Ayrton Kyalami beams on Swedish Idol

Launched in 2004 and part of a global franchise, Swedish Idol is one of the most popular shows on Swedish television. Broadcast live on channel TV4, it provides a glittering platform on which hopeful Swedish singing stars can showcase their talents and compete to gain widespread recognition.

The latest series of live performances ran from 12 October to 7 December at the Filadelfia Convention Center in central Stockholm, and was lit by lighting designer, Linus Pansell, who included Ayrton Kyalami, Rivale Profile and MagicBlade FX fixtures in his rig.

“The Kyalamis and MagicBlades were crucial for me to build the show,” says Pansell. “I’m usually quite negotiable to changing fixtures to fit the suppliers’ inventories, but this time I really wanted these specific fixtures. I could easily swap out other lights in the rig, but I was very specific about Kyalami and MagicBlade!”

The major part of the Swedish Idol set was a large LED wall, “so beams were the only good option to get lights around the performers,” says Pansell. “I wanted the Kyalamis because of their very sharp beam and vivid colours, which I needed to punch through the brightness of that LED wall. I also really like the form factor of the Kyalami which is very pretty and not like a conventional yoke fixture. As, these fixtures were on the floor and silhouetted by the screen, the look of the unit was really important too.”

Pansell floor-mounted 24 Kyalami units on Wahlberg poles, and rigged 18 Rivale Profile overhead. 36 MagicBlade FX were rigged in a grid wall behind the screen (‘as narrow as possible’) from where Pansell used them for zoomed out flare effects as well as blade looks. “I really like the endless pan and tilt/spin function on the MagicBlades and the fact that I can make different shapes for different songs. We light about 130 songs each season so it’s really important to have a good toolbox to make new shapes and identities. There are alternatives among other brands but the MagicBlade FX has a centre pixel which was important to me. For example, I can pan-spin the fixture endlessly with only the centre pixel lit for a static look, and then flash the other pixels to very quickly change from a static to a moving look – the viewer can’t really understand what’s going on, and I love that!”

Compact, lightweight fixtures are an important requirement for the Filadelfia Convention Center, which was one reason why Pansell chose Rivale Profile. “Initially the Rivale Profile was not a key product for me, but I was really impressed by its output and also with the amount of output still achievable using colours. It’s very nice to have all that power, colour and functionality with in a small, light fixture.”

Soundforce, one of the largest rental and production companies in Sweden, supplied the Ayrton fixtures – the Rivale Profiles from their own rental inventory, and the Kyalami and MagicBlade FX subrented from Hyrljudet of Goteborg.

« We had been looking for a small, fast, narrow beam fixture with CMY colour mixing,” says Hyrljudet’s Kristoffer Janssons who had recently made the investment into Kyalami and MagicBlade FX. “When Kyalami was first released we had high expectations, and when we first saw it in action we didn’t need to look any further. We are very happy with our investment and we will add more units in the near future. »

Ayrton is distributed exclusively in Sweden by Topstage.
Lighting operator- Isak Gabre
Video operator – Björn Holmberg
Screen content – Greenwall Designs