The countdown to the new year will once again have a spectacular setting in Eindhoven. LastBlast, the Eindhoven show company that produces the New Year’s show ‘New Years Ehve’, is going big. “We project the show on the town hall and the tower next to it,” says show director Bart de Ridder.
The team behind the show has been preparing for six months: “We produce all the sounds you hear during the show in our own studio. Everything has to fit together perfectly.”
For the third time, LastBlast is creating the official New Year’s show on behalf of Eindhoven247, part of the municipality of Eindhoven. New this year is the location: Stadhuisplein. “That means a completely new canvas on which we can show our show,” Bart explains. “We can completely transform the building with light projections. In combination with a presenter, music, images, light and fireworks, a truly total experience is created.”
The show takes viewers on a journey through the past year. “It is our own city, so you also want to reflect elements of that.” Visitors can recognize various Eindhoven highlights in an abstract way: “From the opening of De Wielewaal to the marathon, GLOW and Dutch Design Week”.
Bart works on the end-of-year show with a team of 25 people. The first preparations started in May: “It starts with an idea and a lot of questions. What do we want to show? Which artists are suitable? How many projectors do we need?” Then the first ideas take shape.
Bart shows a photo of the town hall in all kinds of colors, with a on the front DJ booth. Fireworks can be seen in the sky. “When we heard what the new location was going to be, we immediately went to the computer to start sketching. We have the town hall and the tower in photoshop as it were colored in. This creates an initial feeling of what it could look like.”
That idea is developed into one storyboardwhich captures every scene in great detail. “We draw up a lighting plan and then everything is programmed according to time codes,” explains show director. “Twenty seconds can contain fifty cues: light, video, sound, fireworks or an action by the presenter. It is precision work and it all has to fit together perfectly. So the preparations take a lot of time, but fortunately it is also a lot of fun to do.”
What does he like most? “The moment when everything that was only in your head comes together for the first time in a first preview. Then you think: this is going to be so cool.”
“There is a good chance that I will adjust small things on the day itself. It is actually never completely finished.”
All music and sound effects during the show are made in-house. In a heated studio, co-owner and sound designer Jordy van Oostveen puts the finishing touches to the audio of the show. An exciting, wavy sound can be heard in the studio. There is a large screen on the wall on which the light projection can be seen. Jordy makes the sounds for that. “I accentuate what you see with audio,” he explains. “This way, image and sound really flow into each other.”
That also takes time. “I’ve already put in about thirty hours of this, and that’s just the opening show,” he laughs. “And there is a good chance that I will adjust small things on the day itself. It is actually never completely finished.”
Can be seen live at Omroep Brabant
Omroep Brabant broadcasts the New Years EHVE fireworks show live on New Year’s Eve. The program can be seen from ten o’clock in the evening on the website and app, via YouTube, on TV (Ziggo channel 30, KPN channel 507) and via Brabant+.
For the audio expert, the audience is the ultimate indicator. “When people respond enthusiastically, you know it’s right. I’m especially proud of the team. We really do this together.”
Bart is proud that he can create a show in his own city. “I have lived in eight different places in Eindhoven, so every neighborhood now feels a bit like home. And to see how people from all those neighborhoods come to watch our show: that is a really cool feeling.”
Those who attend can prepare for two highlights: the opening show at ten o’clock and of course the show itself, which counts down to the new year. “It will be even more impressive than last year,” promises Bart. “Because the town hall and the tower will soon enter into a real dialogue with each other in image and sound.”
Everything is tested on location a few days before New Year’s Eve. First the projections are adjusted, then the dress rehearsal follows. “That is always exciting,” De Ridder acknowledges. “It is a new location, so there can always be surprises. But we are flexible enough to make adjustments if necessary.”
