DEADMAU5 ROCKS SOUTH AFRICA
Acclaimed as the hottest electronic artist in the world, Joel Zimmerman aka Deadmau5, is widely recognised as the guy in the massive mouse head equipped with built-in LEDs sporting video mapping and wowing the crowds with mind-blowing performances and productions. Based in Toronto, this Canadian progressive, electro and house music producer hit South African shores in December last year with a three cities tour. It kicked off in Cape Town at the CTICC and the following day moved to Durban for an ‘unhooked’ show which did not have the full lighting and video rig. This gave the crew at CTICC a day and a half to strike the kit, transport it up to the Johannesburg venue, Wild Waters H2O, and get it rigged in time for the final show.
Gearhouse took care of gear whilst Dillon Jearey, MD of Kilowatt AV, took care of all logistics, planning and production for all technical equipment for the entire tour. LEDVision, the screen division of Gearhouse supplied the back screen. With the majority of the kit specified and sourced locally, Gearhouse SA pulled out all the stops in a busy December period. They supplied all the Martin MACs in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban and MGG Productions supplied the Martin LC2140 panels.
A huge stage setup with massive amounts of LED screen and intelligent lighting created an electrifying atmosphere. The backdrop was a R16 Lighthouse LED screen with a low resolution Martin LC 2140 Semi-transparent LED screen directly in front of it, allowing a mix of higher resolution and lower resolution footage to be displayed on each screen to create incredible visuals that appeared to be 3D. An X-Truss lined with 1M LED bars, Martin MAC250 Entours and MAC2000S were hung in front of the screens. The custom cube DJ box was covered in PixLED F11 LED tiles with MAC101s dotted around it and Martin Atomic strobes completing the setup. Downstage were more PixLED F11 cubes, hung to appear as though floating in the air. All video content was run off Catalyst media-servers and a Road HOG Full Boar Console with backup.
The tour was a huge success and Deadmau5 was exuberant in his thanks to South African fans. “Now that’s what I call a tour! Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg totally melted my face! You couldn't have convinced me anymore – 100% coming back again next year! I'll be taking the SA pride home with me to share with the rest of the world.“
