France - Robe France enjoyed the buzz and excitement generated by the 2021 JTSE (Journées Techniques du Spectacle et de l'Evénement) expo staged over two days at Les Docks de Paris. It was a welcome return to face to face - or mask to mask - meeting opportunities after the 2020 online event, and Robe’s French team also celebrated this landmark putting a special focus on the launch of the new T11 range of theatrical luminaires, a three-in-one LED lighting solution. The eye-catching Robe booth in the main Pullman Dock building was designed as a stylish, contemporary ‘lounge’ meet and greet area, and became a social hub for those wanting to say hello and stop for meetings and discussions. It was constantly busy with a stream of customers, contacts and industry friends, and Robe France co-CEO Bruno Garros comments: “It was impressive - many came to us with a spe
USA - To bring the Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown to life on stages across the US for its national tour, lighting designer Bradley King implemented a versatile lighting rig featuring Martin Professional LED fixtures, provided by Christie Lites. Written by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and directed by Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown is an American blues and folk-infused version of the Ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Mitchell first premiered Hadestown in 2006 with a DIY theatre group in Vermont and recorded a concept album based on the show in 2010 before the final version debuted on Broadway in 2019 at the Walter Kerr Theatre. This year, Hadestown embarks on a national theatre tour that debuted at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C. Lighting designer Bradley King, who won a Tony for his work on the Broadway production of Hade
USA - Lighting designer Tim Deiling used 35 Ayrton MagicDot SX fixtures to help construct the visual narrative for the Broadway production of Six The Musical when it transferred from London’s West End in October (see LSi December, out now, for detailed production report on the musical). Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s multi award-winning musical follows the story of Henry VIII’s six wives, expanding on each of their stories and translating their historic power struggles into a modern day pop contest which breathes dynamic new life into the story. Tim Deiling’s associate lighting designer, Tim Reed, reports: “The show takes place on a standing set with no set moves throughout. Instead, we chose to use a rock concert style of lighting with lots of beam looks at all times
Turkey - Prolights has named Modern Elektronik as its distributor in Turkey. Modern has over 36 years of experience in the audio solutions market and is now expanding its portfolio to include professional lighting. “We decided to approach Prolights as they too are rapidly expanding and offering high-quality products with features that align with our customer's requests”, comments Erkan Işıksel, Modern Elektronik's managing director. “We were very impressed with their fixtures like the popular EclPanel TWC, the EclProfile CT+ and many other products they have recently released. We can't wait to start showing them to our customers.” Paolo Albani, international sales manager at Prolights, adds: “Turkey is an important market for our brand, and we are sure that we have a huge growth potential there. That's why we are thrilled to work with a distributor like Mod
South Africa - Idols South Africa 2021 underwent its most substantial visual transformation for a few years with a shift of venue, from the State Theatre in Pretoria to Studio 10 at the Urban Brew complex in Johannesburg. This moment was seized by the show’s long term lighting designer Joshua Cutts of Visual Frontier, for a radical re-think, and for the first time in 17 Idols seasons, he presented a lighting co-design created collaboratively with Andre Siebrits, also from Visual Frontier. The pair relied heavily on Robe moving lights – over 200 were specified on the rig, plus two RoboSpot remote follow spotting systems – to assist with a fresh new aesthetic that takes the SA edition of the show production to “next level” status. Owing to Covid regulations, a large live audience was still not possible this year, so Josh and Andre embraced this effecti
Denmark - Vejle Musikteater, one of the busiest and liveliest multi-purpose live performance venues in Jutland, has reopened fully after the pandemic period, complete with a new Robe Esprite house lighting package comprising 32 x Esprites in total. Sixteen of these have been added as front lighting to the existing over-stage rig of 16 in the Main Hall. Head of lighting Rasmus Wiberg explained that during the Covid closure they used the time constructively to activate various renovations and changes needed in the venue, including the complete removal of the ‘advanced’ lighting bridge – the one nearest the stage – above the auditorium to fit in a new PA system. This also seemed an ideal opportunity to replace the old discharge profiles with new LED moving lights for greater versatility. Having had a great experience with the first batch of 16 x Esprites and the
UK - The full scope of the Faridabad, India-born Sonu Nigam’s talent was on full display this November at his UK shows at SSE Arena Wembley in London and Resorts World Arena in Manchester. On stage for over three hours at each venue, Sonu Nigam performed 37 songs and medleys that included his own compositions as well as songs from legendary singers Mohammad Rafi and Kishore Kumar. Reflecting the vibrancy and versatility of the multi-faceted performance was a Roosevelt Dsouza-designed lightshow that featured Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by DMX Productions. The lighting followed the singer through every twist and turn of his performance, peaking at intense moments, then becoming gentle for softer songs, all while never repeating a look. This was no small accomplishment, given the all-encompassing nature of the multi-award winnings star’s work. Helping
USA - Latin music star Marc Anthony has returned to the stage with his Pa’lla Voy tour, taking in 26-dates across North America with an arsenal of VL10 Beamwash luminaires from Vari-Lite. The VL10 delivers speed, versatility and an impressive 28,000 lumens to lighting designer Travis Shirley’s bold stage design. Shirley developed his concept around six vertical lighting arrays that provide the tools necessary to create effective and functional stage focuses. “When the drawings of the show were completed, it was time to start discussing fixture choices. Good friend and production guru Roly Garbalosa mentioned to me that our preferred vendor ProColor was looking at purchasing the new VL10s and asked me to take a look at them. How does the saying go? It was love at first sight,” said Travis Shirley. The tour, which kicked off at San Antonio’s 18,500-capacity AT&
USA - On the south edge of Kansas City, a multi-story commercial building has been lighting its windows in special colours and patterns for decades. ETC’s Mosaic system, a pixel-mapping and show control solution, recently gave them a 21st-century upgrade to heighten the graphics and even provide a new revenue stream for the building. “The building is right near the interstate. For years, everybody drove past it and loved the decorative touch of the special lighting,” says Autumn Nieland, business development at Mercer Zimmerman. The patterns started with a holiday wreath, then expanded into other designs like the Kansas City Royals or Chiefs logo. But the building wanted something better. They wanted a system that could handle bigger designs but needed less time and people power to make happen. “They were still just using fluorescent strips lights, figuring out
Denmark - Technical production and rental specialist Live Company, based in Skovlunde, Copenhagen, continues to invest in Astera wireless LED products at a pace to keep parallel with the “incredible demand” of the Danish market, states owner Peter Clausen. They were the first rental company in Denmark to invest majorly in Astera, initially with AX1 PixelTubes in 2018, and the latest acquisitions include several sets of Titan Tubes and the newly launched AX9 PowerPAR all-purpose everyday LED lighting fixture – one of the three innovative products launched by Astera in 2021. The AX9s were bought specifically for Dejlig er Jorden, an operatic recital tour around Danish churches by an ensemble of opera singers and classical musicians. Lighting designer Súni Joensen specifically wanted powerful, reliable, quick and easy to deploy wireless fixtures and 12 x A
Canada - Twelve Ayrton Domino-S fixtures, part of Ayrton’s IP65 multi-function luminaire family designed for intensive outdoor use, played a variety of roles at Les Francos de Montréal and the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, staged back-to-back in September this year due to COVID-19. Les Francos de Montréal is a large annual pop music and performance festival featuring French-language performers from around the world. It has been held for more than 20 years. The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world’s largest jazz festival; every year it features about 3,000 artists in more than 650 concerts and welcomes 2m-plus visitors. This year’s 41st edition was reduced in size due to the coronavirus pandemic with all shows taking place outdoors. Both events were centred around downtown Montréal’s Quartier
USA - Rapper and songwriter Nate Feuerstein, more commonly known as NF, embarked on a massive amphitheatre tour this past fall that showcased Martin Professional VDO Sceptron and MAC Quantum Wash fixtures with P3 system control, provided by Solotech. Boasting several songs with hundreds of millions of streams - including the single Let You Down which recently crossed one billion streams - NF is a multi-platinum-selling artist who has gained a dedicated following for tackling themes like vulnerability, faith and mental health in his music. This latest tour featured just Feuerstein and drummer Rico Nichols onstage, leaving plenty of room for Feuerstein to move around and display his electric showmanship. The tour’s lighting crew aimed to create a rig that enhanced and heightened Feuerstein’s energy for arena-sized venues while also maintaining an aesthetic u
USA - Boxing matches are inherently unpredictable. Some end with a sudden thud mere seconds after they start. Others are boring uninspired 12-round dances. Then there are those that serve up more than their share of dramatic moments. But one thing is certain at every boxing event: a sense of excitement and anticipation fills the air when pugilists enter the arena and walk with handlers to the ring. Pangea Land of Dinosaurs’ Jurassic Fight Night in Phoenix was no different, even if the combatants approaching the 40ft by 40ft boxing ring were not your typical athletes. Bearing names like Blue Lighting The Velociraptor, and Steve The Spine Crusher Spinosaurus, these boxers were realistic replicas of dinosaurs, Pumping up the crowd as the dinosaur fighters entered the Gilia River Arena during the two-day event was a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied a
UK - The Bridge is a tourable 22m wide by 6m high bridge structure providing a platform for music, actors and performers, designed by Sydney based designer Dan Potra and executed by Imagineer Productions, After a series of ‘workshop days’, these events conclude with in a circus style performance, featuring international artists, including regular Cirque du Soleil performers, in an explosive finale, up to 12m above ground. To provide visual support for The Bridge's series of residencies in town centres throughout the UK, lighting designer Arnim Friess required a multi-purpose, flexible solution to accentuate the varied day and night programme of performances, conversations and workshops from the local artistic community. Friess’ solution, which utilised a number of Chauvet Professional Ovation E-260WW IP fixtures, drew heavily from the fixture’s theatri
Europe - PRG Switzerland has relaunched as PRG Gear, to bring its dry rental sources under one brand. PRG Gear’s office in is located in Zurich. Within 24 hours PRG Gear will be able to serve a radius of 600 km straight from its 7,500sq.m warehouse, which is amongst the largest equipment inventories for all types of production disciplines in the event industry, says PRG. “Not only will former PRG Switzerland clients be able to rent equipment from PRG Gear in Zurich, they will also be able to count on a widened offer of support solutions for their productions. With the ever-shortening installation and dismantling schedules on-site, we want to include mobile and efficient solutions in our strategic offerings in the future.” says Martin Fischer, general manager PRG Gear Zurich. “We will be offering an additional space in our warehouse facilities for our c
USA - In the tri-state area where Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio meet, just north of Cincinnati, lies Citygate Church’s new campus, Forest Park. The church, which originated in Cincinnati and was once mobile, has grown from a small congregation into a thriving, multi-site ministry that enhances services for live and broadcast audiences using customisable lighting from Elation Professional specified and installed by integration company S&L Integrated Systems. Citygate is a multi-ethnic, outreach-driven church with a vision to positively impact the community and share the word in a creative and dynamic way. “Pastors Eric and Kim Petree have always had a vision to become a multiple campus church - one church, multiple locations,” says Dustan White, production director at Citygate Church. “We know that our success and our blessings come from how we impact other people
UK - Reading-based television lighting rental specialist Version 2 Lights has made a large investment in Robe’s new Forte moving lights with the purchase of 50 fixtures. These have been supplied with both the HCF (high colour fidelity) and the HP (high performance) LED engines - to service V2’s upcoming projects. Versions 2’s managing director Nick Edwards stated, “We needed a high-powered, high-quality fixture to meet the demands of the big shows, so explored a number of options and selected Forte as the best fixture with optimum quality output for camera.” The Fortes - among the first in the UK - will be working hard this winter, including on ITV’s new talent show, Walk the Line which is being lit by LD Tim Routledge. The show is produced by Simon Cowell and due to be aired in December. For Nick and V2, a product like Forte has all t
Saudi Arabia - Visitors to 1Rebel in Riyadh might easily think they’ve entered an upscale club were it not for the rows of treadmills, bikes and other exercise equipment that reveal its identity as a fitness centre. This is precisely the sort of image, management of the London-based gym hoped to create when they opened their two Saudi Arabian locations. Their vision for their Middle East expansion was based on the success they had in the UK, offering guests a total experience. AV designer Toby Jones worked with lighting designer Durham Marenghi, who he had also collaborated with in the UK. Together they endowed the new Saudi centres with the engaging look and feel that have become a signature of 1Rebel. Helping them accomplish this was a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures. The team positioned Ovation, COLORado and ÉPIX strip fixtures within the four
Europe - Robe lighting s.r.o has launched the full-form product video for its new T11 luminaire, the latest in its T series. T11 is a static fixture – available in three versions (Profile, Fresnel and PC) - is designed to be “a perfect investment for any venue - especially theatres and performance spaces - seeking to renew their existing ‘generic’ lighting rigs and upgrade to the latest LED technology with all Robe’s guaranteed reliability and quality”. This genuine three-in-one solution in a single fixture housing alleviates the additional cost of separate ‘generic’ purchases and looks forward to a more sustainable future, says Robe. The MSL-TE 350W LED engine itself generates 16,760 Lumens, giving 9,500 lumens from the T11 Profile, 9,600 lumens out of the T11 Fresnel and 9,400 lumens for the T11 PC, and being a TE light source, brings all the
Germany - Anolis Eminere 1 RGBA LED wall washing lighting fixtures were specified to create mood lighting in a series of breakout rooms in the newest extension to the Estrel Congress Centre (ECC) in Berlin, with the Czech manufacturer also producing some specially adapted ceiling mounting versions of the fixture to suit this project. The 10 breakout rooms are part of a new 5000sq.m extension project which opened last summer having been under construction for nearly two years, adding an 800 seat auditorium / presentation space and 10 event rooms to ECC’s substantial multi-purpose conference, exhibition and hotel complex which first opened in 1999. It occupies a massive site in the south of Berlin city. Each of the new rooms can accommodate up to 50 - 240 people, and Estrel’s owner and technical management teams planned mood lighting from the early stages of the de
UK - Prolight Concepts has announced the release of The VersiLED 6 Wireless from LEDJ - a universal DMX controller designed for controlling multi colour LED fixtures. Suitable for use with RGB, RGBW/RGBA, RGBWA or RGBWAUV products, with or without dimmer channels the controller may be used for LED par cans, panels or even LED strip lights. The on-board W-DMX transmitter allows for wireless DMX control.
USA - Indie/emo band Foxing entitled their fourth studio album Draw Down The Moon. For the album release show at the Pageant theatre in St Louis, designer Gerry Dintleman reflected the mood of the music with a redolent, theatrical lightshow that drew on a collection of over 45 Chauvet Professional fixtures from the venue’s house rig as well as ten Nexus panels rented from Arch City AV. “I wanted things to have this emotional power, with very dramatic highs and lows, using as little front light as possible, with the exception of specials,” explained Dintleman. “Since the album is called Draw Down The Moon, I added a moon gobo with my Ovation ellipsoidal for the backdrop. Overall, I just wanted to match the wide dynamics of the record and bring Foxing’s live show to a whole new level.” Back, key and side lighting were critical to Dintleman’s p
France - PlugFest, the technical event for entertainment lighting interoperability, returns to Lille in France from 29-31 March 2022 following a two-year hiatus. Organised by PLASA, the popular event welcomes manufacturers, developers and technicians from across Europe to test their products and learn about the latest protocols. PlugFest is an opportunity for participants to collectively test and demonstrate device and system interoperability with the aim of improving reliability, resolving compatibility issues and ultimately improving connectivity between all entertainment lighting and related technologies. The event’s expert hosts, Hamish Dumbreck (JESE Ltd), Peter Willis (Howard Eaton Lighting) and Wayne Howell (Artistic Licence) will host a series of workshops and technical break-out sessions and will also provide individual support and guidance. Attendees will
USA - Designer and programmer Keith Hoagland and co-designer Steve Leopard of Leopard Production recently lit a corporate event livestream for country band Sixwire with special guest Steve Augeri, the lead singer of Journey from 1998 to 2006. Accounting for the small studio space that the livestream was shot in, the two designers deliberately kept their video wall backdrop simple. “In some instances, it’s better to approach video with the less is more mindset, especially when space is an issue,” said Hoagland. “In this case, having a quite backdrop with a series of smaller video walls, allowed us to paint the area between those walls with rich colours. This gave us depth of field for the cameras to read.” The duo lined the walls of their set with seven video panels in a U-shaped configuration. Rather that show the same images on each, they devoted one or two