NYC’s Irving Plaza Installs Technospots, intellaspots

In-house LD Ian Davis installed eight Technospots in early October and four intellaspots in early November. The 1,100-capacity venue was in need of a full-on lighting system for a while, Davis said.

“I hadn’t had my lighting system at 100 percent in at least two years,” he explained, “and High End Systems Chris McMeen was the only person who understood my plight. It was a real struggle that had been affecting my ability to do the kind of show I wanted to do.”McMeen and Davis had talked about his lighting woes while McMeen was with another lighting company. Once McMeen joined High End Systems as the East Coast sales rep, he remembered Davis’ dilemma. “Chris took care of selling us our lights and got us an amazing deal on our first eight lights, the Technospots. After seeing the intellaspots at the recent Open House in New York, I decided to get the intellaspots to go with it to be sure that my new system would complete with the ridiculous intensity that the new LED movers are putting out these days. I made the right decision - the intellaspots and Technospots really make the lighting system stand out in this city.”

Regarding the Technospots, Davis says, “This is a great fixture at an unbelievable price. It is a small unit that competes in every way with the intellaspots, it has just about all the same attributes and super fast moving parts. With the same gobos, they are the perfect complement to each other.”

He is also pleased with the intellaspots. “I am really happy with the intensity. It can really get as bright as I would ever need it to be. Though they are 850 watt fixtures, they are much brighter than the 1200w fixtures I had before. The speed of the zoom and focus are awesome, you can hardly see them change. All the moving parts, for that matter, seem to be really fast.”  

Both fixtures feature the Indigo Highlighter feature, and Davis says he uses the effect frequently. “They make an amazing indigo glow in haze, which creates a dreamy feel. They also make an interesting look while strobing to dance music.”Davis gets a great reaction to the new lighting not only from the LDs but also the public who comes into the club for major headlining acts. “The color punch and brightness when fully zoomed have been mentioned a lot. Also talked about is the ability of High End Systems to always come up with an original idea that is a game changer, in this case the LEDs.”

Irving Plaza has a long history in the New York music scene, starting out in 1860 as a place for concerts and balls. It was rebuilt in 1888 undergoing a string of new identities, from a burlesque house to Yiddish, Soviet and Swedish film theatres and finally a Polish Army veterans community center. Finally in 1978, it underwent another refurbishment to take on its current identity as the major rock concert venue that it is today. And now with better lighting...