USA - Madison Square Garden has welcomed just about every conceivable kind of music act in its storied history, but it’s doubtful that the famed arena has ever hosted a concert with a scenic set quite like the one Vulfpeck used for its recent show. With a mix of well-worn chairs, ottomans tapestries and thrift shop lamps, the set for the band’s concert looked more like the kind of apartment inhabited by college kids, than a funk music stage. Formed by four students at the University of Michigan’s music school, Vulfpeck recorded their first song in an Ann Arbor living room. They had the exact furniture from that room shipped 622 miles from their college town home to Manhattan for their Madison Square Garden debut. The ‘living room’ provided a nice touch that captured the engaging style of Vulfpeck. At the same time, though, it also presented a challenge for Ch
The Netherlands - Guido’s Orchestra, the popular Dutch ensemble that fuses pop and classical music, performed their annual open-air concert in Kerkrade at the end of June. As this also happens to be the home town of ADJ Europe it was fitting that a lighting rig consisting entirely of ADJ’s fixtures – including 186 recently-released IP-rated outdoor units – was used to illuminate the performance which ran over two evenings and featured a number of guest performers. Billed in full as The Maestro & The European Pop Orchestra, Guido’s Orchestra is the brainchild of conductor, violin soloist and composer Guido Dieteren. Having toured throughout Europe and North America as part of numerous traditional orchestras, Guido formed his own ensemble with the intention of performing the most famous melodies of all time from both the classical and pop worlds. Every summ
Australia - The 2019 Victorian State Schools Spectacular: Made of Stars was staged at the Melbourne Arena and filmed by Channel 7 for later broadcast. The annual live arena production showcasing the talent of students across the state of Victoria featured a large complement of Claypaky lighting fixtures, which helped students working behind the scenes gain real-world experience with top-of-class, professional luminaires. Some 200 schools participated in Made of Stars, where performers included daredevil BMX riders, skaters, acrobats, circus artists, musicians and hip-hop dancers. The three-hour show featured the arrival of a spaceship and a send up of the fashion industry. The yearly production is an invaluable performing arts opportunity for students in Victoria from primary school to grade 12 and has become a rite of passage for top young talent. PRG Au
UAE - Lucid Technologies is showcasing the systems behind its art, on Stand 4B24 at this week’s ProLight+Sound Middle East exhibition. Lucid Technologies’ recent presence in the Middle East has assured the success of vividly impressive projects such as the Saudi Arabia National Day projection at Samba Bank. With the company’s projection mapping expertise behind the event, the inherent difficulties of projection on to glass was meticulously overcome. Two facades of the vast 40-storey building in the new King Abdullah Financial District of Riyadh were rendered ablaze with colourful and flowing imagery for the celebration. Lucid Technologies has a number of projects underway in the region and more on the horizon in the Middle East. The company will demonstrate the capabilities of BlackTrax for the tracking of both lighting and video, with a system driven by the comp
Morocco – Entertainment company EcmaPro who specialise in the distribution of fixtures and products specifically for the entertainment industry has joined the Prolights distributor network. EcmaPro Systems centre their business around providing quality Italian brands for the world of professional entertainment, in particular audio, lights and accessories. In addition to this, EcmaPro also offers LED technology for the architainment sectors including facilitating architectural illumination or interiors or whole environments. Federico Colella, sales manager for EcmaPro states, “The fixtures that leave the Prolights factory are consistently innovative, reliable and robust, and use the very best that technology has to offer in this industry. We are so excited to be working with Prolights and proud to be part of the network.” Prolights international sales manag
USA - The Knight of Illumination USA Awards (KOI-USA) ceremony and gala dinner return to Las Vegas this November, championing the work of local and international lighting and video designers across the United States. The Awards cover leading design work in the sectors of Theatre, Live for Broadcast, and Concert Touring & Events. The KOI-USA Concert Touring & Event judging panel, led by judging chair and lighting designer John Featherstone, consisted of content director for Live Design Marian Sandberg, tour director and choreographer Barry Lather, designer and cofounder of sculpture design company HYBYCOZO, Yelena Filipchuk, tour manager Angie Warner, and director of production company Upstaging Inc, John Huddleston. The Concert Touring & Events Shortlist has been revealed as: The MA Lighting Award for Club Lighting Sean Burke for Robbie W
USA - Brigham Young University-Idaho (BYU-I) has taken delivery of Robert Juliat Lancelot 4000W followspots for its three theatres as part of a complement of lighting fixtures. BYU-I, formerly known as Ricks College, is located in Rexburg, Idaho and offers programmes in liberal arts, including the sciences, engineering, agriculture, management and the performing arts. The university is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. BYU-I’s theatres host theatrical productions and concerts staged by students and visiting artists. BYU-I Center, the largest of the theaters, seats 15,000; the Hart Auditorium is a three-quarters arena that seats 3,700; and the Snow Drama Theater, the smallest venue, seats 400. The new fixtures were acquired from Barbizon Light of the Rockies in Denver as part of the lighting replacement cycle, notes
For The Record - Adele's 21 is the UK's best-selling album of the 21st Century, selling more than five million copies since 2011. The record, which features the hits Rolling In The Deep and Someone Like You, is more than a million copies ahead of the second biggest-seller, Amy Winehouse's Back To Black. Adele also takes third place in the chart, with her most recent record, 25. The century's 40 biggest albums were revealed on Radio 2's Pick of the Pops, as part of National Album Day. Ed Sheeran appears in the top five twice too, while other artists in the top 20 include Coldplay, Kings of Leon, Lady Gaga and Scissor Sisters. Leading Role - Sebastian Cater has been appointed head of UK Theatre, replacing Cassie Chadderton. Cater will lead the organisation and also hold the role of workforce development, joining the
Spain - Chauvet has announced that Jose ‘Alberto’ Barja has been appointed as its business development market specialist for Spain. Barja brings extensive experience in many facets of the entertainment lighting industry to his new position, having worked for 20 years in executive positions at manufacturers Traxon, Osram and Siemens, as well as at the distributor Stonex, Bofill & Asociados. At Chauvet, he will be working closely with the company’s Spanish distributor ACSON and Jon Petts, the company’s brand development manager for Western Europe. “The addition of Alberto to a team that already includes Jon Petts and Goran Doncic, business development manager for Western and Eastern Europe, greatly strengthens our position in this market,” said Stéphane Gressier, Chauvet’s international sales director. “Alberto brings a depth of knowledge about
UK – Prolights Panorama IP Airbeam moving beams recently lit up North Yorkshire’s skyline with big air looks for Harrogate 1571, part of Harrogate Welcomes the World celebrations supporting the UCI Road World Cycling Championships and acknowledging the spa town’s heritage. The lighting installation was commissioned by Harrogate International Festivals, an arts project that has helped to ‘revolutionise’ the cultural landscape for the North of England. To celebrate the waters that have made Harrogate a tourist attraction since 1571, when William Slingsby discovered natural mineral springs in the local Valley Gardens, these wells and the town’s iconic Harlow Hill water tower were illuminated for a stunning light show over a series of evenings. The project’s lighting designer, James Bawn of Element 3 Design needed an IP65 fixture with a very bri
UK - In September, Entec renewed its acquaintance with the exhibitions division of media group Future plc to deliver sound and lighting equipment to the two-day UK Guitar Show and the London Bass Guitar Show. Centred around the sprawling Gear Hall, the show saw Entec liaise with production manager Pete Witham to equip five stages that hosted a diverse programme of stellar musical performances, showcases and masterclasses. September’s event was Entec’s fourth for Future in just over a year. “Entec was mainly given the contract because it was able to provide a complete range of sound, lighting and some elements of staging, unlike the other companies we approached,” said Pete. Along with a host of leading microphone models and wireless equipment distributed amongst the performance areas, the audio specification for the main auditorium included a Midas PRO1
UK - Sister Act the Musical, performed by Splinters Theatre Group raised the roof at the Montgomery Theatre, Sheffield. The lighting design took this show to a higher level, creating the emotive, joyous atmosphere people know and expect from this gospel choir-based dramatisation. Along with the venues inhouse generic lighting rig, Tom Dyson from TDL added an array of moving heads and battens to further enhance the shows backdrop and musical numbers. He utilised numerous eLumen8 Kudos 350ZS fixtures for multiple scenes including highlighting key actors, set lighting and effect lighting for musical numbers. Tom Dyson comments, “The use of the backlight on the Kudos 350ZS moving heads, along with the beam projected, helped create some new and different eye-candy effects that both myself and the show directors were really impressed with.” In addition, LED
UK - Power Logistics’ pledge at the start of the year to deliver power monitoring at every project it undertook in 2019 has proved a success throughout this summer. Implementing its bespoke power monitoring system at numerous festivals and outdoor events, the company says it has delivered sustainable power solutions that have resulted in fuel bills consistently being reduced by 20% or more, along with significant carbon emission savings. A bespoke power monitoring system was been devised and developed by Power Logistics’ in-house research and development team. This has proved to have a significant impact on an event’s carbon footprint; reducing fuel consumption and often the number and size of generators required onsite which in turn leads to cost efficiencies, says the company. A key addition to the system is the utilisation of QR codes which are placed on eve
Australia - Elite Event Technology from Canberra – one of Australia’s leading rental and production companies – supplied lighting equipment and crew for the 2019 NAIDOC Awards which celebrated the history, culture and outstanding achievements - at community, national and international level - of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This high-profile event featured a mix of live performance and awards presentations and was hosted by media personalities Sean Choolburra and Elaine Crombie at the National Convention Centre Canberra in front of a live audience of 1,200 and broadcast live on SBS’s NITV channel. The lighting design by Tom Wright featured an all-Robe moving light rig with 12 x BMFL Spots 12 x BMFL WashBeams, 26 x LEDWash 300+’s, 12 x LED Wash600s and 14 x MMX Spots. It was the first time that Elite had been a technical supp
Germany - More than 50,000 EDM fans descended on a former NATO missile base in August to experience the massive Nature One Festival. Germany-based Gerdon Design specified two Green Hippo Boreal+ media servers for the main floor, to power live IMAG feeds, Notch effects and pre-made content. This year marked the 25th anniversary of Nature One, which is held near the western town of Kastellaun. Over the years, it’s grown into one of Europe’s biggest dance music festivals. Gerdon Design has been involved with Nature One since 2011, responsible for the stage, lighting and video design as well as creating the concept, audio and visual design for the timecoded highlights show. “We were responsible for the content playback of all acts - except for those who were travelling with a VJ – so we needed a powerful and easy-to-use solution,” explains Gerdon Design’s Marek
Argentina - One of the major annual events to mark the start of the new year in Argentina is the three-day Festival del Pescado y el Vino 2019 on the south coast of Gualeguaychú, 200km from Buenos Aires. Organised by the government of Gualeguaychú, for the second consecutive year Caio Sonido provided all the technical services, including a number of moving heads from PR Lighting, as well as sound, LED screen, stage structures and power. The main artists performing were singer/guitarist Nahuel Pennisi, and pop/folk group Los Nocheros. The lighting design was carried out by Caio Sonido president, Ricardo Olivares, and his team of lighting technicians, and the board was operated by Guillermo Wheeler. Central to their design, were 16x PR Lighting XR 1000 Spot and 18x XR 300 Beam above the stage. In addition, there were four sound towers in each of which a further four XR
France - Campus Serge Kampf Les Fontaines, a XIXth Century château nestled in a wooded area 57km north of Paris is a meeting and conference centre that regularly business leaders from throughout Europe. Let’s Dare is a new immersive video and lighting environment created by Stardust Group with help from Chauvet Professional ÉPIX fixtures. “We have been the technical service provide to Serge Kampf Campus for some time,” says Stardust Group development director Eric Matouk. “Through our association with the campus we work on many events for CAC 40 companies, so we must always be innovative and forceful, which suits our own spirit as an organisation. For the Let’s Dareexperience we placed guests in a 180° video environment that evokes a ‘virtual reality’ sensation, but without the glasses. We want to engage our audience while still conveying
Romania - Romania’s largest electronic music event, Untold Festival in Cluj-Napoca, was recently staged for the fifth time. The main stage was located inside the Cluj Arena stadium and almost all stages were packed with CLF fixtures. LD André Beekmans from The Art Of Light was responsible for designing the main stage while Chris Das from Four Aces took care of production management and design of the secondary stages. The main goal was to achieve and elevate the light design in comparison to previous years. Fourteen trusses with CLF Ares and Orion fixtures were added to the Arena setup. “We used the Ares to create a massive audience wash, which worked really well for the livestream as well as pictures. We used Orions as effect lighting and the double spot/beam functionalities meant it was the perfect fixture for creating spherical momentums to hype up the cr
South Africa - The 2019 season of The Voice South Africa saw technical supplier Multi-Media and production manager Chris de Lancey ask lighting designer Joshua Cutts of Visual Frontier onboard to help the team deliver the show, which Cutts accomplished with some help from a large Robe moving light rig - nearly 150 fixtures. The final eight-week series was recorded at the Mosaïek Teatro in Fairlands, Johannesburg, and aired on M-Net Channel 101. Josh worked closely with set designer Dewet Meyer, series director Darren Hayward and TV director Nadia White to carve out an ambience for the 2019 season which saw him programme - intensely - 12 songs a week for the eight-week period. Lighting - together with sound and video equipment - was delivered by rental company Multi-Media with the set built by JDM Sets. All aspects of the technical production were co-ordin
Russia - Dominated by Russian gymnasts, rhythmic gymnastics has been a particular success for Russia since gaining worldwide recognition as an Olympic sport in 1984. In Moscow, construction of a new gymnastics venue was recently completed, the Irina A. Viner-Usmanova Rhythmic Gymnastics Centre, a world-class facility that houses a flexible Elation Professional lighting system. Featuring a main performance arena and facade that resembles the wave of a gymnastic ribbon, the Irina A. Viner-Usmanova Rhythmic Gymnastics Centre, named after one of the most successful gymnastics coaches of all time, can host any type of gymnastics event from local competition to world championship. As the sports facility was designed to be multifunctional in order to accommodate training and competition across a variety of events, as well as concerts, shows and special events, Elation distr
Italy - Prolights staged its annual international distributor conference at its HQ in Minturno. Welcoming over 150 guests from 40 countries, the conference comprised a week of product demonstrations, keynote speeches, new product previews, networking and team bonding. The event was opened by Prolights managing director Fabio Sorabella, who welcomed the group and introduced the keynote speeches and corporate presentations outlining the past, present and future vision for the company. Sorabella also outlined the current and future expansion plans for the Italian HQ, aimed at further developing the laboratories and R&D departments. “We’ve had over 150 people visit us, from our closest customers through to people who want to know more about us and what we do,” he explains. “Couldn’t have asked for a better crowd and the feedback from the conference abou
USA - Obsidian Control Systems has reported its NX 4lighting controller is now shipping. Equipped with professional features and prepared to host Obsidian’s Dylos pixel composition engine, the NX 4 is the latest member of the Onyx lighting control platform and is designed to handle even the largest show with ease. With a well-arranged combination of motorized and manual faders, along with an array of playback buttons, it offers 44 total playbacks in a compact yet extremely powerful package. Using the latest in industrial components, the NX 4 includes a high-brightness, 15.6”, full-HD multi-touch screen with support for two external 4K touch displays. Eight assignable parameter encoders, a dedicated Intensity encoder, an assistive mini-touch screen, full keypad and command section, and a dedicated grand master make for an intuitive control surface. Two independent playba
France - Singer-songwriter Julien Clerc’s latest tour sees lighting programmer Vincent Zanello at the helm with a High End Systems Hog 4 console. The 150-date tour is celebrating 50 years of uninterrupted success for Clerc, visiting a combination of arenas and festivals over the course of two years. Lighting designer Dimitri Vassiliu's design for the arena tour incorporates a structure of white canvases with geometric shapes, symbolizing a tree and serving as a support for light and video. The spectacle has been adapted for a series of recent festival dates. "In a festival setting, I ask for a hundred fixtures to be sure I have enough to face the evening sun,” says Zanello. In such conditions the Hog 4 really stands out. With a larger than average screen and remarkable glass finish, full sun is no match for the console. The entire interface is clearly display
UK - In early September, passengers boarded Marella Explorer for a four-day journey. As it plied the North Sea, the 866ft vessel wasn’t so much taking those on board to a place, as it was a time on the immersive Electric Sunsets: Cruise Back to the 90s cruise, produced by ted (The Entertainment Department). The decade of Spice Girls and boy bands, grunge and hip-hop came to life on the top deck of Marella Cruises’ well-appointed ship, complete with performances from Top 10 artists of the era like B*Witched and 5ive, DJ sets, costume contests, and an updated 90s-style lighting design that featured 12 Chavet Professional Maverick Storm 1 Wash fixtures supplied by Impact Production Services. Working for ted, José Lorenzo of José Lorenzo Lighting Design placed eight of the IP65 rated units (two apiece) on four T-truss structures located around the pool deck. T
