Lighting

Details

31 October 2024

USA - Willis Underhill, Diamond Rio’s Tennessee-based lighting designer, creates a party atmosphere for the band’s live shows, aided by a ChamSys MagicQ MQ250M Stadium Console.

The ChamSys MagicQ MQ250M (supplied by CLD Corp), which Underhill takes with him on the road, made it easy to busk portions of his show. “This console allows me to add busking to a cue show seamlessly,” he said. “I am using Execute Screens and Changing Banks on the fly, which is really great.”

At the start of a tour, Underhill finds that his MagicQ MQ250M aids him immensely when programming shows. “ChamSys makes importing patch information and cue times easy with minimal effort,” he said. “Also, the Timeline feature provides me with a simple way to fine-tune cue timing. Helping me create greater depth within the programming of the MQ tracks.”

At the

Details

31 October 2024

World - The Sharpy X Frame hybrid fixture – housed in a lightweight, compact design – features a powerful 550W arc lamp for extreme brightness and vivid, uniform colours.

Giovanni Zucchinali, Claypaky project support, says: “Hybrid floodlights were, and still are, a kind of fixture where LED light sources have not yet matched the performance of arc lamps. When we decided to develop this model, we chose to enhance an arc lamp-powered fixture with all the most advanced technologies our industry could offer in terms of optical features, effects, colour production and beam shaping.”

Alberico D'Amato, Claypaky's commercial director, says: "The Sharpy X Frame combines the features of a spotlight with a powerful, uniform beam, a beam moving light with an ultra-focused penetrating beam, a versatile, precise beam shaper and, when needed, a wash light.

Details

30 October 2024

USA - Sphere Entertainment Co has announced the return of the Sphere XO Student Design Challenge and this year’s theme: Earth Day. In its second year, more than 100,000 Clark County-based students will again be invited to create art for the Exosphere as part of the collaboration between Sphere, the Clark County School District (CCSD) and University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The winning students’ art will debut on the Exosphere on Earth Day - 22 April 2025.

The Second Annual Design Challenge comes on the heels of the inaugural Sphere XO Student Design Challenge, which was centred on the Fourth of July and culminated with a community event to unveil the winning students’ art. The Earth Day theme for this year’s challenge will encourage students to think creatively about the intersection of art, technology, and planet Earth.

“We are proud o

Details

30 October 2024

The Netherlands - De Bosuil is a buzzing 850-capacity live music venue in Weert, southeastern Netherlands, AKA ‘The Gateway to Limburg’ due to its close proximity to the Belgian border. It has been voted the greenest city in the Netherlands.

The venue has recently received a new Robe moving light package – 16 x Paintes, 12 x LEDBeam 350s plus eight LEDBeam 150s – which is a substantial upgrade to their previous system of older Robe moving lights fixtures. These are all still working 11 years later but needed upgrading to newer tech to satisfy the string of local and international artists and lighting designers frequenting this popular venue.

Head of lighting Bart Mesman is a freelancer who has worked at De Bosuil for over 15 years, so he knows the venue inside out, and has enjoyed numerous memorable moments along the way.

De Bosuil it

Details

30 October 2024

Poland - The Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music, one of Poland's most prestigious cultural and educational institutions, has upgraded its auditorium's lighting system with energy-efficient solutions from Prolights.

Show Design, Prolights distributor in Poland, oversaw the installation, replacing the outdated halogen fixtures with a fully modern Prolights LED setup. The new system includes Astra Profile400, Astra Wash19Pix, EclProfile FWVW, EclPendant JrFC, and EclPendant SFC, delivering uniform, high-quality lighting.

With advanced features like adjustable colour temperature and dynamic gobo projection, the system works for both institutional events and artistic performances. “The versatility and reliability of Prolights products allow the academy to adapt to the diverse needs of its events, from concerts and performances to formal presentations,

Details

29 October 2024

Canada - GLP has appointed DataVisual Marketing as its new Canadian distributor. The move was formally announced at the recent CITT conference and trade show in Saskatoon.

To underpin this move, DataVisual recently appointed Rob Deslauriers as its first vice-president of strategic growth. With a sales background in rental staging and concert touring spanning more than three decades, he says: “I’ve been a part of just about every major entertainment lighting manufacturer throughout my career.

“From my perspective GLP is completely in line with our visual offerings. Although everything today is about ‘visual’ rather than pure lighting, this is the first company we’ve represented from a lighting background.

“What excites me about GLP is their commitment to quality and some of the uniqueness of their products, which is paramount in

Details

29 October 2024

UK - Christie continues its partnership with the British Film Institute’s London Film Festival (LFF), where its projectors power the latest cinema releases for star-studded invitees.

This year’s LFF returned to the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall where, from 9-20 October, Christie CP4455-RGB and Christie CP4435-RGB pure laser cinema projectors will illuminate screens.  

Dominic Simmons, head of cinema technology at the British Film Institute, says: “The BFI is delighted to be supported by Christie once again for the gala screenings at the Southbank Centre for this year’s London Film Festival. This is the fourth time we’ve installed Christie Real|Laser RGB projectors in the Royal Festival Hall, and each time the sharp, vivid images we’ve seen on the 18m matte white screen have been superb.

“The ease of installation and

Details

29 October 2024

Japan - For the first time in six years, singer-songwriter and J-Pop sensation, Hikaru Utada, embarked on a tour of Japan and Asia, which lasted from July to September. The tour in support of their new album, Science Fiction, also celebrated 25 years of chart music from Utada.

The futuristic set from JAW studio’s Jason Ardizzone-West simultaneously celebrated the momentous anniversary whilst also looking toward the future. Lighting designer Jeremy Lechterman of Fragment 9 featured some classic Ayrton fixtures as major components of his design: the MagicPanel 602 and MagicBlade R, both of which are celebrating a decade of use and proving as relevant today as ever.

Amid the set’s 110ft wide alien landscape of sand dunes stood nine video-tiled sculptural monoliths, inside of which Lechterman had concealed 144 MagicBlade Rs in hidden rows. T

Details

29 October 2024

UK - Stage Electrics Group has been named one of the UK's Top 100 Best Mid-Sized Companies to Work For in 2024 by Best Companies, an independent authority on UK workplace culture and employee engagement. Its annual rankings are based on comprehensive, anonymous surveys that assess employee opinions across various factors, including leadership, personal growth, wellbeing, and team dynamics.

Achieving a 2-star Outstanding accreditation from Best Companies and a place on the Top 100 list signifies an organisation's excellence in ‘fostering a supportive and engaging workplace’.

Dave Coull, CEO of Stage Electrics Group, commented: "This achievement is a testament to the incredible effort our team has put into cultivating a company culture rooted in core values that promote collaboration and engagement. I am delighted that our team's feedback

Details

29 October 2024

Australia - LSC Control Systems has made a significant new addition to its Melbourne HQ operations team with the appointment of a new general manager, Greg Lowe.

With 30 years’ experience in high-tech manufacturing, much of it within the global automotive supply chain, Lowe has previously held positions as general manager, managing director and non-executive director, at both domestic and multinational businesses.

In this senior management role at LSC, he is responsible for overseeing LSC’s daily operations, with particular attention to its expanding production line.

“I’m delighted to join the team at LSC Control Systems,” says Lowe. “It’s a company with a 40-year legacy of innovation and an enviable reputation in its market, not just at home in Australia, but internationally. Its expansion has been achieved by products of its o

Details

28 October 2024

Australia - TDC (Technical Direction Company) has been awarded Production Company of the Year and Event Supplier of the Year at the 2024 Australian Event Awards and Symposium held on Wednesday, 23 October 2024 at Le Montage, Sydney.

"We are deeply honoured to receive these awards," said Michael Hassett, managing director at TDC. "This recognition by the industry and judging panel reflects the passion, creativity, and dedication of our team, who continuously push the boundaries of what is possible in the event space. Every project we deliver is a collaboration with talented individuals – our clients, partners, and incredible crew – who make the impossible possible."

This year, TDC has led ambitious and high-profile projects like Dream Circus at Luna Park, which won the award for Best Achievement in Design with Artists in Motion utilising advanced

Details

25 October 2024

Ukraine - The Jam Factory is a new contemporary art centre and a collaborative community event space, set in a reimagined Neo-Gothic former distillery and one time jam factory in picturesque Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine.

All technical elements – lighting, sound, video, trussing, cable infrastructure, automation and the control systems – for the main auditorium and performance area were supplied by Dnipro-based Sound House, one of Robe’s Ukrainian distributors, with Robe LEDWash 300s and ParFect 150s on the lighting rig.

Sound House won the tender and undertook the technical design, specification, installation, commissioning and delivery of all Jam Factory’s technical production components.

The Jam Factory project started in 2015 when the then derelict building was acquired by the organisation of cultural entrepreneur, Har

Details

25 October 2024

USA - Lighting designer Whitney Hoversten is shaping the visual spectacle of Bruno Mars’ shows using Elation Proteus series lighting. From his eight-year residency at Park MGM in Las Vegas to selling out stadiums worldwide, Hoversten has employed the IP-rated Proteus lighting to enhance and complement the global superstar’s performances.

This year began with seven sold-out shows at the Tokyo Dome in Japan, followed by performances in Mexico, Asia, the grand opening of LA’s new Intuit Dome, and regular dates at his Las Vegas residency. He played in Brazil this fall with a record-setting number of shows and will wrap up the year back in Vegas.

Hoversten has been along for the ride for nearly eight years and his position has evolved. Today, he wears many hats including production designer and describes this year’s journey as less of a tour and m

Details

25 October 2024

USA - Matthieu Larivee and the team at Luz Studio designed Jason Aldean’s 24-city Highway Desperado tour, which concluded on 5 October at Georgia’s Macon Amphitheatre.

Appreciating that the lower parts of the stage are where most eyeballs (and most cell phones) are focused, they strove to make this area as fan and camera friendly as possible by incorporating multi-level fascia risers into their design.

“The risers were the start of the design,” said Larivee. “I wanted to focus on the lower part of crowd POV. This is where people are mainly watching, and this is the main background of the pictures on social media. This is especially true on amphitheatre tours where it’s hard to manage haze. Therefore, the lower part of the stage is where we get more impact with the artist.”

To ensure that this area popped for the live au

Details

25 October 2024

UK - TSL has taken a sustainable approach in refreshing one of its key fixtures. Instead of replacing the VL2600, they’ve opted for a smart upgrade by replacing the LED engines.

Sam Tamplin, managing director, shared: “We’ve often been frustrated with the short lifecycle of products from some manufacturers. A fixture barely gains traction in the market before a new version or a near-identical update is introduced.

“When Vari-Lite presented the VL2600 SE upgrade path, it struck us as an innovative step toward sustainability. Lighting designers already love the VL2600, so offering the same fixture with a 25% boost in brightness, allowing it to compete with newer models, was an easy decision."

The upgrade increases output to over 23,750 lumens, while maintaining the same size, weight, power consumption, and the exceptional feature set th

Details

25 October 2024

USA - Bandit Lites has announced the promotion of Andrew Ellis to project manager. Ellis brings considerable knowledge of hands-on touring experience to this position, where he will plan, direct, and coordinate with Bandit’s clients to ensure the goals and objectives are accomplished within defined budget and time frames.

Bandit Lites’ Jake Tickle hired Ellis as a freelance lighting technician in 2018 before he joined full time in 2021. While at Bandit, Ellis served as a tech and crew chief on several tours including Rob Thomas, Alanis Morissette, Shinedown, Jason Aldean, Breaking Benjamin, Stick Figure and The Marley Brothers.

“Andrew has continually shown an appetite to learn more and be better, not only better himself, but by bringing ideas that will better our company and our process,” said Tickle. “He tackles every challenge head on. I

Details

24 October 2024

USA - Award-winning Indian playback superstar Javid Ali sings songs in many languages, from Tamil and Urdu, to Bengali, in addition to Hindi.

On his recent shows in the New York area, Ali’s two-hour and thirty-minute concert featured a light show created by Roosevelt Dsouza with a rig anchored by 20 Colorado PXL Curve12 and 16 Color Strike M fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

Arranged on a straight line across the downstage deck, the Colorado motorised battens played a variety of roles in the design. At times, they were used to direct intense colourful beams upward in a diagonal line that effectively blocked the upstage area from view. The effect was to create a sense that Ali was closer to the audience, engendering a sense of intimacy between the singer and his fans.

At other times, the Colorado PXL Curve12 projected distinct columns of c

Details

24 October 2024

USA - Las Vegas-based independent lighting designer Gregg Maltby used an array of Ayrton fixtures and a pair of grandMA3 light consoles for Peter Frampton’s The Positively Thankful Tour, which led up to his induction ceremony at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in October. Ayrton and MA Lighting products are exclusively distributed in North America by ACT Entertainment.

OSA International in Nashville was the lighting vendor for the tour, a role they played for Frampton’s 2023 North American tour, which Maltby also designed.

“I had used Ayrton fixtures before and knew they’d be really bulletproof on the four legs of this tour,” says Maltby. “We were playing theatres, arenas and some outdoor sheds and had just two trusses up and downstage and fixtures on the floor, so we could use the rig everywhere we went. There wasn’t a lot of

Details

24 October 2024

USA - On their current Good Together Tour, the multi-genre band Lake Street Dive uses varied contrasts to make every show impactful and memorable. Audiences experience diverse colour palettes, striking staging and special effects elements, intriguing lyrical themes and an overall attitude that the quintet has described as “joyful rebellion”.

“One of the things the band kept saying during the lead-up to this tour, was that it’s a ‘joyful rebellion’,” lighting director Andrew Froehlich explained. “The album is also all about that feeling: there’s joy, but a little bit of sourness in there. Everything kind of sucks sometimes, but we’re here, we’re living, we’re breathing, so let’s make it better, together.”

From his spot at front of house, Froehlich makes deft and artful use of contrast to enhance the impact of every

Details

24 October 2024

UK - TSL has announced that it has added the Martin Mac One to its stock list. A compact moving head, the Mac One is a beam, wash and eye-candy fixture, capable of producing robust, vibrant aerial effects, seamless transitions and engaging visual effects. With its Fresnel lens that transforms any stage, the Mac One is suitable for concert, touring, TV sets, theatre, corporate events and more.

“The versatility of the Martin Mac One makes it a great fit for our clients across the live events spectrum,” says TSL. “It’s already lined up for an upcoming project, and we can’t wait to see the impact it will make on future shows.”

Details

22 October 2024

Europe - Showlight 2025 is offering a sponsorship scheme for a number of students and recent graduates of university, college or school courses related to lighting for the performing arts, events, broadcast, film and architecture.

Say the organisers: “We are now inviting international students to apply for placements which allow free of charge entry to Showlight 2025 in Dijon, France from 19-22 May 2025. At least 30 places are up for grabs, and you’ll need to be available for the entire four days as they will be packed with special events you won’t want to miss.”

All students get to enjoy the full Programme of Papers, admission to the accompanying exhibition of major lighting equipment manufacturers between Papers Sessions, the networking opportunities of the daily morning and afternoon tea breaks and lunch, as well as a place at one of the C

Details

22 October 2024

Germany - The Adele in Munich show was big in every respect. Taking place on a fully bespoke, purpose-built stage in front of a 220m x 19m LED screen backdrop (a Guinness Book of World Records holder) with a central thrust measuring 84m, the Adele Arena hosted approximately 80,000 fans each night for 10 performances in August. 

The spectacular production was Adele’s second concert residency and marked her first non-UK European concert since 2016, after which the entire site was taken down and reset to its pre-existing condition.

The creative team behind Adele in Munich spent 10-12 months working on the various aspects of this massive undertaking with everything designed around these unique performances, all of which was intended to bring the artist as close as possible to her fans in the audience.

Lighting designer, Cory FitzGeral

Details

22 October 2024

Germany - The lighting for Adele’s record-breaking Adele in Munich residency featured over 250 Robe Forte moving lights, split into 223 iForte LTXs used for multiple key lighting positions for the artist and 36 iFortes dedicated to lighting the band.

13 Robe iBolts were also part of the lighting aesthetic developed by Cory FitzGerald and the creative team, led by show director Kim Gavin, to embrace all the challenges and demands of this epic proportioned show by the global superstar. All lighting equipment was supplied by UK-based Neg Earth Lights and the screen was constructed by Solotech.

The 10 blockbusting shows took place over five weekends during the month of August 2024, and were production directed by Paul English. The performances were enjoyed by 730,000 people, also breaking the record for the highest attendance of any ‘concert residenc

Details

18 October 2024

UK - LSi is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Brian Croft – Crofty to just about everyone in the industry - who died peacefully in hospital on Wednesday October 16th, his family around him.

Brian was a key figure in entertainment lighting and production, beginning in theatre (he was a member of the original National Youth Theatre company in 1956, going on to train at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School then to jobs at Perth Rep and Stratford-upon-Avon before returning to the NYT as production manager), moving to the new ICA in London as it opened, starting to perform liquid light shows with fellow NYT member John Brown and forming a lighting supply company, ESP, with him. The company would go on to supply lighting to the likes of The Who, David Bowie. Elton John, Queen and others.

Through a series of mergers, ESP became part of Ele