Zimbabwe - PPC Zimbabwe, the African nation’s largest cement maker, recently introduced its new Surerange series. Heralded with the kind of fanfare typically associated with the release of a film or rock album, the product launch featured a lavish livestream presentation with exuberant dancing, music by performers dressed in construction worker outfits, and a colourful fast-moving light and video show from Events Evolution that featured Chauvet Professional fixtures. Lighting and set designer Blessing Bero worked his magic in the livestream, which was videoed at the SK Borrowdale theatre, with help from nine Maverick MK2 Spot and four Rogue R2 Wash fixtures. The Maverick units were flown in groups of three on upstage truss, while the Rogues were hung in pairs from the same structure. Orienting these fixtures downward, Bero used them to add depth to the stage with gob
Sweden - Full production and rental company Soundstar, based in Skövde, invested in some of Robe’s MegaPointes and Spiiders at the end of last year as they needed lighting fixtures with “more punch” than their rental stock at the time. The company - normally - delivers audio, lighting, video, rigging, and has an OB-truck, for the full complete technical solution, and is working on a wide selection of corporate and industrial events and conferences. It was founded in 1991 by Per Larsson initially as a DJ service company and has steadily grown into a solidly well-respected production house. “We wanted fixtures weighing around 25kg for easy handling by one person,” explained Soundstar’s Daniel Wiklund. They completed several projects with the new Robe lights before the Covid-19 lockdown including two big conferences for Volvo Cars, and a 40-year celebr
USA - Christ's Church of the Valley (CCV) is a non-denominational Christian church located in Phoenix, Arizona, with multiple other locations throughout the state. In 1996 it purchased the property now known as the Peoria campus, moving to the site in 2000 and opening a 3,500-plus seat auditorium four years later. At the church’s broadcast campus, it recently added a number of GLP fixtures to its stage, purchasing eight S350 moving head profiles for key light purposes, and 32 X4 Bar 20 battens as part of a long-term rental package, from 4Wall of Las Vegas. At the same time, CCV has added 10 of GLP’s E350 moving heads (the S350’s brighter sibling, with an extremely narrow iris) for its newly opened Verrado Campus. According to CCV’s production designer Trevor Rigsby, all new campus auditoriums will henceforth have a package of E350s as their go-to moving s
UK - Stage Electrics has announced it has been successful in tendering for the supply of new LED lighting, RCF Art Series monitors and Altair wireless communication systems for the Trinity Art Centre, Gainsborough. The lighting package includes Martin ELP-CL profiles and ETC ColorSource Pars, supported with a combination of Chauvet Professional Rogue R3 Spots and R2X Washes. A Chamsys MQ70 was specified as it offers the flexibility they need for this space, set within a Grade II listed gothic church. An Altair HD wireless communications system was selected following a successful pre-lockdown demonstration at the venue to ensure the Extreme Wireless beltpacks would provide the coverage and reliability they required. Stage Electrics also manufactured all the cables to complete the system in their in-house cable workshop.
USA - Stepping inside the Palace Theatre in Derry,NH, with its sweeping curves and imposing balcony has long been a special treat for New Englanders. On 15 July, thousands of them got to enjoy this experience again on a virtual level during a livestreamed Citizen of the Year ceremony honouring the theatre’s president, Peter Ramsey. The 40-minute event didn’t take place at the downtown Manchester theatre itself, but 11 miles away, at Studio Lab, where owner Tim Messina and his team at Events United used 128 Chauvet Professional F2 LED panels to build a massive curved video wall that displayed a dynamic and immersive 3D replica of the iconic building’s interior. Measuring 52ft wide by 13ft high, the wall provided Messina and his team with a 5,376 by 1,344-pixel canvas on which to create their multi-dimensional panorama. During scenes when the honouree was interview
Belgium - Entertainment design specialist Painting with Light (PWL) created and supplied the lighting and video design plus lighting control including programming and operating for the 2020 Belgian edition of Het Rad (Wheel of Fortune). PWL worked in conjunction with its Genk C-Mine neighbour Deusjevoo, who designed and delivered the set. The series was recorded in Studio 1 at Videohouse in Vilvoorde and aired on SBS’s VIER channel. PWL’s creative director Luc Peumans produced the lighting and video design and worked closely with Dries Hermans of Deusjevoo on the set design, the latter involving substantial quantities of inbuilt practical lighting. These custom LED set elements were all painstakingly installed by the PWL team working in close conjunction with Deusjevoo. Céline Cuypers designed and engineered a special wheel lighting and audio t
South Africa - Organisers of the #LightSAred initiative have issued a final call for participants to join today’s activities. The campaign will see the South African event industry join in a widespread protest action to highlight the lack of government support for the sector, which has been severely affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Today, some of the country's favourite artists and performers, including Prime Circle, John Vlismas, Kyle Cassim, Refentse Morake, will perform live, whilst an original campaign anthem featuring a range of leading South African artist will be released. “We are calling on all South Africans to heed the call of the technical production and live entertainment industry," the organisers said. "If you look out of your window today, 5 August, between 18:
Czech Republic - Colours of Ostrava is usually the largest multi-genre live music and performance festival in the Czech Republic and one of the most popular events on the European festival calendar, offering 22 stages of diverse and vibrant entertainment across four days in mid-July. It is staged in the raw industrial environment of the former Dolní Vitkovice (DOV) steelworks – now reimagined as an important cultural and heritage centre – near Ostrava in the north-east of the country. This year, like all European festivals, it was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic and rescheduled for 2021. However, with the government allowing gatherings of up to 1000 people after 22 June, it seemed that compact events could become feasible, and so ‘NeFestival’ (NoFestival) was planned as a much smaller event at the same site to bring the spirit and essence of Colours
Italy - Backed by radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi himself, RAI has a long history of being in the forefront of broadcasting. This summer, RAI wrote another chapter in its history when it broadcast its first TV series from an audio and lighting company’s warehouse. Enrico Fumasoli and the team at Fumasoli Audio & Lights Rental made this possible by converting a section of their facility, which was idle because of the COVID-19 lockdown, into a broadcast studio, complete with advanced cameras and audio gear, as well as a lighting rig anchored by eight Maverick MK2 Spot and 20 Maverick MK2 Wash fixtures from Chauvet Professional. Patrick Iavarone created the lighting design for the eight-part RAI TV series, which featured the versatile Bonne Soirée, a musical ensemble that covers everything from traditional folk genres to rap. “The aspect I gave to the Bonne Soir
USA - New York City’s El Museo del Barrio’s multipurpose theatre has added a Robert Juliat Topaze followspot to its rejuvenated lighting rig during its extensive renovation. 4Wall was the lighting integrator for El Teatro which was meticulously restored in 2018 and reopened early in 2019. Originally called The Heckscher Children’s Theatrer, El Teatro was built in 1921 and boasts a Landmark-Quality interior with a series of 30ft murals and stained-glass roundels. It was the original home of the Joseph Papp New York Shakespeare Festival. The theatre seats approximately 600 and is a venue for museum-hosted performances and rental events. The restoration included an upgrade to the theatre’s lighting plot, which included Robert Juliat’s Topaze, an economical yet full-featured followspot with a 1200 W MSD source. The fixture’s long lamp life and low running costs
Germany - Cube Entertainment in Rostock selected Claypaky Mini-B fixtures for the Forest Showcase with psytrance DJ Morten Heuer at the Housersten electronic dance music club tour in northeast Germany. Due to Covid-19, this year’s Houserasten events consisted of videos and livestreams targeted to fans instead of in-person shows at clubs in various German cities. Cube Entertainment supplied the lighting and sound gear for the nighttime Forest Showcase, designed the set and handled the video production and postproduction. “The design was simple, but a bit futuristic,” says Fabian Schikorr, Cube’s owner and an event technology specialist. “We had the idea of building a little truss cage on the ground and illuminating that. In the middle of the cage there was the DJ stand with his platform, monitoring system and DJ setup.” Cube chose eight Claypaky Mini-B fixt
UK - Grassroots campaign initiative #LightItInRed is part of the 11 August ‘Red Alert’ day of action being organised and coordinated by #WeMakeEvents and PLASA. Red Alert is also being supported by numerous companies, professionals, organisations and other individuals and practitioners working in the entertainment technology industry and performing arts sector. The Red Alert campaign’s goal is to get the live entertainment and technical production sector in front of politicians, specifically those in the exchequer and at the DCMS (Department of Culture Media & Sport), the latter as the industry’s representatives at parliamentary level. The reason is to demand urgent financial help for the sector and its substantial support infrastructure … until mass gatherings can return. The industry is on the brink of collapse following no work or cashflow
UK - The #WeMakeEvents campaign has progressed into the ‘Red Alert’ phase, with planned activities set to take place across London and other major cities in the UK on the evening of 11 August. The initiative will raise the alarm for the live events and entertainment sector, which has been badly-hit by the pandemic, resulting in countless event cancellations. The campaign reports that the disruption of the summer season alone has affected over 600,000+ jobs in outdoor events. Meanwhile, a campaign survey revealed that redundancies in the sector are already happening, with 15% of businesses stating that they plan to make redundancies during August and 70% reporting that they could be forced to do so by the end of 2020. The campaign warns tha
UK - Like a ghost ship at bay, the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury stood eerily silent when Rob Sangwell and his team from Fineline Lighting visited in early July. In its isolation, the stage served as a metaphor for the state of the live entertainment industry, believed the Fineline team. This led them to select it as the site of their Light It In Red display. “We wanted to do something big and we considered many local landmarks, but the pyramid stage was the best choice, because it is such a recognizable structure,” said Sangwell. “Plus, in its current form, with no stage deck or sheeting, it’s very representative of the state of our industry today. The Pyramid Stage is a steel skeleton waiting for the talented crews and companies who usually descend on the site in June to transform it into the spectacular production space we all know and love. We knew that if
Romania - Prolights has announced the appointment of AudioVision as its distributor for Romania with immediate effect. AudioVision covers “complete sound, lights and special effects solutions for the most entertaining experiences”. It started as a production company which is now well established and still developing. Vasile Mara, general manager for AudioVision says: “For the last 25 years we have been an active part in the events industry, also providing complete audio solutions for the retail market. Working in this kind of industry we are highly passionate of, is synonymous of pure satisfaction. We have proven several times that we can make a difference by offering highly qualitative and reliable products and services. The main purpose of our company is to provide the best sound, lights and special effects solutions for the user and become an icon both for the
Costa Rica - Aiding Alvaro Piedra in a production of Cicatriz (Scars) was a newly acquired ChamSys MagicQ MQ80 that he used to create a unifying architecture of shapes and colours that pulled together the intricate facets of this interdisciplinary production, which involved some 40 choreographers, theatrical directors, dancers, actresses, , video designers, costume designers and stage designers. Taking place at the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica School of Dance in late 2019, the production won the national Mireya Barboza 2019 award for best designed dance show in February. It captivates audiences by presenting a series of stories built around its central them. “The movement and choreography are what set the pace for our stories,” said Piedra. By creating textures and moods with colours and patterns, lighting supports these stories.” This
Poland - The Tauron Arena in Krakow is a popular venue among artists, promoters, working crews and music fans on the normally busy year-round European arena touring circuit, but like most venues, it lies shuttered and empty while the live entertainment industry is ‘on hold’. Lighting designer Maciej Hofstede from design / creative direction specialist Of Course, based in Bochnia, who would usually be juggling a full schedule of tours festivals and band shows, decided to go large when it came to participating in the recent #LightTheSky Poland lighting action. He was among several other companies and organisations from Krakow joining the event on 1 May, including the FOH Foundation, the Tauron Arena, Studio Techniki Oświetleniowej (STO), Mediam and TechnoStage - in a show of strength from the second largest cities in Poland. Maciej and a crew of four - lightin
UK - The musical, The Prince of Egypt produced by Dreamworks Theatricals, Michael McCabe and Neil Laidlaw, opened on 25 February at the Dominion Theatre, London, following 20 sold out previews (see a detailed production report in LSi July 2020). Video rental specialist, Universal Pixels (UP), has supplied a 162sqm Leyard CLM10 screen for production. Configured as a single 18m x 9m screen, it provides a stunning backdrop to the dynamic scenic design. Adapted from The Book of Exodus, The Prince of Egypt - written by Philip LaZebnik - was first released as an animated musical film in 1998. Featuring songs from Grammy and Academy Award-winner Stephen Schwartz and a score from Hans Zimmer, it earned critical acclaim as a cinematic m
USA - Releasing copious amounts of haze-filled bubbles, the Chauvet DJ Bubble Haze generated fun and excitement throughout the event industry when it was introduced in 2019. Now the company has taken bubbles to the next level with the introduction of the Bubble Haze X2 Q6. Doubling the effect and volume of its predecessor, the new product features six quad-coloured (RGB + UV) LEDs that illuminate bubbles, haze or haze-filled bubbles. The new effect features twin blowers with variable-speed loft fans that push bubbles up into the air. Chauvet DJ’s Always-Ready technology means the effect can run continuously to keep the party going. The Hurricane Bubble Haze X2 Q6 is not just about fun. It also has a practical side. For example, its gravity-fed bubble reservoir recirculates unused bubble fluid reducing fluid consumption. Also, a built-in cleaning function increases m
USA - Celebrations of Pride Month in New York City, the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ movement, took on new importance this year as COVID-19 cancelled in-person events, including the 50th anniversary Pride March. Instead, a number of Manhattan landmarks staged rainbow illuminations as civic expressions of Pride. Among them was the famed Stonewall Inn where 160 Claypaky Mythos 2 fixtures produced a rainbow in the sky seen from miles around. The snack brand Kind partnered with experiential marketing agency Bankrobber Projects on the light tribute in the West Village at Seventh Avenue and Christopher Street, near the site of the Stonewall Inn riot, which sparked the LGBTQ+ movement five decades ago. MediaGenics produced the event with technical support from WorldStage. Kind wanted to create a huge rainbow in the sky, similar to the dramatic 9/11 illumination over
Germany - The event industry may be idle due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but that didn’t stop Florian Vitez from Reposit Entertainment teaming up with Gerd Gruss from Crystal Sound, Sahar Gleich from Gleich Gesitzt, and Mitja Gleich from Messe- und Eventtechnik Gleich and putting together the Karlsruhe Trade Fair’s cultural stage. The four quickly agreed and went straight to planning. Following a call to Michael Brombacher from Megaforce, the main stage was ready in no time, then Lars Wolf, from the company, Hell, brought his lighting design expertise to the project. This small but powerful group was quickly able to bring the idea of the cultural stage to the local cooperation partner, the Karlsruhe Exhibition Centre. On 12 June, the cultural stage at the Karlsruhe Trade Fair opened with a concert by the Swiss pop singer Beatrice Egli. The programme itself is current
Poland - Prolights products gave light to Pocztówka z Polski Tour 20 (Postcards from Poland 20) which featured popular Polish rap artist, Taco Hemingway. Gwidon Wydrzyński, lighting designer at Źle i Tanio realised an impactful set-up. “Because of the spread of Covid-19, we played just half of the tour. Nevertheless, shows took place in Warsaw, Kracow, Opole, Katowice and Rzeszów, and Taco Hemingway played in really big venues, like Warsaw's Torwar and Katowice's MCK, but not only- as well in big clubs like Studio, in Cracow. “To light up the stage and the artist, I used Prolights Stark Bar1000 up in the back of the stage, SunBlast 3000FC as ambient lights around it, and Air 5Fan on the towers on the back. I decided to use these particular fixtures because of their unique and specific features: StarkBar 1000 provide a wide range of colours and po
USA - The coronavirus may have put a temporary halt to rock concerts, but it hasn’t done anything to dim the passion of aspiring stars who dream of one day taking to the arena stage. This relentless spirit was on full display at Let There Be Rock, a two-day livestream featuring a dozen bands from the Frederick Rock School in Baltimore. Videoed at the improvised production studio in the Showtime Sound LLC warehouse, the event, which was streamed on Facebook and YouTube, featured a fittingly intense, hard-driving light show created by Aaron Kovelman, Showtime’s director of design & production. “This was an important moment for students, so we wanted to give them something that made them feel special,” said Kovelman. “We wanted to create looks that were not only powerful, but were also different for each band to reflect their unique personalities.” H
USA - Blackberry Mountain sits among The Great Smoky Mountains with eight miles of protected ridgetop and 5,200 acres. Touted as an immersive experience that “seamlessly infuses wellness, outdoor adventure and hospitality into every experience”, the resort entrusted Bandit Lites to illuminate a three-day wedding that spanned multiple venues and events. The Beall family opened Blackberry Mountain in 2018 after years of success with their property Blackberry Farms. They called Bandit Litesto bring their expertise, preparedness and creative adaptability to their guests. Wedding coordinator Jennifer Matteo worked with Bandit to configure a lighting design that would fit the spaces and budget. “The buildings of Blackberry Mountain have an aesthetic that must be seen in person to be appreciated,” said Bandit Lites general manager Giff Swart. “They are designed to
