Located in New York City's East Village, Webster Hall is a landmark entertainment venue rich in the city's culture and history. With six different party environments and the 1,500 seater Grand Ballroom, Webster Hall hosts world class musical acts and throws epic holiday parties such as Webster Hell (Halloween) and their New Year's Eve Ball. Since 1994, the venue has served as an unofficial showcase for the full gamut of intelligent lighting from High End Systems, and many classic HES products can still be seen in operation, a testimony to the company's product development legacy.

In-house LD Stephen Wyker has been with the Webster Hall organization since 2006, and has worked with practically every High End fixture along the way. "High End gear has been featured in Webster Hall since 1994; since then, every product that High End Systems has manufactured has been featured in this venue, with the exception of the DL's. We've had a really good run with their products. Pricing has always been a key factor, and the reliability is very good as well. High End's customer service has been great, which is important as we're open seven days a week in one of our many rooms here."

The Grand Ballroom is Webster Hall's 1500 seater theatre, and is exclusively High End with the exception of three Atomic strobes and five TMB 4-Lite Blinders. Control in the space is handled by a Hog 4 and Playback Wing. Wyker comments on the Hog's role in the venue's control scheme: "We used the Hog 2, then a Hog 3 and now the flagship Hog 4. We have a Road Hog and a Nano Hog for backup consoles. As soon as the Hog 3 came out we were an original adopter, and there were definite changes over the years. The main reason we upgraded was the increased reliability of the Hog 4. The software on the new console is amazing, and it provides a ridiculous amount of additional control. Networking of our backup consoles is important to us, and the speed of the Hog 4 is incredible. We had two external touch screens and the full sized playback wing, so it was a big thing to be able to use our existing hardware, and not have to purchase another wing."

The main stage lighting consists of a dozen TechnoSpot profile fixtures, six TechnoArc wash lights and four SHOWPIX. The house lighting rig uses eight Cyberlight 2.0, four intellaspot fixtures, ten Dataflash strobes and an FQ-100 fogger. Stephen comments, "We even had Emulators for quite a while that were just taken out of the venue, and up through last year we used the original 1993 Cyberlights. We replaced those with Cyber 2.0's. And the Dataflash strobes have been here since the original 1994 install - they just won't die. That's pretty incredible if you think about it!"

The LD gets punchy looks and killer effects from his eight Cyberlight 2.0 fixtures. "The Cyber 2.0's are incredibly bright, and really fast," he says, "and the color mixing is very much improved. There's a 30 foot trim in our room, and you can get red all the way down to the floor - which just looks awesome. They're the brightest fixtures in the room."

The indigo backlighter feature in High End's fixture is another staple of the room's visuals and vibe. Wyker adds, "We definitely use the indigo effect a lot, as we're both a concert venue and a nightclub. It gives a cool modern look to an otherwise dark black box stage - we love those. The gobos in the technospots are just fantastic, and for being a 575 watt source, it's stunning that they replaced a 1200 watt fixture! We use our TechnoArcs primarily as a front wash, but their location allows us to also use them as ACL fixtures, which looks great. Plus, all the colors match the Technospot - which is a nice programming benefit."

An Axon media server controls Webster's balcony projectors, and Wyker says the club will soon upgrade to the Axon Pro HD server to have the color effects and the different sizing options afforded by that system. Finally, four SHOWPIX LED fixtures bring their signature looks and versatility to Webster's light show. "We bought the SHOWPIX strictly as a dance floor effect," he explains. "They're on the downstage edge of our stage and shoot the dance floor with colors and effects - they're amazing on the videos people take with cell phones. They're actually one of the most popular effects, plus they can be used as a very even front stage wash."

With up to five concerts and three club nights per week, the duty cycle experienced by the lighting fixtures in Webster Hall is extreme, and serves as a testimony to the staying power of High End Systems equipment. "We have one person that comes in once a week and deals with groups of fixtures, so week one is cleaning technospots, week two is Cyber 2.0s, etc. We have a routine maintenance cycle so everything stays in top operating condition. We haven't had any mechanical issues to speak of, usually just cleaning and TLC. These fixtures are running up to 16 or 18 hours a day, not to mention the haze and confetti they absorb, and they still rock - there's something to be said for that!"