UK - The Palace Theatre in Redditch has invested in Prloights LED fixtures, to reduce its running costs further and improve its in-house lighting rig. The theatre, which first opened in 1913, went through a refurbishment in 2005 as part of a process to make the venue more energy-efficient. To help meet its target of an ‘A’ rating for energy efficiency, it worked with Andy Mahaffey, external sales at A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd (AC-ET), to choose the right fixtures. After looking at a range of options, the majority of the stage lighting has been upgraded to Prolights fixtures, including LUMA700 and DIAMOND7 LED moving lights, StudioCOB FC LED PARs, plus Eclipse Full Colour LED Profiles and Eclipse Tuneable White LED Fresnels. Theatre manager, Tim Mackrill has been impressed with the new fixtures. He commented: “The Prolights fixtures offer an excelle
UK - As the temperatures soared to record levels, Adlib’s Glasgow based Scottish operation has enjoyed a busy and proactive summer supplying a full complement of technical services - lighting, sound and video - to a number of high profile events including the Glasgow and Edinburgh Summer Sessions, Rewind Festival’s Scottish date at Scone Palace plus sound and lighting to the 2018 TRNSMT festival on Glasgow Green. This reflects a healthy schedule of locally based business for the company who opened their Scottish operation in 2016. Adlib has worked carefully and conscientiously to expand this offering technical services and equipment that are new to the region, in the process collaborating with a network of partners, promoters and other Scottish companies. For Summer Sessions, two completely different sound and lighting systems were supplied.
USA - Stone Sour may be the opening act on the U.S. leg of Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tours 2 tour, but the American hard rock band is making an impression with the help of lighting designer Scott Warner and a dynamic wall of colour. On the road since late August with The Prince of Darkness, Stone Sour has made a serious opening act impact with a “huge wall of overwhelming colour” made up of multifunctional Elation Professional Paladin LED effect lights supplied by Bandit Lites. “I knew coming into this tour that I didn’t have access to LEDs and with Stone Sour I need to have my colours flash quickly,” said Warner, who also serves as the tour’s lighting director/programmer. “I could’ve done a pod of small moving heads, but with the amount of fixtures the Ozzy tour was giving me, who’d see them? So I took the original pod idea that was used on o
USA - Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the LDI Conference and Tradeshow, Altman Lighting is preparing for the North American debut of the new AP-150 RGBW LED Par luminaire at LDI 2018. Located in Booth 2227, Altman Lighting will be showcasing the AP-150 next generation Altman Par, along with celebrating their own 65th Anniversary, and taking part as a sponsor of the inaugural USA Knight of Illumination Awards. “As we make our preparations for LDI 2018, we are thrilled to not only be launching new product, but also to be celebrating a unique milestone of our own,” began Julie Smith, Altman Lighting general manager. “With a rich history spanning 65 years as a trusted lighting manufacturer, we are eager to both honour our past, and continue moving forward by continuing to offer state-of-the-art lighting innovations.” The AP-150 is a compact and lightweight, 13
The Netherlands - Highlite International BV reports a very successful experience day. The annual in-house event was held 1 October. Highlite presented various workshops, lectures and product presentations which attracted customers from across Europe to visit the Highlite Headquarters to be part of the experience. Checking out the latest developments in the Infinity-family, visiting the Chimp training-room, getting up-to-date on how to design and construct an outdoor stage. Or attending the Odin-shootout, taking part in the entertaining exclusive company -tour and in the meantime enjoy the Highlite hospitality, all in one day. The many visitors had the possibility to register for several different workshops which were given by entertainment professionals and the Highlite product specialists. They could enjoy the latest presentation in the Highlite showroom where the bra
USA - With the opening of the 2018 LDI Conference and Exhibition approaching, PixelFLEX will be partnering with four industry leaders exhibiting at the show. As entertainment professionals from around the world gather to celebrate the organization’s 30th Anniversary, the tradeshow experiences for Avolites, Kinesys, and Vectorworks will all feature a FLEXTour LED video system, while the FLEXCurtain HD will be on display with Froggys Fog. “LDI draws an elite audience of live design professionals that demand top-of-the-line products,” said Dan Monaghan, vice president of marketing at Vectorworks. “With this need in mind, we’ve partnered with PixelFLEX to use their state-of-the-art LED screens to showcase our award-winning entertainment design software.” Located in Booth 3139, Vectorworks is a global design and BIM software solutions provider serving professio
Europe - Entertainment engineering specialist WIcreations was asked to work on two specialist elements – a moving / tracking video wall and a ‘star lift’ – for Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s On The Run II (OTR II) stadium tour, part of an epic and spectacular set design concept designed by Stufish. In addition to all the hardware, software and bespoke engineering elements, on the administrative front, WIcreations delivered a full scenic motion risk assessment to the tour’s management, together with machinery technical files and full user manuals covering the entire system. “As automation gets increasingly important in entertainment applications, so safety is The most important aspect to watch,” underlines WI’s owner and founder Hans Willems, who also project managed all the automation requirements. WIcreations provided this documentation in accor
USA - Country singer Cam returned to Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium for a headlining show with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites. Based off the lighting design by Gordon Droitcour of Cour Design, tour manager Gabe Hodge created the one-off design by adding ground supported fixtures to bring more depth to the stage in addition to back light specials. “There was also already a good amount of programming that existed with the previous show file and lighting design (done by Larry Foote), so we wanted to take advantage of that,” explained Hodge. “Having said that, there were a lot of special moments in this show that required Vanessa Sexton to programme a handful of new songs and looks with her own flare.” Hodge had been the LD on Cam’s previous tour and was looking for a replacement following his move to tour manager. “Vanessa and I had
USA - Standing over 6’3” tall with broad shoulders and rugged features, the Grammy-nominated country music duo Brothers Osborne cast a striking image on stage. Their already-imposing presence is accented even further on their current tour by a wall of truss and light designed by Chris Reade and Jay Ballinger of KYVA Design, LLC. Reade and Ballinger created their image-intensifying wall using 54 high-output Chauvet Professional STRIKE 1 fixtures, supplied by Christie Lites. Arranged in groups of three on 18 vertical rows of truss, the single-source 230W LED fixtures create a powerful, industrial looking backdrop for Brothers Osborne, who are opening for superstar Dierks Bentley on the tour. “Our lighting rig not only illuminates, it also serves as a scenic element,” said Reade. “We’ve created a panorama of light and truss behind the artists to create a rela
Germany - On 8 September the second edition of the Volle Kraft Voraus Festival, organised by the German band Eisbrecher, took place in Ratiopharm Arena in Neu-Ulm. The band, based around singer Alexander ‘Alexx’ Wesselsky and guitarist Jochen ‘Noel Pix’ Seibert, were also celebrating their 15th anniversary. Production company Rain Age GmbH from Landsberg am Lech has been in charge of the festival from the very beginning - and were once more on hand for the band’s anniversary event. Martin Heining of Rain Age, who is also lighting designer for Eisbrecher, built creatively on the band's existing tour design, which was expanded for the arena. This also serviced the guest bands – and this year besides the headliner it included Oomph !, The Krupps, Stahlmann and Zeromancer – who were also bathed in the additional light equipment. Among other GLP e
USA - Chauvet Professional will be introducing an array of new products at LDI. Additions to the company’s Maverick, Ovation, ÉPIX, COLORado, Rogue and WELL Fit series, the products debuting at the company’s LDI stand #1816 will offer designers an expanded range of lighting solutions. Leading the way is the new Maverick Storm 1 Wash, a high-output (over 6000lm) IP65 LED fixture that features precision-engineered die-cast aluminum housing and 316 grade stainless steel screws that enable it to withstand even the harshest weather conditions, making it well suited for use in festivals, amphitheaters and other outdoor applications. The Ovation Series is also expanding creative horizons at LDI with the rollout of new virtually silent 6” LED Fresnels, all of which feature motorized zoom and 16-bit dimming. The Ovation F-415FC offers the RGBA-Lime colour-mixing s
Slovenia - Slovenian media server specialist Lightact has launched three new software licenses and a new version of its flagship software, Lightact 3. Lightact 3 features an upgraded 2D projection mapping workflow and a deeper integration with Unreal Engine. The software licenses are One, Easy and Start with the pricing and features further strengthening Lightact's mission of supporting creative multi-media installations and events of all sizes. Mitja Prelovšek, CEO of Lightact, comments: "We feel elated that after more than two years in development Lightact 3 enters maturity. It's got tons of features and some unique capabilities that we believe our users will love. We are also excited about One, Easy and Start software licenses which bring Lightact closer to an even wider range of users." Lightact is an integrated suite combining standard media server function
Germany - In January 2017, the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie was ceremoniously opened featuring a stunning building design by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. This marked the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the Hanseatic city's landmarks. Just one year later, the Elbphilharmonie has secured its place among the world's top concert halls and has become a must for every traveller to the city. In the 2017/2018 season, almost 900,000 visitors attended around 700 events. However, the building not only has a striking architecture plus two concert halls (Large and Small Hall) as well as a 244-room hotel and 45 exclusive private apartments under its roof - it is also equipped with professional technology in all areas - including MA Lighting solutions. Mike Neumann, master of event technology (lighting technology) at the Elbphilharmonie, explains: "The Great H
UK - Students and young technicians from across Britain supported Robe’s international sales team at PLASA 2018 as part of the lighting manufacturer’s NRG (Next Robe Generation) initiative. Hailing from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, six students from six colleges and universities came together to work as a close-knit team to provide a frontline ‘welcome’ to all the trade visitors coming onto the Robe stand and offering them product demonstrations whilst acting as ambassadors for the NRG programme. NRG is a networking community for students, apprentices and young technicians who are serious about pursuing a career in the world of performance lighting and visuals. The initiative provides NRG crew members the opportunity to meet and get advice from influential industry professionals. The initiative also offers young technicians an opportunity to s
UK - The National Eisteddfod of Wales takes place annually during the first week in August at a different location. This year’s renewal took place in Cardiff Bay where more than 160,000 people attended the event, enjoying a richly diverse programme centred on the arts. Featuring music and literary competitions, lectures, meetings, gigs, trade stands and stalls, drama productions, street theatre and gastronomy, the National Eisteddfod has it all. In its customary format, the event is located on a single field site, with adjacent camping but this year, owing to its urban location, the organisers chose a number of venues around the Cardiff Bay area in which to host its constituent parts, with campsites situated in a park location around four miles away. Cardiff-based events specialist 11th Hour has been a regular supplier to the Eisteddfod in the past and this year pro
Russia - Ayrton was showcased at the recent Prolight+Sound NAMM Russia 2018 in an interactive lightshow created by its commercial partner, TDS-Pro. TDS-Pro specialises in stage design and technical production of TV projects, concerts and major sporting events. Its creative designers use Ayrton lighting fixtures in their designs. This was reflected in the lightshow which used the latest technologies to combine artists, Ayrton lighting fixtures, video, robots and augmented reality into a dramatic storyline. In it, a robot, composed of an LED screen and Ayrton MagicBlade-R fixtures located on a robotic arm, lay embedded in an LED wall and DreamPanel-Twin units where it remained hidden from view. During the show, the lighting fixtures appear to start to work incorrectly as if struck by a virus. The engineer from TDS-Pro tries to solve the problem and starts to load the ant
UK - Edinburgh theatre and live event production company Blue Parrot has recently enhanced its rental inventory with the purchase of an MDG Ice Fog Compack HP low fog generator and an MDG ATMe haze generator. Blue Parrot provides full production services and dry hire of lighting, sound, video, staging, rigging and power distribution, which it has done for more than 18 years. The Blue Parrot team was actively looking for alternative low fog and haze generators which would give a better output with less noise and the durability to withstand the high demands of life in a rental house. “We made a conscious decision to invest in MDG because the demand for the brand in Scotland is growing fast,” says Blue Parrot MD, Jonnie Clough. “We already have low fog and haze generators from other manufacturers but were not really satisfied with the effect they produced and found them v
Germany - On 20 July, the Parookaville music festival in Weeze opened its doors for the fourth year for three days of electronic and house music delivered by some of the biggest DJs of the genre such as David Guetta, Zedd, Armin van Buuren, and Hardwell. With 80,000 in attendance, Parookaville again sold out to retain its status as the country’s largest EDM festival. The main stage with its spectacular set and attention to detail was among the largest festival stages in Europe at over 200m wide. Enhancing the set-up and expanding the visual impact even further were 160 Proteus Hybrid moving heads, Elation’s full-featured IP65 luminaire, which lined the downstage edge with more fixtures spread across the setup. On site as general technical service provider was POOLgroup and as the skies tend to open up at Parookaville POOLgroup lighting designer Robert Sommer put h
USA - Orlando-based Professional Wireless Systems has announced the addition of the 1RU Alpha Quad-4 and 2RU Alpha Quad-8 to the Alpha Series, which was introduced earlier this year. The new units will make their industry debut at the AES show in New York City this month. The Alpha Quad-4 and Quad-8 are designed for use with multiple Shure Axient AD4Q receivers in Quadversity mode. The units provide four individual unity-gain signals (A, B, C, D) to up to four quad receivers, with RF filtering at 470-616 MHz Power is supplied to the units with either the main or the Aux inputs or used at the same time for redundant power. “The Alpha Quad distros serve as the ‘head end’ for the receive antenna system,” explains Professional Wireless production manager Justin Van Winkle. “Four antennas can be connected to the rear-panel input connections. The RF signals are the
Italy - “Life takes interesting turns,” says Andrea Muzzin at the close of the Empoli Beat Festival. In 2002, Muzzin was an avid fan of Sum41. “I played their album Does This Look Infected? over and over again,” says the video and lighting technician at Fumasoli Audio & Light Rental. Fast forward 16 years, and Muzzin finds himself involved in supporting the Juno Award-winning band as they made an encore appearance at this three-day celebration of music and art in a Tuscan village outside Florence. Muzzin wasn’t the only one feeling good vibes during the Empoli Beat Festival. Fans packed leafy Serravalle Park outside the city for the festival, which featured acts like Motta, Cosmo and Canova. Supporting Sum41 and the other artists on the main stage was a rig designed by Marco Difebo that was anchored by a collection of Chauvet Professional Maverick fixtur
UK - Filmed live on location within a West London high rise apartment block, the new reality show pits a mix of characters against each other in a bid to win a popularity contest whilst interacting exclusively through a specially designed, voice-activated social media platform known as The Circle. Working with lighting designer James Tinsley, electrician Adam Mitchell and their team, Aurora has provided an array of equipment and infrastructure to assist in building the show’s look, created by production designer, Sally Lock. The installation features a range of LED and practical fixtures used extensively throughout the room interiors. With over 100 fixed rig cameras in place, the set-up has been carefully designed to be functional whilst remaining unobtrusive to both the contestants and viewers alike. The team’s mix of LED, festoon and practical fixtures add
USA - Dead & Company’s 2018 tour kicked off in Mansfield, Massachusetts at the Xfinity Centre and returned for a two-night stand at venues such as Citi Field in New York; Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin; Shoreline Amphitheatre in San Francisco, California; and Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado, while also adding new venues, including Los Angeles’ historic Dodger Stadium and Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon, to the tour. Striking lighting was designed by show / visuals director Chris Ragan of Raygun Design who has worked with Dead & Company since the project started in 2015. Dead & Company was formed when the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann and Bob Weir joined forces with artist and musician John Mayer, Allman Brothers’ bassist Oteil Burbridge, and Fare Thee Well and RatDog keyboardist Jeff Chimenti. On the l
Mexico - With its long sandy beaches, tropical climate, luxurious resort hotels and legendary nightlife, Cancún attracts millions of tourists each year. Traveling from across the US, as well as many other countries around the world, visitors flock to the famous Mexican city for relaxed days on the beach and wild nights of partying. Standing out amongst the city’s myriad of bars and clubs, The City Cancún is a huge venue with a capacity of 7,000. This vast multi-level club boasts an awe-inspiring lightshow which is anchored by a major installation of 130 ADJ Vizi Beam 5RX moving heads. Located in the heart of Cancun’s ‘hotel zone’, The City opened in 2004 and is now well-established as one of the resort’s most popular nightclubs. For the last eight years it has been managed by Grupo AntroMex, Mexico’s largest nightlife entertainment company which operates
UK - Ben Virgo has joined Chauvet as European senior product specialist for the company’s lighting products. Virgo brings an extensive technological background to his new position having previously served as head of technology at Factory Settings Ltd., where he was tasked with integrating technology into large-scale production projects. He was also the European technical manager at ENTTEC lighting controls. Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet, comments: “We’re excited to welcome Ben to our team. The growth of our company has been fuelled by the high quality of our products and service. In light of Ben’s experience, ability and passion for excellence, we’re confident he’ll fit right into the Chauvet culture and make valuable contributions to our efforts.” Michael Brooksbank, general manager of Chauvet Europe, adds: “Ben is a great addition to our team. His t
