Details
World - Ladysmith Black Mambazo are currently on their "Wenyukela" (or "Raise your Spirit") world tour that commemorates the 10th anniversary of the end of Apartheid in their native South Africa. Their intense touring schedule took in 26 dates in just four weeks.

On his second tour with the African vocal group, lighting designer Tim Speechley, invited Pearce Hire to tender and subsequently supply the lighting for the UK tour. Having had to change the plan to use projection due to lack of images, Tim amended his initial ideas and created a painted cyclorama for the stage set and commissioned custom gobos of African images, such as a Zulu shield which were projected using Source 4 profiles. Standing behind (Pearce Hire's) Pearl 2004 console Tim commented: "P

Details
UK - London-based A/V system integrator Live Business International (LBI) has continued its relationship with P&O Ferries with the commissioning this month of a brand new entertainment lighting system (following the extensive new audio system that LBI installed onboard the Bilbao 18 months ago) for its cruise ship Pride of Bilbao, the latest step in the ship's facilities upgrade programme.

The ship plies one of P&O's most popular routes - three-day mini-cruises between Portsmouth and Bilbao, capital of the Basque region of northern Spain. The complete installation had to be carried out during one such cruise - and even during a gale-force storm.

LBI was asked to design a new lighting system for the 700-seat Silverstone Lounge, the Pride of Bilbao's multi-function entertainment suite which hosts a multitude of different events including speech-based entertainment, live theatre shows

Details
UK - A.C. Lighting announced a new staff appointment at the company's Southern sales office in High Wycombe. Peter Nesbitt joins the company's UK Sales department as lighting sales executive, providing office and in the field support for the company's expanding range of leading lighting brands.

Nesbitt brings over 30 years entertainment lighting knowledge and experience to the role. After beginning his career working in repertory and college theatres for ten years, he then became a partner in established theatre lighting business, Ancient Lights, working in both hire and sales. Nesbitt went on to become the company's managing director, before leaving in 1995 to work as a freelance technical consultant on projects, which included large lottery bids. In 1998, whilst contracting for Elstree Light & Power, Nesbitt became a permanent employee and covered a variety of roles in his tim

featured content

Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

Details
UK - Hospitality guests at this year's Investec Challenge matches at Twickenham were greeted by a new reception area, which led the way into the stadium's River Suites. Detail Management Services Ltd holds the management, design and build contracts and Jim Mason, managing director of Detail explained: "We needed to create a reception walk-through area to ensure that guests immediately feel special from the point of arrival. It is a key area in the complex as all of the hospitality guests pass through it on the way to their suites."

Detail brought in technical event management company Next Step Forward Ltd to design and install a sophisticated multimedia system, which would transform the walk-through area into a functional yet stylish space.

Mark Thomas, technical director of Next Step Forward explained: "Detail had expressed their desire to create an area which

Details
UK - Computers Unlimited has teamed up with the Central School of Speech & Drama in London to stage the first ever UK VectorWorks Spotlight event.

VectorWorks Spotlight is an entertainment and lighting design software, which merges sophisticated 2D drafting and powerful 3D modelling with advanced lighting design and production tools. The organizer says the event will provide an opportunity to see some outstanding projects created using VectorWorks Spotlight.

Mark Stephens, director of The Design Division (a specialist VectorWorks reseller and producer of the new VectorWorks Spotlight Training CD), will start the event with an overview of VectorWorks. He will then demonstrate the specific Spotlight features, and will also show the new VectorWorks training CD which now includes specific movies on Spotlight. Alex Wardle, a lighting designer and technical manager, will cover setting up

Details
Ireland - Zandar Technologies will be demonstrating the dynamic Fusion Series of MultiViewers on stand 4202, hall 8 at this year's Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) exhibition on 26 - 28 January, 2005, Amsterdam.

Modular in design, the FusionPro MultiViewers have the ability to display up to eight (1RU) or 26 (3RU) video (analogue, HD, SDI) and computer sources on a single display device in a choice of high-resolution formats. Additional features include: user-designed layouts, dual hot-swap power supplies, dual outputs, video alarming, in-picture audio monitoring and alarming, remote panel control and LAN control of multiple systems.

The Fusion Series creates a 'virtual monitor stack' on any kind of LCD, plasma, and projection system. Users save significantly on space, power consumption, cooling and weight - the high costs normally associated with traditional CRT monitor stacks

Details
UK - Bill Bailey's one-man stand-up show, Part Troll, toured for 11 weeks prior to its present residency at the the Lyric Theatre, Shaftsbury Avenue and has so far had its West End run extended twice, such has been its popularity and success. So what makes Bailey's show so unique? Perhaps the way he combines music with stand-up and delivers both so ingeniously, using a combination of music genres, story-telling and three carefully crafted jokes - which are spread thinly through the show!

Featuring plenty of audience participation and some pretty weird and wonderful musical instruments, the show depends on communicating every intonation, facial expression and word to the audience - making sound and lighting both essential ingredients to the successful delivery of the material. Prior to the show, I met up with FOH engineer Ian Horne and LD Arturo Ollandini, both of whom are generally mo

Details
UK - Creative Technology dipped heavily into its inventory of Barco DLite 7 LED daylight screens to meet the requirement of set designer Lisa Lillywhite for this year's Smash Hits T4 Pollwinners Party.

Immersed within the heavily arrowed stage theme at Wembley Arena, the focal point was the 44sqm of landscaped D7 wall, which could travel vertically from its flown position upstage centre. This was reinforced by a smaller tunnel screen, marking the stars' entrance at the top of the stairs, and a single 12 x 2 vertical column, situated upstage left.

The CT screens integrated well with Vince Foster's inspired lighting design, with all the graphic feeds relayed to the flanking screens from a Catalyst server, triggered from a G5 computer. The main central display featured live camera action (and nominee captions) - fed from a CTV scanner truck - while CT themselves took five close-u

Details
UK - Blue Audio from Coalburn in Lanarkshire has just finished a complete audio installation for the new multi-function London venue in Dundee. London offers customers a choice of five separate areas, including a nightclub, funk room, lounge, piano bar and restaurant and all are digitally networked using NetCIRA.

The relationship between Blue Audio and London goes back some seven years and this was its largest fully networked installation to-date. Blue Audio's Nadar explained the brief: "High quality music is a main theme for this busy venue and the client wanted clarity, power and the flexibility to be able to switch any of the nine sources to any of the five rooms. There are several products I knew that would do the job but all had a host of unwanted functions and were unnecessarily expensive. I approached Dave Thomson of Avolution, a good friend who is always up on the l

Details
USA - Elation Professional has introduced the CMY Zoom-250, a 250W DMX-compatible colour changer using new colour-mixing technology to produce ultra-smooth transitions between any two points on the colour spectrum.

Designed primarily for stage use and the professional lighting rental market, the CMY Zoom-250 offers the distinct advantage of CMY colour mixing, an innovative system based on graduated cyan, magenta and yellow filters. Users can achieve a continuous range of unlimited colours by varying the amount of each filter from 0 to 100 percent. The unit can also be set to scroll continuously through the entire spectrum, from white all the way to ultraviolet.

"Even if you are going from pink to dark blue, the transition is nearly seamless with the CMY Zoom-250," said John Lopez, sales manager for Elation Professional. "With a regular colour wheel, you'd see al

Details
USA - During LDI, L&SI was invited by DiGiCo to experience first-hand the sound mixing capabilities of its D5T console on the import of the British musical We Will Rock You, a recent arrival at the Paris Hotel, Las Vegas. Pre-show, we met with associate sound designer David Patridge and head of sound John Trace, who discussed the D5T and the advantages they felt it had given them at the head of the show's PA system.

So why go digital? Patridge explained: "We liked the idea for ease of set-up and the smaller footprint. We were very happy to work with a company that was so enthusiastic about developing a digital desk for the theatre market. Sonically, the D5T sounds excellent whilst still retaining the warmth of an analogue desk. It's also intuitive to work with and simple to programme."

Trace said: "I particularly like the touch-screen function, it mimics the control su

Details
UK - Wembley London Ltd and Quintain Estates & Development Plc have announced that work on the new Wembley Arena Pavilion has begun. The state-of-the-art temporary structure is being built to host all shows while the £29m refurbishment programme on Wembley Arena begins in early 2005. John Probyn - Clear Channel Entertainment's head of production - has been contracted by Wembley as project manager for the site.Probyn, who has built a successful reputation as one of the UK live music industry's leading production and site managers has been responsible for events such as Clear Channel shows in Hyde Park (see L&SI August 2004) and Donnington.

The Pavilion will take two months to build, with a team of 80 staff on site to oversee construction. The fully insulated and sound-proofed structure will be built with over 45,000m of scaffolding and will weigh over 250 tons. A special secondary mem

Details
UK - A special live outside broadcast of the hit BBC1 show Strictly Come Dancing was transmitted from the Blackpool Tower Ballroom on Saturday 20 November. The BBC1 show moved out of TV centre and came back to the recognized home of ballroom dancing.

Lighting director Mark Kenyon working alongside a six-man crew from ELP created a visually stunning show. The opulent architecture and lavish décor of the ballroom were accentuated by a combination of moving lights, conventional six-lamp bars and modern LED systems. The lighting equipment, provided by ELP, included 44 assorted ETC Source Four profiles, 30 High End Studio Colors, 28 Thomas Par 64 chrome floorcans, 18 Par 64 six-lamp bars, 72 Pulsar ChromaStrips, 23 Martin MAC 2000s, 12 MAC 500s and 11 Arri Junior Fresnels. Control was from Compulite - a Spark desk for the generic systems and a Sabre for the moving lights - while all dimmi

Details
USA - Cartier New York's famous store is even more resplendent with jewels this year, following a ground-breaking LED installation. Cartier's spectacular 2004/05 festive lighting scheme includes several bespoke LED features designed and specified by London-based Metropolis Group, and manufactured in its Welsh facility.

At the core of the display are two giant LED tiaras - one 5ft tall and 18ft long, the other 5ft by 16 ft - rigged above the building's two public entrances on 5th Avenue and 52nd Street. Half way up the building is a 14ft-wide LED bow, joining two pieces of red 'ribbon' which wrap the entire building. Containing over 17,000 LEDs, the scenic tiaras and the bow were built by Met3, Metropolis' Swansea-based LED manufacturing operation.

Metropolis US, headed by Richard Ancas, was initially approached about the project by Patrick Benasillo, VP of Visual Graphics Services (

Details
UK - Forge Europa has introduced a new range of SPLEDs for use in a range of illumination applications including backlighting and filament bulbs replacement. SPlined LEDs - SPLEDs for short - are LED bulb replacements which can be used without a printed circuit board. The contours of the LED just push into a pre-drilled hole with a secure friction fit, and insulation displacement connectors make interconnection easy.

Suitable for assembly into all types of vac form and plastic fascias they are quick to assemble, making them suited to short production runs and applications requiring fast progression from development to manufacture.

SPLEDs can stand-alone or march together in extended strips to provide unique scope for the creative lighting design engineer. They provide a very wide viewing angle of 120°, and diode protection ensures that they can survive harsh environments. Si

Details
Rosco showed a prototype of a new theatrical lighting unit, designed by Dialight Corporation, and powered by a solid-state LED engine array. This is the first solid-state instrument to offer the advantages of a hard-edge beam, shutters, and sharp gobo projection capabilities with specifiable, repeatable Roso colours matched to the Roscolux and E-Color swatch books. Also new from Rosco are the PSU-400 and PSU-200 power supply units, which are compatible with nearly all the colour scrollers, gobo rotators, and other accessory devices in common use. For large-scale fog uses, the Delta 6000 fog machine, which consumes more than nine litres of fog fluid an hour, provides service to very large stages, theme parks, and other big venues. The X-Effects projector utilizes a 200W enhanced-metal arc source, whose short arc allows for an output of 5,000 lumens, and a 2,000-hour lamp life. The colour

Details
UK - A.C. Lighting has supplied theatre equipment to The Broadway and Artsdepot newly fitted theatres in London. The company won competitive tenders after being approached by Roger Fox of Theatreplan Consultants (The Broadway) and Chris Baldwin of ACT Consultants (Artsdepot).

The Broadway is Barking and Dagenham's newly re-developed live performance arts venue, presenting a mixed programme of high quality, professional music, dance, drama, comedy, children's and family shows. Tim Foster Architects were commissioned to re-design the original Broadway as part of a regeneration programme of the town's city centre. The new 950 capacity venue opens its doors this Christmas with Dick Whittington and his Kool Kat - an updated version of the London classic.

The Broadway's lighting rig, which includes several products from A.C.'s exclusive product range, comprises of Chroma-Q sc

Details
Chainmaster was on hand with its North American distributor, Show Distribution. Frank Hartung, the company's managing director, noted that Chainmaster chain hoists and controllers have been installed at the Deutsche Staastoper in Berlin, the Theaterhaus Gesnerallee in Zurich, the De Harmonie concert hall in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, and the Theatre aan het Vrijthof in Maastricht, also in the Netherlands. Chainmaster Variolifts were also used on Sting's Sacred Love Tour 2004.

Details
Digital Art System's newest product was the Easy Stand Alone Ethernet DMX-512 interface (IP version). This product makes it possible to work either locally or via the Internet. The interface can establish a connection to a server and look for any new updates. The lighting designer only needs to put a new show on the server and the interface will download it at the next connection. The interface can be connected to a WebCam, allowing the installer to update a design and see the changes in real time. The product took a PLASA Award for Innovation at this year's PLASA Show.

Details
LDI is now prefaced with 'ETS' for the 'Entertainment Technology Show' in a conscious move away from the show's established 'lighting' focus. This year's show was a good, positive exhibition with satisfied exhibitors seeing a good level of business, albeit with a bad level of catering. But let's get on to the business in hand . . .

Details
Cirque Du Soleil now has six touring shows worldwide and five resident productions in the US - three of which are in Las Vegas, with a fourth, 'Ka', due to open this month at the MGM Grand. So this was a home-from-home for the company's technical and human resources representatives who were exhibiting at LDI to raise the profile of its technical recruitment program. This is an increasingly vital requirement of this huge entertainment concern, which now employs around 2,700 people worldwide. Among those which Cirque is particularly keen to reach are experienced automation technicians - essential to so much of their performances.
Page 1723 of 3465

Latest Issue. . .