Ireland - Picture This played a record five sold out nights at Dublin’s 3Arena. This beat U2’s four nights and offered a lively, show-stopping performance to 60,000 adoring fans. Helping make everything at the 3Arena bit look that bit more special was production designer Liam McCarthy, who spec’d over 150 Robe moving lights for this extravaganza, delivered by Irish rental company Just Lite Productions, and featuring 37 BMFL Spots, 36 Spiiders, 46 Pointes, 16 LEDWash 600s and 16 SuperSpikies. Liam worked closely with the band and created some initial set and visual concepts based on their ideas of initially wanting a circular video screen - which was developed into two curved screens. Video content director Darragh McAuliffe and the team from content producers Algorithm were commissioned by Just Lite’s Paul Smith with input from the band. The IMAG camera mix dir
France - Ayrton has announced Levante, the company's new compact 300W LED wash, is shipping with immediate effect. Weighing just 22kg, Levante is a miniaturised version of the Bora wash light, which matches the dimensions of Mistral and Diablo. With Levante, Ayrton has created a wash luminaire that can actually sculpture light, and added a high-transmission diffusion filter to the zoom lens group to erase the edge of the beam without changing its angle. A variable linear frost system allows the user to adjust the desired diffusion level with precision, says the company. Delivering a light output in excess of 20,000 lumens (Levante-S) through its 138mm frontal lens, Levante’s optical system is specially developed for optimum wash applications. Its 13-lens proprietary optical system features a zoom ration in excess of 9:1 and a 6.3° to 58° zoom range, and p
Europe - Astera’s new Helios range of LED tubes is now shipping following “record presale orders”, reports the company. The new Helios tube was unveiled at the recent Prolight+Sound and has all the features and functionality of the popular TitanTube utilising the stable and well-respected technology. It offers “outstanding concept continuity in an even more transportable package - a neat and powerful little tube which can be mounted virtually anywhere”. Like all Astera products, Helios comes with an assortment of accessories to cover every rigging and positioning need, wish and necessity. The IP65 rated Helios has eight pixels and is half the size with half the battery weight of the TitanTube, but with the same high CRI and TCLI of 96 for skin tones and detail. With up to 20 hours of battery run-time, it’s a suitable option for areas like pop-up
UK - Elation Professional will be exhibiting on stand N-D31 at PLASA Focus Leeds tradeshow, taking place 14-15 May at the Royal Armouries. The lighting manufacturer is also a Gold Sponsor and a Show Bar Sponsor at the show, which will be the first UK trade expo since Elation appointed Entedi Ltd as its new UK distributor Elation will be showcasing the 50,000-lumen Proteus Maximus, a wash/beam and profile LED luminaire with a top-of-the-line design package that premieres as the brightest LED profile on the market. With a custom designed 950W LED engine and large 180mm front lens, Maximus has the power to cut through at even great distances and its IP65 protection means it can be used exposed on outdoor shows. Elation is also highlighting two new luminaires in its award-winning Artiste line of theatrical grade moving heads. The 45,000-lumen Artiste Monet is a full
USA - Jen Fok says that she enjoys making “large gestures” that mix colour and shadow, evidenced by her work as the lighting designer on Qui Nguyen’s family saga Vietgone, which is running at the Boston Centre for the Arts from until 25 May. An Emmy Award-winning writer, Qui recounts the story of his Vietnamese parents, who met in an Arkansas refugee camp following the end of the war in 1975. His play is a delightful mashup of hip-hop, romance, road trip, Kung Fu and myriad other elements that make up the mosaic of life. Scenes morph radically during the telling of this story, and Fok’s lighting never fails to keep pace, thanks in part to its evocative colour changes, made with help from Chauvet Professional COLORdash Par-Hex 12 fixtures, supplied by High Output. Positioned on the third Unistrut position, the RGBAW+UV LED wash fixtures were instrumental in cre
Hungary - For Event is based in Budapest and is among Hungary’s leading technical production and equipment rental specialists, working across multiple entertainment and event sectors including music festivals and concert touring, live events, exhibitions and corporates. The company was the first in Hungary to invest in Robe MegaPointes in early 2018. Before then, they were also the first rental operation with BMFLs in Hungary - of which they have purchased more in the last year together with 24 x Spiiders and 26 x ParFects. The For Event brand was founded in 2011 by Gábor Glatz, a well-known Hungarian rock musician and celebrity who also runs another successful company, GDP, dedicated to providing full creative scenic and décor services. For Event’s focus has always been on providing additional technical value - both in design and equipment - lighting, sou
UK - Stage Electrics has installed and commissioned the power distribution and data systems, including 40 Socapex and data connection facility panels, in the Hippodrome Casino London, ahead of the Casino’s critically acclaimed production of Magic Mike Live, a spin-off live-version of the major motion picture. “We went from concept to installation in less than two weeks, we were called in to provide the Casino with the necessary infrastructure to meet the technical requirements for the show,” commented Stage Electrics’ project manager Tim Sachno. “The whole installation was delivered on a very tight time scale, including the design and manufacture of over 40 bespoke facility panels.” Stage Electrics has a long-standing relationship with the client, V&A Productions. “We’ve worked with V&A Productions in the past, mainly on equipment sales
UK - White Light has supplied the lighting equipment for Night of the Living Dead LIVE! which is currently spooking audiences at The Pleasance Theatre, London. Based on the George A. Romero film, Night of the Living Dead LIVE! tells the story of a group of strangers holed up in a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania. With hoards of the undead approaching, will any of them make it out alive? The show is lit by Nic Farman, who comments: “I hadn’t actually seen the film version prior to working on the show but I allowed myself to watch the first 20 minutes. This was so I could get a feel for the style of the cinematography, but also not become fixated on recreating the film on stage from a lighting point of view.” Despite not wanting to be an imitation of the film, the production did remain true to the Romero classic. Nic explains: “The interesting thing
UK - Following the death of lighting designer Bryan Leitch last month, Backup chairman John Simpson has written an open letter to the industry charity’s supporters. “You will have read with great sadness that Bryan Leitch, the legendary production and lighting designer passed away peacefully on Tuesday, 23 April. His work over 30 years covered many of the top artistes and his encouraging advice along the way brought so many young and talented designers and technicians into our industry. “Over the last few years, whilst still working, he embraced his role in Backup as that of an ambassador but more importantly he engaged with those in our industry who were suffering from degenerative and life-threatening illnesses. His calm and supportive presence and regular contact, no matter what time of day or night, meant so much to those who faced exhausting treatment and r
Columbia - El Lugar de Su Presencia (The Place of His Presence) is a neo-charismatic Christian denominational church in Bogota, currently headquartered on two sites in the Castellana district of the capital city. These two venues are on opposite sides of the same road. The first arena was built in 2005 with a capacity of 3,000, and in 2017 the new building was constructed to contain an overflow congregation of up to 1,500 people. They have Robe Spikies, LEDBeam 150s and ParFect 150s installed in these two main venues, where all-things technical are looked after by technical manager David Zamora, who is also a lighting designer. David has worked there for six years and manages a full-time technical team of around 50 - covering all aspects of these two auditoriums - from staging to IT - plus five other sites around Bogota. They have around 400 volunteers regularl
Europe - Will Chandler side-hung 10 Chauvet Professional Next NXT-1 panels on poles behind diamond-shaped band risers for Hayley Kiyoko’s European tour, which concluded on 3 March in Madrid. The symmetrical diamond-on-diamond design created an engaging, balanced look on stage and served as a supportive backdrop for the 2018 MTV Push Artist of the Year’s famed dance moves. “This show is a mixture of very powerful, beat heavy songs and some slower, more subtle moments,” says Chandler. “Especially with having dancers on this tour, I wanted to be able to create some really bold hip-hop moments with blocks of light, and also to be able to have a lot of the rig disappear into the background during slower dance solos. We toured last year with various designs incorporating LED strips, but with this version of the show I wanted to break up those lines into bolder blocks of
Poland - Fans from across the globe turned the Polish city of Katowice into the epicentre of esports in late February for the Intel Extreme Masters tournament. Included in the large lighting and video package used by Warsaw-based technical event production company ARAM were full colour SixBar 1000 and white light DTW Bar 1000 battens along with Fuze Par Z60 luminaires, all from Elation Professional. Intel Extreme Masters is one of the biggest esports events in the world with a modern multimedia Champions Stage designed especially for the tournament. Held 28 February - 3 March at Spodek Arena in Katowice, players and teams from around the world competed in a variety of games for a prize pool of $2.5m. The Electronic Sports League (ESL) sanctioned event, sponsored by Intel, is not only a hot ticket to come by, it attracts a huge online audience as well. “Every year w
USA - In the continuing effort to release quarterly software updates to the Hog 4 operating system, High End Systems has released Hog 4 OS v3.12 software. Hog 4 OS v3.12 brings support for ETCnomad Dongle/Gadget II, as well as minor improvements including XML Import/Export of custom fixtures, Carallon-sourced fixtures, Custom Lock Screen Image and hiding of PIN dialog and Capture Presentation CITP connectivity (requires Capture 2019). Console product manager Sarah Clausen comments: “We're very excited to bring Hog 4 PC to the ETC nomad family. Users of our Educational package will now have yet another control system option to expand their horizons. Professional users will enjoy the new options for data distribution using Hog 4 PC and the ETCnomad USB key.” (Jim Evans)
Europe - The last nine months has seen major changes at the new Prolight Concepts HQ with the openning of a larger warehousing and office complex allowing for an even greater stock holding and more efficient dispatching. Now the company has introduced a new catalogue, listing This, in turn, has allowed expansion of the product range, hence the requirement for the new catalogue. The marketing and purchasing departments have been working hard over the last three months to get the catalogue ready. The Big One just got even bigger, with over 2200 products featured and the introduction of multiple distributed brands including LDR, Lynx Pro Audio and The Confetti Maker. The new 2019/20 catalogue has arrived and will be officially released at PLASA Focus Leeds. Andrew Jeffrey, managing director comments, “Our 2019/20 catalogue contains over 2,200 stock lin
USA - Robe MegaPointes were used to dramatic effect on the most recent US tour by multi-instrumentalist French Kiwi Juice (FKJ). Lighting and production designer Stu Dingley was delighted when approached by FKJ’s management and asked if he would create a design for the artist known for his elegant loungy music and funky visuals. He chatted to FKJ at the start of the design process. The artist was open to ideas, however as a keen videographer with terabytes of content available, he really wanted to get selected elements of this right at the essence of the live show… to tie everything together visually. With that in mind, Stu immediately thought of MegaPointes which he wanted to use for some very specific effects - shadows and silhouettes - to balance artfully in juxtaposition with the video images. He needed brightness, accurate shuttering and a beautiful qual
The Netherlands - Poppodium Nieuwe Nor, a 400-capacity venue in the city of Heerlen not only hosts a diverse programme of music from pop and hip-hop to metal, blues and everything in between, it also holds regular club nights with DJs and serves as a location for corporate presentations and other events. As Nieuwe Nor was getting in bigger acts with greater lighting needs, the venue’s existing discharge-based lighting rig was proving outdated with limited features and colour choice, as well as restricted output. “It just couldn’t deliver some of the things guest LD’s were looking for,” says Youri Gidding, head technician at the venue. Having to replace lamps every year was also taking a bite out of the tech budget, he says, and as the contract with their previous supplier was ending, the time was right to upgrade. “Since we get a lot of different kinds of
USA - It was still 32 days before the Cubbies kicked off the 2019 baseball season, but as one of the coldest winters in memory drew to a close, a group of 400 Windy City rock fans jump-started summer on the 20th annual Chicago Music Cruise, a weeklong Caribbean excursion on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of The Seas. Organised by local rock icons 7th Heaven, the cruise featured a group of leading Chicagoland bands and radio personalities. When cruise-goers weren’t walking the ship’s promenade or dining at its restaurants, they were packing its theatre to dance to a relentless procession of rock and country tunes. Keeping pace with the hard-driving music notes was a dynamic and colourful Zach Scott-designed lightshow, run with a ChamSys Maxi Wing and ChamSys Extra Wing Compact. “Given that space is always an issue in a cruise ship environment, I wanted something wit
USA - Lightswitch has become the latest Behind the Scenes Pledge-a-Service partner by pledging to donate a percentage of their design fees to the charity. For more than 25 years, Lightswitch has been committed to changing the way people experience their world. They are a consortium of internationally recognised lighting, media and visual designers who create unforgettable experiences where people live, work, learn and play. Whether for a concert, an event, an experiential environment, or an architectural project, they use a balance of artistry, practicality and technical mastery to create memorable, compelling and responsible lighting and visual design. This core principle guides their team of dedicated designers who serve clients from their full-service studios around the world. On presenting their first cheque for $1,000, Howard Werner, partner and principal, states:
Bulgaria - On 12 January, the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv began its year as one of the two European Capitals of Culture for 2019. The opening ceremony was again under the artistic direction of Sven Sören Beyer of phase7 performing arts. For the third time, the Berlin artist collective took over the artistic design of the opening ceremony of a European Capital of Culture, and the opening show titled We Are All Colors attracted over 50,000 viewers. The central element of the show was a 30m-high media tower in the form of a regular octagon, which had been designed and built specifically for the event. Running in a north-south direction, a 100m catwalk linked to the tower. The 360-degree light show spanned across all five levels of the entire tower, 1,500 show participants performed on five levels. The spectacular performance combined traditional Bulgarian show acts with f
EMEA - Production Resource Group (PRG) is integrating its global research and development efforts into a new operating group, PRG Innovation. Joining under PRG Innovation will be PRG Projects, PRG Research and Development, and the VER product development initiatives. The new operating group will encompass operations in Belgium, China and the USA, which include facilities in Dallas, New Windsor, New York and Los Angeles. Jere Harris, chairman and CEO of PRG, comments: “PRG Innovation brings all of our talent focused on product development into a single, global team, allowing us to anticipate market trends, move with agility and align product development with our larger strategic objectives. I believe that our investment and performance in market-driven innovation is one of the most powerful points of difference separating our brands from the competition. Now, that adv
Europe - Launched at Prolight+Sound 2019, Ayrton’s ultra-compact Diablo profile is the smallest, lightest and most efficient LED luminaire of its type. Weighing just over 20kg, Diablo delivers an output of 19,000 lumens from its 300W source, and matches the ultra-compact Mistral in dimensions. Diablo is the latest to join Khamsin and Ghibli in Ayrton’s new profile luminaire range. Diablo’s miniaturised framing system uses eight motors to accurately position its four blades across 100% surface area, enabling precision framing of any object, regardless of the luminaire’s position. The 119 mm frontal lens produces an extremely uniform flat beam with no hot spot that renders perfect images at any beam angle, says the company. Diablo shares Mistral’s 13-element proprietary optical system to deliver an 8:1 zoom ration and produce a 6.7° to 53° zoom range. It in
Slovenia - Slovenian National Television (Radiotelevizija Slovenija – RTV) has invested in two Robe BMFL Blades complete with side-mounting LightMaster kits which enable the units to be used as manually operated follow spots in their studios and for OB productions. It is their first Robe purchase – although they regularly use Robe Pointes, LEDWash 600s, LEDBeam 100 moving lights on cross hire for specific shows - and the units were delivered by MK Light Sound, Robe’s Slovenian distributor. The decision to purchase was made by Bojan Lenart, head of lighting and Bojan Repić, chief technologist for the broadcaster, together with others on their lighting team. “There was absolutely no other product out there like this which has the side mounting control capabilities,” commented Bojan Lenart, explaining that the mission started as a hunt for follow spots w
Australia - AGB Events reports the successful conclusion of its involvement in Parrtjima: A Festival in Light which the company curates and produces on behalf of the Northern Territory Major Events Company - playing a key role in bringing the indigenous art festival to life. The United Nations declared 2019 to be the International Year of Indigenous Languages and AGB Events highlighted an element of this theme in each of the installations they brought to life. Parrtjima is set against the backdrop of the 300 million year old MacDonnell Ranges in Australia’s Northern Territory. AGB Events engaged the regular First Nations consultant, Rhoda Roberts AO to curate the festival for a third year. Parrtjima celebrates new ways artists can push the boundaries of how indigenous art is presented, while staying true to the ancient philosophy of connection and country. T
USA - Displaying more than 6,800 instruments from around the world, the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix, Arizona, allows their guests to not only see and hear the instruments, but also allows them to observe the music being played in its original context. Hosting a number of historic and educational performances inside the intimate MIM Theatre, the technical production behind each event must be able to accentuate the experience of the sound. With a state-of-the-art audio and projection system already in place, the theatre worked with theatre consultants and lighting designers Schuler Shook and Clearwing Systems who installed a silent yet powerful LED lighting design using PHX 150W profile luminaires from Altman Lighting. “We have had the opportunity to work with the MIM on a few previous projects and this time we were brought on board to complete an LED li
