It was a stage fit for a king – the “King of Bachata,” as Romeo Santos brought his Vol. 3 World Tour to London’s O2 Arena this summer. There was even a throne set up for the Bronx-born superstar, as he made his only UK appearance of the season.

From the moment he stepped on the stage, the sellout crowd at the famed venue went wild, cheering, screaming, and dancing in the aisles. Santos didn’t disappoint, engaging the audience with his warm personal style, as he took them on a musical odyssey that moved from thoughtful ballads, offering a peek into the singer’s heart, to raw and powerful urban tunes.

The production behind Santos, supported him note for note with a versatile, fast-moving lighting design by Chris Nyfield and dramatic pyro effects from John Wilson. With its intense strobing, aerial effects and brilliant colour mixes, the lightshow inspired awe among fans and critics alike.

Equally impressive, though not obvious, was the accomplishment of Dean Graves and the team at Bigabox Productions, along with Encore Audio, in putting the show together. Graves and his crew had only four weeks to complete the production from start to finish, a stunning feat at any time, but especially so during festival season. Using fixtures from DMX Productions along with some of its own inventory, the Bigabox team made it happen.

You and your team put this show together in four weeks. Can you tell us how you first learned that you would be doing this show?
“We first looked at the show eight weeks prior to the opening. The project wasn’t confirmed with us until four weeks out.”

Four weeks! What were your first thoughts when you learned you had this short timeframe?
“Having previously done many other stars, we had experience with this type of show and touring party. We knew it would be a challenge, but one worth embarking on for the finish show.”

The show had over 160 lighting fixtures and 300 LED video panels. How did you manage to pull all this gear together during the festival season?
“It luckily fitted right into a weekend that was achievable. Some of the kit had to come straight from a Saturday show which was logistically fun!”

Can you walk us through the process of how you put this project together?
“So, we started at the top, by taking the design and breaking it up into what bits we could carry out ourselves, and what bits we needed help with in light of the kit available at this time of year, and any other commitments.

“Then we re-drew the design into something that would work in the O2. I should tell you that this show was scaled down from a stadium show to an arena show. From this we generated plans got them signed off by the venue and tour party. We booked staff, generated kits last, and went into prep.”

You scaled down Chirs Nyfield’s original stadium design for the 02. What were the things you eliminated or cut down on? How did you keep the original flavor of the design?
“We focused on the key points of the design and only reduced the parts that did not take away from this. There were several key elements to the show that we knew we couldn’t interrupt.”

This must have required a great deal of team work and collaboration. How did you make that work?
“The only way we made this work was with the strong team we had behind this, and without them we would not of a had a show quite like the one we put on. We have a great relationship with Encore Audio. Without their cooperation, this would have been impossible.