Four million volts. That’s the amount of electromotive force required to put on the above performance, dubbed “Lords of Lightning” by its Kiwi creator Carlos Van Camp. This particular show was filmed in Belfast, Ireland during the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival, which ended on November 4. Van Camp, an electrical engineer, is based in Auckland, but Lords of Lightning conducts most of its acts abroad.
If you just want to get straight into it, the start of the action can be found on the one-minute mark.
Basically, two guys in Faraday suits go at it while standing on a pair of Gladiator-esque platforms about 2.2m tall. Separated by roughly 5m of air, they then begin throwing lightning bolts at each other ala Mortal Kombat’s Raiden. The show is performed to a driving dance track and ever-present electrical cracks.
Lords of Lightning’s Geocities-inspired website can be found here, if you feel like booking the show. No idea how long the waiting list is or how much it costs, but it’d be a cracker at your next party.
Less shaky (and not as recent) footage of the duelling pair is also available.