GERDON DESIGN recently built the lighting system for the 28-date European tour around several products from the line, using the series’ consistent colour quality and versatility to complement a projection-based production where the entire stage serves as a mapped canvas.
DJ BoBo is a defining figure of the Eurodance era. With more than 15 million records sold, the Swiss artist is among the most successful in the genre. He’s also just as well known for his elaborate live productions, which combine music, storytelling, dance and visual spectacle.
His latest production, The Great Adventure, launched with four premiere shows at Europa-Park in Rust, Germany. This occurred in mid-January, before the main European tour run of 28 arena dates, which stretches from 1 May to 14 October 2026. Lighting design is once again the work of GERDON DESIGN, who have collaborated with the artist since his 2022 tour run.
“The premiere shows at Europa-Park went very, very well,” said Thomas Gerdon, Managing Director of GERDON DESIGN. “Once again, this is a projection-based design, with the entire stage set serving as a mapped surface. For us as lighting designers, that means working with great precision and attention to detail, because a lot of white scenic surface is used for video content.”
The set itself is deliberately minimal, designed as a canvas for the visual narrative. Projection defines the staging, with the lighting design filling a complementary role. That results in the lighting enhancing what the projection establishes, rather than competing with it.
The lighting system features 113 fixtures from GLP’s X5 series, including 49 impression X5, 46 impression X5 Compact and 18 impression X5 IP Maxx. Building the entire rig from a single product family was deliberate, rooted in the demands of a production where visual consistency is a non-negotiable.
“I’m a real advocate of the X5 series fixtures,” said Gerdon. “The show works more like a musical than a conventional concert. The entire stage becomes part of the visual content. For that, we need exceptional colour brilliance in the lighting. The impression X5 allows us to reflect virtually any colour in the content, either by matching it or contrasting it. It was also important to create a consistent visual language, which can only be achieved reliably with fixtures from the same series.”
The production is shaped by two contrasting creative demands. In songs where dancers, flags and acrobats fill the stage, the lighting’s primary role is to ensure visibility without drawing attention away from the performance. In the more intensive dance numbers, that logic inverts itself entirely.
“In the dance numbers, the lighting has to actively enhance the energy,” said Gerdon. “In those moments, the lighting becomes a performer in its own right.”
Two trusses, mid and back, which are positioned above the main stage, carry the impression X5 units. This provides the broad, even base wash that anchors the look of the show. With up to 22 dancers on stage at one time, that wash creates the unified colour field needed to visually connect performers with the surrounding projection.
The impression X5 Compact fixtures line the full performance area, from the main stage through to the catwalk and B-stage. They deliver effects and ambient lighting, and they also serve as footlights along the edges of the performance space.
The B-stage, a large platform used by performers including some of Switzerland’s top artistic gymnasts, features impression X5 IP Maxx units installed beneath grated platform sections to create uplight accents. Two moments in the show make particular use of this placement.
In Pray, the singer stands alone on the B-stage, accompanied only by a followspot and columns of red uplight from the X5 IP Maxx. The fixtures give the scene visual depth and atmosphere without dominating a moment that is deliberately exposed and restrained.
In We Make a Change, the same fixtures become a defining visual element of an entirely different kind. A light fabric cloth that is moving in the airflow of fans positioned beneath the stage is lit from below in intense blue. The material catches the light and appears to glow from within.
The show follows an overarching narrative where DJ BoBo embarks on a journey through different worlds, with large-scale scenic elements amplifying the sense of spectacle at key moments. These include two twelve-metre-high inflatable skeleton kings and a giant flying eagle with a wingspan of 26 metres, suspended above the stage, which appears at the climax of the show.
Across the full run of The Great Adventure tour, the X5 series gives GERDON DESIGN the colour fidelity, flexibility and consistency to work in precise relationship with a projection-based concept, shifting between support and spectacle as the show demands.
