grandMA Joins Prince’s Welcome 2 America Shows

Prince played two shows at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey then moved to Madison Square Garden for three performances before and after Christmas. The in-the-round stage was shaped like his famous, unpronounceable name symbol – essentially three catwalks joined by a circle. His band played in the center of the loop.

The entire stage was outlined by Nocturne V-9 LED screens, driven through a Control Freak Systems media server with audio and MIDI control, which were treated as lighting elements. Fyssicopulos used the grandMA to control the CFS VU meter function that feed the video cells outlining the stage so they could modulate to the music.

MIDI was also used as a triggering signal for visual effects. Signals came from the different musical instruments into the Control Freak rack and triggered a cue list for the particular song. Fyssicopulos teamed with lighting director Garry “Sport” Waldie before and during the shows to make changes on the fly as Sport ran the recorded cues.

The grandMA controlled the CFS rack and a lighting system of Vari*Lite VL3500Wash, Bad Boys and Martin moving lights. Four cameras mounted on tripods plus two robotic cameras and at least one handheld camera recorded the shows. Video was fed by IMAG. Malcolm Weldom was production manager for Welcome 2 America with Dan McDonough, Jr. the crew chief.

A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive distributor of grandMA in North America.

About MA Lighting

MA Lighting International, based in Paderborn, Germany, is the dedicated sales, support and service entity for the renowned grandMA control systems, digital dimming systems, networking tools and media servers of MA Lighting Technology, based near Wuerzburg, Germany. The product range offers cutting-edge solutions for control and dimming, including the award-winning grandMA/grandMA2 consoles, the popular Lightcommander and reliable digital dimmer racks and packs. With its innovative MA Video Processing Unit (VPU) MA bridges the lighting and video worlds. Today, MA Lighting is respected for its technical knowledge and has achieved a unique international reputation for its operational philosophy. The company offers 25 years experience and strictly follows a professional user-centric approach, getting as close as possible to the market via its own international offices and support centres in the UK, North America, Latin America, the Middle East/India, Asia Pacific and Scandinavia/Eastern Europe/Russia – supported by a world-wide distribution and service network.