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Lighting

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USA - Following the launch of SymNet Composer 4.1, Symetrix has bolstered its control and command offering for SymNet open architecture Dante-scalable DSPs with the addition of three new control options.

The first of these options, the ARC-3 wall panel remote, was introduced to the systems integrator community at ISE 2015. Arriving in a single SKU with both surface- and flush-mount capabilities, ARC-3 incorporates a brand new capacitive touch interface with LED feedback, as well as a multi-lingual graphics-capable OLED display that is expected to resonate strongly with Symetrix' global customer base.

The second new option is the ARC-WEB browser-based dialler, which allows owners of iPhones, iPads, Android phones, tablets and network-enabled computers to control audio via embedded web servers running on SymNet Edge and SymNet Radius DSPs.

"With this option, end-users can

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USA - Following on from the custom video solution they supplied for alt-J's headline show at London's O2 Arena and subsequent worldwide festival runs, XL Video has supplied a similar LED set-up for the band's current US tour.

The tour, in support of alt-J's second album, This Is All Yours, visited a variety of indoor and outdoor venues around the US including a show at Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

The video design, created by Jeremy Lechterman and Jackson Gallagher from FragmentNine, uses horizontal rows of LED, interspaced with gaps which can be used with lighting.

At the O2 show, XL Video supplied a solution using their regular touring frames, and special brackets.

"For the US tour design, the designers wanted to reduce the size of spaces between the LED rows," said XL's US touring projects director, Gareth Jeanne. "As our touring frames have

PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

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"The visuals are the priority with this band," opens Marcus Lyall. "For a long time the stage has been dominated by the upstage screen and we wanted to develop that imagery and bring it closer to the audience." Lyall shares the responsibilities of show director and designer for the Chemical Brothers with Adam Smith who has worked with the band for over 20 years.

"We wanted to create a 3D experience for the audience," agrees lighting designer Paul Normandale, "And bring some of the video content to life, blurring the lines between screen and reality. We went to Specialz as they did such a great job on the last tour and this mechanical, visual, yet tourable challenge is very much their area of expertise."

To this end, Specialz was charged with creating a huge 3m diameter reflector, a set of bespoke dollies pre-rigged with Sharpys and last but cer

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UK - Aurora Lighting provides all the ingredients for lighting director Oli Richards at The Great British Bake Off - An Extra Slice.

Following the success of the BBC phenomenon that is The Great British Bake Off, Jo Brand has been welcoming a panel of guests each week to enjoy cake related discussion.

Filmed with Love Productions in front of a live audience at The London Studios, An Extra Slice reflects on the week's baking, with guest interviews with departing contestants, behind the scenes clips and a selection of audience based cake related triumphs and disasters.

To help lighten up the serving, Aurora has provided LD Oli Richards with an array of Martin Auras and Viper Performances which are kept fresh by moving light operator David Francis and tech Simon Willet.

The show features a number of set practical pendants which have added an atmospheric h

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UK - On its initial release in 1994, The Shawkshank Redemption achieved critical acclaim and is still considered by many to be a movie great. Now, on the film's 21st anniversary, production company Bill Kenwright Ltd is touring a theatrical version of the show across the UK. White Light was called upon to supply the lighting support for the production.

The play has opened in Windsor and will begin its UK tour next week, visiting venues in Leeds, Brighton, Richmond, Birmingham, Aberdeen, Newcastle, Norwich, Cheltenham, Woking, Milton Keynes and Cardiff.

Starring television's Ian Kelsey and Patrick Robinson, The Shawshank Redemption tells the story of Andy Dufresne, a man serving a life sentence in the notorious Shawshank prison. Realising he cannot survive life behind bars, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with prison fixer Red and soon begins to hatch a plan

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Australia - Sydney's famous Tank Stream provided quite a challenge when two companies joined forces to create a staging solution for one of the city's major hotels. The fresh water supply for the colony of Sydney in its earliest days is contained in a bulkhead, which runs directly over the ballroom of the Westin Hotel in the centre of the city.

It was one of the issues that had to be considered when Jands Venue Engineering (JVE) and event AV services provider, Staging Connections, put their skills together to engineer a faster, safer and more efficient staging management system for the hotel. One of the biggest challenges faced by JVE and Staging Connections was the installation - it had to fit in with existing hotel commitments, to make sure all the rooms involved were empty, and it couldn't be done at night, with the risk guests could be woken by the drilling.

Working in fav

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World - Everything about the AC/DC Rock or Bust Tour 2015 is big with a capital B, from the mega arenas across Europe and North America where the band played, to the fan interest (the group set a world record selling more than 300,000 tickets in 77 minutes at one German venue), to the beefy lighting design.

The Woodroffe Bassett Design rig called on a plethora of high-output discharge lamp moving fixtures, as well as a wide assortment of blinders, video panels and other fixtures to create an explosive lighting display that flooded even the largest venue with visual delights.

A batten fixture that measures 39.3" (998 M) can easily be swallowed by this lighting Goliath. However, that clearly - and colourfully -- wasn't the case with the COLORado Batten 144 Tour from Chauvet Professional. A dozen of the RGBWA LED linear fixtures were used in the rig for the iconic metal band

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Korea Move - Slovenian band Laibach claim to be the first western rock group to play inside North Korea. Photographs seem to show that the audience at the Ponghwa Theatre was appreciative, if not completely sure of what to make of their concert last week. Laibach describe themselves as "a music and cross-media group" and are known for playing eclectic cover versions of famous songs. The songs were accompanied by images styled from North Korean propaganda posters projected on to a screen, with translations in Korean. The programme included a number of songs from The Sound of Music, including Edelweiss, Do-Re-Mi and The Hills Are Alive. The 1965 musical is one of the few western films people are allowed to watch in the secretive state.

Posthumous Hit - Cilla Black landed her first ever number one album, with her Very Best Of comp

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Poland - On 9 August 2015, the noted Polish rock band Skaldowie gave a major concert in the city of Gdów to celebrate their 50th anniversary. The national broadcasting corporation, TVP, organized the event and a live crowd of 15,000 attended the outdoor venue.

For the impressive stage setup, no less than 100 x SixPacks blinders and 50 x P-5 wash lights from SGM were integrated into the light design. Lighting designer, Sebastian Pachciarek, explains that he chose the P-5s due to their many advantages such as powerfulness and viewing angle. He used the SixPacks as wall LEDs, and for this purpose, he particularly emphasizes the ease of combining a large amount of fixtures. He then adds, "The fact that both types of fixtures are IP65-rated was quite important - especially for concerts under the cloud." He adds that both the P-5s and SixPacks performed flawlessly.

Pachci

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Sri Lanka - When TV Derana, Sri Lanka's premier entertainment website channel, presented the seventh season of the talent programme, Little Star, in front of an invited audience at the giant Sugathadasha Indoor Stadium in Colombo, PR Lighting partner, The Lighthouse (Pvt) dressed the stage with a wide choice of the Chinese manufacturer's fixtures.

This included 24 x XS1200 Spot; 6 x XL1200 Spot; 40 x XR 200 Beam; 16 x XR 230; 4 x XR 330 and 40 pieces from the XLED Series. All were suspended from the lighting grid to create a dynamic visual right around the stadium.

According to lighting designer Dinusha (Chanaka) Perera these were ideal for TV with their fast response and quiet operation. Having successfully undergone camera tests for colour temperature etc they met all technical requirements.

While the powerful XS and XL Spot have become established fixtures in inven

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USA - On seeing the Robe BMFL in action, Bandit placed a large fixture order. The results have spoken for themselves ever since as designer Seth Jackson took the first batch out on the Barry Manilow Farewell Tour. Alabama Shakes designer Rich Stembridge then jumped in and took a load with him, and soon legendary designer Candace Brightman and Paul Hoffman demanded 50 BMFLs be on the Grateful Dead's Fare Thee Well final concerts in Chicago.

Designer Chris Lisle ordered up a big batch for the new Miranda Lambert tour, and as popular as they are, several dozen were specified for the Firefly Festival in Dover, Delaware. Now, designer Dave Butzler has inserted 50 BMFL's on the current Garth Brooks world tour, a show that was already on the road. Dave saw them and had to have them, but he had to wait as demand outstripped supply.

The BMFL joins the current Bandit stock of other Robe

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UK - In an effort to support the future growth and success of the live events industry, Production Resource Group (PRG) in the UK has announced its participation in the UK Government's Apprenticeship Trailblazer scheme.

The UK Government has committed to delivering three million apprenticeships by 2020, and is giving employers a greater say in designing high quality apprenticeships which meet the needs of their respective industries.

Trailblazer groups create the Standards which become the blueprints for apprenticeships.

PRG has taken the lead on the Standard for the new Live Event Technician apprenticeship, and has been supported by AdLib Solutions, Britannia Row Productions, Entec Sound & Light, Fineline Lighting, Hawthorn, HSL Group, LS Live, Neg Earth Lighting, Nitelites, Skan PA, SSE Audio, XL Video, Wigwam Acoustics, and White Light in creating the Standards for this n

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Malaysia - With the International Indian Film Academy Awards (also known as the IIFA Awards) the International Indian Film Academy honours both the artistic and technical excellence of professionals involved in Bollywood. Started in 2000, the ceremony is staged in different countries worldwide every year, with the most recent one being held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Lighting designer, programmer, operator Harold Fernandez used three grandMA2 full-size consoles on this year's show.

Fernandez had many reasons to rely on the grandMA2. "As the industry changes, so do the challenges of lighting and its products. They are both more flexible and complex and an easy way to operate these products is via the grandMA2. One can create so many different viewing options and layout formats with the console. Also the MA 3D visualizer is great and lets you see your design from various vi

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Australia - Craig Boyes' bdesign is a creative event agency and consultancy providing services across multiple disciplines, including event management, lighting design, entertainment, staging design, AV, logistics and technology consultancy. Based out of Melbourne, bdesign recently invested in a powerful, flexible package from High End Systems, including eight Shapeshifter C2 LED fixtures and a Road Hog 4 console to control them.

"I've been a Hog user for years," reported Craig. "The Road Hog 4 ticks all the boxes in terms of what I want out of a desk. I like the layout and the large screen real estate. I prefer everything to be on the one screen, as opposed to a larger desk that'd have screens and controls spread out laterally." Since its purchase, Craig has already had it out on gigs as diverse as contemporary dance shows and the launch of the film Magic

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USA - For the better part of five decades, Nile Rodgers has demonstrated an uncanny ability to weave diverse musical influences together in unexpected ways. Rodgers' versatility and virtuosity were on full display recently at the FOLD Festival, outside New York City, on a star studded stage illuminated by a collection of fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

Rodgers not only performed on stage with Chic, he hosted the two-day festival, bringing together an eclectic mix of friends and collaborators while "mashing up music cultures", as he told the press. The mash featured sets by Pharrell Williams, Beck, Duran Duran, Chaka Kahn, Q-Tip and Keith Urban, among others.

"There was a sense of electricity in the air throughout the festival, and we were happy to be a part of it," said Jason Ayala of ProSho (New York), which provided the lighting rig. "We wanted l

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Italy - Sal Da Vinci is back in the theatre with a new show Se Amore è... Revolution (If Love is... a Revolution) which was staged at the Augusteo theatre in Naples.

The show was written by Da Vinci with Gino Landi and Paolo Caiazzo, and combines music, sketches (entrusted to the actor Lello Radice) and narratives (read by Pasquale Panella).

"I met Sal Da Vinci," lighting designer Francesco Adinolfi reports. "During the amazing success of C'era una volta Scugnizzi (Once upon a time there were street urchins), a musical written by Claudio Mattone (music and lyrics) and Claudio Mattone and Enrico Vaime (script) in 2002. The work was inspired by the 1989 film Scugnizzi (street urchins) directed by Nanni Loy. The musical was staged for the first time in 2002 and, because of its enormous success, restaged during the 2010-2011 winter season."

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UK - Astera has appointed Stardream as the exclusive distributor of Astera's wireless event lights in the UK. Stardream is based in Blackpool, and will serve England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Stardream has been providing the entertainment industry with innovative products and services since 1977. Astera is delighted to have partnered such a respected and experienced distributor.

Commenting on the partnership, Sam Barnett, owner of Stardream, said, "Nearly 39 years after my father found a product in Europe to have sole distribution rights, we are now delighted to have found the same with Astera LED. The future most definitely looks bright for Stardream." Astera/Stardream will be exhibiting at this year's PLASA show from 4-6 October 2015 (stand C12), and at this year's BPM event from 12-14 September 2015 (stand F091).

Commenting on the partnership, Sebast

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Mexico - The rich and vibrant Latin music scene generates a lot of 'crossover' between artists and the production side of the industry in the Mexican rental world. Most people involved in companies started their industry careers playing in bands and many are still active musicians or are involved in artist management.

Sergio Serrano is one of those charismatic and multi-skilled people whose lighting and video rental company, LED Project is one of a number of businesses run alongside his role as production manager of Café Tacuba, one of Mexico's most famous and popular bands. He also works closely as a show producer with Radio station MVS staging around 100 events a year.

Sergio first decided that LED Project should invest in Robe equipment in 2013, shortly after the Pointe was launched. He immediately saw big potential in the small size and multi-functionality of the un

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UK - Two revving and rocking CarFest family festivals in UK raise funds for BBC Children in Need, and the music stages are packed with SGM luminaires.

Inspired by BBC Radio 2 broadcaster Chris Evans, the last three festivals of cars, cake and music have raised more than £3.5m for disadvantaged children and young people across the UK; a figure which will grow significantly after this year's donations are included.

CarFest North was recently held in Cheshire31 July 31 to 2 August, while CarFest South is planned for this weekend in Hampshire.

For both occasions, LED lighting equipment from SGM is playing an important role for the headliners. The equipment package consists of 18 G-Spot moving heads, 20 SixPack blinders, 12 P-5 wash lights and 12 P-2 compact wash lights, 18 Q-7 flood blind strobes and 16 Q-2 W, offering 26,000 lumen cool white light.

Blackburn professiona

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UK - Chroma-Q Color Force 72 premium performance LED battens are adding colourful cyclorama lighting to an all-white, high gloss set and backdrop for British singer Paloma Faith's current UK tour.

Faith's 2015 live shows are in support of her third album, A Perfect Contradiction, which has become her most successful to date.

Set designer Joshua Grace worked with lighting designer Tony Austin, to create a "Motown, disco and 80s aesthetic stage with a touch of 1930s glamour". Nite Design's Phil White was lighting director and programmer for the tour, working alongside Tony Austin.

"The concept for the tour was an all-white set, and the Color Force 72s were used to up-light the white cyc backdrop," explains Phil. "Tony had already used Chroma-Q lighting products on previous Paloma Faith shows, and was looking for a batten with a powerful output a

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UK - Lighting and visual rental specialist HSL has invested well over £2m in new lighting kit - primarily moving lights, LED fixtures and control to help service its busy summer season.

MD Simon Stuart stated, "We have a great diversity of shows out - from opera and the arts to concert and theatre touring to major sporting events - and wanted to ensure that all of them had the latest and most appropriate technology at their disposal."

He adds that this is just the first such announcement that HSL will be making in coming months as it continues to invest in the latest technology.

The addition of over 500 moving lights and 400 additional LED products brings HSL's current available moving light inventory to one of the largest in the UK, which also supports and includes all the top brands.

The new moving lights are a combination of products from premium brands

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Poland - Over a hundred Philips Entertainment Lighting products have been installed into the National Forum of Music (NFM), a new, state-of-the-art concert venue in the heart of Wroc?aw.

Dubbed the most advanced facility on Europe's cultural map, the NFM was conceived as a new home for the majority of Wroc?aw's initiatives, productions and artistic projects. Located in the city's Liberation Square, it is also the headquarters for numerous assemblies including the Wroc?aw Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir.

Philips distributor PS Teatre was responsible for the delivery and installation of the Philips lighting package, which included multi-featured luminaires from Vari-Lite, Selecon and product line Showline, with PS Teatre's Marek Gumi?ski in charge of the project.

"The Philips luminaires were chosen for the NFM as they are known worldwide for their reliability," says

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USA - It seems only natural that the Ford F-Series has been a sponsor of Toby Keith tours. Like the country superstar, who's had 21 No. 1 hits in his storied career, the F-Series has enjoyed longstanding success. In fact, it's been the best-selling truck in America for 35 years running.

Production designers Seth Jackson and Elizabeth O'Keefe (TPI, St. Louis) drew on this connection when creating the lightshow for Keith's 2015 Good Times and Pick Up Lines tour. Playing off the buzz created by Ford's new all-aluminum F-150 truck, the LD came up with a sleek high-tech look for the tour, built around a series of pantographs illuminated by Legend 230SR Beams from Chauvet Professional.

"Since the tour was again sponsored by the Ford F-150 we took a cue from their playbook," said Jackson, who has worked with Keith for many years. "Ford was coming out with a new,

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UK - Clay Paky Mythos, Sharpy, Alpha Spot HPE 300 and Sharpy Wash 330 fixtures are performing crucial lighting roles during season two filming of music show Sky Arts Sessions, allowing Sky TV lighting designer Richard Bowles to create fresh and dynamic looks for the varying acts in each episode.

"All the discharge lighting is Clay Paky exclusive this season," says Bowles. "The fixtures are performing perfectly on camera, whilst also impressing everyone in the studio. In fact many of the guest artists have been overheard commenting on how good the lighting looks."

Filming so far has seen performances from the likes of Django Django, Gaz Coombes from Supergrass and The Vaccines, with not only each act requiring significantly different lighting looks but also each of their tracks. Supplied by Richard Martin Lighting (RML), Bowles chose the 12 Mythos, ei

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