USA - Keeping pace with Don Broco on their first North American tour this autumn was a fast-moving Steve Kosiba lighting design that featured Chauvet Professional Rogue fixtures from Squeek Lights. “The show is very high energy,” explains Kosiba. “Don Broco has a big sound with lots of changes. The band is like a force of nature on stage. I wanted to reflect that with the lighting. One way we did this was to get very detailed with the cueing, as this was a timecoded show. We had 256 cues in one particular song.” Kosiba also reflected the flavour of his client’s stage presence by directing light in multiple directions, often changing the orientation of beams quickly and dramatically to accent different moments. “Different positions keep the show visually interesting,” he said. “This is something I always try to do. I want to change up positions as much
USA - Mark Carver, lead designer at Nashville-based Carver Lighting Design, turned to Elation’s compact Smarty Hybrid moving head to help the GMA Dove Awards celebrate their 50th anniversary. Presented by the Gospel Music Association and aired exclusively on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), the Dove Awards have honoured excellence in Christian and Gospel Music since 1969. The 50th anniversary show was held 15 October at Nashville's Lipscomb University. With multiple awards to hand out and 20 performances to light across both a main and satellite stage, Carver says diversity in looks was essential. “The Smarty Hybrids were definitely the main workhorse fixture on the show,” states Carver, who has lit the awards show for the last few years. “This isn’t the type of show where we had a lot of different fixtures to choose from so we really relied on the Smarty
France - Lighting industry professionals are invited to present their ideas for conference papers for the 2021 programme of Showlight, the quadrennial event taking place on 22-25 May 2021 in Fontainebleau. Anyone involved in lighting - whether lighting designers, lighting directors, directors of photography, architectural lighting designers or those in associated crafts like programmers and manufacturers - are invited to submit their ideas. Subjects might include innovative designs; unusual projects, large or small; solving the impossible; the future and the past - where should we be going and what should we have learned; issues that are affecting our industry and how we work. Talks are to be 20 minutes in length to enable as many papers as possible to be presented over the three-day period. If you would like to become part of Showlight 2021 by presenting a pape
UK - Stage Engage has invested in Luxibel B Blinded1 fixtures for its growing film premiere and product launch events. The pro AV and staging company, based in London and Exeter, was looking for an IP-rated, LED stage blinder solution for high profile projects such as the BBC Peaky Blinders season 6 world premiere, which took place in Birmingham. “We were looking for a multi-purpose, high brightness, IP-rated fixture that we could use for a variety of corporate events, film premieres and product launches,” says Cameron Baker, operations manager at Stage Engage. “The quality of the Blinded1 is very good and they have been super reliable. The connectors are great, the display makes sense and the quality of the materials is very good. Investing in them was a no-brainer.” Created as the little brother of the B Blinded, the 110W B Blinded1 has the same functi
South Africa - Newzroom Afrika, a channel on Multi-Choice’s DStv satellite pay-TV service, went live earlier this year in time for the South African elections. The set, based at their new premises in Linden, was designed by Michael Gill Designs, built by Sets Drapes Screens (SDS), part of the Gearhouse Group of Companies and features Absen DW 2.9 LED panels, Green Hippo Boreal+ and dot2 lighting console supplied by DWR Distribution. “The project was very exciting,” says Michael Gill of MGD. “I can honestly say that Thokozani Nkosi and Thabile Ngwato, the television producers and entrepreneurs, are the two most forward-thinking individuals I have ever worked with. Their way of thinking is so youthful, fresh and digital. The mindset behind Newzroom Afrika is that news breaks on your telephone these days and not always on TV. With an emphasis on social media platforms l
Poland - Teatr Narodowy (National Theatre) in Warsaw has invested in 40 Robe DL7S Profile moving lights which are part of a lighting upgrade to replace over 100 halogens and gel-scrollers in their rig with new LED light sources, a graduated process taking place across all three of the theatre’s performance spaces. In addition to modernising their house lighting systems - including some previous moving lights that had been in place for nearly 20 years - they were essentially looking for quieter fixtures, stated head of lighting, Zbigniew Szulim. They considered all the options, and apart from the silent running of the DL7S, also liked the colour rendering and the smoothness of its dimming. They also wanted a luminaire that could replicate the effect of halogen lamps. The National Theatre Warsaw, one of five in Poland, each associated with a major city, stages ne
Ireland - D. Reilly of Dandy’s Lighting utilised Kodaline’s logo in designing the band’s lighting for their European tour. After conferring with the band, he used the logo lettering as the inspiration to create geometric diamond-shaped set-pieces for their touring rig. To make this design element work, he outlined these pieces in vivid colour with Chauvet Professional ÉPIX Strip Tour fixtures supplied by Reynolds of Raphoe. Flown over mid-stage as three large ‘diamonds, and mounted on two stage left and two stage right truss columns, the geometric patterns are creating a powerful, consistent and easily identifiable look for the band on their tour. “There is a level of subliminal branding with the patterns, since it mirrors the logo,” says Reilly. “Mostly though, it’s something very attractive and engaging to look at. It captures attention and draws ey
UK - Artistic Licence has announced that all of its premium ethernet gateways - including artLynx quad, artLynx RJ45, dataLynx II and netLynx quad - now support multi-way protocol conversion. Each port can be optionally configured as a DMX input (previously they were outputs only). This enables the product to route, split or merge Art-Net, sACN and DMX/RDM data with great flexibility. Says the company, “As the inventors of Art-Net, we always strive to ensure our Art-Net conversion products are the best on the market. This is never more so than with our latest firmware release, now shipping on all new product sales of artLynx quad/RJ45 (4-Universes, DIN rail), dataLynx II (12-Universes, rack-mount) and netLynx quad (4-universes desk/table-top). We have also just launched a 4-universe PCBA module, oemGate quad, for manufacturers wishing to incorporate the technology into th
USA - Chauvet Professional was awarded the 2019 LDI Large Booth Design Award. Described by the award organisers as a “welcoming and easily walkable” exhibit that “beautifully integrated” lighting and video, the stand engaged visitors with its visual displays. Ryan Warffuel and Max Koehler of Antics Studio created this panorama with help from the Chauvet Professional team, using over 200 of the company’s IP65 outdoor-ready products, including the newly-launched Maverick Storm 1 Spot, Maverick Storm 1 Wash, COLORado Solo Batten, Strike 1, and F5IP video panel. To underscore the IP65 ratings of the fixtures on the booth’s main wall, a “live rainfall” appeared in front of the lighting units. For added emphasis, the video wall that ran between the lighting fixtures showed vivid images of flowing water that bordered the geometric patterns of the panel displ
UK LSi is sad to report that lighting designer Chris Ellis passed away on 8th November 2019, aged 69. Born in Gloucester, on 23rd April 1950 to Doctor John and Mrs Mary Ellis, Chris Ellis lost both of his parents before he turned seven. He became ward to the Reverend Eric and Mrs Vivienne Gethyn-Jones in Dymock, spending a happy country childhood with a brother and sister that the couple had also adopted. From age eight to 18 he attended the Dean Close boarding school in Cheltenham, where he discovered a love of the backstage world - and the skill, which would be useful throughout his career, of persuading people to pay for new lighting equipment. In this case, the school bursar was convinced to buy four new Patt 23 spotlights.
With his ambition to be a commercial airline pilot thwarted by asthma, he decided instead to try making a career in lighting. Accepted by the B
USA - Spotrack discussed the new features of the soon-to-be-released Spotrack 2020 edition of the system at the BCT Entertainment stand during the LDI tradeshow in Las Vegas. Spotrack enables an operator to remotely control from any location, any number of moving lights as followspots. It works with any moving light and any lighting console, in any performance space and can be used in all entertainment sectors from anywhere in the venue. In conjunction with Ushio Japan and Strong Lighting, the Spotrack team also conducted regular live demonstrations of this and its new followspot interface, SpotrackEvolution, on the Apex Stages stage. Whilst the forthcoming Spotrack 2020 sees the addition of many new features that allow users more flexibility, some in response to customer feedback, it has been principally upgraded to enable the use of SpotrackEvolution. Used wit
USA - Audience members had no idea what they were in for as they entered the UNO Lakefront Arena of The University of New Orleans for the first of Widespread Panic’s three-night performance. Coupled with the Halloween tradition of the band playing songs that have never graced their stage before, everyone involved is on their toes, and none more so than long-time lighting designer Paul Hoffman. “The band’s dynamic range is broad spanning hard rock to emotive ballads and stops at every station in between - so I need to be able to serve all those needs - often taking a more theatrical approach to the emotionally heavier music,” Hoffman says. “Because of the breadth here, flexibility and dynamic versatility are my best friends.” For this year’s iteration where the stage was outfitted in an Andy Kaufman theme, complete with miniature wrestling ring, New York
UK - This month saw the 10th anniversary of Lumiere - the UK’s largest light festival - take place in Durham. The event, run by Artichoke, has been transforming cities across the UK since 2009, with each Lumiere festival inviting local and international artists to create works that reimagine familiar buildings and public spaces, changing the way we experience our urban surroundings. Over the 10 years since the first Lumiere, Unusual Rigging has been a key supplier in the delivery of specialist rigging and engineering for the festival in Durham. Engineers, riggers and technicians work with Artichoke’s production teams to design solutions to the most challenging projects, from working in delicate heritage environments such as Durham Cathedral to rigging artworks over the river Wear or across the historic medieval streets. Kate Harvey, senior producer for Artichoke co
UK - Xerocon London 2019 returned to ExCel London on 13-14 November, bringing together accountants, bookkeepers, ecosystem partners and industry leaders. Over 3,500 delegates gathered to find out the latest news and updates from cloud-based accounting software company Xero. Creative technical production expert Hawthorn was chosen by agency Taylor Bennett Partners to deliver the full technical design and production for the two-day event. Led by Pete Harding, Hawthorn’s head of creative technical, the company was tasked to bring Taylor Bennett’s vision to life, delivering full technical production for the main conference plenary, exhibition space, break-out sessions and evening party. The event featured a mammoth LED screen, an impressive lightbox installation and a village green complete with a cricket pitch and projection-mapped pond. The main stage played hos
Romania - Lighting and stage design studio M3 Studio in Bucharest selected a large complement of Claypaky fixtures for the latest tour by Andra, the best-selling Romanian pop and folk artist. Claypaky SharBars, Alpha Spot 800 QWOs, A.leda Wash K10s and Sharpys helped illuminate Andra’s 10 dates from April to September across Romania. M3 Studio, known for providing visual creativity for bands, clubs and shows, was charged with designing a compact show that would be easy to rig in the short time intervals available at each stop on the tour. A mobile stage was chosen for fast deployment on the road. “I opted for Claypaky fixtures because I’ve always been pleased with their optical systems and colour mixing,” says lighting designer Petrus Rogojinschi. Ten SharBars, in pairs, were attached to the roof of the stage; another 14 were placed in pairs on the floor
Italy - Harman Professional Solutions has announced Exhibo as the distributor for Martin by Harman in Italy. “Exhibo is a world-class company with a strong legacy and deep understanding of the market needs in Italy,” said Michael Grandon Clouet, senior regional sales director at Harman Professional Solutions, EMEA. “It is for this reason, appointing Exhibo as our lighting distributor allows Harman to increase Martin’s presence while improving customer service in the region. We couldn’t be happier with this new partnership and the excellence that the Exhibo team will bring representing our products to customers.” “For more than 30 years, Martin lighting has been innovating the way people visually experience live performances, landmarks and enterprises with selection of high-quality fixtures used the world over,” says Alessandro Fantin, pro & broadca
USA - Robe rocked one of its busiest and most dynamic LDI expos to date in Las Vegas, winning two awards, one for Best Creative Use of Light and the other for the T1 product series. The second instalment of its #ReturnToTheFuture live show created a serious buzz. This show is a performance trilogy highlighting Robe’s latest LED and moving light technologies including the just-launched PLASA award-winning Esprite and the new Tetra2 moving LED batten. #ReturnToTheFuture part 2 highlighted Robe’s newest products in the context for which they were designed. The energized 7.5-minute performance played five times a day and had an original DeLorean MMC12 as the set centrepiece, six dancers and around 200 Robe lights - including Esprites, Tetras, T1s, SilverScans, MegaPointes, Spiiders, Tarrantulas, SuperSpikies, LEDBeam150s and PixelPATTs. These were
USA - Event production company Genetic Productions is out with Morgan Wallen as the rising country music star opens as direct support on Luke Combs’ Beer Never Broke My Heart tour, a North American stretch that wraps in mid-December with shows at the 20,000-capacity Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Genetic has again supplied an Elation rig for the singer after having supplied Wallen’s inaugural headlining tour, Up Down, last year. Genetic serves as the lighting and video vendor for the outing, working closely with designer Zac Coren. The lighting rig includes 3° beams from Elation DARTZ 360 LED moving heads energizing the atmosphere while immersing the stage and crowd in colour and effect. Zac Coren, who serves as lead LD, says the DARTZ are the main focal point of his design. “They provide a lot of dynamic looks and have a great feature set to accomplish
Cambodia - ABA Bank head office recently acquired Martin lighting equipment from Harman Professional Solutions, in collaboration with Bright & Eternity Co, to achieve maximum visibility and enhance the architectural features of the building. Located in the centre of the capital city, Phnom Penh, along one of the busiest roads - Preah Sihanouk Boulevard, ABA Bank’s head office witnesses thousands of people pass through every day. The bank and the head office building has overseen a major phase of growth and development, comprising of several rented buildings, a mix of back and front-line offices, and exclusive executive spaces for the top-management. Also, contributing to the landscape of the city is the bank’s contemporary façade made of a mixture of vertical louvers and corrugated box panels. “The challenge at the ABA Bank’s head office was to highlight a
UK - Success is serving the independently owned, 1,700 cap Electric Brixton well, a two-step refurbishment programme refining the venue’s image and functionality. LED fixtures light the building’s front wall, which has been resealed and repainted, amplifying the Electric’s standing on Brixton Hill. Through the doors to the main space the second room wall has gone, improving sightlines and bringing more flexibility in terms of operating the area. It also makes for a much larger bar stage left and quicker service. An LX console front of house, with additional motors above stage and across the room, and new fixtures, gives LDs easier access to the venue’s lighting equipment and more capacity to shape the image of a performance/club. Production manager, Tom Cull, comments: “This is all brand new, state-of-the-art equipment. It was about improving the
USA - As one of this year’s most anticipated Broadway musicals, Moulin Rouge! The Musical has captured the hearts of critics and audiences alike. Its performances and production design combine to create an extravagant experience thanks to the talent on and off the stage - and, in part, to the power of Eos. “ETC’s products are why we can make this show happen,” says lighting designer Justin Townsend. “There is just so much data - nothing else could have driven the show.” Most people are familiar with the 2001 motion picture, a stylistic spectacle from the mind of Baz Luhrmann, so it was important to the musical’s creative team to make something that both honoured the film and stood out for itself. “We didn’t want to just recreate the movie,” Townsend says, “but try to create a live Moulin Rouge experience.” The over-the-top scenery b
South Africa - A recent technical upgrade at Joburg Theatre includes four Robert Juliat Cyrano 2500W HMI followspots which have been installed for use in the 1000+ seat Mandela Theatre. The complex’s largest auditorium, The Nelson Mandela Theatre, regularly sees over 75% of capacity audiences and remains open a minimum of 50 weeks in each year. In the past decade, it has hosted many hit shows, including William Kentridge’s acclaimed interpretation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, the West End and Broadway musicals West Side Story, Chicago, The Color Purple and Spamalot and top-of-the-line global touring shows, such as Le Grand Cirque, Lord of the Dance and Brazouka. Joburg Theatre is also the permanent home to Joburg Ballet, Jill Girard and Keith Smith’s Peoples Theatre Company, and one of the country’s most
Europe - Laserworld has introduced EL-300RGB, a diffraction effects laser suitable for use in small to medium sized rooms. EL-300RGB has a multicolour white light laser system that creates a multitude of projection dots or beams through haze and fog. Due to its special optics, the power of the laser system is distributed evenly to the dots, making the laser safe for audience scanning whilst the laser beams remain visible. The laser system can be controlled via DMX, but can also run in standalone operation or be triggered by music and linked as master and slave with two or more units. The colour and effects rotation in the EL-300RGB can be controlled from the digital display or via DMX to select specific colours. Rotation can be selected from slow to fast to suit any occasion, or remain static. (Jim Evans)
USA - Claypaky has introduced Reflectxion, a new moving mirror that promises up to 99% reflectance without chromatic aberrations. Featuring a 390 by 280mm surface, Reflectxion can redirect beams of light from any stage light with the same intensity as it receives them. The unit offers 540° pan and continuous tilt movement at adjustable speeds. Using the same omega clamp hanging system utilised in all Claypaky luminaires, this compact moving mirror can be used virtually anywhere on or off stage in any working position, says the company. For control, the unit uses only six DMX channels and pan and tilt resolution are both 16-bit for precise movements. The unit’s onboard LCD menu system is very user friendly and makes addressing and setup simple. (Jim Evans)
