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USA - Christmas is almost certainly not the first thing that comes to mind for the large number of people who are enjoying summer evenings on the elegantly appointed deck of Howard Beach's Vetro Restaurant and Lounge. Yet it was an unexpected Yuletide meeting that resulted in the rich, warm and continuously changing lighting display that washes this rooftop area and is as much a part of its captivating charm as its warm ocean breezes and stunning seaside vistas.

Created with a collection of LED fixtures from Iluminarc, Vetro's lighting design can be traced back to December 2014, when John (Gonzo) Gonzalez, lighting director of MSNBC's Morning Joe Show, attended the Christmas celebration at Brooklyn's Saint Joseph's Co-Cathedral. It was there he met Steven Retas, who was lighting t

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UK - The latest lighting company to be knocking on the door of Ambersphere Solutions to purchase a number of Ayrton MagicBlade-Rs is TSL Lighting.

TSL director Martin Locket explains, "Although our market is quite diverse, we see the MagicBlades as initially being particularly attractive to our concert touring and a lot of the younger lighting designers. That said, as soon as we took delivery of the fixtures, they went out on three back-to-back rentals: Firstly, a European tour by a band called Crystal Fighters, specified by LD Michael Straun. This was followed directly by a corporate event in London for Microsoft for their Windows-10 launch, with LD Liam Griffiths. Then they were shipped directly to the third consecutive project, a Christian Festival called Newday. So we are pretty confident they will attract interest across our whole client base."

Based convenientl

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Australia - Concert and corporate productions are a major force in the Western Australian production industry. With service offerings spanning lighting, AV, LED screens, rigging, and staging, CCP's gear and operators can be found at festivals, concerts, major conferences, theatre shows, symphony concerts and slick corporate gigs. CCP need lighting that can be everything to everyone, and have found their go-to fixture in the SolaSpot Pro 1500 from High End Systems, recently adding a dozen to their arsenal.

"We needed a viable replacement for our Martin MAC 2000 profiles," said Sean McKernan, CCP's general manager. "Reducing our lamp overheads was very important to us, and having an LED source saves us considerable money over a year. We did the sums, and over a fixture's working life of 50,000 hours, lamp costs are around $18,000 per unit."

The SolaSpot's 400

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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

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USA - Santa Monica Pier hosts one of LA's favourite summer concert series, the Twilight Concert Series, as well as a host of other events. This year, the pier boasts a new stage with its overhead structure a remarkable work of art illuminated using Elation Professional SixPar 300IP colour changers.

The custom stage is the creation of design and technology integration company Stereobot, a building components firm that does many of the displays for Coachella and other events. Live event production company Pacific Coast Entertainment collaborated with Stereobot on the lighting design for the stage and art piece.

The one-of-a-kind structure with sweeping cantilevered spans envelops the stage and reaches to a height of 36ft. The open structure creates a three-dimensional experience that allows for visibility from all sides and is something that can be admired even when not in actio

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USA - Billed as "The Nation's most spectacular college soccer facility", Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium at the University of Louisville features seating for more than 5,300 soccer fans, a 15,500sq.ft training centre, a large video scoreboard and an audio system with Community R Series and W Series loudspeakers.

Designed by consultant Tom Lorenzen of dBA Acoustics in Louisville, the audio system provides clear announcements and high-fidelity music to fans in four separate seating areas and to players and officials on the field.

Lorenzen said the university's goals were excellent audio with even coverage throughout the various seating areas and on the field. To meet these goals, he used a combination of designs. Fourteen Community W Series WX- 1594 loudspeakers, distributed along the underside of the canopy, provide sound for the stadium's 2,300-seat covered grandstan

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UK - Paul Williams has joined FIX8Group as project director. Paul joins the team following eight years as managing director of Integrated Audio Visual Ltd - a company which he built from start up to provide AV services to end clients and production companies. Prior to that, he spent five years as a freelance AV engineer.

"After working closely with FIX8 on various jobs over the past four years, it was obvious that the synergy created through those close working practices could be strengthened and leveraged for forthcoming projects," says Paul. "My responsibilities as project director will focus on supporting the delivery of our work.

"This will include streamlining the processes for project delivery, with an overview of compliance and training within the company. I will also take on project management roles on some specific projects, as well as working clos

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Europe - Currently on the road until the end of October, the Mark Knopfler & Band tour brings all-time Dire Straits and Knopfler classics such as Sultans of Swing and Brothers in Arms to packed arenas throughout Europe and North America.

Not wanting to create a show any less than impressive for the multi-million-selling singer-songwriter - who also ranks 44th on Rolling Stone's 100 greatest guitarists of all time, lighting designer Mark Henderson incorporated 22 Chauvet Professional Nexus Aw 7x7 panels within the lighting show to stunning theatrical effect.

Henderson - an award-winning theatre lighting director - has worked on countless theatrical productions in London's West End, New York and Las Vegas. When he was asked to LD Kate Bush's 22-date sell-out comeback residency at London's Hammersmith Apollo, a new opportunity was presented to him to apply his theat

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UK - Friends and colleagues of Dave Cartwright, who tragically passed away in July aged just 46, are organising a gathering in London this Friday to remember Dave and celebrate his life. The get together will take place this Friday, 21 August, in The White Hart, on Drury Lane, from 6pm. All those who knew Dave are welcome to attend.

Dave, a 20+ year veteran of the industry, passed away in July after suffering a massive stroke in late June. His employer, Stuart Gibbons of Le Mark, said: "To say that Dave will be sorely missed by many would be an understatement.

"His career in the entertainment industry had encompassed many skills and experiences from his early days with Stage Electrics through to his time at Lighting Technology, before joining Le Mark in 2010.

"Dave had enjoyed many successes during his career. To become a part of the London 2012 Olympics Openi

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Europe - Lab.gruppen has announced that the new version of its application browser configuration software for its Lucia range of compact power amplifiers is immediately available for free download on its website. Versions are downloadable for Mac or Windows.

With the new software, all six Lucia amplifiers including the two new 70 V models can access the full set of matrixing and DSP features, some of which were previously restricted to the premium M-suffix models that offer additional inputs and line level outputs.

The common harmonized feature set now includes custom EQ on inputs, custom EQ or preset recall for each discrete output, reconfigurable GPI ports, and Lab.gruppen's exclusive ADLC (Automatic Dynamic Loudness Contouring). Each model also offers matrix mixing of all inputs to all available outputs as determined by the model's available hardware I/O capability.

For u

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UK - Wireless LED specialist and manufacturer Core Lighting celebrates the sale of its 4000th ColourPoint wireless LED uplighter as the demand continues for lightweight, long lasting, high output, shadowless wireless LED units that can be quickly deployed in numerous locations at all types of corporate and private events.

When Core's ColourPoint first hit the market in 2013, it made a big impact because at only 4 Kgs, it was a quarter of the weight and considerably more cost effective than its competitors - all attributes offered without any compromise on the quality or light output..

The first ColourPoint fixtures were sold through UK distributor White Light to busy south London based event production company, Presentation Rentals - now known as PR Live. The most recent sale - including the actual 4000th fixture itself - was to AV and lighting consultants DCLX.

The ColourPo

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Canada - As Rush prepared to launch their latest tour, longtime tour lighting designer Howard Ungerleider of Production Design International Toronto was once again charged with creating the lighting spectacle that would be seen by the multitude of sold-out houses.

After a collaborative process with the production team, Ungerleider turned to Solotech to provide him with the innovative lighting technology to best accentuate the R40 Live tour which included VL4000 BeamWash, VL4000 Spot, VL3500 Wash FX and VL3500 Spot luminaires from Philips Vari-Lite.

"Our designs always begin with a full production team collaboration and brainstorming session," began Ungerleider. "For this particular tour, an evolution concept was conceived about going back in time and deconstructing Rush from their earliest beginnings to present day. With our concept in mind we then turned to Sol

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USA - Christmas came in July for the UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) Royce Hall tech team, when a recent shipment of ETC Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr arrays was delivered, tested and stencilled with the Royce emblem. A compelling demo of the technology last autumn by ETC's outreach and training specialist Tom Littrell was enough to prompt an order for 18 Series 2 light engines, nine Source Four LED CYC adapters and nine Source Four LED Fresnels.

"What wowed us in the demo was the colour rendition on the Hawaiian shirt," says associate master electrician Anthony Gutierrez. "The lime green frequency is in the middle of the human spectrum and fills in colour gaps you didn't even know were there."

Jessica Wodinsky has been the master electrician at Royce Hall for 30 years and can chronicle the evolving technology - "When I came here in 198

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Russia - In the hands of rental company JamTech, the Nexo STM Modular Line Array systems are having a busy summer in Russia.

STM was used as main PA for both the Main and the Second Stage at the massive Fruit Vibrations 2015. This two-day EDM festival featured over 30 headline acts, including Steve Aoki, Aly & Fila, Ummet Ozcan, BT, James Zabiela, The Chainsmokers, Brennan Heart, and Tony Junior.

Held in the Muzeon Art Park, in the centre of Moscow, this Globalclubbing event is the largest EDM festival in Russia, and draws thousands of fans from all across the country and the CIS states.

For the main stage, JamTech supplied a 11-a-side STM design, using nine STM M46 plus nine STM B112 with two STM M28 down-fill cabinets in each array 24x STM S118 subbass were used, together with extra RS18 subs. Another 12x M46 Main cabinets were used for out-fill.

Over on the B Stage, Jam

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UK - Lighting rental specialist HSL supplied stage lighting, sub-rigging and trussing, architectural and site-wide practical and decorative illumination, electrics, power distribution, and full public address announcement PA - for the 2015 Opera Holland Park festival season in west London.

The three-month performance run included five cutting edge opera productions staged in the tensile structure erected by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC) in its picturesque park, with the historical ruin of Holland House as an atmospheric backdrop.

HSL has been involved as a technical production supplier for the event for the last 12 years, in which time the lighting requirements and expectations have changed radically. What was once primarily a generic rig onstage now features nearly 90 moving lights with another 200 light sources supplied by HSL to light the surrounding and

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UK - For AC/DC's Rock or Bust tour, set designer Ray Winkler joined forces with lighting designer Patrick Woodroffe to seamlessly translate the distinct AC/DC sound into a grungy buffalo horned 'Mad Max' style stage, complemented by metallic, two colour classic rock and roll lighting primarily delivered by over 60 of the new Philips Vari-Lite VL4000 BeamWash luminaires.

"AC/DC has always demanded bold, bright, spectacular - yet uncomplicated - lighting and I think this time we gave it to them in spades," explains Woodroffe. "We were looking for powerful, bright lights that would work particularly well with no colour. We also wanted some more delicate effects, some tight beams and some hard edge source points. We chose a variety of fixtures including the new Vari-Lite VL4000 BeamWash and the VL3500 washes, which in combination gave us most of what we needed, in var

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Austria - Musikverein für Steiermark is the largest concert organiser in the Austrian city of Graz. It is currently celebrating 200 years of Musikverein Graz, and in mid June Rental Pro Austria deployed a DiGiCo SD8 for a spectacular performance, which featured Gustav Mahler's revered Symphony Number 8 as its finale.

The concert was performed by the Grazer Philharmonic Orchestra, one of Austria's best-known classical orchestras, plus 300 singers from the Choir of Opera Graz, Studio Choir of University of music and Performing Arts Graz and four smaller choirs.

"The concert at the Grazer Stadthalle was sold out," says Rental Pro Austria's Mario Held who, along with Andreas Putz, was also one of the two engineers working on this complex production. "We used a DiGiCo SD8 with a MADI Rack and Waves SoundGrid Server One to make sure that this world-class orche

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UK - This year's PLASA Rigging Conference will be held alongside the PLASA Show 2015 at ExCeL, London, in the North Hall Gallery Rooms on Monday 5 October. This perennially popular feature of the show comprises topical sessions led by leading industry figures and offers a unique opportunity for the rigging community to share industry knowledge and network.

Unusual Rigging is confirmed as the conference's Platinum sponsor for the third consecutive year, while Outback Rigging makes a welcome return as Gold sponsor.

"Rigging is an essential aspect of almost every event but, as productions increase in scale, size and complexity, so do the consequences of getting it wrong," says Alan Jacobi, managing director at Unusual Rigging. "Unusual Rigging wholeheartedly supports conferences such as this. It's imperative that we, as an industry, keep the debate fresh in order t

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Why Why Why Delilah? - Sir Tom Jones has accused senior executives on BBC's The Voice of "sub-standard behaviour", claiming they unceremoniously sacked him just a day before announcing his replacement. Sir Tom, the long-serving judge on the BBC talent show, said he had pencilled series five of The Voice into his diary, expecting to continue his role. Instead, he claimed, he was "told with no consultation or conversation of any kind" that he would not be returning. A new line-up was announced just one day later, comprising Boy George, Paloma Faith, and returning coaches Will.I.Am and Ricky Wilson.

Sir Tom was immediately inundated with messages from angry fans, telling him they would be switching off the show in protest. A spokesman for the BBC said, "The final decision on the coaches' line up for series 5 of The Voice was only taken

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USA - Country star Thomas Rhett is out on tour with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites. The mutli-Platinum singer is currently lighting up the music charts with the Top 10 and climbing hit Crash and Burn, the first single of his upcoming album Tangled Up, slated for 25 September release.

Bandit worked with lighting director Andrew Hunt and tour manager Logan Kornegay, supplying 14 Chauvet Legend Beams which span the top of the set, with four downstage on the right and the left, and another six in the middle of upstage to add depth. Additionally, 16 Martin MAC Auras are on the lower part of the set as eight fixtures light the drums and keys, while the other fill the outer parts of the set.

"I love the punch these beam fixtures pack, and they stand out really well, whether they are shooting out over the crowd in an arena, hitting Thomas Rhett on a cat

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USA - Since their inception in 1977, the Psychedelic Furs have never shied away from making sharp musical turns. Much to the delight of their fans, the legendary UK rockers have weaved like a speedboat from austere art rock to new wave, to rhythmic tunes like their mega-hit Pretty in Pink to hard growling sounds, leaving an impressive body of work in their wake that has influenced a generation of musicians. Apparently, the group applies their daring creative spirit to lighting as well, as evidenced by their sudden decision to enhance their stage presence with an LED rig that features Rogue R1 Spots and COLORdash Batten-Quad 6 linear fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

"The band decided pretty last minute to spice up the show with lighting, so we had a bit of a rush to get things together and get the show cued out," said LD Victor Zeiser of Squeek Lights (New Yor

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UK - Working with designer, Jonathan Paul Green, XL Video has supplied a package of video projection, screens and LCDs for the latest series of the topical panel game, Mock The Week, produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two.

The show, which is hosted by Dara O Briain and features panellists Hugh Dennis and Andy Parsons, is filmed before a live studio audience shortly before its air date. This ensures that the topics for improvisation are relevant to current news subjects.

The studio incorporates a range of different video elements. The show logo incorporates a world globe, inspired by the show's theme tune, News Of The World, by The Jam. This is recreated using a 6ft diameter Repro H screen, located behind O Briain, which is built into the set and rear-projected via one of XL Video's Panasonic 10k projectors.

Upstage of the main improvisation area, a 16ft x 9f

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