USA - After debuting last year at The Strat in Las Vegas, Celestia, a Cirque du Soleil-type entertainment show, has emerged as one of the city’s top North Strip attractions. With a troupe of performers highlighted by ‘an otherworldly lighting design’ by Tom Sutherland of DX7 Design, the fast-moving circus-style production is a carnival of thrills. The LD entered the project somewhat late as part of a creative team hired a relatively short time prior to opening night to ‘cast their eyes over the production’ and enhance the show’s look. “They had brilliant acts and a state-of-the-art theatrical tent but there was no real glue or production value,” Sutherland states, explaining that the new creative team only had a few weeks to implement their ideas, which included an extra build and additional lighting fixtures. “We stripped out some rigging, pu
USA - SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire, has filled many roles since it opened in 2001. Not surprisingly, being in the heart of the state that holds the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, it has hosted rallies for virtually every candidate in this century who’s aspired to take up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue not to mention sports, concerts, and conventions of every type. On Wednesday 5 February, the spacious arena assumed a somewhat different appearance. Instead of swelling with crowds of 10,000 or more as it does for political rallies and concerts, it welcomed a more intimate gathering for a sales event for IT services provider Connection. Once inside the arena, the conference’s thousand or so guests were immersed in a welcoming environment that featured an Events United lighting, video, audio, and scenic design anchored by over 70 fixtures and 56
USA - Theatre lighting design specialist Tyler Micoleau recently collaborated with New York-based Public Theatre’s Public Works programme, lighting a production of the musical Hercules, a world-premiere presentation of a stage musical adaptation of the Disney film, developed in a collaboration between The Public Theatre and Disney Theatrical Productions. To add poignancy, the venue chosen was the outdoor Delacorte Theatre in New York’s Central Park, and helping Tyler to achieve his objectives were 34 Fusion by GLP FP7 Par and 20 Fusion by GLP FS10 Stick battens, operating alongside the repertory house rig. Tyler has a long history of working on productions with Lear deBessonet, founding director of Public Works, and has designed four productions for The Public Theatre at the Delacorte. The LD said: “Musicals are not the typical production at the Del
UK - Commemorating the 50th anniversary of Peter Mumford’s prestigious career, last December saw the ALD host an evening In Conversation with Peter Mumford where he was bestowed with a Fellowship of the Association, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the art of lighting design. On presenting the award, Lucy Carter commented: “I’ve got a lot to thank Peter for, because 25 years ago when I was a dance and drama student, I didn’t even know about lights in performance and it was watching Peter’s designs for contemporary dance that I suddenly saw this new medium and is essentially why I’m a lighting designer now. I’m sure that Peter is still inspiring us all and inspiring a new generation as well.” The event to reflect upon his career was held at the National Theatre on the night following his own press night as lighting designer for
USA - ADJ has announced the availability of its most compact wireless LED uplighter to date, the Element ST HEX. Building on the success of ADJ’s popular Element Hex, the new model features powerful output, and compact design as well as a full colour touch screen display for easy setup and DMX addressing. Featuring four 6W HEX (red, green, blue, amber, white + UV) LEDs the fixture offers smooth colour mixing with an almost limitless palette. The inclusion of both amber and (cool) white LED elements means that it can be used to create white light with a wide variety of colour temperatures. Meanwhile, the UV LED element not only allows for the creation of the classic ‘blacklight’ effect where white and fluorescent materials glow vividly, but it can also be combined with the other primary colours to create hues such as hot pink, electric purple and lime green that aren’
UK - The Lastminute.com London Eye dazzled its vast visiting crowds this year with a first-of-its kind, eight-metre tall Christmas tree adjacent to the attraction. With plans to transform the tree every hour into an attention-grabbing light show to music, the Merlin Entertainments team turned to TLS Lighting, for a bespoke LED lighting solution that would fully pixel-map the tree’s surface. Merlin Entertainment’s David Rigby explains: “We wanted large scale pixel-mapping and TLS Lighting created a custom-designed and manufactured lighting system in a conical shape that was supplied to us as plug and play. We know we can always trust TLS Lighting to create exactly what we need with the feature sets we are looking for. They don’t let us down.” The tree twinkled with almost 4000 RGB LED light modules and was adorned with a total of 64 strings of lights, varying
World - For the current world tour by Charli XCX, lighting designer Elliott Mountford is enjoying the power and consistency of the VL2600 Profile luminaire from Vari-Lite. The tour is in support of Charli XCX’s third studio album Charli. Having worked with Charli and creative director Jed Skrzypczak through the summer, Mountford knew what was required, but also the limitations. “Charli hates key light,” he says, “so most of my show is backlit, with a very silhouetted look. I love big, backlit looks in white, but they have to be super-wide for every audience member to see the effect.” In achieving this, Mountford was impressed by the VL2600 Profile’s powerful output and wide zoom range. “I wanted great contrast between the lights and the rest of the rig - we had 100-plus strobes that they had to compete with,” says Mountford. “They cut through e
USA - Michael Brown is a lighting designer who loves to experiment and take some creative risks in the quest for imagining new and exciting performance environments and that’s exactly what he did for the US leg of Bon Iver’s recent tour, part of the campaign for new album i, i, where 49 x Robe MegaPointes and 25 x Kinetic Lights custom moving mirrors were at the core of his design combining the diverse visual disciplines of art, architecture and concert lighting. Michael has worked with the band since 2012, following a chance backstage encounter a few years earlier with lead singer Justin Vernon. It’s been a fertile and stimulating partnership, for which they implicitly trust in his creative judgment. He first encountered the Kinetic Lights winch system in 2017 while researching cool art projects for the Eaux Claires Festival in Wisconsin for which he was
USA - As the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs battled it out for the NFL Championship, the Pepsi Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show brought a little Latin flavour to Miami’s 65,000-seat Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday 2 February, thanks to an explosive show by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, aided by Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny and Colombian star J. Balvin, and a cast of near 170 musicians, dancers, and performers. This massive production - an eagerly awaited annual event - was broadcast live by Fox to 100m viewers worldwide, all of whom witnessed a lighting show which had at its centre over 120 Ayrton Perseo IP65-rated multi-function profile fixtures. The spectacular production was created by the Super Bowl team headed by show designer, Bruce Rodgers of Tribe, Inc. and lighting designer, Bob Barnhart of 22 Degrees. “We quickly decided the Ayrton lighting rig
USA - The Bronxville Union Free School District encourages their students to participate in a number of extracurricular activities including the performing arts programmes produced by the High School, Middle School and Elementary School departments. Wanting to supply their student technicians with the latest in production technology used to accentuate the performing arts, The Bronxville School Foundation awarded a grant submitted by student technician AJ Radik for the addition of Siren Series LED followspots from Altman Lighting. “I’m a junior at Bronxville UFSD and I started doing tech for the theatre productions back in the sixth grade,” began Radik. “I am mainly focused on the sound and lighting designs of the productions and last year as we were doing a production of Little Shop of Horrors, one of our old spotlights starting smoking and became inoperable fo
USA - A majestic ‘magical’ 50ft tree is at the heart of the Wildwood Grove Tree Experience, a multi-media creation from LifeFormations and The Imagination House at Dollywood in the The Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. A collection of 650 pixel-mapped and illuminated butterflies controlled by Weigel software animate the 50ft wide expanse of the venerable tree’s branches, while music by Mike Avila and an alluring story narrated by the park’s cofounder, Dolly Parton, add to the enchantment. Accentuating the entire scene is a vividly coloured Susan Rose lighting design that features 16 Chauvet Professional Ovation E-910FC ellipsoidal fixtures supplied by Bandit Lites. Deftly mixing colours, light angles and slightly off focus gobo patterns, Rose creates a captivating vista that adds depth to the tree and its rocky surroundings, giving them a dreamy edge that conve
UAE - AO Drones recently delivered an airborne show in Dubai for a video campaign promoting Motorola’s reimagination of its Razr flip phone in the Middle East and Africa. The resulting video quickly attracted over 200,000 views through Motorola’s social media channels. The teams from AO Drones and AO Creative, part of AO Technology, worked in collaboration with Motorola and netizency, the digital marketing agency, to design the visual content, including animated logos and brand names. AO Drones’ design team even created an animation of the Razr flip phone opening, closing and rotating in the sky. Vinayak Shenoy, head of marketing, Middle East and Africa for Motorola’s parent company Lenovo, said of the Razr launch event, “We felt that this drone show symbolises what this product is all about - a great blend of technology and art. The beauty of 120 drones ris
Russia - An assortment of Claypaky lighting fixtures are to be found in Salekhard, the only city located directly on the Arctic Circle. Systems engineer Vladimir Spravtsev of DNK Corporation installed Claypaky Axcor Profile 600 HC, A.leda B-EYE K20, Axcor Spot 400 HC, Axcor Beam 300 and Stormy CC fixtures in the city’s Cultural and Business Centre. Artem Bogatyrev was the project manager. Spravtsev was tasked with refurbishing the lighting in the concert hall portion of the building, known for its stunning architecture. “We needed to install fixtures that were multifunctional, that could be used for performances ranging from folk artists to classical music,” he explains. “We chose Claypaky lighting because we know Claypaky’s reputation as a reliable manufacturer. The company’s products are in great demand for Russian show production.” The Axcor Pro
UK - Television lighting rental specialist Version 2 has announced the appointment of Joe Marter as account manager at its Reading operation. Marter entered the television industry with Aurora, starting in a technical role which progressed to project management supporting LDs such as Chris Rigby and Gurdip Mahal. Joe passed through the BBC Wood Norton training academy giving him a solid understanding of studio lighting techniques. Marter most recently worked with event lighting company TSL, where he was able to further hone his customer support skills. As account manager at Version 2, Marter will be liaising with lighting directors, gaffers and production managers to offer support and advice on all aspects of the production process. Managing director Nick Edwards comments: “Marter has not only a proven in-depth equipment knowledge but he also understands the
USA - Dollywood, the popular theme park in the Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee, debuted a new area in June 2019 - Wildwood Grove - at the heart of which is a magical Wildwood Tree illuminated using Elation Professional luminaires with lighting design by Susan Rose. The Wildwood Tree comes to life each evening during a light and sound experience created by The Imagination House for Dollywood and narrated by Dolly Parton herself. Designed and built by LifeFormations, the 50ft tree’s gnarled trunk emerges from a rock base before spreading into a beautiful green-leaf canopy covered with 650 custom RGB LED butterflies, controlled and programmed by Weigl Controls. Lighting designer and lighting programmer for four separate seasonal experiences is local resident Susan Rose. She has previously designed lighting for Dollywood shows and spent nearly a year on the Wildwo
Spain - Technology experts from around the world descended on Barcelona for the annual Cisco Live EMEA conference in January to learn, share and drive the digital future. For the third consecutive year, Christie Lites UK was commissioned by production company GPJ to design, supply and crew a lighting solution for the conference’s main stage and party area. It is a major project, with Christie Lites UK working alongside production managers, technical managers and lighting designers to design a lighting and control package. This year, the team specified more than 850 fixtures and a crew of 27 experts, as thought leaders shared visions and performers including Nile Rodgers entertained the crowds. GPJ’s head of technical production, Mark Bannister, worked alongside GPJ production managers John Carss for the main plenary and Isobel Webb and Dave Whitty for the
Indonesia - British pop rockers Suede played Soundrenalin in Bali. Sharing the stage with alt rockers was a wide range of artists, from the hard driving Indonesian metal band Jamrud, to local R&B legend Glenn Fredly. Tying this diverse musical offering together visually on two stages, while still creating looks that reflected the different personalities of each of the more than 40 artists who appeared at Soundrenalin, was a challenge, according to festival lighting designer Iwan Hutapea. It was one he met with help from two ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium consoles. “The diversity on the stage was impressive,” says Iwan, owner of Etcetera Lighting. “We designed the lighting rig to be very flexible. As for the console, we used ChamSys, not just for its capabilities, but also because it is very user friendly for programming and networking, which made it easy to a
USA - City Theatrical’s Multiverse wireless DMX/RDM technology was recently used to provide wireless DMX/RDM for the lighting installation by Dynamic Productions USA for Super Bowl LIVE presented by Verizon at Bayfront Park, a week-long, free-to-the-public fan fest leading up to Super Bowl LIV in Miami, Florida. A total of six Multiverse Transmitters and 20 Multiverse Nodes using Multiverse’s dual band 900MHz/2.4GHz technology were used to create six zones of wireless DMX throughout this 32-acre park from January 25 through February 1, 2020. “Multiverse worked great for us,” says John Fitzgerald, lead technician for the project from Dynamic Productions USA. “When starting to design this show, Multiverse was the best option for us to get data around Bayfront Park. It made our load in process much quicker as well.” Each Multiverse Transmitter 900
Singapore - Ayrton’s Diablo profile fixture is gaining increasing popularity in the Singapore region. Creative Technology Asia Pacific and Yale-NUS College are just two of the latest organisations in Singapore to invest in this compact LED fixture which were supplied by Ayrton’s exclusive distributor for the region, Total Solution Marketing Pte. Audio-visual company, Creative Technology Asia Pacific (CT), initially purchased 16 Diablo-S fixtures for its rental stock, but after experiencing the great capabilities and performance of their newly acquired Diablo-S, decided to purchase another eight fixtures to increase the CT offering to 24 units in total. As one of the world’s leading suppliers of specialist audio visual equipment to sports, corporate, exhibition and entertainment industries, CT had specific reasons for its choice: “Diablo is a smaller wattage fi
UK - Robe played a major role in delivering the lighting design for the Total Production International (TPi) Awards 2020, staged on Monday, 24 February, at the Evolution venue in Battersea. Around 350 Robe moving light fixtures were used inventively by lighting designer Nathan Wan, associate LD Andy Webb and Robe’s own creative team, for whom the pressure was on to ensure that the 1,700 plus attendees and award winners were treated to stunning and memorable visuals for the evening. Wan and Webb worked closely with the video team from Visual Edge. Robe took the opportunity to offer selected NRG (Next Robe Generation) initiative students the chance to work hands-on on a high pressure, high-profile gig including Becky Gaskill from the Backstage Academy who was Nathan’s assistant LD for the main room. The theme for this year was a 1970s disco dancing vibe - inspi
USA - English indie-electronic band Metronomy is wrapping up their current North American tour with a lighting system supplied by Bandit Lites. Known for their distinctive sound and flair for visuals, Metronomy is comprised of Joseph Mount, Oscar Cash, Anna Prior, Olugbenga Adelekan and Michael Lovett and recently released their sixth studio album Metronomy Forever. “Tour manager Victoria Simpson was our initial contact and responsible for bringing Metronomy and Bandit Lites together for the US tour,” said Bandit Lites client representative Shawn Lear. “Vix’s organisation, advance work with contracts, routing and all the minute details coming from overseas is first-rate. It is truly a pleasure to work with her, and I only hope we cross paths again.” Following discussion with the band and drawing on the album artwork, lighting designer Jaz Hewitt craf
Europe - Adlib supplied audio and lighting production for the UK dates of Canadian singer-songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen’s ongoing Dedicated world tour. In addition, Adlib supplied a lighting and audio control package for the European leg. This is part of the ongoing live campaign for her fourth studio album of the same name. Production manager and FOH engineer Zach Snyder had not worked with Adlib before but was recommended to the Liverpool-based production specialist by their tour director, Tony Marino, who’d used Adlib before with Panic at the Disco. “It was a great decision,” states Zach, who was delighted with the service and support from Adlib. He specified an Avid S6L 24d for the FOH console and a DiGiCo SD12 for monitors which was run by Spencer Jones. Lighting designer Charles Ford chose a grandMA2 light as his control desk of choice, f
UK - The Pump House Theatre and Arts Centre in Watford is a thriving hub for local and national performing arts and emerging talent and a busy receiving house with a lively programme of drama, musicals and dance, working to provide “arts for everyone”. The intimate 124-seat venue has just upgraded its power distribution and dimming system with the installation of three 24-channel Zero 88 Chilli Pro bypass dimmers. The theatre has both a resident youth theatre group and an adult theatre company and a raft of regular and occasional external companies and clients who hire the space for their productions and events, all of which use the house technical facilities. Jason Brameld, who is technical director at Torpedo Factory Group - a long-standing professional customer of Zero 88, has also been Pump House Theatre’s volunteer technical director since 1996, and he spec
Canada - Frédéric Sujobert has been appointed as general manager of Solotech’s Quebec City office, effective 9 March. Under the joint leadership of Martin Chouinard, president of the live productions division, Canada, and Philip Giffard, president of the sales and systems integration division, Frédéric Sujobert will supervise operational and sales performance for the Quebec City/Saguenay region. He will also oversee the development of new business opportunities while promoting synergy across the company's two divisions. Sujobert has held various management positions over the course of his career, notably as vice-president of operations and general manager at Groupe Le Massif. “Mr Sujobert's versatility, leadership and management skills are clear assets for Solotech. We are eager to leverage his in-depth knowledge of the Quebec City area business communit
