UK - Kave Theatre Services supplied all lighting, sound and crew requirements to Move It (the UK's largest exhibition for Dance) for the latest addition to the show: The Freestyle Stage. The show took place from Thursday 5th - Sunday 8th March at Olympia, London.

The Freestyle Stage is an area the organisers created to allow dancers visiting the show, to show off their dance skills to a crowd. The brief from organisers was to create an area that allowed maximum flexibility with lighting and sound, as there are no rehearsals or even any idea of the genre that will be performed. The performers just show up with an iPod or CD with their chosen track and take to the stage.

Kave supplied a flexible lighting rig consisting of Martin Mac 600s, Mac 2000 Profiles and the new Mac 575 Kryptons for lighting the stage, Chroma Q Colour Blocks as truss toners, Le Maitre MVS hazers, and 2 Rob

USA - As 2009 unfolds, Bandit Lites continues with O.A.R. on their 2009 tour. Tour manager Sean Murray, production manager Kevin Cassidy and lighting designer Will Anglin have worked with Bandit client rep Brent Barrett to come up with another impressive system for the 2009 campaign.

Anglin has chosen a bit of new along with a bit of throwback technology for the latest tour. VL 3000 spots work alongside High End Studio Beams as well as some durable but old school Cyberlight Turbos. The three fixtures together provide a look at the last 20 years of development of moving lights.

The entire show is controlled by the Grand MA console. The usual collection of trussing, motors and drapes round out a special look for the 11-year-old group. The This Town Tour continues throughout the year.

(Jim Evans)

UK - The Directors of Batmink Ltd, one of the UK's largest distributors of sound and lighting equipment, are looking forward to the inaugural PLASA Focus show (Leeds, UK, 28-29 April 2009). Sales director Grant Thomas explains why Batmink are so enthusiastic about the new show: "As wholesale distributors, we often find that visitors to the trade shows are there primarily to familiarise themselves with new products, rather than to establish contacts and suppliers for these goods. At PLASA Focus, the emphasis is more on networking and developing new business relationships which may well prove more successful for a wholesale distributor such as ourselves. PLASA's own figures indicate that 70% of pre-registered visitors didn't attend the PLASA show in London, so this is also an excellent opportunity to meet new potential clients who may not be aware of our products or services.&q

Lighting rental company HSL is supplying lighting, a 26-point Kinesys automation system and crew to Snow Patrol's One Hundred Million Suns world tour.

This has kicked off in the UK and Europe with a mix of four dynamic visual mediums - lighting, digital lighting, video and movement .

The imaginative force behind this show comes from Davy Sherwin (lighting & visuals designer), Robin Haddow (live visuals director) and video director Blue Leach. The aim of their seamless teamwork is to ensure that all the lighting, video, visuals and movement cues contrast, compliment, match and juxtapose in complete harmony.

Project manager Mike Oates says, "It's just brilliant to be involved on a show that looks this good. An incredible amount of hard work, ideas, imagination and intelligence has gone into making it work, and the end results speak for themselves."

Sherwin

Germany tarm Showlaser GmbH recently staged a highlight at the German music award ceremony Echo 2009 at the O2-World in Berlin.

Lighting designer Al Gurdon, who is well known for large scale productions such as the MTV Awards and the Brit Awards, designed in the performance of popular German act Silbermond in collaboration with tarm Showlaser to mark the presentation of the band's new song Irgendwas bleibt.

A total of four high-power green and four full-colour lasers were used for the production at the O2-World.

(Claire Beeson)

Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden has added three individuals with over 60 years of collective experience to its W-DMX research and development team.

Mats Jonsson is the new CTO for Wireless Solution, with 25 years experience in software development for major manufacturers of infrastructure equipment. Jonsson will be project manager for W-DMX, responsible for software design.

Kjell Johanesson is a new radio engineer with 20 years experience from Ericsson, the provider of mobile phones and GSM Networks, which were the technologies that formed the basis of W-DMX when the company formed in 2004.

Willhelm Alhgreen is responsible for hardware design and will work together with Johanesson and Jonsson to continue the development of new products.

"We're very excited to add these talented individuals to the R&D team," says Niclas Arvidsson, CEO of Wireless Solution, "

USA/UK - Designers on both sides of the Atlantic have been signing up to support Behind the Scenes and Light Relief By Design Day, the day the industry comes together to celebrate its successes and to give back in thanks.

On 24 April, designers with shows around the world will be donating their royalties to support one or both of the two charities dedicated exclusively to helping entertainment technology and design professionals, Behind the Scenes in the US and Canada and Light Relief in the UK. Designers and others not in royalty situations have also stepped forward in support of By Design Day with direct donations.

By Design Day champions Ken Billington, Rick Fisher and Ken Posner have already been joined in donating their royalties by Mike Baldassari, Paule Constable, Don Holder, David Howe, Tim Mascal, Paul Miller, Brian Monahan, Peter Mumford, Peter Nigrini, Paul Pyant, M

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies has given its web site www.ac-et.com/bargains a major facelift to provide customers with an improved online experience, following the continued success and expansion of this area of the company's business.

A.C. updates the bargain stock website on a daily basis with ex-demo and second hand equipment available. To reflect the web site's much expanded stock inventory, the site features dedicated lighting, audio, rigging and video product pages, based on the popular format of the distributor's 24-hour online shop. The Just Landed page enables customers to see at a glance what stock has been added in the last seven working days.

Most items on the Bargain Stock list are stocked in the company's Leeds Warehouse and can be viewed by arrangement.

(Jim Evans)

The Netherlands - The numbers are huge: 125mwide stage, 4000sq.m palace façade set, 400 plus Martin Professional automated lights, 80 containers of transport. What is being called the biggest transportable touring set ever graces Andre Rieu's World Stadium Tour: A Romantic Vienna Night.

The 34m high stage - a reconstruction of the Schonbrunn castle in Vienna - includes a ballroom with gilded chandeliers, majestic fountains, and even ice for skating. Lighting the massive set is an equally impressive Martin lighting rig made up of 30 MAC III Profiles, 185 MAC 2000 Washes, 58 MAC 2000 Wash XBs, 114 MAC 250 Washes, 10 MAC 2000 Performances and 14 Exterior 200s. Lighting contractor is Rent-All BV, one of the largest rental companies in Holland, who have been supplying lighting for André Rieu shows for years.

Lighting design for the tour is in the hands of Maurice Ver

USA - Bandit Lites began 2009 with a large number of high profile special events working with some of the biggest names in the industry.

The year kicked off with designer Mark Carver and the Stellar Gospel Music Awards in Nashville at the Opry House. This year the show was hosted by Sinbad along with Grammy winning entertainers Donnie McClurkin and Dorinda Clark Cole. The show is broadcast globally on television and is the pinnacle of the gospel Music year. Carver used an array of technology including VL 2500s, 3000s, 3500s and Coemar Halos as well as Coemar infinity XL.

In Europe Bandit was very busy with a wide range of events including UFC Pay Per View, PURE Fashion at London Fashion week, FA Carling Cup Final and Ringling Brothers Circus events.

Belmont University in Nashville again called on Bandit to light their 2009 Belmont Country Showcase and its Rock Show

Germany - LED Factory - a leading manufacturer of high end LED entertainment lighting systems - has launched its latest mobile LED product range designed for the professional event market.

The new LED-Pixel system includes a number of different items of furniture and was exhibited for the first time at The Event Show, London and at the World of Event Show in Germany.

According to LED Factory, the main unique features are: "Most advanced rechargeable Lithium ION batteries; Remote controlled via hand or DMX transmitter; Highly efficient RGBW (Red/Green/Blue/White) LED light sources; Pixel design (each 1m strip consists of 8 individually controllable LED segments); Over 10 integrated light effects similar to sophisticated LED moving heads / stage systems"

LED-Factory is one of the first companies in the world providing a whole range of high end mobile LED-systems or c

USA - The broadcast of the 81st Academy Awards on 22 February 22, saw Oscars awarded for outstanding sound achievements in film, but there was one more audio accomplishment that evening: at the famous Governor's Ball after-party, where the EAW UX8800 Digital Signal Processor optimised the sound system in the Grand Ballroom on the top level of the Hollywood & Highland Centre. The sound system was provided and operated by Goodman Audio Services of Santa Fe Springs, California.

For the Governor's Ball, Goodman Audio positioned two UX8800s as system processors at the FOH position. Signal from the Yamaha PM5D FOH mixer fed the UX8800 processors in loudspeaker mode, paired with various speaker/amplifier rack locations such as catwalks and amp world near the stage. A typical amp rack will have one UX8800 and four QSC PL236 amplifiers, and these were configured as left and right, with a

UK - Martin Professional invites you to experience their brand new lighting and fog offerings at the new PLASA Focus show at the Royal Armouries in Leeds on the 28 -29 April 2009.

Visit Martin Professional's stand (B2) in Saviles Hall for the opportunity to get up close and personal with their latest products and talk to staff.

On display will be the brand new MAC III and the new K1 Hazer. Also, some of the company's industry standard MACs will be available for visitors to have a closer look at along with a few key new products from the Visual Solutions range, including the new EvenLED panels.

"So, don't wait, register for free online at www.plasafocus.com/leeds/register; then come by and visit us to see our new products," say the company.

There is also a two day programme of free educational seminars and workshops. The seminars are designed and delivered by a co

UK - Following many months of discussion, Lighting Effects Distribution has been appointed exclusive UK distributors for the wide range of lighting solutions produced by the company Colours in Italy.

The pact marks a reunion for L.E.D. managing director Ian Kirby and Ivano Burato, who was most recently with French company Ayrton (distributed in the UK by L.E.D).

Burato, in conjunction with former colleagues from Coemar spa, set up the new company in the north Italian lighting hotbed of Castelgoffredo, and this month presented its innovative range in the UK at an open day held by television specialists, Richard Martin Lighting.

Ivano Burato said: "It was always my intention to approach Lighting Effects Distribution to handle our products after meeting at last year's PLASA Show, and once the Ayrton contract ended in December we started talking."

"This is a hig

Qatar - LCI Productions provided a 'light show' for Qatar's National Day in December 2008, in Doha. LCI was contracted to provide a turnkey service for the project, from original concept through to delivery.

The brief for the show production was to "grow" the national pride of the nation, by depicting its history and heritage, to show their progress and make the audience reflect on the country's national heritage. The elements included the History of the Country, Pearl Diving, Desert Living and the Craft and Art of Qatar.

On winning the tender, LCI set about creating a storyboard and sourcing original material shot in Qatar in both stills and HD video as well as using archive material from Qatar, working in conjunction with local agencies. The majority of the show content was then developed at LCI's in-house Avid editing studio, and demonstration studio, using Wings

Germany - Optical specialist KaiChang Lu has joined the GLP R&D team, with effect from 1 March 2009. He will be working closely with head of department, Markus Salm, and project managers, Oliver Klee and Marc Rapp.

KaiChang Lu has a comprehensive background in optical design, and between 1996-2007 worked as director for R&D/design at British Optical (International Optics).

"I have worked in the Entertainment Lighting industry for more than 20 years and optimised the optics for different manufacturers including Martin Professional profile spots from MAC 500 up to MAC III - and before that optical work for High End Systems - so I am confident that I can contribute to securing the future growth of GLP in the professional lighting business," says KaiChang.

GLP's business director, Kasper Gissel, states: "We strive to develop and manufacture top quality luminaires

UK - Every Sunday, the Dominion Theatre in London's Tottenham Court Road, home to We Will Rock You, becomes the setting for the London services of Hillsong Church. A vibrant church, Hillsong in London has grown in ten years to a congregation of some 10,000 people, holding three services each week.

With a relatively young congregation of mainly 20-35 year olds, the senior pastor of Hillsong London was looking to add dynamics to the services and so provide more engagement with the congregation. "We had been using a large back projection screen on the stage at the Dominion," explains the Church's technical director, Frankie du Toit, "and we needed something that would work in conjunction with that."

He saw the G-LEC Phantom 30 frames at the PLASA show last year and was impressed with the system's ease of use and light weight. He continues: "The sys

UK - Hawthorn has taken delivery of its Liteware RGB battery LED uplighters, which were recently awarded ABTT's lighting product of the year.

The LED battery powered uplighters are completely cable free and entirely battery powered, thus allowing complete freedom of use, whatever the venue or event. They have a generous 24 hour running cycle in colour changing mode and only take six hours to recharge.

Liteware's LED uplighters offer full RGB colour mixing and wireless DMX control with a light output is similar to a Pixelpar. They have 50 preset colours (Lee and Rosco), 20 built in fades and snaps and a 16 bit dimmer curve for smooth fade effects.

Hawthorn's stainless steel LED uplighters are flight cased in groups of six and all the flight cases are pre-wired so the fittings are easily recharged by just plugging in the flight case, making it very easy to recharge the units o

Germany - At ProLight&Sound this year, Visual Productions will be focusing on the launch of its entry-level software lighting control programme, Cuelux.

Visitors will be able to tryout this platform-independent piece of software lighting control on either a Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows. Cuelux is a DMX512 lighting controller for intelligent lights, LED, dimmers, lasers and various other effects; it is shipped with a USB-to-DMX adapter cable.

Key to the design of Cuelux is its graphical user-interface. It is specially designed to reduce the amount of time required to learn how to operate the software.

Alongside this new product Visual Productions continues to develop itsother products and will also be displaying the Duple: a USB to DMX-512 dual output and input hardware interface. The Duple enables both VisualDMX and Canvix lighting control softwares to send and receive DMX.

USA - FocusTrack, the production lighting documentation system, will be at the USITT Stage Expo in Cincinnati this week; visitors to stand 81 will be the first to see the new FocusTrack 2.00, which adds compatibility with ETC Eos and MA grandMA consoles.

In the more than three years since its first introduction, FocusTrack has been put to use on countless shows, allowing lighting designers and their teams to precisely document the show lighting - including focus of conventional and moving lights, cue looks, rig data and more- to allow them to maintain the look over a long run, bring the show back into rep, re-focus it on tour or re-create it elsewhere in the world. FocusTrack is currently in use on shows including Billy Elliot in London, New York and Australia, Mary Poppins in New York and on tour, Frost/Nixon and The Wizard of Oz touring the US, and Miss

Australia - LSC Lighting Systems has announced the release of the latest addition to the Redback family of dimmer racks. The new Redback 12 dimmer provides 12 channels at 10A with 100% Duty Cycle in only 2RU of height.

The concept behind the Redback project was to produce a feature rich, high quality reliable dimmer in a small compact footprint at a very affordable price, says the company. After extensive development and product testing, LSC is confident that they have delivered these objectives. The Redback range is designed for mass manufacture resulting in a reduced overall build price and hence sale price, without compromising quality.

The Redback 12-channel dimmer is fully compliant with the new RDM (Remote Device Management) protocol, allowing remote configuration from any RDM compatible controller. This new functionality will also soon be available as a free software up

UK - Cameron Mackintosh's new staging of Lionel Bart's Oliver! Is playing at London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane before a backdrop of colour changing EvenLED panels by Martin Professional.

Stage Electrics, who supply all production lighting and media server equipment for the production, has made a significant investment in Martin Professional's EvenLED, purchasing 140 panels of the latest 16 bit version. Each colour mixing LED panel measures 1sqm and is fully DMX controlled. Also used on the set are Martin MAC TW1 tungsten washlights.

The entire production is backed by a vast 14m by 10m sky cloth. Upstage of the cloth is a BP screen and behind that are 140 EvenLED panels.

Lighting Designer for the show is Paule Constable assisted by associate Beky Stoddart. Constable, who recently won the 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Lighting Design for The Chalk Garden (

The Netherlands - Lightco has supplied an ETC Eos control system for an eight month tour by Dutch percussion band Slagerij van Kampen.

Says chief lighting technician and board operator Mike Evers, "Although I'd never used an Eos before, I like to challenge myself with something new each time I go on tour. ETC is not well known in The Netherlands for its control desks - people only know the lighting - so I was eager to see what the Eos could do. I only had a couple of weeks' programming time, so didn't get to explore the desk fully, but I used some of the functions of the effects engine and found it extremely powerful. I hope to be able to explore all its capabilities some other time."

Lightco sales manager Bas van Schelven says, "When we heard that the team was ready to try something new and fresh, it seemed like a great opportunity to offer an extended demonstr

Trinidad - PR Lighting fixtures have provided the atmosphere at two major festivals in Trinidad & Tobago, where the company's distributors, All Events Lighting Systems were out in force for The Festival - Night of the Stars and Arabian Nights.

All Events Lighting Systems has been working with the promoters of The Festival for the past three years but this year the concept (and the name) changed - and thus they found themselves working with the new format for the first time.

"The promoters wanted a new look to coincide with the change of concept and knew that lighting would was the answer," says the company's owner, Shival Maharaj (who is also the principle LD). "They asked us to prepare a lighting design and offered us the job on the strength of this; we are now the official lighting provider for this event."

For the show, Shival used

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