South Africa - The prestigious Vodacom CEO Awards took place at Vodaworld in Midrand and for the very first time, MGG were appointed to supply the full technical. With a modern vintage theme, lighting designer Francois van der Merwe created pomp and hype on the grandMA 2 full size, while audio engineer Fanie Pieterse ensured the theatrical performance was complimented with exceptional sound. Fanie ran the show on a DiGiCo SD10 and used his new DiGiCo 32-bit Stadius Mic Pre-Amp for the live sound aspects.
“It was a fantastic event,” said Francois. “The acts varied from theatre to ballet and from drama to rock. While we had a list of requirements to meet and worked closely with the producers and creative team, it was a lot of fun and the gig came out very well.”
Francois ran the show on the grandMA2 full size, and says his star performer of the night were the BMF

Curaçao - For Jim Lo-A-Njoe, the inspiration for putting together the Furia Latina lighting rig began with the first word in the 4 November concert’s name – Furia. Looking to reflect the fury of reggaetón music’s powerful and unsettling emotions in light, he wanted to create looks that would blow through the stage with the ferocity of a sudden storm. Lo-A-Njoe of Massive Productions got the intensity he was seeking, and then some, by building his rig around 78 high-output Rogue moving fixtures from Chauvet Professional.
“Furia Latina is a show organised by Color Events that is built around passion,” said Lo-A-Njoe. “It brings together some of the hottest artists from around the world like Ozuna and Plan B, as well as local artists from Curaçao like Chaika, Jaido & Dongo. The intensity of the music is non-stop, and we wanted to match that pass

The Netherlands - “One of the best show’s our team has ever done!” declared production designer and show director Gabe Fraboni after two recent performances by popular Dutch DJ and music producer Martin Garrix at Amsterdam’s RAI, both bathed in a lighting system with nearly 300 Robe moving lights on the rig, including 50 new MegaPointes.
The RAI design was created by Gabe based on a new live show concept that was launched at the Bill Graham Auditorium in San Francisco in May. The base model - that travels everywhere - has a large video ‘plus’ sign flanked each side by a matrix of 90 x Robe Spikies.
For the RAI shows, the ‘plus’ was still there in the centre, with everything else around it seriously scaled up.
A 10m high structural trussing design repeated the shape of the central ‘plus’ to each side, giving it a 45-degree twist in the meantime

Belgium - Originally created in the late ‘90s as a side project of Belgian Eurodance masters DJ Pedroh and producer Phil Wilde, The Oh! quickly garnered a reputation as one of the most legendary club nights in Belgium thanks to world class DJ sets and supporting single hits including Won't you show me the way and Got to be free.
Almost a 25 years later, new generations of Belgian dance music lovers continue to discover the energy and vitality present in those early club nights, thanks to annual anniversary The Oh! events.
One such recent event at the Waregem Expo celebrating 24 years of The Oh! saw acts such as Frequencerz, Ran-D, B-front, and Mark with a K share the stage with founder DJ Pedroh. Creative Rental Solutions provided punchy visual support for the occasion with immersive stage lighting provided by 64 ÉPIX Strip, 24 Rogue R2 Wash, and 12 Ma

USA - Cosmetics company Nu Skin held its biannual four-day meeting combining philanthropy, business sessions, recognition and entertainment in a dynamic mix.
Nu Skin turned to Atlanta based Executive Visions (EVI) to create a tailored experience for distributors and guests from around the world.
For 2017, EVI president & CEO Michael Marto had something very special in mind. “Nu Skin is an especially rewarding company to work with,” says Marto. “We wanted to weave an experience unlike any other, that broke new ground for a customised corporate event, and told the whole Nu Skin story.”
He adds: “We wanted to use a massive social program to attract young people to the company as part of a strategy for growth for Nu Skin. We didn’t have Maroon 5 and Hans Zimmer just because they are massive global talents, but also because they speak especially clear

USA - Control systems from ETC have been used in the majority of winning schemes at the 2018 Thea Awards, the US company has reported.
The awards recognise excellence within the themed entertainment industry and are organised by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA). Across the 2018 winners, ETC has had a hand in nine of the Thea Award-winning projects.
“We’re delighted for each of our partners recognised with a Thea Award, and congratulate the winners on their vision,” said Karl Haas, national sales manager for architecture at ETC. “These projects showcase ETC’s dedication to creating lighting system solutions that are powerful enough to control entire park lighting systems, and creative enough to fit in to these highly specialised environments.”
ETC’s Unison Paradigm and Mosaic lines, Sensor3 power dimming technology, Response data distribu

Sweden - The Royal Court of Sweden added 100 x SGM’s P-2 LED wash lights to the entrance of Djurgården – the Royal National City Park in Stockholm.
With Sweden’s infamous dark winters, the planned light installation needs to improve the environment around the entrance of the Royal Park and provide different colours of lighting throughout the year. The installation uses 100 compact SGM P-2 LED wash lights along the main road leading into the King’s Island of Djurgården.
”During the planning process, we looked for a rugged, fairly small, fixture that would deliver most bang for the buck. That led us to SGM and the P-2 range,” says lighting designer Fredrik Jönsson Jönsson about his choice of fixture.
Project manager Inge-Björn Mossige-Norheim adds: “We did look at other alternatives, but ultimately selected SGM’s P-2 for its much clearer colou

USA - Dave Koz returned to the stage for the Dave Koz 20th Anniversary Christmas Tour with special guests David Benoit, Rick Braun, Peter White and introducing Selina Albright.
Chris Lisle Lighting Design relied on Bandit Lites once again for the lighting package to illuminate the acclaimed saxophonist and nine-time Grammy nominee and his friends who reunited as members of the original 1997 cast.
Erik Parker of Chris Lisle Lighting Design built upon Lisle’s concept of curved truss around risers saying, “I knew that I wanted a fixture to line the entirety of it and wanted it to look more like a functional scenic piece then a standard truss with lights. I also worked closely with production manager, Brian Foisy, to fine-tune everything and to make sure the lighting and scenic pieces blended well and flowed with the anniversary theme of this year’s tour.”<

USA - When the multi-talented Nick Cannon announced that he was taking his hit MTV programme Wild N Out on the road, some critics wondered how well the fast-clipped, hip-hop improv comedy show would translate into a live tour format. They needn’t have worried. The hugely successful show (one of its episodes was the most watched in MTV2 history) is proving to be equally compelling on the road.
This was very evident when the tour rolled into Cleveland’s jam-packed Wolstein Centre on 25 November with Cannon and special guest Waka Flocka Flame of Oh Let’s Do It fame. Adding impact to the evening’s performance was an intensely bright lightshow designed by Marc Wasserman of 3 With 1 Grab Productions that was made even more dramatic by six Chauvet Professional Vesuvio RGBA LED foggers supplied by Audio Spectrum of Boston.
Show director Angel Perez of Fi

USA - The Denver Centre for the Performing Arts (DCPA) is staging an inventive and re-imagined version of Macbeth that features an all-male cast, EDM style music and modern design elements. Lighting the contemporary version of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy is Alex Jainchill, who uses LED lighting from Elation Professional to meet lighting challenges and create magical moments in the show, including special black light UV effects.
This modern version of Macbeth which takes place in the DCPA’s newly remodelled in-the-round Space Theatre and, is directed by Robert O’Hara, who has infused the story with fresh ideas and used the intimacy of the space to create an engaging production. Jainchill puts his own creative imprint on the play as well using Elation LED lighting fixtures - Satura Profile and Platinum Seven LED moving heads, SixPar 200 and Arena Par Zoo

Croatia - Singer, composer, musician Gibonni is one of the most popular and influential artists in Croatia and across the whole region, known for blending contemporary rock and pop with Dalmatian folk songs for a sound that’s gained him a huge following.
A recent show at Zagreb Arena featured another spectacular lighting design by Sven Kučinić of LumiLas d.o.o. who used Robe Pointes, MMX Spots and MMX WashBeam moving lights to bring the stage alive and keep the visual thrills and spills rolling for 20,000 excited fans who packed into the venue to enjoy a memorable evening.
Sven has worked as Gibonni’s LD for the last five years, and for this seminal show he collaborated with Olgierd Kamienski on the video design. The scenography followed a show theme suggested by Gibonni himself, where the main set feature was a life-size cross-sectioned boat mid-stage, complete

USA - Great deals on televisions and refrigerators? That’s nice, but for progressive music fans in the Boston area, the really big news on Black Friday was the album release party for the eponymous LP by Matthew Stubbs and the Antiguas.
Lending some eye-popping sizzle to the sold-out event at the Sinclair club in the heart of Harvard Square was a fast-moving lightshow by freelance visual artist and lighting designer Vin Pugliese that was supercharged by a Chauvet DJ Intimidator floor package.
Pugliese brought eight Intimidator Hybrid 140SR moving fixtures to the club, positioning them tightly on upstage risers. “I was looking to create coloured aerials we could use to accentuate the psychedelic timecoded visuals and live camera feed that would be projected on the center stage screen,” he said. “The Intimidators are punchy and jam packed full of features. Using

USA - ACT Lighting continued their support for Behind the Scenes with a $5,000 cheque presentation at LDI. The donation reflects proceeds from the sales of the dot2 series of lighting control solutions from MA Lighting.
The dot2 range consists of the lighting consoles: core, XL-F, XL-B; playback expansion wings: F-wing and B-wing; the Node4 1K network output node; onPC console software; and 3D visualization software. Designed for small and mid-sized projects and venues, dot2 offers advanced functionality with outstanding ease-of-use. Full tracking backup is available via plug and play networking. Learn more about the dot2 Series.
Upon presenting the check, Brian Dowd, vice president of sales for ACT Lighting stated, “The charitable work that Behind the Scenes does is very important to our industry, helping those in need when it counts. ACT is pleased to help this cau

UK - Two Avolites Quartz consoles running the latest Titan 10.1 software were used by Scottish lighting, sound and AV specialist Black Light to control the 'surprise' lighting spectacular at the ceremonial handover of the new £1.35 billion Queensferry Crossing, the UK's tallest bridge.
The ceremony took place one week before the bridge's official opening on 4 September. Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon led the ceremony, thanking the workers for their dedication and skill in constructing the crossing. JMP Productions designed the event and contracted Edinburgh-based production specialists Black Light to provide the lighting fixtures, control network, pre-production support and on-site team.
"Black Light works regularly with Jon Pugh from JMP to fulfil many of their events," says Thomas Ramage, project manager at Black Light. "Our team created visualisations fo

Denmark - Aalborg Theatre is in the heart of Denmark’s attractive fourth largest city’s old town area. Established in 1878, it has a rich and colourful history and is known as a ‘heavyweight’ on the Danish theatre scene. This long standing critical fortitude was further advanced with the arrival of Hans Henriksen as artistic director in 2015, who had several key objectives including one to make the production programme more dynamic, cutting-edge and accessible.
One of the ways in which he’s achieving this is by changing the scheduling to repertory style, with several productions running simultaneously in rotation over several weeks, and this fundamental shift in turn demanded a different approach to lighting.
The installation of Robe DL series moving lights has helped complex shows to be quickly and efficiently turned around - de-rigged, re-rigged and re-lit

USA - Harman Professional Solutions has opened the Harman Experience Centre in Los Angeles. The facility joins a worldwide network of Harman Professional Solutions Experience Centres in Singapore, China and soon in London, designed to demonstrate how Harman solutions address customer needs across multiple vertical markets.
The new 15,000sq.ft. multi-functional facility showcases Hartman Professional Solutions product solutions in a variety of entertainment and enterprise market applications. The Experience Centre demonstrates the integration of brands including JBL Professional, AKG Acoustics, AMX, BSS Audio, Crown International, dbx Professional, DigiTech, Lexicon Pro, Martin, Soundcraft and Studer.
“With the opening of our flagship Experience Centre, we are bringing the Harman Professional Solution proposition to life while giving visitors a glimpse into the inves

USA - City Theatrical demonstrated their innovative technology by presenting the first live broadcast of nine universes of wireless DMX using a single transmitter. This demonstration was made to a live audience of over 100 lighting professionals at LDI 2017 in Las Vegas.
The demo was part of a seminar featuring Multiverse wireless DMX/RDM technology entitled, How Advances In Wireless DMX Will Change The Way We Do Lighting. The seminar was led by City Theatrical founder and president, Gary Fails, and showcased the company’s vision of a future of wireless lighting control.
The Multiverse family of wireless DMX/RDM products gives lighting users a new range of options for performing their lighting tasks more easily than ever, while producing less disruptive radio energy than ever. City Theatrical’s vision of the new lighting world is one in which every DMX devic

USA - UK automation and motion control manufacturer Kinesys enjoyed a busy and successful LDI exhibition in Las Vegas. It was the first time that the brand has hosted its own booth at the show, reflecting a growth in business in North and South America and Canada.
The three-day event kicked off to a great start with Kinesys’ new Apex motion control system being presented with a 2017 PLSN Gold Star Product Award for Best New Motion Device.
The Apex system incorporates the best of Kinesys’ extensive experience working with variable speed chain hoists, and the result is the pinnacle of chain hoist technology.
David Bond, head of Kinesys’ USA operation commented, “It was a great move to come to Las Vegas this year. It has been a fantastic LDI show, meeting and engaging with many of our current contacts and making lots of new ones. There’s been a real mix o

Australia - As part of Hobart’s annual Dark Mofo festival, the Red Bull Music Academy returned to present an industrial-scale, transcendental warehouse rave titled Transliminal.
Held in Hobart City Hall, the event showcased the dark, electronic underbelly of the subterranean club scene, and featured a stunning light show by audio-visual artist Robin Fox. Known for his mesmeric, future-forward, laser-driven light installations, Robin collaborated with Melbourne’s Additive Lighting who designed, pre-visualised and operated a disorientating and atmospheric light installation for the late-night music venue.
“Robin had been approached by Dark Mofo to create a very streamlined, dark and moody nightclub,” commented Tom Wright of Additive. “Robin is a laser artist, but he soon realized the project was more suited to a lighting installation.
“He

South Africa - In mid-October 2017, South African audiences enjoyed the return of the celebrated musical production of Evita – seen for the first time on South African stages since the 1980’s. After its premiere at the Montecasino Teatro in Johannesburg the production will be at Cape Town’s Artscape Theatre, before embarking on an Asian tour.
The creative team has striven to create a faithful recreation of the original West End production in all aspects – from the direction, choreography and musical direction to the building and creation of set, wardrobe and props. But while remaining true to the original, there is a great deal that has been updated technically, to make the current production a spectacular theatrical experience.
An extensive lighting rig, and state-of-the-art PA system recreate the imagery and feel of the original, coupled with projectio

USA - How many gigs can a 19-piece rockabilly band do in 48 days? The Brian Setzer Orchestra’s 14th Annual Christmas Rocks Tour is on a 35-date tour from 10 November to 28 December, which will be followed by concerts in Japan early next year. Highlighting the set is a 12-foot high marquee featuring 172 IMS Mk2 RGBW lamps.
“The IMS LED lamps are very easy to address,” says Joe Golden of Gallagher Staging. “They are extremely bright, with rich, warm colours and are extremely durable – a must for a rapid-moving tour such as this one. Driven by two IMS Universe Drive DIN Rail units, conveniently mounted in the set, the IMS lamps work seamlessly with incandescent lamps on a 3-channel chase. With so many load-ins and strikes in a short time, the reliability of IMS was as much a consideration as its versatility. The clients are extremely happy with the results. We

UK - Lighting rental production company Lite Alternative has added the multi award-winning Chroma-Q Color Force II LED batten to its stockholding - using the fixture on a number of high-profile European concert tours and events to date.
The Color Force II was central to lighting designer, Steve Baird's scheme for the 16-date European leg of the Day Breaks tour for nine-time Grammy-winning American singer-songwriter, Norah Jones . Playing to various sized venues and outdoor festivals, Color Force II 48 units were placed on the floor to uplight a huge white voile cyclorama in subtle pastel colours - providing the perfect visual backdrop in texture and mood for each song.
In addition, during an 18-date European tour by American alternative rock band, Interpol to celebrate the 15th anniversary of their acclaimed debut album,Turn on the Bright Lights Color Fo

Finland - Kenneth Greve’s ballet production Land of Kalevala is currently being staged at the Finnish National Opera, with set, projection and lighting designed by Mikki Kunttu (profiled in LSi November).
The performance focuses on milestones in Finland’s history and incorporates a combination of diverse art forms.
For lighting control, Kunttu used the opera’s grandMA2 system and an MA 3D system for previsualisation.
“I always work with grandMA2 because the console plays a very central role in the process of transforming the production from design to reality,” said Kunttu. “grandMA2 helps me to concentrate on the creative elements of the show, right through from the stage rehearsals to opening ni

Dominican Republic - Luxury resort Luxury Bahía Príncipe Fantasia needed excellent design skills along with reliable luminaires for a permanent light installation.
Located at the heart of the Caribbean and focused on providing entertainment experiences, the resort turned to Javier Álvarez’ Madrid-based installation company Capicúa to create ‘magical’ lightshows.
“With the Dominican Republic’s challenging weather conditions of constant humidity and severe rain, we had to use SGM luminaires,” said Álvarez.
Faced with a job to transform this luxury resort into a hub for shows and international artists, lighting designer Manuel Vicente chose a mix between architectural fantasy spaces, show lighting, and video mapping. Especially thrilled about the versatile P-5 POI, Vicente and Álvarez were able to mount a magical fairytale light installation for th

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