USA - Elation Proteus Maximus LED moving heads and Cuepix 16 IP LED matrix panels provided field of play, broadcast and entertainment lighting for Fan Controlled Football’s season two at Pullman Yards in Atlanta. The historic setting provided a suitable backdrop for a modern version of America’s most popular sport complete with multi-dimensional lighting. Fan Controlled Football (FCF) is a professional indoor American football league that began in 2021 and is the only professional football league where fans call the shots, including real-time play calling, team branding, and personnel decisions. Pullman Yards, a historic industrial complex where the Pullman Company once repaired railroad sleeper cars, is now a landmark site and the filming location of many movies and television series. Under redevelopment as an entertainment destination, ahead of the 2022 season the FCF
Saudi Arabia - Fuzion is a specially commissioned new Cirque du Soleil production that was staged at the King Abdallah Sports City (KASC) stadium in Jeddah for the 2022 Jeddah Season Festival. Directed by Mukhtar Omar Sharif Mukhtar with creative direction by Stefan Miljevic, the lighting and set was designed by Mikki Kunttu who used 186 x Robe BMFL moving lights – making up half of the lighting rig. Mikki was based in Montreal at Cirque du Soleil’s international HQ immediately for the two years before the pandemic, when he returned home to his native Finland, and relished being onboard and again. He added his own creative magic to this production which ran for 32 intense action and adrenaline-packed 75-minute performances. The lighting brief included making an “elegant, theatrical, and vivid” impact, with the goal of recreating the splendour and
UK - #WeMakeEvents invites keen cyclists from across the events and entertainment industry to sign up for BikeFest 2022, which will take place on Saturday 3 September. Together, the BikeFest team will raise funds for Backup – the technical entertainment charity, which helps industry peers during times of ill health and financial hardship, and other #WeMakeEvents-supported charities. Starting at SFL’s headquarters in Reading to a destination in London, BikeFest will also kick off the PLASA Show as it returns to Olympia London from 4-6 September. Now in its sixth year, BikeFest began as a 100-mile cycle to PLASA Show to raise awareness and funds for mental health in the industry. With the pandemic, this need became ever more relevant. Since 2020, #WeMakeEvents campaign has been instrumental in expanding the BikeFest event in the UK, and for the first time this year,
Finland - Leading creatives and lighting practitioners including Mikki Kunttu, LeRoy Bennett, Christopher Bauder, Ola Melzig and Ralph-Jörg Wezorke are set to speak at Music x Media: Light & Shadow Seminar, taking place on 28 September at Tampere Hall, in Tampere, Finland. The event forms part of celebrations around the 30-year career and 50th birthday of lighting designer Mikki Kunttu whose resume includes work for Cirque du Soleil, Nightwish, Apocalyptica, Boston Ballet, Tero Saarinen and the Finnish National Opera. Running from 9am-6pm, Light & Shadow welcomes professionals and students alike to gain insight into the artistic processes of top professionals. The day will be hosted by Ola Melzig, as Kunttu explains: “There are very few technical producers around the world with such a mind-blowing resume. Ola is well connected and a well-know
UK - PLASA and LSi are calling for nominations for this year’s Gottelier Award. The award recognises the invaluable contributions of the people behind the products, from pioneering product developers to creative R&D teams. Named after the late lighting designer and industry commentator Tony Gottelier, the Gottelier Award aims to recognise product developers who have made a significant contribution to the advancement of entertainment, presentation, or installation technology.
Launched in 2007, previous recipients include: Christian Heil (L-Acoustics); Alan Jacobi (Unusual Rigging); Wayne Howell (Artistic Licence); Anne Valentino (ETC); David Cunningham (Entertec); Pasquale Quadri (Claypaky); Jim Bornhorst (Vari-Lite); John Meyer (Meyer Sound); Terry Clarke (Klark Teknik, MC2 Audio); Fred Foster (ETC); Alex Cooper (Midas & Klark Teknik); John Stadius (Di
France - A table soccer playing field measures only about 120cm long by 61cm wide, but that doesn’t mean that a championship event in this sport can’t get the bold, broadcast-friendly looks of a “real” football tournament. Ecom-Events demonstrated that recently at the Coupe du Monde De Baby-Foot (Table Soccer World Cup), with help from a collection of 74 projectors anchored by Chauvet Professional fixtures. Positioned at strategic points throughout Nantes’ Palais des Sports de Beaulieu, the lively and colourful lighting accentuated the drama, excitement, and intense emotions that characterized the ITSF (International Table Soccer Federation) tournament, which ran from 28 June through 3 July and drew over 1,000 competitors from 45 different nations. Enlivening the centre court playing area with vivid colours and dynamic special effects prior to the competitive
Belgium - Lighting and stage designer Maarten de Man of mdm productions utilised the power of the letter T for a pair of recent Lotto Arena shows in Antwerp by chart-topping Flemish stars Tourist LeMC. Dominating the stage’s backdrop, his T was not the formal straight-line sort found in grade school alphabet books, but a dynamic visual element, with a vertical component that spread its wings wide from its narrow base as it rose to meet its horizonal counterpart. The resultant display commanded attention while projecting an air of excitement. Enhancing this effect was an intense lighting design that featured a collection of close to 80 Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by Splendit. “I have been doing the light for Tourist LeMC for some years,” said de Man. “So, I am familiar with their vision. For this show that vision was to have the letter T serve as th
UK - At Glastonbury 2022, Robe moving lights were used site wide on many stages and areas, including Arcadia – back with their iconic Spider – at The Park Stage, home of a fusion of genres and independent entertainment, and on the BBC Introducing Stage. Arcadia was founded by Pip Rush (creative director) and Bert Cole (technical director) in 2007 on a quest to produce and curate, imaginative sonic experiences for audiences to enjoy DJs, musicians, and live performance art. Their flame-throwing, laser-shooting spider is one of the most ambitious and enduringly popular of those environments, gloriously returning to Glasto for the first time since 2017. The massive arachnid made from recycled military and industrial machinery parts once again energised and united music lovers under its magical metal belly for a superlative line up of artists and fun over the fe
USA - Using technology to enrich entertainment is nothing new at the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda, NY. At the time it opened in 1925, the 1000-plus seat venue was outfitted with an early Mighty Wurlitzer ‘demonstrator’, meaning that the instrument’s manufacturer, would take potential customers there to show them how the powerful pipe organ could enhance the experience of watching a silent movie. The advent of talkies spelled the end for most of the original Wurlitzer demonstrators, save for two, one of which, after being restored by volunteers, is still entertaining guests at the Riviera, only now it is joined by a host of other, more modern technologies, including a new lighting rig featuring Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by Advanced Production Group. Derek Heckler, design specialist at the theatre, was deeply involved in specifying the new light
India - British-Norwegian DJ, YouTuber and record producer Alan Walker returned to India for a four-city Sunburn Arena Tour last April that turned out legions of fans in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurgaon. His Bengaluru show featured 28 Claypaky Mythos 2 hybrid lights provided by Reynold’s Sound & Lighting Service where Felix Remedios is the director. Walker, best known for his critically single Faded which was certified platinum in 14 countries, was joined on stage by German singer-songwriter Au/Ra and Norwegian singer-songwriter Julie Bergan. Walker was last in India with the Aviation Tour India leg in 2019. He has collaborated with Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus, Sia and Avicii and supported artists such as Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Kygo performing at some of the world’s top music festivals. Walker’s EDM concert in Bengaluru was one of the biggest p
Columbia - The magic of Salsa cannot merely be heard and seen in the beautiful confines of Cali’s Teatro Municipal this summer, it can also be felt in the heart and soul, as the historic venue hosts Ensalsate, a passionate celebration of this dance form produced by the 360 Design Group. Heightening the transformative power of the performances on stage is a zesty lighting design by Milton de la Cruz that features 22 Chauvet Professional Rogue R3 Beam fixtures. Like the colourfully clad dancers on stage, de la Curz’s flow of beams, spot lighting, and gobo patterns moves with deft grace as it sweeps up the audiences in a liberating whirlwind of desires and emotions. Accentuating the precise moves of the dancers is a crucial part of the De La Cruz's design, which draws on a mixture of evocative beam configurations and colours to translate the energy of salsa int
Poland - The Warsaw branch of Brill AV Media, a company specialising in B2B events and conference productions as well as AV systems integration / installation, has invested in more Robe moving lights for its equipment inventory, with the purchase of LEDWash 600+s, Tetra2s and Pointes from Robe’s Polish distributor, Prolight. These have been added to their stock which already contains around 200 Robe fixtures in total with Pointes, BMFL Spots, BMFL Blades and Tetra2 moving LED battens in Warsaw and there is an even wider selection of Robe products available across the Group of companies. The current Brill AV Media format is the result of a merger between Czech-based AV Media, Hungary-based Brill AV and Polish entrepreneur Michal Czerniak with separate operations in all three countries. The setup enables Brill AV Media to offer a mix of experience, skills, equipment,
USA - Alternative metal band Deftones, wrapped the North American leg of their OHMS tour, delivering a show that fans felt was worth waiting for. Lighting, production and set designer Jon Eddy used Claypaky RGB laser source Xtylos tight beam and Claypaky ReflectXion compact moving mirror to give a different look to the show. The six-week leg of the tour kicked off in Portland and included a setlist that spanned Deftones’ nine studio albums and three live debuts. Deftones released their album Ohms in 2020 along with a 20th-anniversary edition of White Pony and earned Grammy nominations for the songs Ohms and Genesis. The band is currently touring Europe playing a roster of festival dates. Eddy designed the band’s 2020 tour, which was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. He completely redesigned the new tour, putting the COVID lockdo
USA - Bandit Lites is providing the lighting for Jackson Browne’s Evening With full band 2022 tour which launched in June and runs through September, supporting his album Downhill From Everywhere. Lighting designer Greg Classen began working with Browne in 2021 during Browne’s tour with James Taylor. “For Jackson’s band tour, I knew that I needed a design with some depth that would showcase the music without distracting from his music,” explained Classen. “I decided I wanted something that would replicate the depth and movement of a video wall without actually having to carry one. “I knew that I needed a design with some depth that would showcase the music without distracting from his music,” explained Classen. “I decided I wanted something that would replicate the depth and movement of a video wall without actually having to carry one.”
Greece - The Desmond Child Rocks the Parthenon show took place in front of a 5,000-strong audience at the historic Roman amphitheatre of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens at the end of June. This massive ancient theatre, located on the slopes of the Acropolis, has a history going back over 2,000 years and has hosted many artists who have played against its magnificent backdrop. Lighting designer George Tellos and his team from Lighting Art in Athens created the lighting design for this evening of rock music that celebrated the songs of Desmond Child. Guest artists included Alice Cooper, Bonnie Tyler, Rita Wilson, Sakis Rouvas and The Rasmus, as well as Lena Hall, Kip Winger, Chris Willis, Tabitha Fair, Justin Benlolo and Andreas Carlsson. “Our work became even more important when we realised that we need to visualise these awesome songs like
UK - Electronic music pioneer and innovator Gary Numan is on the road again showcasing his topical climate crisis highlighting studio album Intruder – his 19th – which dropped in 2021, combined with back catalogue material. The UK leg of the tour featured a performance at Wembley Arena in London for which lighting designer Dustin Snyder used large quantities of Robe MegaPointes and LEDBeam 150s together with other lights supplied by rental specialist, Siyan. Dustin has been working with the artist since 2014. The Intruder tour started in the US with Dustin taking the three fractured lines of face paint from the album artwork as a creative starting point, which translated into columns of asymmetric and fragmented video panels onstage. The UK tour was designed around Wembley being the largest gig, which was also a DVD record, and to be scalable to fit i
Italy - In May 1972, two young, emerging folk singers got together in Rome to record Theorius Campus. Although the album had only limited success, the raw talent of Antonelli Venditti and Francesco de Gregori left an impression on all who heard it. Great things were predicted for both singers, and great things they achieved in Italy and beyond, but not together. The two parted ways shortly after that initial recording, never to appear on the same stage again, until this June when, a half century after their joint debut, the pair began an Italian tour with two shows at Rome’s Olympic Stadium. Celebrating the emotional power of this reunion, while also reflecting the different styles and personalities that the two stars have developed over the years, was an expansive and multi-faceted Massimo Tomasino lighting design that featured 34 Chauvet Professional Maveric
UK - Lightware Visual Engineering has announced the appointments of Craig Storey as CEO and Craig McQueen as sales director to head the UK team. Craig Storey heads the Lightware UK office, overseeing all aspects of the UK business and its strategy. After joining Lightware a few weeks before COVID hit, Craig has steered the company through the uncertainties of the pandemic while managing to maintain revenue for the UK through the first year [2019-20] and then grow the team who delivered the highest revenue year for the division on record for the 2021-22 financial year. Joining Storey is Craig McQueen, who will take charge of a growing sales team, in times of an ongoing recruitment drive. “These are very exciting times and I’m looking forward to the challenge of building on this impressive recent success,” said Craig McQueen. “Lightware is has big things h
USA - Although he’s kept up with the latest in lighting technology, John Garberson readily admits that at heart, he really likes old school looks with their big ACL specials, deep colours and dimming curves. In other words, good down-home traditional rock and roll lighting. The GM of Creative Backstage, Garberson got to see plenty of these big, in-your-face panoramas recently thanks to a rig he and his team created for Arizona Bike Week. Held this spring in West World of Scottsdale,AZ, the multi-attraction event drew some 70,000 bikers from throughout North America. Highlighting the event were the nightly concerts held at The Rock Yard, an indoor venue on the festival grounds, where the Creative BackStage rig got to roll out its thunderous looks for a line-up of rockers that included Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rob Zombie, and Social Distortion. Key to igniting these intense v
USA - LIT Lighting has added Elation Professional’s IP65 LED luminaire, Proteus Maximus, to inventory, an investment that allows the Tempe, Arizona-based production and rental house to effectively fill more riders and service larger shows and events. “We’re excited to have added a rider-friendly and large-show-friendly fixture like the Proteus Maximus to our inventory,” stated Chris LIT Brodman, founder and director of operations at LIT Lighting. “It’s exciting for us to have grown to this level, from a little company to now having the ability to service big shows. That achievement feels really amazing.” Brodman started in the entertainment technology industry when just a teen, supplying lighting, special effects, props and scenic decoration to the underground electronic music scene in and around Phoenix. After meeting and working for his mentor, John Ga
USA - Hundreds of thousands of people chose downtown Nashville to celebrate the Fourth of July as Broadway was transformed in a free concert event during Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4th celebration. Bandit Lites provided lighting for two stages. The main stage on Broadway featured a headlining show from Old Dominion as well as 17 Nashville based artists performances as well as the Ascend Amphitheater where the Nashville Symphony Orchestra accompanied the largest firework show in Nashville's history. 40,000 pounds of explosives and 200 miles of wire became the longest firework show in the city's history when the display hit 31 minutes and 30 seconds. Production manager Chris Lisle entrusted Bandit Lites to supply the Broadway stage with more than 120 fixtures including Chauvet Rogue R2 Beams, Elation CuePix WW4 Blinders, Martin MAC Viper Profiles and
UK - Tramlines festival returns to Sheffield’s Hillsborough Park from 22-24 July 2022, delivered by independent production company Method Events This year’s event builds on the success of the award-winning Tramlines 2021, which was one of very few festivals to go ahead as a pilot event under the government’s Event Research Programme last year. For this year, the team at Method have planned a record-breaking event for 2022, which sold out its 50,000 capacity faster than ever before. The five-stage event will host a line up including headliners Sam Fender, Kasabian and Madness. As a Sheffield festival that is deeply rooted in the city, there is a continued effort to make use of as many local suppliers and staff as possible, ensuring the event continues to bring significant economic benefits to the wider community. Tramlines has donated £103,000 to 20 charit
The Netherlands - The production surrounding two shows at Rotterdam’s Ahoy Arena by Dutch rising star Davina Michelle featured an imaginative fusion of dance and rock ‘n’ roll. Artistic directors were Sophie and Sander Reneman from multidisciplinary, creative agency TWOFIFTYK and Marc Heinz who was asked to design lighting. Marc is well known for this international theatrical and opera work as well as his high-impact light shows for DJ Armin van Buuren. For these showcase performances he specified nearly 300 Robe moving lights to bring flexibility, impact, and drama to the stage, on which he worked closely with assistant lighting designer, Jordy Veenstra and Koen van Elderen. The set concept was based on perceptions of space and proximity. To make it simultaneously intimate and visually striking in the large arena, a custom 10 x 7m glass riser was installed as a
USA - Corey Easterbrook likes to go with the flow, whether it’s busking light shows or jumping on new, unexpected opportunities. The owner of Hot House AV has done both during the past 18 months by running a steady series of one-offs by pop/rockers Neon Trees. Coming out of the COVID lockdown, The Billboard Music Award winning quartet was in need of a LD to work the festival shows they had lined up. There was one overriding criteria they had in mind: whoever they brought on board had to be comfortable busking big, bold looks without a lot of repetition – or prep time. This ultimately led them, in round about fashion, to Easterbrook and his ChamSys MagicQ MQ80 console. “My good friend Myles Mangino learned what Neon Trees was looking for, and recommended me,” said Easterbrook. “We haven’t looked back since. It’s been a blast for me, doing about a show with
