Q1 Lights "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth"

While visitors to Canada's famed Calgary Stampede marveled at the spectacular nightly Grandstand show, few could begin to comprehend the complexities of the technical magic that truly does make this the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.

This year's 90-minute extravaganza, presented nightly from July 7th - 16th, was an unabashedly patriotic salute to Canada and Calgary, featuring a rotating stage with four hydraulic elevators, 2 23' rotating clock towers, 2 giant LED Videotron screens, all sorts of moving set pieces, continuous fireworks, a helicopter, and 280 singers, dancers and acrobats in non-stop motion.

Remarkably, the 300 ton main stage is moved on and off the rodeo field every evening by a gigantic tractor so that crowds at the daytime competition events never have an obstructed view. The mobile stage connects to an existing platform stage that houses the elevators and turntable. Dressing and wardrobe rooms, production offices and the power room are housed below the platform.

Once the 100' x 35' x 45' mobile stage travels into place right after the final chuck wagon race of the day, technicians hook up three 400 amp feeds and nine DMX lines. Quick change rooms are driven into place and finally the trailers carrying the pyro and fireworks are put in position. The show goes on rain or shine and often the crew has only moments from the time the stage is in position, to empty water out of the lighting fixtures, power the rig, test it, and go.

The lighting is a show in itself, and Lighting Designer/Director Pierre Marleau of Orange Frog Productions, along with Q1's Tracey Ploss, had a number of things to take into consideration when choosing the ideal equipment to serve the show's complex requirements. Clearly durability through extreme weather conditions was a factor but their main concern was getting enough intensity to cover 8000 square feet of stage from the 180 foot distance to the audience. Marleau used 96 VL3000 Spots and 26 VL2500 Spots and was thrilled with the results, remarking that "for the first time we could light a scene with front gobos and still have enough light to see the performers, and it's the first time that the camera crew didn't complain about a lack of lumination on stage". Additional equipment included 100 Color Kinetics LED Color Blast 12's, 8 Lycian M2 2.5 Follow Spots, 6 F-100 DMX Foggers and 26 racks of 4 Par 64 ACL's.

With over 1100 lighting cues and 75 stage moves, the technical crew, including Q1's Terry Muller and Todd Martin, Vari-Lite technician Danny Beardmore and automated lighting operator Michael Wilkinson, really had to be on top of their game to ensure the audience was kept on the edge of their seats from beginning to end. Q1's Ploss said his crew were especially pleased with how the Vari-Lite fixtures performed in extremes of heat, rain, hail,wind and dust storms, adding that when audiences are prepared to sit through all sorts of conditions, the equipment has to deliver.

The show, titled Canada: Moments in Time was created by Bill Avery and directed by Brian Foley with original music by composer Dave Pierce and set design by Lou Beaudoin. All ten performances were completely sold out with total attendance this year nearing 200,000.

Back to News