Lighting

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27 June 2025

Germany - The Beatsteaks, one of Germany’s most successful punk rock bands, have been out on their Please tour, in support of the album of the same name, since spring 2024. This tour has continued in 2025.

Lighting designer Joanna Ossolinska, who has worked with the band for several years, developed a completely new lighting concept for the tour – with some deliberate references to previous tours. The characteristic line of light and the Viennese curtain as a backdrop have long been part of the Beatsteaks’ DNA and needed to be retained.

The goal was to create a flexible setup that would accommodate both the highly variable set list and the logistical requirements. At the same time, it was important to capture the band’s signature style.

“The Beatsteaks have always preferred a stage design without traditional spotlights, gob

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27 June 2025

UK - Tribute band Queen Extravaganza’s latest tour celebrated the 50th anniversary of Queen’s seminal Bohemian Rhapsody. Providing an appropriately lavish setting for this celebratory tour was a production created by Rick Lipson of Stu Fish, who designed the set, and lighting designer Rob Sinclair.

Ensuring that the concert production continued to deliver dynamic and colourful looks on a consistent basis as the tour made its way from one sold-out venue to the next was Jason Hyne, who ran the one-track time-coded show (with some cue stacks), on his own ChamSys MagicQ MQ250M Stadium Console. The flexibility of that console was invaluable in helping him scale the show to different venues.

“We worked at a lot of different sized venues on the tour, which is always a challenge, but it keeps it interesting when you need to make the show fit i

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27 June 2025

Europe - The newest addition to Elation’s Fuze series, the Fuze PFX, brings all the power and versatility of a multi-purpose automated fixture - now in a compact footprint. Designed to deliver serious output and feature-rich flexibility in a smaller package, the Fuze PFX is designed for both production and installation environments where space and performance matter.

For applications that demand a high-output, multifunctional light, the Fuze PFX combines the precision of a profile fixture with the creative potential of an effects light. It delivers over 15,000 lumens of output and can handle everything from tight beams and precise framing to expansive washes.

Despite its feature-packed design and powerful 400W white LED engine, the Fuze PFX maintains a compact and lightweight form factor, making it an ideal choice for venues where rigging space is

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26 June 2025

Canada - Vertus Group, a division of Jonas Software, has acquired CAST Group of Companies.

CAST is an Emmy award-winning developer of software and hardware solutions for the entertainment, special events, and meetings industries. Its flagship products include the industry-leading WYSIWYG lighting design and pre-visualisation suite, and the real-time tracking platform, BlackTrax. These tools have earned the trust of top professionals around the world to design and execute complex productions with precision and impact.

“After more than 30 years of building, growing, inventing, and leading CAST, it was time to pass on the torch,” said Gilray Densham, founder of CAST. “We found the perfect home in Vertus Group. They will continue our legacy and drive the company forward through innovation, the very thing that makes CAST an industry leader.”

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26 June 2025

UK - The ABTT Theatre Show 2025 attracted increased visitor numbers, record-breaking engagement and international draw.

There were over 3,200 people on the show floor this year, making the ABTT Theatre Show at Alexandra Palace busier than ever. With a 15.6% increase in unique attendees, a 16% increase in revisits on Day 2, this year’s event confirmed its growing importance as a central hub for live performance professionals.

The show welcomed over 200 global brands, featured a vigorous seminar programme, and hosted hands-on workshops led by renowned industry figures – all aimed at advancing careers, showcasing innovation and facilitating powerful new connections. 

ABTT CEO Liz Sillett commented: “My first ABTT Theatre Show as CEO was a whirlwind of excitement and brilliance. The buzz was incredible, coming from such a talented and insp

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25 June 2025

Germany - The Ehrlich Brothers have been delighting a wide audience with their spectacular live shows for over a decade. Their new production, Diamonds, premiered in mid-November in Dortmund’s Westfalenhalle before visiting the largest arenas in Germany, where they have been presenting the best of their most popular illusions. With the help of lighting and stage technology, the successful magician duo is once again setting standards in the live entertainment world.

Thomas Gerdon (Gerdon Design) is once again responsible for the production design. He and his team have been accompanying the Ehrlich Brothers on their tours since 2019. For the Diamonds tour, Gerdon developed a new concept that intensifies the essence of magic through light. “If you have seen illusions before, it is all the more important to present them visually in a new an

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25 June 2025

Saudi Arabia - Luminex kicked off the festival season at the inaugural edition of A Thousand and One, Riyadh’s newest large-scale music festival.

Across five distinct stages, Qafilah, Sahaab, Bizar Bazar, Bustan, and Qasr, the festival hosted both world-class DJs and rising stars. Colour Sound Experiment provided complete lighting, video, and control solutions for all stages, backed by robust and intelligent networking infrastructure.

Each stage relies on a dependable network backbone built around Luminex GigaCore switches. Every stage has multiple racks: FOH, stage left, stage right – all connected via GigaCore switches’ ISL ports. Using Luminex’s RLinkX feature, the team created a redundant ring network with ultra-fast recovery, ensuring automatic fallback in case of link failure.

Each stage was routed to a dedicated backup

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25 June 2025

USA - “I just tried to play something that felt like home,” the legendary flat picking guitarist Doc Watson told the Country Music Hall of Fame when looking back on his career. The seven-time Grammy Award winner likely would have been very pleased to see what was happening this year at the 37th annual MerleFest, the Americana music festival honouring his memory.

The music played at the festival – which is named after Doc’s late son and fellow musician Merle Watson – was warm, witty, inviting, and heartfelt, the kind of sound that makes anyone feel right at home, especially when it’s played in North Carolina’s beautiful hill country.

Enhancing this atmosphere at the festival’s famed Doc and Merle Watson main stage and two other sites at the four-day event were inviting, richly textured and colourful lightshows designed by Nehe

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25 June 2025

Europe - Ultimo Sharpy is the next in Claypaky’s established series, a compact IP66-rated beam moving head, purpose-built for the most demanding environments, productions, and expectations. It carries the legacy of the original Sharpy into a new era – faster, brighter and tougher than ever before.

With its power-to-size ratio, advanced optics, and fast, true CMY colour mixing, it delivers impressive mid-air effects, infinite motion, and absolute precision. Whether on the biggest stage, under the harshest conditions, or inside a tightly cued broadcast, Ultimo Sharpy performs with effortless brilliance.

At the heart of Ultimo Sharpy lies a new 250W ultra-high performance short-arc lamp, designed for maximum output and sustainability. Delivering 100,000 lux at 20m (over 9,300 fc at 65ft), it packs the punch of much larger fixtures – all while keep

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24 June 2025

Spain - The popular Circlassica show returned to Madrid for the 2024-2025 season staged in the IFEMA Madrid big white tent, with a new edition, Circlassica, la historia mundial continúa (Circlassica, the world story continues), produced by Productores de Sonrisas and lit by Juanjo Llorens who once again sprinkled some of his illuminative magic on the action.

Juanjo has a penchant for spectacularly lighting high-octane, high-impact circus-style performance shows and this was no exception, so he reached into the toolbox for Robe moving lights, using 40 × LEDBeam 150s, 22 × Spiiders, 20 × MegaPointes, 16 × LEDBeam 350 and 14 × Esprites.

These were all picked for their multifunctionality. “I took advantage of numerous features on all these fixture types,” explained Juanjo, “power, different types of looks and lenses

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24 June 2025

USA - Hip-hop artist Ja Rule is touring North America with an electrifying visual show that uses Elation’s Proteus Rayzor Blade as a multi-dimensional lighting effect. In the capable hands of Shepherd Lowrey of Cactus Creative Studio, the powerful linear LED fixture supports an entertaining show that combines raw energy and futuristic flair with reflective appreciation.

SLX Productions provides lighting, scenic fabrication and design engineering for the tour, with Lowrey serving as production designer, creative producer and lighting designer. Lowrey also created much of the show’s content. He and SLX principal Ariel Afar have collaborated on past high-profile projects, including a Jon Batiste performance at Coachella 2024 in which Afar introduced Lowrey to the Proteus Rayzor Blade. Since then, the fixture has been a staple of his designs.

“The

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23 June 2025

USA - The Alamodome has been a cultural landmark in San Antonio since opening its doors in 1993. Designed as a versatile community hub, it has hosted a vast array of local, regional, and international events for more than three decades. Now, thanks to a visionary lighting project, the venue is entering a new era.

The new lighting installation was a collaborative effort between Mega-Lite and ISI City Smart Lights, combining expertise and innovation to bring the Alamodome’s exterior to life.

Lighting artists and designers Eduardo Orozco Sr. and Eduardo Orozco Jr. led the design, selecting the advanced Outshine Q500, an IP-rated fixture featuring 48 powerful LEDs, 16-bit dimming, and smooth colour transitions for stunning visual effects. 60 units were strategically placed around the building’s perimeter, creating a vibrant 50ft wash that dramaticall

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23 June 2025

USA - Andre Petrus is turning high school memories into a spectacularly dynamic visual experience as the production and lighting designer on John Legend’s Get Lifted 20th Anniversary Tour.

“Getting the chance to design John Legend’s 20th anniversary of Get Lifted was a full circle moment for me,” said Petrus, of Outrage Media Group. “I clearly remember that album in high school and I wore it out. That style of music is 100-percent my vibe. I have deep roots in gospel and R&B so designing that show came naturally.”

Petrus’ unbridled enthusiasm for lighting the anniversary tour comes across loud and clear in his sweeping ebullient design. Moving seamlessly through a dramatic flow of bold looks, he captures the magical range of his multi-award-winning client. At times, he covers the stage in lush colours, reflecting t

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23 June 2025

The Netherlands - Grote Kerk (Big Church) in Apeldoorn was the unlikely venue for two recent dance parties hosted by ABNØRMAAL Events. The team from production company RJ Showequipment overcame significant challenges – including complex logistics and a tight budget – to deliver impressive production for the event. Utilising ADJ’s powerful and feature-packed Focus Profile and Vizi Beam 12RX moving heads, they created a high-tech dance club atmosphere while simultaneously using lighting to highlight the ornate décor of the historic venue.

One of the most significant examples of neo-Renaissance church architecture in the Netherlands, Apeldoorn’s Grote Kerk was constructed in the late 1800s. It remains a place of Christian worship but is also used to host concerts and other cultural events open to the public.

Electronic Music promoter ABNØRMAA

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23 June 2025

India - Robe’s Indian distributor Integrated Entertainment Solutions (IES) enjoyed a busy, proactive and productive PALM Expo 2025 in Mumbai. The show was staged over three days at the Bombay Exhibition Centre (BEC), the largest privately owned permanent exhibition centre in India, and highlights included Robe’s iBolt winning an award for ‘Outstanding Innovation’ in the Professional Lighting Solution category.

This year, the IES took a prime position booth in the new Hall – Hall 6 – added specifically to host and showcase major pro lighting and audio brands and new technologies. Those working with lighting and audio equipment enjoyed demonstrations and the chance to examine the kit close-up here, as IES dedicated over half of the floorspace to Robe Group businesses – Robe, Avolites, Anolis, LSC and Artistic Licence.

Rasesh Pare

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20 June 2025

UK - The live events sector continues to demonstrate the dedication and commitment of its professionals, with Backup partners exemplifying this community spirit. This year has seen Backup Tech expand its partnership network with two new companies and has introduced Core Pro Audio and TMB as its newest partners.

Each Backup partner brings its own motivation and story to the partnership, yet all share a common goal: supporting the vital work Backup undertakes to assist industry professionals during their times of greatest need.

The first new partner is Core Pro Audio, a professional audio sales company and used equipment specialist headquartered in the UK, with international trading capabilities.

The partnership was cemented following the successful Core Pro Show 2025 at the Mount Hotel, Tettenhall in January, which attracted over 200

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20 June 2025

Austria - SRS Group has added Signal to its growing family of distributors. “With their well-established presence in the Austrian market, we look forward to expanding our reach and building a strong, productive partnership in the years ahead,” says SRS.

“After numerous discussions, in-person meetings, and company visits, the decision to move forward with Signal Sound & Light Distribution came naturally. Their impressive portfolio of globally recognised partner brands caught our interest – but what truly sealed the deal was the exceptional dedication and flexibility demonstrated by their team throughout the entire process.”

Matthias Reinthaler, general manager at Signal, shares his perspective on the new collaboration: “As the Austrian Robe distributor, Signal has a global network within the industry. Some of these partners are already

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20 June 2025

UK - GLP’s latest strobe/wash hybrid, the JDC Burst 1, made the most auspicious of debuts, when 96 of the compact fixtures were deployed at London’s Royal Albert Hall by lighting designer Jelle Stoffels – the first deployment in the UK.

With its segmented, controllable white strobe line – substantially brighter than its forebear, the JDC1 – the JDC Burst 1 delivers punch and impressive strobe effects. A further advantage is that it is also IP65-rated.

Having used the original JDC1 multiple times, upon learning that lighting vendor Siyan had taken delivery of the first 100 heads in the UK, Stoffels jumped at the chance to put the fixture’s superior characteristics to the test with Swiss electronic house and techno DJ duo Adriatique (Adrian Shala and Adrian Schweizer). In particular, he was interested to see how having the two RGBW LED plat

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20 June 2025

India - Obsidian Control Systems recently played a key control role at the 2025 IIFA Awards at the JECC Grounds in Jaipur, where Bollywood’s brightest stars took centre stage.

Supported by VMT, Obsidian’s official Indian distribution partner, Wizcraft International Entertainment produced the show, where Obsidian’s NX4, NX2, NXP and Netron EN12 handled 600 lighting fixtures across 24 universes.

The Obsidian consoles delivered intuitive programming and adaptability, allowing for dynamic lighting transitions and high-impact cues. The NXP expansion wing provided scalable control for the large setup, while the Netron EN12 ensured flawless data transmission across the rig.

Becket Tundatil, lighting designer at Fireflies, said: “Lighting plays a crucial role in storytelling, and Obsidian delivered flawlessly. Its intuitive controls

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20 June 2025

South Africa - Tiaan Giliomee, freelance lighting designer with PRDGY Group, has taken delivery of his first lighting console – a grandMA3 onPC command wing from DWR Distribution.

Tiaan’s journey in lighting began over a decade ago at The Ridge School, using a simple Titan One system and parcans. Through high school, his passion grew, evolving through dot2 systems and Robe fixtures, and earning recognition with a few wins at Battle of the Bands and FEDA competitions.

While he pursued studies in Electronic Engineering, theatre and lighting always remained his true passion. “It’s what challenges me creatively every day,” says Tiaan, who’s known for bringing technical innovation to the stage, such as DMX-controlled windmills for Afrikaans productions.

After years of working with various consoles, including Avolites and grand

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20 June 2025

UK - The Art-Deco Grade II listed Queens Hotel has been an impressive presence on Leeds’ City Square since its construction in 1937. Designed by W.H. Hamlyn and faced with white Portland Stone, it is a striking landmark which over the years has hosted many notable guests. Royals, world leaders, and international film stars have all experienced the comforts of The Queens.

At the end of last year, The Queens was the focus of an art installation which saw LeedsBID (Leeds Business Improvement District) collaborate with Barcelona-based creative studio Onionlab on To Leeds With Love, a visual spectacular which used the elegant architecture of the Hotel as a canvas for multiple projections themed around The Twelve Days of Christmas.

The ambitious and innovative project, which embraced state-of-the-art technology and world-class design, r

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20 June 2025

UK - Stage Electrics Group has announced changes within its senior executive team. Andy Preece, group finance director, will retire from his executive role effective 31 July 2025, the end of the group’s financial year, and will assume a new position as a non-executive director.

Dave Coull, group CEO of Stage Electrics, said: “Andy’s breadth of experience and expertise have not only benefited the organisation financially and strategically but have also helped shape and develop our company culture over the past four years. As he moves into his new role as non-executive director, I’m confident the group will continue to benefit from his insight, non-executive oversight, and unwavering commitment to our continued growth and success.”

Nathan Athay, the company’s current finance manager, will be promoted to the role of group finance director an

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19 June 2025

Europe - Netherlands-based manufacturer ELC Lighting has announced a change in its distribution arrangement for Belgium. With effect from 1 July 2025, both its brands - the ELC range of DMX-over-IP lighting control products and the Green-GO family of digital wireless intercom solutions - will be exclusively supported in Belgium by a new partner, Luxillag.

The announcement follows the decision by long-standing sales partner AVL (Audio Visual Lighting bv) to cease operations. Founded by Luc Buytaert and Yolanda Eliano in 1995, AVL has been a firm supporter of both brands for many years.

“We began distributing ELC after they first showed the Focus Hand at PLASA in London,” remembers Luc. “Later, we got the chance to prove ourselves in distributing Green-GO. From day one, we had a close family bond with the people, especially with Silvio, Joost and

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19 June 2025

USA - Long before the first Ultra Music fans began filing into downtown Miami’s Bayfront Park this March, the festival had already begun playing itself out in the mind of Patrick Dierson. “We started working on the pre-production process, several months out in advance and went over things again and again to get this right,” said the widely acclaimed designer and head of The Activity, who handles technical management for the iconic event’s main stage.

Working with technical producer, Ray Steinman, creative director, Richard Milstein, and the various vendors, Dierson started laying out plans for the technical infrastructure that would ultimately be needed to support all the festival’s guest LDs and their clients.

“The focus of our work is always on the guest technical teams and getting them everything they need to deliver their bes