Kosmos Lights

Kosmos Multi Lights

Light Co.

Kosmos Lightshow (1968-1980): History Kosmos Lightshow

I got into doing Light Shows via band member Rob Douw from group Supersister had seen liquid slides in London.

During my participation at a Love & Peace festival called: "First Holines Kitchgarden for Love and Peace in Colours, Let 100 Flowers Grow" in 1968 in The Hague, I was asked to construct a Light-organ. So I made one using an electronic keyboard and micro-switches and relais and coloured lamps.

I was doing the spotlights and psychedelic projections in a Music-club and by pop-group SuperSister.

Than I started my lightshow-compagny, first called: "Kosmos Lightshow", later "Kosmos Multi Lights" and after that "Light Co".

Once Keith Emerson, the keyboard player if the famous group "The Nice" (later ELP =Emerson, Lake and Palmer) played with me on my light-organ.

It was also Rob Douw who suggested that I make liquid slides.

I started in a Youth Society (De Ruimte) where group Supersister played regularly and I did the Lightshow and participated in acts and I ended up doing Light Shows with a lot of Dutch groups and Festivals.

I did the electrical connections for The Who, ELP, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Tina Turner, Status Quo and many more. I was also Followspot operator with Alice Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Aznavour and many more artists.

I have cooperated with both Moonlightshow and Ellen Space Lightshow and over time, there were about 25 Light Show operators in Kosmos Lightshow

I did lighting for Marlene Dietrich. Before I started working with her, I had read in newspapers that she was able to rage against ill-performers, and she sometimes fired them for that. I was nervous about that and did tricks to fulfill her wishes. I survived unscathed!

When we worked with House of Yellow-StageCrew for a concert by Tina Turner in the Eden hall Amsterdam, the following happened:

The crew and equipment arrived at the hall hours late. We went up like crazy. The sound system was the first to be completed. The audience had been waiting for a long time. The backing band started to play while we were still building the light poles (from Tina Turner / not from my Kosmos Lightshow), left and right on the stage.

The spots at the top of the masts still had to be adjusted. We did not have an 'A' ladder available, only a straight ladder. We held that ladder well and vertically with a few Stage Hands.

One of my stagehands climbed in and set the spots. This while the band was already playing some intro songs. THEN the beautiful IKETTES entered the stage while dancing.

(The Ikettes combined difficult and catchy dance choreography with their vocals. The girl trio with long hair, miniskirts and high heels did well with the audience.)

This caught the attention of the men who held the ladder upright that while they looked at the Ikettes, the man on top of the ladder swung back and forth rather uncontrollably.

Fortunately, it went well and the spots were set when Tina Turner came on stage and we could all enjoy the show.

I started out using two 150 til 1000 Watt Slide projectors, special manually constructed Light machines, Strobes, Blacklights, Bubble blowing machines with huge soap bubbles, later normal Stage Lights, Spotlights, Followspots and all kind of Showeffects ending up with 25 Slide and Film projectors.

Nico 'Starlight' Oorebeek - August 2020