AUSTRALIA: Yours & Owls Festival is a major music and arts festival held annually in Wollongong, NSW, Australia; and the 2026 edition of the festival was filled with excitement and action across multiple fronts. Held over the October long weekend at Flagstaff Hill along the Wollongong foreshore, the festival featured artists including BBNO$, G Flip, PNAU, DMA’S, Ball Park Music, Genesis Owusu, Hiatus Kaiyote, Luude, Middle Kids and Tkay Maidza. And this time around; the Martin Professional MAC Viper XIP fixtures, supplied by ei Productions (a renowned production company that has supported the festival for several years) proved their value at the fan-favourite event, where heavy rain and a sudden thunderstorm tested outdoor production equipment.

After a sudden thunderstorm prompted organisers to pause performances and direct attendees to designated shelters and nearby venues; the show resumed immediately thereafter, with the weather highlighting the practical demands of delivering lighting in an exposed coastal environment.

Fortunately, ei Productions had recently added 20 MAC Viper XIP fixtures to its inventory, following an initial purchase of 20 – both of which were fulfilled by Show Technology Australia & New Zealand (the official distribution partner for Martin Professional Lighting in Australia and New Zealand). The IP54-rated moving lights incorporate Martin’s XIP weatherproofing technology, making them suitable for outdoor applications where exposure to rain and changing weather conditions is a consideration.

“Since our initial purchase of twenty MAC Viper XIP and quickly adding another twenty, the Martin Viper XIP has become one of our workhorse fixtures,” commented Neale Mace, Managing Director of ei Productions. “We do love Martin here, and ever since seeing one of these units in a pre-production model, I thought it’d be a great success -especially with the Viper name on it! Now, they’re all over local and international specs.”

Mace highlighted the fixture’s output, colour reproduction, effects and dimming performance, alongside its zoom range and speed of colour changes. “The MAC Viper is insanely bright and has a very good dimming curve,” he added “The zoom range is great, and the colour changes are very fast. And IP rating is the cherry on top.”

Twenty fixtures were incorporated into the initial flown rig design for the Main Stage, where Mace said the performers were pleased with the results. A further 20 units were deployed in floor packages for BBNO$ and G Flip.

With heavy rain affecting the event, the weather protection proved particularly relevant to the floor-mounted fixtures. Mace noted that conventional non-IP-rated fixtures would have faced difficulties during the performances, reinforcing the value of weather-resistant lighting in outdoor festival production.