As they say, the worst conditions are what make the experiences extraordinary. Take Laura Pausini, who has sold millions of albums throughout the world, won a Grammy award (the first Italian artist to have done this since 1958), an exceptional location (Milan’s Meazza/S.Siro stadium), and an outstanding two-hour show with a 10-piece band. Now imagine an oversized stage (70m wide, 24m high, 20m deep) with a huge 90sq-m widescreen at the center. In the back, scenography developed on 300-sq-m, with graphical effects of new generation, the first time Barco’s MiStrip was in Italy. At the sides of the stage, two more widescreens measuring 40-sq-m each showed live images of the sold out concert. Now, imagine all this incredible scenery hammered by an incessant rain during the load in, sound check, and actual show.

“In these cases, the reliability is everything,” says Francesco De Cave, stage designer, director, and light designer. He has been working with Pausini for five years. “We used 120 meters of Linea LED, light and flexible, to point out the forms of the stage. Sixty ParLite LEDs, placed inside the 40x40 trusses of 220 meters and mounted on 4 levels, lit the stage without a single problem during the downpour. Eighty iSpot Extremes–divided between trusses, back wall illumination, and the floor–made a wall of light of great intensity, where the latest generation MiStrip painted extraordinary effects.” He continues, saying, “We installed nearly 50 Panorama Power MK2 575 lamps, using them without frost lenses to make ‘rare’ light beams: focused, defined, uniform. Of these, Panorama 15 worked for back illumination on the Plexiglas stairs of the stage; the remaining, placed against the light toward the scene, generated a unique colored backwall.”

Extra lights were also provided for TV shooting. All along the outer walls of the stadium, 50 Infinity wash, 50 iSpot 1200S and 28 iSpot Extreme 6000s were installed.

Project: commissioned by Milano Concerti Live Nation
Stage designer, light designer, and director: Francesco De Cave www.francescodecave.it
Light contractor: Agorà
LED material for scenography: New Light
Stage: Francesco De Cave and Luigi Vallario
Coemar Gear:
- 120 meters Linea LED
- 60 ParLite LED
- 80 Spot Extreme
- 50 Panorama Power MK2 with 575 lamps

Extra Lights For TV Shooting
In charge of Production: Vittorio Della Casa, Run Service
Lighting designer: Johnny Mcaullac
Lighting contractor: MMS Milano Music Service
MA Lighting Operator: Theo Coxx
Coemar products:
- 50 Infinity Wash
- 50 iSpot 1200S
- 28 Ispot Extreme