Lighting

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UK - From the team behind the Olivier Award-winning The Play That Goes Wrong, The Comedy About A Bank Robbery is a dynamic show focusing on the robbery of Minneapolis City Bank - and everything that goes wrong in the process. The play has run in the West End for three years now at The Criterion Theatre and has been a smash hit with audiences and critics alike. It is now embarking on a UK tour and White Light is supplying the lighting equipment.
A Mischief Theatre Company production, The Comedy About A Bank Robbery is produced by Kenny Wax and Stage Presence in association with Birmingham Rep and features a lighting design by David Howe. David comments: “Bank Robbery is a play where the situation really brings the comedy to life. You have an escaped convict set on capturing a priceless diamond from the bank and with him his eccentric sidekick, trickste

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Australia - Well-known Italian manufacturer of professional lighting brands, Prolights, Tribe and ArchWork (under the parent company Music & Lights) will be hitting Australia, following an agreement with Show Technology.
Professional AV and lighting distributor, Show Technology, will soon be launching their first official selection of hand-picked solutions from Music & Light’s Prolights range. Some of the products Show Technology will be bringing to the Australian and New Zealand markets this summer include the IP65-rated high-output LED wash light, the Panorama IP wash with pixel ring designed to bring the workhorse LED wash light to outdoor events, as was featured at the 2018 PLASA conference in London last month.
Show Technology’s founder and managing director, Emmanuel Ziino, comments: “I recently visited the company headquarters and was very impresse

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USA - Action in the Vibe Tent started in the early afternoon and went on nonstop to 4am the next morning every day during the Summer Camp Music Festival in Chillicothe, Il. Few fans left the spacious area for any length of time during these EDM marathons, captivated as they were by the music of artists like Zomby, MIJA and Dirt Monkey.
Equally compelling, and just as sticky, was the eye-grabbing video and lightshow created by Antic Studios, using 75 PVP S5 LED panels from Chauvet Professional.
Arranged in a seven-row-high pyramid configuration that appeared to envelop the DJ booth, the massive video wall transfixed fans with varied displays of unique and compelling images. These images moved from panel to panel over the face of the pyramid, enlivening it with a dynamic energy that reflected the spirit of the music, while drawing attention to the stage.
“We co

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UK - Edinburgh-based lighting, sound and AV company Black Light is the latest dealer join the group of High End System’s Hog 4 master dealers in the UK.
Black Light has worked with ETC for 25 years as a respected sales and project company. With an active hire department, this relationship continues to grow with the High End Systems brand adding Sola Frame 750 moving heads to their hire inventory along with a number of Hog 4 consoles.
The appointment confirms the company’s key role in the distribution of Hog consoles around the UK.
Calder Sibbald, director at Black Light, comments: “I am delighted that Black Light has been appointed as a master dealer for High End Systems. It is currently a very exciting time for ETC and High End Systems and I am really looking forward to Black Light being part of the evolution of the brand and product. Being appointed, trul

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USA - Altman Lighting has introduced the AP-150 LED Par luminaire, a 135W RGBW LED wash which produces deep, saturated colours and soft, delicate pastels, while maintaining a smooth, uniform beam throughout the entire motorized zoom range.
Weighing only 11lb (5kg), the AP-150 replicates the soft output of a traditional par wash light with control states from 8-bit, 16-bit, RGB, and HSIC. Its factory and custom colour pre-sets allow for the quick selection of the most widely used entertainment colour choices, and it also adds the ability to record colour pre-sets directly to the luminaire for custom colour playback.
In conjunction with its colour output, the AP-150 also offers a variety of strobe options ranging from pulse and fade, to a 30 Hz strobe rate. With the motorised zoom which produces a beam spread between 12-65 degrees, the luminaire also has built-in stops a

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USA - Singer-songwriter Ben Rector has embarked on a 28-date engagement entitled Magic: The Tour with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites
Named for his sixth studio album, Magic, which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Americana/Folk Albums chart, Rector’s tour features the songs that have resonated with fans for years. Bandit Lites facilitated an on-site demo for Rector to pinpoint what fixtures best matched his vision for the production, and then following renderings and revisions, lighting designer Chris Lisle and he landed on the current design.
“Ben is extremely hands on regarding his show and he and Chris seem to share an excellent understanding of how the show should look,” says Bandit Lites vice president Mike Golden. “I appreciate an artist that wants the time to visit and explore various lighting elements and applications. Chris and

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The Netherlands - It’s not every day that the chance comes up to light a large-scale musical spectacular starring over 100 majestic Friesland horses, geese, a dog, a falcon plus a few famous actors and singers. Marc Heinz relished the opportunity of working on De Stormruiter (The Stormrider) with a cast that truly ticked the ‘diverse’ box in every aspect.
Staged in the massive Saksen Hall at the WTC Expo in Leeuwarden, the city in the heart of Friesland, The Netherlands, the event was commissioned by the Royal Friesian Horse Studbook (Koninklijke Vereniging) and the Fader Horse Foundation and produced by Leeuwarden Friesland 2018 as part of the city and region’s year as European Capital of Culture.
Marc used 160 x Robe moving lights - BMFLs, LEDBeam 1000s and Spiiders - to help achieve the drama and breath-taking visual scenography needed to bri

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Germany - Every year on the first weekend in August, tens of thousands of EDM fans converge on the former missile base of Pydna in central Germany for Nature One, one of Europe’s most diverse and popular festivals. This year, around 54,000 people came together to party on 23 “floors” along with 350 DJs and live acts.
Thomas Gerdon of Gerdon design has been working Nature One since 2003 and this year discovered the benefits of using Elation’s popular weatherproof Proteus Hybrid moving head. Since 2011, he and his team have been supporting the Open Air Floor, the largest floor of the festival, and for the first time this year also handled the visual design for Century Circus, the festival’s second largest floor.
Although EDM festivals have grown massively in recent years, Nature One is something special for Gerdon. "At most EDM festivals

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Taiwan - Quanta Art Foundation has recently installed two Robert Juliat Cyrano 2500W HMI follow spots into the Quanta Hall at Hwaya Technology Park in Guishan Township, in Taoyuan County, Taiwan.
Personally designed by Quanta Computer chairman Barry Lam and built by Taiwan master architect Kris Yao, Quanta Hall embodies a blend of technology and art; its creation was based on the “Trans-Art concepts” promoted by the Quanta Art Foundation.
Adorned with simplistic yet elegant Chinese carved wood seals, Quanta Hall has served as a medium-sized theatre and multi-functional exhibition centre since its opening on 21 April 2009. The 1,000sq.m hall with 576 burnt sienna seats is used as a venue for a wide array of performing arts through the year.
With the help of Taiwan distributor DLHG Co. Ltd., two Robert Juliat Cyrano followspots found their new home in this hal

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Spain - Pablo Alborán has been drawing record crowds for his Prometo Tour as it works its way through Spain and South America. Providing powerful visual support for the Grammy-nominated singer/musician’s show in Madrid is a dramatic lighting design by Chus Fernandez that features Chauvet Professional Nexus Aq 5x5 pixel mapped panels supplied by Fluge.
Working in close collaboration with Salvador Moreno on the design of the stage space, Fernandez specified 64 of the RGBW Nexus panels to use as the centerpiece of his lightshow. Arranged in a captivating rhombus shape and flown at a slanted angle over centre stage, the panels provide a dramatic and colourful visual element to Fernandez’s design.
The massive size of the rhombus light structure provides a defining geometric pattern for the entire stage. Aside from drawing attention to the performers beneath it,

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UK - Prolights’ new RA3000 high-precision 1000W LED profile luminaires took centre-stage for Quincy Jones - A Life in Song at The O2 in London. The event featured music and conversation from high-profile artists, accompanied by a 71-piece orchestra, to pay tribute to the American musician and record producer's career in his 85th birthday year.
Lighting and production designer, Ben M. Rogers needed a powerful, precise and flexible moving LED Profile to create the right look for each song. Just three Prolights RA3000 delivered all the key light for the soloists, with temperature corrected front light from the variable CTO to match the live camera needs. A further nine fixtures were deployed to provide backlight to frame the soloists with huge output, stunning saturated colours, beautiful pastels and high-precision whites, with crisp gobos layered over sharp shutter c

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Europe - Harman Professional Solutions is extending its distribution agreement with Fairlight to include tour audio solutions in Benelux.
Fairlight was initially appointed to distribute lighting brand Martin by Harman in the region. Under the new agreement, the Dutch company will also distribute Harman’s full range of tour audio products, including JBL, Crown, Soundcraft, dbx and BSS.
Scott Aslett, regional director at Harman Professional Solutions (Northwest Europe), comments: “We are delighted to extend Fairlight’s distribution rights to Harman audio brands. We already have a strong established partnership with Fairlight, and given their prominence in the touring industry, this expansion of our partnership will support the great demand for Harman solutions and yield improved service to our customers in the Benelux region.”
Michael Arntz, general manage

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UK - Stage Electrics has welcomed a new apprentice to its buying team in Jemma Dove.
Previously studying A-Level business, Dove will be working at Stage Electrics’ HQ five days a week alongside studying for a qualification in business administration.
She comments: “I am eager to get into the world of work. I am looking forward to the opportunity to further develop my professional skills in such a great company.”
The apprentice will report directly to Stage Electrics’ head of procurement, David Friend.
He comments: “Holding over £1.2m in sales stock here at Stage Electrics, the buying department have seen continuous growth over the last few years. We are pleased to welcome Jemma to the team, to help manage stock. We have recently had one apprentice in our department who graduated to a full-time roll here. Employing a team member through an apprenti

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Australia - Staged annually for the last 14 years, Queensland’s Creative Generation (CGEN) event was the biggest yet, with almost 2,000 schoolchildren being given the opportunity to perform in a professional environment on an enormous arena stage measuring 20mx 18m, with a 38m x 6m rear projection screen behind it.
Content delivery and projection mapping specialists IKONIX - who are based on Australia’s Gold Coast - were asked to help deliver the desired wow factor for the fifth successive year.
At the heart of the solution they created were two Avolites RX8 Ai media servers to deliver images to the rear screen, and two additional units controlling projection onto the stage. Equally central to their vision of the production were Notch real time content generation and BlackTrax real time tracking system, the latter provided by Atlanta-based Visional Productions, an

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USA - Fans who catch AFI on the current Mourning In Amerika tour as they open for Rise Against have no doubt what the multi-platinum band’s initials stand for. Slamming the stage with the power of a thunderbolt, and burning through their songs with reckless abandon, the iconoclastic quartet seems to be driven by some internal combustible force, or “A Fire Inside”.
Matching that fire with light is an intense, sometimes foreboding and fast-moving Kelsey Gonzalez and Cort Lawrence-designed lightshow that utilises a rig supplied by Premier Global Productions. Gonzalez, who is also lighting director on the tour, works through a set list that varies each night (she has over 90 songs programmed) to reflect the music with ever-changing patterns and colours. Helping in this endeavour are the eight Chauvet Professional Rogue R1 FX-B fixtures in her rig.
“We have

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USA - Slamhammer recently deployed a full complement of Martin by Harman lighting fixtures to illuminate three nights of musical performances by major headlining artists at the 2018 X Games in Minneapolis.
The X Games is an annual sports competition produced by ESPN that brings together the best athletes in skateboarding, BMX, motocross, snowboarding, inline skating and more. The 2018 Summer X Games were held at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, a with three nights of official concerts at the 8,400-capacity Minneapolis Armory.
In order to provide stunning visuals and immersive lighting for headlining performances by Ice Cube, Zedd and Kaskade, ESPN hired live production company Slamhammer to deploy a world-class lighting rig on the Geico Music Stage at the Armory. Slamhammer selected a full complement of Martin lighting fixtures for their versatile features, relia

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Spain - The visual design for popular chart-topping Spanish singer and musician Pablo Alborán’s current Prometo tour has been created by LD Chus Fernandez working closely with artistic director Salva Alborán. It is a fine-tuned fusion of lighting, video and automation that brings a diverse look to the show, which will be on the road for at least a year on this, Alborán’s fourth studio album cycle.
Chus chose to work with Robe moving lights, picking 40 x MegaPointes, 48 x Spiiders and 32 x BMFL WashBeams as the work-horses of the rig, all supplied by rental company Fluge.
It is Chus’ second year as LD, lighting director and operator for Alborán, and he and Salva - who also creates the video content - worked out numerous multi-level ideas and looks to ensure that all the different visual elements had their chance to shine.
With a large upstage 4.8m

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UK - Equipment hire software companies Current RMS and InspHire have been acquired by integrated ERP solutions provider Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS).
The deals will allow KCS to strengthen its presence within the rental industry. InspHire and Current RMS will operate as independent business units within KCS, under their existing management teams.
Current RMS will remain tailored to the needs of the AV, production and events industries. InspHire, which supplies software to companies that rent heavy plant and construction vehicles, will be backed to expand into the US market. 
Chris Branson, managing director of Current RMS, comments: “I’m delighted that a company as prestigious and well regarded as KCS Group has chosen to invest in Current RMS. We’ve achieved so much in the four years since we launched and through this acquisition we’ve now got th

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UK - New York post-hardcore band Glassjaw rocketed to success in 2000 and has had a strong European following ever since, especially in the UK. Following the release last December of their first full length album since 2002, Material Control, the band returned to the UK this summer, playing a much-anticipated show at London’s O2 Academy Brixton on 18 August.
Lighting designer for a short run of European dates was Hayden Borgars (Night Flight Orchestra, The Pineapple Thief, et al.), who had an Elation lighting rig of 12 Platinum Beam Extreme beam lights and 12 Platinum Wash ZFX Pro LED moving head washes at his disposal for Glassjaw’s Academy Brixton show.
Rooted in the intensity of the New York hardcore scene, Glassjaw are notorious for their exciting live shows and aggressive performance style. Their music is experimental and multi-stylistic, powerful and

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Czech Republic - Vratislavice nad Nisou is a district in Liberec – the fifth largest city in the Czech Republic - and their forward-thinking municipality led by Mayor Lukas Pohanka wanted an extra special touch for its landmark Church of the Holy Trinity, a well-preserved and now protected single baroque building dating back to 1700.
In recent years, a new stone road and stone steps were built and complemented by stylish lamps and benches adjacent to the church, new trees and flowers were planted around the building when it was refurbished, and. “illuminating the Church was the next logical step“ he stated.
This was an intricate task to get just right. Locally based architectural lighting specialist ArchLights, was asked to propose an appropriate lighting scheme that highlighted its attractive architecture, and their team led by lighting designer Pavel Holzknecht

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USA - Held each August at the Ohio Dream Park, Machine Gun Kelly’s EST Festival has a giant waterslide on its grounds. Good thing, too. A quick dunk in the massive pool was probably the only chance fans got to cool off during this two-day event. The NPi-produced festival featured the sounds of Asking Alexandria, 2 Chainz, We Came As Romans, Trippie Redd and other stars.
Supporting these performances was a lighting rig created by Alex Kay that was anchored by Chauvet Professional Rogue fixtures. Machine Gun Kelly’s long-time designer, Kay ran the lightshow for every one of the festival’s acts, except for Asking Alexandria, which brought their own LD. His watchword for the entire event was “intensity.”
Creating an arch upstage, he loaded it with fixtures, the better to make power statements. Kay and his techs Nino Spadaro and Jacob Thompson positioned e

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USA - Lighting designer and creative technology expert Marty Postma is coming off the road and joining Robe North America’s sales force as regional sales manager for the Northeast.
Marty has over 20 years’ experience on the front-line of concert touring and live events, working as a lighting designer, director, programmer, operator, and technician.
Marty’s recent design portfolio includes interesting and edgy clients like Alice in Chains, Evanescence, and two ice skating shows aboard Royal Caribbean's newest ship, Symphony of the Seas.
Bob Schacherl, CEO of Robe North America comments, “I’m delighted with Marty Postma’s decision to join the Robe North America sales team. With his prestigious design career, he brings a wealth of lighting experience, product knowledge and contacts throughout the North American market. Historically the Northeast territo

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Canada - To support and grow its rapidly expanding user base, global design and BIM software solutions provider Vectorworks has opened a new corporate office in Canada.
To facilitate this new office, Vectorworks has acquired Resolve Software Solutions and the assets of Paxar Technologies Corp, both long-time distributors of Vectorworks software. The Vectorworks Canada office is located in Vancouver and led by Geoff McBeath, former director of Resolve Software Solutions, who has more than 20 years of experience in Vectorworks support, training and sales.
“The opening of a Vectorworks office in Canada will allow us to better serve our growing community of users in North America, offering improved resources and a direct connection with our product development team,” said Vectorworks CEO Dr. Biplab Sarkar. “Geoff McBeath has provided significant contributions to the

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Europe - This year’s tour with Jeff Beck is taking LD David “Gurn” Kaniski to some far-off lands - and some unusual venues, such as the outdoor gardens of a palace in Spain, or an ancient coliseum in Rome, for instance. “The Romans didn’t think about load-in back then!” Kaniski jokes. “Which makes it so nice that I can just carry my Full Boar 4 with me up the stairs!”
It’s one of the many reasons why the LD has been a Hog console user – back since the Wholehog II days, he notes. The ease of travelling with it along with the ease of use has reduced his stress and added more time to his show day.
“For this tour, especially, because I have so many changing house rigs, I’ve been really fast at changing fixture types and building my show,” he explains. “All the new software updates are great. I love the pixel mapping – it’s terrific, it’s s
  1. Dual ChamSys consoles run G12 Asia Conference
  2. Multi-coloured Robe at Ostrava Festival
  3. Showstopper invests in ADJ LED panel system
  4. KOI Awards USA shortlisted designers announced
  5. PLASA 2018 'busiest' in years
  6. John Steele joins Blitz as technical director
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