New Year with Claypaky

Edinburgh's Hogmanay (Scottish New Year’s Eve) celebrations always draw big festive crowds with myriad activities and programs for all ages. For the 2023/24 event, Claypaky Skylos and Xtylos Aqua fixtures played key roles in the midnight moment where all eyes turned to Edinburgh Castle. Unique Assembly produced Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 2023/24 for Edinburgh Council and Event Scotland. The four-day program ushering in the new year included internationally acclaimed ABBA sensations Björn Again, headlining the Night Afore Disco Party and the New Year’s Revels birling an all-night cèilidh and live band party. Princes Street and Princes Street Gardens hosted some 50,000 party-goers at the world-famous Street Party and Concert in the Gardens, where everyone looked to the hill top Castle as midnight approached. Lighting Designer Ben Terry was tasked with enhancing the crucial moment and showcasing Edinburgh Castle as the center piece of Hogmanay. To achieve this he aligned 10 Claypaky Skylos laser-source search lights and 16 Xtylos Aqua IP66-rated laser-source moving heads along the Argyll Battery, the main artillery defense on the north side of the Castle in days gone by. “I hoped the Skylos would have the punch to fill the sky and be seen through the firework smoke. They definitely delivered and were incredibly eye-catching, ” Terry reports. “The Xtylos Aqua were tried and tested from their use in last year’s Hogmanay, and once again, they proved to be bright, colorful, and versatile.”

London welcomed 2024 with its biggest ever New Year’s Eve fireworks, lightsand drone show on the banks of the Thames River. Lighting Designer Tim Routledge returned for a second year to light the giant London Eye ferris wheel choosing laser-source Claypaky Skylos fixtures to deliver spectacular beam effects from each of the Eye’s 32 pods.The festivities featured more than 12,000 fireworks, 600 drones, 430 lights and a varied soundtrack of songs and voice-over clips. Attending the huge party were 100,000 lucky ticket holders while millions around the world watched on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Routledge positioned 32 Skylos in the Eye’s passenger pods or capsules to create amazing beam effects that complemented the fireworks and drone display in the night sky. Neg Earth supplied the Skylos fixtures, which are much more than classic search lights. Skylos is an ultra-versatile and weather-resistant fixture with incredible light output and outstanding construction features. Its custom 300W white light laser source provides an extremely parallel, uniform beam. Considering its light output and the size of the front lens, the body of this remarkable light is lightweight and compact –a must for mounting high up on the London Eye. The fixture’s IP66 rating was also a plus for this challenging application. "We used Skylos as a new fixture this year, as we had been looking for something new that could cut through the fireworks and the sheer amount of smoke they generate,” explains Routledge. “Skylos did us proud with punchy, bright beams that looked even more stunning when used with the prism effect that gave us a unique look with hundreds of beams emanating from the Eye’s architecture. They helped create a great night that really packed a punch."