Lighting

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Europe - Lighting designer James O'Neill and video designer Mark Cunniffe combined their extensive skills with the latest technology from Avolites to provide the production design for the current tour by Irish pop-rock band, Picture This.
With O'Neill controlling his lighting rig with his tried-and-trusted Avolites Arena console, and the video content run through Avolites Ai media server operated by Tim Hornung, the band's European tour is showcasing the cutting edge of light and video control.
O'Neill, who was responsible for both set and lighting design, created a raised performance area backed, flanked and fronted in LED screen. The production's wraparound surfaces featured a mixture of rich video content developed through a close collaboration between the band, Cunniffe and Tom Readdy of Yes Please Productions.
"Looking at the stage head-on or from an angle

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UK - Stage Electrics has supplied a custom-built Stage Management desk to The Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton. Located in the heart of the midlands, Wolverhampton’s oldest running theatre, The Grand presents a wide range of major touring productions every year. After their stage management desk of 20 years was no longer suitable for their needs, Ray Tizzard of The Grand, turned to industry experts Stage Electrics for a custom designed replacement.
Stage Electrics’ Paul Lucas, liaised with The Grand to establish the requirements of their new Stage Management desk. Once specifications and drawings were signed off and an inspection of the existing infrastructure was undertaken, the Stage Electrics in-house team then went into production of the desk.
The facilities of the desk are a Theatre Cue 16 channel cue light master station, 12 individually addressable cue light ou

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South Africa - Technical production and rental company CCPP recently made a substantial investment in Robe moving lights for their ongoing production work and for general rental stock.
The latest purchase - for over 100 fixtures - included some of Robe’s newest technology - 24 x Spiiders, 24 x Spikies, 48 x LEDBeam 100s and 24 x CycFX 4s, which join the DLS, DLX and miniPointes already in the rental inventory.
The company was founded by Clint in 2000, then trading as Clint Cawood Professional Productions and focusing on technical consultancy in the corporate presentation world. The first Robe purchases were in 2012, and also delivered by Robe’s South African distributor DWR.
“We really want to help enrich the industry with this latest purchase” commented CEO Clint Cawood. “Robe as a brand is very strong in Sou

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USA - Criss Angel’s Mindfreak Live! at the Luxor Resort & Casino in Las Vegas upends people’s views of magic and awes spectators with a goth-horror vibe mixed with rock ‘n’ roll spectacle.
The production has the largest number of moving lights on the Strip, and combines movers, lasers, video and more into one over-the-top vision. The large number of fixtures and media demands would tax the average console – but not ETC’s Eos Ti. ETC’s latest video follows lighting programmer Josh Selander and gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at how he pulled together one of the flashiest, most technically demanding shows on the Strip and demonstrates why the Eos Ti, in the hands of a master programmer, delivers the magic.
Some of the features of Ti that Selander calls out in the video include syncing the console

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UK - Written by Jack Thorne, the Old Vic’s A Christmas Carol is a brand-new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ timeless classic. It tells the story of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge who is visited by four ghosts on Christmas Eve. Over the night, Scrooge is forced to confront his past and is given a final chance to see the error of his ways. The show opened this week to positive reviews and White Light provided the lighting equipment.
A Christmas Carol stars Rhys Ifans and features a lighting design by Hugh Vanstone. Hugh comments: “This is a thoughtful and innovative take on the Dickens classic rather than an expensive, flashy stage production. This is reflected in the staging, which places the action in a specially installed-environment rather than a conventional proscenium production. A giant planked walkway stretches from the back of the stalls all the way into

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UK - Sound Technology has been acquired by Midwich Group, becoming the latest wholly-owned subsidiary of the Group.
The pro audio and lighting distributor will continue to operate as an independent company from its Letchworth Garden City base, with no changes to its board members, workforce or market approach.
Sound Technology chairman, Robert Wilson MBE, comments: “After close to 40 years, Sound Technology has grown into a company operating on a large-scale in multiple market sectors. We continue to see exciting growth opportunities within all these markets, and the time is right for the company to enter its next phase in order to facilitate further expansion and success.”
Stephen Fenby, Midwich’s Managing Director, says: “We have watched the success of Sound Technology over recent years and are delighted to have persuaded Bob, David and the

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USA - Barbizon Lighting has appointed Tom Madden as president and CEO.
Madden has a proven track record of success at Barbizon Lighting’s Mid-Atlantic operation as the general manager of Barbizon’s Capitol location. His previous experience includes leadership on an international level in roles ranging from stage and production manager to senior general manager & executive vice president.
“Tom recognises and deeply values the Barbizon culture, something which initially drew him to the company and which he feels strongly about honouring and fostering,” read a statement from the Board of Directors. Madden’s appointment comes after Barbizon Lighting Company’s previous president and CEO, Jonathan Resnick, unexpectedly passed away. “It’s among the many reasons Jonathan thought the world of Tom and we are sure he w

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USA - Chauvet Professional has introduced its first variable white LED ellipsoidal fixture, the Ovation E-930VW. Featuring a six-colour LED system, the new fixture can match ambient natural light at different times a day, making it suitable for broadcast applications that are exposed to sunlight.
With colour temperature pre-sets from 2800 K to 8000 K, the Ovation E-930VW produces a flat even field of light with a very high CRI (88-92) and CQS. Each color temperature produced by the fixture can be further adjusted +/- green to fine tune the light.
“We engineered the Ovation E-930VW to give designers tighter control over colour temperature, because the more precisely you can dial into the colour spectrum with white light, the better people will look on camera,” said Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet. “The Ovation E-930VW will excel when used for film, television, pop-

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USA - Visitors to the 2017 LDI Show in Las Vegas this November found ETC’s booth awash in colour, thanks to the new ColorSource CYC luminaire. Two 5.5m-tall cyc panels bookended the booth, each lit evenly and brightly in a range of tints and hues by the new LED fixtures. Show-goers were impressed – as were LDI’s judges, who honoured the ColorSource CYC with a Best Debuting Lighting Product award at a ceremony on Saturday night.
Technical product manager Dave Cahalane accepted the award on behalf of the development team. “With the ColorSource CYC, we tried to provide a fixture that had a broad range of beautiful colour in a compact size,” he explained in his acceptance speech.
The cyclorama light is the latest addition to the ColorSource family of products, which bring high-quality LED lighting and control to a more affordable price point. The ColorSource CYC

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Europe - To celebrate Aarhus as European Capital of Culture 2017, Danish artist and lighting designer Tine Bech from Tine Bech Studio in London developed We Believe, an interactive lighting project taking place in Denmark and the UK simultaneously over a period of 10 days. Using SGM wash and flood lights, participants in Aarhus controlled the facade lights at both Aarhus City Hall Tower and The Royal Danish Embassy in London.
“We have been very pleased with the corporation with Tine Bech, who, from the beginning, set extremely high demands to both colour mix and colour calibration. In Aarhus, we mixed P-5s with P-2s, and we could not see any difference in neither colourmix nor dimming,” said Christian Vigsø, CEO of VIGSØ, who supplied and installed the lights.
As part of the larger “playable cities” initiative, We Believe was chosen in relation

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USA - Halsey has embarked on the North American leg of her Hopeless Fountain Kingdom World Tour and Claypaky Scenius Profile lighting fixtures, provided by 4WallPA, are lighting her way.
The electro pop/synth pop singer-songwriter launched her arena tour at the end of September in Connecticut and will wrap up this leg in November in Cleveland. The biggest tour Halsey has ever done supports her eponymous second album and includes special guests Party Next Door and Charli XCX.
Production designers Sooner Routhier and Robert Long of S Rae Productions collaborated with the artist, who conceptualized and sketched out the original idea, to design the show, which incorporates lots of LED video. Craig Rutherford is the lighting director. “There are very large stairs with LED video on the risers, and there’s a large LED wall upstage comprised of two screens split at

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Finland - Scandinavian lighting creative MOBB Helsinki counted on a legion of Notch-loaded Hippotizer Media Servers to help deliver Finland’s biggest domestic arena production.
Profeetat is the project of Cheek and Elastinen, Finland’s two biggest hip-hop artists. Formed in 2016, this year the duo marked their rapid rise by selling out three arena shows in their homeland.
First filling the Turku’s Gatorade Centre and then maxing out two nights at Helsinki’s Hartwall Arena, Profeetat’s shows stacked up to be Finland’s biggest domestic indoor arena production, one to be designed by creative outfit Mobb Helsinki, headed-up by the Finish firm’s Ari Levelä.
The gear and personnel required to run the nights mounted up, and the lighting tech armoury included two Hippotizer Boreal Media Servers and one Hippotizer Karst Media Server to run the main show, pl

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Morocco - Lighting designer Chris Binks selected an Avolites Tiger Touch II and Tiger Touch Fader Wing to facilitate his authentic live control and design approach for the third edition of Oasis Festival, an electronic dance festival held at The Source Marrakech Private Resort Music & Spa in Morocco.
Chris, whose design method relies on live, intuitive control, selected the Tiger Touch II and Fader Wing to ensure easy access to all his programmable elements throughout the festival.
"When I was specifying a desk for Oasis one of the main things for me was ease of access," says Chris. "Avolites consoles are the only consoles that tick all the boxes for me, especially when busking a show. The line-up at Oasis is mainly DJs and they can change their set at any time. The Tiger Touch II has a clear layout and intuitive software features that make it perfect for m

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France - Airstar has announced the appointment of Thierry Beynet as the new CEO of Airstar European Network. This strategic hire is a major step in Airstar’s plan to strengthen its presence in the European market, as part of the overall business strategy instigated by the company in 2016, says the company.
Airstar European Network (AEN), a commercial subsidiary of Airstar, represents 30% of the company’s turnover in lighting balloon solutions. Thierry Beynet recently took on the role, managing and extending the nine subsidiaries which form the European network. Indeed, AEN is responsible for marketing the entire range of Airstar lighting balloons in this region.
Beynet’s relationship with Airstar goes back many years. He worked his way up through the company, starting in 1998 as a technician, before taking on a commercial role. He then worked as AEN’s accountan

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France - Chauvet has announced that Martin Fournier has joined the company as its European sales director. Fournier is an experienced lighting industry figure in Europe, having spent the last 22 years serving the professional lighting market in Europe. He comes to Chauvet from Harman International, where he most recently served as that company’s sales director for France and Benelux Professional Solutions. Fournier began his career in 1995 with Martin Professional.
“Martin is a very valuable addition to our team, and we are excited to welcome him,” says Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet. “He shares our passion for excellence and has spent 100 percent of his career focused on lighting.”
Michael Brooksbank, Chauvet’s managing director of Europe, adds, “Martin brings a diverse range of skills and experiences to the table. He has excelled in many facets of the l

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USA - Australian electronic band Rüfüs Du Sol recently began their 2017 North America autumn tour playing two sell-out shows at Oakland’s Fox Theatre, along with headlining slots at CRSSD Fest in San Diego, CA and Austin City Limits in Austin, TX. LD Matthew Smith, of Australian lighting design team, Colourblind, provided the visuals to match Rüfüs’ style.
Helping to create these effects were the well-established impression X4 Bar 20 and impression X4 S from GLP - supplied by VER, along with all other lighting and audio requirements.
Smith was excited by the prospect of using the X4 Bars for the 2017 USA touring cycle; having used them for a previous tour in Australia, he was eager to push them to their full potential.
“I’ve been a big fan of the GLP X4 range since I took a number of X4 Wash lights on another Australian tour in 2014. They’re an incr

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USA - Philips Lighting reports that the David A. Straz Centre in Tampa is enjoying significant savings in labour and power costs after upgrading its TECO Theater lighting rig with LED products from Philips Entertainment Lighting's Showline range.
The second largest performing arts complex in the south-eastern United States, the Straz Centre is home to the Patel Conservatory, one of the country's leading education facilities for theatre, music and dance. Because the 250-seat theatre is used exclusively by the Patel Conservatory's education programmes, it is important for its technical equipment to be as up to date as possible. In addition, the technical team was looking for the benefits of flexibility, ease of setup, low energy use and low maintenance offered by high-quality LED fixtures.
Joshua Young, technical manager for the theatre, says, "Previously, we used large,

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South Africa - DWR Distribution has scheduled the Robe Fixture Workshop presented by Steve Eastham, international customer support at Robe. Taking place in Johannesburg from 12 - 14 February 2018, the course will then be presented in Durban (5, 16 & 19 February), and Cape Town from 21 - 23 February.
Joining the entertainment lighting industry in 1992, Steve worked for 17 years for Vari-Lit’e Europe’s Technical Support team, managing the department through its transition to VLP after the sale of the Vari-lite brand. Thereafter he moved to PRG before freelancing as a touring technician in 2009. Steve joined Robe to take up his present position in 2012.
The two-day seminar consists of an introduction to the company and its manufacturing operation, the Robe Robin range and the important differences between Robe fixtures and those of other manufacturers. Steve has w

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Spain - After 647 shows and a massively successful run of almost two years at the Beatrix Theatre in Utrecht - delighting more than 800,000 fans - Stage Entertainment Holland’s blockbuster production of The Bodyguard has opened at the Teatro Coliseum in Madrid.
Imaginative and eye-catching lighting is again designed by Luc Peumans of the Belgian mixed-media visual design practice, Painting with Light.
Luc was integral to the original Dutch production’s creative team, who were all commissioned to bring their style and magic back to the show in the vibrant Spanish capital. This included Carla Janssen Hofelt, responsible for the impressive automated video set featuring content produced by Ad de Haan.
Juxtaposed against this, Luc’s lighting captured the drama of the story and presented it in the distinctive cinematic aesthetic they developed for the Dut

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UK - For the second year running, Robe’s newest moving lights - including the just launched MegaPointe multi-purpose moving light – featured prominently on the UK’s much anticipated 2017 X Factor final series. Six weeks of nail-biting live show excitement with lighting designed by Tim Routledge will reveal some incredible singing talent and culminate on the final at Wembley Arena this weekend.
The show was staged for the first time at LH2 Studios in Park Royal, north-west London, and joining the 43 x MegaPointes on Tim’s rig were another 270 Robe fixtures - 112 x Spikies, 52 x Spiider LED wash beams, 37 x BMFL Blades, 34 of the brand new LEDBeam 150s, 35 x onePATT single cells which are also new and a BMFL RoboSpot, adding up to a grand total of 314 x Robe lights.
Another stunning set by Florien Wieder of Wieder Design included multiple LED screens and a

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USA - LiteGear Inc., designers and builders of LED lighting products for professionals in the Cinema, TV, and HD Video industries, made its first Pledge-a-Product donation to Behind the Scenes on the show floor at LDI 2017. Pioneers behind the popularization of flexible LED lighting for use in Cinema and TV lighting applications, LiteGear presented a cheque for $7750 representing a percentage of the profits from sales of their new flagship fixtures, LiteMat+ Plus, to support the charity.
On presenting the cheque, LiteGear CEO, Al DeMayo, stated, “We are very proud to be part of such a great charity. The support for entertainment industry members is an admirable cause that LiteGear can really get behind.”
Tobin Neis of the BTS Foundation Board of Directors commented, “Behind the Scenes is thrilled to have LiteGear as a part of our Pledge-a-Product programme and f

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Germany - Eighty Anolis ArcSource 4MC LED fixtures were specified to illuminate the indicator for a new heat storage tank (Wärmespeicher) installed in the Drispenstedt residential district of Hildesheim in Lower Saxony.
The impressive 17.5m high 4m wide structure which resembles a quirky piece of contemporary sculpture was designed by pape+pape Architekten from Kassel. It contains an internal cylindrical water feature which is illuminated by the ArcSources which are programmed to indicate how much of the energy generated from the nearby natural gas-fired combined heat and power plant (CHP) is currently stored and available for use.
The lighting installation was commissioned by energy company Energieversorgung Hildesheim (EVI) and the lighting design was imagined and delivered by locally based architectural lighting specialist SSP Design, with Matthias Schiminski and H

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USA - It was an evening of memories, music and celebration as Kenny Rogers celebrated his retirement from an illustrious career. Bandit Lites provided the lighting for Blackbird Presents, All In for the Gambler: Kenny Rogers’ Farewell Concert Celebration, a one-night only send-off to one of music’s most successful artists of all time.
In a recorded production to be televised at a later date, the music industry’s finest, including Kris Kristofferson, Chris Stapleton, Alison Krauss, Lady Antebellum, Wynonna and Naomi Judd, Lionel Richie, Idina Menzel, The Flaming Lips and Little Big Town performed the hits of Rogers, before the evening culminated in legendary duet partner Dolly Parton taking the stage with Rogers himself.
Lighting designer Mark Carver crafted a lighting look that would match the Gambler’s classic style while creating looks that would trans

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UK - Based on the 1984 cult film by Lloyd Kaufman in which an aspiring earth scientist transforms into an unlikely superhero after falling into a vat of toxic waste, The Toxic Avenger - The Musical is now earning critical praise in the UK. Driven by an intense rock score by Bon Jovi band member David Bryan and a book by Joe DiPietro, the show is running in London’s West End.
Contributing to the bold design of the musical is a richly textured lighting design created by Nic Farman that features a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures. The London-based LD deployed 10 Maverick MK2 Spots, six Maverick MK1 Hybrids, 14 Ovation E-910FC profiles and eight Ovation B-2805FC batten fixtures throughout his rig to help create the Toxic Tromaville world the show is set in.
“I wanted the lighting design to be a key storytelling element,” commented Nic. “I’ve wor
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