Lighting

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USA - In 2018, The Great Smoky Mountain Railroad and its winter attraction The Polar Express hoped to increase their production value and add additional safety lighting to the Bryson City train depot.
With the help of local lighting designer Chris Speer at SpeerC Consulting, Great Smoky Mountain Railroad sought out Bandit Lites to provide fixtures, show control and integration for their project. Chris and Bandit’s team worked together to retrofit existing street lamps with a RGBW LED source. The existing poles were mounted at 30’-50’ intervals, challenging the designers to find a LED that was wide and bright enough to provide even coverage for the entire train depot.
“Safety at the train depot was our number one priority,” says Andrew Fisher of Bandit Lites sales and installations. “Guests board and deboard at the Bryson City depot, and any dark spots could

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UK - When Circus 1903 - the Golden Age of Circus visited London’s Royal Festival Hall over the Christmas period, its performers and life-size puppet elephants were lit by lighting designer Paul Smith, using 26 VL2600 Wash fixtures from Vari-Lite.
Smith declared himself a fan of the new luminaire, impressed by its compact size, first-class framing and versatile zoom capabilities, among other fine performance features.
Supplied by Siyan, the VL2600 Washes delivered “the best-looking version of the show that we’ve had so far – certainly the one that I’m happiest with”, says Smith.
The compact LED fixtures delivered a number of immediate advantages. “By switching to the much more compact fixture we’ve gained extra floor space,” he says. “We’ve also replaced the heavier wash fixtures overhead, which is a great as it’s quite a weight-rest

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The Netherlands - Creative design practice Painting with Light was behind the delivery of the live performance show on the Panasonic stand at the 2019 Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) expo in Amsterdam.
Under the creative direction of Luc Peumans, for the third consecutive year, the Painting with Light team presented a specially-choreographed five-minute dance show, complete with bespoke video content and a special soundtrack for which they commissioned Frank de Wulf to direct - and sourced two dancers from the Véronique Lenaers school of ballet.
This showcased some of Panasonic’s latest technologies, including the new ET-D3LEF70 high resolution fisheye lenses for immersive projection applications and a new technical collaboration between Panasonic and AV Stumpfl, which has resulted in the development of their Pixera media server.
The fast-paced, colourful and

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UK - WORK PRO’s versatile LightShark DMX-based hardware lighting console is making life on the road easier for PA and lighting company Black Cat Audio, which is currently deploying the console on the theatre show Someone Like You - The Adele Songbook.
With a hectic UK touring schedule to contend with, Black Cat Audio needed a small footprint lighting console that was quick to set up, easy to use and capable of dealing with a wide variety of venues - from 350-seater arts centres to large 2,000 capacity theatres.
“We looked at a number of alternatives but the LightShark console was the only one that ticked all the right boxes,” says Black Cat Audio’s technical director Adey Osbourne. “It has a lot of interesting features that we really like, such as a proper hardware unit with faders and built in software so that you don’t have to download anything to

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UK - Establishing themselves amongst today’s most in-demand deep house acts, Gorgon City have enjoyed considerable success in recent years with their signature blend of electronic, bass-driven anthems, including Ready For Your Love and Real Life.
Based around North London production duo Kye ‘Foamo’ Gibbon and Matt ‘RackNRuin’ Robson-Scott, the extended live Gorgon City experience gained many more new fans when they hit the highway in January and February for a short tour of the UK and Ireland, with lighting designer Andy Emmerson counting on Entec for his essential lighting package.
After relying on a variety of rental sources for a recent American trek, the act turned to Entec to furnish their Escape tour which began at Newcastle’s O2 Academy, continuing in Manchester, Nottingham, Bristol, Dublin and peaking at the 3,000-capacity Printworks e

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Italy - Music & Lights has welcomed Paolo Albani as international sales manager.
He brings 20 years of experience gained from working for reputable companies throughout the lighting industry and will “play an important role in the commercial developmental strategy of Music & Lights”.
Fabio Sorabella, MD for M&L comments: “Paolo has both commercial professionalism and technical expertise. We are glad to have him on our team and I am sure that his experience in the field will help our commercial development projects and will help to strengthen the Music & Lights brands around the globe”
On his new role, Albani explains: "Wherever I turn in this industry I keep meeting more and more people who have been very happy with their dealings with Music & Lights - nationally and internationally, as customer or distributor. It was enough to see the

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UK - Grant Smith has joined Robe UK as sales manager for the northeast of England.
Based in Leeds, Smith will be complementing the already very proactive work of Robe’s Ian Brown, Bill Jones and Ashley Lewis, and Robe UK MD Mick Hannaford is “delighted” to have him onboard.
Smith studied English Literature at Liverpool University and enjoyed several summers of work experience rigging stages and roofs at festivals and events all around the UK. He has previously worked at Summit Steel, Neg Earth and AC Lighting, where he remained for nearly 17 years.
(Jim Evans)

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UAE - ETC and its regional partner Oasis Enterprises are heading to CABSAT, held on 12-14 March at Dubai World Trade Centre.
Visitors to the trade show will have the opportunity to see ETC’s latest lighting and broadcast-friendly product range as well as demonstrations in a studio-style set up in room Hatta-G. This will include ETC’s flagship lighting control desk, Eos Ti, Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr array and ColorSource Pearl lighting fixtures.
The Eos Ti’s operating system hosts powerful magic sheets, easy-to-navigate software and the large-format multi-touch displays with a substantial programming surface. Source Four LED Series 2 Daylight HD and Tungsten HD luminaires will also be on display at the event.
In Hall 2 (C2-10) alongside Oasis Enterprises, ETC will showc

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UK - Women’s Aid, the charity working against domestic abuse, is hosting a fundraising event on 6 March (Wednesday) at Skylon in London.
Supported by Women’s Aid patrons actress Julie Walters and Spice Girl Mel B, the event will include a fashion show, dinner and dance, with all proceeds going towards the charity.
Blitz will be providing event production for the evening which takes place at the Skylon Restaurant at Royal Festival Hall.
Faye Connelly, fundraising manager at Women’s Aid, comments: “We are so incredibly grateful to Blitz for all of their wonderful support: providing the production for the fashion show. This event is a dream come true for us, and without the incredible generosity of companies like Blitz it would not be a reality. Every penny raised will go towards our vital work supporting women and children to escape domestic abuse and rebu

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Poland - Intel Extreme Masters - one of the largest e-sports events in the world - features a multimedia stage that has become synonymous with the event.
The structure of the stage with its distinctive scaffolding was originally introduced in 2015, and the look has since become a signature feature of IEM Katowice.
For the 2019 edition, the design features large automated LED screens on the central part of main stage, from which pro gamers enter the stage. The catwalk where the IEM trophy is located, has been completely reworked and combined with the rest of the stage.
Despite set changes the lighting design has been completely renewed, featuring new lighting fixtures and LED bar frames built around the screens behind the teams. Almost 400sq.m of LED screens were used and 650 lighting units.
“Every year we are trying to introduce something new to the stage

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Spain - The Cisco Live EMEA customer conference landed in Barcelona in January for a week of discussions, education and debate. Visited by 16,000 people each year, the 2019 event was once again organised by marketing agency George P. Johnson (GPJ) alongside the Cisco Live team.
Highlights included keynote speeches from leading IT pioneers and among the many super-sized elements of the event were the lighting solutions for the Keynote space and the Customer Appreciation Event (CAE) area.
Christie Lites UK was chosen to deliver a full lighting solution, including fixtures and crew for both the Keynote space and the CAE area, which took place in the striking Gran Via Convention Centre in Barcelona - one of the largest and most modern venues in Europe.
GPJ’s technical director, Mark Bannister, oversaw the realisation of the project, along with GPJ production manage

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USA - Even after this year’s Mardi Gras festivities have come and gone, Harrah’s Casino in the famous French Quarter will still be drawing in the droves to its latest spectacle: Fillmore New Orleans, Live Nation’s Crescent City take on the San Francisco music hall. The newest Fillmore, whose old-fashioned theatre marquee is prominently located at the foot of Canal Street, is a spacious 2,200-capacity entertainment venue that opened its doors in mid-February with back-to-back shows by Coheed and Cambria and Duran Duran.
Decked out with signature Fillmore nostalgia - including the classic chandeliers - the new second-story, 22,000sq.ft venue also features aesthetic nods to NOLA, including recycled wood and wrought iron. On the much more shiny and modern end of things, however, the club is also now home to a new Avolites Tiger Touch II lighting control console, installed

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World - L8 LLC (formerly LightConverse) has launched its 2019 show design competition, the L8 Challenge.
The contest requires designers to use L8's previs software, a free version of which has been made available from 1 March via the L8 website. Prizes include licenses of the L8 software suites: Unlimited, Trace, Media and Net.
L8 will announce the winners of the challenge on Thursday, 4 April at L8's stand B58 in hall 12.1 at Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt.
Dmitriy Giventar, the creator of the L8 software, comments: “This year’s challenge is for everyone. On March 1, we will publish a special version on the website which is equal to the NET license of the L8 software, but works for a month free of charge ,so anyone can create a project up to 512 fixtures us

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UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) has launched a new website to showcase its portfolio of technologies.
Created to deliver a better overall user experience, www.ac-et.com features a cleaner design, improved menu functionality with faster navigation, and is now fully responsive, adapting to the best layout for viewing on mobile, tablet and desktop.
The website also reflects AC-ET's position as a one-stop supplier of lighting, rigging, video, audio and related technologies.
AC-ET's UK sales and purchasing director, Jonathan Walters comments: "We are delighted to share our new website with you. The team have been working tirelessly to create a high-quality website, which reflects our (AC-ET’s) world-class products and services. We are confident that the smarter, slicker design will enable easier and quicker browsing to ensure you find the right products

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USA - When lighting designer Trevor Ahlstrand was in search of a powerful yet compact lighting fixture to form the bulk of the floor package on Kane Brown’s current Live Forever tour, Elation Smarty Hybrid effects grabbed his attention before he ever laid eyes on the light itself.
“I was at a demo and it really caught my eye - how wide it filled the room and the crisp gobo projection,” the designer says. “When I looked to see what light was making the effects, I was surprised to see a fixture whose footprint was so small. I knew I needed a small fixture for Kane Brown so decided to take a closer look.”
Brown is a breakout success story who came to fame on YouTube several years ago and has seen his popularity grow ever since. Live Forever, which kicked off in Duluth, Georgia on 10 January, is the artist’s first headlining arena tour and his fi

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Grand Cayman - Seven Mile Beach gives visitors plenty of reason to smile. The famous landmark on the western edge of Grand Cayman Island was the site of the Humour Me Comedy Tent at the Kaaboo Cayman Festival. Supporting the likes of Saturday Night Live’s David Spade and Chris Rock Show alum Wanda Sykes was a collection of Chauvet Professional Maverick and Rogue fixtures, deployed by Chris Lisle Lighting Design.
“It was important for us to add colour and movement to the comedy stage that was consistent with the exciting looks we had on the two music stages,” explains Erik Parker of Chris Lisle Lighting Design, which was responsible for lighting all stages at the festival as well as its grounds.
The Humour Me stage rig featured Maverick MK1 Spot and Rogue R2 Wash fixtures, which were supplied by AI. Flown on a long truss structure that ran over the

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Malta - The X Factor competition made its debut in Malta and quickly broke a long-standing record to become the most viewed programme on Television Malta.
Lighting for the series was entrusted to Nexos Lighting & Video who worked together with the rigging and technical team. Lighting designer Anton Borg Olivier joined the team to work on the live broadcast finals, helping to manage the increased TV lighting requirements and deliver that extra kick to the show.
Nexos Lighting & Video supplied 22 x Claypaky Mythos 2, 14 x SuperSharpy, 18 x A.leda B-EYE K20 and 16 Claypaky Sharpy for the duration of the series, with an additional eight Alpha Wash included for the final show. “The Claypaky fixtures were the backbone of the lighting rig,” says Olivier. “Claypaky fixtures were chosen for their rich colours, power and reliability.”
It was imper

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Australia - In celebration of their third studio album, Lo La Ru, five-piece Australian band The Rubens performed for audiences across the country last November and December. The tour saw the band play Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Fremantle and Melbourne as well as eight regional cities across Australia.
Lighting designer Tim Beeston of Melbourne-based Flash Bang Productions was “delighted” to have Ayrton’s new Mistral-S spot luminaires on the tour, which were supplied by South West Solutions (SWS) of Yarraville, Victoria.
“I designed a ladder system incorporating mirror balls and small spot beams,” explains Beeston. “The Mistral-S with its small, light profile was the ideal fixture for my ladder system. We also compared it against a very well-known profile fixture and, with its flat field, the Mistral-S was definitely the better instrument.”

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UK - LED manufacturer Global Design Solutions (GDS) has met with Korean Gyeonggi province delegates to sign a memorandum of understanding for the investment of $2m into South Korea.
The agreement will see GDS, which has offices in Korea’s Gyeonggi province, make a ‘significant investment’ into the Asian country. A hundred jobs in both Bristol and Korea will also be created as a result of the signing over the next five years.
The event took place at Bristol’s Leigh Court and was joined by UK international trade secretary Liam Fox and South Korea’s assistant governor for economy and labour in Gyeonggi province, Shin Whoan Park.
Park comments: “This collaboration between GDS and Gyeonggi will serve as a chance to jointly advance into the Asian and European market. I believe this investment will become good prac

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Australia - The Eurovision – Australia Decides national final recently took place at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre. The winner, Kate Miller-Heidke with her song Zero Gravity was chosen by the combination of a public televote (50%) and the votes of a professional jury.
Paul Collison, lighting designer for the show, voted for three grandMA3 light, one grandMA3 full-size, one grandMA2 light and five MA NPU (Network Processing Unit) for control, plus MA 3D for visualization of the show.
He commented on his choice: “We loved using the new grandMA3 hardware. Even though we’re still on grandMA2 software, the grandMA3 hardware has breathed new life into the well-established grandMA2 platform. The more ergonomic layout of the surfaces made the long days more tolerable, and incredibly accurate touch screens increased workflow efficiency.

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UK - The 1975 toured in support of the release of their third album A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships, which is their third consecutive number one album.
Lighting and visual designer Tobias Rylander enjoys a productive ongoing dialogue with the band - in particular lead vocalist and creative director Matthew ‘Matty’ Healy, whose thoughts and ideas are at the essence of every live show’s design.
This tour featured four dramatic moving elements – three large portrait shaped video cubes and a ‘blade’ piece derived from their logo – all of which were automated using a Kinesys system supplied by Christie Lites UK.
Tobias has worked with the band since 2013 and their first album release. At the time he was working with visual and lighting artist LeRoy Bennett at Seven Design Works in LA, and the band approached the team after liking Roy’

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New Zealand - Packed houses greeted UB40 on their 40th anniversary summer tour of the Southern Hemisphere in January and February.
The band was doing so well and having so much fun on the tour that they added a final show on 8 February at the Central Energy Trust Arena Stadium in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Sourcing local suppliers, the band’s management contacted Sight & Sound Services, which provided them with a collection of Chauvet Professional Maverick, Rogue and STRIKE fixtures, supplied by MDR Lighting. It was a choice that met with the enthusiastic approval of UB40’s LD Brock Coddington.
“I was extremely impressed by the entire rig,” said Coddington. “It went really, really well. The Mavericks provided excellent punch, and the colours were fantastic. The Rogues were a great fit on that stage. The STRIKE 4s were great LED blinders. All and all

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USA - Lumileds has appointed Dr Jonathan Rich as chief executive officer. Rich most recently served as chairman and CEO of Berry Global, a Fortune 500 specialty materials and consumer packaging company.
Rich succeeds Mark Adams, who is stepping down as CEO and from the board of directors but will remain in an advisory role to the company. “I am very pleased to be joining Lumileds and am looking forward to building on the company’s differentiated lighting technology foundation to increase the value we can deliver to customers across a broad set of industries,” said Dr. Rich.
“Mark Adams has made significant contributions to Lumileds during his tenure, leading the transition to an independent company and cultivating a culture of innovation and customer focus,” said Rob Seminara, a senior partner at Apollo and chairman of the board of Lumileds. “On behalf of

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USA - FedExForum, one of the nation’s premier arenas in the NBA and North America, recently updated its arena lighting with a lighting package designed and installed by Bandit Lites. Home to the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies and the University of Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team, the installation comes as part of the arena’s recent updates.
Bandit Lites installed a package comprised of HES Solaframe 3000, Chauvet Rogue 3 Spots, Claypaky AXCOR 300 Beams and Chauvet Ovation E-260WW w/ 10° Barrels.
“As FedExForum was one of the earliest projects that I and Roth Edwards personally installed, I was thrilled to once again be a part of the team trusted to update their system,” says Bandit Lites director of sales and installation Chris Barbee. “Both John Cameron Carter and Roth did a phenomenal job reimagining the lighting system.”
Bandit’s team mount
  1. Chauvet joins Expedition Reynaert
  2. White Light goes Gently Down the Stream
  3. ADJ expands sales and product support team
  4. Chauvet DJ rig flies with Birds of a Feather
  5. CSE in Combat Sports with The Vaccines
  6. Elation paints NightGarden in Miami
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