Belgium - Robe’s Pointes, Spikies, Spiiders, LEDWash 300s and CycFX 8s proved themselves invaluable when lighting designer Wouter Vebeke had to squeeze a somewhat ambitious lighting rig into Mercardo, Antwerp, for the band Arsenal’s new album launch. Wouter has worked with Arsenal - the name came from a World War II weapons depository adjacent to their studio in Brussels - since 2011. They are one of the most popular bands in Belgium, known for their dynamic mix of electronic music and fusion of multiple genres to create a unique sound that’s earned much international acclaim. They wanted a special location for the launch of their sixth studio album In the Rush of Shaking Shoulders, an album which explores themes and theories related to chaos v structure. After throwing many ideas about, band leader Hendrick Willemyns hit on the Mercado. Originally part of
New Zealand - ACLX recently upgraded their lighting inventory with Martin by Harman RUSH series fixtures from Show Technology to supply theatre shows, live music performances, conferences and more. "We chose the RUSH MH series because each fixture is portable and easy to deploy on small stages, yet powerful enough to hold their own on the largest stages in the country,” explained Aaron Chesham, managing director of ACLX. “The RUSH MH series was exactly what we needed - each fixture offers an impressive output with a small footprint at an affordable price. The MH fixtures have great optics, bold colours, and beautiful effects - they save us time and money without sacrificing quality. The RUSH MH series can do everything our clients need and more with fewer fixtures than the competition.” "ACLX wanted to update their lighting inventory with fixtures capable of cr
USA - No sooner had LA-based RKDE taken delivery of Ayrton Ghibli fixtures from ACT Lighting, Inc. than the LED spot luminaires were quickly dispatched to E3’s trade show floor and then to the American Idol Live nationwide tour. For nearly 30 years, RKDE has provided production for festivals, tours, automotive events, corporate conventions, television productions, private events, and religious services. The boutique company maintains an extensive inventory of lighting, staging, audio and video equipment. “We were looking for new technology – we wanted to get away from standard lamps, which are expensive to maintain and replace,” says RKDE’s owner, Ray Woodbury, a longtime production professional. “We wanted a fixture with the output and capabilities that would surpass traditional lamp fixtures and that’s exactly what Ghibli gives us. “I
Slovenia - Lightact, a Slovenian media server manufacturer, has launched a new version of their flagship software. Lightact v3.0.4 features NDI integration, HAP codec playback, a new real-time particle engine and a number of new real-time texture processing filters. Lightact is an integrated suite combining standard media server functionalities such as projection and multi-screen mapping and DMX lighting control with real-time rendering capabilities and reliability features aimed at permanent installations. The suite includes Lightact Cloud installation monitoring solution and Lightact WebUIs client user interfaces. Lightact also includes a real-time 3D rendering engine and Unreal Engine integration. Mitja Prelovšek, CEO of Lightact, says: "We are extremely thrilled to be able to push v3.0.4 out as it further expands Lightact's core media server functionalities
USA - SNY Studios at 4 World Trade Centre, the home of the New York Mets, has one of the most impressive settings for a broadcast studio anywhere. Located on the 50th floor of 4 World Trade Centre, the studio offers breathtaking views of Manhattan below. For all its glamour and excitement, though, the skyscraper venue presents challenges when it comes to lighting broadcasts. Having enough output during the day to stand out against the open-air background without bouncing light off windows is essential to making the studio’s system work; so too is having solid low ends when broadcasting at night. Mike Grabowski of the Lighting Design Group met these and other challenges at the state-of-the-art SNY 4 studio with help from over 300 Chauvet Professional Ovation fixtures. “SNY’s Studio 42, numbered after baseball great Jackie Robinson, has a unique environment becaus
UK - One of the best-selling artists of all time, Tina Turner’s fascinating life story has now been turned into a stage show with TINA – The Tina Turner Musical. Written by Olivier Award-winning playwright Katori Hall, the show charts Tina’s humble beginnings in Nutbush, Tennesee to her transformation into the global Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll. The show is playing at the Aldwych Theatre in London’s West End and as a leading lighting supplier to some of the biggest shows in the country, White Light was called upon to provide the lighting equipment. TINA – The Tina Turner Musical is directed by Phyllida Lloyd and features a lighting design by Bruno Poet. Bruno comments: “My brief for the show was to help tell this extraordinary story and make the performers come alive within Mark Thompson’s elegant design. The set frames the actors beautifully
Germany - BlackTrax has announced that Amptown System Company is the latest to join the growing BlackTrax partner network. The company will be responsible for the sales, support and marketing of BlackTrax real time motion tracking systems throughout the German speaking market. “BlackTrax was the perfect addition to our package of audio, visual and lighting solutions. We invested in BlackTrax to meet the exponential demand for increasingly challenging media presentations that require automation and complete systemflexibility,” said Malte Polli-Holstein, key account manager at Amptown System Company. “BlackTrax is a respected brand and we’re delighted to be bringing it to Germany.” The latest addition to BlackTrax’s strong ecosystem of partners, Amptown System Company brings over 25 years’ experience and works in several markets including cruise ships, mus
USA - Clearwing Productions deployed a Harman Professional Solutions audio and lighting solution made up of JBL Professional loudspeakers, Crown amplifiers and Martin lighting fixtures at Summerfest 2018. Summerfest features over 1,000 performances across 11 stages and attracts nearly one million people annually. In order to provide premium audio and lighting for the world’s top music artists, Clearwing Productions deployed rigs at multiple stages across the festival, including the JBL VTX A12 loudspeakers, and the newly-released Martin MAC Encore fixtures. “Summerfest is home to the world’s top artists and we’re thrilled to use JBL Professional and Martin lighting to provide an amazing experience for performers and audience members alike,” said Gregg Brunclik, president/CEO of Clearwing Productions. “The new JBL A12s sound incredible - they allow the artis
Australia - 32 Hundred Lighting’s managing director Iain Reed has been a busy man; he’s recently overseen major installations he created during Vivid, including the gigantic Harbour Lights project that used GPS to coordinate lighting changes on commercial ships and Sydney ferries covered in LEDs as they move through the harbour. He also collaborated with artist Joe Cox on Colours of Remembrance, lighting King’s Cross’s El Alamein Fountain as part of the multiple installations and sculptures in the precinct. Both projects made excellent use of the dazzlingly bright TMB Solaris Flare IP, the IP65 rated wash that kicks out (appropriately) 32,000 lumens. The imposing Crimean War-era tower of Fort Denison was lit by two Solaris Flare IPs, while the El Alamein fountain’s 12 by 12m footprint was covered by one. “The most important thing for an
Taiwan - The 29th edition of the Golden Melody Award (GMAs) staged in the 15,000 seat Taipei Arena presented a golden opportunity for Robe’s RoboSpot remote follow spotting system to show its flexibility and scope – the first time it’s been used in Taiwan. Organised by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, the GMAs recognise outstanding singing achievements in Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka and Formosan languages in both the popular and traditional music industries, attracting artists and audience from all over Asia. Moderated by Jam Hsiao, the 2018 show was broadcast live by Taiwan national TV throughout South-East Asia. Hong Kong based LD Stanley Szeto lit the show, working for the Artesian Engineering Co Ltd. Stanley is a long-time user of Robe products, so when asked to design lighting for this event, he seized the chance to use Robe Pointes on the rig to create
Australia - Memphis may be over 10,000 miles away, but every year, the town of Forth in Tasmania (population 700) resonates with sounds reminiscent of Beal Street as it plays host to the Forth Valley Blues Festival. This year, the thousands of visitors who descended on the event were entertained by artists like Mark Seymour of Hunters & Collectors fame and Guitar Extravaganza featuring Kevin Borich, Phil Emmanuel and Tim Gaze. Setting an appropriately evocative mood for the festival was an intensely powerful and richly textured lightshow designed by Michael Westcott that featured Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Spot fixtures, supplied by Show Systems Australia. Westcott flew eight of the 440W moving LED fixtures over the festival’s main stage, half on upstage truss and half on midstage truss. Controlling the fixtures via sACN and drawing on features like
USA – When the San Jose McEnery Convention Centre needed a new lighting system that could support the multi-use, high-production-value conventions their clients expect, they turned to ETC. Now they have a lighting system as advanced as the industry around them. “The previous sodium light fixtures were from the ‘80s,” says Gabriel Nemeth, director of event operations. “Advances in technology and changing client demands put us behind the times.” This was particularly true for trade shows that demand a space that serves multiple functions, with some sections being used for keynotes and others for trade show booths. Clients would ask for dimmed lights over the keynote area and bright light in the tradeshow sections – something the old system couldn’t do, costing the client more money to get the effect they wanted. The sodium fixtures were also unflatt
UK - London's hit new immersive experience, SOMNAI, is tripping out visitors with its dreamlike visuals mapped onto a perspective bending dome at the heart of the production using Avolites Ai's Autoblend feature. SOMNAI is the latest project from dotdotdot, in collaboration with a host of video content and AV specialists including long-time Ai expert, GaiaNova. The British 360° dome mapping specialist acted as the production's dome system integrator. "We knew that Avolites' Ai Infinity R6 media server was the right choice for this project, loaded with v10 software and its essential Autoblend feature," says Ben Stern from GaiaNova. "Autoblend is a complete game-changer in how you map domes. It simplifies the entire process and the results are amazing. It's so good that trying to do it any other way is unthinkable - I wouldn't map a dome using anything els
USA - With headliners like Eminem, The Killers, Muse, Sheryl Crow, Paramore and Kaskade, the 17th annual Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival offered plenty of great music to enjoy. But North America’s largest outdoor festival has always been about sights as well as sounds. This year’s edition, which ran from 7-10 June, pumped up the visual excitement even more than usual with a massive off-stage lighting display that wrapped around the stages and surrounded the audience in a sea of changing colours. Looking like a magical tale come to life, the outdoor display, which was designed by David Weiner of David Weiner Design, swept up visitors with its rainbow of coloured trees, making it easy for them to set their imaginations free. Creating this captivating colour-scape were 1000 Chauvet Professional COLORado fixtures, supplied and installed by The Design Oasis.
Italy - For the recent Jovanotti tour, Lorenzo Live 2018, which has been playing sport arenas in the main Italian cities, prominent British lighting designer, Paul Normandale, requisitioned 44 GLP impression X4 Bar 20 from rental company Agorà, to light both A and B stages during the show. These formed the anchors of what he describes as “an immersive design of the whole room, with moving stages, screens and set”. The designer set 14 X4 Bars in a line on the back of the main stage, behind the musicians, another 14 on the front of the main stage, eight on Stage B (two per side) and the remainder in strategic positions on the main stage. During the show, the X4 Bars had a key role to play, especially when Lorenzo played on Stage B, which elevates 5mfrom the ground, in a DJ set. Paul Normandale commended the X4 Bar 20s as being “clear low prof
Belgium - Light Moves was a stunning indoor 'son et lumière' (sound and light) installation designed and produced by Koert Vermeulen, an award-winning lighting designer and founder of Belgium-based international lighting design agency ACTLD. Appearing for one night only in the Gothic remains of an abandoned church in the centre of Brussels, the installation featured the Claypaky Sharbar as star product, amongst a range of other fixtures from the Italian brand. Originating in France, son et lumière shows focus on historic architecture and places of interest, with light shows set to music. For Light Moves, Vermeulen brought the outside in, drawing from his knowledge of the relationship between light and human emotion to create an intimate, ten-minute show for his guests. "I know the kinds of sensation you can bring using light," says Vermeulen, wh
UK - Pinewood MBS Lighting (PMBS) has announced Billy Smith as the first team member to complete its apprentice programme. The PMBS Apprentice Programme was introduced to provide in-depth, hands-on instruction and tuition covering all aspects of working within the electrical department. Smith joined PMBS as an apprentice lighting technician in June 2015 and has undergone training throughout each department within the warehouse, gaining working knowledge of the company’s specialist lighting equipment. Along with in-house experience, Smith also completed the necessary electrical qualifications at Uxbridge College whilst adding some additional practical proficiency via secondment with a contracting electrician. Toby Dare, PMBS operations director, says: “Billy has built up a solid working knowledge of all aspects of the lighting department. From stands to distr
Europe - Lighting director Dave Lee has been working with Niall Horan since the very first One Direction show at Watford Colosseum to the band’s final performance in Sheffield, and following last year’s Promo tour, is now constantly on tour with original band member, Niall Horan as a solo artist. “In five years I have never really stopped working with him,” he says. On the Irish singer’s current Flicker World Tour, Lee has been touring with 38 of GLP’s X4 Bar 20s, supplied by rental partner LCR. He found these helped extend a stage set originally conceived last year, depicting an acoustic studio look, with lots of sound proof acoustic foam set pieces, tungsten lighting and big rugs as a floor covering. He switched his original spec to GLP’s versatile battens after seeing them on a car launch for the Jaguar F-PACE car (on which he was running
Europe - The PLASA Awards for Innovation are now open for entries. Product manufacturers and developers are invited to enter the annual awards by 17 August (Friday). Successfully nominated products will feature on the Innovation Gallery throughout the PLASA Show (16-18 September, London Olympia), with winners announced at a special ceremony on 17 September (Monday). Entries will be judged by an independent panel of industry experts, with up to eight awards, including the possibility of Gold Award, set to be given to products and solutions that demonstrate a new style of thinking, improve technical practice and safety, introduce new technology, materials or techniques, or offer new commercial advantages. The PLASA Award for Sustainability may be presented to a solution that achieves significant power reduction, has a positive impact on the environment or makes an effective us
Canada - Solotech’s Toronto-based Integration Division has announced the appointment of Keith Danby as senior business developer. Danby will be in charge of growing Solotech’s integration business and market share in Southern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area, developing new and existing business accounts in the corporate, government and institutional segments. Regional sales manager Rob Poretti comments: "Keith brings many years of lighting industry, sales and marketing experience to our group of professionals. We welcome him on board and look forward to expanding our industry-recognised level of service even further.” (Jim Evans)
Belgium - Lighting designer Rik Uyttersprot from GRAViTY Design injected an edgy and raw lighting aesthetic to help showcase the stark bare stage production values of WOW at the Kortrijk Xpo in Belgium. The performance comprised over 50 dance segments which were presented as the end of year work by classic and contemporary students from the Pirouette Dans School, one of the most famous dance and choreographic academies in Belgium. Woven into the intense action and drama were 20 x Robe Spiider LED wash beams and 48 little LEDBeam 150 moving lights. These are part of a new purchase by Roeselare based lighting rental company La Strada Fashion which was delivered by Robe’s Benelux distributor, Controllux. Rik has lit the annual Pirouette Dans show for over a decade and has worked with La Strada Fashion, which is owned by Roland D’Hondt, for around 18 year
UK - Manchester’s 2,400-seat Bridgewater Hall presents a challenge for the facility’s technicians, who are often called upon to run the lighting for its many events. Jonathan Rowland, technical manager of the hall, recently made it easier for his staff to perform this task by installing a ChamSys MagicQ MQ80 console. “Given the volume and diversity of what is booked here - everything from orchestral to rock concerts, as well as corporate events and graduations - our techs are often running the lights,” he explains. “We needed a lighting desk that all of our technicians could operate, even the sound guys! “We looked at the available options that aligned with what our venue needed,” continues Rowland. “A trusted supplier, Chris Bogg of DBS Solutions, recommended ChamSys. The more we studied it, the more it seemed that the MQ80 with a PC Wing fitted the bi
UK - Lighting and rigging specialist TSL has announced that Jonathan 'Jonny' Tingle, has joined the team as a senior project manager. In his new role, he will focus on expanding and developing the company's work in the corporate and special events sector. Following the recent acquisition of Blinding Light by TSL, Tingle will be based at the Blinding Light office in Basingstoke, where his role will be to support existing business and grow the company's client base. Tingle comments: "I'm delighted to have joined TSL and I anticipate being here for many years to come. I will certainly enjoy working with the fantastic team of experienced, dedicated and skilled professionals, in a relaxed and friendly environment. I'm looking forward to building productive relationships with my new colleagues and with TSL's clients, both existing and new." Prior to joining TSL, Tingle
Italy - DTS has launched Synergy 5 Profile, a new moving head in the company’s LED Profile range designed for live and broadcast productions. Synergy 5 Profile’s main feature is the quality of the emitted light - CRI is higher than 90, with R9 (red) higher than 80, ensuring a realistic reproduction of colours and skin tones, according to DTS. An example of the fixture’s versatility is the availability of a second selectable CRI in the same unit: CRI >75 for high brightness for applications where power is the key factor, such as large concerts. First batches of the new fixture will start to ship at the end of July to cover all distributors orders already placed. (Jim Evans)
