South Africa - Johannesburg-based MGG enjoyed a hectic end-of-year season supplying several large and high profile shows and events with technical production packages. The projects ranged from large outdoor festival stages to parties to corporate events and awards shows, explained MGG’s general manager, Denzil Smith. Robe products were utilised for all of these. December started with the end of a two-week run of Afrikaans is Groot (AIG) shows staged at the Sun International Time Square Sun Arena in Pretoria - for which MGG is also the house technical services provider. Lighting was designed by Joshua Cutts of Visual Frontier and MGG supplied all technical elements - lighting, video, audio plus rigging and staging for organisers Coleske Artists. It was their eighth consecutive year of involvement with this state-of-the-art performance spectacle. Jos
USA - An extensive package of ADJ lighting fixtures has been installed in the new contemporary worship centre of First Baptist Church in Stockton. Amongst other fixtures, Vizi CMY300s serve as the main moving head luminaires, creating beam effects and GOBO projections on stage, while COB Cannon Washes cover both stage colour and house lighting duties. When the opportunity arose for the thriving First Baptist Church in Stockton, CA to acquire a neighbouring building they embraced it to create a dedicated space for their growing contemporary worship services. The church’s leadership worked with local supplier Nor Cal Pro Audio to specify a modern lighting system that would allow maximum flexibility for the space, allowing it to be used both for services and as a community centre. Headed up by Jorge González, Nor Cal Pro Audio specialises in providing audio and lightin
What started out in very small cellar clubs in 2016 now sees large arenas filled with ease. From mid-November to early December, German singer-songwriter Wincent Weiss toured through largely sold-out arenas with his album Irgendwie Anders (Somehow Different) which was released in March 2019. The lighting technicians at FOH have varied between Tom ‘Standtom’ Gross and Tino Weinhardt, who alternate from time to time and often produce joint productions. Weinhardt is currently responsible for Wincent Weiss’s lighting production. But because with the artist everything is ‘somehow different’ (not only on the album cover), Tom Gross is now sitting at the lighting console, while Tino Weinhardt is responsible for the video image, sitting right next door. "The current production is so large that it made sense to separate lighting and video," reports Tino Weinhar
China - To create immersive, spectacular lighting displays for the reopening of the Shanghai Circus World, Guangzhou Bai MingHui Lighting Technology Co. equipped the venue with Martin by HARMAN lighting fixtures. Built in 1999, Shanghai Circus World is China’s premier circus and home to the renowned Era - Intersection of Time show, which combines traditional Chinese acrobatics with Western entertainment. Located in the heart of Shanghai, Circus World features an ornate 1,638-seat theatre with an elaborate architectural design and a distinctive golden dome roof. Over the years, the venue has become a cultural landmark and earned the nickname of the Golden Pineapple. In 2018, Shanghai Circus World closed for a series of cosmetic and technical renovations, which included upgrading their aging lighting rig. Shanghai Circus World hired AV integrators Guangzho
South Africa - Cricket supporters have been entertained as the English cricket team, on tour in South Africa between December 2019 and February 2020, play four Tests, three One Day Internationals (ODIs), and three Twenty20 International (T201) matches. Cosmolight Quartzcolor LED lighting fixtures have been the performers of the day at the SABC, where commentary and live broadcast of the action is aired from their studios in Auckland Park, Johannesburg. For the past 35 years, Andre Rossouw has worked at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) as a lighting designer/electrician and head of electrical distribution on outside productions. His role includes the task of streamlining a system that keeps the power on, despite the current instability of the South African power grid. “The studio, working in unison with an OB Van, operates via a 80kVA UPS, linked to
UK - The award-winning Norwich Arts Centre stages a wide range of live music and theatrical performances. In a bid to safeguard its reputation as 'Britain's Best Small Venue' (as awarded by the NME back in 2014), the venue recently commissioned Old Barn Audio to upgrade its outdated lighting rig as part of a venue-wide modernisation. Providing the cornerstone to Old Barn Audio’s solution was a roster of LED fixtures from Chauvet Professional that included eight Rogue R1X Spot, eight Rogue R2 Wash, 12 Ovation E-160WW Spot and 15 COLORdash Accent Quad fixtures. In order to ensure a multifaceted solution for general stage looks and effects, Chris Packham of Old Barn Audio specified the combination of Rogue R1X Spot and Rogue R2 Wash fixtures, positioning them in parallel lines above and to the sides of the stage. In combining the R1X Spot’s gobo effects with the sat
UK - On 23-24 January, Fineline Lighting hosted students from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for a set of Introduction to Rigging Training courses at the company’s Clevedon warehouse. The training is held annually for students at the school and provides an insight into the world of rigging and technical event production. Rob Sangwell, director at Fineline Lighting, comments: “It was fantastic hosting the students from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, they all worked hard and learnt a lot. It’s always great to see new generations of technical production professionals expanding their skillset.” “All the feedback from the students about the training was positive,” adds Bristol Old Vic Theatre School Tutor Frank Bradley. “They really enjoyed the sessions and felt they had learned a basic knowledge of rigging truss which would give them c
UK - TechPro, a provider of lighting, video and sound services for the live events industry has announced Yvonne England as its new client account manager. England, who brings more than a decade’s experience to the role, will be responsible for strengthening relationships with existing and new clients, as the business looks to build on its growing success working with live event agencies. England comments: “TechPro appears to be one of the live event industries best kept secrets and ensuring prospects and clients understand everything we can do to make their lives a little easier will be an exciting challenge. “Working closely with the directors and the marketing team, it’s important we not only explain what we do, but listen carefully to them to understand how we can make the workload of event agency teams simpler.” TechPro director Rob Stokes
Belgium - Route 66 - the symbol of the American free spirit - served as an appropriate backdrop for the 2019 Hype-O-Dream festival, which featured EDM performances by stars like Nico Morano and Cherry Moon Trax. Bringing this thematic setting to life was a dynamic festival lighting rig designed and developed by Lieven Tacq, Thomas Vandekerkhove and their team at Creative Rental Solutions that featured over 470 Chauvet Professional fixtures. Having worked on seven previous Hype-O-Dream festivals, Tacq and Vandekerkhove are familiar with the role that bold, original scenic designs play in creating the overall fan experience at these events. This year, at the centre of the impressive main stage was a massive video wall, flanked by Route 66 signs and other thematic scenic elements, such as mountains, gas stations and billboards. Route 66 is also strongly associated with ne
USA - In 2019, Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola made the decision to upgrade the stage and house lighting systems in the main sanctuary – a significant undertaking that meant replacing over 600 lighting fixtures. “We decided to replace every tungsten light that illuminated in the room with an LED fixture,” says Bobby Taylor, tech director and director of communications at Olive Baptist Church, “and for the stage lighting project chose a full complement of Elation LED fixtures.” Olive Baptist Church was founded over 125 years ago and has grown into one of the largest Baptist churches in America. Under the leadership of Dr Ted Traylor, Olive Baptist is an active and growing ministry with a large worship space designed to hold about 4,000 people. In any given week, the sanctuary may host anything from weekly services, weddings, or funerals to full concerts and
Belgium - Although Ghent is famed for its medieval church spires, quaint market squares and its week-long summer city festival, for the students and academics who make up roughly one fifth of the city’s population, one event in particular stands out on the calendar: the Ghent University students union annual party for returning and new students. This year’s party, which took place within the art nouveau surroundings of the city’s Vooruit Hall. To provide memorable looks for the event, Grizzlysound supplied VéDéLighting with 20 Chauvet DJ Intimidator Hybrid 140SR and 12 Chauvet DJ Intimidator Wash Zoom 450 IRC fixtures. Together, these fixtures formed the foundation of their EDM infused lighting concept. With the expectant students eager to see both exciting and fresh visuals for the most hyped event of the year, which saw a number of DJs take to the stage to
South Africa - DWR Distribution is hosting a workshop with Roland Greil, lighting designer, director and programmer for artists such as Rammstein, The Rolling Stones, Phil Collins, Adele and Spandau Ballett. The event takes place on 18 February at the Mosaïek Teatro in Fairlands, Johannesburg, with Greil sharing the stage with local lighting designer Joshua Cutts. The workshop will concentrate on lighting design for concert touring. “We will look at a few recent and past projects with a particular emphasis on the Rammstein production which I have worked on since 2019. I look forward to sharing an insightful view of the creation process as well as efficiently getting from the first sketches to the final show.” Duncan Riley of DWR Distribution comments: “This is a wonderful opportunity for South Africans to learn from one of the top lighting designers in t
The Netherlands - SKALAR - the large scale immersive kinetic lighting and electronic music art installation created by light artist / designer Christopher Bauder and composer / music producer Kangding Ray - has been reimagined for Amsterdam’s The Gashouder, a circular space where the work is being presented by Audio Obscura. Once again, Christopher is utilising Robe Pointes as lightsources - 93 in total - in this new space. The installation which he calls SKALAR 360, also features 61 double-sided mirrors with perimeter rings of 180 addressable pixels which are suspended on 183 custom Kinetic Lights motorised winches. In addition to the looped installation piece, Christopher and Kangding Ray are playing seven special related live performance shows in the same space. SKALAR was first realised in the turbine hall of a former Berlin power stat
The Netherlands - CLF Lighting has launched CLF Poseidon, a powerful outdoor beam fixture that has been developed for smooth CMY colour mixing. Based on the successful CLF Aorun, Poseidon comes with a fast and accurate feature set including a double prism, gobo wheel, animation section and frost. The 190mm wide lens and optics allow big mid-air effects with a bright and punchy beam, delivered by a 400W light source. Colours can be mixed smoothly by using the CMY wheels and a fixed colour wheel is also available. The IP65-rated housing is equipped with specially designed motors enabling fast pan and tilt movements. A bright O-LED screen offers easy access to on-board settings, even in bright environments. (Jim Evans)
USA - Fans, who turned out for Anthony Hamilton’s three-date Florida swing in late December, finished 2019 with a bang. In addition to seeing the Grammy-winning R&B artist perform his hits, they got to enjoy a stellar cast of supporting artists, featuring Ja Rule, K Michelle and Joe. Each act was supported by a punchy Josh Lawson lightshow that delivered its searing visuals with help from six Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Profile fixtures supplied by Apogee Productions of Longwood, Florida. “I approached each act differently as Ja Rule is classic hard-hitting rap, Joe is a more laid-back version of R&B, and K Michelle is an artist who tells a lot of stories of her past relationships,” says Lawson. “Since the three stops made in Florida were at arenas, it gave me more stage space to play with than I have at my normal club shows. I took advantage of
UK - Lighting designer James Scott specified 96 impression X4 Bar 20 battens from GLP when London-based rapper / producer AJ Tracey played two shows at Alexandra Palace recently. The gigs were the culmination of a long year in which Scott, director of multi-disciplinary creative design studio Suluko, had been an essential part of the artist’s creative team, headed by Tawbox. AJ Tracey toured first the UK Academy circuit followed by the festival season, with a simple floor package. Lighting inventory for the tour had been supplied by Siyan but when it came to the Ally Pally shows production manager Joel Stanley awarded the project to Neg Earth. The creative for the show was devised by Tawbox, who designed the screen layout and the concept of AJ performing in the round. “This was a specific show design for Ally Pally,” explains Scott. “The concept of the sh
UK - White Light has supplied the lighting for You Stupid Darkness!, which recently opened at the Southwark Playhouse in London. Presented by Paines Plough and Theatre Royal Plymouth, You Stupid Darkness! is a new play set within the Brightline Call Centre. It focusses on four colleagues who try to keep their lives together whilst the outside world falls apart. The lighting designer on the show is Peter Small, who comments: “My brief for this production was that it shouldn’t feel ‘lit’; meaning I wanted it to feel as natural as possible to the audience. The concept was that you had sort of peeled the wall off this strange office and were peering in from a dark place, somewhat ‘fly on the wall’. This concept meant working closely with set designer Amy Jane Cook and adding in masking which would allow me to drop the rig very low and hide it away
UK - Sound Technology, the distributor of Martin by Harman in the UK, is holding a Martin ERA Performance showcase event at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden on 17 February. The event will run from 11am to 4pm and will see the complete ERA Performance range on demo. Sound Technology has also announced the immediate shipping of the Martin ERA 400 Performance CLD. The ERA 400 is the first of the ERA Performance series, announced at LDI in November, to become available, with the remainder of range which consists of the warm white version of the ERA 400, the ERA 600 Performance and ERA 800 Performance - the brightest moving profile fixture in Martin's history - arriving in February. The 10,000lm ERA 400 Performance CLD features a 300W 6,500K LED light engine, and in common with the entire ERA Performance range, has crisp optics with a flat field, CMY c
USA - Obsidian Control Systems’ complete line-up of Netron data distribution products is now in stock and ready to ship from the company’s US and European warehouses. Netron is a comprehensive range of DMX splitters and ethernet to DMX gateways, supporting applications from live production and venue installations to architectural environments. All Netron products can be configured through either the internal OLED screen and encoder, or the integrated web menu system, which works from PC, Mac and any mobile device. The Netron range offers three Ethernet to DMX gateways and three RDM splitters. The EN12 is a powerful, high-density Ethernet to DMX gateway with 12 RDM compatible ports. The EN4 is a powerful Ethernet to DMX gateway with four RDM-compatible ports. Designed for live production and installations with a rugged housing and high-performance processing,
USA - Chauvet Professional has released the Ovation CYC 1 FC. Debuted at LDI 2019, the fixture can be positioned unobtrusively on the stage and in the broadcast studio. With an illuminance of 173lx at 5m, the CYC 1 FC ensures a wide, smooth coverage area, often allowing larger backdrops to be fully illuminated only from the ground, without the need for downlighting. Since its light source is so near the ground, it can wash backdrops without dark dead areas at the lower end. The CYC 1 FC can also a foot light, fill light and side light in a wide variety of applications. When the fixture serves as a foot light, its in built shutter can serve as a glare shield, in addition to being used to adjust the light’s throw. An integrated kick stand adds to the fixture’s versatility. Drawing on Ovation’s award-winning RGBAL colour-mixing technology, the CYC 1 FC produc
France - Creative lighting artist / designer LeRoy Bennett utilised 91 Robe BMFL WashBeam high powered moving lights - nine working in conjunction with RoboSpot remote operation systems - to help deliver the opening ceremony (OC) complete with holographic projection effects, for the of the Riot Games’ 2019 League of Legends World Championship Finals, staged at the Accor Arena in Paris. Roy collaborated closely with the creative team from Riot Games and Possible Productions who briefed him on the look and style of lighting that they wanted to achieve for the in-the-round OC show. It energised an arena packed with eSports fans ready for a thrilling seat-edge final. Drawing on his previous experience of working with Kaleida Holonet screens, projection and multi-layered imagery shows, Roy knew he needed mega-bright moving lights with super-accurate shutters - and the BMF
UK - The International Convention Centre Wales (ICC Wales) is a joint venture partnership between the Welsh Government and Celtic Manor Resort. The centre provides 26,000sq.m of floor space for up to 5,000 delegates, which includes an auditorium with tiered seating for 1,500, a 4,000sq.m pillar-free space that can be divided into six sections creating up to 25 different configurations, and an additional 15 flexible meeting rooms. Architecturally, it is a refreshing departure from standard conference centre fare, with a triple height atrium at its entrance and a light and airy feel throughout. It has been designed to engender a feeling of well-being, and many of its spaces have impressive views out across the adjoining woodland. This open, progressive approach has also been applied to the centre’s AV design integration, and installation processes, which gave technica
Australia - The Australasian Lighting Industry Association (ALIA) has abandoned plans to celebrate its 20th anniversary, opting instead to raise money for the Australian people and wildlife affected by the recent bushfires. ALIA has set up the ALIA FireAid Auction, an online auction where gear donated by lighting solutions manufacturers from across the globe will be auctioned online. All money raised will benefit the Australian Red Cross and the RSPCA’s National Bushfire Appeal. Bidding is only open to Australian residents due to shipping costs. “A big thanks must also go to the Australian distributors who are tasked with getting the gear to the buyer. It couldn’t have been done without them,” says ALIA. The association is still accepting equipment donations
USA - Illumination Dynamics (ID) has announced the transition of its Los Angeles headquarter from San Fernando to a new location in Santa Clarita. The new, 67,639sq.ft facility is located at 21335 Needham Ranch Parkway, within sight of the 14 Freeway and just a few miles from Interstates 5, 405, and 210. As such, it allows easier access to the film industry in the Santa Clarita Valley, while still remaining just a short distance from Hollywood. The new facility is the first building to be completed in a new industrial park, surrounded by extensive landscaping, walking trails, and bike paths. Key features of the building include 30ft ceilings, a large demo room, centralized loading docks, ample staff and customer parking, a large canopied work area, and an exclusive private parking lot for trucks and generators. “We are excited about moving to our new facility in San
