design and engineering skills plus the co-ordination and show production facilities for the massive event, Lakin and Shehab also researched and sourced the five international dance troupes. Each represented a continent, and gave their own show in addition to coming together for a specially choreographed dance finale directed by Alissar Caracalla.  

    The DSF opening ceremony 2002 embodied the spirit of ‘One World, One Family One Festival’.

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Unity & Tolerance

The theme of unity has never been more relevant to the world stage.  

    The colourful, high energy two hour show featured five large automated scenic globes, all used by performers from each company to enter stage at the start of their individual shows. Before the finale – with all 250 performers onstage – the globes were ‘swallowed’ into a massive sixth globe amidst a dramatic lighting and pyro sequence.  

    The fusion dance finale was then followed by an awesome 7 minute fireworks spectacular, designed by Mike Jones of Pains Fireworks. It was the biggest show they’ve produced since the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana in 1981.
 

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International Technical Team

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Memorable Bath!

It all started with a vision Lakin had whilst in the bath late last summer! Never one to do things by halves, from the outset he thought big!  

    Protec had supplied technical production to the closing ceremony of the 2001 DSF, but Lakin wanted to do more in 2002. The idea germinated and grew, encompassing moving globes at the rear and an enormous stage with six massive hydraulic Superlifts, each capable of lifting 25 tonnes at up to 7 metres above the stage. The expertly choreographed show should represent the five continents of the world including the GCC (Gulf Community Countries/Middle East) – and the technical production was to outstrip anything ever seen before in the region.  

    Lakin approached the Government and presented his visions to Sheikh Mohammed.  

    He was awarded the contract in October, without it going out to tender – so confident were the government that Lakin was hitting the spot!.  

    Then began a race against time to make it happen for March 1^st. No venue capable of staging a show of this stature existed in Dubai, so Lakin’s first job was to find a site and build one!  

    Lakin started assembling his crack team of technicians and engineers as well as finding the performers. The latter aspect of the show took him on an international globetrot to Lebanon (The Orientalist Dance Company), Mexico (The Ballet Folchorico Nacional de Mexico), Spain (The Ballet Folklorico Espanol), Korea (The Koo Soo Hoo Didim Dance Company) and South Africa (The KwaZulu Natal Police Dance Troupe). The UAE itself was represented by The Dubai Heritage Village Troupes.
 

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Setting the Stage

The site was found after several helicopter rides around the area. The Dubai Police Academy yielded plenty of spare land, it was flat and it had easy road access – road congestion in Dubai is a serious issue.  

    McGurn hired local contractors to build footings for the stage and for an 18 metre high x 140 metre wide protective windwall wrapping around the backstage and stage areas, constructed to withstand destructive gusts of up to 200 kph. They dug down 5 metres to accommodate the bases for the stage hydraulics. Being well below the water table, the concrete is 2.5 metres thick at this point.  

    Over 18,000 cubic metres of crushed rock roadbase, 15,000 square metres of Tarmac and 900 cubic metres of reinforced concrete were used to build the arena.  

    McGurn organised the building of five electricity generation sub-stations on site – backstage, sidestage and FOH – capable of delivering up to 5 Megawatts of electricity.
 

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Scenic engineering

    Protec designed and drew up the engineering spec for the stage – which was divided into three interconnecting sections. The hydraulic rams for the four section elevator that rose, wedding cake style, from the stage, were installed as it was built. Four additional hydraulic platforms that dropped from stage level to below were also installed, used for entrances and exits.  

    The hydraulics for all this stage machinery were driven by seventeen 18.5 Kw motors connected to pressure compensated pumps, consuming 3000 litres of oil per minute. (The Millennium Dome’s Central Show had just 4 – which were bought by Protec and used here!)  

    Lakin recruited Andy Edwards – famous for engineering the Rolling Stones Bridge to Babylon – and Richard Estridge to devise the movement systems for the stage platforms and the 6 scenic globes – which span and drove on four axes. The globes had two independently controlled motors on each front corner and free running casters on the back.  

    Andy Cave of Entertainment Innovations, another regular on Lakin’s shows, was brought in to design, supply and install the automation control systems, which operated the Hydraulic Scissor lifts, lighting spiders (see below) and the drive and rotation controls for the globes. Cave designed a system with 57 hydraulic axes, all controlled by a Stage Technologies Acrobat desk, programmed by Vicky Hamilton and Richard Smith.   

    Cave also designed the control systems for the 5 pantograph staircases and extension tabs, built by Tomcat that slid into place linking the four stage lifts giving performers access to the globe doors.   

    The globes were driven by 15 AC servo motors linked to precision planetary gearboxes, and operated by 15 fully automated digital variable speed drive controllers, also designed and installed by Andy.  

    All hydraulics were designed by Alan Lee, who used his considerable expertise to deliver the system of coordinated movements for the stage hydraulics that Lakin has designed.
 

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Lighting

    LD Nick Jones had also worked with Lakin and Protec on the spectacular launch of the Al Faisaliah Tower in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2000 and the 2001 opening of Dubai Media City. Lakin ran the DSF show idea by him. At this stage it already featured the globes, windwall with Pani projections, unspecified onstage screens for further projections, and the massive performance area.  

    Lakin asked Jones to create a ‘circular’ lighting scheme to suit a show of this stature.  

    Jones’s main challenge was ensuring he covered the vast stage area adequately, and working the concept of flying screens that Lakin had in mind coherently into the show.  

    Jones came up with seven elliptical trusses – all of which moved, five of them filled with scrim for projections. He then added eight triangular lighting trusses, two at each corner of the roof - which also moved. For a touch of surreality, each side of stage, Lakin designed two ‘spiders’, each with 12 jointed legs, made from Total Fabrication’s XO truss, controlled by 48 hydraulic rams and proportional valves. A VL5 at the tip of each leg and PAR 56 truss toners and banks of short nosed ACLs mounted inside created another wild effect.  

    Lawrence Heron from PAI was responsible for all the over-stage truss motion control. He used 64 CM Lodestar fast runner motors (16 metres per minute) and a new 72-way Ibex computer controlled system.  

    Jones utilised a heterogeneity of lighting fixtures – all of which came out of Protec’s stock.  

    Moving lights included Vari*Lite 2Cs, VL5 Arcs, VL5s, VL6Cs, Clay Paky Stage Scans, Stage Colors and Stage Zooms, over 600 PARs, 60 plus 8-Lite Moles with Wybron scrollers, 200 ACLs and lots of Diversitronic strobes scattered across the windwall. Additionally, Eighty Coemar Panorama 1800W floods floodlit the seating bank and windwall.  

    Over 2,300 lighting fixtures were used site-wide.  

    Twelve NAT 2.5 TMs were used to project customised gobos onto the five scrim filled elliptical trusses, and for beaming textures onto the globes.  

    Rearstage and along the top of the audience platform were 50 Space Cannons, used for adrenaline-pumping Hollywood searchlight effects.  

    Lighting control featured an Avolites Diamond II console, operated by Jones, running the Panoramas and the Space Cannons. All the overhead and onstage moving lights were controlled by Phil Cole operating three WholeHog IIs, one with an extender wing  

    The show consumed 11 racks of Avolites ART 2000 dimming, 4 racks a side by the stage, 2 by the windwall and one at FOH, running the FOH PARS, Dimmer city was patrolled by Dave Hallett, and lighting crew chief was Steve Shipman.
 

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Audio

Audio was designed by Protec’s Head of Sound Nick Chapman. The system evolved organically, keeping pace with the fluid nature of the show over the three month build period!  

    They decided against close mic’ing anything, with 250 people onstage and an continuous action-packed show, conventional conditions did not apply!. Originally it was going to be playback only, but again as things evolved, each troupe also introduced it’s own live music elements.  

    The aim was to make the ‘reinforcement’ sonically ‘invisible’, achieved with 30 Sennheiser MKH 416 rifle mics, plus a few radio sets for enhancing solos. The mics were primarily across the front of stage. Those performing further upstage and anyone entering stage from the large globe, was on time-aligned radio mic.  

    Chapman mixed the 86 inputs working with colleague Greg Pink, using two Midas Heritage H3000 consoles. Time aligning was done via a Fostex D16 24 hard drive, which also stored all pre-recorded material. Two Fostex machines were run synched and in Chase mode for a seamless backup in case of emergency – a precaution not needed.  

    Speakers were a mix of Turbo Flashlight and Floodlight. Two central clusters, six wide and 4 deep of Flash for the top two rows, and the same configuration of Flood on the bottom. They were joined by another 10 stacks of Floodlight on the floor.  

    Chapman’s design also retained individual control of the inside flown cabinets, in case it was necessary to adjust Sheik’s Mohammed’s personal sound. His Highness and his entourage sat centrally a third of the way back in the seating stand, on special seats, but in amongst the rest of the audience, not segregated or cut off in a royal box.  

    The overall audio aim to keep a pleasant general dispersion across the seating stand at around 95 dB proved a great success.  

    Music for the dance finale was specially composed by Charbel Rouhana . For the pyro finale and globe swallowing, music was composed by Barry Kirsch. The show was called – analogue style – by Ian Francis, however the globe swallowing and pyro finale was run to time code, generated from the sound desk, utilising both LTC and FSK pyro digital timecode, sent to one of the Pains controllers.
 

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Video

    The event was covered by seven cameras including two microwave links for the onstage action. The digital system was purpose built for the event.  

    In addition to the two Microwave links a full Triax system was installed in an understage control room. Sony digital equipment played a predominant role in ensuring top quality images were sent to the two live FOH screens in addition to the three feeds for Dubai Television.  

    The event was captured on DSR 2000 DVcam  a format that has proved very successful within the Middle East, with dedicated machines for all cameras. Cameras were Sony DXC 30s, with a combination of long focus and wide angle Fujinon and Canon lenses.  

    Eight Barco ELM projectors (four per screen) projected 42,000 Lumens per screen, ensuring that even those at the very back of the seating stand had a great view.
 

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Explosive Ending

    For the first time ever, the three Deeker Brothers who run Pains – Bill, Guy and Philip – all worked on the same project – such was the scale of the event. There was also a non-negotiable request from Steve Lakin that Guy be there for the aftershow party!  

    Pains has an illustrious history in the world of display explosives, the Deeker family has owned the company since the 19^th century, which itself dates back to the 16^th century. Pains’ first show in the Middle East was a bit more recent – in 1969. They also have a Dubai-based office and four full time staff.  

    Lakin gave Bill Deeker and firework designer Mike Jones a brief. He wanted a world class firework show, as integral to the performance as sound and lighting, and surpassing anything that you’d experience at an Olympic event. Pains supplied 10 crew from the UK plus the four staff from the Dubai office for the duration. They delivered an unparalleled memorable, show-stopping retinal experience.  

    Fireworks abounded,  - on the trusses, roof, windwall, backstage and across a ‘shell site’ with explosives packed into the sand dunes 1 km behind the windwall.  

    The stage cues were all fired by simple electronic systems. The globe swallowing sequence was fired manually via digital controller as it was dependent on the precise movement of the globes - the digital system dramatically reducing the amount of cabling required. The fireworks finale was triggered by time code.  

    Lakin and Mike Jones travelled to Spain to experiment with specific new firework effects, which Lakin chose for their stunning colours. Integrated into the finale was a special waterfall effect running the height and length of the windwall, and 12 automated giant Catherine Wheels were also attached to the windwall – all ignited simultaneously in another part of the show.
 

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Universal recognition

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DSF Opening Ceremony
Vital Stats include

• Purpose built site constructed specifically for the event
• Site built from the ground up in less than 4 months
• 102 crew from 5 continents
• 250 international performers onstage from 5 dance troupes
• 62 metre wide x 28 metre deep stage
• 50 metre wide StageCo roof, trim height of 25 metres (air lifted from Belgium in a specially chartered Boeing 747 freighter
• 15 moving trusses on and over the stage
• 72-way Ibex computer controller for all truss motion control
• 6 giant moving, rotating globes – between 15 and 12 metres in diameter (the largest weighing 25 tonnes)
• 5 x purpose built electricity generation substations on site – generating 5 Megawatts of power
• 4-segment moving stage, complete with elevator steps, powered by 12 hydraulic engines
• 2 additional double-scissor lifting platforms onstage
• 50 x 7Kw Space Cannon searchlights
• 340 assorted moving lights
• 2,300 lighting fixtures
• 80 Coemar Panoramas for environmental lighting
• 6 x 6Kw Pani Scenic projectors with AMD-12 slide-changers for the backdrop projections onto the wind-wall
• 2 x 12 Kw Scenic Pani projectors for logo projection
• Turbosound Floodlight/Flashlight PA
• 7 camera live video shoot
• Broadcast live on Dubai TV
• 19,000 firework effects - ignited in 7 a minute finale – the largest show for Pains Fireworks since the Royal Wedding in 1981

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Protec also supplied

• Under-stage dressing rooms for 250 artists
• Accommodation for 15 camels and their minders
• Print & design for 6,000 bi-lingual programmes
• Site office run by Rhonda Lakin
• Site Catering – in conjunction with the Dubai Police Academy –  up to 400 people on peak days
• Stupendously LARGE aftershow party for all performers and crew at the Dubai Park Hotel – which was wild, enjoyed by all, and finished at 7 a.m. the next morning!

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