01.04.2014 | The ADJ of Enlightenment.

The Patras Carnival is Greece’s spectacular display of pagan celebration and colour, one of the biggest of its type in Europe. Running over the three-week period preceding Lent and starting on the day of St. Anthony, the carnival happens each year in the country’s third largest city, Patras, and has a rich 180-year history.

The Carnival is made up of many events, including music, dance, parades, the children’s carnival, and a treasure hunt. At the heart and soul of the celebration are thousands of revelers, both young and old, including Greek nationals and foreign visitors. This year, the opening ceremony took place on Saturday 18th January in Georgiou Square in the centre of the city, where hundreds of carnival-goers took to the streets for music, dancing and celebration – after this, the fun continued in local clubs and bars across the city.

Behind the lighting of all this carnival magic was ADJ, as the square truly came alive with luscious, vibrant shades of red, purple, green and blue, with various effects adding to the festive atmosphere. The ceremony saw fireworks, dancing and an ADJ-lit stage on which the numerous acts performed, while the lighting show, technical installation and sound engineering were provided by Patsis Andreas, the owner of a Patras-based rental company called (in English) Sound + Show.

Opting to use ADJ equipment to deliver a stunning show – which featured new Greek mainstream-pop act called Melisses (meaning Bees, in English) as well as various local folk bands – Sound + Show’s setup included 18x Vizi Beam 5Rs, 12x Inno Color Beams, 10x Vizi Wash 108 fixtures and 2x Scenesetter 24 controllers.

“We’re incredibly pleased for ADJ equipment to have been used in such an historic and widespread event as the Patras Carnival,” Dirk Kast, Director of ADJ Europe, says. “Sound + Show used our Vizi Beam 5R, Inno Color Beam and Vizi Wash 108 fixtures, backed by our Scenesetter 24 controllers, to achieve a truly mesmerizing lightshow for the audience at the opening ceremony. Flooding the night-time square with stunning effects and pure lighting excitement can only have added to the already intense colourful atmosphere of the carnival;