Europe - GDS has announced that Fernando Freitas has been appointed as its new European account manager.

Fernando will be responsible for the European territory working with GDS's dealer network in Europe and end users in both, the entertainment industry and development of new opportunities in other industries.

Moving from marketing manager to European account manager he changes his role at GDS as part of the ongoing strategy to increase GDS participation in the European market.

Fernando brings almost two years of experience within GDS and a good understanding of the entertainment and event industry.

Fernando comments, "Having settled into the marketing department I am now thrilled to work with our European partners directly in this amazing industry. I am looking forward to this new exciting role and providing the best solutions to current and future customers."<

Japan - Ayrton's IntelliPix-R LED panels played a prominent role in the spectacular lighting design at the annual Japanese music show, Best Hits Kayousai 2014. The show, which recognises some of Japan's most popular artists of the year, took place in November at the Festival Hall, Osaka and was broadcast live on the NNN network. Over 18 acts, including Exile Tribe and May J, performed during the two-hour show.

Ayrton's Japanese distributor, First Engineering Japan, supplied 120 IntelliPix-R panels to their client, Heart-S, who used the static panels to surround the stage and performers with beams of intense light.

IntelliPix-R is a modular beam projection panel of 25 independently controllable 4.5° LED emitters arranged in a 5 x 5 array which project graphics and media far into the air. Panels can be connected together to form a semi-transparent wall, screen or ceiling or

Columbia - Foo Fighters, recently visited Colombia on the South American leg of their Sonic Highways World Tour. At the Estadio Nemesio Camacho, commonly known as 'El Campín', in Bogotá, they were greeted by a crowd of 40,000 fans for what was to be an amazing concert.

Prior to the concert, event production company Iluminación Jaime Dussan had been contacted to supply the roof structure as well as LED screens. Dedicated to providing technical services for large scale events such as this, they had the inventory to fulfill the requirements - including big screen reinforcement. "The client required an outdoor screen with a 6mm pitch from a European manufacturer," informs the company spokesperson, Ms. Andrea Dussán.

The SGM LS-6.67 is IP65 rated and suitable for the job, with its pixel pitch of 6.67mm and a brightness of 5,000 nits per sq.m. It comes in a robust but

Fighting Talk - Foo Fighters have revealed they will be the headline act on the first day of Glastonbury Festival. The US rockers announced the news after they were named best international band at the NME Awards. In a recorded video message, frontman Dave Grohl told music fans at Brixton Academy, south London, they were returning to the UK to play Glastonbury. They are the first major act announced for this year's event. Foo Fighters will headline the Pyramid Stage on Friday, Glastonbury's website confirmed, making their first appearance at the Somerset festival since 1998. Lionel Richie was the first 2015 performer to be announced in November. He will make his debut in the Sunday teatime slot on the Pyramid stage.

Festival Move - T in the Park will be on a new site this year and the headliners will be Kasabian. Avicii will make his debut at the festival when he closes t

UK - Northern Light Stage & Technical Services has announced the successful management buyout of its hire department with the formation of NL Productions Ltd.

Intended to capitalise on the growing order book of the last two years and under the leadership of managing director Phil O'Halloran, the new business will operate as a unique alliance with the hire department of Northern Lights' sister company Stage Electrics.

Phil O'Halloran commented: "Our local knowledge and capabilities within our specific market area coupled with the backing of an alliance relationship with Stage Electrics provides an ideal combination to drive continued growth and deliver value for customers that will be a benefit to all parties."

Providing technical expertise, design and equipment NL Productions offers lighting, sound, AV, staging, rigging and power distribution to events across Scotl

UK - The sixth School Theatre Support Group (STSG) conference took place in February 2015 at the Bacon Theatre, Dean Close School, Cheltenham. The event was attended by technicians, managers and teachers from school theatres and drama departments around the country.

Workshop sessions on a range of relevant technical topics were provided by AC Entertainment Technologies, Stage Electrics and White Light, alongside displays from GDS and iStudio Projects. Charcoalblue Theatre Consultants also provided sponsorship.

This year's conference marked the tenth year of STSG as an organisation, having grown from an informal group of like-minded individuals, to now being affiliated with the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT). This important link gives wider recognition to theatre work within schools, as well as encouraging the development of the next generation of theatre pro

USA - Every year, the NFL Super Bowl attracts hundreds of millions of viewers; many are there for the football game. Others are there for the halftime. The core create team includes executive producer Ricky Kirshner of Touchdown Entertainment, production designer Bruce Rodgers of Tribe Design and special effects designer Mark Grega of Strictly FX. "The production is really a team effort. It's the third year that we've been working with Mark; his creativity and experience are a vital part of creating a memorable Super Bowl Halftime," states Rodgers.

For the Super Bowl XLIX Pepsi Halftime featuring Katy Perry, the special effects portion of the production was remarkably flexible. "We change the show up until the day of- in fact, we made changes on Super Bowl Sunday, because of the camera shots. We try to maximize the best shot that the director, Hamish Hamilton, is

Puerto Rico - LumenRadio once again worked with the extraordinary lighting magician Tupac Martir on Palomino, a desert Island off the coast of Puerto Rico and home to the legendary Bacardi Triangle party.

Three jumbo jets from three cities across the world, flew the world's hottest artists and 1862 invited guests to a private island in the Caribbean Sea to party in one of the most mysterious places on earth. Headlined by Calvin Harris, Kendrick Lamar and Ellie Goulding, the three-night music festival brought some of the world's leading artists together for a gig of epic proportions.

For three nights, Bacardi took over the 5-star resort, El Conquistador and transformed it into one of the most spectacular venues on earth. A total of 14 universes of LumenRadio's CRMX Nova TX2 RDM units were used to transfer reliable wireless DMX/RDM data to four large areas across the resort. 22

UK - TNA (Total Non-stop Action) Wrestling stormed British shores this month for a series of adrenaline-fuelled shows with lighting operator Andre Huff running the show on an Avolites Sapphire Touch console, and ART2000 dimmers providing the power behind the scenes.

The dynamic tour, featuring some of the biggest names in world wrestling, had a vibrant light show designed by Emmy award-winning LD Jeff Bornstein and used production gear and crew provided by Ian Livie.

"Jeff instructed me he wanted big two-tone looks for each wrestler's entrance, rather than a lot of flash and trash with the lights," says Huff, an Emmy-nominated LD and operator of 24 years, with significant combat sports experience.

"We chose to do big panning movements with two colours and sometimes a gobo. No real crazy flashing looks with a lot of colour changes."

Knoxville-based Limel

Russia - Leading Russian consumer electronics retailer M.Video has had its "best New Year's Eve event in history", thanks to technical producers MAX'N'MAX and lighting designer Roman Stolyarov choosing the super powerful Clay Paky A.leda B-EYE K20, Sharpy Wash 330 and Alpha Spot HPE 1500 for the event's live stage shows.

Stolyarov's design saw a central chandelier truss above the stage in the Moscow Expocentre rigged with 32 x B-EYEs, which were supplied by rental company Arlecchino Group. Throughout the evening there were varying performances by M.Video's staff, directed by George Dolmazyan.

"As the chandelier was the focal point, Roman used the B-EYEs' graphic light effects and vibrant colours to create the varying looks for each performance," says MAX'N'MAX's production director Maxim Korotkov. "It was our first time working with the B-EYE and its i

USA - The potential for output variations that seem to be inherent in LEDs can be problematic for entertainment lighting manufacturers who are in greater need of consistent colour and brightness.

The industry is concerned with a more complete testing of the performance of light engines. Composed of the combination of one or more LED modules, together with an LED driver (also known as electronic control gear, or ECG), the variations in light engine output account for most of the variations in LED colour temperature, brightness and other output characteristics.

To alleviate this problem, many LED light engine manufacturers provide 100 percent "functional testing" of lamps along with first article and periodic inspections of a production run. However, functional testing merely validates that the lamps will illuminate, and usually don't analyze the CCT (correlated colour

UK - Flashlight Ltd has announced the appointment of industry veteran Gordon Smith, who joins the company's UK sales department as a Film and TV sales executive. Gordon will provide field based sales and support for the company's expanding range of leading lighting brands.

A well-known face in the industry, Gordon brings over 40 years' specialist knowledge and commercial experience to the new role, having previously worked in a variety of TV, film, theatre and entertainment lighting hire and sales roles. Gordon says: "I'm looking forward to the exciting challenges ahead within an established, vibrant company. I can't wait to get started!"

Flashlight directors Andy Dodd and Rob Williamson commented: "We're delighted to welcome Gordon to the company. His extensive experience and knowledge of the Film/ TV lighting market further strengthens our high level of produc

UK - SGM were again one of the major sponsors at the third e-Luminate Cambridge Festival - occupying two iconic sites, St John's College Tower and King's College Chapel, and bringing them to life with their powerful IP65-rated LED fixtures.

While Jack Beccegato from Zero Kb designed the set piece for King's College Chapel, Daniel Kirby from SGM UK created the concept for the St John's College Tower lighting. Six G-Spots were used by Beccegato to illuminate the front of the Chapel, while the St. John's Tower was animated with the stunning used or 11 P-5 RGBW wash lights.

Also playing a central role in the Festival was SGM customer, Hawthorn, under the coordination of the company's Cambridge based head of sales and marketing, Rachel Waterfield. Hawthorn also supplied all the power and rigging for the SGM lights.

The festival, co-founded by Alessandra Caggiano and Hugh Parnell

USA - EDM may appear like a lot of random flashing, but puts a lighting console through a stress test quite unlike any other. Without the luxury of a script or a set list, the EMD lighting designer has to create an infinite series of dramatic looks that match the feel of the music and support the strong video images that are another hallmark of the genre.

Tom Schneider, an ETC tech and console trainer in the company's Hollywood office, has designed and operated EDM shows since he was old enough to sneak out of the house to light raves in warehouses. He believes that Eos is the perfect tool for the job - "What really sets this console apart from other high end consoles is the effects engine. It's pretty cool. The effects engine is programmable to anything I could possibly want."

While big US events like Electronic Daisy Carnival, Electric Zoo and the Ultra Music Festi

USA - Entertainment lighting manufacturer High End Systems has announced that industry sales veteran Sean Hoey has returned to the Austin-based company as Eastern US sales manager. After working at High End Systems throughout the 1990s-2000s, Hoey enjoyed a successful tenure as a territory sales manager at Christie Digital Systems.

Hoey comments, "I am excited to be back at the company that was so instrumental in my career development in this industry. High End Systems is now in its third decade of creating cutting-edge products for lighting professionals, and I look forward to working with our client base - a mix of old friends and new faces - and introducing them to our latest technological innovations."

In other HES news, the company announced they have restructured their US sales team and efforts. Adam Camp will continue as Western US sales manager, while Hoey wi

USA - The second edition of PLASA Focus Orlando, the regional event for the live entertainment technology industry, has been branded a resounding success by both visitors and exhibitors alike. Attracting record numbers of attendees, the popular event offered networking opportunities and hosted many over-sold education sessions presented by top industry speakers including Richard Pilbrow - lighting designer, theatre design consultant and author and Jim Hutchison, customer engagement and education manager for Chauvet Professional.

Taking place on 17-18 February at the Rosen Plaza Hotel, PLASA Focus Orlando proved to be a vibrant networking hub for 64 live entertainment technology brands and more than 840 attendees. "This has been by far the best PLASA Focus event so far," said Geoffrey Platt, product training specialist at TMB. "We had steady, quality visitors each

UK - Clay Paky fixtures have delivered an epic rock show for metalcore five-piece Bring Me The Horizon's sold out date at the SSE Arena Wembley, with lighting designer Ben Inskip choosing them for their power and aerial effects.

The Sheffield-born group has recently been experimenting with video content, leading to the incorporation of a large upstage projection surface in the design for Wembley - their biggest show to date. To complement this, Inskip specified Clay Paky Sharpys, Alpha Beam 700s and Alpha Beam 300s from leading rental company Siyan.

"My aim was to create an interesting overhead truss layout that would work with the projection instead of fighting it," says Inskip. "I then used eight Sharpys on a downstage Chevron-shaped truss to create wide architectural looks that extended to the overhead set up. They were fantastic for creating some really inte

UK - Housing a 1 x 36W tri-colour LED, the Liberty 1T36 battery uplighter from Prolight Concepts gives smooth colour mixing from rich saturated hues to subtle pastel shades.

These units have a rugged housing and feature a four push button LCD menu which allows for easy access to the functions including DMX, master/slave, sound active and stand alone. An optional 18° lens is included to further increase the fixtures applications.

Bernie Marsh, Prolight Concepts general manager said, "After several years of development, eLumen8 have launched this range of rugged battery operated uplighters. With no compromise on specification and features, there will be a suitable uplighter for many applications."

(Jim Evans)

UK - CPL brought more festive sparkle to an independent Bristol based energy supplier, when they delivered full technical production - video, sound, lighting and rigging - for their Christmas conference and party, again working for producers Bright.

The event was staged at Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol - a vast and charismatic former bottling factory now transformed into a lively film and TV studio facility. However, the actual area utilized for the party had not previously been used as an event space, so it was specially modified for the occasion.

CPL's crew of 12 were led by project manager Simon Haydon and they worked closely on site with Bright and set and stage builders, Flat Earth.

The event area was divided into two. The largest space, Room 2, was built as a plenary conference environment during the day for 400 delegates, and then completely transformed into a large,

Canada - Elation Professional has announced that SF Marketing, Inc. has been appointed the exclusive Canadian distributor for Elation Professional products in Canada. SFM has been providing professional-quality products and services to the audio visual and live entertainment industries in Canada since 1978.

"As they say, timing is everything and as Elation's product range has expanded more into the pro-specification lighting professional market, now is the right time for us to find the right partners and sales team to push to the next level stated Eric Loader, director of sales for Elation Professional. "SFM is a well-respected distribution company with a long history of taking care of their customers with top-notch service / support and has the resources to help grow the business by offering inventory on demand and flexible financing terms allowing Elation customers t

Monaco - The Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo hosted a major gathering for Herbalife (the bio-nutrition global giant - The Future President's Team Retreat, which brings together the most successful leaders of the multinational. The result is an event lasting five days, with a daily audience of 2,500, carefully planned and perfectly prepared, in a district of professionalism that doesn't admit mistakes.

Once again the technical production of the event was entrusted to Planet Service, longtime partner of Herbalife in the design and setup of its most important projects worldwide.

And once again lighting - extremely important in an event that combines corporate message and visual appeal - was entrusted to the D.T.S. moving heads: over 90 units were installed by Planet Service, including RAPTOR, JACK and NRG 1201 models.

(Jim Evans)

South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa (GHSA)'s Ryan Dunbar became the latest South African lighting designer to be impressed with Robe's new BMFL fixtures after using the Bright Multi-Functional Luminaire at the 2015 CCI Call Centre Awards staged at Durban International Convention Centre (DICC).

The annual event welcomes 2000 guests for an evening of entertainment and fun. This year the organisers asked GHSA to design a custom stage - complete with runway leading from the main to a circular satellite stage where Awards were presented mid-audience - as well as supply the lighting, audio and video.

As well as the BMFLs, Ryan also used nearly 100 other Robe moving lights - 24 x Pointes, 48 x LEDWash 600s and 24 x LEDBeam 100s, together with 48 x Robe LEDForce PARs ... and a selection of other lights.

The BMFLs were positioned at the four corners of the stage on the floor and us

Czech Republic - Karel Gott is the best known and most successful ever Czech singer. His career spans over 50 years and has been highly innovative, spawned numerous international hits, selling millions of records, earning multiple awards plus a devoted following as well as having to embrace political expediency during the years of (then) Czechoslovakia's Communist years and under occupation by the USSR.

He arranged a massive farewell tour in 1990, which was such a huge success ... that he decided to continue his musical career to the delight of his fans both in the Czech Republic, Germany, the many other ex-Soviet Bloc countries where he also has a huge following as well as his international fan-base. He has also become an accomplished painter.

Robe was proud to participate in Karel Gott's latest arena tour at the end of 2014 which featured eight high profile concerts, five in

Germany - In the film The Miracle of Bern, director Sönke Wortmann tells the story of the unexpected German victory in the 1954 World Cup in Bern and, at the same time, focuses on the difficulties of a prisoner of war who returns home and fails to re-adjust to his old life. However, in conjunction with the German team's success, the ex-POW draws closer again to his son and his family. Stage Entertainment took this story and made it into a musical, which was staged in Hamburg for the first time at the end of 2014 with the same title.

Among the equipment lighting designer Andreas Fuchs chose for the production were 53 Alpha Profile 1500 STs, 18 Alpha Profile 800 STs and 30 A.leda B-EYE K20s, all made by Clay Paky, along with one grandMA2 light, one grandMA2 ultra-light, two MA 8Port Nodes, two MA Network Processing Units (NPUs) and 26 12 x 2.3 kVA MA digital dimmers.

Fuc

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