Lighting designer, Graham Williams used his new Sapphire 2000 to light blues legend BB King at a large outdoor show in the grounds of Leicester's premier live venue – De Montfort Hall. 

The Sapphire was purchased recently by Graham, following careful research, in his capacity as 'Technician with main responsibility for Lighting' of the Hall.

De Montfort Hall is used for a huge variety of shows and events all year round. Many shows utilise the Hall's own production equipment and personnel …. So it was an essential requirement for the lighting console to be flexible, powerful, easy to use and capable of catering for large variety of productions. 
Graham explains that the Sapphire was perfect. Graham also wanted a desk that would be familiar to a broad range of visiting LDs.

De Montfort's two month long Summer Season features events staged in a large outdoor festival/park area in the Hall's picturesque grounds, in addition to those staged in the venue itself. 

For the BB King show, Graham and lighting crew-member Barry Hope used their new Sapphire to control a wide assortment of moving light fixtures plus a large selection of conventionals. Graham enthuses, "I love the desk – it's absolutely brilliant"

He and seven of his regular crew also took advantage of Avolites' training facilities where they acquainted themselves with the desk and learned how to maximise its many features. Graham continues "The service from Avolites is just unbeatable. It's commitment like this which is just what the industry needs – it makes all the difference!"

For the 2001 Summer Season, De Montfort also hired an additional Sapphire 2000 console from LSD Fourth Phase to run the indoor stage.