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
Germany - Bayreuth hosted its third Baroque Opera Festival (BBOF) this year with a lively programme of works including Allesandro Nell’Indie, which was lit by French LD David Debrinay using over 50 Robe moving lights including T1 and T2 Profiles and LEDBeam 350s. Three memorable performances directed by Max Emmanuel Cencic, also artistic director of the festival and one of the principals, were staged at the Margravial Opera House (Markgräfliches Opernhaus). Opened in 1748 and declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2012, the venue reopened in 2018 after extensive renovations. It is also a museum and is licensed for just 30 live performances per year. David, from the Lyon-based design practice LJOMA Studio, and Max have worked on several previous projects including the two other Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festivals in 2020 and 2021. Multiple creative star
USA - The streets of Cincinnati were awash with colour in October as an estimated 1.5m people enjoyed the BLINK light and art festival, which featured four large-scale projection mappings powered by Hippotizer Media Servers. During the four-day event, video installations turned the city’s landmark buildings into ‘a techno cityscape of the future’, bringing existing artworks and architecture to life and creating eye-popping 3D projections. Some of the most spectacular video mapping installations were Hippotizer driven, including at Memorial Hall on Elm Street where the building’s four striking pillars and grand architectural shapes were perfectly video mapped and projected upon with sweeping, kaleidoscopic artworks by Italian multimedia studio, Antalless Visual Design. Titled In The Middle, the installation harnessed the power of a Hippotizer Boreal V4+
USA - Old time country is in good hands with ACM and CMA award-winning singer/songwriter Jon Pardi whose classic country sounds on his Ain’t Always the Cowboy Tour are being complemented by lighting from Elation Artiste Mondrian and Artiste Monet luminaires. Described as ‘the kind of honkytonk that gets people drinking, dancing and drowning their heartaches,’ Pardi combines an old-fashioned country vibe with youthful energy. He hit the road July 14 in support of his new album Mr. Saturday Night with stops all over the US. Chris Reade and Jay Ballinger of KYVA Design have been designing and conceptualizing with Jon Pardi for the last eight years. For the Ain’t Always the Cowboy Tour this past summer, Reade says that Ballinger proposed the idea of projecting strength with steel beams and rugged structure elements that resonated within that co
USA - Patrick Dierson oversaw the production design at the Jay-Z curated Made in America festival in Philadelphia. “I love this event, because it never fails to surprise with unexpected challenges,” he said, looking back on the 2022 edition of the festival. Made In America more than lived up to Dierson’s expectations this year, as just a few days before load-in he got a message that one of the headliners at the urban and Latin music festival, Lil Uzi Vert, wanted two Lamborghinis on the stage for his performance. “This required a little more than your average production coordination,” said Dierson. “Let’s face it - this is Philly. The concept of handing two Lambos to a teamster in a forklift is enough to make an eyebrow raise. We didn’t want these things going back to the King of Prussia, PA exotic car dealership with two holes in the wing doors and co
USA - The University of Tennessee in Knoxville held its annual celebration of alumni at 2022 Alumni Awards Gala, and Bandit Lites donated a lighting system for the event which honours alumni across the state, country and world who bring recognition to Tennessee’s flagship campus. This year’s honourees included 24 notable alumni including Samuel E. Beall II, Tamika Catchings, Sara Croley, Donald E. Frieson, Ronald Earl Frieson and Sharon G. Lee. Bandit Lites founder Michael T. Strickland was honoured with this award in 2021. To set the tone and ambiance for the room, Bandit supplied an upstage and downstage truss loaded with 44 GLP X4S, 8 VL 2500 Spots and 2 VL 3000 Spots. The GLP X4S fixtures were used in part to light the stage while most of them washed the ceiling in colours. The VL 2500 cast gobo patterns on the ceiling and walls, while the 3000s had custom Power-T al
Singapore - To transform the commercial building 61 Robinson into a luxurious office space, LuxLight Pte Ltd, and the lighting consultants involved in this project selected and installed a comprehensive selection of Martin Professional lighting solutions. Located in Singapore’s Central Business District, 61 Robinson is a 20-story commercial building previously known as Robinson Centre. Built in 2000, the building features an art deco-inspired marble facade ornate classical architecture that provides a distinctive, memorable look. To modernise and reinvigorate the space, the owners of 61 Robinson wanted to remodel the lobby and convert the fifth-level parking garage into an office building. These major renovations therefore required a lighting system that both accentuated the structural alterations and complemented the building’s existing features. To meet these re
Japan - Built in 1633, Kiyomizu is a UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of several Buddhist temples located in the foothills of Mount Otowa in Japan’s Kyoto prefecture. Shortlisted as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007, Kiyomizu’s main building is famous for its 36m wide stage, supported by many wooden columns, which juts out over the hillside and to hover spectacularly 13m above the valley. Artists standing on the stage cannot see an audience in front of them, but instead look out over a beautiful tree-filled valley. It was against this setting that Italian vocal trio, Il Volo, performed a special charity concert on 5 August 2022 in aid of Wedu Global, an organisation which supports the development of women in leadership roles around the world. The concert was filmed in preparation for a worldwide premiere, in front of an invited VIP audien
UK - Fourteen fixtures from the first batch of Robe Painte moving lights off the production line have been installed as part of the house lighting rig at central Manchester’s New Century venue, a recently renovated 1200 (standing) capacity, multipurpose music, performance and event space in the city’s NOMA business and entertainment district. The building has been completely refurbished and restored to its original 1960s glory when leading acts of the day graced the stage. The 14 Paintes were specified, together with LEDBeam 150s and 350s, by Neil Hunt from ZigZag Lighting in Leeds, who came onboard to consult, specify, supply, deliver and commission the house lighting production package. Neil worked closely with Abby Moore, one of the venue’s directors, to establish what was needed in terms of stage lighting production, and then weighed up the options to
UK – The Manchester home of !Audacious Church has benefited from the installation of 34 Chroma-Q Inspire RGBW LED house lights, supplied by A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET). The new fixtures were delivered and installed by Manchester-based lighting consultant, Urban Lites, after the church’s management decided to upgrade its flagship venue’s auditorium with a higher quality, more consistent and reliable lighting solution. Founded in 2007, !Audacious Church has grown to the stage where its 1,400-capacity location in Salford regularly attracts a full house for each of its three scheduled Sunday services. With an ageing, failing house lighting system of early-generation LED fixtures limiting the venue’s potential, the management put the upgrade requirements out to tender. Mark Steele, operations manager at !Audacious Church, says, “We wanted a bet
USA - A 3D stage production featured at the Red Rocks amphitheatre in late September for Rowdytown X, the 10th anniversary edition of Big Gigantic’s flagship party. Lighting and production designer, Justin Casey of Helms Projects and the production team created a deep and evocative stage presence that made it easy for fans to feel like they were entering a 3D space as they watch performances by the event’s hosts, as well as guests Joyryde, Mitis, Jantsen, and INZO. A variety of design elements, from a curved set that wrapped around the artists on stage, to blow-through video walls with generative content, were seamlessly fused to create this immersive panorama. Contributing to the overall effect was a collection of 40 Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by Helms Projects and Brown Note Productions. “This production took a village to complete, so big thanks to
Austria - With the new Mythos Mozart exhibition, situated right in the heart of downtown Vienna, visitors are introduced to the life and work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the form of an immersive experience. The timeless beauty of the musical genius’s legacy meets the latest audio-visual technology, with this process becoming a work of art in its own right that succeeds in entertaining both young and old. “Mythos Mozart connects tradition with modernity, art and music, creativity with technology and creates a new space for innovation and culture to honour Mozart in a way that’s never been seen before,” explains Mythos Mozart managing director Hans Gasser. Mythos Mozart enchants and informs across more than 1,500sq.m, at precisely the same location where the composer, who was born in 1756, spent the last year of his life and created unforgettable masterp
USA - Comedian Nikki Glaser’s first HBO comedy special is a no-holds-barred hour of comedy. Taped late last year at the Paramount Theatre in Denver, Colorado in front of a sold-out audience, Nikki Glaser: Good Clean Filth premiered on HBO on 16 July and is available to stream on HBO Max. Chief designer at E26 Design, Marc Janowitz, who served as lighting and production designer for the special, sought a sparkle lighting effect to go along with the set’s backdrop glitter curtain. He found what he was looking for in Elation’s SparkLED twinkle effect, proprietary technology included in the Elation Rayzor 760 LED wash moving head, as well as other Elation luminaires. “When we were exchanging design and visual ideas, Nikki showed us a picture from a show she had done in a Vegas showroom where there was a glitter curtain,” Janowitz recalls. “She really li
USA - Country star Walker Hayes is out on his first headlining tour with a lighting package supplied by Bandit Lites. The singer released his third album Country Stuff in January 2022 to widespread acclaim before taking to the road on the Glad You’re Here tour. For this inaugural outing, Seth Jackson and Nate Alves of Darkroom Creative sought to design a production that would not break the budget but hold its own in the arenas. “Scale is something I feel we do very well here at Darkroom,” explained Alves. “It is one thing to build something that looks good when hung as designed, it is another to be able to grow and condense with the room and fill that upstage space effectively and responsibly. The rig looks bigger than it is, and as such, we can really squeeze this show into some tight spaces. This is where our equipment choices really helped us.”
