Swedish hip-hop icons Hov1 closed the chapter on a decade of dominance with a farewell show at Gärdet, Stockholm at the end of summer 2025, a night that shattered the 2014 record for the largest outdoor concert audience in the city’s history, drawing 52,236 fans. At the heart of the show’s lighting design was Follow-Me’s manual performer tracking solution, deployed by Lighting Designer Jonathan Rikner with system tech Edvard Hansson and keylight operator Fredrik Jönsson.Formed in 2015, Hov1 released seven studio albums, every one of them topping the Swedish Albums Chart, and amassed 42 top 10 singles, 16 of which reached number one. Their farewell tour across July and August 2025 was a landmark moment in Swedish music, culminating in the Gärdet show that surpassed the previous Stockholm outdoor concert record set by Metallica in 2014.
For Rikner, Follow-Me wasn’t simply a functional choice, it was a creative one. Having encountered significant problems configuring competing systems when angles weren’t perfect, he came to Gärdet knowing exactly what the show needed. “I specifically choseFollow-Me as the other systems doing similar things aren’t as flexible,” he explains. “That’s what makes Follow-Me stand out.”
The Follow-Me system delivered on that promise, enabling a show that balanced technical precision with real emotional impact. “There were a few good moments in the show that really stood out,” Rikner adds. “One of those was when we combined a beautiful cold silhouette with a nice, warm atmosphere from the front. That feeling and those pictures were something else.”System tech Edvard Hansson managed the technical integration of the Follow-Me 3D SIX System, which was supplied by Creative Technology Swedenand distributed by Topstage.
The scale of the production, an open-air site with uneven ground and fixtures positioned up to 70 metres from the stage, demanded a rigorous approach to calibration. All calibration points were exported directly from Vectorworks as a CSV file into the Follow-Me system, delivering precise alignment from the outset.“This workflow makes it easy to add plenty of extra reference data, which often becomes useful later in the process,” says Hansson. To address the challenge of uneven outdoor terrain, he anchored calibration points to the stage floor and used a drone to verify alignment, allowing him to calibratefixtures accurately without relying on a camera. Operations were further streamlined by assigning one dedicated lighting operator to handle all fixture parameters except pan and tilt, keeping both systems running cleanly throughout.
The rig featured 12 Robe iForte LTX fixtures: four as backlight and eight as front lights. The considerable throw distance created a shallow projection angle, which Hansson addressed by adding extra calibration points on the stage roof to extend tilt range and tighten alignment. The results spoke for themselves.“For me, it was how well the system aligned with fixtures hung as far as 70 metres away from the stage,” he says. “The accuracy at that distance was genuinely impressive. The ability to use as many fixtures as you want, and to treat virtually any fixture as a follow spot, is a gamechanger. That flexibility is a huge advantage when designing for large-scale shows.”For the show itself, the team opted for a fully manual approach with a static z-height above the stage floor,allowing follow spot operators to focus entirely on tracking the artists. Mindful that some operators were relatively new to the system, Hansson designed the workflow to be as clear and accessible as possible.“At first, I spent some time briefing the Follow-Me operators on how the system worked and supervised them closely for the initial run,” he says. “Once they understood the workflow, they were able to handle it confidently, which freed me up to focus on the bigger picture.”No snaplines or automated tracking were used;just a system that operators understood quickly, trusted completely, and delivered on one of the biggest nights in Swedish concert history. “The system performed very reliably,” Hansson adds. “No issues during setup or the show itself. It did exactly what we needed it to do.”
Reflecting on the experience, Hansson is emphatic about the role Follow-Me played in shaping an unforgettable night: “Follow-Me gave us the freedom to push the visual scale of the show without compromise. For Hov1’s farewell, it wasn’t just about following the performers, it was about amplifying their presence in front of almost 60,000 fans. The system allowed us to highlight every emotion and every moment with precision, and that played a big part in making their last show feel as impactful and unforgettable as the journey that led to it.”
“We, as a distributor, were deeply impressed by the creativity, experience and technical understanding of thelighting teamfor this incredible show,” adds Linnea Ljungmark, Owner of Topstage. “It’s a nice reminder that when we keep reinventing ourselves, learning and taking technology to the next level, both on the manufacturer and user side, we create unforgettable experiences for the crowd.”
”Hov1’s farewell show is exactly the kind of production that showcases what the Follow-Me systems can handle: a massive outdoor event, complex logistics, operators at varying experience levels, and a creative team with a clear vision,” concludes Tim van Dijck, Product Manager at Follow-Me.“Seeing the system deliver on all of that, in front of over 52,000 people, is deeply satisfying. We’re proud to have played a part in making that night what it was.”
Foto: Pao Duell