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P3 Purmerend upgrades lighting with Robe

A package of Robe moving lights has been installed at the P3 popodium music venue in Purmerend, a city and municipality in the province of North Holland in the west Netherlands. The recent upgrade, originally planned before the pandemic and delivered once the restrictions started being lifted, comprises fourteen Esprites, eight Paintes, sixteen LEDBeam 350s, eight LEDBeam 150s and four T1 Profiles.

P3 has two music halls - of 850 and 350 capacity - and a theatre space that accommodates 130. The venue opened on April Fool’s Day 2006, and the now head of technical and production, Ferry Veenman, has worked there for seventeen years, the first six as a bartender; one of the regular lighting technicians, Edo van Randen, has clocked up eighteen years.

Veenman now looks after all things technical in three live music halls plus five rehearsal rooms, one of which is a studio. The venue features a functional modern architecture look, complete with a hydraulic entrance door, and is a well-known regional creative hub. At least two or three shows and events are hosted each week and P3 also produces its own.

When P3 opened nineteen years ago, some Robe 575 ColorSpot and ColorWash moving lights were in the main hall rig. At the time they were among the first installed in the Netherlands, and they were still working when recently removed and replaced. In 2012, ten Robe LEDWash 300s were purchased from Controllux, Robe’s Benelux distributor, and at the time, these were again among the first in the country in a fixed installation.

Like many venues in the Netherlands, P3 is local government-funded and run via a foundation. The discussion about revamping the lighting started during the pandemic, partly prompted by the requirement that all venues nationwide transition to LED lighting to be more sustainable and consume less power. Veenman, who also works as a freelance LD, consulted his crew including P3’s most regular freelancers, plus the management board and some external lighting professionals. He wanted to get a clear understanding of people’s opinions on the best fixture combinations from all their different perspectives.

A primary reason they chose Robe again was that those old ColorSpot 575s were still going eighteen years later. “If you can get that long out of a fixture, it represents excellent value for money”, comments Veenman, “it’s really not rocket science.” Robe’s TE lightsource in the Esprites and Paintes reinforced this thinking. “I’ve seen firsthand the potential longevity of the Robe hardware”, Veenman notes, “so being able to replace the LED engine is a definite bonus.”

P3 has had Avolites consoles in house since 2008, initially purchased on the recommendation of Maikel Sakkers who was working as a lighting tech and programmer at the time and is now one of Controllux’s key account handlers for lighting. Ninety-five percent of the shows at P3 will be lit by Veenman and his team.

Pictured (left to right): Maikel Sakkers (Controllux) with P3 head of technical Ferry Veenman and lighting technician Edo van Randen. (Photos: Louise Stickland/Paul Clarke)

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