USA - Technological innovation is nothing new at the Rio Grande Theatre. Opened in 1926, as a silent movie hall, the two-story building was retrofitted three years later with sound equipment, making it among the earliest theatres in its state to show ‘talkies’. It was also the first business in Las Cruces to be air conditioned. History repeated itself earlier this year, when the venue, which now hosts a diverse mix of theatrical productions, concerts and special film showings, took a technological step forward by replacing its old stage lighting with a new LED system that features a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by Hubbard’s Music. “This project involved replacing the existing conventional fixtures that Rio Grande was using,” said Will Sadler, project manager for Hubbard’s Music. “The theatre wanted a more flexible lighting system
India - Madrix, the German lighting control solution developed by ionage, received a PALM Sound & Light award for Lighting Product Innovation at the PALM Expo India held in Mumbai on 31 May - 2 June. Madrix 5, the latest version, was recognised for “bringing in exemplary innovations in lighting technology and opening up lighting creativity opportunities for lighting design engineers.” The 64-bit Madrix 5 promises the biggest performance boost the software has seen since it was first released in 2005. The new software also improves any compatible system, so users may not need to deploy new hardware in order to take advantage of the speed upgrade. It offers a dark and light UI themes, new effects and filters, while VJing is enhanced thanks to the new capabilities to directly play back the audio track of videos. The annual PALM Expo, held across five halls a
Canada - MDG, Montreal-based haze and fog generators manufacturer, has won the 2018 ESTim Award for Best Manufacturing Company from the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Montreal. The award was accepted by MDG CEO Martin Michaud and vice-president of finances Jacques Foisy. The 30th annual ESTim Awards ceremony took place in Montreal on 3 May to celebrate the outstanding achievements of businesses and organisations across the city. The ceremony was followed on 14 May by the official signing of the visitor’s book in the Borough of Montreal-North where MDG is located. This honour was carried out by Martin Michaud at the invitation of Christine Black, accompanied by Jacques Foisy, in the presence of the Borough Council. “This is an occasion I would not have missed,” says Michaud. “One can never be tired in the face of such an honour.” (Jim Evans)
USA - A large brassy blues and funk ensemble should be supported by a bold lightshow that covers the stage with intense, colourful and fast-moving light. Or so thinks Jeff Hinton, owner of 815 Productions, who put this theory into practice in late April when he lit a benefit show by Late Nite Blues Brothers and 10 of Soul with a high-octane lightshow created with a collection of 14 Chauvet DJ Intimidator fixtures. “When I have a super energised band with a lot of people in it, I like to get a lot of light directly on the performers and keep my light sources close to the stage,” says Hinton. “In my view, this is the best way to support the music. If you don’t do this, you always run the risk that your lighting will get lost.” With its high-domed ceiling and deep stage, the historic Dixon Theatre, where the benefit was held, and which was the beneficiary of th
UK - White Light was recently chosen to oversee a bespoke lighting installation in the Making the Modern World gallery - one of the flagship galleries at the Science Museum, London. The gallery features some of the museum’s most remarkable objects and artefacts, such as the Apollo 10 Command Module and the first-ever Apple computer, that are now illuminated by SGM’s R-2 Rail Lights. “I was looking for a source that could fulfill a range of functions, including daytime exhibition lighting and event lighting. As a result, I needed a fixture that allowed full remote control of colour and intensity,” explained WL’s lighting designer, Jason Larcombe, in regard to choosing SGM’s R-2s. WL was asked to deliver a system that would keep the museum’s existing look during the day, yet have the ability to be transformed at night for special events. “I
UK - Liverpool-based rental and production specialist Adlib supplied lighting and sound equipment and crew to the recent Just Passing Through acoustic tour by American singer / songwriter and musician Ray LaMontagne. The UK dates saw the artist get up close to his fans in an intimate touring environment, joined onstage by Wilco bassist Jon Stirratt. It’s the first acoustic tour by LaMontagne for seven years and has been “extremely successful”. The production team was led by production manager Mark Jones. Adlib provided an L-Acoustics K2 sound system with system tech Mike Thorpe and the lighting rig was looked after by Adlib’s Kevin Byatt. The K2 was actually specified by Mark Jones and LaMontagne’s FOH engineer Ryan Pickett was very happy to go with that decision, “It’s such a smooth and ‘musical’ speaker and that’s why Mark chose it a
Germany - Countless parties take place on May Day in Germany and this year one of the best took place in Cologne as hometown band Brings rocked Lanxess Arena with a high-energy Polka Party. TSL Production of Cologne supported the event as the full-service technical provider and used a full complement of Elation lighting gear to support the rock ‘n’ roll show. Brings have been performing for over 25 years and the evening proved a nostalgic journey through the band’s long list of hits. Some 13,000 guests attended the four-hour concert, which took place in combination with an after-show party. Lighting design was by Dominik Schmid, head of lighting for Brings, along with Frank Schmitz, technical supervisor and owner of TSL Production. TSL Production supports Brings as technical provider at all their concerts and developed the entire technical concept (lighting, vi
UK - LM Productions has added two new AV products to its expanding rental fleet. The Eastbourne-based event production company has taken delivery of Digital Projection new M-Vision Laser projectors. These projectors pack a real punch at 18’000 lumens and 10’000:1 contrast ratios and produce amazing images, says the company. All LMP’s rental projectors come complete in flying frames ready to go and we offer 8’000 to 35’000 lumens and everything in between. LMP has also added a Kinetic lighting system with over 150 pieces. This system offers high performance DMX winches with a drop of up to 6m coupled with 25cm RGB LED lighting spheres and is controlled by the latest Matrix5 software & hardware systems. The Kinetic lighting system is modular and offers the flexibility to configure to bespoke designs. The system had been well received on a recent project of
South Africa - South African rock band Prime Circle have acquired Robe lighting fixtures for their current live tour. DWR Distribution supplied Robe MiniPointes, Robin LEDBeam 150s, Robe VIVAs and a Le Maitre MVS Hazer. “We’ve worked with DWR for quite some time now and the products are just amazing,” said Marco Gomes, bass guitarist and Prime Circle’s manager. “We firstly wanted to get lighting kit for touring purposes, but we also wanted to make sure that the product would be right. To us, there is no better product than the Robe gear.” Prime Circle are currently touring their seventh album If you don’t you never will. Their new gear includes eight Robe MiniPointes, eight Robin LEDBeam 150s, two Robin VIVAs and a Le Maitre MVS Hazer. “We are excited and hope that this will up our game, up our touring, and take the performance a step highe
UK - Christie Lites UK has made a major investment in Kinesys automation equipment. The stage lighting company’s British operation has purchased 24 half-tonne Liftket motors with Kinesys Elevation 1+ vari-speed controllers, complete with LibraCELL load monitoring shackle pins and the brand’s powerful and flexible Vector control software package. Christie Lites UK account handler Andy Strachan comments: “Kinesys is constantly appearing on riders and technical specifications - a strong sign of their success and that is across all sectors of our work - corporate and industrial, concert touring, television and theatre”. Christie Lites CEO and founder Huntly Christie made the decision to go with Kinesys, together with Andy Strachan, Roy Hunt and Mathew Ilott who are all part of the Christie Lites UK’s account management team. The Kinesys investment is an in
USA - The annual Billboard Latin Music Conference landed in Las Vegas in April with a series of star-studded events featuring Avolites-controlled lighting supplied by Miami-based production specialist 3G Productions. The four-day conference was held at The Venetian hotel's Marcello Ballroom and hosted a series of performances and talks from Latin music stars including Steve Aoki, Maluma and Bad Bunny. The conference's audio, lighting and video were provided by 3G, who this year introduced Avolites consoles for the first time following the company's recent investment in the brand's Titan and Ai ranges. "We've been doing this event for 12 years in conjunction with our client ACME Productions," says Juan Ugas, 3G's lighting sales manager and production manager for the conference. "ACME trust our ability to be able to control the conference's various shows live and delive
UK - The National Theatre has embarked on a ‘progressive upgrade’, predominantly of its Martin TW1 halogen tungsten wash inventory. This month, the theatre took delivery of a total of 42 MAC Encores from Martin by Harman dealer Stage Electrics. All 42 units have been installed in the permanent rig at the Olivier Theatre. The acquisition forms part of a 10-year plan, as Paul Hornsby, the NT’s lighting resources manager, explains. “We review which equipment has reached end of life and decide what needs to be retired first - but the decision is driven by LDs as well. We only go dark for five days a year and we managed to replace these on the rig without losing a show.” The purchase was authorised jointly by Hornsby, head of lighting Matt Drury, and Jack Williams, lighting supervisor for the Olivier Theatre, following a three-day evaluation against a number of co
USA - Steely Dane, an 18-piece tribute band, captures the sound that made Steely Dan one of the most influential shapers of post 1960s rock. Their musical kinship with the original band was evident recently when they performed at the Schauer Arts & Activities Centre outside Milwaukee. Paying careful attention to each instrument, providing crystal clear backup vocals and serving up signature Steely Dan slash chords, the band took their audience on a musical journey back in time. Supporting it all visually was a Glenn Ottenbacher-designed lightshow that blended the best of old and new looks with help from Chauvet Professional Rogue and COLORado fixtures. “We had a wide stage with a lot of musicians on it, so we used a lot of lighting fixtures to create some big looks,” says Ottenbacher, owner of AGS Event Productions. “We had some flash and colours reminiscent
Qatar - Creative Communication Group (CCG), a Doha-based rental, event management and production company, has recently purchased a number of Robe MegaPointes and Spiider moving lights for its rental inventory. CCG’s director of lighting Michel Khairallah explained that as a busy rental operation over the years, they have dealt with moving lights from several brands. “Having had good experiences in the past with Robe’s fixtures and knowing the reliability, toughness and quality of the light output, I was convinced that increasing our Robe stock was a solid investment.” The events CCG produces include many large-scale government and cultural shows and festivals, for which they need the brightest and most durable luminaires. They also organise and deliver executive events and entertainment driven experiential projects for corporate, and private clients, dealing w
USA - City Theatrical has expanded its QolorFLEX brand of professional flexible linear LED lighting to include QolorFLEX Connect 10, a practical and time saving solution for managing the multiple wire runs and numerous connections needed for large scale installations of LED Tape in entertainment and architectural projects. Built with a Nema 4 IP 20 steel enclosure, QolorFLEX Connect 10 offers a 40A maximum current per device and a 20A maximum load per terminal. The device speeds up setup process and is useful for sets that require assembly multiple times, such as touring productions. Developed to complement QolorFLEX 5-in-1 LED Tape, QolorFLEX Connect 10 is a ‘plug-in box’ that can connect up to nine runs of five, four, three, dual, or single colour LED tape to a low voltage low dimmer. Each unit uses 10 six position detachable Phoenix terminal block connectors pe
Spain - German wireless event lights manufacturer Astera has announced the appointment of Entertainment Equipment Supplies (EES) as its exclusive distributor for Spain. Effective immediately, EES will be distributing and servicing the German brand’s battery-powered entertainment and film lighting X-series. EES is a distribution company specialising in lighting equipment, accessories and lighting solutions leader in the entertainment sector based in the Basque Country. Other brands it represents include Robe, Philips Vari-Lite and Robert Juliat. (Jim Evans)
Europe - As the professional entertainment lighting industry continues to seek an exemption for specialist lighting from the European Union’s Ecodesign regulation, an industry task force has said the situation is “far more positive” and “greatly improved” following the latest round of talks with the EU. The EU DG Energy has now passed a revised draft of the regulation, its content expected to be revealed in a few weeks as it progresses through the committee stages of the process. The Professional Entertainment Lighting Products Ecodesign task group – the body representing the industry during the public consultation – has confirmed there will be a ‘comprehensive’ list of exempted lamp base types, but some specialist lamps used for non-entertainment purposes may not be included. The full content of the regulation will be publicly avai
USA - At Lightfair 2018 ETC debuted EchoTouch, a controller designed to give customised lighting looks for a variety of spaces. A stand-alone or integrated controller in ETC’s Echo line of architectural lighting solutions, EchoTouch also offers advanced lighting controls like sequence programming and colour tuning, all from a 7-inch touchscreen. EchoTouch works in an Echo control system. All Echo control and power products are compatible: control stations, responsive controls, interfaces and EchoDIN power controllers. Integration and control for DMX and sACN fixtures and devices is also straightforward. Building managers can use EchoTouch to programme Echo zones and preset looks so day-to-day use of a space is easy. Special sequences can easily be created via the intuitive interface with easy-to-use faders and buttons displayed on a vibrant seven inch screen. Nativ
UK - Folk punk singer-songwriter Frank Turner recently played four sold-out nights at London’s Roundhouse venue, performing four different sets and presenting lighting designer Tom Mason-Smith with the task of creating four totally different lighting designs. Tom’s company Dragonfly Lighting provided a Robe specials package including 12 x MegaPointes, 24 x BMFLs, 24 x PATT 2013s and 12 CycFX 8s to cover the four shows and assist him make each one “a personal and memorable experience for Turner’s eclectic and loyal fanbase”. Tom also used elements of the house rig including 18 x LEDBeam 100s. The first night featured a snappy touring set – they have recently finished a UK tour - for which Tom needed flashy, bright, punky and folky lighting and chose a mix of traditional and contemporary lightsources as specials, with 12 x MegaPointes on a large box truss in
World - British progressive rock pioneers Marillion are currently delighting fans with their hit world tour, which marks over three decades of the band's music. A celebration of musical storytelling, the show is enhanced by a theatrical lightscape created by the band's long-term lighting designer Yenz Nyholm, who selected the Claypaky Scenius Spot to deliver key animation lighting effects and rich, vibrant colour onstage. Integral to Nyholm's design is an intricate back wall of light that surrounds an 8 x 5m projection screen. Above the top edge of the screen, Nyholm places a row of Scenius Spots to create a varied web of jewel coloured beams and wide, saturated washes. Supplying the fixtures for the UK leg was British lighting hire specialist Siyan. "The band as a whole is very theatrical," says Nyholm. "You don't just 'light' them, but play along with the music and
USA - The future was on full display in Manhattan early this May during Digital Content NewFronts, a week-long showcase for media buyers of the latest digital and video creations from the leading names in entertainment, news and information technology. A must-see venue for the executives who descended on New York for the event was Pier 26, where Oath, a division of Verizon that reaches over one billion people worldwide through its digital media brands, introduced an exciting array of new content. Hosted by Jamie Foxx, Oath Digital Content NewFronts offered guests a smorgasbord of live entertainment options to go along with the chance to preview upcoming productions from brands like Yahoo and Huffington Post. Taking place on two main stages, along with a half dozen smaller satellite units, the evening event featured performances by stars like DJ Irie, Broadway da
UK - On a high from last year’s 40th anniversary celebration, PLASA Show returns to London Olympia on 16-18 September, providing a stage for the world of live entertainment technology. The show continues to explore the cutting-edge of innovation and creativity and brings the biggest brands to thousands of visitors. Audio heavyweights L-Acoustics, Peavey and Adamson, and lighting pioneers Robe, DTS, ETC and Philips are among the 200+ brands exhibiting at the show. And, with last year’s showfloor selling out, extra stands have been released for smaller companies representing all sectors of the industry, from DJ and club, to worship and education. The show provides invaluable opportunities for those with an interest in working with lighting consoles and loudspeaker systems by providing dedicated training sessions and demos. There will also be more hands-on experience
UK - Cross 5 is the latest in a new range of high-performance cable protection ‘crossover’ products launched by Penn Elcom this year. It can be used for any temporary installation or working environment where safe ground-based cable protection is required. Cross 5 is manufactured from thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), chosen for its recyclability, and has been developed to provide a five-channel cable protector with unrivalled strength, abrasion resistance and flexibility. It is also fire retardant to DIN EN 13501-1. Serious weight capacity ensures that all types of vehicles - including a standard 44t artic - can safely drive over Cross 5. The Penn Elcom Cross system is made from two elements - the base section and the ramp. The base section acts as a connector piece from which numerous variations and combinations of crossover can be created. The ramp s
USA - LifeWay Students, part of LifeWay Christian Resources, holds summer camps that travel across the nation. The annual X. WKND kick-off event is an opportunity for all the summer camp staff members to come together as one before heading out on the road. Held inside the Shocco Springs Conference Centre, production designer Jake Brantley wanted to give the 2018 event an in-the-round worship experience, so he worked with Elite Multimedia Productions who provided a full rig of audio, lighting and LED video. “This year we wanted to do something a little different, so we started talking about what was possible in a gymnasium with very limited rigging points,” says Brantley. “We started playing around with the idea of doing it in the round, but one of the challenges was that the highest point in the ceiling is only at 26ft, so we decided to push our LED video surfac
