The 7th May 2023 concert celebrated the coronation of King Charles III. It was produced,
staged, and broadcast by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) to over 100 countries
around the world. Located on Windsor Castle’s East Lawn, the elegant “open” set and stage
designed by Stufish provided guests with a breath-taking perspective of the castle.
Liteup was awarded the contract as the technical supplier for Lighting and Lighting Rigging
collaborating with Nigel Catmur, the concerts lighting designer.
The Brief
The concert had to be lit for both live and TV audiences and the lighting needed to be versatile,
dynamic, impactful, sustainable and somewhat weatherised to deal unforgiving nature of the
English May weather.
The Project
Only six weeks separated the start of the build from the contract award, so Liteup organised their
team to collaborate on different project components. Utilising the variety of abilities present in the
larger team, they produced mm accurate CAD plans, impressing producers, the royal household,
and the wider production team while working effectively to meet client deadlines.
Lighting
Since both the BBC and King Charles III are well-known advocates of sustainability and eco-friendly practices, there was a push to keep the lighting as environmentally friendly as as possible by minimising power consumption and using LED sources whenever possible. Approximately 900 lighting fixtures, reflecting the lumen power, flexibility, and finesse to create the blockbuster core looks Nigel the designer wanted for each individual performance, were made available to us thanks to Liteup’s extensive inventory.
In addition to providing production lighting, Liteup was asked by Nigel to provide specials for roll-on DJ booths for Pete Tong’s set and for German DJ Robin Schulz, who
performed with Take That in their set opener, “Greatest Day.” Both of these requests involved a large number of LED strip lights that were custom-fabricated in Liteup’s in-house workshop and looked lively and animated. Due to the nature of the set and staging design, one of the main challenges with the system
design was getting any plant near the roof or the delay towers once the stage floor was installed.
As a result, lighting components also needed to be designed to be independently serviceable without requiring this for access.
Rigging
Nigel’s overhead lighting design and trussing configuration was based on the idea of a slightly
abstracted Union flag, a WOW-factor look he wanted to reveal as William, Prince of Wales, took to
the stage and made a short speech shortly before the two final acts of the evening came on-
stage.
The design involved Liteup fabricating custom wood and metalwork to give the precise
positioning for some of the fixtures on both the stage and on the roof of the castle using our
in-house fabrication team.
The onstage rigging required 70 rigging points to fly 28 lighting trusses. Liteup had to ensure that
none of the late 12th century stone walls and floors of the Castle were damaged during the setup,
use or de rig of the event. The architectural lighting trusses often had to be anchored so they sat
over but not on the stonework to get fixtures in the correct positions.
Across the whole site the vast rig was installed over 8 days.
The stage rigging, including the roof trusses and stage uprights, took
three days to build and a further day to rig all the lighting fixtures.
Across the rest of the site multiple structures were created with additional
lighting added.
The collaboration between all suppliers culminated in a breath-taking celebration.
The meticulous planning and technical abilities of the team shone through, seamlessly
balancing versatility, impact, and sustainability. The result was a visually spectacular event that
not only showcased Windsor Castle’s grandeur but marked a mementos occasion in British
history.
