Technology behind lighting on Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow 2009

Right now a the big European show have started with semi-finals. My wife told me about how the scene lighting effects are spectacular at this years Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. (Swedish winner of “melodifestivalen”, Malena Ernman with her song "La Voix" did just qualify for the final)

I could not resist to try to find out more about who was behind it and how it was done.

60 trailer trucks totally of technical equipment making the show really spectacular. The scene changes for each artist and during their performance with 2000 m2 LED screens. 550 m2 of the LED screens are on the stage floor covered by 80,000 kg of glass.

Eventually I found out that PROCON is a supplier for the ESC 2009.

The Procon group, internationally leading full-service provider of technical equipment for events, film and TV productions, was appointed as technical supplier for the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow.

Procon will send 34 trailer trucks with technical equipment and a team of more than 70 people to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Contract value is in the seven-figure area.

In addition to this Sennheiser gives the following info.

Moscow is introducing 450 tonnes of the latest stage and lighting technology to the huge Olimpiyski Arena for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. 2,000 square metres of LED walls will bathe the two semi-finals on the 12th and 14th of May and the final, on the 16th of May, in an extraordinary display of light and colour.

The Olympic Arena can hold a crowd of 80,000 but as the stage of the 54th Song Contest is so vast —1,000 square metres — there will only be space for an audience of around 20,000!

“The incredible amount of lighting technology in the arena means there’s also an increase in RF disturbance,” explains Willemsen. LED walls in particular disturb radio transmission as they consist of hundreds of thousands of pulsed LEDs, creating broadband interference which reaches far into the UHF range used by wireless microphones. “That’s why precise frequency planning and the right choice of antennas and antenna locations are vital,” continues Willemsen. 56 microphone channels and 16 links for wireless monitoring will be in action in Moscow. - press release details.