USA - Atlanta’s House of Music Productions, an event production services company offering lighting, staging, A/V production, broadcast streaming and product rentals to a wide array of markets, has expanded its rental inventory of Claypaky fixtures and become a Claypaky partner for resale, installation and design projects in the southeastern US. “We’re really excited about the opportunity to represent a superior brand of lighting products for rentals, purchase and design integration,” says Jeremy Ladd, owner/CEO of House of Music Productions. “Our new partnership with Claypaky is exactly what we’ve been looking to do, and we hope to help the brand gain momentum in the southeast. “Outside of a few companies that have Sharpys, there’s been a true lack of Claypaky products in this area,” he points out. “We approached Claypaky about developing a partner
UAE - Prolights has recently upgraded the lighting system at the Privilege Club in Dubai, located on the top floor of the SLS Hotel in the Business Bay area. The club has hosted high-profile artists such as Will.I.Am and Akon, and has received recognition from the Guinness World Records for having the world's highest outdoor pool. In collaboration with Em-Tec and lighting designer Alex Douglas, the Privilege Club decided to enhance its lighting setup to provide visitors with a visually captivating experience befitting the venue. The lighting fixtures were supplied by Pro Lab, the Prolights distributor in the United Arab Emirates, and included the Prolights ArenaCob 4FC and Air 5Fan. With this upgrade, lighting designer Alex Douglas was able to create an immersive design that heightened the club's atmosphere, offering a wide range of visual effects. By strategically po
USA - Connectivity is warmly evident on Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band’s current 2023 World Tour, not just in the artist’s music and stage presence, but also in a lighting design that goes more than the extra mile to join the performance and audience as one. Jeff Ravitz, Bruce Springsteen’s long-time lighting designer, has been focusing on this special bond from the very beginning, and continues to celebrate it this year. “Bruce feeds off his audience’s energy, the same as they channel his; that’s what has always made his shows such a personal experience,” said Ravitz. “So many people have said that Bruce brings the audience onstage. Or maybe, instead, he turns the entire arena or stadium into the performance space. That’s pretty powerful - to be drawn right into the force-field. People are singing and acting out the words to every song. Br
Indonesia - Bobby Therry is a lighting designer at the Lasika Productions Group, a busy rental company based in Surabaya, supplying lighting, LED screens, audio, trussing and rigging to many different events. He personally specialises in lighting the specific field of weddings, together with some corporate shows. Sixteen Tetra2s have recently joined the company’s rental stock, and Bobby has enjoyed incorporating these fixtures into his designs where possible. He recently utilised them for the wedding of Larry and Felicia at the Westin Grand Ballroom, Surabaya. Bobby was working for wedding planner and concept initiator Nuansa Group. They produced a series of bespoke elements for the event in collaboration with a scenic / décor designer and a team from DFactory (also part of the Lasika Productions Group) who are visual animators which were based on the couple’s br
Germany - Under the umbrella of the Approved Certified PreOwned (CPO) Programme, ARRI offers technically refurbished products with the same warranty as new models. This globally oriented programme is now headed by Arne Stadler as business manager certified pre-owned programme camera systems & lighting. He takes over this role from Christian Richter, who has successfully established and expanded the CPO business at ARRI over the past five years and will now focus on his role as general manager sales & solutions EMEAI. Arne Stadler reports to Stephan Schenk, general manager global sales & solutions. Before joining ARRI, Stadler was responsible for the business development of film cameras and lenses at Canon for the DACH region.
UK - For the 67th Eurovision Song Contest staged at the Liverpool M&S Bank Arena, multi award-winning lighting designer, Tim Routledge and his team were, in addition to all 37 performances, responsible for every aspect of the lighting including presentation states, commentator boxes, voting sequences, and the half-time and opening shows for the two semi-finals and Grand Final. This massive undertaking was based on briefings, renders and notes - mostly delivered remotely - and a 20-minute meeting with each of the countries’ delegations in March. “We had to focus on the key points from each to realise their design wishes, and work fast to deliver everything within the time frame,” says Routledge. With such tight time schedules and high-profile exposure, Routledge needed equipment that was fast, accurate, versatile and reliable. He chose Ayrton’s new Zonda 9 F
Italy - Claypaky and distributor Audiosales recently hosted a Patrick Woodroffe workshop at the Teatro Sociale in Bergamo. In Lighting The Stars, Woodroffe, who has designed the lighting for the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, the London 2012 Olympic Games, and a host of other internationally important events, discussed his most significant and exciting experiences, including an emotional tribute to Michael Jackson, with whom he was working on preparing a tour just days before Michael's untimely death. After that, in an original live hands-on exercise, he put together a lighting design for the song I wanna be your slave by Måneskin, revealing some of the secrets of his art and technique. The workshop was organized by Claypaky and Claypaky's distributor for Italy Audiosales, with Ziogiorgio.it as media partner and AILD as sponsor. It was held on Tuesday 16
Israel - The Duhl Centre is a cultural institute and auditorium located in the Hatikva district of Tel Aviv. The venue was designed and built in 1985 and since then has been an active artistic and cultural site, quickly becoming a landmark of the community, not only of the Hatikva district but of the entire south area of Tel Aviv. Given the great social impact of the place, the venue has been recently upgraded with new lighting technologies, in order to make the centre more modern and innovative. For the lighting system, the Duhl Center has appointed the multimedia consultant Harel Tabibi, who has chosen to rely on Prolights’ latest LED fixtures, and the gear has been supplied A.B. Electronics, distributor of the brand for the territory of Israel. The multimedia consultant has enriched the new lighting rig with the Prolights Astra Wash 7Pix LED moving wash l
USA - Iconic a multi-media production at the Alabama Theatre in Myrtle Beach, SC, (the venue is named after the band) takes audiences on a ‘journey through the music that has shaped our sense of time and place, from country hits and Broadway show tunes, to power rock anthems and pop ballads’. While a group of talented performers on stage told this story through music, and a large video wall supported it with vivid imagery, the shades of colours so important to its telling was provided by an enchanting rainbow of a lighting design created by Susan Rose. Helping Rose work her magic was a collection of Chauvet Professional COLORado fixtures. “This show is very edgy and contemporary and definitely a major step up from the typical production shows,” said Rose. “It was especially fun for me to light, since I had such a wide variety of music to lig
USA - The Morton Salt complex in Chicago had been in operation for nearly a century before it was closed down in 2015. Today, the complex has been transformed into a multi-purpose venue for live music and other events named The Salt Shed. Boasting modern sound and lighting systems, including a comprehensive Elation stage lighting rig from Upstaging, The Salt Shed is quickly becoming a popular performance space in Chicago. The venue spreads over 1.5 acres of land along the Chicago riverfront and can accommodate around 3,300 people indoors and 5,000 at an outdoor performance space, which opened in the summer of 2022. The newly renovated indoor space was previously a storage facility for salt and features a distinctive A-Frame structure. Today, it boasts a performance stage and an entertainment lighting system of Elation Artiste Monet, Proteus Lucius, Proteus Rayzor 760, Fuze M
USA - Muse hit the road with its North American tour, Will of the People, on which more than 150 Claypaky Xtylos enhance the band’s performance. The tour is named for the band’s most recent ninth studio album, which gave Muse its seventh consecutive No. 1 on the UK albums chart and topped Billboard’s Alternative and Rock Albums tallies. The Will of the People tour began in Chicago’s United Centre on 25 February and concluded on 20 April in Salt Lake City, after which it moved on to Europe. “The band and I really wanted to go in a very different direction from their previous tour to give this one its own identity,” notes Jesse Lee Stout, creative director and co-production designer. “We developed a post-apocalyptic, near-future world as a metaphor for our ‘New Normal’. Over the past couple of years, a pandemic wreaked havoc, an insurrect
USA - Visual Productions (VP) has announced that it has entered into a new distribution agreement with ACT Entertainment in the United States. Dutch lighting control system manufacturer Visual Productions has developed a modular range of DMX and DALI light controllers that speak the language of system integrators. Products such as CueCore, B-Station and TimeCore are used in architainment, hospitality, themed environments and other fixed installations. Maarten Engels, managing director of Visual Productions, explains the collaboration. “The rationale for joining forces with ACT Entertainment is really a story of synergy: On the one hand, VP is expanding its distribution network with the ACT organisation which consists of several offices in the US and a very strong technical support team. “We are of course delighted that ACT's platform will make our products m
USA - Bandit Lites has announced the hiring of Sherry Wells to its Nashville office. Wells will serve as a purchasing assistant, aiding the purchasing department with receiving, inventory and sales for the entire company. With 12 years of experience, Wells will work directly to further support purchasing director Andy Reese. “Sherry brings a great skillset and energy to Bandit Lites,” said Reese. “Her addition to our purchasing department will allow us to become more efficient and better serve our clients and our internal needs as Bandit’s business continues to grow across all departments.” Wells’ hiring follows the complete overhaul of the Nashville location, with an office expansion and remodel.
USA - Love Has No Limits - 1 Day Houston was actually a two-day event, that raised awareness and funds for community organisations in the Texas city. The Activity’s Patrick Dierson, who led the creative team, initially planned on working with a much larger stage at The Toyota Centre. Unfortunately, but ultimately fortunately, logistics got in the way, necessitating a change in his design strategy. “Ultimately, we were forced into having a smaller turntable, which led to a slightly tighter performance area,” said Dierson. “With things beginning to narrow, we started playing with the idea of going with a more elongated look for the project. So, we decided to base the overall design on a series of trusses that would be orientated upstage to downstage at an upward rake. This ended up giving us a much larger overall look.” Working with this rig, Dierson and
Middle East - Media Pro Group is an audio-visual production company, with more than a decade of experience in providing event technology and creative design solutions for any and every event. Media Pro Group recently added to its repertoire of state-of-the-art equipment, the compatible Ayrton Cobra laser-sourced fixtures. Media Pro Group ordered a total of 226 compact Cobra laser-sourced fixtures which were used at sporting events, music festivals, award ceremonies and other events. Cobra is Ayrton’s first laser-sourced, IP65 rated fixture. It is designed for rendering a D65 white point that allows perfect colour reproduction, with an output of 386,000 lux at 20m, 38x zoom ratio and a zoom range of 0.6° to 23°. Cobra is capable of illuminating an object several kilometres away, it also has the famous Ayrton continuous pan and tilt, a highly innovative colour section and
UK - IPS were delighted to exhibit again at the 2023 PLASA Focus show, returning to Leeds has become a firm date in the company calendar. “The team on the stand met lots of familiar faces during the busy two-day event and had lots of productive conversations about upcoming projects and the latest hire items in the IPS inventory,” says IPS’ Tom Warden. “There was also interest in the IPS offering from new potential customers, as well as students and others interested in starting out within the technical events industry.” The IPS stand was consistently busy as people visited to have a look at the fixtures on display, which included the new Martin MAC Aura XIP LED Wash fixture (which was recently one of the stars of the show at the Windsor Coronation Concert) and the new GLP Impression X5 IP Bar, which will arrive in hire stocks very shortly. The X5 IP bar boasts a br
USA - At one point in Akshay Kumar’s show, The Entertainers, the Bollywood star seemed to be floating in the air. The harnessed Kumar then picked up dancer Mouni Roy and ascended over the audience with her. The sellout crowds at the three stops on this US tour might very well have felt that they were air surfing too, such was the uplifting magical mood of this three-and-a-half hour show that featured music and dancing interspliced with plenty of dynamic crowd interaction. In addition to Roy, Kumar was joined on stage (if not in the air), by stars like Norha Fatehi, Disha Patani, Sonam Bauwa, Zahrah Khan, Jasleen Royal and Steben Ben, along with a large cast of supporting dancers, singers and musicians. Adding to the excitement was a multi-dimensional lighting design by Roosevelt Dsouza that featured over 80 Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by AVL Productions.<
Spain - The new Landetxe Kultur Aretoa theatre in the city of Oiartzun (Guipuzcoa), was inaugurated on 10 April 2023. The complex is designed to improve the social and cultural welfare of the city, consisting of a recreation centre for the elderly, a lounge bar and a theatre. For the new stage's equipment, the Landetxe turned to Cinetronica which was able to realise this major project relying on Prolights LED fixtures, through the know-how of Seesound, Prolights distributor for Spain. Installed lighting includes: LED ellipsoidals EclProfile CT+ with Zoom lenses, LED Fresnel EclFresnel JrTW with six colour LED source, EclPar FC Spotlight with RGB+WW LED source and the asymmetric CYC light EclCyclorama 050.
South Africa - On 11 May, radio station 5FM celebrated the 20-year journey of DJ, Roger Goode. The 5FM studios were transformed into a vibrant, club-like environment by beamZ Lighting, demonstrating Goode's significant influence on the music industry. Roger Goode is a celebrated South African DJ who gained national prominence with his hit single In the beginning. The dance music compilation also found success in the European market. Goode has been a fixture on 5FM since 2003, becoming one of the station's most popular DJs. His humour, high-energy presentation style, and passion for music have captivated a wide audience, particularly during his popular 6pm show. To commemorate Goode's 20-year milestone, 5FM hosted an intimate celebration during his show, inviting a select group of listeners to share in the exclusive 'Roger Goode Experience'. Given the size
Israel - Beit Zvi School for the Performing Arts is an acting school with an associated theatre located in Ramat Gan city, Tel-Aviv. All the school’s production shows are staged in the 350-capacity venue, together with other performances organised by the Ramat Gan municipality, all now benefitting from a full lighting upgrade that included the addition of Robe moving and static LED luminaires. In 2021, sales and installation company Danor Theatre & Studio Systems won the tender to upgrade the lighting system, a contract that saw the supply of new fixtures, dimmers, and a lighting console, complete with 20 x Robe ParFect 150 RGBWs, six VIVA CMYs and two T1 Profiles. In the same installation, the over-stage pipes were also renewed with a mixture of manual and electronic winched bars, and the process also finally saw the replacement of two heritage Robe Club Spots
Norway - Oslo-based CT Norway enjoyed a successful LLB exhibition in March, its busy booth including a showcase of systems from event and broadcast comms specialist, Green-GO. LLB (Lyd Lys Bilde or Light Sound Picture), held every two years in Oslo, is a major social event for Norway’s industry, attracting professionals from all over the country. This year, however, following COVID, it returned for the first time since 2019, bringing an added anticipation for all concerned. Part of the global Creative Technology Group, CT Norway provides audio, lighting, visual and staging technologies and expertise for all kinds of live, virtual and installed environments. It is also the exclusive Norwegian distributor for a number of leading brands, including Green-GO’s range of innovative, Ethernet network-based, digital intercom systems. As well as making Green-GO technol
UK - Five NRG members had the time of their life at this year's Eurovision Song Contest as RoboSpot operators. NRG Manager Jane Monk said: “Lighting designer Tim Routledge created this exclusive opportunity for local students to get involved. Working together, both LIPA and Cheshire colleges hosted NRG Introduction to RoboSpot training days - keeping the reason a secret.” After weeks of rehearsals and meetings, each student took control of a RoboSpot and played an integral role in the team of 15 RoboSpot operators. A once in a lifetime opportunity that accumulated in a spectacular grand final featuring over 635 Robe lighting fixtures. Lighting designer Tim Routledge said: "From my initial conversations with the BBC about taking this project on I wanted it to be as diverse a team as possible and to leave a legacy in Liverpool so that the money spent there ga
UK - Elation Professional has announced that Koy Neminathan has joined the company as director of business development. The industry veteran comes to Elation from lighting console manufacturer Avolites, where he worked for over 23 years in sales and business development, the last decade as sales director. Koy will work closely with designers to keep them abreast of Elation’s growing line of lighting products while communicating market insight to the Elation product team “Koy is a well-respected professional with a deep understanding of our industry and we are excited to have him join our team as a representative for the Elation brand,” stated Marc Librecht, Elation sales & marketing director Europe. “The collaborative relationships he will continue to build across the industry will be a great benefit and important asset as we continue to grow globally.”<
USA - Claypaky and Inner Circle Distribution (ICD) have announced a strategic partnership effective 15 June 2023. This partnership “pledges to invigorate the industry with a fresh perspective while preserving the high level of customer service and support that clients value. ICD's emphasis on dependable service, a robust dealer network, and strong customer relationships aligns perfectly with Claypaky's innovative vision”. "We are delighted to partner with ICD, a company that shares our dedication to innovation and superior service," shared Marcus Graser, CEO of Claypaky. "This alliance underscores our commitment to advancing lighting technology while safeguarding the dependable operations our customers rely on." Graser further adds: "In times of change, continuity is crucial. As such, George Masek, Claypaky's strategic marketing manager, will remain a key pa
