South Africa - Gripelectric Worx, the company of Emmanuel (Manny) Sitole, is based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and owns some specialist lighting kit, which is primarily used on Manny’s own projects. Most recently, it purchased eight of Astera’s award-winning PixelBricks from South African distributor DWR, which were the first in the country. He first heard about the PixelBrick via the ICLS (International Cinema Lighting Society) a global group of gaffers, rigging gaffers, and console programmers dedicated to expanding the field of cinematic lighting. The organisation frequently informs members about new and emerging technologies. Manny also already owned a set of Astera’s Titan and Helios Tubes which are constantly in use, so he was already familiar with the brand, the quality and functionality of the Titan LED engine and the excellent overall engineerin
The Netherlands - Armin van Buuren played five This Is Me, Feel Again shows at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome with lighting designed by his long-term LD Marc Heinz who included over 300 Robe moving lights on the rig. Postponed twice due to Covid, the shows featured a line up of dancers, guest vocalists and musicians Marc utilised 161 Pointes, 84 MegaPointes, 90 Spiiders and nine BMFL WashBeams with a RoboSpot system on his spec. He and assistant LD Jordy Veenstra worked closely with the TWOFIFTYK/EYESUPPLY team led by creative director Sander Reneman and show director Sophie Reneman who presented the dramatic set and visual concepts that defined the performance space. At the heart of this was a dynamic 20 14m box centrepiece that framed an A-shaped DJ booth containing Armin’s decks and performance tech. Central to the scenic design, above the box were f
UK - For 14 hours each day during the festival, the Glastonbury Festival Circus Big Top hosted 30 different acts by a colourful assortment of aerialists, acrobats and other performers, many of them internationally acclaimed troupes like Briefs Bite Club and Deja Voodoo. Ensuring that things progressed smoothly without a minute being wasted was a logistical triumph. Helping James Loudon and his crew realise this remarkable accomplishment was a flexible lighting rig supplied by Fineline Lighting that featured 12 Maverick Storm 1 Spot and an equal number of Maverick MK3 Wash fixtures from Chauvet Professional. Loudon, who started lighting the Circus Big Top at Glastonbury 20 years ago, ran his lighting rig on a ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M. “Everything is programmed, with no busking,” he says. “I designed the rig and programmed the lightshow based on the routines of the v
USA - The Verge Aero team was out in force across the USA on 4th July, helping thousands to celebrate Independence Day with multiple drone shows in Florida, Colorado, Nevada and California. The mammoth cross-country spectaculars were staged in collaboration with local authorities in each location and saw around 1,000 of Verge Aero’s high-performance drones take to the skies to display both patriotic imagery and content specifically tailored to each community. Many districts chose to present drone shows instead of the traditional fireworks to address public safety fire and environmental hazards, and in consideration of those who experience PTSD or have pets. Nils Thorjussen, CEO at Verge Aero, says comments: “America adopted drones for Fourth of July celebrations this year like never before - the interest in drone shows is increasing exponentially. People just
Japan - To achieve sound quality throughout the Life Grand Ship Ofuna Ekimae Store, Hibino Corporation outfitted the facility with dynamic JBL Professional Control 24 Micro ceiling speakers. Life Corporation is one of Japan’s largest retail chains, specialising in groceries and clothing. In 2021, the company opened the Life Grand Ship Ofuna Ekimae Store in front of Ofuna Station, a major transportation hub located on the border between Yokohama and Kamakura. The store’s management wanted to provide a memorable in-store experience for both customers and employees, but the existing sound system became a setback due to its poor sound quality. Hibino Corporation investigated and found that the current speakers were too sparsely installed for effective sound coverage and also doubled as the emergency broadcast system. The installation team then selected speakers from
UK - One of the stand-out fixtures at this year’s Glastonbury Festival was The Rave Tree. Stood in the centre of the Greenpeace field, it boasts a canopy made of 1,250 LED pixel lights woven amongst chandeliers of recycled plastic, and an arrangement of spots. “The Rave Tree was the main focus of our Glastonbury offering,” says Bailes+Light’s Benji Bailes, who served as lighting director and director of creative technology for Greenpeace. “Each year we further develop the ‘eco-system’ within the tree, with artists on our team creating illuminated bracket fungi and mycelium/mycorrhizal light installations within the trunk, so we can tell a story about symbiosis within nature.” With a colour palette based on the seasons: greens for spring, rich yellows and oranges for summer, deep reds for autumn and blues, whites and purples for winter, the Rave Tree evo
Germany - Bizzy Studios in Cologne is a specialist recording and mixing studio geared towards rap and pop music, with five fully kitted-out studio rooms. European artists such SSIO, Jamule and Kollegah are regulars, attracted to the ambience that studio owner Bizzy Mo has created, and the skills of the talented production and sound engineering teams. In the main studio, Van Damme XKE Starquad Series microphone cables and Van Damme Pro Grade XKE Pro-Patch Series balanced patch cables are used to connect outboard equipment. Bizzy Mo has also recently used Van Damme Toslink cables to connect digital audio between Dangerous Music and Universal Audio AD/DA converters, replacing Toslink cables from another German manufacturer. He commented: "I've relied on high-priced cables from well-known brands in the past and didn't think I could do much better at a fair price un
South Africa - New Beginnings Christian Fellowship Church (NBCFC) in Boksburg, Johannesburg, started out with a congregation of just 30 members in 2004. Today, it hosts over 1,000 in its auditorium for Sunday services, and has upgraded its audio system to become one of the first in South Africa to enjoy an installation comprising a KLANG:vokal immersive in-ear mixing processor, along with seven KLANG:kontroller personal monitor mixers, and two DiGiCo SD9 mixing consoles. Audio consultant, Victor Vermaak, worked closely with suppliers DWR Distribution to come up with a solution that would provide reliability and quality sound for years to come. “The existing audio equipment was outdated, not serving the needs of the church nor covering the venue properly, and was starting to break down,” explains Victor. Having worked with the NBCFC over the past seven years, he lent the
USA - To provide the terminal gates at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Terminal D expansion project with versatile illumination, lighting designers Arup with support by Hossley developed and installed a comprehensive Martin Professional lighting system. As part of a $160m expansion, DFW recently added four new gates to its Terminal D area, offering passengers a preview of the technology that will be implemented in the highly-anticipated Terminal F project. The primary goal of the project is to turn DFW into the airport of the future, and so the new gates feature a range of innovative designs seldom implemented in the average airport. For part of the overall Terminal D Expansion design, DFW Airport worked with joint venture LVHKA (Louis Vidal-Harrison Kornberg-Arup) to develop a lighting system that could be easily programmed to change colours and patterns
Germany - Hagius in Berlin is staffed by young professionals that offer classes for various disciplines such as yoga and boxing with the intention of strengthening and conditioning both body and mind, incorporating the spectrum of senses in neuro-athletic training. Hagius has chosen a complete Genelec loudspeaker solution, supplied by local distributor Audio Pro and integrated by the Berlin acoustic design studio, Studio SPC. "We wanted to create a space in Berlin where we could offer a different kind of training experience," explains co-founder Timothy Hagius. "Physical performance starts in the mind. Movement is regulated by the central nervous system and sensory input plays a significant role in this process." For this reason, staff opt to work primarily with smaller groups, placing more of the emphasis on the individual’s multi-sensory journey, following t
Czech Republic - Every 360° stage comes with its own set of knotty challenges, believes Martin Hruška. The rigging is more complex, so is cable management. Then there is the issue of positioning lighting fixtures and video panels in a way that won’t impede fan viewing angles and artist mobility. Nevertheless, when the renowned designer’s client approved his plans to go with a costlier 360° stage for arena shows by Czech star Leoš Mareš, he was ecstatic. “The essence of Leoš Mareš is to connect with the audience,” said Hruška. “He is always going out on catwalks to connect to the audience. This is an artist who thrives on constant contact. Given this, I wanted a stage open on all sides in the middle of the arena, with two catwalks that extend out into the crowd.” Judging from the powerfully evocative looks that are supporting Mareš on his tour thro
North America - Coldplay have completed the North American leg of their Music of the Spheres World Tour, where Ayrton Domino and Perseo fixtures illuminated the stadium show from coast to coast. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton lighting in North America. The tour has a sustainability theme, with each show powered exclusively by renewable, super-low emission energy. “Misty Buckley and Phil Harvey, the co-creative directors of the tour, developed a production design and creative direction inspired by Pythagoras’s Music of the Spheres theory,” says lighting designer Sooner Routhier of Sooner Rae Creative, who began working with Coldplay in 2019 on their Everyday Life album campaign. “There’s a specific diagram that displays the arcs and movement of the solar system and its celestial bodies that we leaned on for inspiration.
Germany - When Doering creative agency contacted LEDcave about their ambitious plans to create alternative visuals for German singer, rapper, songwriter and producer Clueso’s new music video Mond (Moon) where he sings together with German-Turkish musician Elif, LEDcave had a stellar solution in mind. “We have been in conversations with Doering’s team for the past two years about various creative opportunities at our LEDcave studios across Germany,” says LEDcave’s CEO Thilo Strack. “When this music video project came up there was no time for ‘star gazing’ - we knew our Berlin studio would be perfect, both creatively and technologically, for what the teams had in mind,” As LEDcave’s most advanced VP studio, the 2,500m2 Berlin space features a giant LED volume comprising a curved LED wall measuring 40m wide by 6.5m high made up of LEDitg
The Netherlands - Pop acts Kris Kross Amsterdam, Maan, Rolf Sanchez, and others performed at the main stage of the first edition of Toverland LIVE! in Sevenum, under Infinity and Showtec lights. Theme Park Toverland in Sevenum premiered the festival on Saturday, 21 May. Four stages were created in places where visitors could enjoy both the rides of the park as well as the live performing musicians. The Main Stage was set up right at the Port Laguna entrance area, which served as the tropical centre of the festival. Top acts Maan, Rolf Sanchez, and Kris Kross Amsterdam created a swinging show, supported by 18 Infinity iW-1915 RGBW washes and 18 sets of Showtec DWE Audience Blinders, which were provided by production company Xymio (Geleen). The lightshow was designed by Bas Baadjou from Imperial Lighting. The event proved a tremendous success and drew seve
The Netherlands - From September 2021 through to the end of 2022, Dutch girl band the Dolly Dots is saying a final farewell to its loyal fanbase, performing an array of hits and bringing back memories of their 1980s heyday to enthusiastic, sold-out audiences throughout the Netherlands. A Yamaha Rivage PM5 digital mixing system is helping them to roll back the years. Dolly Dots enjoyed a number of European dance/pop hits throughout the 1980s, a television series and a starring role in feature film Dutch Treat. Having gone their separate ways in 1988, the band members performed occasional reunion shows until the death of founder member Ria Brieffies in 2009. Now the remaining five - Angela Groothuizen, Angéla Kramers, Anita Heilker, Esther Oosterbeek and Patty Zomer, all now in their 60s - have come back together for one last tour. Backed by a five-piece band, le
USA - A major mural unveiling took place in downtown Minneapolis recently - heralded by a weekend of celebratory events - when a new 100ft high artwork of Prince, featuring three shots of the Minneapolis musician, was revealed for the first time. This $500,000 Crown Our Prince project, as it is known, has been under development for seven years, with the mural undertaken by Florida street painter Hiero Veiga. For the Purple block party to coincide with the reveal, local company Slamhammer Audio were brought into handle production, including the sound reinforcement. Having been a loyal customer of Martin Audio for the past two decades, they fielded a combination of eight Martin Audio W8LC Compacts, eight WS218X subs and a pair of W8LM Mini for front-fills. For delays - set at the FOH position, and shooting back towards the rear of the crowd - they turned to a pai
USA - Dead & Company are back on the road for their 2022 summer tour which kicked off in mid-June at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The tour is powered by a system featuring Meyer Sound’s new Panther large-format linear line array loudspeaker. The band further augmented its repertoire of tunes while UltraSound - decades-long audio provider for the Grateful Dead and successor ensembles - assembled the largest system of Panther loudspeakers in North America, and the first to roll out on a USA tour. To cover expansive audience areas in a mix of sports stadiums and larger sheds, UltraSound is carrying a Panther inventory that allows reconfiguration for venue size. For stadiums, a typical deployment is four identical arrays - two main front and two side - each comprising 14 Panther loudspeakers, with four Panther-W wide coverage versions flown under 12 Panther-L long-
Spain - After postponing many of its scheduled 2020 dates due to the pandemic, this year Spanish artist Pablo López's Unikornio tour finally resumed and is enjoying great successes. Spanish full-service company, Ilusovi, is in charge of supplying sound and lighting equipment for the tour, which is one of the first in Spain to deploy a DiGiCo Quantum338 console. Although Lopez has increasingly played bigger venues, one console is used for both FOH and monitors. Max Miglin, the artist's trusted sound technician, manages both mixes and explains why he has chosen to use a DiGiCo Quantum338 for this latest tour. “Ilusovi had recently acquired a Quantum338, and I was able to get to know it up close on a course organised by the DiGiCo’s Spanish distributor, RMS Proaudio, at their facility,” says Miglin. “The Quantum338 has great processing power, so I’m delighted t
UK - Late Friday night, as they concluded their 90-minute set on Glastonbury’s acoustic stage, headliners Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott walked out for their first encore. Evoking an earlier time in Heaton’s career, they performed a soulful version of Caravan of Love, a song that was a No. 1 hit for Heaton when he was a member of the Housemartins. Embracing the music and enhancing its magical effect was a Patrick Sollitt lightshow that he ran on his ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M. “Caravan of Love, was my favourite look,” said Sollitt. “It was simple, nothing very complicated, just two colours that moved together in a very gentle balanced way. I think it topped off the set perfectly.” Working with a rig supplied by Fineline Lighting, Sollitt created a variety of other looks that captured the deep, and gently evocative mood of the 21-song set.
UAE - In September 2021, Dubai saw the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 as it began to host the world’s largest Expo event. From October 2021 until March 2022, Expo 2020 welcomed and hosted 192 participating countries to be a part of the journey. Adam Bassett and Simon Fraser from the lighting design consultant company on Expo 2020, Woodroffe Bassett Design, chose Follow-Me remote follow-spot and performer tracking solutions to be installed and used in three of the venues, The Al Wasl Plaza, the Jubilee Stage and the Dubai Millennium Amphitheatre. Al Wasl Plaza is a 67m-tall, 130m diameter structure with 252 video projectors and an immersive sound system. With a brief to transform the spectacular garden space into a venue, WBD designed a house lighting rig that is integrated into the structure with the clear direction not to detract from the beauty of the architecture.<
South Africa - Cape Town-based lighting designer Marius Coetzee collaborated closely with Bradley Hilton from Pixel Nation to create a subtle and highly visual canvas and intricate high-impact projection mapped show devised for the South African launch of the Audi e-tron electric series. Marius chose Robe moving lights - Esprites, LEDWash 600s and MegaPointes - to assist him in the task. The fixtures were supplied by rental specialist MGG to the Night of Progress event which was created by the Full Circle agency for Audi South Africa and staged at Cape Town’s Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa. This stunning building is located in the Silo district of central Cape Town and is the largest museum of contemporary African art worldwide. The museum is part of the conversion of a 57m-tall historic grain silo, originally built in 1921 and decommissioned
UK - West Midlands- based technical production specialist CPL (Central Presentations Ltd) supplied LED screens and all associated processing and vision control for two major stages - The Baillie Gifford Stage and Friends Stage - at the 2022 Hay Festival of Literature & Arts. This year Hay Festival celebrated its 35th year in style with over 500 ‘live’ events staged across 11 days which included an impressive line-up of in-person appearances from Hillary Clinton, Svetlana Alexievich, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Stephen Fry, Nicola Sturgeon, Minnie Driver, Monica Ali, Damian Lewis, Jimmy Page, Damon Galgut, Ben Okri and more, uniting readers and writers together in a series sustainable events designed to inspire, examine and entertain. Each of the two CPL supplied arenas featured a central 4.5m-wide by 2.5m - wide LED screen at the back of the stage, flanked by two 2.5m b
UK - Lighting designer, director and operator Jose Lorenzo uses Obsidian Control Systems’ Onyx lighting control platform on tours in the UK and recently ran a 78 show, three-month tour by 2021 Strictly Come Dancing champion Giovanni Pernice using an NX2 lighting console. The show, This is Me, toured the UK and Ireland from 1 March until 30 May and highlighted Pernice’s showmanship supported by a cast of professional dancers and singers. Early last year, Lorenzo, who started working with Pernice in 2019, transitioned from a more established lighting control platform to Obsidian’s Onyx. “Cally Bacchus at [Elation Professional UK distributor] Entedi asked me to demo an Obsidian NX2 console and I immediately loved it,” the designer stated. “It’s powerful, reliable, compact, and doesn’t cost 50-60K. It is ideal for touring and doesn’t take up much
USA - For the latest Broadway revival of The Music Man, the production team worked with PRG and Martin Professional to deploy an array of Martin lighting solutions, including MAC Viper, MAC Encore Performance and the new MAC Ultra Performance and Ultra Wash fixtures. Written by Meredith Willson and originally staged in 1957, The Music Man is a Broadway classic that’s won numerous Tony awards and has been staged by countless theatre companies - professional and amateur alike - in the past 75 years. In February, a new production of musical starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster opened at the Winter Garden Theatre. Director Jerry Zaks worked with scenic and costume designer Santo Loquasto and award-winning lighting designer Brian MacDevitt to strike a balance that simultaneously felt modern while retaining the old-fashioned quality of the original production.<
