Some 280 MAC 2000 Wash fixtures made the trek from the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar in December to Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, UAE for the January 17th opening of the 18th Gulf Cup.

Lighting designer for the biennial football tournament�s Opening Ceremony was Paul Collison. �These fixtures in particular were amazingly reliable,� Paul comments. �They had already spent almost 3 months in dessert like conditions in Doha, Qatar, for the Asian Games. Over there we were hit with rain and dust. Once we got onsite in Abu Dhabi every single fixture was stripped and cleaned out. The PROCON service staff did an amazing job getting every fixture back online. Once the system was installed, I could count on one hand how many MAC 2K Washes were swapped out. They performed admirably.

�As far as I know, there is nothing that even comes close to a MAC 2000 Wash. They are by far the best fixtures when it comes to long throws, consistent color mixing, reliability and brightness. I can not see myself attempting a job of such scale with any other product.�

On a 20m diameter circle truss (by E.S.S and Stage One) supported by 8 towers outside of the stadium Paul placed 24 MAC 2000 Washes with accompanying automated spots. On the leading edge of the stadium roof were sixteen 12m trusses, each containing 8 MAC 2000 Washes and automated spots. Behind the audience, lighting the architecture and audience, were an additional 55 MAC 2000 Washes. On the field of play were 32 boxes in an 80m diameter circle each with 2 MAC 2000 Washes and automated spots. On the roof were 12 BigLite 4.5 fixtures with 4K Lycian followspots (4 each) at the roof, behind the audience and on the field of play. All lighting gear was supplied by German production company PROCON Multimedia AG.

Lighting Designer: Paul Collison
Creative Director: Andrew Walsh
Technical Director: Nick Eltis
Lighting Production Manager: Philby Lewis
Production Manager PROCON: Matthias Rau
Crew Chief PROCON: Daniel Steffe