Over 670 Clay Paky fixtures amazed two sold-out audiences of 68,000 at the first
European Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies, held June 12 and 28 at the
Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan. The fixtures were the backbone of the
incredible lighting design by Bob Dickinson and Ted Wells, assisted by lighting
director Travis Hagenbuch. Assistant lighting director was Charles Dabezias.
Executive Producer was Scott Givens of Five Currents.

The newly built 225,000-square-meter stadium was embellished with 437 units of
Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330, 66 units of Sharpy and 174 units of Clay Paky Mythos.
The fixtures were placed essentially everywhere, from Mythos on the field of play
surrounding the stage and lining the top of the stadium to the Sharpy and Sharpy
Wash 330 fixtures filling in every level in between.

The Opening Ceremony featured Lady Gaga performing “Imagine’ by John Lennon,
and the show featured approximately 2000 performers depicting the arrival of
spring along with acts showcasing Azerbaijani heritage. The light output and sharp
beams of the Clay Paky fixtures around the stadium provided stunning effects, even
keeping up with the massive pyrotechnic display overhead.

The artistic direction of the Opening Ceremony was led by Dimitris Papaioannou
with production designers Thanassis Demiris and Eva Manidaki. Eric Tucker was
pyrotechnic designer and Scott Willsallen the audio designer.

The Closing Ceremony was an equally dramatic jaw-dropper, including over 500 LED
hexagon panels carried by individual performers to create images on the field of
play, accompanied by three Buta stages featuring hip hop dancers.

The Closing Ceremony was led by artistic director James Hadley with creative
director Libby Hyland and production designer Josh Zangen. Nick Eltis was senior
technical director and Ola Melzig was the senior technical manager. Anders Karlsson
was the technical production manager, and Toomas Vann the senior production
manager. All Clay Paky fixtures were supplied by PRG.

The shows went off to perfection, gaining international acclaim and making the
event the biggest of 2015 and one of the most talked about events worldwide.