USA - Superhero and comic book lovers of all sorts met June 5-8 at Phoenix Comicon, a comic book and multigenre entertainment convention held annually in Phoenix, Arizona. Event production company Endless Entertainment used a bevy of Elation equipment to light the general session room, hotel ballrooms and other rooms for parties, interactive events, contests and after-hours events.

Phoenix Comicon, which takes place at the Phoenix Convention Center, started as more of a comic book and science fiction/fantasy convention but has expanded over the years to include a larger range of pop culture elements with many events taking place at downtown hotels. The event is growing each year with the 2014 convention setting an attendance record.

Endless Entertainment was Phoenix Comicon's partner in all audiovisual and entertainment services for the entire event with Endless Entertainment'

USA - Production Design Associates lit up the Piccolo Spoleto Festival's kick-off event in Charleston, South Carolina, with Robe's Robin 300 LEDWash fixtures.

The Sunset Serenade, held annually on the steps of the United States Custom House, is a free outdoor concert featuring the Charleston Symphony Orchestra with more than 5,000 attending, marking the start of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival.

The festival, sponsored locally in conjunction with Spoleto Festival USA, featured about 700 performing, literary and visual arts events over the course of 17 days. Often referred to as America's premier performing arts festival, Piccolo Spoleto was founded in 1979 by the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs. Their goal is to provide a rich dynamic cultural experience to all, as well as give local and regional artists the opportunity to showcase their talents.

When PDA was once

Russia - Art-Festival, a special events company in Russia, chose to use 180 ETC Source Four fixtures with attached Source Four Dimmers on a recent series of high end fashion shows in St Petersburg.

Art-Festival wanted the best light to accentuate the work of the Russian and international fashion designers. "We looked at all leading international fashion shows for direction," says Armin Kloss, ETC's regional sales manager for Eastern Europe. "After extensively testing modern professional lighting sources, we opted for a classic solution. Our tungsten Source Four fixtures delivered great results during the tests, while LED fixtures from other manufacturers weren't bright enough and not up to the level of the conventional Source Fours."

Due to the large number of fixtures clustered close together on the lighting rigs, Art-Festival wanted a flexible solution th

USA - ETC has acquired the Vortek rigging division of Daktronics in a move which will see all Vortek rigging products will be integrated into ETC's rigging portfolio. Operations will be consolidated with ETC's primary manufacturing locations in Wisconsin by the end of the year.

Vortek products are currently sold worldwide, and ETC intends to expand that sales effort; the company's complete range of rigging products is planned to be available in Europe by next year.

The transition of Vortek into the ETC Rigging family of products will double ETC's current offerings of stage machinery. They will be able to provide customers with a wide variety of custom engineered heavy lift, high lift and high speed rigging solutions, which include orchestra shell, grand drape and scoreboard lifts, along with synchronised acoustic panels and motorised packaged hoists.

"On the heels of a

Belgium - Tomorrowland is a renowned electronic music festival held in Belgium and this year's event, which took place in the town of Boom, marked its tenth anniversary. Now recognised as one of the most notable global music festivals, Tomorrowland was held over two weekends in July, with MTV promising a two hour long feature and a documentary surrounding the event's anniversary.

Therefore, with the eyes of millions around the world watching, it was vital that the event's organisers, the Creative Factory, pulled off a festival to remember that was technically seamless both on- and back-stage. Getting in touch with Luc Buytaert at AVL Lighting, an order was placed for 10 ELC Buddy nodes.

Luc said, "Patrick Bellens and David Smeets at the Creative Factory were keen to have one interface connected to each console on the DMX output at the festival. This way they would be guar

Games Over - The 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games formally closed with a much-lauded spectacular ceremony at Hampden Park. Kylie Minogue, Lulu, Deacon Blue and more than 2,000 performers brought the curtain down on what has been praised as the "best Games ever". The closing ceremony marked the end of an almost seven-year journey for Glasgow that began on 9 November 2007 when the city was awarded the Games. The focus will now begin to turn to what legacy the sporting extravaganza has left behind and whether it was worth the time, effort and huge amount of public money spent.

Fringe News - Thousands of performers from across the world are in Edinburgh for the start of the world's biggest arts festival. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe will see more than 3,000 shows staged across almost 300 venues. Several new venues will feature in the August extravaganza, to accommod

UK - White Light reports that more than 1,000 Core Lighting ColourPoint units have been sold since the product's initial launch. The company has experienced increased demand in recent months as production companies look for flexible lighting alternatives for events.

Most recently, Liverpool-based technical production company Adlib invested in 40 new ColourPoint fixtures, for use on the company's variety of events projects.

White Light's Jonathan Haynes worked with Adlib's Dave Platt to discuss Adlib's requirements and ensure that they could try out the fixtures before a decision was made. "We were looking for new technology that would look good and give us flexibility for our events," said Platt. "After seeing the ColourPoints in action, we placed an order with White Light."

Haynes explains the product's popularity, "Especially for event professional

Denmark - Elation Professional EU has announced the hiring of Allan Bagger as the company's new sales representative for Denmark. As one of the founders of Music Group Denmark, a supplier of lighting and sound equipment that he helped build up since 2011, Allan comes to the new position at Elation with extensive experience and knowledge of the Danish lighting market.

Allan, who started in the new position on 1 August working from an office in Denmark's second largest city, Aarhus, is tasked with support and training of Elation's Danish customers, as well as growing Elation's presence in the rental, theater, stage and installation segments.

Allan commented on the new position, "I have worked with Elation products as the Danish distribution partner since 2011, so I know the brand well. Here in Denmark, it's primarily about getting the industry to know the Elation brand and

South Africa - The first recorded pioneers to settle in Nelspruit - around 25 kilometers of the Kruger National Park in Mpumalanga - were the three Nel brothers. It is documented that they migrated to this tropical climate with their livestock in the cold winter months around the 1860s, and during those drawn-out travels became friends with the king of Swaziland.

Today in Nelspruit, Kyle Nel of AVS, coincidently with the same name as the Nel brothers, is making his own mark, using modern technology in a city where the main industry is forestry, citrus and tropical farming and of course the tourist attraction of the game reserve. He recently took ownership of two Robe Pointes and Prolyte Dex and Trussing, purchased from DWR Distribution.

"I've always had a keen interest in sound and music, and while I have no musical talent whatsoever, I have a natural ability with anythin

UK - CrossCountry Trains is using a variety of Novah's LED lamps at many of its offices/crewing operations nationwide. The Novah products, which include various lamps and flood lights, have been installed over the past few years, helping the company to save costs on energy and maintenance, where lighting has been upgraded.

The CrossCountry network is the most extensive passenger rail franchise in Britain. Stretching from Aberdeen to Penzance, and from Stansted to Cardiff, it calls at over 100 stations. Based in Birmingham, CrossCountry connects seven of Britain's 10 largest cities and delivers 295 services every weekday, equating to some 32m journeys a year. CrossCountry is committed to reducing environmental impacts and improving energy performance and is always searching for innovative products that ensure this happens.

Craig Lewis, managing director at Novah Limited, explai

UK - Over 500 Robe moving lights were right at the heart of the stunning Opening Ceremony lightshow designed by Tim Routledge for the 2014 Commonwealth Games at Celtic Park stadium in Glasgow.

The two hour highly visual show, produced by global brand experience agency Jack Morton Worldwide (JMW) and directed by David Zolkwer featured a cast of 2,000 plus special guests including Rod Stewart and Susan Boyle, offering a snapshot of the history, character, culture, industry, quirkiness and innate humour of Scotland. It presented the 4500 athletes from 71 participating nations to a live audience of over 40,000 plus around two billion TV viewers.

Among the Robe fixtures were 64 of the amazing new big lights - shortly to be launched worldwide - and 28 of Robe's new LEDBeam 1000s.

These were joined by 183 x Pointes, 100 x LEDBeam 100s, 98 x LEDWash 600s and 60 x CycFX 8s - all from

Italy - Spectacular environments, exclusive productions and international artists are the key elements of the Tones on the Stones Festival where the challenge is to enhance the aesthetic and historic values of the Palissandro Marmi quarry (Gruppo Tosco Marmi) in Crevoladossola (Verbano-Cusio-Ossola). The setting transforms the quarries into a vast stage.

Since 2007, the Tones on the Stones Festival has played host to performances which combine music, theatre and dance with the geometry and solidness of the quarry. For the last two years, the festival has been able to count on an exceptional partner: Clay Paky.

Clay Paky provided a wide range of lights this year: Alpha Wash 1500s, Alpha Profile 1500s, A. leda B-Eye K20s, Sharpys, GlowUp Strips and GlowUps. The Festival lighting designer Nevio Cavina was therefore able to take advantage of all the effects he needed to create wel

USA - To the college students and young urbanites who flock to it every weekend, Thalia Hall is one of the buzziest spots in Chicago, a place to kick back, down a local beer with friends, dine on some tasty food and enjoy national acts like Panda Bear and Goat as they perform on a stage illuminated by fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

That's also pretty much how things stood when this four story Romanesque structure opened in 1893 to serve the city's burgeoning Czech population as a concert hall and social hub --except musical styles were different back then and there were no LED fixtures! However, in between then and now was a dark period when Thalia Hall, which was modelled after the Old Opera House in Prague, stood idle for decades before being given new life by a couple of visionary Chicago entrepreneurs.

The "new" Thalia Hall is remarkably like its predecessor

USA - In a scene ripped straight from a fairytale or science fiction novel, 30,000 music fans found themselves streaming through Sherwood Forest while psychedelic lights guided their way to the Electric Forest Festival, only to have their travels rewarded with amazing musical performances and incredible lighting.

Co-produced by Insomniac Events and Madison House, the fourth annual Electric Forest Festival was held 27-29 June and featured music from legendary jam bands, rock bands, electronica and DJs. The weekend event at Double JJ Ranch featured access to a water park, yoga sessions, impromptu jam sessions, art installations, firework shows, spectacular lighting in the forest, and night after night of music.

Musical acts for this year's event included shows from The String Cheese Incident, Steve Angello, Umphrey's McGee, STS9, Moby, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Zedd, and Matt & Kim.

Ba

USA - San Antonio's (Texas) new Tobin Centre for the Performing Arts will open in September with a complement of grandMA2 consoles dedicated to both the H-E-B Performance Hall and the Carlos Alvarez Studio Theatre.

Rising behind the façade of the former San Antonio Municipal Auditorium along downtown's famed River Walk, the 1,750-seat multi-purpose venue will be the home of the San Antonio Symphony and other resident companies. It also plans to offer a diverse array of entertainment from comedy legend Bill Cosby and radio icon Garrison Keillor and The Prairie Home Companion to the Scottish Ballet's production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

The four-level H-E-B Performance Hall is the largest of the centre's performance spaces; the Carlos Alvarez Studio Theatre is a black box-style space with multiple seating options. Dealer Texas Scenic and rep Roy Harline are pro

UK - Keith Williams has re-joined Impact Products (Europe) Ltd as general manager, strengthening the highly successful Northampton based team. Williams had been instrumental in the early growth of Impact in 2008, one the leading businesses in the pro audio and lighting distribution sectors.

Williams grew sales of the LANTA LED lighting range and was instrumental in the development of Brooke audio products INH range, both now prolific in the installation markets. He championed Impact's own brand of flight cases, Rhino - now one of the best selling flight cases in the UK. Earlier this year Prolyte European distributor of the year award was awarded to Impact for outstanding sales and customer service to truss and staging customers.

Group managing director Grant Lester said, "Keith is one of the most popular and charismatic characters in the industry. He brings an incredibly

UK - Crestron has announced the latest enhancements to its line of LED fixtures, with the new, condensed range of six fixtures now available to order across the EMEA region. Crestron originally entered the luminaire market with an extensive range of fixtures in early 2013. All Crestron LEDs (CLEDs) replicate the smooth dimming curve, colour temperature and lumen output of traditional halogen fixtures, with a 70,000-hour lamp that exceeds most comparable low energy fittings, the company says.

"The new condensed line of CLEDs came about from the feedback we noted from our dealers." says Mark Tallent, international product manager for Crestron Lighting and Building Controls. "By condensing the range, we have simplified the line for authorised Crestron dealers whilst adding extra features and functionality. This makes it easier to select the right fixtures for their p

International - When it came to creating a high impact floor package for the Queen + Adam Lambert world tour, lighting designer Rob Sinclair turned to the high output beam of the Clay Paky Sharpy. Using 23 of the luminaires provided by US hire company Upstaging, Sinclair created a dynamic floor package that matched the high-energy showmanship of the band.

"The lighting design on this tour had to start big and get even bigger," explains Sinclair. "It needed to do justice to Queen's extensive and wonderful production heritage. I needed lights that could deliver huge looks and which had the capacity and versatility to make those looks go even bigger."

The gold-painted set, designed by UK show architects Stufish, featured a 30ft square of WinVision 9 LED screens from VER and a giant automated 'Q' whose tail flipped down to create the show's B-Stage.

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UK - For their recent production of Swallows and Amazons, Theatre by the Lake sought to trial a new energy-efficient solution for cyclorama lighting, and lighting designer and technical manager Andrew J Lindsay turned to entertainment lighting specialist White Light for options and advice.

White Light's Jonathan Haynes worked with Andrew to find the right fit for the production and the venue as a whole. Like most performance venues, Theatre by the Lake is taking energy consumption into consideration when deciding on future lighting fixtures. For Swallows and Amazons, Andrew was looking for an LED fixture that could deliver on energy efficiency without compromising on brightness or colour.

After surveying the choices, Andrew employed three Spectra Cyc 200s and four Spectra Cyc 100s for the production. "Having seen the Altman units on demo, I was excited to se

USA- The newest member of Chauvet Professional's 'unplugged' WELL Series, the WELL FLEX utilizes an internal lightweight Lithium ion battery that will last through an entire event, while recharging in under eight hours - no power cords required. This IP44-rated go-anywhere unit also comes with a pre-installed W-DMX wireless DMX receiver so that data cables can be eliminated too, for completely cord-free operation, says the company.

The WELL FLEX is not only flexible in terms of the wireless freedom it offers, but also in its versatile design possibilities. Containing four 10-watt Quad-Colour LEDs (red, green, blue, white), it is capable of producing vibrant, shadow-free blended colors in a vast palette that ranges from rich jewel tones, to delicate pastels, to variable whites, ensuring it will set just the right tone - or even match the colour themes - at any event.

The WELL F

Sri Lanka - PR Lighting fixtures were used extensively to provide a dynamic backdrop for a major concert by Bengali Bollywood/Bhangra star, Mika Singh in Sri Lanka recently. The Punjabi star is a prolific songwriter, singer, performer and composer, who since releasing his first album 17 years ago has produced numerous chart hits - either taken from his film scores or privately recorded albums.

Local production company The Lighthouse (Pvt) Ltd provided a real tour de force, decorating the main hall at the MICH (Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall) in Colombo with 30 XS1200 (1200W) discharge spots, 30 XR200 Beams, and six XL1200 Spots.

The design was handled by Lighthouse's Dinusha Perera, who credited the fixtures' "excellent reliability and high brightness." At the command of the Avolites Pearl Expert, he confirmed that they fulfilled all the function

UK - Avolites and Avolites Media continued their strong association with Glastonbury Festival with an impressive array of equipment and an eager team out in force to support friends and colleagues alike.

With no less than three headline acts on the main stages controlled by Avolites, as well as numerous other acts and stages, the festival proved an excellent opportunity to showcase the power and versatility of the range.

The first of those headliners, Arcade Fire, brought the Pyramid stage to a climactic close for day one with a set list spanning their four albums. The band put on a compelling show, performing in elaborate costumes and face paint against a myriad of moving mirrors, fireworks, and an outstanding use of lighting skillfully conducted by Chris Bushell from a Sapphire Touch.

Meanwhile, Kaiser Chiefs ended the day one festivities on the John Peel stage, with Ali P

Italy - Clay Paky, the Italian manufacturer of professional show lighting, has today announced that it is preparing for a new phase in its history, with the signing of an agreement for the acquisition of the company by OSRAM, one of the world's leading light source manufacturers.

Following the acquisition, which is subject to approval by the relevant antitrust authorities, Clay Paky will continue to operate from its production and administrative head office in Bergamo, Italy. Key positions will remain in place, ensuring continuity in management, the company says.

"Integration with OSRAM, which has a great wealth of technological competence and an in-depth knowledge of the lighting market, is an ideal opportunity for the further development of Clay Paky," says Pasquale Quadri, founder and current president of Clay Paky. "After 40 years crowned by success, I am de

The Netherlands - It's been nearly a year since over 80 Robe lighting fixtures were supplied and installed at the charismatic Energiehuis, a former power station at the confluence of the Wantij and Beneden Merwede Rivers on the outskirts of Dordrecht, The Netherlands.

Energiehuis was transformed into a new multi-venue cultural centre by Jonkman Klinkhamer Architects - a stylish and cool integration of majestic civil engineering with contemporary industrial design and modern performance facilities offering the very highest production values.

The once thriving power station was closed in the 1970s and lay derelict and neglected before the three year regeneration plan commenced in 2010. The Energiehuis project was instigated and driven by Dordrecht Town Council and the performance elements developed in conjunction with theatre consultants, PB Theateradviseurs, who produced the te

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