Robe iFORTES ‘Amble’ for four amazing arena shows

Irish indie-folk trio Amble played three phenomenal sold-out shows at Dublin’s 3 Arena – their largest headlining gigs to date – plus one at Belfast’s SSE Arena, cementing their popularity at the heart of Ireland’s lively music scene, complete with lighting designed by Steven Douglas.

Steven leaned into using 68 Robe iFORTE and 60 Robe Spiider moving lights as the primary lighting and effects fixtures for the show, supplied, together with other lights, sound, video and rigging, by Dublin-based rental company, Just Lite, project-managed by John McGuinness and Paul Smith.

Steven first met the band – Robbie Cunningham, Oisín McCaffrey, and Ross McNerney – when they were opening for Hozier, also one of his clients, on a US tour. They liked what he was doing and asked him to produce some lighting magic for them, culminating with these four high-profile arena shows.

Amble liked the idea of having a big back wall of lights, so after initial discussions, Steven took this as a starting point and framed this with an eye-catching LED pros arch to complement the wall of Spiiders. In addition to the three members of the band, these Dublin shows featured up to six guest performers onstage. Fundamental to Steven’s aesthetic, in addition to creating a fantastic lightshow, was “keeping them close together.”

Their success trajectory has been rapid – day jobs were quit and recording contracts were only signed in 2024 – so they are still relatively used to performing on much smaller stages. “I didn’t want to have a 60 ft wide stage with a load of dead space and people feeling uncomfortable,” Steven explained, so the LED pros and the back wall of lights functioned as practical set pieces, to which he added risers for guest artists.

The back wall of 10 wide and 6 high Spiiders on ladder trusses made a big dramatic statement and Steven also used it to create subtle twinkling and kinetic effects. Spiiders gave him “many options” and were interspersed with some blinders and strobes.

Spiiders were chosen as he wanted “a big face wash light,” adding that the central chip and Flower Effect were instrumental “in giving the show a unique look and an edge at times.”

The 68 x iFORTES were positioned on the overhead and front trusses and also on side torms with 12 fixtures on the floor for some rear lumen power.

Steven has used the iFORTE numerous times. It is a go-to when working festivals, so he knew it was a “bright, reliable, versatile choice with a good gobo set,” and that it would produce all the effects he was envisioning as well as excellent key light.

Six of the iFORTES rigged on the front truss were paired with a remote follow spot system with two front lights each designated to the three Amble band members together with one iFORTE from the back – on a separate truss just upstage of the pros – so for every person there were 3 iFORTE follow spots. They were complemented by side lighting from another 8 iFORTES to complete the key light picture.

The 12 iFORTES on the floor were used for big, bold, sumptuous beamy backlight looks.

Time was tight, there was no pre-production time at the arena – they loaded in and went straight into the first show – however Steven was able to build most of the show on Capture and spent two intense days of pre-vizzing at Just Lite’s studio in Dublin.

Prior to the Arena shows, Steven completed a quick run of shows with the band in the UK in smaller venues like Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom and London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire, carrying only a small floor package in a trailer with the main workhorse being 6 x Robe Spiiders.

For Steven, it was a fun experience to work with a fast-rising band again who are “great lads and very enthusiastic” to deliver these landmark arena shows and get the chance to present a clean, modern look that focused on Amble and their music being the centre of the action, surrounded by a slick and creative supporting production.

“It’s very much a show about the band’s performance, so we created an architecture around them and lit it appropriately, putting all the emphasis on them but with capacity to go a little crazier as the show evolved,” he concluded.

Photo credit: Steven Douglas.