UK - PLASA Focus: Leeds 2014 will throw open the doors of Leeds' Royal Armouries Museum this week, welcoming more than 150 exhibitors and a raft of expectant visitors. On Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 April, the picturesque, canal-side setting of Clarence Docks will be transformed into an entertainment technology showcase. The industry will be out in force, making the show a must-attend event for lighting, audio, video and rigging professionals, both in the north of England and beyond.
PLASA Focus: Leeds 2014 offers unparalleled access to the 150 companies on show and to its Professional Development Programme, which comprises free-to-attend seminars delivered by expert speakers. The show, which is celebrating its sixth birthday, has become known for its friendly, upbeat atmosphere and for its growing importance as a platform
UK - Black Light has announced that it has achieved certification for the ISO9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS 18001 quality, environmental and health and safety management standards. The company reached these milestones in March after a comprehensive process of auditing and assessment.
"These certification awards mean a great deal to us," says Barclay Dakers, who leads the integrated management team at Black Light. "They prove that we have the systems in place to deliver internationally-recognised levels of management in the areas covered by the standards."
"I never thought we would need to have ISO accreditation within Black Light and actually thought it would hurt us. Well I was wrong," says Black Light's managing director, Gavin Stewart. "Without it we would not be able to offer the same quality and personal service we used to provide when we were
South Africa - Energy efficiency and practicality were top of the list for the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) when Robe Robin LEDWash 600 moving lights were chosen as a solution for the renowned Breytenbach Theatre in Pretoria.
Affectionately known as 'The Breytie', the new lights form part of a recent technical upgrade. The lighting elements of this project also included new dimmers all of which was delivered by Johannesburg-based DWR Distribution, Robe's South African distributor.
The re-fit was co-ordinated by the Breytie's technical manager Wandile Mgcodo and DWR's Eazy Moeketsi and Dave Whitehouse.
The Breytie is a practical training ground for TUT's Performing Arts & Technology students, and a showcase for the technical and creative skills and services that they can provide to the industry.
This involves a stream of dynamic productions year-round, including m
UK - In order to provide English folk/punk singer-songwriter, Frank Turner, with an intricate lighting solution on his most recent tour around the world, Shaun Moore, lighting department director at Nitelites, implemented Martin Lighting fixtures. Moore deployed 14 MAC Viper Washes, 24 MAC Viper Profiles, 48 MAC Aura's and 20 Atomic 3000s.
"Frank Turner presents an interesting quandary for me as a lighting designer," Moore explains. "He likes his music to do the talking. He is not an extravagant man and, in many ways, this can be seen in his none-flashy on-stage production. When we received the schedule for the arena tour, I found myself with a slight mind-twinge - how do you design something that will satisfy the audience and stay within the direction from the artist?"
Moore's goal was to create a more visually tactile profile using the MAC Auras in groups
USA - LSiOnline has learned of the death of Demfis Fyssicopulos, a well-known concert lighting designer and programmer. He was 41 and reportedly died while surfing near his California home.
A native of Venezuela, Fyssicopulos studied engineering, then attended film/theatre school. He worked as an intern at Bash Lighting before starting out in touring as a freelance lighting programmer and lighting director. His clients included Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Elton John, Maxwell, Carrie Underwood, Green Day, Lenny Kravitz and The Black Eyed Peas. He programmed Michael Jackson's This is It Tour, which was tragically aborted by the singer's death. He worked especially closely with Prince, providing production design and artistic direction services. He was also responsible for using the famous hologram of Tupac Shakur seen during Dr. Dre and Snoop's performance at Coac
UK - Chroma-Q's award-winning lighting products deliver premium performance for - and have been adopted by leading users in - some of today's most demanding and prestigious lighting applications, including opera, theatre, film & TV, venues, touring, events, retail, houses of worship, and others.
The latest Chroma-Q product range will be showcased at PLASA Focus 2014, Leeds on the stand of UK dealer, A.C. Entertainment Technologies (stand N-E02).
Highlights include key models from the latest generation LED lighting range illuminating various surfaces to demonstrate the products' meticulous colour accuracy and consistency, and precise theatrical grade dimming - features which together are designed to deliver the highest performance levels from a lighting instrument.
Making its PLASA Focus debut is the new Inspire Mini RGBW LED house light - a super compact version of the award
UK - AED Rent and AED Distribution UK, total solution providers to AV professionals, will be exhibiting at PLASA Focus 2014 on stand N-A02 in the Royal Armouries Museum.
"We are pleased to be part of this ever successful exhibition which is oriented specifically to the UK market." says David March, managing director of AED Distribution UK Ltd. "This will be the first time that AED Distribution UK Ltd. will be present as a stand-alone entity and we are very excited to partner up with our colleagues from AED Rent UK."
The AED team will be on-hand to share with visitors the range of services that are offered in the UK, and with the support of the AED group, ranging from AED Rent and AED Lease through to AED Distribution, AED Second-Hand and Trader Platform along with AED Store.
Specifically for AED Distribution, will be the UK trade show premiere of a number
UK - Sound and lighting rental company Entec Sound & Light has announced the appointment of Mark 'Magic' Ellis-Cope who joins the team in West London as head of sound.
Magic will be taking over from Dick Hayes, who will be stepping back from the fast lane at the end of July after 19 years at the sharp-end of this busy and successful operation at Entec. This is the culmination of a truly amazing career that started with maverick rockers The Who as a teenager in the 1960s.
Magic brings a wealth of experience, knowledge and contacts to the equation, and he was already an honorary part of the Entec 'family' having freelanced regularly for them over the last 10 years, working for artists like Alanis Morissette, The Who, James and others, plus high profile events like The Teenage Cancer Trust, etc.
Magic says, "I am hugely excited about working with Entec, being part of a fan
UK - In an industry that can sometimes be a slave to technology and budgets, it is always reassuring to be reminded that the entertainment business is primarily still driven by the people and the relationships that are forged over years of mutual experience and respect.
When asked how Chaos Visual Productions UK were selected to provide the video element of Alison Moyet's latest live performances, tour manager Bob Ward doesn't hesitate, "Over the years I've developed a close working relationship with John Wiseman, president and CEO of Chaos in the USA. The story of John flying to Beyoncé rehearsals from vacation in Hawaii and landing in sub-zero temperatures in Saskatoon in nothing more than Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt is an image that will always endure! It clearly demonstrates his aggressive commitment and personal proactive style and it was that same spiri
UK - Harting has expanded its Han B industrial connector product portfolio with the addition of Han Hood Link: a new locking system that speeds cable-to-cable connection by allowing the connection of two standard Harting 16B hoods while simultaneously achieving an IP 65 degree of protection.
A key feature of the new connection is that it is made from a resistant elastomer which provides optimum protection against external mechanical forces, as well as good resistance to oils and gases. When used in conjunction with a specially contoured design, it achieves locking and sealing in a single action. As a result, housings can be quickly assembled and disassembled with minimal effort - all without tools.
A further product variant also permits housings to be locked together with both bulkhead and surface mounted housings.
This type of simple and robust locking element is particular
UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) will showcase a selection of the very latest lighting, audio, rigging and video solutions available from their vast portfolio of premium brands - on stand N-E02 at PLASA Focus: Leeds this week.
Sales teams from AC-ET's four specialist product divisions will be on hand to demonstrate and discuss the latest technologies from leading marques which AC-ET are the exclusive UK dealer for, as well as over 200 leading brands available for immediate despatch from the company's multi-million pound inventory.
UK-exclusive brands on show from AC-ET's Lighting division include various Chroma-Q, Spotlight and Mole-Richardson LED entertainment & broadcast lighting solutions; Jands' innovative Vista lighting & media control solutions range and award-winning Stage CL lighting console 'made for LEDs'; GLP's Impression Spot One, X4/X4S & Volkslicht LE
UK - Leisuretec Distribution are gearing up for another successful show at PLASA Focus Leeds. This will be the fourth year the Bedfordshire-based distributor has exhibited at the entertainment technology event.
Visitors to the Leisuretec stand (N-CO3) will have the opportunity to meet their highly motivated and knowledgeable team, with a combined experience in the industry of over 120 years covering commercial audio, lighting, video and special effects to the trade only. Their stand design will allow you to take a journey from the brands they can offer you, the strengths of Team Leisuretec, their newly created events facility: 'The TecZone' and finally, discovering the company's user-friendly e-commerce website, which has "everything in one space".
Managing director, Cliff Dounting commented, "PLASA Focus has a special 'feel good' factor and a personality of its
Australia - The MLC Centre, rising 67 floors above Martin Place in Sydney, Australia, was designed by renowned Australia Architect Harry Seidler. The MLC Centre has become an iconic Sydney landmark since the building - ahead of its time in its design - was opened in 1976.
Today, the complex - jointly owned by The GPT Group and Queensland Investment Corporation - includes a major commercial office tower, a retail precinct, and the Theatre Royal. The building over recent years has suffered from external degradation and a project worth 300m dollars was undertaken to fix it.
The building owners approached Australian artist Mathew Johnson to create a light art installation on the scaffolding, gantry and a joining buildings. D.T.S. Australia provided Mathew with a lighting design, cabling and control solution. A range of D.T.S. LED projectors - including Delta 8 B, FOS Power bars, T
The Netherlands - Elation Europe has strengthened its European team with three new hires - Frans Schilte, Patrick Strunk and Ute Kerkow - all of whom started at Elation's European headquarter building in Kerkrade, Holland, on 1 April.
Frans Schilte joins Elation's in-house sales department with the primary responsibility of reinforcing and supporting Elation's European sales effort. Frans was self-employed before joining Elation, touring the last 27 years with all types of shows from theatre to big rock shows. His nearly three decades in the industry includes experience in clubs, theatres and live events where he has fulfilled roles as lighting operator/designer, crew chief, stage manager and production manager. He also worked as technical supervisor for Stageco and has worked with some of the biggest bands in the world including the Rolling Stones, U2, AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen
UK - SGM LT-100 and LT-200 LED pixel tubes were deployed in an unusual context, when London Contemporary Voices (LCV), one of London's leading non-traditional choirs, staged its Reflections concert at the 18th century Church of St. John-at-Hackney in London.
Working to a production design by Ali Abbas and Keny Ega-Bourgeois, lighting designer Owen Pritchard-Smith, of Spirit Design, sourced a number of the 3D graphic tubes from the inventory of Chris Morgan's Blueprint Events to create a ring of shimmering light from the sticks, which are loaded with LEDs, each individually addressable.
LCV had wanted to present a special stage set for the 300 people who attended, including Bat For Lashes member Ben Christophers and BBC Sound of 2014 nominee Luke Sital-Singh. While the choir performed a number of original arrangements of different songs, vocal percussion and beats were p
Australia - Leading production designer LeRoy Bennett and lighting visionary Peter Johansen will become reunited in July this year - down under.
Responsible for specifying what was eventually more than 500 of SGM's game-changng X-5 white strobes on Beyoncé's The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour in 2013 - his unforgettable strobe dominated 'Wall of Inferno' creating one of the brightest stage displays ever - Bennett heads the line-up of speakers at Entech Connect, Australia's evergreen trade and technology show.
The conceptualiser, who has worked with many of the world's top artistes, will be discussing his personal philosophy of design on the opening morning of Entech Connect, which takes place at the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne (23-24 July).
SGM will also be heavily involved in collateral events, sponsoring the Visitor Network Evening partnership, while Pe
Sweden - Friends Arena, the home of Sweden's national football team, is Scandinavia's largest indoor arena and can accommodate up to 65,000 people for concerts, sports matches, and other events. Located in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Arenastaden in Stockholm, the arena is considered the centrepiece of an area surrounded by new residential, shopping, and commercial buildings.
Tyréns, one of Sweden's leading urban planning consultancies, was brought in to develop a lighting plan for the various areas around the arena, including the surrounding streets, bus terminals, ramps, roundabouts, squares, lifts, and stairs. The company installed a range of coloured lighting including Martin Professional Tripix 300 LED strips to create different effects and visual attraction.
Faced with strict budget constraints and the need for a retrofitted solution, Tyréns had to dev
UK - Ed Warren is well known for his innovative and different lighting and visual designs and is lucky enough to work with a list of equally interesting and inventive artists, one of which is UK electronic act, Metronomy.
Warren has designed their lighting since 2007. In March 2014 they launched their Love Letters album, the campaign for which kicked off in the UK - exclusively using Robe moving lights - and culminating in a spectacular show at London's Brixton Academy.
Before the start of each tour, he combines minds with Oscar Cash regarding set design, and this time around they came up with the idea of making it resemble a low-budget 1970's music TV show. Warren is also inspired by James Turrell's light art, and so wanted to have a canvas that offered multiple contrasts for lighting.
He decided to make all the band risers diamond shape, downlit with LED tape, also
Serbia - Elation Professional's Serbian partner, Light and Sound Design, recently held a special Elation Open Day at the prestigious National Theatre in Belgrade where the latest in Elation lighting technology was demoed for lighting professionals from Serbia's television and theatre industries.
"We had an excellent turnout with over 30 attendees spending quality time and getting a closer look at Elation products," stated Milan Scepanovic, general manager of Light and Sound Design. "All the attendees were professionals, many representing government institutions or TV stations, and half of them came with their own lux meters and measuring devices. We had a lot of products on hand and a beautiful venue to display them in. Overall the response was very positive and the day quite a success."
A full range of Elation LED lighting solutions optimized for theatre,
Norway - Until recently, the lighting system at Oslo's Det Norske Teatret consisted of some 100 conventional and moving lights. But the theatre produces both musicals and plays, and the noise level from the lighting rig often became an issue: they were forced to turn off movers and keep scroller use to a minimum.
So when a lighting renewal was suggested, the managers decided to see what new technology was available. They already had Eos®-family control desks in each space, along with Sensor dimming and ETC Net3 networking, so they wanted to get the most out of the equipment they had invested in.
After having a shootout with various types of fixtures - both conventional and moving lights - they "fell in love with the ETC Source Four LED Lustr+ units" that had been brought along by ETC dealer Elektrik. Says resident lighting designer Torkel Skjærven, "The fan
USA - The organisers of The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival raised eyebrows when they announced that they were adding a second weekend to their iconic event. Would it be possible, the naysayers wondered, to sustain Coachella's well-known spontaneous sense of excitement over such an extended period?
As anyone who was at the 2014 edition of the famous festival can attest, the answer to this question was a resounding "yes!" With surprise appearances by Beyoncé and a parade of other stars, the festival was as fresh and bright as a summer's morning. The "bright" part was helped along by dynamic lightshows, like the one at the high-profile Outdoor Theatre anchored by 36 Nexus 4 X 4 panels from Chauvet Professional.
Todd Roberts and Brandon Dunning of Visions Lighting (Brea, CA) specced the Nexus panels for the Outdoor Theatre Stage rig, because
UK - Established lighting designer Richard Rhys Thomas of the Royal Albert Hall turned to the high-quality colour and reliability of Clay Paky fixtures to implement his richly layered lighting design for the Mountbatten Military Festival of Music at London's Royal Albert Hall (RAH).
Her Majesty's Royal Marines performed traditional marching songs alongside bespoke compositions and a soaring rendition of Swedish pop-group Abba's top hits. Thomas's lighting design wrapped the orchestra in swathes of colour, working in flawless harmony with the score.
"The brief was to create lighting that would seamlessly complement the music," explains Thomas. "The music ranged from film to classical, big band to traditional marches and the spectacular corps of drum displays. The standard of music was remarkable and so it didn't take much to create a spectacular show."
UK - Early March saw thousands of eager party goers shake off the winter doldrums and dance the weekend away at Outbreak Spring Festival at Ricoh Arena in Coventry. The all night dance party went on until the wee hours of the morning beneath an Elation lighting system supplied by live event equipment hire company MusicMann of Walsall.
Outbreak is the UK's fastest growing House Music festival and features a full list of top DJs and other artists.
Production manager for the event was Steve "Shaggy" Wright, lighting, video, and production pro at MusicMann, who speced an all Elation lighting rig for the event.
"We've carried a full line of Elation products for many years and they've proved very reliable for the variety of events that we do like this," he stated. "It's the first year they've held Outbreak on this scale; it's a real arena-sized show now an
Russia - Moscow's Arena Club played host to the Welsh band, Bullet for My Valentine, on 6 March 6 with Martin Professional lighting fixtures and the M1 Console, provided by Moscow's Euroshow Rental Company. Robert Coleman, the lighting designer for the tour and Moscow show, deployed Martin to bring out the most of his creative ideas.
The set of lighting fixtures included 10 MAC 700 Profiles (six on the middle truss, four on the back truss), 14 MAC 401 RGB Zooms (four on the side truss, five on the middle and five on the back), nine Atomic 3000 DMX strobes, six MAC Viper Profiles and the M1 Professional Lighting Console.
Coleman, who was introduced to the M1 console a few years ago but never previously had the opportunity to use it, worked with Alexey Zhuravlev, lighting designer, Euroshow Rental Company, to programme the Moscow show.