USA - "This feels like a perfect night in Louisville where anything can happen." Beck may have been speaking on the last night of the Forecastle Festival, where he closed out the three day musical bonanza, but the sentiment could have applied to the entire weekend, where 75,000 gathered to enjoy music, arts and Kentucky bourbon.

Bandit Lites worked with AC Entertainment and the festival's production manager, Richard Wold of Lambda Productions, to provide the lighting rig for two stages and the DJ tent.

Dubbed by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the "Coolest Festivals," the Forecastle Festival is in its twelfth year and takes place in downtown Louisville's scenic 85-acre Waterfront Park on the Ohio river. This year's line-up included festival favourites Outkast, Jack White, Beck, Spoon, The Replacements, Ray LaMontagne, Nickel Creek and Jason Isbell i

USA - Twenty-two Robe Robin Pointes enhance the set for country music star Chris Young's US tour in support of award-winning country singer / songwriter Dierks Bentley.

Bandit Lites are supplying the lighting equipment to production designer Chris Lisle, and the Pointes were specified as they could cut through and stand out from the video-orientated set.

Lisle has used Robe's Robin LED fixtures on random shows and one offs before, but this is the first time he has specified them for a tour.

"I had been hearing great things about the Pointe," commended Lisle, "And then had a chance to see them in action at LDI last year. For Chris's show this year we wanted a good beam light with more gobo and beam effect options than other 'beam' fixtures."

Chris Young's musical style mixes "new traditionalism with polished Music City production" and his caree

UK - Event production and design company, Light Motif, has appointed Kelly Yeomans as business development manager.

Yeomans arrives at Light Motif from Fisher Productions where she gained valuable experience in the event industry. Yeomans now brings this experience and purpose to Light Motif's rapidly expanding team, driving forward the company's business with venues, agencies, clients and other event suppliers.

On joining Light Motif, Yeomans says, "Working for such a young company was what really appealed to me. I want to make a difference and have brought with me the experience and industry knowledge to do this. I have every confidence that we will build upon Light Motif's current successes for the future."

(Jim Evans)

Sweden - Wireless lighting control manufacturer, LumenRadio, is expanding to keep up with its strong growth. The company is appointing a new CEO, Alexander Hellström and ramping up in-house development.

"Today LumenRadio is profitable and experiencing strong growth as our wireless products are becoming the preferred choice of lighting professionals. To keep up with demand and manage the continued success we are appointing Alexander Hellström as our new CEO to lead us through this next phase of growth", explains Per Hulthén, co-founder and former CEO of LumenRadio.

Hulthén transitions to a new role in the Board of Directors of LumenRadio where he will continue to lead the development of wireless control for building automation.

Alexander Hellström comes with a career spanning from senior management at Capgemini, CEO at Experis IT and CEO of Primas I

UK - Lighting and rigging specialists Utopium creatively transformed Village Underground to host the Superstar DJ's with Annie Mac wrap party presented by Ford Ecosport.

As sponsors of the Channel 4 documentary presented by Annie Mac, Ford invited industry guests to the wrap party held in the heart of trendy Shoreditch. Contracted by the event organisers, Live Nation Experiential, Utopium's project manager Angus Chinn and his team supplied all lighting, rigging and production services to the event.

The cultural space housed in a renovated turn-of-the-century warehouse, Village Underground, is essentially a blank canvas. Utopium transformed the venue with a versatile lighting package that accommodated both the brand aspirations of Ford, and the significant production elements for live DJ sets from DJ's Pete Tong and Annie Mac.

Liaising with production manager Phil Beav

USA - Country rock artist Brantley Gilbert is touring with the new indoor/outdoor EPT9IP LED video panel from Elation Professional and uses the professional-grade screens for a variety of effects and looks as an integral part of the set design.

"We chose the EPT9IP panels for a couple of reasons," states Howard Jones, president and owner of Nashville-based Digital Console Rental, the sole production company for Gilbert's current Let it Ride tour. Digital Console Rental provides audio, lighting and video for the tour, a rig that also includes Elation Platinum Beam 5R Extreme fixtures.

"First, the screen looks great and the resolution is high enough for touring work," he says of the 9 mm pixel pitch EPT9IP panels. "Second, it is IP65 rated and has the output for outdoor use." Designed for professional touring, the spring leg of the tour was t

Belgium - Lighting and visual designer Luc Peumans says that the powerful yet discreet VL3500Q Spot luminaires were the "perfect choice to highlight the action on set" for his latest theatrical production 14-18 Spektakel Musical, which saw audiences immersed in the heroism and struggle of the First World War on a large scale.

"I like the VL3500Q Spot luminaire's power, its amazing framing and optical quality and its reliability. In addition, its low noise levels were imperative for this project," explains Peumans. The VL3500Q Spot is a powerful 1200W luminaire that is designed for situations where the absence of noise is critical to the performance.

Through PRG Belgium, Peumans also specified an array of VL3000Q Spot luminaires, VL3000 Wash luminaires and 465 of an old favourite of his, the VL5B Wash, to support his absorbing and naturalistic lightin

UK - David Guetta rocked the house in grand style for his headline slot in The Hangar on Friday night of the 2014 Global Gathering event - the UK's most popular bass-tastic EDM festival - staged at Long Marston Airfield near Stratford-On-Avon - complete with a new visual design created by LD Jonathan "Leggy" Armstrong and video director Ben Brett - with over 100 Robe moving lights on the rig.

This performance launched a completely new phase of the superstar DJ and music producer's live shows, and the idea was to make a massive sonic and visual impact... even more than usual, for a show known for its spontaneity, pumping energy and full-on sensory rhythmic experience.

Leggy specified 24 x Pointes and 36 x MMX Spots - from Robe's Robin Series - plus 52 x LEDForce 18 LED Pars to offer the creative scope he needed to keep the dynamic and highly animated performance movin

USA - American Spanish-language television network Telemundo's latest music competition, Buscando Mi Ritmo is being lit by lighting designer Gaston Fazio of HD House, who speced an Elation Professional lighting package of Platinum Spot LED Pro moving heads and Cuepix Panel matrix blinders for the six-episode series.

"Being that we were working with a small stage, the client wanted to achieve radically different lighting moods for each performance. The Cuepix gave us that flexibility and more," LD Gaston Fazio states. "Since our goals were to minimize noise and look for the best long-term investment, we decided to get new fixtures and LED technology from Elation. The result was better than expected."

Buscando Mi Ritmo, which premiered on 19 July and is produced by Telemundo with production services provided by 360POWWOW, puts a new spin on the

South Africa - The Electric Night Event, where individuals run, cycle, skate or walk a five kilometre route at night covered in neon accessories and body paint is taking the nation by storm. Events are held across the country, and when recently hosted at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, MJ Event Gear supplied the full technical.

What attracts runners and revellers alike is the amazing atmosphere. After their glowing race, the finish line is a neon party and the line-up included Dean Fuel, The Kiffness, Roger Goode and Chris Taylor.

Contracted by AJDW Event Technical Hire, MJ Event Gear set up a Thomas Ground Support to create a concert stage setting. The lighting rig, controlled by a grandMA Full Size, included 24 x Robe 100 LEDBeams, 12 x Robe 600 LEDWash, 12 x Robe 300 E Spot. There were also 28 x UV Guns, 24 x Longman Colorme 011 and 4 x Phillips Nitro Strobes.

&quo

Camera Shy - Kate Bush has asked fans not to film her 22 Before The Dawn shows at Hammersmith Apollo which start tonight. The Wuthering Heights singer has said it would "mean a great deal to me" if people did not use their phones or tablets during the concerts, which mark her return to live performance after 35 years. Mobile phone technology and home computing were in their infancy when she last performed live in 1979.

Writing on her website, the singer said, "I have a request for all of you who are coming to the shows. We have purposefully chosen an intimate theatre setting rather than a large venue or stadium. It would mean a great deal to me if you would please refrain from taking photos or filming during the shows. I very much want to have contact with you as an audience, not with iPhones, iPads or cameras. I know it's a lot to ask but it would a

France - One hundred Titan FC projectors by D.T.S., supplied through ESL, have been installed at the noted Chateau de Versailles in the Île-de-France region.

The Titan FC projectors - IP65-rated, fitted with full colour (RGBW) LEDs - will light the various buildings of the Chateau at prestigious events taking place in this historic location.

The colorimetric properties, light output and IP65 protection of the Titanss will allow effective indoor and outdoor use.

(Jim Evans)

USA - It was an unseasonably cold mid-August morning, but the thousands gathered at Rockefeller Plaza didn't seem to mind, as the red hot Today Show Toyota Summer Concert Series rolled on through its fourth month with a dynamic performance by platinum recording artist Neon Trees. Included in the crowd were Berenice and Albert Chauvet, the co-owners of Chauvet Professional. The Chauvets were on hand not only to enjoy the music, but also to take in the performance of the Nexus 4x4, their company's COB LED panels, which have been in the forefront of LD Peter Greenbaum's lighting design for the popular early morning TV concert series.

There are 12 Nexus panels on the Today Show Toyota Summer Concert Series rig. Greenbaum uses the fixtures as set pieces, eye candy, colorizing lights and lighting frames. The LD calls the panels "amazingly versatile," noting tha

France - 'King of psychedelic-funk' Bootsy Collins is well-known for his pivotal role in the band Parliament and for playing bass with 'Godfather of Soul', James Brown. Perhaps surprisingly, Bootsy can also be heard on Dee-Lite's 'Groove is in the Heart', where his bass riff acted as a song within the song.

With such a history, expectations for his concert at the Fiest'a Sète 2014 festival were high. Here Bootsy Collins took the stage for what was the last performance of his French tour, before returning to the US for a new series of concerts.

With lighting design by Jean Marc Jolivet, Bootsy and his 11-piece band were lit by the latest generation of D.T.S. projectors, including the Max L and the Wonder - the only double-optics LED moving head currently on the market.

"In addition to being a great musician, Bootsy Collins is a man with an extraordinary sense of humour,

Russia - A major street festival in the north-western Russian city of Petrozavodsk attracted some 10,000 people to its main stage last month, with lighting controlled by an ETC Cobalt 20 desk.

The main stage is the central point of the annual Petrozavodsk City Festival, which celebrates the anniversary of the city's founding. This year was extra special, because it commemorated the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the city from Finnish armed forces. Large crowds gathered to watch live music and entertainment, including local dance acts, orchestra ensembles, and the headliner, Bravo, a well-known Soviet band from 1980s. This was followed by a closing ceremony and fireworks. The lighting team, led by lighting director Ivan Malakhov of rental agency SMK, used moving lights, LEDs, strobes and audience blinders to help entertain the crowd.

Because Malakhov had never used a Cob

Belgium - Belgian celebrity and TV host Marcel Vanthilt took his popular summer 'pop-up' magazine show concept to two cities this year - Roeselare and Knokke-Heist - both of which staged Hotel M for a number of weeks throughout the summer.

An elaborate Hotel M set designed by Piece Montée was constructed as the studio facility and backdrop to the daily magazine programme broadcast on national TV channel EEN, concluding each evening with a live music performance.

Lighting for the stage area on the set comprised 35 x Robe Robin LEDWash 300s.

These were specified by the show's lighting designer Michiel Milbou, one of Belgium's leading TV LDs. This was the fifth edition of this show that he has lit and the third year running that LEDWashes were specified to light the band stage.

The fixtures were arranged in a 5x5 matrix in the ceiling of the band stage, which wa

USA - The Denver Centre for the Performing Arts (DCPA) has selected the RC4Magic Series 3 Wireless DMX and Dimming System to enhance their wireless needs.

When looking at the technical needs for the Theatre Company's upcoming re-imagined production of The Unsinkable Molly Brown, (featuring lighting design by Don Holder), DCPA lighting director Charles MacLeod knew the DCPA would need to expand their wireless DMX and dimming capabilities.

The Denver Centre for the Performing Arts was an early adopter of wireless DMX technology with RC4's rack mounted systems in the 90's and then the RC4 Magic Series 2 system more recently. "I've come to depend on the flexibility and stability of the RC4Magic," said MacLeod "The tiny size of the DMX2micro solves challenges that we face on many productions. We are really looking forward to the expanded functionality of the S

China - The latest addition to PR Lighting's burgeoning XLED LED range is the new XLED 2007 Beam. This uses the Osram Ostar (LE RTDUW S2W), rated at 15W each, with 4 in 1 LED colour mixing. Each fixture houses seven of these light sources, rated at 50,000 hours lamp life, and with power consumption of just 120W and 220V. It also weighs just 4.36kg.

These form the core of a fully featured fixture which offers pixel control in the form of 2-2-2-1 and the head movement of 720° (pan) or endless, and 270° (tilt) or endless with a Pan / Tilt Swap and Invert Function, Auto-position correction and Magnetic sensor positioning.

Colour mixing is RGBW linear (with macro), with linear colour temperature correction from 2700K to 10000K. There is 0-100% linearly adjustable dimming, electronic strobe (0-25 fps) and a lens angle of 6°.

Other functions of this DMX-controllable fix

USA - Quil Ceda Creek Casino, located on the Tulalip Indian Reservation north of Seattle, had one overriding requirement for Agility AVL for the lighting and video package in their new Qzone entertainment venue - make it high tech. And that they did, installing an Elation Professional EZ4 LED video screen along with Elation Platinum Spot LED II moving heads and EPAR Series LED fixtures.

Opened in April 2014, Qzone is a new multi-purpose venue that functions as sports bar, café and music venue and even holds corporate meetings from time to time. The space, which originally started as a nightclub before being converted to a gaming room and now Qzone, is located just off the main Quil Ceda Creek Casino gaming floor. The client wanted to use the space to provide different options and events that appealed to customers in order to draw them onto the property.

Six months prior

The Netherlands - The Theater Markant in Uden, Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands is a busy producing and receiving theatre run by the city, which also has an integral but independently run event space that is equally active ... and has recently been refurbished.

This has included a full technical upgrade - for which the lighting elements were supplied by Controllux.

The new lighting rig was designed by Controllux's Kuno Van Velzen and includes Robe's Actor LED fixtures, LEDWash 300s, LEDWash 600s and LEDBeam 100 moving lights - all from Robe's Robin series - together with Robe LEDForce 18 PARs.

Once the renovation project was underway, the original lighting proposals for the 'new' event space were revised by Chief LX Rob de Gier and Technical Director Maarten Prinssen who looks after technicals for Markant's event area.

He especially wanted LED lighting installed to make the

UK - Britain's longest continuously-running game show, Question of Sport, is back for another series. Remarkably it was aired for the first time in 1968 and is still considered prime time TV. Having run almost uninterrupted since 1970 they have filmed over 1000 episodes.

Each week two teams of sports stars, headed up by resident team captains Phil Tufnell and Matt Dawson, battle it out in numerous topical rounds which include Picture Round, Home or Away, What Happened Next and On the Buzzer.

LD Roger Williams continues to light the show. Richard Martin Lighting (RML) have been providing the lights for this show for a number of years now and have worked hard to make sure the transition from filming in London, to Dock 10 in Salford has been a smooth one.

Roger's rig is relatively basic in terms of moving lights but the effect is has with the vibrant set work brilliantly

USA - The Grateful Dead maintain a following that's as large and passionate as ever 49 years after the band's founding. This devotion was on full display at Gathering of the Vibes, an annual festival celebrating the iconic band, which this year featured performances by Widespread Panic, Umphrey's McGee and John Fogerty, among others, including the 'Dead' tribute band Dark Star Orchestra, all performing on a stage illuminated with a rainbow of colours that would have done Jerry Garcia proud, courtesy of moving fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

One of the most successful tribute bands, Dark Star Orchestra has been covering Grateful Dead concerts song for song, often joined by members of the original band, since 1995. Dark Star has performed well over 2,000 Dead Tribute concerts, each one as free flowing and colourful as the next, thanks to the quality of their music and some ric

USA - The Behind the Scenes Happy Hour, hosted by PLASA will go on sale to the public on 2 September 2014. The biggest pre-LDI party of the year will take place on Thursday, 20 November, from 6pm-8pm at the Westgate Las Vegas (formerly The Las Vegas Hotel). Tickets are $50 each and includes an open bar, hors d'oeuvres and music and all proceeds go to benefit the Behind the Scenes charity, the only industry charity that provides grants to ill or injured entertainment technician professionals. $30 of each ticket is tax deductible, and tickets are expected to sell quickly.

Starting 2 September, tickets can be purchased online. They can also be ordered through your LDI registration.

Current sponsors for the Behind the Scenes Happy Hour include: 4Wall Entertainment (Diamond), Altman Lighting (Diamond), CHAUVET Professi

USA - Over 100 Robe moving lights made a serious impact as part of Tom Kenny's lighting design for the 2014 Teen Choice Awards (TCA). The show, produced by Bob Bain, Greg Sils and Paul Flattery was staged at the Shrine Auditorium, adjacent to the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles, California.

The prominent event honoured the best teen movies, music, fashion and (new this year), web stars, and attracted many rising young stars and celebrities. This year's presenters included Modern Family's Sarah Hyland and Teen Wolf's Tyler Posey, and a staggering 164m plus votes were cast by young fans through various social media channels. The show was broadcast live on the FOX Television Network.

This is the fourth TCA that has been lit by Kenny and his team and again, this year, he worked closely with Set Designer Steve Bass and Video Designer Eli Kinney

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