James Thomas Pixel Fixtures were utilised in a number of non conventional ways at Glastonbury 2005, including the architectural illumination of the Festival’s iconic Pyramid Stage, seen – literally - in a completely new light for the first time!

These various lateral applications of Pixel fixtures illustrated their energy-saving properties, their innate adaptability and their low heat emissions. The latter specifically enabled them to be encased in plastic and other impromptu weatherproofing materials to protect them from the meteorological adversities like wet, damp, rain and resulting swamp like conditions! As we all know, these were in abundance at this year’s Festival.

Pyramid Illuminations

Pixel’s Chris Ewington and Pyramid Stage LD Andy Porter (AKA Fraggle) had been speaking about architecturally lighting the Pyramid for the last couple of years. In 2004, Fraggle used PixelPAR 90s to illuminate the internal structural detail of the lighting rig. This year, with the new 110ec PixelLine wash fixture coming on line, the time was perfect to take the scheme further.

He placed 18 PixelLine 110ec’s around the base of the stage, each lying on bits of trussing pointing upwards to wash the skin of the Pyramid. The internal trussing of the structure was again lit - with 24 PixelPAR 90s.

The Pixel fixtures were all controlled by Fraggle’s laptop running JTE’s PixelDrive software. Fraggle used the Scheduler in PixelDrive to switch on in the mornings and run throughout the day, gradually fading in as darkness enveloped the environment. As the lights draw very little power, the cost of leaving them on all day was not an issue. The 110s and the PAR90s were each run on a different layer of PixelDrive.

The Pyramid was lit in solid red on the Friday night for the White Stripes and in blue on Saturday for Coldplay’s headline slot. On the Sunday, for Basement Jaxx’s stonking closing headline set, it was a combination of congo and pink and also scrolled through some rainbow looks.

“They are just fabulous fixtures” states Fraggle on the 110ec’s. Lighting the Pyramid proved a bit hit with everyone from festival goers to the BBC who filmed the show every day, to the various production crew working on that area of the site. On PixelDrive, he says, “It’s a great piece of control software – quick and easy to use and highly flexible. It also ran on my old laptop, which was ideal for a ‘muddy field’ situation.

The Glade Area, run by Mark Parsons, took advantage of 12 of JTE’s new 21 Watt PixelPUP fixtures to internally light a 10 metre diameter inflatable star. This acted as a beacon visible from all across the site, drawing people into the magical Glade area.

The PixelPUPs were set to an auto RGB and Amber chase. The Glade’s “G” stage was lit up with 18 PixelPipes – also a recent addition to the Pixel Range, plus a PixelLine 110ec, again all run from a PixelDrive computer.

Budweiser crown tent

In the Budweiser Crown tent, LD’s Nick Jevons and Phil Winward of Electric Fly Productions used 17 James Thomas PixelLine 1044 battens to make a literal light sculpture translation of Budweiser’s Crown logo.

This served equally well as a powerful daytime lighting statement upstage as it did for producing lighting effects for the many bands performing in this area. They also used 5 PixelPAR 90s for general stage wash lighting – with all units and the other stage lights run from an Avolites Pearl.

Taking Centre Stage ….

In addition to these more off-beat uses of Pixel Fixtures, many LDs integrated them into band sets and performances on the main stages, including LD Leggy for Basement Jaxx, closing the festival on the Pyramid stage complete with 26 PixelLines, and Jonny Gaskell, LD for Fatboy Slim, who rocked the Other Stage in spectacular style on the Friday night. Pixelline 11044s were also used by Colour Sound Experiment as an integral element of the Dance Tent lighting.