Lighting

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UK - Dance band Underworld delighted fans with a short UK and European tour to kick off the live campaign supporting their much anticipated new album - Barbara Barbara We Face A Shining Future.

H has worked with the band - whose music has stayed edgy despite their commercial success - for an impressive 23 years ... he was first hired after an early tour with pioneering club and dance touring phenomenon, Megadog. Right from the start Underworld embraced multi-media visuals, a trend that's continued throughout their live performance career.

Creatively, lighting the show has been an evolution over that timespan explains H, with some underlying elements remaining basically the same while others have morphed and developed along with the sounds and moods of the music, all delivered with that distinctive Underworld raw groove.

"It doesn't so much matter where the light

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UK - Recently opened at The Vaults in London, All or Nothing is a musical based on the life and music of The Small Faces. Set in the Swinging Sixties, it is a poignant and bittersweet tale of four charismatic young musicians whose humour, attitude and passion propel them to mega-stardom. Yet not all of them are ready for what awaits when they hit the big time... White Light has provided the lighting equipment for this exciting production.

All or Nothing is written by renowned British actress Carol Harrison and directed by BAFTA-winner Tony McHale. It first previewed on Brighton Beach back in 2013 and, following a series of development, is now making its London debut.

The musical is lit by Peter Small. He comments, "The show is set in the Sixties and I really wanted to capture a sense of this time. I opted for a more visual design of rows of Parcans that could

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Germany - The hall number may have changed at this year's Prolight+Sound show but the outcome was the same for Elation Professional with a stand full of inspired customers assessing an impressive line-up of new and innovative products. The Elation stand in Hall 4 was bustling from start to finish thanks to some 20 new product launches including world premiere preview products, an exhilarating light show and stand party.

Elation previewed a number of new products including fixtures in three all-new product series (ZCL Series with new Zooming Collimator Lens system, DTW Series variable white LED lights, and Fuze Series LED wash fixtures with perfectly homogenized colour, zoom optics and IP65 rating).

Other product launches included the Platinum Seven, a high-power seven-colour wash luminaire; Sniper Pro, an upgrade of Elation's award-winning Sniper 2R that features three tim

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Germany - Robe took its winning themed theatre environment concept to the 2016 Prolight+Sound expo, transporting the Robe Piazza to Hall 3 of the Frankfurt Messe, where the Czech manufacturer invested in a space three times larger than at any previous Prolight.

Launching and showcasing a raft of new and innovative products, the booth was lit with over 250 moving lights including the new DL7 and DL4 ranges of luminaires designed for theatrical and performance applications, Robe's signature high powered BMFL range as well as several new products like the Spikie, Strobes and ColorStrobes and picklePATTs. The lighting consumed 12,288 channels of DMX across 24 DMX universes!

This high-impact setting enabled visitors to see the products working in situ and embrace the atmosphere. It was packed with people throughout the four days from start to finish.

Robe also won a coveted

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UK - The University of Cambridge celebrates its cultural and scientific heritage by playing host to e-Luminate, a week-long lighting festival aimed at connecting art and technology through the medium of light. Among the highlights of this year's event was a richly coloured lighting display on historic Guildhall that was created with a collection Iluminarc fixtures from Chauvet.

A Victorian style natural stone building located in the centre of historic Cambridge and owned by the city, Guildhall provided an ideal backdrop for the interplay of vivid hues produced by the Colorist Pod 7Qa and Colorist Panel 8Q. Strategically positioned on the building's balcony by lighting designer Simon Cox, the RGBA fixtures accented the distinctive architectural features of the popular Cambridge landmark.

"The E-Luminate festival aims to highlight new energy efficient lighting technology usi

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South Africa - Over 127 schools were invited to attend a Careers Day on 7 April, hosted by Silverstar in Krugersdorp - the focus on employment opportunities available within this casino. DWR Distribution was asked to be a sponsor and exhibitor, giving students the opportunity to consider working in the entertainment industry as a technician. The conference venue became a haven for 500 students, hungry for knowledge.

Thabo Ntsala, multimedia manager at Silverstar, who heads technical for events and conferences, was clearly chuffed. "Silverstar have hosted a day like this before on a much smaller scale," he said. Thabo explained that students would be exposed to various professions including marketing, events management and promotions and more.

As Silverstar is a popular venue for live entertainment and conferences, Thabo invited DWR Distribution to be part of the project, e

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USA - Following the success of Halestorm's third studio album Into the Wild, the Grammy-Award winning band returns to the road for a rock tour that takes high-octane energy and powerful female voices, including special guests Lita Ford and Dorothy, and combines it all into one epic event.

Bandit Lites is providing a lighting package that brings mind-blowing visuals to Halestorm's hardcore sound. By using Clay Paky Sharpys, GLP X4S fixtures within black truss towers (evoking a modern, updated look to par ACL Bars), Martin Atomic 3000 Strobes, Bandit 5x5s and GRNLite LED Battens, lighting designer Julie Cox focused on creating a rig that could "push fixture capability instead of quantity", adding, "The fixtures are in their highest effect settings to really up the visual options."

New to this year's tour design was the addition of the Bandit 5x5s, a fixture that Cox s

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Taiwan - As one of the most influential Buddhist organisations in the world, Taiwan's Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM) embraces environmental protection within its Buddhist practices.

For two recent events - the second Global Followers Assembly and the annual Great Compassion Water and Land Dharma Service - DDM employed modern digital technology and LED lighting to conserve energy and reduce pollution, seamlessly integrating advanced science and art into their traditional ceremonies. ETC's Taiwanese dealer, Ming Li Engineering & Consultant Co, provided ColorSource and Source Four LED Series 2 luminaires and an Eos family control system to light up the two great events.

Both the Global Assembly and the Dharma Service were held at the DDM World Center for Buddhist Education in Taiwan. Approximately 10,000 followers from around the world attended the 2015 Global Assembly, and after

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Copyright Row - Led Zeppelin founders Robert Plant and Jimmy Page must face trial in a copyright row over the song Stairway to Heaven, a US court has ruled. A Los Angeles district judge said there were enough similarities between the song and an instrumental by the band Spirit to let a jury decide. The trial has been scheduled for 10 May.

Stairway to Heaven, released in 1971, is widely seen as one of the greatest rock compositions of all time. The copyright infringement action has been brought by Michael Skidmore, a trustee for the late Spirit guitarist Randy Wolfe, who played on the same bill as Led Zeppelin in the 1960s, and claims he should be given a writing credit on the track. Led Zeppelin guitarist Page and lead singer Plant are reputed to have written the track in a remote cottage in Wales.

By Royal Appointment - Kylie Minogue will perform for

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UK - As you approach or leave Newcastle Central Station on the train, you have your breath caught as you catch sight of the mighty River Tyne and its many famous bridges, but why would you turn your head the other way? This is why the Staiths are so easily and often overlooked, in favour of their skyline dominating neighbours. They do however deserve their moment in the spotlight, as they are a key link to the region's industrial past.

The Staiths, a giant wooden structure on the Gateshead side of the River, has helped carve the North East's industrial past by facilitating the exportation of coal to the rest of country and far beyond. As the coal industry fell into decline towards the end of the 20th century, this structure of wood declined also and with it part of the North East's history. However, after a heritage grant and lottery funding, in 2015 the Staiths was able to op

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UK - Filmed at Belfast's vast T13 Urban Sports Park and Event Space, Can't Touch This is new, fast paced entertainment from the BBC. Hosted by Zoe Ball and Ashley Banjo, the show pits contestants against each other as they navigate their way through a huge assault course in the hope of 'touching' the ultimate prize.

Working with LD Gurdip Mahal and Gaffer James Tinsley, Aurora shipped an extensive equipment package to the historic former shipyard to ensure the team had exactly what they needed to spotlight all the action.

With over 60 Spacelights plus a variety of tungsten heads being hung to provide fill throughout the former warehouse, the venue had an almost film set feel, however the LD soon added plenty of automated fixtures to get things moving.

Seventy-two GLP X4 fixtures provided the main wash to the set with Martin Viper Performance, Rush PARs and SGM P

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Taiwan - The National Palace Museum Southern Branch in Taiwan has recently opened and is expected to have more than 5m visitors in its first year.

Audio Light Systems supplied & installed the wireless lighting control system to all 175 specialist display cabinets. Each of the cabinets was fitted with Universal Fibre Optic lighting systems which required full wireless dimming control.

Steve Aitchison a senior engineer at ALS spent months designing and fine tuning the correct system for the project and said, "The museum needed to have day to day control of each light in each cabinet throughout all the floors. We provided a portable touch screen in each gallery so the non-technical staff could easily change or fine tune the lighting. I'm really pleased with the project. Our team in Taiwan did a great job."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Following on from last year's £500,000 investment, Fisher Hires has responded to client demand and invested another £275,000 into the business, significantly increasing sound, video and lighting stock.

New products include: Nexo speakers such as the versatile Nexo ID24, and the 45N 12 stage monitor, ChamSys MagicQ lighting consoles, more Panasonic display screens including the super bright 80" LED, plus a wide range of mics from Shure, AKG and Sennheiser as well as Yamaha QL5 mixers.

Lighting capacity has also increased with the purchase of SGN G spot IP Rated Movers, Robe Robin Viva LED Profiles and more of the popular ETC Source Fours LED Lustr's.

Graham Beswick CEO of the Fisher Productions Group said, "I am extremely proud of the work that we do across the Fisher group and our rate of growth. This growth has enabled us to carefully select a compreh

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Germany - As in past years, the Production Resource Group (PRG) created their spectacular Highlight Show in the Festhalle at Prolight+Sound 2016.

The first show took place at the event of the LEA Awards, where a spectacular laser display accompanied the performance of the musical group Glasperlenspiel. Afterwards, during the exhibition, the highlight show was played every half hour, showcasing the high quality equipment and show creation capabilities of PRG.

Besides the conventional lighting, video projections and the powerful sound system, an extraordinary and exceptional laser show took place.

More than 400W of laser power were implemented, including the world's-first presentation of a completely new show design lighting fixture - the RTI NEO SIX RGB white light beam arrays with analogue modulation and beam deflection. This new fixture allows for creating twist and w

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South Africa - The Splashy Fen Festival is aptly named. Started on a trout farm in the spring of 1990, South Africa's longest running music festival serves up giant helpings of outdoor fun in and out of the water for thousands of visitors every year. There are also arts, crafts, games and plenty of music, from folk, rock, and techno, to mbaqanga (the up-tempo jive music of the townships), and the wonderfully distinctive Zulu style of isicanthamiya.

Over 1500 different groups have performed on the Splashy stage over the past quarter century. This year, the venerable festival got a bold new look, courtesy of a dynamic contemporary main stage lighting design by Shaniel Laloo that was anchored by Strike 4, Rogue R2 Wash and Legend 230SR Beam fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

"The festival has been an institution with a loyal following - everyone loves its relaxed atmosphere

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South Africa - Rivers Church in Durban has invested in a new MA Lighting dot2 core console which was specified by Rivers' head of lighting, Ed Helliwell. Helliwell is based at the Rivers campus in Sandton Johannesburg, but also oversees the lighting and visuals departments of the busy Durban venue. He's a big advocate of the flexibility of the MA control platform and has had a great experience with the grandMA2 in Johannesburg, which has just opened a brand new 3000 capacity auditorium which is in addition to their older 1200 capacity space.

Durban has also been refurbished to increase the capacity to 950 with a new balcony, and that seemed an appropriate time to upgrade elements of the lighting.

The previous console was old and having issues, so when Helliwell attended a course run by MA's South African distributor DWR to introduce and highlight the power and simplicity o

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UK - Busy rental company Storm Lighting, based in Woking, Surrey, has invested in 30 x Robe BMFL Blades and 30 x LEDWash 1000s for their ongoing work which includes a diverse range of premium corporate events, leading theatre tours and some music shows.

This new sale follows Storm's initial Robe purchases made in 2014, of LEDBeam 100s, LEDWash 600s and Pointes. These fixtures have all been a great success, and impressed with their reliability and the excellent customer service from Robe UK, Storm founders Dave Knapp and Pete Kramer decided to continue their commitment to the brand. The BMFL Blades and LEDBeam 1000s replace some older moving lights.

Robe UK came to Storm and conducted a demo explains Dave, "As soon as I saw the BMFL Blades I knew they fitted the bill! We were hugely impressed with the output, the speed and the compact size of the unit."

They also have a

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Germany - PR Lighting reported one of its most successful shows ever at this month's Prolight+Sound Show in Frankfurt.

Visitors to the Messe were hit with promotional banners from the moment they arrived, announcing a competition to win prizes based around five little humanoid robots, which had earlier performed on CCTV's Lunar New Year Gala 2016, celebrating the Chinese New Year. In Frankfurt they were performing to I'm Sexy And I Know It, which was synced to the spectacular lightshow. And after revelling in the show, many of the awe-struck visitors were fortunate enough to leave the booth with souvenirs, prizes and mementos after competing in the company's 'lucky draw'.

Away from this light-hearted crowd pleaser, there was more high technology in evidence, as the serious business was focused on the Chinese company's new BWS series. Using advanced lamp technology t

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Germany - Laserworld launched several new products at this year's Prolight+Sound, amongst them also two world-first releases: The RTI NEO SIX RGB beam arrays and the HB-Laser Poseidon 3D-HydroMatrix HD.

The stand concept was completely different to past years, as there was no actual show on display at the booth but a huge bar, surrounding a tall tree in the middle of the stand.

Several lasers of the new tarm Series and others created ambient laser effects and a multitude of laser of the Garden Series illuminated the tree and the bar with hundreds of tiny light dots. A specially created Sweet RGB Dreams shot was presented to customers at the bar - RGB representing the base colours for the utmost white light laser systems nowadays.

Additionally, - more than 400W of laser power. The brand new RTI NEO SIX RGB white light beam arrays with analogue modulation and beam

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Germany - At Frankfurt, DTS introduced Katana which offers a brand new type of light beam: the dynamic 'blade' projection. Thanks to a custom 3.5° - 40° linear zoom, Katana is capable of projecting an extra-bright blade of light that cuts through any show.

Single pixel control lets you obtain stunning dynamic multicolour effects, says the company. Features include single pixel control, ultra-fast motorised tilt, integrated full-range PSU and DMX control.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Audio-Technica ATH-M70x M-Series Professional Monitor Headphones have been used for both mixing and playback for a remarkable sonic and visual art installation in Times Square, New York City.

From 1 April, Soundwalk Collective, an international sound collective based in New York and Berlin, is presenting JUNGLE-IZED: A Conversation With Nature - a month-long interactive multi-sensory art installation that transforms Times Square and transport close to half a million visitors daily to the heart of the Amazon.

Presented in collaboration with David de Rothschild, The Times Square Advertising Coalition (TSAC), Times Square Arts, Audio-Technica, and CXA+ART, the immersive installation includes a participatory audio experience and an interactive video, to encourage a conversation with nature and to heighten awareness of the environmental impact of climate change.

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Denmark - Vejle Musikteater is the largest performing arts venue in the picturesque cultural hub of Vejle which sits at the head of the magnificent Vejle Fjord and the convergence of the Vejle and Grejs rivers in southeast Jutland, Denmark.

The venue has invested in over 50 Robe fixtures, including MMX Spots and LEDWash 600 moving lights and PARfect 100s in the last three years, a move instigated by Technical Manager Tor Futtrup.

Opened in 1993, the Musikteater has two main auditoriums, the Great Hall with 1,134 seats - and it can also be configured as a standing venue - and the Jacob Gade Hall which seats up to 300, plus an active programme of drama, large scale musicals, concerts and comedy productions.

It also hosts parties and special events, and the Musikteater crew facilitate technical production at the nearby Spectrum Conference and Sports Centre and for the ann

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Germany - Clay Paky launched three new products for the first time internationally at Prolight+Sound 2016, all of which aroused considerable interest among industry professionals. The products were the stars of a demo/multimedia light show which accompanied the performances of some musicians and cover bands.

The Scenius Profile is the new beam shaper at the top of the Clay Paky moving head range. Its advanced optical unit and the 1400W OSRAM discharge lamp provide very high light output and an excellent CRI. Its framing system consists of four independent overlapping blades which create shapes of all sizes and proportions by working simultaneously on four different focal planes

The Hepikos is a 700W washlight that combines low power consumption with colour quality, without compromise. Thanks to its PC front lens and narrow 5° beam angle, the fixture can also produce a

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UK - The Salisbury Playhouse has recently brought down the curtain on a Myrtle Theatre Company production of Up Down Man by Brendan Murray. The lighting of this internationally acclaimed play was designed and programmed by award winning LD, Michael Straun. He chose to run the show on an MA Lighting dot2 Core console after attending one of the seminars run by exclusive UK distributors, Ambersphere Solutions.

Straun was keen to get a closer look at the MA dot2 console after his first brief encounter at a show in Sydney, Australia. "I didn't have time to have a proper 'play' to explore what it could really do so I grabbed the chance to attend one of the sessions offered by Ambersphere. It provided a good insight into the basics of the desk but the Ambersphere team were also on hand to answer more in-depth questions. However well you think you know a console you always lear

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