The Hot Ice Show at Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Photo: AC-ET’s UK Sales Director, Jonathan Walters and Amanda Thompson, Managing Director of Blackpool Pleasure Beach and President of Stageworks Worldwide Productions.

Top UK amusement park, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, are using Jands’ flagship Vista L5 console to control the lighting on their latest production of the world-famous ‘Hot Ice Show’ ice skating spectacular.

One of the UK’s most popular attractions, with nearly 20,000 visitors per week, skaters travel from across the globe to take to the ice in Blackpool for what has become the world’s longest running ice show. Included in the impressive line-up are stars from ITV’s ‘Dancing On Ice’, as well as Olympic and professional skaters.

‘Hot Ice Show’ is created, produced and directed by Amanda Thompson OBE and presented by Stageworks Worldwide Productions at the Pleasure Beach’s ice skating theatre, The Arena.

To create the production’s dynamic and highly theatrical feel, a spectacular light show, explosive pyrotechnic fire effects and a dramatic music soundtrack complement the skaters’ jaw-dropping moves.

Amanda Thompson, Managing Director of Blackpool Pleasure Beach and President of Stageworks Worldwide Productions, said: “Stageworks was already using the venue’s in-house Jands Vista T2 desk, which had been purchased in 2011 for the then production of Hot Ice Show.”

“We decided it was time to upgrade to the Vista range’s latest L5 console, to take full advantage of its increased power and feature set for Michael’s more ambitious 2014 show lighting design.”

Michael Seaman, LX programming/technical co-ordinator for Stageworks, said: “I’ve been using the Vista system since 2011 and absolutely love it. For past Hot Ice Shows we’ve used a big generic rig of Par Cans with gobo effects, so this year we decided to raise the bar by adding some LEDs to create beam lights and various other effects. The L5’s much larger screen is a massive help, as it makes being able to see the whole arena rig at the same time, including the extra LEDs, much easier. It’s a very responsive desk with impressive and fast processing capabilities.”

The Vista is controlling over 250 ways of dimming plus Prolights Prime beamlights, Martin Mac2000 profiles, Robe Robin 600 spots, Showtec sunstrips, and Prolights ArcLed 8107Q LED Pars.

Designed to cater for the ever increasing use of both media and LEDs in shows, the Vista L5 features a 21 inch High Definition Wacom display that provides a crisp, detailed image showing a huge amount of information in a flexible, clear and easy to understand way.

Underneath, the Vista L5’s powerful engine is provided by a Linux Operating System, Intel Core i7 processor and 8GB of Dynamic RAM, ensuring it’s able to deal with even the most demanding shows long into the future.

Stefano Visintin, Sound/Light and LX programmer for Stageworks, said: “The extra playbacks on the L5 are another big bonus for busking on the go, as we get a lot of one-day dance shows which we do on the fly. Along with the intuitive Vista v2 software and the L5’s large, backlit screen, plus the full size keyboard, it’s a great desk to use.”

Equally at home on tour or as a venue’s house console, the Vista L5 is ideal for arena touring, lighting companies, AV companies, venues and rental, not to mention a fantastic investment for a designer.

The L5 console was supplied to Stageworks Worldwide Productions by Jands UK dealer, A.C. Entertainment Technologies.

Currently in final production rehearsals, ‘Hot Ice Show’ begins its 100-show run on July 3rd at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. After the ‘Hot Ice Show’, the console will be used for various other productions hosted at the Blackpool attraction.

The Vista range includes a choice of portable, flexible control surfaces and self-contained consoles all running the same Vista v2. Jands’ award-winning lighting & media control system has been embraced by leading designers, companies and venues all over the world on a wide range of shows. Covering entertainment, education & drama, installations, corporate, events and worship, there’s a Vista system to suit all levels of user and almost any scale of show.

Recent shows featuring lighting or media control by Vista include international concert tours by Peter Gabriel, Fall Out Boy, Bloc Party, Deftones, Dierks Bentley and Little Big Town.