UK - Following extensive research and collaborative testing, Inspired Audio and LMC Audio Systems have signed an agreement for LMC Audio to sell and service Inspired Audio products in the UK and Ireland live audio market.

Inspired Audio has developed a premium quality loudspeaker system family designed, manufactured, and tested in Nottingham, by the team led by design director Chris Scott, who has a track record of over 20 years of original design success.

Scott comments, "Inspired Audio gives me a clean sheet of paper in terms of the product and, equally importantly, how that product was represented in the marketplace. It is fair to say that having been around the block a few times I had clear ideas on what does and doesn't work and I knew that I wanted a clear, simple and controlled route to market, making a well-placed distributor the obvious choice for the UK.

"

Italy / Sweden - With an over 30-year heritage of designing and manufacturing leading edge products for the worldwide entertainment market, Clay Paky has now partnered with LumenRadio to bring the CRMX technology to their product line.

After extensive testing, Clay Paky approved LumenRadio thanks to its quality and reliability. The LumenRadio Coexistence technology allows smarter use of the frequencies by continuously scanning the radio spectrum and dynamically adapting its frequency-hopping pattern to the surrounding environment. This eliminates interference and maximizes performance.

Select models of the extensive product portfolio that consists of a wide range of professional fixtures and accessories for stage and studio lighting as well as architectural applications, will now be available with integrated CRMX OEM modules.

"Partnering with LumenRadio was important fo

South Africa - For the tenth consecutive year, Johannesburg rental company MGG Productions were commissioned by csquare to provide the lighting for the rocking annual Potch Rag festivities held at Jool Plaas in Potchefestroom.

The Potchefstroom University sport grounds were alive as students built floats for a street parade which was followed by live performances from local band including Karen Zoid, Prime Circle and Die Heuwels Fantasties besides others.

It was the first time that Kevin Rieck of MGG had free rein on the design on the concert. On a permanent outdoor stage, the MGG crew built a box truss (4.5m x 10m) with three mid sections and a back truss for the Martin LC 2140 LED Wall. The show included Robin 100LEDs, Robin 600 LED Washes and Robin 300 Spots and beam work by Clay Paky Sharpys. All lighting and the LED wall were controlled on a grandMA full size and a grandM

South Africa - Robe was the lighting choice for the 12th annual Metro FM Music Awards held recently at the Durban ICC Arena. Dream Sets were commissioned by Blue Moon Corporate Communications to provide the set and the technical elements of this prestigious event.

With an objective to deliver the best Metro FM occasion to date, Dream Sets' Robert Hoey, Eben Peltz and Sean Hoey were the technical directors. They collaborated with Gearhouse Durban who were the main technical suppliers.

Francois van der Merwe of Wizardry Group was the lighting designer and operator. "While I had free reign, Dream Sets wanted the show to be spectacular with theatrical looks and with lighting good enough for the television broadcast," he said.

Van der Merwe programmed on a grandMA2 full size and incorporated video on a MA2 server. He had some 66 Robe fixtures at his disposal. "Ther

USA - When California-based Barten Production Service recently provided technology reinforcement for the 2013 MOD Awards at the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas, the set design depended heavily on Volkslicht Zoom and Spot One LED fixtures from GLP's impression range. Barten have been providing sound, lighting, AV, and production management services for the event, which honours the best modular trade show exhibits and event designs, for several years.

Dave Barten's eponymous company has a long association with the event, as it does with GLP - having first been introduced to the German company's LED solutions as a result of being the 'trussing partner' of Cosmic Truss, for which GLP is the distributor for the Americas. Today they own 12 Volkslicht Zooms and eight Spot Ones, which are regularly out on duty.

"The amazing thing was that at the MOD Awards we were able to handle

Germany - At Prolight+Sound Martin Professional celebrated the world premiere of no less than six new MAC Viper Family moving heads, as well as a completely new range of RUSH effect lights and the response was nothing short of fantastic, says the company.

"To have more tools to work with from the same tool set is a massive advantage," stated lighting designer and show visitor Paul Collison, who got an up close look at the newest Viper fixtures. "The Vipers are clearly a replacement workhorse and a family of fixtures that will be around for a long time." Martin product manager Peter Skytte was clearly satisfied with the response from visitors. "There was great interest from the opening bell," he said.

It was a packed house Thursday evening at Martin's Prolight + Sound party at Gibson Club where lighting industry professional's partied late into the

UK - The fund raising show has been so successful of recent years, that even if you never watched the series Glee, then you would still understand the concept of what it is about.

As part of Comic Relief or Sports Relief, CBBC's Sam and Mark, along with Naomi Wilkinson, present the all singing all dancing talent contest, in which groups performed in front of celebrity judges (vocal coaches David and Carrie Grant and choreographer Sisco Gomez) to be crowned the nation's best young Glee Club. Those select few groups were whittled down through week of previous auditions held across the country.

Long standing LD Roger Williams designed the spectacular lighting show which was provided by Richard Martin Lighting (RML). The show is filmed at BBC Glasgow and is overseen by local company TSL and Tony Kennedy.

The rig comprised of VL500s, Atomic Strobes, Alpha Beam 700s, Sharpy

Trinidad - With 15 of the biggest Chutney Soca artists in the world taking part, the recent Chutney Soca Monarch competition, held at Skinner Park in Trinidad's San Fernando, was the biggest of its kind in the world, showcasing talent from North America, the Caribbean and the UK. This event has been taking place for the past 18 years under the organisation of George Singh's South Ex Event Management.

With 10,000 people attending, the event is a launching pad for many careers in the industry and has triggered an international awareness of this music genre overseas, creating some massive productions. Prevalent in Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana and Surinam,'Chutney Soca' itself is described as a crossover style of music incorporating Soca elements and Hindi-English lyrics, with the indigenous 'Chutney' music complemented by Indian instruments like the dholak and dhantal.

This year fiv

Denmark - Martin Professional is targeting the installation market in a big way with the launch of an all-new, cost-effective line of effect lights - RUSH by Martin. RUSH will comprise a comprehensive range of affordable effect products with the first RUSH lights launched recently at the Prolight+Sound trade show in Frankfurt.

RUSH marks Martin's focus back onto a market they know well. Villads Thomsen, vice president of global sales at Martin, comments, "We are extremely excited about this brand new range as it again brings everything that Martin stands for to the market for installation effect lights. This is by no means new territory for us however as our roots lay in the market for effect lighting. It's a market we have great experience in.

"The response at Prolight+Sound was overwhelmingly positive. We feel the time is right to re-energize this segment and are c

Eurovision Update - Abba's Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus are set to write an anthem for this year's Eurovision Song Contest, organisers have announced. The pair will team up with Swedish DJ and producer Avicii to compose a theme track for the event in Malmo, Sweden. We Write the Story will be performed for the first time at the opening of the grand final on 18 May.

Show Statistics - Musikmesse and Prolight+Sound closed with113,000 visitors from 142 countries (2012: 109,481 visitors, 120 countries). "This visitor response has far surpassed our own expectations and that of the exhibitors", says Detlef Braun, managing director of Messe Frankfurt GmbH. "With 113,000, the visitor numbers not only exceeded last year's results by three percent, but it also surpasses the all-time record high from 2009 (112,478 visitors). This is a fantastic result for th

Germany - ETC's Layers of Light Theatre proved once again to be a popular attraction at this year's Prolight+Sound, with visitors standing off the stand and on tip toes to see the two different presentations.

The first presentation demonstrated how each of the different types of fixtures - tungsten, HID and LED - can work well either individually or together as instruments in a lighting director's tool box; while a second showed how easy it is to set up a lighting system for a gig, making use of the new Magic Sheets function on the control desks and RDM technology, and demonstrating how ETC control desks, fixtures and power control products work together.

Everyone who attended both presentations as well as a personal demonstration of any ETC product was entered into a draw to win a Source Four Mini. The winners were announced as Markus Fuchs, Jan Lemmenmeier, Marcus Schindler

Germany - Robe concluded its "busiest and best" Prolight+Sound exhibition to date at the Frankfurt Messe.

The action-packed four-day Robe schedule included the launch of six innovative new fixtures, a press event announcing the company's sponsorship of Czech MotoGP racing star Karel Abraham and a show-stopping lightshow on the booth that had people packing the aisles each day waiting in anticipation ... and receiving it with rounds of rapturous applause.

Says Robe's CEO Josef Valchar, "We said that last year's Frankfurt was the best ever trade show ... but this year's has surpassed, both in terms of the business completed, the interest in the new products and the general vibe - it has been incredible!"

The much-anticipated Pointe moving light was the focus of Robe's new technology launches this year - a small, very bright, multi-functional fixture which c

UK - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light returns to the Royal Armouries in Leeds this month, exhibiting at the annual PLASA Focus exhibition 30 April - 1May. Visitors will find White Light exclusive products including lighting, effects, and rigging in both show venues -on stand NA2 in New Dock Hall and on stand RA-C4 in the Royal Armouries Museum.

Stand NA2 will feature products from Arkaos, Altman, Chromlech. Interactive Technologies, James Thomas, JB Lighting, Look Solutions, and LSC Lighting. Products CITC, Coemar, Core Lighting, Galaxia Electronics, PR Lighting. Robert Juliat, and Wireless Solution will appear on stand RA-C4. White Light Sales and Hire staff will be on hand throughout the show, to answer questions and offer advice about your venue, project, or production.

Two new White Light exclusives -the CORE Lighting ColourPoint and the James Thomas Engineeri

UK - Martin Professional invites lighting professionals to PLASA Focus Leeds to be the first in the UK to get an up-close look at the newest members of the award-winning MAC Viper Family, as well as the first fixtures in an all-new Martin product range - RUSH - light in the fast lane!

Join Martin 30 April to 1 May 1st at the Royal Armouries in Leeds where visitors can check out these latest technologies, network with industry professionals and enjoy a relaxing chat with Martin personnel at Booth N-E16.

A host of other new Martin products will also feature: MAC III series luminaires, VC series LED video, plus smoke and haze solutions.

(Jim Evans)

UK - This year marked 25 years since Red Nose Day first burst on to our screens and it continues to go from strength to strength, working with some of the biggest names in show business to pull out all the fundraising stops and do something funny for money.

To help capture the fun and energy of Red Nose Day Night of TV: Comic Relief - Funny For Money Richard Martin Lighting (RML) once again came on board to shine the light on some of Britain's best celebrity talent including Michael McIntyre, Rob Brydon, John Bishop, Lenny Henry and Claudia Winkleman.

Chris Kempton, who has designed the lighting for Red Nose Day Night of TV shows for the past 11 years used all the lighting tricks of the trade to bring the show to life, using s Robe Robin 600 LEDWash's, VL1000TS, MAC 700's, VL2000 Wash's, MAC 600's, Sharpys and VL3500's.

Chris Kempton said, 'The Red Nose Day Night of T

UK - After taking Ibiza by storm this summer, Hot Creations brought their Ibiza party to London for a special Paradise event at Brixton's O2 Academy on 13April 2013.

This in-demand event featured the live debut of Hot Natured, the collective of Jamie Jones, Lee Foss, Luca C and Ali Love. Latest single Benediction has become one of this year's biggest dance tunes, and their debut album and live shows are set to be one of the significant stories in electronic music in 2013. DJ support came from Jamie Jones, Lee Foss, Richy Ahmed, Infinity Ink and PBR Street Gang.

PRG's Andrew Strachan worked alongside Ben Pound, director of Futureline Events to supply lighting, media server and creative LED. Gregory Douglas was overall project manager and Chris Scott was crew chief.

Cameron Bannister worked with Strachan and Pound to design a complex array of 50 x 1500mm and 12 x 375mm

UK - Multi award-winning lighting designer, Tim Routledge, chose to specify Clay Paky 800W Alpha Spot QWO 800 luminaires to deliver an intense sparkle to British singer Gary Barlow's glittering UK tour.

Routledge, known for his work with Madonna, Katherine Jenkins and Sterophonics, specified 26 powerful Alpha Spot QWO 800s, supplied by Neg Earth, praising them as 'superb optic spots, perfect for cutting through LED'.

"I specifically picked the QWO800s having used them on the Queen's Jubilee Concert," says Routledge. "For the Gary Barlow tour we were playing theatres and smaller concert venues and I really wanted as bright a spot as I could find in the smallest body - I really dislike seeing big ugly fixtures spoiling the architecture of a show or a venue. The QWOs really fitted that bill - they are small, compact and extremely bright and moreover the optics on t

World - Avolites Media's Ai Media Server is delivering fast moving evocative visuals on The Script's sell out arena world tour. Conceived by award winning lighting designer Jamie Thompson, in collaboration with members of the band and creative London based content producers Immersive, the show visuals are operated by US based Jeffrey Brown.

"The theme of '3' - reflecting the album and tour titles - was very important, and dictated much of the layout of LED fingers and stage graphics," says Thompson. "The Ai is being used to power a mixture of live camera feeds, video and visual content onto the main back video wall, and over the three, three-dimensional LED screens, which are embedded in the stage floor and run above the stage to reach into the audience like outstretched fingers. After witnessing the power of Ai at previous events, I knew we could create a stunnin

USA - Movie theatre powerhouse Regal Entertainment Group recently held its General Manager Conference at the Knoxville Convention Centre. The three-day conference started on 8 April and included sneak peeks into upcoming theatrical releases, presentations varying from safety and marketing, and insight into best business practices.

With 6,854 screens in 537 theatres at the time of this writing, Regal Entertainment Group is the largest and most geographically diverse theatre circuit in the country, and required a lighting design befitting the royally inspiring name.

Lighting designer Giff Swart adeptly created a massive design that imitated Regal's crown logo. Fifty-nine Chauvet colour dash accents illuminated the trussing with the red, yellow, blue and green colours surrounding the crown.

"I wanted to give them something a little more than just a utilitarian structure to

USA - Mohegan Sun, one of New England's top destinations, has purchased a number of Clay Paky GlowUp portable, battery-powered luminaries.

Located in Uncasville, Connecticut, Mohegan Sun offers gaming in three casinos, fine dining, luxury accommodations, retail shopping, live entertainment and sporting events. Attractions include an indoor 55ft waterfall, electrifying water wall and the world's largest indoor planetarium dome. Entertainment venues are a 10,000-seat Arena, 350-seat Cabaret Theatre and 300-seat Wolf Den.

"We chose Clay Paky GlowUps because we do a lot of events on the fly in various locations," says Brian Horne, lead lighting technician for sports and entertainment at Mohegan Sun. "We were looking for a wireless LED that we could connect to a console. One challenge is that since we're a casino, WiFi can interfere with some of our equipment. The Gl

The Netherlands - Amsterdam Light Festival is calling on artists, architects and engineers from across the globe to submit designs for the second edition of Amsterdam Light Festival. The festival will be held from 28 November 2013 until 19 January 2014 in downtown Amsterdam, with 'Building with light' as its central theme.

The proclamation of this call for concepts also constitutes the start signal for professionals in the international art, design and architecture industry to submit their own interpretations of 'building with light'.

Curator and artistic leader of the festival, Rogier van der Heide states, "We want to demonstrate the importance of light in all its facets, to the city but to mankind as well. We want to start Building with Light, but not just in the architectural sense. Because we also want to build an experience and invite artists to explore the materiali

USA / Europe - After a four-year hiatus, The Killers returned to action last year with a new album, Battle Born. This year the tour continues and the band are playing live shows across Europe, the USA, Canada and South America. With a lighting rig full of Martin Professional luminaires, ahead of its official launch, the company's latest MAC Viper AirFX fixture is giving the shows added visual bite.

The tour's lighting and video designer Steven Douglas has been working with The Killers for over eight years. Juxtaposing the band members' onstage proximity with their desire for an 'open' look - plus the fact that there are several different possible versions of each song - presents both challenges and opportunities for the lighting design.

"The lighting is quite strong, it's not very pop," says Steven. "They wanted a wide open, Springsteen-esque kind of stag

UK - Following Philips Entertainment's hugely successful exhibition at Frankfurt's Prolight+Sound 2013, its four premier brands - Showline, Vari-Lite, Selecon and Strand Lighting - will be exhibiting the latest in LED and luminaires alongside precision lighting control on stand N-C15 at PLASA Focus: Leeds.

Following its attention-grabbing world debut in Frankfurt, Philips Showline's SL NITRO 510 will be on show for the first time in the UK. An LED-based strobe, it delivers super-bright bursts of light and dynamic effects using over 1300 high-powered LEDs.

New from Philips Vari-Lite is the recently released Indy software for the VLX Wash luminaire allows for individual control of the fixture's seven 120W RGBW LED engines. This facilitates a multitude of stunning looks and original chases to be programmed on the face of the luminaire, further enhancing the creative possibilities

South Africa - Latest buzz on the musical theatre wires is that the newly opened Jersey Boys at the Teatro, Montecasino in Johannesburg is "absolutely unmissable". Fresh from its Singapore tour- where the show played to rapt audiences at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore - the show opened in South Africa on 3 April 2013 for a 10-week run.

A variety of rental companies from USA, Europe, Australia and South Africa quoted on technical supply for the production and the lighting equipment and staffing contract was awarded to South African theatre rental company, Gearhouse Splitbeam for the Asian and South African legs of the tour. The sound, LED, automation and rigging packages were all brought in from the USA.

Splitbeam's managing director, Alistair Kilbee took on the role of technical director and along with Splitbeam operators, Clement Makama, Simon Mashebane and

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