UK - There was much to celebrate when Coldplay performed the third of four shows at Etihad Stadium in early June as part of its eco-conscious Music of the Spheres world tour. The venue’s usual residents, Manchester City F.C. had just won the F.A. Cup at Wembley, ahead of one of the most visually enchanting live productions in recent memory providing the party of a lifetime for 60,000 ecstatic fans.
For PixMob, the Canadian technology developer behind the crowd’s “game-changing” LED wristbands, this leg is also the first since it announced its expansion into Europe with the opening of a new base in Brussels. “Having been involved in projects on the continent for the best part of a decade and seen increasing demand, we decided to get closer in order to better service the market,” commented Ysabel Vangrudenberg, managing director of PixMob Europe.
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Europe - Ayrton has announced Iain Quinn as the latest member of its growing global install team. The role begins with immediate effect. Iain brings to the position over 30 years of experience in business development and project management roles with some of the industry’s major lighting manufacturers.
Iain will be working alongside global install director, Paul ‘PJ’ Johnson, focusing on the large-scale, permanent installation market, both on land and sea, exploring and expanding the Ayrton brand on a global scale.
He describes his new role as a ‘natural evolution’ in his career. “I’m very excited to be joining Ayrton right now,” says Iain. “The product is at its absolute peak, the people, company culture, agility and pace are amazing, and the company is in a dynamic phase of growth and development, but with an attention to quality that is awe-inspiring

Europe - KVANT’s latest design of the Atom and Spectrum series laser projectors received the 2023 iF Design Award in the Industry/Tools product design category.
The iF award stands for outstanding design and is a badge of excellent quality for professional and trade users. For this winning project, KVANT cooperated with the Slovak Academy of Sciences and Werkemotion - Transport and Industrial design studio based in Bratislava.
The jury of 132 independent experts from around the world found the innovative design and the foamed aluminium material used within the product exciting. Foamed aluminium is made from aluminium semi-product, which expands its internal structure when heated to a foaming temperature. Apart from lower weight, smaller footprint and increased firmness, it allowed us virtually unlimited shaping, resulting in this extraordinary design.
At the sa

USA - AV rental and production company, Markey’s, has recently added Elation Professional Proteus and Fuze series lighting fixtures to inventory. The purchase of 72 Proteus Rayzor 760, 12 Proteus Rayzor 1960, and 50 Fuze MAX Profile luminaires extends Markey’s comprehensive range of lighting options and enhances the company’s ability to adequately cover a variety of indoor and outdoor productions.
Founded more than 60 years ago, Markey’s has transitioned over the years into a multi-faceted, multi-capable event technology company. Based in Indianapolis with regional offices and warehouses throughout the United States, the company is a long-time supporter of Elation and its product lines.
“This latest investment is a wonderful addition to our already large inventory of IP-rated Elation fixtures, which include Proton Eclypse, DTW Blinder 700 IP and Cuepix 16 IP

UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians’ Annual Awards took place on Wednesday evening, 7 June, after the first day of the 2023 ABTT Theatre Show at Alexandra Palace, London. This year, the awards were again generously supported by TAIT.
Ted Moore, director of rental services, said of the Awards: “TAIT is really proud to be here once again to sponsor the ABTT Awards Presentation, one of the best globally in our industry. We wish all the nominees good luck and give congratulations to whoever the winners may be.”
The five highly sought after Awards for Lighting Product, Sound Product, Engineering Product, ‘Widget’ and Stand of the Year, were complemented by the announcement of the recipients of the ABTT Technician of the Year and the ABTT Award for Emerging Excellence which recognise the achievements of individuals both starting out and well-establ

USA - With visualisation software and tools like ETC’s Augment3d 3D programming environment, digital models play an increasingly integral part in lighting workflows. When time or budgets are tight, however, drafted or point-cloud models can still be out of reach.
ETC’s new Augment3d Scanner app reduces this barrier to entry, allowing users to seamlessly create and import ready-to-use room models directly to their Eos Family consoles from a phone or tablet.
With the Augment3d Scanner app, a comprehensive 3D space model is just a few touches away. Built for use with the Eos Family line of lighting control systems, A3d Scanner leverages the augmented reality tools included in your device, saving you time building your 3D space.
Once installed, explore the easy-to-use tools to map your space - including walls, doors, windows, a full floor plan, and even prosceni

USA - The stately well-appointed theatre at 30 North Van Brunt Street in Englewood, NJ is no stranger to sellout crowds. On 22 November, 1926, when it opened as the Plaza Theatre with a double feature headlined by Harry Langdon and Douglas Fairbanks, its $1.10 tickets were the hottest in town.
Tickets for this year’s grand reopening of the historic venue, in April were a bit pricier, but they were just as hard to come by. With Jay Leno doing the ribbon cutting, the 1,367-seat theatre, now called The Bergen Performing Arts Centre, opened its doors to the public once again, following a renovation of its main hall.
The celebrity ribbon cutting wasn’t the only thing drawing attention to the festivities during the theatre’s opening weekend. There was also excitement in the air (quite literally) created by four 60,000-lumen output Chauvet Professional Maverick Storm 4

USA - In partnership with dry-hire rental house Main Light, Elation Professional provided Fuze MAX series moving head luminaires to David Geffen School of Drama at Yale for use on the school’s annual Carlotta Festival, which showcases plays written, directed, acted and designed by students.
The Carlotta Festival features three fully produced new plays by graduating playwrights performed in rotating repertory. The plays presented in this year’s festival, which ran 5-12 May at the Iseman Theatre, included littleboy/littleman by Rudi Goblen (directed by Jacob Basri); Furlough’s Paradise by a.k. payne (directed by Leyla Levi); and Color Boy by Esperanza Rosales Balcárcel (directed by Jecamiah M. Ybañez).
The Carlotta Festival demonstrates to students the significant artistic, technical, and managerial challenges of producing new plays in reper

USA - Austin, TX band Shane Smith and the Saints’ mix of country, rock and Americana calls for a lightshow that is equally complex and powerful. That’s exactly what Matthew PJ Row delivered for their special livestream performance at Red Rocks Amphitheatre with help from 20 Chauvet Professional STRIKE 1 blinders supplied by Brown Note Productions.
“I was brought in to design, programme, and implement a few items that Ethan Holland, the band’s PM had in his mind,” said Row. “The look we envisioned is built around the band’s huge multi-vocal harmony sections for choruses, intros, and emotional areas.
“For some of the dark eerie vocal tunes, I wanted to cast no front light and have only their shadows,” continued Row. “The idea was to have all these vocal parts sewn together visually. So, you would be not knowing who is singing which part, and thereby

Italy - Director of photography Davide Manca has chosen Prolights equipment to update the lighting at the Leonardo3 Museum in Milan.
The Leonardo3 Exhibition was opened in March 2013 at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II by the Study Centre Leonardo 3 and has quickly earned its place in the cultural scenario in Milan, going from being a temporary exhibition to a museum installation.
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the exhibition, the management announced a renewal of the exhibition halls through a lighting project created by Davide Manca. He chose to rely on Prolights lighting solutions, selecting LinearLED fixtures ArcShine S18FC and ArcShine S9FC to light up the walls of the art booths.
The small Gallery profiles EclDisplay DATWhite and EclGalleryProfile are based on LED source and equipped with high-definition zoom optics, the portable battery upli

The Netherlands - The 013 Poppodium in Tilburg, a vibrant live music venue offering a diverse and lively range of shows across its two performances spaces, has recently taken delivery of 30 new Robe Forte moving lights.
These are installed over the stage in the main 3,000 capacity auditorium, which is the biggest such venue in the Netherlands. The new lights are part of a technical upgrade and Robe’s latest LED technology is replacing previous older spot moving lights from another brand!
013 Poppodium lighting technicians Lloyd Janssen and Paul Cox are both delighted with this new investment.
The two of them joined the venue’s technical team in Autumn 2021 as Covid restrictions were being lifted and live shows started ramping up again, and while the decision had already been made to find new LED spot luminaires, they were both involved in the actual choice

USA - Obsidian Control Systems looks forward to welcoming AV, integration and production professionals to Booth 5845 at the InfoComm 2023 show in Orlando. On show will be the latest Onyx software, the ‘world’s first IP65 data distribution range’ plus all new Netron installation solutions
The latest software expansion of the popular Onyx control platform will be available to view and test drive. Featuring NDI Video Input, Realtime audio analysis and Beat Sync, this updated version enhances workflow across Obsidian’s various console and PC solutions, such as the e popular NX1 in combination with the NX-P expansion wing and NX-K portable keypad add-on.
Supporting the growth of exterior lighting productions like stadium tours, special events and outdoor movie sets, Netron will introduce its IP65 product range for entertainment data distribution.
Utilising a

Germany - Thomas Füllengraben is back on the market with HTFmediserv. Trade fair projects - supplemented by the new business area of digital solutions - are now the focus of the new company. At the end of 2022, the company invested in 48 of the new, weatherproof X-PAR 12 Z LED spotlights from Fusion by GLP for both the rental and project business.
It was in early summer 2022, that a visit by GLP drew Thomas Füllengraben’s attention to the weatherproof (IP65) LED fixtures, which were optimised for colour mixing and light quality. Although another device was actually the focus of his interest at the time, Füllengraben says: “We talked for a long time about the JDC1 and especially the impression X5, which I was really excited about.
“Then in the autumn there was a project at the InnoTrans for which I was looking for static LED spots that would offer something mor

Finland - 3LR Design has announced that renowned architectural lighting and controls designer, Karoliina Helin has joined its international team.
"As a consultant based in Finland, Karoliina will allow 3LR to develop, design and support even more customers and clients in the European Union, the UK, and beyond," says Josh Allen, global director of design for 3LR and co-founder of 3LR Group. "We've had the opportunity to work with Karoliina on multiple projects to date, and her work has always been top-notch. Moving forward, it made perfect sense that she join the Group. Her skills in lighting layouts and presenting lighting data are second to none, and we are excited to have her on board."
"Karoliina's work spans many of the sectors and genres we operate in," says Matt Lloyd, co-founder of the 3LR Group. "She brings to the team a wonderful mixture of design concepts,

USA - The ADJ booth at InfoComm 2023 will provide a showcase of both new and recently released products, providing a hands-on opportunity for visitors to explore the company’s latest lighting technology.
Making its official debut at the show will be the new Encore LP12Z IP. This tough and versatile weatherproof IP65-rated zooming LED par fixture is equipped with 12 x 20-Watt 4-in-1 RGBL colour mixing LEDs, offering a massive selection of colours to choose from, including 64 built-in colour macros and tunable white control (2700K to 6500K). The fixture also features motorised zoom, providing the ability to remotely control the lighting coverage, for a variable field angle of between 9 and 50-degrees.
Also taking pride of place on the booth will be the new Focus Spot 7Z. As the latest addition to ADJ’s popular Focus Series of LED-driven moving heads, this recently re

USA - After nearly two decades at Walt Disney World and Disney Live Entertainment, Ryan Stumpp has joined Elation Professional as vertical market manager for themed environments. Ryan has designed and programmed lighting for a variety of marquee shows and spectaculars, including the recent redesign of Fantasmic! at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Happily Ever After at Magic Kingdom.
In his role at Elation, Ryan will work to drive Elation product adoption with designers, specifiers and consultants focused on theme parks, cruise ships, hospitality venues, resorts, casinos, museums and other themed spaces.
“Themed environments is a vast and challenging market that spans multiple genres of lighting and applications,” stated Elation director of sales John Dunn. “Ryan’s passion for immersive theatrical shows and storytelling, his years of experience a

USA - Bandit Lites illuminated the 8th Annual Black Music Honours, a star-studded showcase that celebrates back excellence and trailblazers in music, ranging from gospel to R&B, Hip-Hop and more. This year’s honourees included music legend Missy Elliott, vocal trio SWV, disco and R&B star Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King, R&B/soul singer Jeffrey Osborne, and gospel trailblazers The Hawkins Family. Hosted by singer and actress LeToya Luckett and actor DeRay Davis, the event was taped at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta on Friday 19 May.
Lighting designer Mark Carver and production designer Scott Moore sought to utilise a range of fixtures that would offer the flexibility to build a range of looks for all the genres of music represented.
“We wanted fixtures that can look both retro and contemporary, and fixtures that have a vast colour palett

USA - The creatives behind the stage design for Scotty McCreery’s current 31-city North American Damn Strait tour is creating big, bold, dynamic looks on stage, while still meeting practical considerations, like fitting your powerful touring rig into the allotted trailer space.
Helping them make this happen is a design that cleverly uses rolling carts and upstage downlighting, along with well-placed specials to enlarge looks, along with a potent, yet compact, lighting rig that features 24 Chauvet Professional Rogue fixtures, owned by the former American Idol winner.
“The big thing about this show is we wanted to be able to create ‘WOW’ moments, but also fit everything into a single semi-truck,” said Drew Hornback, Scotty McCreery’s lighting director. “I feel like we’re doing this very well. In addition to being compact, our rig is designed for qu

Europe - Music & Lights, the brand owner of Prolights, has received the ISO 14001:2015 certification for Environmental Management Systems. This achievement confirms the commitment of the company to the research of new eco-friendly technical innovation. This certificate joins the already ISO 9001:2015 certification for Quality Management Systems.
Music & Lights has been consistently oriented towards a more eco-sustainable production. The 2021 Best Performance Award of Bocconi University (sixth place in the 2023 FT Global MBA Ranking) has declared the company's excellence on a national level according to the criteria of performance, innovation and eco-sustainability.
Music & Lights has directed its technological offer towards a sustainable upgrade of the productive processes. The company's commitment is to develop and promote on a worldwide scale high-effic

South Africa - DWR Distribution has announced Patrick Manicom as the new workshop assistant in Cape Town.
Patrick was introduced to the entertainment industry by his sister, Jade Manicom, a lighting designer. “I first learnt about DWR in 2020 via my sister before she joined the company,” Patrick comments. “She arranged for me to visit their workshop for a week, and that’s where I discovered that I wanted to work with my hands. DWR was happy to have me tinker around and assist with repairs while teaching me about the different equipment. Everyone was so welcoming from the workshop team all the way to the CEOs, and I seemed to have made an impression too as Bruce Riley remembers me from just that week.”
Patrick recently relocated to Cape Town and now works closely with DWR’s Johnny Scholtz and says the experience has been a combination of nerves and excitemen

USA - Alfalite will make its debut at InfoComm with its LED panels for the rental, fixed installation and virtual production markets at the booth of its partner FOR-A.
Alfalite will showcase its Litepix LED panels for rental companies, Modularpix LED panels for fixed installation, as well as the Modularpix Pro VP XR solution for virtual production and extended reality environments.
FOR-A's booth #2023 at InfoComm 2023 will showcase a complete live virtual production ecosystem that will include a four 2.5m Alfalite display with an HDR-compatible FA-9600 multipurpose signal processor, EZtrack camera tracking system, ClassX 3D graphics generator and XR technology, among other solutions.
Satoshi Kanemura, president & COO, FOR-A America, comments: “We’re excited to have joined forces with Alfalite to add virtual studio capabilities to our expanding portfolio.

Romania - The Palace of the Parliament is the heaviest structure in the world, outweighing even the Pyramids of Giza, and second in terms of area covered only to The Pentagon. The downtown Bucharest building’s impressive presence has provided a dramatic backdrop for a host of major films. Recently, the 365,000 m2 landmark served as the setting for an international conference when it hosted the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference.
Although it may have lacked the drama of a Hollywood blockbuster, the three-week long conference had an impact on the way people around the world talk to one another. A specialised agency of the United Nations, the ITU is active in advancing global satellite communication. Underscoring its importance, over 2,000 experts and dignitaries from around the world filed into 25 meeting spaces during the conference.

UK - After 47 years in business, Avolites - a leader in the design and manufacture of lighting and video control products - has announced the company's acquisition by entertainment lighting specialist, Robe Lighting of Roznov in the Czech Republic. The agreement was reached in the UK yesterday.
“The Avolites Leadership team wanted to ensure the best outcome for our employees, customers, suppliers and the brand,” said Avolites MD Paul Wong. “Robe is an ideal home that will enable us to achieve just that, whilst maintaining our core values. Robe is a great fit for everyone associated with Avolites. Robe has a wealth of resources that will aid Avolites to accelerate its ambitious innovation and product development programmes.”
“This is a great acquisition for Robe,” said Josef Valchar, CEO Robe Lighting s.r.o., “Avolites has always been at the pinnacle of li

USA - Lil Wayne, Third Eye Blind, Wu-Tang Clan, Nile Rodgers, Babyface Ray, Maren Morris…. There were plenty of stars at Pharrell Williams’ Something in the Water festival on Virginia Beach, but sadly, there was plenty of water too. High winds and rains along the Atlantic coast battered the superstar’s three-day event; a tornado even touched down nearby. Things got so bad, Friday and Saturday’s shows had to be delayed, while Sunday’s was completely cancelled.
But Evan Kirkendall and his team at Harford Sound, along with their collaborator Steve Tanruther’s Rock the House, were able to handle anything Mother Nature dished out, with help from an all-weather rig anchored by 238 IP-rated Chauvet Professional fixtures.
“Thankfully, all of our Chauvet lights were ready take on the storms,” said lead light tech Gabe Odachowski. “Given the size and scope of t

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