This show - Rock Japonés - was one of the first events done at Mexico City’s Palacio de los Deportes venue. It was lit with around 400 PAR cans and the large quantities of equipment - both on lighting and audio - were provided by a combination of the main rental houses of the day.

“The production industry wasn’t very well developed in Mexico back then and this was a huge production, so I was really impressed to see so many lights! I liked it, so I started to work for Manuel Noreña and left the DJ’ing behind,” recalls Tony.

His first tour as a technician was for Spanish speaking pop group Olé Olé - renowned throughout Mexico at the time - and from there he went on to work with numerous important music artists and bands.

“There weren’t a lot of moving lights on the market at the time, and only a few brands were available in Mexico, but we were increasingly keen for technology and wanted more and more of it, both in terms of lighting fixtures and controllers”, he commented.

Tony used to operate as well as tech’ing. He toured with music group Caifanes, at the start of their career, and also operated for other artists like Gloria Trevi, Los Amantes de Lola and Timbiriche.

Around 1995 he decided to focus fully on operating, programming and designing... “And I think I’ll keep on doing this for a long time … as I really love it!” he declares.

He worked on many interesting projects, like Jaguares, Gloria Trevi, Carlos Vives, Pepe Aguilar, Maldita Vecindad, Alejandra Guzmán and others, and during this time he had his first encounter with Robe.

“I’d known of the brand for some time, from the first time I lit Motel around 2005. Then we had a big show in the Metropólitan Theatre in Mexico City, a flagship venue for mid-level artists. Here we utilised Robe’s ColorSpot and ColorWash 1200E AT units. That was my first official Robe gig!”

“From then on, I saw the brand and its presence grow steadily. Then we found Robe’s products more frequently in other countries than locally in Mexico ... but that trend is definitely changing now”, he adds.

Tony is currently working on shows and tours with Motel, Paty Cantú and Ximena Sariñana, and constantly specifies and uses Robe’s Pointe, LEDWash 600 and 1200 for all of them.

“These fixtures really give us an extra element! The Pointe is great because of its multi-functionality as a beam, spot or wash - all without losing power -, and the colour temperature of the LEDWash 1200s is excellent”,  he confirms.

Tony always takes his LEDWash 1200s on the road with Motel. They travel with the band’s backline and a few other essential pieces of kit. “I take a minimum of six to use on the floor and reinforce the wash effect. If it becomes possible, I would like to take the 1200s and also some Pointes everywhere!”, he concludes.