Ayrton Cobra raves with Verknipt at Amsterdam’s Johan Cruijff ArenA

Dutch pioneer of the hard techno industry, Verknipt, has been known for its wild techno music events for over a decade, hosting multiple festivals at a number of locations across the Netherlands. With a growing worldwide following, the events are a melee of wild lighting and laser shows combined with ‘freaky’ performances to the tunes of stellar line ups of hard rave artists.

Verknipt ArenA, which took place on 20th July 2024, was the biggest yet: a record-breaking, history-making, body-shaking gathering of 40,000 ‘slaves to the rave’. Classed as ‘the worlds’ biggest hard techno rave,’ the sold-out event was the first ever for Verknipt at Amsterdam’s Johan Cruijff Arena.

Netherlands-based Martin Ciesluk of Outside the Circle, the company that designed and ran the light show for Verknipt ArenA, ensured that Ayrton Cobra was one of the visual headliners, using 58 of the laser-sourced, IP65-rated fixtures to create an enclave of light around the artists in the vast open space of the country’s largest stadium.

Ciesluk rigged 20 Cobra fixtures in the truss above the DJ and Media stage, and placed another 20 on the floor, using the combination of both to create a ‘DJ cage’ with the Cobra’s narrowest beams from above and below. “I really wanted to have something to play with in such a big venue, and this arrangement meant we could make a big impact on a small part of the arena at any time we wanted, focusing in on the artist inside the cage as they were playing.”

Ciesluk added another dimension, taking advantage of Cobra’s small form factor, by adding kinetic rings rigged on winches around each Cobra which he could animate around the Cobra beam as it hung in its vertical position. “Despite the huge venue, we could use this combination to introduce moments of a more theatrical, artistic nature that provided a great contrast to the hard techno look of the music,” explains Ciesluk. “The whole rig was also mounted on a moving rig, so the 20 aerial Cobra, and kinetic rings could be lowered in closer to the artist to create a small, cool club feeling. And when the full rig was raised again, the contrast to the enormous venue was insane!”

The remaining 18 Cobra were located across the full width of the Special FX Stage, downstage of the main artist area. “We could run really powerful effects across these fixtures so you would really see and feel the vastness of the big venue. Cobra’s powerful beam and the extremely narrow zoom function were just awesome in doing this!” confirms Ciesluk.

Ciesluk also added Ayrton Rivale Profiles for key and front light, placing 6 along the 18m long catwalk which, even at a throw distance of around 30m “still had plenty enough output for the full length of the catwalk” and a further 5 Rivale Profiles in the cage, directed towards the DJ, which he used mainly as back- and toplight.

Ciesluk was aided in his preparations by Chris van Etten of Ampco Flashlight Sales, Ayrton’s exclusive distributor for The Netherlands, who ‘after some demos, talks and some strategic supplies of chocomelk!” supplied Ciesluk with a demo Cobra that allowed him to pre-program and fine-tune his set prior to the event.

The supplier for Verknipt ArenA event was Ampco Flashlight Rental.

A taste of Verknipt ArenA 2024 can be viewed on YouTube at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmIMMjgiqWY

Text: Julie harper

Photos: © Tim van Etten