Taking the genre of illusionism into a completely new dimension, brothers Chris and
Andreas Ehrlich – who had already played to over half a million people on their
“Magic – Experience Dreams’ arena tour put on a special performance, “Magic – A
Unique Stadium Show’ at the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt.

Designing all visual departments – stage, video and television, effects lighting
(design and operating) and co-ordinating the OB and camera technology – for this
truly jaw-dropping spectacular experience was the team from Cologne based visual
design and creative practice mo2, led by Manfred “Ollie’ Olma.

They used 200 Robe lighting fixtures – 180 Pointes, 20 x BMFL Blades and around
1500 other fixtures to help achieve a remarkable event. There were also some Robe
PATT 2013s included from the Ehrlich Brothers standard touring package, all of
which was incorporated into the stage set up for this show.

It was the first ever magic show to play a football arena and was certified
immediately afterwards as an official World Record for the “most viewers at a
magic show’ by Guinness World Records in recognition of the 38,503 fans who
packed into the venue to make it an amazing evening.

The performance was recorded for DVD and broadcast – a package of 19 x 4K
cameras and 6 x GoPros was also undertaken by mo2 – so when it came to lighting,
there were many challenges.

Some elements of the existing arena show had to be expanded to fit the space, and
new stadium-sized pieces of magic had to be incorporated. An additional B-stage
was built in the centre of the auditorium which had to be lit for 360 degree camera
work … and the production time was tight!

The stage was constructed at one end of the stadium, and the production made the
most of an existing LED screen that had been installed to relay coverage of the Euro
2016 Football Championships and integrated this into the show as a centre stage
screen, with the addition of left and right IMAG screens.

The 180 Pointes were rigged over the stage and around the auditorium and used to
light the stage, infield and audience.

The 20 x BMFL Blades were used for key-lighting on the main stage and the B-
Stage. The shutters were perfect for precise focusing of the light exactly where it
needed to be.

mo2’s project manager was Matthias Allhoff. The lighting programmer / operator
was Marcus Kromer, who is also LD for the ongoing Ehrlich Brothers “Magic –
Experience Dreams’ tour. Lighting equipment for the stadium show was supplied by
the Pool Group.

Programmer / operator for the TV lighting elements was Tobias Reinartz. The
media server operator was Moritz Herdt and the video content designer was Saskia
Olma. Max Brokbals provided additional support and assistance at FOH, and the
gaffer was Tobias Hann.