USA - Nashville-based production company 44 Designs was an early adopter of Elation’s Artiste DaVinci and recently used the award-winning LED moving head spot in their production design for country music artist Jake Owen’s Life's Whatcha Make It tour. 12 of the full-featured DaVinci fixtures were put to creative use by lighting designer and production manager Chris Nathan on a successful six-month long tour that’s been on the road since last spring.
Owen played sheds and baseball stadiums around the country over the summer with a recent fall leg moving into arenas. Nathan found the Artiste DaVinci a quality spot luminaire for both the outdoor and indoor venues.
“For the first leg we used the DaVinci as overhead profiles for key light and aerials while on the fall leg they lived on side trusses and focused on the runway and thrust as well as aerials,”

Iceland - Lava Tunnel is a spectacular lava tube tunnel - one of the longest in Iceland at 1360m. Its majestic and intricate interior collage of colours and textures is the result of massive volcanic eruptions 5000 years ago.
At the entrance, three openings in the ceiling create columns of light, while at the end, it splits into three smaller tunnels all equally imbibed with natural beauty.
All these geological masterworks are now releveled by a creative lighting installation designed by Agust Gunnlaugsson, senior lighting designer at Oslo, Norway and Reykjavik, Iceland based company EFLA Engineers, utilising 100 Anolis ArcSource LED fixtures.
The tunnel’s proximity to Icelandic capital Reykjavik had made it popular with visitors for some time, so much so that in 2016, it was closed due to vandalism, littering and health and safety concerns.
(Jim Evans)

Denmark - Popular Danish band Nephew reunited this year after a four-year hiatus, announcing two major gigs in October 2018 at the Jyske Bank Boxen Arena in Herning and the Royal Arena in Copenhagen. Over 30,000 tickets sold out in a day.
Lighting designer Theis Wemuth of design company Create This was tasked with the production design - lighting, video and set - for the shows. He specified 149 x Robe MegaPointes as the main moving light fixtures.
The fixtures were chosen for their multifunctionality and brightness which Wemuth knew would be a perfect complement and contrast to the 420sq.m widescreen video backdrop that was central to the look and aesthetics of the stage.
Eight BMFL Spots were on the front truss, six working as remote follow spots in conjunction with six Robe RoboSpot systems, together with other lights, all of which were supplied by Copenhagen-b

UK - Broadcast and event lighting specialists Version 2 has appointed Graham Baskeyfield as its new finance director.
Working closely with Version 2’s MD Nick Edwards, Baskeyfield will play a key role in the company’s expansion over the next five years, as they realise their 2022 vision.
He joins from Aurora, where he’d previously collaborated with Edwards, their then incumbent MD. During their tenure the company went on to exceed plan year on year delivering significant growth to its shareholders. The success of Aurora was crystallised in 2015 with its acquisition by VER (PRG).
Edwards comments: “We are delighted to be welcoming Graham to his new role at Version 2. His experience is second to none, and is well in-tune with the challenges of our ever-changing fast-paced industry. Graham is already well respected by both our team, and external stakehold

UK - The UK Hog Factor competition final took place at Production Futures as two teams competed in a lighting showdown using High End Systems’ Hog 4 console.
Rose Bruford’s ‘Two CLCs and A Norwegian Walk Into A Bar’ won the lighting programming contest, whilst ‘Hogging Bruford’ finished runners-up. The finalists programmed to Foo Fighters’ Pretender.
The judges, including renowned LD Jonathan Armstrong and senior product manager for Hog consoles, Sarah Clausen, took into account the artistic impression of the live show as well as the programming style of the Hog 4. They agreed that the winning team “produced a better structured show in the desk, and had a better use of colour and contrast with their design, portraying a better journey throughout the song”.
Clausen comments: “Both teams showed a real ability to break down the song and s

South Africa - Rock band Prime Circle have invested in Robe fixtures. Marco Gomes the band’s bass guitarist, songwriter and manager together with lighting designer Benjamin ‘Benji’ Muir-Mills chose Robe miniPointes, LEDBeam 150s and VIVAs which the band have purchased from distributor DWR.
Gomes and Muir-Mills explained that touring in South Africa can be challenging - many venues on the circuit offer minimal lighting, so having their own rig now means that wherever they go, they can enjoy the continuity of a great lightshow, fans get better production values and less time is needed for re-plotting each show. Instead that creative clawback can be spent in developing the core lightshow they now enjoy with their own kit. It also makes get ins and outs significantly quicker and more efficient.
The decision to go with Robe was based on having used the products on ma

Austria - Studio Due Light, in collaboration with Laman Gmbh in Austria, has recently illuminated the Novomatic Forum in Vienna as part of a façade lighting overhaul. The previous fixtures installed were traditional luminaries with a high-level of energy wasted.
The project included replacing the façade uplighters on the ground and first floors, along with the balcony lighting around the forum. Confronted with new challenges to accommodate the LED fixtures, the specifiers noticed the impossibility to run DMX cable to the bottom part of the building, to replace the in-ground fixtures with the energy-efficient ones.
Faced with this issue, Mr. Robert Makovsky of Leman Gmbh turned to Studio Due to come up with a cost-effective solution. After several tests on-site, Studio Due implemented W-DMX into their Terra Plus RGBW RDM fixtures. “We have implemented Nano TRX modul

Denmark - More than 130,000 people and 184 artists saw the AVB debut of Luminex Network Intelligence in a cooperation with Bright Group and Meyer Sound at the Roskilde Festival. On thr Orange stage and the Arena stage, audio was running on AVB protocol from Meyer Sound Galileo Galaxy 816 network platform through a network of 28x GigaCore 10 switches of Luminex Network Intelligence.
“We were very happy to have Luminex on board for the Roskilde festival. There are many reasons to go for the GigaCore range of Luminex but definitely the easiness, the GUI and the rock-solid reliable performance of their switches is remarkable,” says Fredrik Arwidson from Bright Group Sweden. “Furthermore, we were delighted with the upfront training, the intensive testing in our Stockholm warehouse and with the presence of Roel Apers (Support engineer) of Luminex Network Intelligence during

UK - Back in the mists of time, dinosaurs roamed and ruled the world . . . and now with the arena spectacular Walking with Dinosaurs, they are doing so again (see production report in LSi November).
This time the mist, or rather haze and low fog, is courtesy of MDG with three ATMe haze generators and three ICE FOG Compack HP low fog generators supplied by Sonalyst, the South Wales-based production company looking after the UK and European tour of this show. Sonalyst was already aiming to expand its investment in some serious haze and fog equipment when Walking with Dinosaurs LD John Rayment approached them with his requirements for the tour which called

World - Shania Twain is hitting the road with her Shania Now tour. Twain has wowed audiences in North America and Europe this summer and autumn with her fast and ever-changing stage show. The constant motion and changing looks on stage are aided and abetted by Ayrton’s MagicPanel-602 fixtures.
Creative director and lighting designer Rob Sinclair, and lighting director Michael Straun were specific in what they needed to achieve the stunning visuals for this show which are based around five large, automated LED video cubes with dancer platforms placed on top.
Sinclair stated, “Shania wanted a fast-paced show where the appearance of the stage and people constantly changed, with the band, the video cubes and the dancers in constant motion. We needed to find some square-faced lights to complement the square video cubes, and the MagicPanels were the perfect answe

Australia - Audio, video and lighting services provider NW Group recently bolstered its lighting inventory with Martin by Harman lighting fixtures, provided by Show Technology.
To serve the live concert and touring markets, NW Group specified MAC Aura XB and MAC Quantum Profile fixtures.
Graeme Whitehouse, general manager, NW Group, comments: “We’ve used Quantum Wash, Viper and Aura fixtures with great success for years. We were in the market for next-generation fixtures that could deliver rapid movement and beautiful colour mixing during high profile stage performances. After testing numerous fixtures with local supplier Show Technology, we decided to go with Martin MAC Aura XB washes and MAC Quantum Profiles.
“We’re extremely happy with our choice - the Aura XB and Quantum Profiles enable us to provide even more value to our clients in the arts and ent

USA - Wu-Tang Clan celebrated their 25th anniversary with a sold-out concert 240 miles to the north of Staten Island at the Tsongas Centre in Lowell. The show featured a Freddy Thompson lighting design that featured over 60 Chauvet Professional fixtures, supplied by JDI Productions, Inc.
Thompson’s show did more than provide eye-popping visuals to match the various moods on stage; it also created a light bridge that connected the Wu-Tang Clan to their devoted audience. “There’s a strong bond between this group and their fans,” he explains. “The start of the show was pretty intense. The crowd was all about seeing the group making their appearance on stage. So, naturally we focused a lot on audience lighting.”
Thompson used 16 Rogue R3 Wash, 16 Maverick MK1 Hybrid, 12 Rogue R2 Wash, 16 Legend 230SR Beam, and four STRIKE 4 fixtures to create his looks on stage

Europe - Lighting designer Pryderi Baskerville is working with creative director Sean Evans, production designer Jeremy Lloyd from Wonder Works, video director Richard Turner, production manager Chris Kansy and production director Andrew Zweck to deliver for Roger Waters’ live productions.
Pryderi has worked for Waters since 2013 and as LD / lighting director / lighting programmer since 2016. The Us+Them world touring cycle (see LSi September 2018 for production report) started in May 2017 and runs until December this year. Pryderi specified 97 x Robe BMFL WashBeams for the stadium version of the shows and 57 x BMFL Spots and 8 x BMFL Blades for the arena gigs.

Australia - LSC Lighting Systems has appointed Jeff Morgan as its new regional sales manager for Australia. Morgan has over 25 years’ experience in the lighting and entertainment industry, having worked as a lighting systems technician, electrician and technical support officer as well as in sales and installation roles. In the past decade, he managed Lots of Watts Central Coast in New South Wales, specialising in lighting and audio sales and developing bespoke projects for local schools and churches.
In his role at LSC, Morgan will provide technical sales, training and dealer support in Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales.
“I am delighted to have Jeff join LSC,” says Gary Pritchard, managing director at LSC. “His experience and knowledge of the industry and the fact that he has specified, installed and used LSC products for many yea

Belgium - Developed and engineered in Belgium, Lucenti “brings innovation to the high-speed entertainment lighting industry”. “With power line communication, we saw an opportunity to take festoon lighting to the next level,” say Yoeri Renders and Olivier Leirs who have been developing and testing for the past years to get the Lucenti bulbs durable and the protocols flawless. “By sending the data to control the bulbs over the power line, we reduce cabling. Standard socket wiring can be used to make lines of up to 250 meters long with 128 individually addressable bulbs.”
The flagship bulb called the Pearl has RGB coloured LEDs in the base and a dimmable LED filament. Each channel is individually adjustable through the controller. With the app you can opt for plug and play, or connect your DMX (wired or wireless) lighting console and integrate it with the rest o

USA - The Queen of Country Pop’s Shania Now 2018 tour is using a large complement of Claypaky Mythos2 and Scenius Unico fixtures to enhance the show’s dazzling visual palette. ACT Lighting is the exclusive distributor of Claypaky lighting in North America.
Shania Now takes multi-Grammy winner Shania Twain across North America and to South America and Europe this fall before culminating in a swing through Oceania prior to Christmas. Twain has sold over 100m records making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and among the best-selling music artists of all time. Last year she released her fifth studio album and her first in 15 years, entitled Now.
The production features 48 Claypaky Mythos2 and 80 Scenius Unico fixtures. “The Unicos are the main workhorse of the lighting rig: They provide key light, back light and floor l

Europe - ER Productions has been working with the Chemical Brothers for a number of years, creating laser visuals worthy of the duo’s heady electronic shows. This year saw the pair appear at various festivals and venues across Europe and ER was on board for the ride once again, and this time bringing some exciting SFX into the mix.
Chemical Brothers Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons have spent nearly 30 years bringing big beat tunes to their fan base of dance and rock fans. The 2018 Chems live tour began in June, at Rockhal, Luxemburg, in June, and concludes at Corona Capital, Mexico City, this month.
The show design was to be a combination of mesmerising visuals, and ER Productions worked with production manager, James Baseley, stage manager Toby Dennis, touring lighting designer, Thomas Deschandel, and show designers, Marcus Lyall and Adam Smith to deliver another phenome

UK - Franki McDade is the lighting designer behind the show that has been supporting Swedish duo First Aid Kit’s world tour, which kicked off in January when their Ruins album dropped. The tour has just completed its latest UK leg, with lighting and video equipment supplied by Colour Sound Experiment.
Colour Sound has provided lighting and crew for previous tours with the band, this being their largest and most comprehensive to date in terms of production.
Colour Sound’s Haydn Cruickshank (H) comments: “I have known Franki since she first started her professional career – she worked hard and was an extremely good and conscientious lighting technician. She’s always had a great flair for imagination, so it’s fantastic to see her creative star rising and evolving. We were really happy to be working with her on this in the UK and Europe.”
In ter

UK - Event production specialists Light Fantastic Production Services partnered with Limited Edition Event Design to provide the main stage and a complete after party installation for the world premiere of Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody at the SSE Wembley Arena.
LFPS created a bespoke circular stage finished in gold mirror to complement the premiere’s signature purple carpet. The stage was a focal point for the evening, hosting live interviews with the movie’s cast and crew along with members of Queen.
For the star-studded aftershow, LFPS transformed Wembley Stadium’s Three Lions Bar into a rock'n'oll themed party space for 1,000 guests.
To help build the look, the team used Portman’s newly released P2 Hexaline fixtures in the lobby. A curved gallery, lined with individually lit costumes and large-scale production stills from the movie was formed

Europe - Highlite International will attend this year’s edition of JTSE, 27 and 28 November in Dock Pullman at Porte de la Chapelle, Paris.
Highlite will present a selection of product innovations from their brands Infinity, Showtec and DAP Audio. The Infinity family with the Chimp Tourpack, the Furion series and Signature range will have its own dedicated stand. Showtec is represented, amongst others, by the Helix 5000, the battery operated Eventspot 1600 Q4 and the Candela Pix 50 outdoor light bar. Dap Audio will have the Celestion powered Odin line array present.
At JTSE this year Highlite occupies two booths showing their current developments in the entertainment business.
Infinity will show the Furion Series, very fast and powerful LED-based moving heads, equipped with Wireless DMX. The Infinity wash lights iW-740 and iW-1240 will be present as well. With

Europe - Brit Award winning singer-songwriter Jorja Smith is currently enjoying the success - both commercially and creatively - of her debut album, Lost & Found.
Blackburn UK based technical production specialist HSL supplied lighting equipment and crew for her recent UK and European tour, working closely with Boston based lighting designer Tyler Trofatter and lighting director / operator on the road - for this section of the tour - Matthew Kemp.
Tyler started working with the artist earlier in the year when they sought a US-based LD to look after the live show aesthetics and stage presentation. In the US they were using 4Wall Entertainment as the lighting vendor, and their account handler Bob Suchocki first connected Tyler with HSL when they needed a specials package for a summer show at Somerset House in London.
That all went very well, so when this

UK - Live events creative solutions specialist, Production Bureau (Pb) has invested in 20 Spotlight FresneLED 200 warm white universal dimming luminaires for use on client events during the busy autumn season.
Production Bureau has been providing technical solutions, installations, AV equipment and services to the live events and exhibitions & display sectors for over 30 years, with projects ranging from international conferences to small-scale roadshows.
Dave Morgan, Pb's technical resources manager, required a versatile and low-energy LED Fresnel that could be used across various types of shows and events, so contacted Bob Allen in the UK lighting sales team of professional equipment re-seller AC-ET.
Morgan comments: "At Pb we are continuously investing in new technologies to ensure we remain at the forefront of the industry, so we can deliver the best poss

USA - The North American premiere of the musical Tinga Tinga Tales in October featured seven Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Spot fixtures. These lights, along with 13 Maverick MK2 Wash units and eight COLORado 2-Quad Zooms, supplied by WorldStage, were part of a Herrick Goldman lighting design for the show at Manhattan’s New Victory Theatre
“The MK2 Spots provided the strong beams of the chromatic rainbow when the children in the audience discover how the Chameleon character gets his colours,” said Goldman, who positioned the 440W moving LED fixtures on the second electric. “They enabled us to shift Chameleon’s moods rapidly, which helped tell his magical tale. The MK2 Spots also played heavily in Tortoise’s Rasta rap, with a call and response with the audience. Overall, the spots help to highlight performers in a variety of dramatic ways.”
Gol

Europe - Laserworld has released PL-5500RGB Outdoor, a professional laser system dedicated to the outdoor use of logo, text and architecture projections.
The laser has a waterproof enclosure and has a built-in control interface that can also be loaded laser frames and animations to. The system can either be computer controlled or switched with a timer clock or a timed show playback.
The outdoor laser highly visible in the dark, due to its high power. The scanner system is fast and well-suited to graphics projections, logos or texts. It comes with a special wall mounting bracket, which is designed to be used for fixed installation.
The Laserworld PL-5500RGB Outdoor comes as a complete system including built-in LAN control interface and suitable professional control software.
(Jim Evans)

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