Christie rocks "Booster Silent Night" Concert

Booster, from Mönchengladbach, is one of the most successful cover bands in Germany, having given over 2,000 concerts during their thirty-odd-year history. For 14 years now, the “Booster Silent Night” series of concerts, which take place during the Christmas period, has become an event not to be missed for many locals. With audiences now numbering more than 7,000 people, over the past few years it has developed into one of the biggest events in the Lower Rhine region. And this year’s sold out show was no different: the well-loved band delighted fans of all ages in the festively decorated “Kunstwerk” events venue in Mönchengladbach with a mixture of international hits, rock and pop classics as well as Christmas melodies. Like the year before year, projection and display technology from Christie came into play.

The technical planning of the event was carried out by Fuse Media, and the video technical support by LivePlus event marketing GmbH, a long-standing partner of Christie’s. The company, based in Mönchengladbach, has been taking care of top-class events ever since 2006, and consistently uses Christie products: “At events such as the ‘Booster Silent Night’, quality is our first priority. We keep coming back to Christie technology because we have always been extremely pleased with their products as regards performance and reliability. At local events it’s also nice to know that you’ve got a partner right there on the spot - that helps in so many ways,” explains Dennis Vander, LivePlus project manager.

Two Roadster HD20K-J projectors were used for the soft-edge main projection, with two Roadster HD12K-J projectors for the side projections. The compact and powerful 3DLP® projectors ensure impressively sharp images with outstanding brightness and the greatest possible reliability in operation. The Christie Twist technology, integrated as standard into all J-series projectors, allows quick, easy and seamless edge blending of multiple curved images, via one simple user interface. This also makes it possible to warp pictures in almost any format or display form. During the events, Christie Twist versions 1.6 and 2.0 were used to set up the projectors to shine on swathes of semi-transparent fabric, known as sails, as well as for soft-edge projection in the background. “The way the light shines through the fabric makes the stage seems to immediately open up and appear bigger,” says Vander.

The Christie Twist technology made it possible to combine J-series projectors with Christie Autostack accessories. Autostack is a camera-based, software-driven system that allows images to be automatically aligned in multiple-projector arrays and blended together. Vander explains: “At this location there were extreme changes in temperature between concerts at different times, as the heating is switched off during the week. The Autostack solution was a back-up in case we’d needed to recalibrate the soft edge.

In addition to the projection equipment, they used a Christie Spyder X20 video processor with integrated source monitoring for the distribution of the six camera signals as well as the six Pandora’s Box players in real time. A total of 12 inputs and 8 outputs were used.

The content that was shown on the projection screens consisted of live pictures of the band as well as Christmas-themed animations, which added even more to the festive atmosphere in the venue.

LivePlus used LCD panels for the camera direction: the Christie FHD551-XG with a 55” screen for the main direction, as well as a Christie FHD461-X (46”) for the backstage camera. These are ideally suited for use with the Spyder X20. Both models boast an ultra-narrow bezel and offer full HD resolution as well as high pixel density.

“As the space available for equipment was very limited, we needed very compact machines for both direction and projection, that were easy to set up and minimise installation time, but still deliver impressive images,” explains Vander. High reliability in operation is also an absolute must for live events.”

Booster’s lead singer René Pütz sums it up: “The success of our show depends on a huge variety of different elements. A very important one is the perfect functioning of the technical set-up; because we have to concentrate on our performance on the stage, we need equipment we can rely on and technical partners who work in the background so that we don’t need to worry. Over the last two years with the Christie equipment this has worked really well.”

Clearly, the audience was as delighted as usual with the stage show and atmosphere generated. This successful series of concerts therefore seems certain to continue.