UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies is exhibiting for the first time at the PRO Show - NEC, Birmingham.

On display are a selection of products from their wide portfolio of leading technology brands, including the extensive ProLights lighting and LED video screen ranges; the award-winning Jands lighting control solutions; Green Hippo Hippotizer V4 media servers; Allen & Heath audio consoles; and Dynamic Audio Device, Nexo and RCF loudspeakers.

Staff from each of the company's specialist product divisions are on hand to discuss the requirements and to provide demonstrations and advice.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Blur's high profile performance at the Barclaycard British Summer Time event in London's Hyde Park was preceded by a series of warm up shows including Glasgow's Barrowlands, Le Zenith in Paris, an intimate show at Newhampton Arts Centre in Wolverhampton and headlining Saturday night at the Isle of Wight Festival - with west London based rental specialist Entec supplying crew plus lighting and sound equipment for selected shows.

Entec also supplied the floor lighting package for the Hyde Park gig, which saw the band entertain 60,000 people and delight them with extracts from their new alum The Magic Whip - the first complete studio work of the original line-up since 2003.

Entec has enjoyed a long working relationship with Blur dating back over 20 years, and lighting designer Dave Byars and FOH sound engineer Matt Butcher have also both been an integral part of the B

UK - The Rocky Horror Show has opened at the Playhouse Theatre in London's West End. Following a two week run in the capital, the show will then tour the UK from December this year until August 2016. Having supplied the lighting equipment for the first ever production of this worldwide phenomenon back in 1973, White Light is once again on hand to support the show.

When The Rocky Horror Show originally opened at the Royal Court Theatre more than 40 years ago, it was one of the first productions that WL worked on, with the company also supporting its subsequent transfer to the Kings Road Theatre. Over the years, WL has continued to work on several re-incarnations of the musical smash hit, which has also gone on to become an iconic film as well as be performed on Broadway, in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea.

The show's latest run was lit by lightin

UK - London's Royal Albert Hall (RAH) venue purchased 17 Robe BMFL Spot moving lights in February which have been used on a myriad of shows and events in the last few months including Space Spectacular, a co-promotion between the RAH and Raymond Gubbay Ltd., featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) conducted by Anthony Inglis playing a series of space-orientated works.

Lighting was crafted by the RAH's lighting designer & systems manager, Richard Rhys Thomas, who used 16 of the BMFL Spots, 34 of the house Robe PARfect LED PARs together with 16 LEDBeam 100s and 32 Pointes which were hired in from TSL Lighting as part of a large rig.

Richard has worked at the RAH since 2005 and managed the lighting department since 2008. He lights many of the shows throughout the venue's busy year-round schedule and for this one, the design was based around the music, with the con

World - Promoted as the world's first smartships, Royal Caribbean International's environmentally friendly Quantum-class cruise liners - Quantum of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas - have set new standards in terms of energy-efficient onboard entertainment lighting systems. Now the numbers are in and the savings are even greater than expected.

When Royal Caribbean recently compared energy usage of the theatre show lighting system onboard Quantum and Anthem - both with large LED lighting systems that include Elation LED fixtures - with a similar yet incandescent-based lighting system on its Oasis-class Allure of the Seas, energy savings on the Quantum-class ships was 76%-84% greater, numbers that even surprised RCI.

"The power figures have been measured on Quantum and Anthem against the last incandescent and dimmer theatre show lighting rig on Allure and the results are - e

UK - Wireless LED lighting manufacturer CORE Lighting are at the 2015 PLASA London expo at the ExCeL Centre on Stand C24, which is also part of UK distributor White Light's 'Village' and where they will be displaying a range of their latest innovations.

CORE products are known for the high quality and excellent engineering that comes with the 'Made in the UK' marque. As an independent company, CORE can also react quickly and decisively to market demands and ensure its products stay at the forefront of the fast-moving live events industry.

Featured products at PLASA will include CORE's new StripPoint which will be prominent on the stand display together with the flagship ColourPoint, which has become an industry standard product for the live event industry. The tiny PinPoint will have a major presence with an array of PinPoints controlled by CORE's new LightDesk phone App, and

USA - Clay Paky Mythos has become the 'go-to' fixture for lighting designer Matt Ford, who recently deployed Mythos on truTV's Fake Off, The CW's Penn & Teller: Fool Us and NBC's Food Fighters. Ford is president of Magic Lantern Creations, an entertainment lighting company in Woodland Hills, California.

Ford was introduced to Mythos at a demo held at A.C.T Lighting where he felt he "found the answer" to his need for a fixture that combined Clay Paky "Sharpy effects with a hard-edged gobo fixture. Mythos does the job of two fixtures in one light: I get Sharpy effects when I want them and great gobo beam patterns, too. I'm a huge fan."

Ford also finds Mythos easy to use on-camera for television shows. "It's not a big ugly light; it's compact and good looking. I can stick Mythos on the floor in a background shot and it blends in well

Sweden - One of Sweden's best loved TV dance bands, Elisa's, has added dynamism to its shows by purchasing a touring lighting package from PR Lighting.

Led by singer, Elisa Lindström, the highly visual five-piece started taking an interest in their own production after winning the Dansbandskampen reality competition on Swedish Television (SVT) back in 2010.

Ljudias Sound & Light general manager, Johan Gotthardsson, soon became involved, and the PR Lighting distributor helped them to build a touring inventory of cost-effective light and sound components which would be easy to set up - principally for the increasing demands of TV work.

The sale involved four XL 250 (PR-2225M) spots, one of most economic units, using a 250W short arc discharge lamp and super efficient optical system, as well as a pair of XL Beam 300 (PR-2330M) long throw colour beam moving heads.

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USA - Any company that makes Inc. Magazine's list of the fastest growing privately owned businesses six years running must be doing a lot of things right. For 4Wall Entertainment, which has made this prestigious list every year since 2010, one of those things has been the commitment to maintain an inventory that includes quality lighting fixtures for every application. In keeping with this commitment, the company has added 44 Rogue R1 Washes from Chauvet Professional to its inventory.

As a company focused solely on entertainment lighting, 4Wall Entertainment takes pride in maintaining a rental inventory that represents the latest technology and value for its clients. The Rogue R1 Wash allows the company to offer clients a high-output moving LED fixture that includes performance features not ordinarily found at its price point. For example, the fixture has a bubble lens design th

North America - Sublime with Rome has hit the road for a North American summer tour featuring 37 concerts coast to coast. Lighting designer Scott Warner of Karate Pinky Visual Design, LLC, Pittsburgh, has selected Clay Paky Sharpys, Sharpy Washes and A.leda B-EYE K20s for the tour.

Sublime with Rome is a musical collaboration between bass player Eric Wilson, formerly of the band Sublime, singer/guitarist Rome Ramirez and drummer Josh Freese. Their North American tour is their biggest headlining gig to date. They released their new album, Sirens,this summer.

Warner designed the band's tour two years ago when they carried only a floor package. "They wanted to step up their light show for this project," he says. "I was ready to start programming when I had to move over to another client, but thank goodness lighting director and programmer Aaron Craig was ava

USA - Two hundred and ten Ayrton MagicBlade-R fixtures form the dramatic backbone of Roy Bennett's lighting design for Maroon 5's year-long World Tour 2015 in support of V, the band's fifth studio album.

Bennett, of Seven Design Works, has used the MagicBlade-R units to delineate thirteen jointed truss 'arms', which are suspended in a 'V' shape above the stage to form a pivotal feature of the stage design. The MagicBlade-R fixtures are rigged in double rows along the arms, which split along the centre line and move independently on a series of separate wire winches to shape and sculpt the stage from above.

"I didn't know the band well but knew their music. I wanted to give them something very different from the video-heavy designs of their past tours - and create something that I haven't done before!" says Bennett. "I like transparency, reflection and mirrors ri

South Africa - When ETC dealer Prosound was asked to provide support for the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, they knew this was an opportunity.

The festival is an important event on the South African cultural calendar, and the biggest annual celebration of the arts on the African continent, but many of the venues suffer from similar issues: excess heat and lack of power.

One such venue, Vicky's, is a small school canteen converted into a fringe theatre with a 150 seat capacity - but in previous years, the power supplied to the venue could not sustain its demands. To reduce the issues caused by the lighting, this year they decided to go all-LED, thanks not only to assistance from Prosound, but also to sponsorship from ETC.

Prosound's Mac Makhobotloane, who was responsible for lighting technical support, says, "We used

Arts Cuts Campaign - Equity has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the "catastrophic" effect that further cuts could have on the arts. The campaign, Stop Arts Cuts, has been created by the union to make the case for cultural investment to government in the face of ongoing austerity measures. It follows a Treasury announcement that government departments such as the Department for Culture, Media and Sport should prepare for budget reductions of up to 40% in the spending review, the outcome of which will be revealed in November. Equity assistant general secretary Stephen Spence, who is leading the campaign for Equity, said that the arts "simply cannot sustain any more cuts". He added, "Our view is that it would have quite a dramatic effect. You will start to get theatres closing."

Main Attraction - Cast members are the biggest draw for a

UK - S+H Technical Services supplied over 2000sq.m of their classic Pea-light starcloth and a rigging crew to Chinnick Theatre Services (CTS), which was used to wrap a special event space at the 2015 Royal International Air Tattoo staged at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.

CTS supplied full technical production for the event area created in one of the aircraft hangers. This was draped off and used to present a high profile gala dinner on the Friday evening and an after-show party for RIAT staff and behind-the-scenes workers on the Sunday.

RIAT is geared to offering a great family day amidst all the drama, spectacle and adrenalized fun of a 7.5 hour flying display featuring a plethora of different aircraft.

CTS has been involved with supplying production for specific areas of RIAT since 1987. The gala dinner - now for 660 invited guests, including a host of dignitaries and VI

UK - Lighting controls expert, Artistic Licence, will be launching moody, its new programmable LED controller, at 100% Design at London's Olympia, 23-26 September. The show, which runs for four days, is the UK's largest design trade event, attracting architects, specifiers and designers from across the globe.

Artistic Licence, a well-known name in the architectural and entertainment lighting sectors, is using the show as a launch platform for moody - a product that the company anticipates will appeal to a particularly wide market.

moody is a wall controller & programmable scene-setter for LED. It has a simple rotary dial, just like a conventional dimmer, except that it is lit up by a colour LED at the centre. This is not just for show - the LED indicates the colour and intensity of zones of light that can be programmed and controlled by moody.

The USP of the product is its a

Australia - Shalom College is a co-educational Catholic secondary school servicing the Bundaberg region, five hours drive north of Brisbane, Queensland. Performing arts and creativity are a priority at Shalom, and the school boasts a 400-seat theatre built in 2005 that is employed to teach its students drama, dance, music and technical production. It's also a resource for the local area, regularly hosting community group's presentations and functions. A decade along, the theatre's technical infrastructure was due for replacement, and principal Dan McMahon began to talk to Graeme Hicks at Entertainment Production Supplies about what direction their renewal should take.

"We hadn't done any major upgrades or renewals since 2005," Mr McMahon explained. "Graeme came up to Bundaberg to do another job for the school and I spoke to him about it. That started a very strong

Switzerland - The flexibility and adaptability of the GDS ArcSystem has been a feature of its success in a host of worldwide applications in theatres and entertainment houses. An installation into TV studios at Switzerland's public broadcaster, RTS, one of a number of recent similar projects, serves to further underline its scope.

Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS) is a Swiss public broadcasting organisation which handles production and broadcasting of radio and television programming in French for Switzerland. Two RTS channels cater for Switzerland's 1.6 million French speakers. RTS Un is a mainstream channel showcasing its major in-house productions and is complemented by RTS Deux which leans towards sports, the arts and youth interest programmes.

Recently, the channel invested in a new, fully automated HD television studio dedicated to news programming, which would

UK - Artichoke has unveiled the programme for the fourth Lumiere festival in Durham, 12-15 November 2015. Taking place during UNESCO's International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies, Lumiere is commissioned and funded by Durham County Council with additional support from Arts Council England and a raft of sponsors.

The fourth Lumiere festival will see some of the world's most eminent artists transform Durham City's unique urban landscape and architecture into a magical nocturnal adventure. Artists include Janet Echelman from the US, Fujiko Nakaya from Japan, Catherine Garret from France, as well as two French pioneers of digital art, Miguel Chevalier and Patrice Warrener.

Alongside international artists, County Durham's residents will be playing a starring role in this year's festival. Working in collaboration with Lumiere artists locally produced ideas include Ho

Sweden - Gothenburg Konserthuset has always been way ahead of its time. Designed by acclaimed functionalist architect Nils Einar Ericsson in 1935, its neoclassical exterior both compliments and contrasts the surrounding buildings on Götaplatsen, the modernist interior is still contemporary and relevant 80 years later and the acoustic of the main room still among the best in Europe.

In short, the venue - home to the Goteborg Symphony Orchestra (GSO) - took the world of concert halls into a new league. It remains one of the most prestigious venues in Sweden and a place that everyone enjoys playing at and visiting.

Now they have Robe LED moving lights. The venue's investment in Robe fixtures was instigated by Måns P?r Fogelberg (aka 'MP'), Head of GSO Play, the in-house streaming and broadcasting division, together with Konserthusen's head of technical Johan Bjorkman in consult

UAE - Protec supplied its client HQ Creative with lighting, video and rigging for the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament 2015 Opening Ceremony in June 2015. Protec used the BlackTrax real time motion tracking solution to track extreme stunt performers, spot lighting them and stage sets.

"We needed the show, to look good for the live audience, as well as on television," explained Aaron Russ, lighting designer at Protec.

The opening ceremony used a riot of colour and light to depict the central theme of urging youth towards core sporting principles of determination, perseverance, stamina and the will to achieve. This was explained through a narrative and skit that was inter-woven in a film that depicting the history and culture of the UAE. Held at the NAS Sports Complex, the high-profile event was attended by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prin

UK - This year has seen complete production solution specialist White Light further develop its wide range of services. Over the past nine months, the company has not only forged its own dedicated audio department but also acquired Shock Solutions, a forerunner in the fields of LED lighting and audio-visual equipment solutions. Similarly, the company has invested heavily in the very latest technology and provided the production support on a whole range of events from concert touring, to corporate events, to theatre shows, to venue launches. This vast array of newly acquired skills and state-of-the-art equipment will be on display at one of the biggest entertainment technology events of the year: the PLASA Show 2015.

WL will be exhibiting at stand C30 and showcasing the very latest in lighting, audio, effects and AV solutions.

The equipment on show includes the ArKaos MediaMast

UK - Lighting designer Matthew Kilmurry is controlling Irish musician Hozier's US and UK tour lighting this autumn using an Avolites Sapphire Touch.

Kilmurry's design for the Hozier tour is based around a warm tungsten atmospheric feel, using old school Edison bulbs dotted around the stage which gives a wonderful glow to the performers.

"I've been using Avolites consoles since I started out in lighting in 2001," says Kilmurry. "I trained in Ireland and the first console I used was a Pearl 2000. I chose the Sapphire Touch for the Hozier tour in the UK and US this year as I find the cloning/exchange fixture works very well and I can get around it much quicker than other consoles. Everything I need seems to be a few less button pushes away."

The Sapphire Touch is designed for ambitious shows, with more submasters, more flash and executor buttons, and the pow

Europe / USA - AC/DC's Rock or Bust Tour thundered through Europe and the USA bringing night after night of head-banging delight to hundreds of thousands of fans. The grungy, buffalo horned, 'Mad Max' style arena spectacular is the inspired work of Ray Winkler of Stufish Design and Patrick Woodroffe of Woodroffe Bassett Design Ltd and sees lighting and set seamlessly welded together in an imposing corrugated steel clad domed stage.

Peppering the corrugated iron façade are a large number of Clay Paky Sharpy Washes, positioned inside transparent protective domes. These fixtures are barely visible until they strike up to bring texture, colour and dimension to the set and to bathe the audience in sharp, randomly angled, acid coloured light.

"AC/DC's identity is distinct, they're a straight forward rock and roll band," states Woodroffe. "We wanted to reflect that in

UK - VER, a leading, global provider of production equipment and engineering support, has announced it has completed its acquisition of Aurora Lighting Hire (Aurora). The acquisition represents the latest step in VER's strategic plan to expand its lighting capabilities and equipment inventory throughout the UK and Europe.

Steve Hankin, chief executive officer of VER said, "We are very excited to team with Aurora, an industry-leading lighting rental house that offers the UK a boutique, premier service. Over the next year, we will invest significantly to expand the equipment offering and other resources to support the tremendous demand for their service. The combination of Aurora's knowledge and quality service with VER's broader product line will offer Aurora's clients a truly one-of-a-kind resource. "

Nick Edwards, managing director of Aurora said, "VER is a glo

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