Claypaky Skylos and Xtylos Aqua Fixtures Light Up the New Year at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay

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.w

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 hilltop Castle as midnight approached. 

Lighting Designer Ben Terry was tasked with enhancing the crucial moment and showcasing Edinburgh Castle as the centerpiece of Hogmanay.  To achieve this he aligned 10 Claypaky Skylos laser-source searchlights 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.”

Terry found that the complement of Skylos and Xtylos Aquas fixtures “were visible from all over the city in both white and color with a good range of beam versatility with the zoom and prisms.”  He was also “super impressed at how punchy they were when zoomed out into the fatter beam.”

Programmer Martin McLachlan joined Terry for the event.

CP Wave Ltd. is the UK and Ireland’s official partner for Claypaky providing on-the-ground sales, service and support.