Lighting

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11 October 2024

Hungary - Robe fixtures were prominent on a number of lighting installations designed by Centrum Production and delivered by VEG (Visual Europe Group) for the 2024 Hungarian National Day Celebrations in capital city Budapest.

iBolts, iFortes and iForte LTXs together with MegaPointes and Tarrantulas were utilised across five key sites on the main day of celebrations which included performances, attractions and events taking place along a 5km-long stretch on both sides of the River Danube that dissects the Hungarian capital city.

The project was managed for VEG by Kristof Nagy and the five areas utilising Robe products were the 118m-wide Hungarian Parliament Building, the Hungarian National Gallery, the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, Elisabeth Bridge and the Mandoki Soulmates stage.

The imposing and majestic Parliament Building on the Pest side of th

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11 October 2024

Czech Republic - Žerotín Castle in Valašské Meziříčí has a new look and style for after dark with an installation of Anolis Calumma M and L LED fixtures, which were chosen to illuminate this heritage-protected building that houses a museum and gallery centre covering the whole Zlín region.

The initiative to light the building was led by Valašské Meziříčí’s city council working with lighting design studio Archlights.cz from Usti nad Labem, who provided expertise and selected the Calummas for the job.

The architectural lighting practice has utilised Anolis – a Robe business – products on several other jobs with great success, so it again looked towards the brand for a stylish, high-quality lighting solution.

The brief included creating some very specific colours to match the brickwork and general ambience of the Baroque-sty

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10 October 2024

USA - Jonny Tosserello, production manager and lighting designer/director for Lynyrd Skynyrd, is continuing his long-time use of Claypaky Xtylos for The Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour with ZZ Top co-headlining. Tosserello is a principal of Rock’n’Roll Drive-in based in southeastern Missouri.

Lynyrd Skynyrd, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, kicked off the 22-city North American leg of the ongoing tour with ZZ Top in July in West Palm Beach and wrapped in Ridgefield, Washington in September. Premier Global Production Company, Nashville, is the lighting vendor for the tour.

“I started deploying Xtylos in 2021 when they became available through Premier,” recalls Tosserello, who has been Lynyrd Skynyrd’s lighting director since 2010. “I wanted more beam fixtures in the band’s floor package, and Steven (Creech) Anderso

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10 October 2024

UK - The National Theatre’s acclaimed production of War Horse takes audiences on an extraordinary journey from the fields of rural Devon to the trenches of World War One France. Filled with stirring music and songs, it has become renowned for its astonishing use of life-sized horses by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company, who help bring this story to life on stage.

Having first been performed in 2007, the show is returning once again for an all-new UK and Ireland tour, featuring a lighting design by Rob Casey. Given the company’s long-term involvement with the show, White Light (WL), a d&b solutions company, was called upon to supply the touring lighting rig.

The original production of War Horse was lit by Paule Constable, who would also light subsequent touring productions. For these, Casey initially served as one of

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10 October 2024

USA - 3G Productions LLC (3G) has announced that it has received a strategic investment from Chimney Rock Equity Partners (Chimney Rock), a private equity firm focused on lower-middle-market industrial investments. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Chimney Rock’s investment in 3G was made with the intent ‘to leverage the company’s longstanding reputation in live event production and systems integration services to grow into a national brand, both organically and via acquisitions’. With Chimney Rock’s partnership, 3G expects to actively seek to add new locations and customers and increase its already strong market share.

Under the terms of the agreement, the 3G management team, consisting of CEO Keith Conrad, CFO Andrew Ross, executive VP Jay Curiel, and VP of production Andy Ruiz, will remain in place, and all current employee

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10 October 2024

Spain - Alfalite has been selected by Telefónica Tech, the technology arm of the global telecom giant Telefónica, to complete one of the standout installations at the new Espacio Movistar, the company’s latest flagship venue.

Located in the Telefónica Building on Madrid’s Gran Vía, the project is part of Telefónica's 100th-anniversary celebrations. Alfalite has designed and installed a five-sided immersive LED cube, covering three walls, the floor, and the ceiling, using its Alfalite Modularpix Pro 1.5 ORIM panels.

This LED cube creates an immersive sensory experience for visitors, leveraging state-of-the-art visual technology. The cube’s multiple high-resolution screens, combined with the durability of Alfalite’s panels draw viewers into dynamic and immersive content. The installation is part of Telefónica Tech’s strategy to infuse i

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10 October 2024

USA - The Struts recently concluded the 28-date USA leg of their Pretty Vicious tour. Lighting designer Carlos Katsurayama transformed the stage with a shifting variety of dramatic looks throughout the show that wrapped themselves tightly around the mood of the music. Helping him create this evocative canvas on stage was a rig supplied by LIT Lighting of Phoenix, which featured 14 Chauvet Professional Maverick Force S Profiles.

Positioned on the riser, behind the guitar amps, the compact moving fixture with a seven-slot colour wheel and 14,000 lumen output was used to create a dynamic backdrop for the band. Drawing on features like the profile’s 120-degree complete module rotation and wide zoom ranges, Katsurayama was able to conjure up a variety of captivating looks.

“The Force S Profile brought a good level of intensity to everything,

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08 October 2024

Denmark - Robe moving lights – Esprites, Spiiders, iSpiiders and iForte LTXs used as followspots – all had impact on the lighting and set designed by Simon Corder for Opera Hedeland’s La fanciulla del West (Girl of the Golden West) by Puccini, which is set in a Gold Rush prospecting town in 19th century western USA.

Opera Hedeland offers Denmark's largest permanent outdoor stage, and an elegant 3,000-capacity amphitheatre sculpted into the landscape, a haven for opera lovers with open minds where they can imbibe an extraordinary site-specific experience each year with a series of special performances. The beauty of the former gravel quarrying area – now returned to natural heathland and forests – permeates the venue which nestles amidst a 15sq.k recreational area, approximately 20km out of the central Copenhagen hustle.

Th

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08 October 2024

Canada - Salle Odyssée, the cultural performance theatre at the Maison de la Culture complex in Gatineau, Québec, has installed a wide range of Ayrton and Robert Juliat lighting fixtures and a new grandMA3 console provided by Perfecson, also in Gatineau. All three brands are exclusively distributed in North America by ACT Entertainment.

Salle Odyssée is a busy venue which daily hosts a variety of shows, including music and stand-up comedy. The new equipment is part of a CAD$5m project for a state-of-the-art upgrade of the theatre.

An AV equipment rental facility, integrator and production services company, Perfecson worked closely with Salle Odyssée to provide the right equipment for the upgrade. Perfecson also continues to supply local labour to supplement the small team of in-house technicians during performances.

“The theatre was usi

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08 October 2024

UK - Rapidly expanding family business GLO Film Lighting has made a timely investment in Data Strategy’s QC-Check, the automated equipment safety inspection system. With QC-Check integrated into its rental software package, GLO Film Lighting maintained the high level of service integral to its ethos, whilst it focused on company growth.

Based in South-West London, GLO Film Lighting provides dry and wet equipment rental to customers across the UK in the television, commercial and film industries. To carry out electrical equipment testing, cable testing and the inspection of power distribution boxes, QC-Check was customised to include the PAT-4, CAB-4 and RCD-t testing units from OutBoard.

With equipment increasingly going out as complete dry hire packages, GLO Film Lighting is confident that every picked item has been tested well within safety regul

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08 October 2024

UK - Obsidian Control Systems has announced the hiring of Edward Smith as the company’s new product support and development specialist. Smith is an authority in entertainment lighting control systems and a valued professional that Obsidian has been eager to bring on board for some time.

“Like many say, patience is a virtue, and finding the right individual for this role was all about patience,” stated Koy Neminathan, business development director at Obsidian. “The Obsidian team and I have been monitoring Edward for some time and we are delighted to welcome him on board.”

Smith brings solid experience to the position from his previous role as a control product specialist at Zero 88 / Vari-Lite, where he worked providing technical support, software testing, product development, training, and demonstrations for lighting consoles and data distr

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07 October 2024

Portugal - Europalco has announced a new phase of expansion and innovation with its transformation into a group of companies: the Empowerment Ecosystem. This move aims to consolidate Europalco as the central brand of a dynamic ecosystem, with new companies strengthening its portfolio: New Audiovisuais, Rise, and Av Tech.

At the heart of this new system is Europalco, which takes on the role of empowering all the companies in the group. The Empowerment Ecosystem is built on a differentiated systemic narrative, where Europalco drives the growth and expansion of its companies, always focusing on the people who are part of this universe.

“The creation of the Empowerment Ecosystem is a natural step in Europalco’s evolution. We believe the synergies between New Audiovisuais, Rise, and Av Tech, backed by Europalco’s expertise, will ensure sustainable g

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07 October 2024

USA - Donald Glover’s recently completed The New World Tour was his last run of shows as the Grammy-winning artist Childish Gambino before he retired that stage persona.

“The idea of the whole tour was to build a world – The New World, as a sort of parallel universe, conveying a feeling of high tech but LOFI,” says production designer Tobias Rylander. “The world was to be dystopian and futuristic, not revealing if we’re headed toward darker times, or if we have just come out of them. It is a world where technology is modern but broken – and a world of not so high resolution.”

Lit by a carefully curated collection of fixtures, including the Chauvet Professional PXL Curve, this show opens with Gambino appearing on one of the two side stages dressed in a futuristic space suit surrounded by smoke, lights and laser beams. As he be

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04 October 2024

UK - Avolites has announced the launch of its Academy Online Learning Platform, which takes a ‘bite-sized’ learning approach and replaces the previous version launched in 2021.

This new platform will mean anyone with an internet connection can access and learn to use Avolites software. At launch, the platform will have the Titan Intermediate (Level 1) training course available and contains over 70 three-to-five-minute videos. All the individual videos are grouped together into ‘lessons’ for ease of navigation.

All the videos will have the option of an English voiceover appearing as subtitles in several languages, and more will be added in the future. To further promote users’ knowledge retention, taking the online courses and simultaneously practising live on the software is recommended.

After completing each video and lesson, there

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04 October 2024

USA - Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Sammy Hagar was on the road for two months over the summer with his Best of All Worlds tour that played across the USA with a line-up including Joe Satriani, and a lighting design created by Jamie Fadden featuring Robe moving lights prominently on the rig.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Fadden started working with the prolific artist four years ago and took over the LD position in 2021 and is also LD for Satriani. For this tour, a completely new lighting design was produced utilising 22 x Robe BMFL Spots and 10 x BMFL WashBeams, 40 x MegaPointes, 42 x Spiiders and five Tarrantulas together with eight Forte FollowSpots running on four RoboSpot BaseStations. All lighting equipment was supplied by Felix Lighting.

Fadden also produced most of the tour’s video content and the band risers were part of her

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04 October 2024

Denmark - At the heart of its northern city Aalborg’s cultural life is the Aalborg Kongres & Kultur Center (AKKC), one of Scandinavia's busiest entertainment and convention venues. Hosting concerts, theatre, ballet, exhibitions, and conventions, it welcomes over half a million guests annually.

After years of relying on traditional incandescent lighting, the venue decided to upgrade to a more versatile and energy-efficient LED system to better accommodate its diverse events. AKKC lighting technicians Jakob Krøyer and Thomas Nowakowski were instrumental in the search and eventual specification of a new LED lighting system for the venue’s main performance space, ultimately opting for Elation Fuze Max Profile and the KL Profile FC luminaires.

Krøyer explains the specific lighting requirements: “We needed an ellipsoidal fixture for static fron

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04 October 2024

Canada - This August, Pierre E Roy was the LD for Rock La Cauze, a festival that takes place over three days at Parc Terre des Jeunes in Victoriaville, Quebec. The main stage hosted 19 acts, mostly rock and metal artists, along with some reggae bands, like Atreyu, Thrice, Arch Enemy, and Sublime With Rome.

Roy’s versatile festival rig featured the Chauvet Professional Maverick MK1 Spot, seven Rogue Outcast BeamWashes, six Rogue R2 Beams, and 25 Colorado 2 Solo fixtures, all supplied by DGM Sonorisation.

“I only had 14 of the Mavericks, so good placement was important,” said Roy. “I studied all the light plots for each band programmed in our festival. I then introduced the light plan in a way that made it as easy for them to clone their show.

“Given how many acts we have to please, flexibility is important and a priority in the rig,

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04 October 2024

Europe - The Showtec Titan Strobe FLEX FX is designed to ‘revolutionise the way we experience strobe and effect lighting’.

The Titan Strobe FLEX FX features eight powerful pods, each equipped with a 100W cold white COB LED behind a Fresnel lens, delivering sharp and intense strobe effects. These effects are designed for high-energy environments like concerts, festivals, and large-scale productions, where impactful lighting is essential. Surrounding each COB LED are 12 integrated 2W RGBW LEDs, which can be controlled individually, giving you precise control to design intricate and dynamic lighting designs.

This fixture seamlessly integrates into modern lighting setups with ART-Net and sACN compatibility, ensuring it works effortlessly with larger systems. It also includes RDM (Remote Device Management) functionality, allowing for remote monitoring

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03 October 2024

Italy - Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest continuously running opera house in the world, is based in the historical heart of Naples. Renowned worldwide for its rich musical tradition, it presents over 250 performances of opera, ballet, and music every year.

As a leading cultural hub in Naples and one of Italy's most esteemed theatres, it features a modern lighting system equipped with numerous ETC products.

Nunzio Perrella, head of the lighting department and lighting designer, has had a long career at San Carlo, inspired by his father, who was also the venue's lighting designer. Starting young, Perrella staged small performances in his early teens and became a chief electrician for touring companies by his late teens. After gaining experience in television and touring with renowned artists across Italy, Perrella returned to Teatro di San Carlo at 23 a

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03 October 2024

The Netherlands - Located in Baarn, in the Utrecht region right in the centre of The Netherlands, Speeldoos Theatre is a vibrant local and national hub for culture including film screenings and all types of live performing arts. Last year, the venue, which has a 343-seat theatre space, invested in Robe T1 Profiles as part of a lighting upgrade.

Overseeing this was technical manager Kevin van Boeijen, who explained that they will typically stage over 100 events across a year, screening movies on Mondays and Tuesdays with live shows the rest of the week including opera live streams. Discos and parties are often hosted in the foyer, bands also play in the bar area, and the spaces are available for private events. There is constant activity.

The 16 x T1 Profiles were purchased to replace all the theatre’s generic PC and profile front light in the theat

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03 October 2024

Belgium - The organisers of Brussels’ Listen Festival selected the three-tunnel complex under Marie Louise Square as one of the sites for their city-wide event.

Fans crowded the tunnels to see international stars VTSS, Crystallmess and Mary Lake, along with local favourites like CJ Bolland and Nosedrip. Setting the visual tone for the shows was a dramatic lighting design by the John & Jane team that accentuated the intensely raw aesthetics of the tunnel structure.

“This was the third year in a row that we provided sound and light for multiple stages of Listen Festival,” said Lowie Lesage, technical supervisor of the project. “Listen Festival is known for their unusual locations. This year, having the festival take place in tunnels was a fun challenge. Our successful cooperations rely on good equipment and light and sound designs that matc

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03 October 2024

Denmark - [Lite]Com Group has expanded its rental inventory with the addition of the Prolights Astra Hybrid330, a compact and versatile hybrid fixture known for its power, precision, and wide range of visual effects. This makes it a suitable solution for a variety of events.

The decision followed a successful demonstration by Gobo, Prolights' distributor in Denmark and Sweden, where the Astra Hybrid330 impressed the [Lite]Com Group team with its ‘outstanding’ performance.

Recognising the fixture for transitioning from traditional R-Series lamps to LED technology, [Lite]Com Group invested in 120 additional units, adding to the 38 already in their catalogue. This brings their total inventory to 158 Astra Hybrid330 fixtures, solidifying the projector as a key asset for the wide range of events they support.

“Prolights has demonstrated an i

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02 October 2024

Europe - Green Day’s The Saviors Tour 2024 continues with Claypaky Tambora Flash fixtures from Upstaging accompanying the band on their world tour.

The band’s sold-out global stadium tour will play over 60 dates. It kicked off in May in Spain and celebrates the 30th anniversary of the album Dookie and the 20th anniversary of American Idiot, with the band playing both albums in their entirety along with hits from Green Day’s 14th studio album, Saviors. 

Green Day tasked The Playground, a creative collective and production house, with creating a production design for the tour consisting of three distinct acts, which give each album its own identity. 

“Our goal was to create a trilogy for this show with three completely different art and creative directions – scenic elements, content and Notch desi

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01 October 2024

UK – The Theatres Trust Conference returns next week (Tuesday 8 October), taking place at The Lowry in Salford. With a theme of ‘Making Theatres Thrive’, the full programme has now been announced and includes a mix of speakers, panels and case studies.
Speakers include senior politicians, such as: Cllr Bev Craig, leader of Manchester City Council and Economy, Business & Inclusive Growth lead for Greater Manchester Combined Authority; and Cllr Tracey Dixon, leader of South Tyneside Council and Portfolio Holder for Inclusion and Skills, North East Combined Authority.
Senior theatre leaders from across the UK will also present, including: Kathy Bourne, Chichester Festival Theatre; Kris Bryce, Pitlochry Festival Theatre; Selina Cartmel, Royal Exchange Theat