USA - Panic! at the Disco kickstarted their Viva Las Vengeance arena tour at Austin’s Moody Center in September, with a 70s and 80s rock-influenced high-octane show. Conjuring up rich colours and sharp beams were 128 VL2600 Profile luminaires from Vari-Lite. Celebrated production designer Sooner Routhier worked closely with the band and their management to design and build the show, collaborating with Alex Specht as associate lighting designer/lighting director and André Petrus as associate production designer/lighting programmer. Together, they created a design that would take the audience back to the early days of large arena rock productions, as the band played their new album in its entirety in Act II of the show. (Acts I and III saw the group treat fans to their biggest hits.) “We resurrected pods of lights seen in vintage rock productions and added a
USA - Big concert tours were back in a big way this past summer and The Weeknd’s ambitious After Hours til Dawn outing is perhaps the best example. Lighting designer Jason Baeri is using over 450 Elation Proteus Hybrid and Proteus Excalibur moving head luminaires as workhorse fixtures on the tour, an elaborate, visually striking show that has been selling out major stadiums across North America since July. The first leg of the all-stadium tour kicked off on 14 July at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia and concludes on 27 November at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The tour is also scheduled to visit South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australia. After Hours til Dawn is a monumental show that reflects the artist’s status as one of the world's best-selling music artists and is his most ambitious production to date. The conceptual show,
Germany - Cameo has introduced the P-Series. These LED profile spotlights are aimed at professional users from the theatre, TV and event sectors and are available in Tungsten, Daylight and Full-Colour versions. In addition to its light output and flexible handling, the P-series also features high CRI and TLCI values as well as a lifelike white light and colour rendering. The P series includes the P2 T (Tungsten, 3,200 K), P2 D (Daylight, 5,900 K) and P2 FC (Full-Colour, RGBAL) models. With a light output of up to 17,000 lm (P2 FC), the P2 profilers are the perfect replacement for conventional 1kW profiled spotlights. The units can be flexibly adapted to different stage requirements via a variety of optional interchangeable lenses. There is a choice of interchangeable lenses with fixed beam angles (19°, 26°, 36° and 50°) as well as zoom lenses for the ranges 15°-30° an
Belgium - Completed in 2002, the Paul Robbrecht and Hilde Daem designed Concertgebouw Brugge has been hailed the world over for, as one critic wrote, “its acoustic wizardry,” the result of a series of technological innovations that reduce the length of reverberations. In keeping with its commitment to providing the most pristine acoustical experience possible, Concertgebouw Brugge replaced its traditional tungsten moving fixtures with the Chauvet Professional Maverick Silens 2 Profile, a completely fan-less LED fixture designed to operate in total silence. Concertgebouw Brugge installed the first eight of its 20 Maverick Silens 2 Profile units during the COVID lockdown; the remaining dozen were added just recently. “We went ahead and acquired more of the fixtures, because we were so impressed with the original eight,” said stage manager Geerolf Jacques. “Ove
Estonia - Robe was the moving light of choice for the 2022 Saaremaa Opera Festival staged in a purpose-built tented arena erected beside the charismatic Kuressaare Castle in the south of Saaremaa Island which was the dramatic location for five days of popular opera and other performances, all presented this year by the Silesian Opera (Opera Śląska) from Bytom, Poland. The substantial venue measured 30m wide by 60m long and accommodated 8000 guests over five days. The event was organised by Eesti Concert and saw a repertoire programme comprising operas Romeo & Juliet and La Traviata, a gala show, a Mozart evening with a ballet production of his Requiem and a specially created children’s opera. Polish LD Dominik Ksol created a production lighting design to cover all five shows, and was assisted in Estonia by Andres Sarv and Tõnis Järs from
Malaysia - When a retailer staged its first public exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, it kicked off the event with a party for 300 VIP guests capped by a light and drone show in the heart of the city. Lighting designer Michael Chan of Singapore-based Lighting Insomnia designed the lights and lasers for the event using 120 Claypaky Mythos 2 fixtures mounted on the 6th Floor of Suria KLCC (the rooftop), which is connected to the Twin Towers on both sides. Guests attending the party at the nearby Sky Garden at Permata Sapura were invited into the garden at the close of the evening to enjoy the surprise of a thrilling aerial show. “As the first private event to be held at the Petronas Twin Towers, the idea was to have power light beams emit from the towers and create an awe-inspiring light and drone show in the heart of the city,” explains Michael. “I believe it was the fi
USA - The 53rd Annual GMA Dove Awards gathered in Nashville ‘to celebrate Christian and Gospel performers, fellowship and honour God’. The performance packed night also saw Grammy Award-winning CeCe Winans named as Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for her No. 1 Billboard hit, Believe for It. While the theme of the awards was Sound of Heaven, production designer Scott Moore worked hard to make sure the visuals were just as phenomenal, selecting a linear design that gave the set a contemporary take on a classic Art Deco look. “I attempted to incorporate that linear concept into everything from truss layout, scenic choices and the Edgelight installation while leaving (lighting designer) Mark Carver the ability to insert lighting fixtures in a variety of locations,” said Moore. “The end result was a clean and efficient design aesthetic that accommo
Japan - Kennedy House, a noted nightspot in Tokyo’s Ginza area reflects the classic hits popular in Japan from the 1960s through the 1980s. The Hibino Lighting team kept this goal firmly in mind when redesigning the lighting rig at the club, which opened its Ginza branch in 1985. “Songs from the classic era make up most of the music at this venue,” said Hiroshi Adachi of Hibino Lighting. “Most of the clientele grew up in that era. They come here to enjoy a meal, listen to music, and have fun. So, we wanted to create lighting that contributed to this atmosphere without interfering with the artists on stage.” Evoking the right atmosphere was only part of the Hibino team’s mission. They also had to ensure that their design would be camera friendly, since Kennedy House videos these performances for streaming. They achieved both goals with a balanced, flexible r
Finland - A zactrack SMART real time tracking system has been installed on the Main Stage at the Tampere Workers’ Theatre (Tampereen Työväen Teatteri - TTT) in Tampere, Finland, where it is being utilised by both the audio and lighting departments. The building housing this 800-capacity stage was completed in 1985, its 20m width making it the second largest stage in Finland. The Theatre’s repertory programme presents Finnish plays, world literature classics and a diverse and vibrant range of musicals. In 2020, they invested in L-Acoustics L-ISA immersive audio technology which brought the requirement for a leading-edge tracking product that would work for both audio and lightin,g explained Pauli Molnar, sales manager from zactrack’s Finnish distributor, Intersonic based in Espoo. In the initial months of using L-ISA, it soon became apparent that accurate,
Singapore - Believed to be the first production in Singapore to feature Claypaky’s Tambora Batten, the revival of The LKY Musical recently concluded its run at the Sands Theatre at the Marina Bay Sands. Lighting designer Gabriel Chan chose 24 of the high-powered batten fixtures to provide backlighting and effects lighting for the show, presented by Aiwei and Singapore Repertory Theatre. The LKY Musical is one of the most successful Singaporean shows of all time and the first large-scale musical to play the Sands Theatre in more than two years. The production opened to a sold out run at its debut in 2015 and was nominated for several categories in the Straits Times’ Life! Theatre Awards, including best lighting design by Gabriel Chan. The production is based on the life of Singapore’s founding Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew. It spans about 30 years fro
Australia/UK – When UK-based lighting supplier Version 2 invested in dimming technology from LSC Control Systems, the new equipment paid dividends on its debut outing. Version 2 purchased 12-way GEN VI dimming modules from LSC, the Melbourne-based manufacturer, to go straight onto ITV’s 2021 production of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! Managing director Nick Edwards has been an LSC customer for many years, and continued investing in them when he founded his own company, Version 2. “LSC’s reliability has always stood out,” he says. “Having used them for so long, I know it’s very rare to get a call from site to say an LSC dimmer’s gone down. It’s pretty much unheard of!” His faith in LSC’s technology – and its world-class customer support – was rewarded when Version 2 deployed 10 x 48-way GEN VI dimming racks on the production
Open Air Abba - Mamma Mia! is to perform outside at the Scarborough Open Air Theatre next year to celebrate 24 years since the show premiered in London in April 1999. The show will run at Scarborough Open Air Theatre, the largest open-air concert arena in the UK, from 14-18 June 2023, as part of the show’s UK & International Tour. It marks the return of theatre to the venue, which has hosted music acts in recent years. More than 30,000 tickets are on sale for the six performances. Creator and producer Judy Craymer said: “We are so excited to be bringing Mamma Mia! to Scarborough Open Air Theatre next summer. With its heart-warming story told through the wonderful music of ABBA, Mamma Mia! lends itself perfectly to the outdoors.” Closure Threat - The future of a Manchester music venue which has hosted bands such as Wet Leg, Elbow and the Arctic M
USA - Following long careers of service to the entertainment technology industry, two of Elation Professional’s sales partners have announced their retirement effective at the end of the year. Jim Harrington of JLH Marketing and Richard Wilson of R.L. Wilson & Associates, both independent sales representative firms based in Southern California, will be retiring effective 31 December. The choice to call it a career after so many years in the industry was naturally not an easy one to make for either professional. “The decision took a lot of soul searching,” said Jim Harrington, who has worked in the entertainment technology industry for some 50 years, “but I believe it’s time.” Jim first met ADJ Group founder and chairman Chuck Davies in the early ´70s when both worked in retail audio, and he has been working with and for him ever since. In 2008, he started h
Germany - Astera Titan Tubes provided a solution for the lighting of a rolling ‘small stage’ scenic truck which was central to the action for the 2022 Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival’s production of Allessandro Nell’Indie by Leonardo Vinci, directed by Max Emmanuel Cancic and lit by David Debrinay from Paris and Lyon, France, based design studio, LJOMA. Three performances were staged at the Margravial Opera House (Markgräfliches Opernhaus), a UNESCO World Heritage site. David is well acquainted with Astera products, and he initially asked lighting specialist Kai Fischer, the festival’s technical production manager who co-ordinates all the lighting procurement, if he could source Astera AX1s or Titan Tubes for the task of lighting the small stage – which played an integral role in the narrative. The story is focused on Alexander the Great’s
Europe - The Rolling Stones took to the road this summer for their first European tour since 2018 with their new show, Sixty, in celebration of their 60th anniversary. The show had a new set design by Stufish and lighting by Patrick Woodroffe, the Stones’ lighting designer and creative director for over 40 years. “When designing a European tour, you must consider the vast range of weather conditions you might meet across the summer from beautiful sunny days to end-of-the-world storms,” says Terry Cook, associate lighting designer at Woodroffe Bassett Designs. “One thing Ayrton has become famous for is their high-powered IP rated fixtures. On the 60th Anniversary Rolling Stones tour we have 83 Ayrton Perseo Profiles over the stage. We have used these units on multiple shows and found them to be bright and reliable. “At FOH, for the first time ever, we specifi
USA - Joe Beardsmore and Jonny Gaskell channelled the power of contrasts when designing the light and video show for David Gray’s recently concluded USA leg of his 20th Anniversary White Ladder tour. Divided into two distinct parts, their client’s show was lit in “black and white shades of CTO cold whites and CTB” for one hour, as Gray performed back catalogue hits; then, following an intermission, concluded with saturated coloured lighting as the star played his seminal 7m sold album White Ladder in its entirety. (Gray changed outfits to mirror this contrast, wearing a black suit at the start of the show and a white one in in its concluding section.) “There were many different things we did to keep it interesting as we created this contrast, between black-and-white and colour,” said Beardsmore. “We relied on about eight different shades of white i
Croatia - The 256-capacity Concert Hall at the Hrvatski Dom in Split, Croatia’s second, is enjoying new Robe T1 Profile moving lights as part of a technical investment that was instigated and specified by the venue’s head of technical, Slaven Tahirbegovic. The fixtures were delivered by Robe’s Croatian distributor LAV Studio and installed when the building re-opened after extensive renovations which returned the Art Nouveau architecture and décor back to its original 1908 splendour simultaneously integrating contemporary elements enabling it to function fully as a cool 21st century performance space. They join the existing 10 x Robe LEDWash 600s which were delivered in late 2019, a great combination of fixtures to facilitate the current programme of shows and events. The Concert Hall is an intimate space. It has outstanding acoustics and is utilised for
Slovakia - Leyard has announced a new addition to the company’s portfolio of outdoor fine pitch LED display solutions with the release of a fine pitch, high bright outdoor LED video wall designed for up close viewing. The Leyard Luminate Ultra Series LED video wall display features coated LEDs to deliver ruggedness and exceptional image detail for high-ambient light environments. Designed to enhance viewing angles, the Leyard Luminate Ultra Series provides nearly 140-degree visibility with limited interference, even in direct sunlight. Featuring models in 1.5 and 1.9mm pixel pitches and up to 3,500-nits of brightness, the Leyard Luminate Ultra Series supports comfortable viewing from as close as 1.8m for applications spanning transportation signage, retail exteriors, poolside cinema, entertainment, hospitality, and other large venue facilities. “We are increasingly
USA - The annual iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas is, at its core, a nationally televised special. Tom Kenny always has this firmly planted in this mind when designing the lighting rig for this two-day series of performances by stars like Black Eyed Peas, Pitbull, Lionel Ritchie, Diplo, and The Black Keys. “This is a big, multi-camera TV show,” said Kenny. “Every year I try to have the most modern and popular fixtures for the visiting designers to work with so they can create dynamic looks in this big space (T-Mobile Arena) that come off well from every camera angle.” To achieve this vision, Kenny works closely with the entire design team to ensure the seamless integration of light and video on stage. Toward this end, he strives to minimize empty spaces between video walls and the lighting rig, which although they may be ok for live audiences, come off d
USA - Design firm Darkroom Creative is handling lighting design, set design and video content for Walker Hayes’ Glad You’re Here Tour and has employed Elation Professional’s compact Smarty Hybrid moving head in a multifunctional role. The 15-city run kicked off on 29 September in Johnstown, PA with lighting supply by Bandit Lites. Early this past summer, Darkroom Creative received a call from Walker Hayes’ manager Robert Carlton, who was forming plans for the emerging country star’s first headlining arena tour. Thanks to a successful album release earlier in the year, along with the breakout Fancy Likewhich was nominated for Best Country Song at the 2022 Grammy Awards, his popularity has taken off. “At that point, it was all just building blocks - arenas, two trucks, six weeks - and from there it was a good deal of collaboration between us, W
USA/Europe - Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys has completed her sixth concert tour playing 31 dates in North America and 21 in Europe on the Alicia + Keys World Tour. The show, which celebrates the 15-time Grammy winner’s career from her early R&B music to her seventh and eighth studio albums, finds Keys singing, playing piano and DJ-ing to the delight of fans. Lighting designer, Bryan Barancik, principal of Luxious Creative in Boston, selected 142 Ayrton Perseo Profiles as the workhorse fixtures on the rig in the European leg. He also chose two grandMA3 full-size consoles with five NPUs to control the lighting plus a grandMA2 onPC command wing for use by the touring techs. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive North American distributor of the Ayrton and MA Lighting brands. 4Wall is the lighting and video equipment vendor for the tour, which kicked off in Birmingham,
USA/Europe - Elation’s Proteus Excalibur includes the innovative Sky Motion system that enables operation of the fixture as an impactful searchlight effect without the need for a dedicated lighting controller. “During development of the Proteus Excalibur, we made comparisons with legacy Xenon fixtures in order to get a sense of how the aerial beams compare to each other,” explains Elation product manager Matthias Hinrichs. “We quickly realised that in many respects, the Excalibur outperforms these fixtures. It became clear that there was a unique opportunity for the fixture to replaces expensive and power-hungry Xenon searchlights for special events, theme parks and other applications.” Built into the latest firmware of the Proteus Excalibur and accessible via a simple menu display, Sky Motion searchlight mode allows an Excalibur unit or group of Excaliburs
USA - Goodspeed Musicals, a professional musical theatre located in an historic Opera House on the banks of the Connecticut River in East Haddam, Connecticut, is using 15 Ayrton Diablo S fixtures from PRG for its new production of 42nd Street. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton lighting in North America. Goodspeed is the first regional theatre in America to earn two special Tony Awards, one for outstanding contributions to the American musical and a second for distinguished achievement. Goodspeed mounts both new and newly revived musicals each year on its main stage at the Opera House and its second stage in Chester – a total of more than 400 performances during the April to December season attracting 130,000 patrons to the Connecticut River Valley. The revival of 42nd Street is the first theatrical production for which PRG has sup
The Netherlands - Having worked with singer/songwriter Eefje de Visser since 2019, lighting designer Randall Diagre understands and appreciates Eefje de Visser’s emotive approach to her art. It is a quality that inspires and invites collaboration, leading to creations that support her songs with evocative visual displays. The fruits of this creative process were one full display at Pinkpop, where Eefje de Visser was named the festival’s Number 1 act by the Dutch media. Wrapping itself seamlessly around the singer’s captivating performance was an evocative lightshow designed and operated by Diagre, with help from light artist Nick Verstand, who created a remarkable mirror scenic piece that helped define the show’s transcendent quality. As Diagre recalls, the distinctive design grew of a project organised by Motel Mozaik Rotterdam during the pandemic lockdown. He
