UK - Lighting designer James Scott used the VLZ Profile from Vari-Lite on the recent UK tour by hip-hop artist AJ Tracey. The LED fixtures had the power Scott required to deliver a visual complement to the bright LED screens on the Brixton Academy showcase gig that closed the tour. Scott, of design studio Suluko, worked with production designer and creative director Bronski, and Amber Rimell, of TAWBOX on the tour’s design. Scott had already been impressed by the output and performance delivered by just four LED-based VLZ Profiles on Tracey’s UK tour dates, where limited truck space had called for a minimal fixture count. “What we achieved with four VLZ Profiles would probably have required six of any other LED spot on the market,” he says. With this experience, when three large, portrait LED video screens were added to the set for the Brixton show, Sc
USA - Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, ZZ Top - long comprised of the classic trio of Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard - are celebrating their 50th anniversary by trekking through a world tour that runs into mid-October. As a thank you to their fans in Texas, where the band got its humble start back in 1969, the tour kicked off with three consecutive shows in the Lone Star state, all of which were reinforced by Houston-based LD Systems with a long throw L-Acoustics K Series loudspeaker rig. Sharing the bill with Bad Company, and joined by opener Cheap Trick, ZZ Top performed to full crowds at Dallas’ Dos Equis Pavilion, Houston’s Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, and the Austin360 Amphitheater in May, prior to heading to Europe. LD Systems audio crew chief and systems engineer Julian Gates, who expresses his appreciation for S
UK - Production company SFL has just completed the AV requirements for Christopher Wheeldon’s staging of Cinderella by the English National Ballet (ENB) and The Royal Albert Hall, staged at the RAH. “The project was 18 months in the planning,” explains SFL director, Craig Lawrence. “ENB’s technical director, George Thomson, was looking to stage a large-scale production in-the-round. The production required many different changes of scene and the use of projection seemed the obvious answer. English National Ballet had never worked with projection on such a large scale before so turned to SFL to provide that experience.” In the early planning stages, SFL was appointed as technical provider, tasked with designing and installing the AV infrastructure, utilising content provided by projection designer Daniel Brodie, which not only created incredible atmo
South Africa - Splitbeam, the theatre division of rental company Gearhouse, has invested in a DiGiCo SD7T supplied by DWR, DiGiCo’s distributor for the territory. “Bad sound is as detrimental to a production as an actor forgetting their lines,” says Splitbeam’s MD, Alistair Kilbee. “Good sound feels natural, never taking away from what is happening on stage but supplementing it, giving the sound for the ears to match what the eyes see for the magic of theatre to take place. “Mixing sound is the art of balance - balancing what comes out of the speaker to transform a noise into a recognisable piece of information that feels good to experience. This is where the gear becomes important. Having a console capable of not merely handling the show, but orchestrating it, the engineer acting as the conductor for the sounds, matching, mixing and blending them to becom
Europe - Entertainment engineering specialist WIcreations is working with Rammstein and their production team on the current three-month stadium and festival tour around the UK and Europe including Russia and Latvia. WIcreations took the opportunity of working with the band to launch its new integrated WImotion system, which gives precise control and synchronisation of individual and group moving chain hoists utilising SIL3 group position monitoring. WI, well known for their own industrial strength automation and engineering solutions, was asked to supply several custom staging and automation elements for the tour. All this is being co-ordinated for WI by Koen Peeters and Hans Willems, who were asked onboard by the tour’s technical consultant Jeremy Lloyd of UK based Wonder Works. They have worked closely with Rammstein’s own creative team, a collabora
Switzerland - Marco Kunz released his fifth album Förschi earlier this year, and from March to May, he set out on a club tour throughout Switzerland. LD Benjamin ‘Beni’ Bohler, who has previously worked for numerous other Swiss artists, including Luca Hänni, Bubble Beatz and Züri West, was at the console for the first time with Kunz. He states: “With my lighting art I want to transport audiences to a free, unencumbered world that both fascinates and amazes them. Of course, it’s always about creating a recognition value for the music, and supporting the artists on stage to the optimum.” Party of his armoury for the Kunz tour included six impression E350, which Beni set on the stage, on three different levels. Also represented in the lighting design were a number of GLP impression X4 Wash. “I used the E350 to play with shadows and bring moveme
UAE - The latest addition to the entertainment outlets at Dubai’s Atlantis, The Palm Hotel’s Wavehouse is a family-friendly entertainment centre built on the site of a former nightclub. Wavehouse provides two floors of arcade attractions, a 13m high soft play area and a ProSlide Waverider surf machine as well as numerous F&B outlets, a sun terrace, mezzanine and a pair of live stages. Wavehouse’s operator Solutions Leisure has had a long relationship with Dubai-based systems integrator Pulse Middle East, relying on the company to handle the audio integration at a number of its other venues and contacted the team at Pulse ME to create a comprehensive solution for the venue. “The team at Solutions Leisure invited Pulse ME to come and have a look at a venue,” recalls Joe Chidiac, managing director, Pulse Middle East. “After the audio requirements brief, th
UAE - Martin Professional Middle East (MPME) recently outfitted the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi with a Martin by Harman exterior lighting solution. Located in the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is an imposing structure with a 262ft main dome and four minaret towers rising to a height of 351ft. As the largest mosque in the UAE and the third largest in the world, Grand Mosque accommodates up to 40,000 visitors. The mosque recently opened a new three-story visitor’s centre bookended by two glass dome entrances. Abu Dhabi officials hired MPME to install an exterior lighting solution that would visually emphasize the new visitor’s centre and glass domes. In order to overcome the challenge of outfitting the dome’s curved surfaces, MPME installed 2,556 Martin Professional Exterior PixLine 10 fixtures. “Installing
Europe - Snow Patrol returned to the road after a seven-year break with their 2018 album Wildness. Audio provider Adlib used the Outline Newton multi-source processor at the front end of their systems. The Newton is quickly becoming an Adlib standard for audio processing and this sold-out UK arena tour was no different. Sam Proctor, senior system engineer at Adlib, optimised his workflow to put the Newton at the centre of the processing operation, handling all the delays and EQ for each zone of the PA, as well as being a front-end matrix mixer to get all consoles into the system. He comments: “Using one dedicated device to replace what was previously several devices networked together has been so much easier to adapt to different scenarios. Day to day, we may require multiple additional feeds for house delays, VIP boxes or hearing loops, or additional
Russia - When Moscow’s Zaryadye concert hall opened it became one of the most technologically advanced venues in Russia. It features a large complement of Claypaky lighting fixtures in its 1,600-seat philharmonic auditorium and the smaller, 400-seat theatre. Zaryadye is part of a new park adjacent to Red Square and next to the Kremlin walls. Its Philharmonic auditorium is equipped with stage machinery, precisely chosen lighting gear and integrated engineering technologies that allow it to host different types of productions from classical music concerts and theatrical performances to international conferences and shows. Claypaky fixtures selected for the hall include 54 A.leda K-EYE K20s, 12 Scenius spots, 12 Scenius profiles and 30 Show Batten LED linear lights. The K-EYEs were chosen for their quiet operation, notes Vasily Litvin, Lighting Director of the DOK
France - Paris celebrated the Eiffel Tower's 130th anniversary in May with a spectacular son et lumière atop the Iron Lady with 60 Elation Proteus Hybrid luminaires used in an extraordinary double helix design. The weatherproof Proteus moving heads played an integral part in the sound and light show and were supplied for the event by technical solutions provider Magnum, who has been involved the majority of Eiffel Tower events since 2004. Magnum’s role on the project was to interact between the artistic ideas of set designer Bruno Seillier and the Eiffel Tower’s technical director. Programmed by Magnum’s Clément Lelevé, the custom light show portrayed a series of moments in history including Gustave Eiffel’s design and construction of the tower, special broadcasts France got to experience due to the tower’s height, the two World Wars, and other notable e
Czech Republic - Robe embraced the vitality and essence of visual and aural collaboration in supporting Blue Hour, a large-scale multifaceted immersive installation staged in the Small Sports Hall venue at the Prague Exhibition Grounds for the 2019 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space (PQ2019). This complex work was developed from an idea originally conceptualised by the PQ19 event curators Marketa Fantova and Jan Rolnik. Their vision was an ambitious project to unite a series of innovative and prominent performance designers working in six separate but related disciplines - lighting, video / projection, experimental sound, tactile elements, VR and systems integration - under the direction and guidance of French visual artist, Romain Tardy. Leading the Lighting Workgroup were Pavla Beranova and Fereshteh Rostampour who worked with and mentored a gr
UK - Cornwall's Knightor Winery has become a popular location for wedding events and receptions. For one recent wedding reception at the winery, local production company DJ Services Cornwall were tasked with providing wedding guests with a suitably boutique entertainment experience to complement the impressive surroundings of the venue. Their solution involved a VW camper van-inspired DJ booth complete with eight Chauvet DJ Freedom Sticks and six white Intimidator Spot 255 IRC fixtures. With the VW camper front building the unmistakable centrepiece of the entire setup, DJ Services Cornwall’s Allan Cross positioned the array of Chauvet DJ Intimidator fixtures upon trussing towers behind the booth, with a further roster of Freedom Stick fixtures completing the line-up. “Because roughly 90% of our work is weddings, we’re always looking for new fixtures to he
The Netherlands - Prolights’ own architectural brand ArchWork has been used by Dutch company Lumen Solutions in their installation in the award-winning Bijlmerpark theatre in Amsterdam. Lumen Solutions were approached to provide their technical expertise in designing and implementing a dynamic architectural installation for the theatre. ArchWork fixtures were chosen due to their IP rated nature and proven durability in other installations throughout the Netherlands. In total, 171 ArchWork Arcshine6 fixtures were used as linear wall washers, each featuring six 8W RGBW LEDs engineered specifically for outdoor installations. The ArchWork ARCSHINE6 luminaires were selected due to their slim design, outstanding brightness levels and pixel controllable features allowing the theatre to project a wide array of colours, textures and media with no need for other fi
UK - Adlib provided design services, lighting, audio, custom drapes and staging elements for the most recent UK leg of The Specials’ Encore album tour, as the record topped the UK album charts, providing the band’s first ever number one album. Adlib’s Simon Pettitt was back as lighting designer, having lit the band since 2014. Simon was also instrumental in developing the stage design, and he was joined by their regular audio engineers, Marcos Ferrari at FOH and Marina Martinez Sebastian on monitors. Adlib’s lighting account handler was Dave Eldridge, while Phil Stoker looked after all things audio. Adlib offered the use of its full tour prepping facilities - a designated pre-production space in the company’s massive new Knowsley warehouse – to ensure that the production left the warehouse ready to roll. Simon received an outline brief from th
UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) has supplied the Acorn Theatre in Penzance with a Prolights LED lighting upgrade. For over 40 years, the Acorn has hosted a wide range of arts practitioners and art forms, including live music, theatre, poetry readings, story-telling, dance, film, lectures and the visual arts. These acts can scale all the way from international tours down to school plays. Looking to upgrade their house lighting rig to LED, theatre manager at the Acorn, Richie Cawley, researched all his options and found that the extensive Prolights range best met both their needs and their budget. Andy Mahaffey, external sales at AC-ET, visited the Acorn to discuss their requirements and show the Prolights fixtures that would be best suited to their venue. Impressed by the quality of the LED fixtures, and their ease of use, Acorn invested in a number
USA - Heavy metal rockers Lamb of God have been on four tours over the past year as support for thrash metal band Slayer’s long-running farewell tour, the latest leg in May beneath a rig of Elation lights. Lighting design was by Steve ‘Cowboy’ Stemac with lighting supply and support by Gemini. Stemac started with Lamb of God in May 2018, as lighting director, inheriting a stage set-up designed by tour manager Brian Griffin. After earning the band’s, and Griffin’s, trust over the following legs of the tour, the designer began to evolve the show, a process that eventually led to fixture changes. For the latest leg, a 16-date trek across, Stemac chose to reinforce the band’s signature sound and stage presence using Elation DARTZ 360 LED beam/spot fixtures and Elation ACL 360 Bars. “Lamb of God like a lot of backlightthe southern U.S. states and up th
South Africa - The Voice is now in its third season in South Africa and is proving as popular as ever. It has just entered the ‘live show’ phase, broadcast from Mosaiek Teatro in Fairland, Johannesburg and aired on M-Net, DStv 101. This year, this section of the TV show is bringing a new audio experience to its studio audience, courtesy of L-ISA Hyperreal Sound technology by L-Acoustics and DiGiCo mixing consoles, provided by the show’s full technical supplier, Mutli-Media. Multi-Media has worked with The Voice since the popular competition hit Africa four years ago. During this time, the company has grown and become more involved in live events. At the beginning of this year, it decided the time was right to invest in a top-end audio system, initially purchasing 30 L-Acoustics Kara, 12 SB18, four KS28 and seven LA12X amplified controllers, adding
UK - Grammy nominated punk rock hip-hop band Fever333 recently took the Electric Ballroom in Camden by storm. The Californian band commissioned lighting designer Hayden Borgars to design the atmosphere and electrifying show. Hayden has has worked with acts including as Hoodie Allen, Symphony X, Gang of Youths and Glassjaw. Having used Prolights fixtures on numerous occasions before, he was already familiar with the fixtures and explained how he found them “really reliable and innovative” therefore it was no surprise that the package featured a number of the compact-yet-powerful Prolights Diamond7 washes. Hayden reports, “The notes sent to me outlined specific moments and effects they wanted to achieve, particularly at the start. There were moments that required erratic and chaotic lighting and others where the lighting needed to be contemplative and moody.
France - For one month out of every year, the rhythm of life in French Polynesia becomes even more blissful as locals gather for Heiva, a rich and colourful celebration of ancient Polynesian customs. This May, as it has for the past six years, the spirit of this traditional holiday leapfrogged 15,706K over two oceans and one continent to create a vibrant display of South Pacific culture and community at Heiva i Paris. Started by Tahitian singer Ken Carlter, this combination festival and dance contest attracts visitors from throughout France and Europe, as well as from as from as far away as Japan. This year, over 200 people participated in its Heiva dance competition, a highlight of the event. Providing an immersive and supportive visual setting for their choreography as they swayed to the evocative sounds of traditional Polynesian music was a lightshow designed by Dav
USA - The 2019 Billboard Music Awards’ lighting designer Jon Kusner specified 140 Solaris Flares and 58 Solaris Flare LR Linears for a visual display, worthy of one of music’s most important nights of the year. The show broadcast last month on NBC, live from the Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena. “Flare LR linear fixtures made up a heavy part of our side walls in the performance stages,” says Kusner. “The Flare family of products - Flare, Flare Jr and LRs - in my mind has cracked the code. We also got some new Flare Rayzrs from Tony Ward at PRG to use offstage and we’re excited about having Flare performance in this new ultra-thin ‘blade’ format. Flares are the ideal LED product, and to find Flare technology in a smaller, discreet shape is a total plus.” “Solaris Flares have become a staple in our inventory,” says Tony Ward of PRG. “Whether for c
Canada - The Empire Theatre in Belleville, Ontario, recently invested in a new audio system built around Adamson’s IS-Series and sourced through London, Ontario’s The PA Shop Productions. The building, originally erected as The McCarthy Theatre in 1938, was purchased by Mark Rashotte in early 2002 with the goal of returning it to its original use. In September 2003, The Empire Theatre was open for business, and its team has been working hard to advance their shared vision of enhancing the community they serve ever since. In the autumn of 2018, ahead of a special show commemorating 15 years of operations, Rashotte and his team decided to invest in a new audio system to better cater to visiting productions and invited several manufacturers to demo their array systems in the Empire’s 700-seat auditorium. Kyle Schroeyens, VP and production manager with The PA S
UK - Since their initial investment in Outline point source systems in 2017, growing rental and installation company Novum AV has been deploying its Vegas 12CX and 8CX inventory in a wide range of work around the UK from their base in Tamworth, Staffordshire. Tim Jacques, managing director of Novum AV, explains the reasons for that investment: “Back in 2017, Outline was very new to us and a surprise choice. We ran blind tests with seven different manufacturers and Outline was unanimously chosen by our six technicians who all thought they had selected their preferred brands. The system has changed how we operate and design certain jobs as not only is there a like-for-like weight saving compared to our previous point source enclosures, but the HF throw is so great and the sound quality so clear that we have often needed fewer speakers to achieve the required results. The pur
Canary Islands - Around 600,000 people attended Las Palmas de Gran Canaria’s carnival this year. The Drag Queen Gala event, which had A Night in Rio theme, utilised a large complement of Claypaky fixtures to fill the stage with light and colour. Stonex is the official distributor of Claypaky lighting in Spain. “The Drag Queen Gala is seen everywhere in the world by large audiences,” says lighting and technical director, Jonay Diaz, who is a partner in RGB Canarias S. Coop. “This is reason enough to be careful when choosing lighting equipment.” Diaz selected 30 Claypaky Mythos, 16 Super Sharpy 2s, 16 Sharpys, 30 A.leda B-EYE K20s, 20 Claypaky A-leda B-EYE K10s and 16 Stormy CCs for the 21 shows that took place on the gala’s main stage. Jacinto Cabrera and Iban Negrin operated the grandMA2 lighting console. Diaz opted to use LED moving heads, c
