ADJ Lighting Brings Dynamic Depth and Impact to Kalimba’s Tijuana Concert

When Mexican singer Kalimba took to the stage at El Foro Palacio Jai Alai in Tijuana, Mexico earlier in the year, a dynamic lighting design helped bring depth, movement, and visual energy to the performance while keeping the artist and his music firmly at the center of attention. Supplied by local production company RB Productions, the lighting rig combined powerful ADJ strobe and blinder fixtures with moving lights from sister company Elation to create a versatile system capable of shifting seamlessly between intimate, atmospheric moments and high-energy musical highlights.

Known for his distinctive voice and energetic live performances, Kalimba has established himself as one of Mexico’s leading pop and R&B artists. For his Tijuana concert, the lighting concept was designed to complement the music without overwhelming it, creating a series of distinctive visual moods that evolved with the show.

“The creative vision was to complement the energy and musicality of the show with a dynamic, elegant design that offered great visual depth, while ensuring that the lighting always complemented the artist and the band without stealing the spotlight from them,” explains Ramón M. Bernal, General Manager of RB Productions.

The design incorporated contrasting looks throughout the performance, from intimate scenes built around focused illumination and deep atmospheric tones to more energetic moments featuring movement, beams, backlighting, and color changes. To deliver the required flexibility, RB Productions supplied a multi-layered lighting system that combined fixtures positioned across three overhead bridges, four side towers, and the stage floor.

A Versatile Lighting System for Every Musical Moment

At the heart of the rig were 24 of ADJ’s versatile Jolt 300 LED fixtures, providing both powerful white strobe hitsand vibrant color effects. Each fixture combines a central strip of white LEDs with sections of RGB LEDs on either side, allowing them to function as both high-impact strobes and colorful visual effect fixtures.

“The Jolt 300 LED strobes were selected for the most impactful moments of the show,” says Ramón. “They provided strobe effects, flashes of light, and accents synchronized with the music, giving the concert’s highlights a much more striking visual impact. We like the Jolt 300s for the impact they can create, allowing us to quickly boost the visual energy of a song.”

The Jolt 300 fixtures were distributed across the three bridges and four towers, allowing the production team to build effects from multiple levels of the stage. Their broad output and color capabilities also made it possible to use them for more than traditional strobe hits, adding additional layers of color and texture to the overall design.

“We like to have an inventory that gives us creative freedom,” Ramón explains. “For us at RB Productions, the equipment is a tool: what matters is knowing how to combine, position, and program it so that the lighting has purpose and truly complements the artist.”

The first bridge was also equipped with 20 of ADJ’s LED-powered Encore Burst 200 fixtures. A high-intensity dual-cell audience blinder/strobe, this luminaire uses two 110W warm-white LED sources and offers independent control of its two cells, making it particularly effective for creating powerful musical accents. These fixtures provided a complementary visual element to the Jolt 300s, bringing the classic punch of a blinder into the layered lighting design.

“The Encore Burst 200s offer a different aesthetic and let us create scenes with a strong presence, especially when used in large numbers,” Ramón adds. “In a show like Kalimba, we seek precisely that: power when the music demands it, elegance when the moment is intimate, and enough versatility so that each song can have its own visual personality.”

Building Depth from Three Lighting Levels

The overall rig was designed around the three overhead bridges and four side towers, as well as floor-mounted fixtures, creating multiple layers that could be combined to transform the visual character of the stage from song to song.

The four side towers housed 16 Elation Platinum Beam 5R fixtures alongside 12 Jolt 300s. As an ADJ sister company, Elation’s inclusion in the rig allowed RB Productions to combine the two brands’ complementary strengths, with the 5Rs providing powerful moving beams while the ADJ fixtures added strobe and color effects.

“Overall, we worked with the system in layers: floor, sides, and three upper levels,” says Ramón. “This allowed us to transition from a clean, intimate scene for a ballad to a stage completely filled with beams, color, movement, and light effects during the high-energy songs.”

The layered approach also helped the lighting design maintain a sense of depth. Rather than relying solely on front lighting, the combination of side, overhead, and floor positions enabled the team to create silhouettes, backlighting, aerial effects, and saturated atmospheric looks.

“The intention was for the lighting to follow Kalimba’s music: not just to illuminate the stage, but to give each moment of the concert a distinct visual identity,” Ramón explains.

Six ADJ Encore FR150Z LED-powered wash fixtures were also used to provide stage illumination. Equipped with an 8-inch Fresnel lens and a 130W LED engine, the Encore FR150Z produces a wide, soft-edged beam and offers a manual zoom range of 15°–38°, making it well suited to controlled stage and performer illumination.
For performer tracking, RB Productions also supplied two ADJ FS3000 follow spots, ensuring that Kalimba remained clearly highlighted as he moved around the stage and during key moments of the performance.

Power When the Music Demands It

For RB Productions, one of the key advantages of the system was the ability to combine fixtures with very different functions while maintaining a coherent overall look.

“What we like most about the equipment we use for the Kalimba concert is the versatility we achieve by combining them,” says Ramón. “We don’t rely on just one type of fixture; each piece of equipment brings a different element to the design.”

That flexibility was particularly important for a show that moved between contrasting musical styles and moods. Rather than maintaining a single visual aesthetic throughout the concert, the rig gave the lighting team the tools to build individual looks for each song.

A Tool for Creative Freedom

For RB Productions, the Kalimba concert demonstrated the importance of having a broad equipment inventory capable of responding to the creative demands of a live performance.

“Our overall perception of ADJ is very positive,” says Ramón. “For us at RB Productions, it’s a brand that has succeeded in offering equipment with an excellent combination of performance, versatility, reliability, and innovation—essential characteristics when we’re working on professional productions and concerts where the equipment has to perform consistently throughout the entire show.”

With its combination of powerful effects, layered illumination, moving beams, performer lighting, and carefully controlled color, the lighting system helped RB Productions create a visually dynamic concert environment while respecting the central role of the artist. Ultimately, the design achieved the balance the production team was looking for: the ability to deliver dramatic, high-impact lighting when the music called for it, while retaining the elegance and restraint needed for Kalimba’s more intimate moments. For RB Productions, that balance is what makes a successful concert lighting system—not simply the output of individual fixtures, but the creative possibilities that emerge when they are combined with purpose.

Concert
Kalimba ‘Hits Tour’
El Foro, Tijuana

Lighting Vendor
RB Productions

General Manager
Ramón M. Bernal

Gaffer
Adrián Pérez

Lighting Technicians
Brian López,Ángel Barba andChristian López

ADJ Gear List
20 x ADJ Encore Burst 200
24 x ADJ Jolt 300
6 x ADJ Encore FR 150Z
2 x ADJ FS3000
16 x Elation Platinum Beam 5R