Lighting

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UK - DMX Productions’ managing director, SJ Grevett is the first to admit that he is something of an MA control newbie. “We were looking to expand our control inventory and, as MA control is requested on all our major rock ‘n’ roll gigs, it seemed the logical choice to investigate further. I was completely unfamiliar with the MA system having spent years working with other boards but within 30 minutes of the grandMA2 Command Wing arriving at my door I had it outputting art net and talking to our media servers via CITP, something that has caused considerable headaches with other boards. I just love the desk.”
SJ’s contact at MA Lighting’s UK distributor Ambersphere Solutions was sales manager Thor Andrè Saether. “The first Command wing and fader Wing DMX Productions bought was DMX’s first real encounter with grandMA2 control. Talking to SJ over the next cou

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Germany - To mark the third year running of the Lightconverse and High End Systems Lighting Challenge, and to celebrate the past years' imaginative entries, the organisers have decided to sweeten the pot by adding the brand-new Lightconverse Tools 2017 to the four-level Prize Pool this year. The theme is ‘Inventive and original as always!’.
The contest entry deadline is 1 April 2017. The winners will be announced on 6 April at the Prolight+Sound trade show in Frankfurt Germany (Hall 3, Level 0, Booth E90).
First prize is the High End HedgeHog 4X console and Lightconverse Trace (with special one year upgrade to Lightconverse Unlimited) plus Lightconverse Tool 2017.
Follow this link for full rules and to enter the contest: challenge.lightconverse.com
(Jim Evans)

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The Netherlands - Nearly 100 Claypaky Sharpys were exclusively selected to deliver an immersive eight-hour light show to 2,000 partygoers at an underground club night that was hosted by trailblazing Dutch techno music agency Claydrum at Complex nightclub, Maastricht for their New Year's Eve celebrations.
Dutch production designer Joël Lemmerling, from Maastricht-based production company, Stöd, selected 96 of the multi-award winning Sharpy fixtures to create a fastidious design formulated by gridded white, coloured and UV light beams and clever manipulation of angles. The fixtures were supplied to Stöd by Claypaky's Belgium distributor AED.
"We wanted a fixture that could deliver perfect beams of light that were easy to see, even with colours that are normally less visible, like red and UV," says Lemmerling, who utilised the Sharpy's 14-option colour wheel in conjun

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USA / Germany - LMP Lichttechnik Vertriebs GmbH, a pioneer in the distribution of moving lights in Europe for over 30 years, will begin to distribute Elation Professional products in Germany effective 15 March. With LMP as its distribution partner, Elation opens a wider market for its products while moving closer to its German customers and guaranteeing swifter, higher-quality service, the company says.
In LMP, Elation has chosen a company that has been well-respected and highly successful in the market for over 37 years. Beyond moving lights, LMP is also well positioned in the field of static LEDs. The company is also known for its systematic brand development and has had success over the years in the positioning of young brands, including its own.
Elation says: “Major German companies such as satis&fy and Amptown System Company (ASC) have been relying

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USA - A metal band that’s recorded hits with names like Cry For The Moon doesn’t normally cover music written by the likes of Antonio Vivaldi, Antonín Dvořák and Giuseppe Verdi, but then again, nothing about Dutch act Epica can be described as ‘ordinary’. In addition to performing the works of these and other classical composers, the six-member band has put its own fresh, original and totally captivating metallic symphonic spin on music from films like Star Wars, Spider-Man and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Having risen high on the charts in their native northern Europe, where they perform at large capacity venues, Epica has nevertheless retained a fearless desire to pursue new forms of expression. This was very evident in their latest North American tour, which concluded in early December, not just in their music, but also in their lights

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Australia Adele debuts her new stadium show this month on a six-city tour of Australia and New Zealand, to be continued in the UK in June. The opening in Perth broke records with 65,000 in ticket sales for a single night. Anyone fortunate enough to attend one of these sold-out shows cannot miss 285m of Firefly FloppyFlex LED neon lining the star’s surround-walk in the 360˚ in-the-round production.
“This is Adele’s first arena tour and the design is stunning,” says Firefly founding director, Heath Williamson. “Everything is traditionally lit for a warm, classic tungsten look. The FloppyFlex RGB is mixed for warm and cool whites, as well as the occasional red – all done with the greatest taste.
“Double runs of FloppyFlex coupled together render them even more impressive than usual, whether from the upper rows of the stadium or even the news chopper flying

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China - Immersive Chinese theatre work Encore Dunhuang debuted at the first Silk Road Dunhuang International Cultural Expo and was directed by Wang Chaoge, co-director of the stunning opening ceremony for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
During the 90-minute performance, audience members can travel through time as they walk through four zones and experience key moments and characters in the 2,000-year history of the city, once an important stop on the Silk Road.
For lighting control LD Wang Yugang used four grandMA2 light consoles, two MA onPC command wing, four MA NPU (Network Processing Unit), two MA VPU plus MK2 (Video Processing Unit) and 10 MA 2Port Nodes.
“An Encore theatre is different from the standard theatre. Depending on the needs of the scene, it is built to be a flexible space that meets all the regular theatre construction specifications whilst

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UK - Colour Sound Experiment delivered equipment for a recent UK tour by pioneering d‘n’b music producer Wilkinson, a much anticipated series of sold-out gigs ahead of the release of his new Hypnotic album in April - working with lighting designer Sam Tozer.
Playing a variety of venues, this was an opportunity for the company’s new pre-rigged trussing - a Litec product specially modified for them - to provide a flexible and practical solution. Features include an expedient four-wide-two-high stacking truck pack combined with super-fast deployment onstage.
The regional dates were primarily at academy venues, culminating in a high profile high pressure performance at London's Roundhouse. The look and design developed for the tour was a total change from any previous Wilkinson live shows, and a big part of the aesthetic goal was to produce something new and e

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UK - inspHire has introduced its new global website. Cementing inspHire’s position as a leading promoter of hire software globally, with offices in UK, USA, Netherlands and Australia, the user-friendly site provides a hub of information about the hire management software provider; from innovative products and customer case studies to company news and values.
The new website features customer case studies, as well as inspHire’s latest software updates and product developments. Over 2200 hire companies are already utilising inspHire software, the company says.

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USA - In what has been called Tennessee’s finest food and wine event, the Knoxville Museum of Art held its primary annual fundraising event, L’Amour du Vin 4 March, with a lighting package donated by Bandit Lites.
The sophisticated wine auction and dinner (prepared by three-time James Beard Award-winner and Relais & Châteaux Grand Chef Barbara Lynch), serves as the primary contribution event for the museum, which reaches over 60,000 annually and boasts an accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums, a merit less than ten percent of American museums share.
Bandit has been involved with L’Amour du Vin for 14 years and is trusted to both bring the fundamental lighting of the space, both functional and ambient, and to create an inviting, dazzling feel for the soiree, while not overpowering the museums architecture and installations.
Using a combinati

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UK - Hundreds of aspiring young engineers and roboticists took part in an exciting science and technology challenge at the University of the West of England in Bristol. The finals of the FIRST Lego League Challenge: Animal Allies were held in the university’s Exhibition and Conference Centre on Sunday 26 February.
Evans Audio Visual Staging teamed up with Utopium to supply sound and lighting to the event, which was part of a global Lego-based robotics contest, and featured tens of thousands of young people. For the sound installation, working with the in-house PA system Evans supported that by installing two Yamaha QL1’s with two channels of Shure ULXD radios on a Dante network. The Evans team connected the main competition space with the studio to allow the Institute of Engineering and Technology to stream the event live on YouTube.
Helping add to the interactive

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Canada - The recently opened Banff Gondola Terminal represents quite literally a high point in lighting installations for ETC, writes Marshall Bissett. Perched on a mountain peak with an elevation of 2,281m, the four-storey structure gives visitors access to restaurants, bars, retail stores and stunning views of the Rocky Mountains.
Brewster Travel Canada, working with a team of subcontractors, completed the 3,251sq.m $26m reconstruction in 12 months. Video screens, reading panels and three-dimensional displays depict information of the park’s iconic flora and fauna, designed specifically to thrill and entertain the roughly 600,000 visitors who take the gondola annually, says Dave McKenna, president of Brewster Travel Canada.
Following a very “green” mandate from the end users, the entire facility uses ETC LED fixtures to create theatrical interior looks t

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Nigeria - Two of Avolites' most popular lighting control consoles, Sapphire Touch and Tiger Touch II, were selected to deliver the multi-layered, diverse lighting for 15 of the best gospel music ministers from around the world during Nigeria's mammoth praise event The Experience 11: Revealing Jesus.
Reported to be 'Africa's largest concert', with revellers upwards of 500,000, The Experience has been running since 2006 and is produced by vibrant, multi-ethnic church, House on the Rock.
Stephen Davies of UK-based Subfrantic Production Services, longstanding technical supplier of the church's London branch, has been involved with the gospel extravaganza for the past four years. Each year he selects Avolites to handle the increasingly large lighting concept.
"Choosing Avolites to deliver The Experience's lighting is always an easy decision to make," says Davie

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USA - Elation Professional has introduced the WW Profile HP, a high-power version of the company’s popular warm-white ellipsoidal spot WW Profile fixture. It projects a superior quality of light and is an excellent choice for the wide variety of white light illumination needs required in broadcast, worship or theatre environments from highlighting performers or scenery on stage to illuminating speakers, says the company.
Powered by a 250W warm-white LED engine, this pro-level product gives an output of 14,000 lumens, more than twice the power of its predecessor and the brighter level of illumination needed for both video and broadcast purposes. The WW Profile HP houses an advanced optical system and emits an exceptionally flat field of soft, warm-white light with a high CRI of over 91 for a more faithful reproduction of an object’s color. Its soft, flicker-free output m

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USA - For one night late last month, the stretch of Broadway between Third Street and Olympic Boulevard in downtown LA, glittered just as brightly as its New York City counterpart, 2,831 miles to the east, as the City of Angels celebrated the third annual Night on Broadway Festival.
The dazzling lighting display that covered the seven-block area was created by Sohail e. Najafi of Najafi Design Group, supported by a team of nine lighting directors, using an impressive rig supplied by 4Wall Entertainment Lighting of Orange County, CA, for interior venues, and Aspect Lighting of Santa Fe Springs, CA, for exterior stages.
Unlike Manhattan’s Broadway, where the focus is on traditional theatrical stage shows, the Los Angeles event celebrated the rich tradition of this historic downtown neighbourhood with a music and art driven festival that took place inside most of its l

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South Africa - Collective Works is a new creative visual design practice launched by three experienced live event production industry professionals – Christopher Bolton, Joshua Cutts and Bradley Hilton. All are well known for their work in South Africa and across the African continent.
Bringing all the energy and vibrancy of the region to an international marketplace, the trio specialise in the disciplines of lighting, video and set / scenic design and digital content production.
“There is a great chemistry and fluidity of ideas and thoughts between all of us,” says Chris, explaining that while Collective Works is a really natural synergy between the three of them, their totally different personality attributes and characters add yet more to the dynamics of the team.
Immediate work confirmed in the months ahead includes Afrikaans is Groot and Sta

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Europe - Grammy-award-winning, nu metal band KoЯn embarks on a tour of mainland Europe in March, starting in Zurich and culminating in Slovakia in April, with a set that features Ayrton MagicPanel-R fixtures as the focal point of the lighting design. The 17-date tour follows on from North American and UK legs which were supplied by Morpheus Lights in the US and Neg Earth in the UK respectively, with Black Box of Germany assisting for the forthcoming Europe leg. KoЯn’s lighting designer, Thomas ‘Church’ Christmann, supplemented the North American tours with 20 Ayrton NandoBeam-S9 and 6 Ayrton MagicBlade-R fixtures for KoЯn’s sets in the Return of the Dreads & Nocturnal Underground tours.
Church designed his lighting to work in combination with a large, rectangular back video wall, by deploying 56 MagicPanel-R fixtures, complete with mirror kits, i

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Italy - The tenth Showlight quadrennial, the full speaker programme for which was announced last month, takes place in less than three months (20-23 May) at the Palazzo dei Congressi in Florence, Italy. It is with delight we report that all exhibitor spaces have sold out - we even managed to squeeze in a few more due to popular demand! The latest exhibitors to be welcomed on board are AED, Elation Professional BV, PRG, SGM and Music & Lights. The full list of confirmed exhibitors can be found on the Showlight website at www.showlight.org/it/exhibitor-list
Exhibitors are a vital part of Showlight’s winning formula where manufacturers, distributors and lighting practitioners, from all disciplines and levels of expertise, are in the enviable position of being able to discuss ideas in a much closer, mo

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China - PR Lighting chose this year’s GET Show at Guangzhou’s Poly World Trade Centre to launch its first waterproof moving head (the AQUA 440 Beam). This IP44-rated version of the XR 440 Beam is equipped with the advanced Osram 440W lamp, to create a punchy, parallel beam with 3.1° beam spread.
Also well received at the booth were other recently launched products, including the fully-featured XLED 4007 Beam and XPar 150 Zoom.
The engine of the XLED 4007 Beam is provided by the 7 x 40W RGBW 4-in-1 LEDs, which produce a full range of vivid colours. The colours of each LED can be independently controlled.
The XPar 150 Zoom is a compact and lightweight fixture. With its IP67 rating it is designed for extreme outdoor conditions such as building façades, landscaping and so on. Featuring multi-chip (4-in-1) 150W COB (chips-on-board) LED and linear zoom, it is ide

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Sweden - Rally Sweden is the biggest recurring sports event in Sweden and a part of the FIA World Rally Championship. No less than approximately 100m TV viewers worldwide and 250,000 attending spectators followed the race that took place in the province of Värmland in the middle of Sweden from 9-12 February.
For the seventh year in a row, Jakob Larsson was the responsible lighting designer and production manager who ensured that the light settings were enhancing the settings the best way possible. For that purpose, he stocked up on SGM P-5 LED wash lights:
“I have a lot of experience with the P-5 and I knew it was the right lamp for the mission. I rented all that Woodlite had in stock which was about 110 pcs. If they have had more, I had rented more, as they were my first choice.”
He installed the P-5s at two different so-called Super Special Stages and als

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USA - Composer Craig Bohmler was on a hiking trip through Arizona’s Tonto National Forest five years ago, when he came upon a small museum dedicated to Zane Grey, the prolific writer (64 novels and over 300 short stories) of American cowboy sagas.
Intrigued, Bohmler began reading Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage. Not long into the book, the composer envisioned turning the 1912 romantic story into an opera. His vision became a reality this March as The Arizona Opera premiered Riders of the Purple Sage, directed by Fenlon Lamb at Phoenix Symphony Hall.
Supporting the drama on stage and accenting its evocative scenic elements was a flexible and richly coloured lighting design by Greg Hirsch that included COLORado 2-Quad Zoom fixtures from Chauvet Professional. The resident lighting designer and director of production at The Arizona Opera, Hirsch position

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Switzerland - For the tenth anniversary edition of the Swiss Music Awards in Zurich, lighting designers Thomas Gerdon and Nik Evers were tasked with lighting a colourful mix of live acts and chose Elation fixtures for the job, including Platinum FLX and Platinum HFX hybrid luminaires, along with Elation’s new Fuze Wash Z350 LED wash lights and ACL 360 Matrix LED moving head panels.
The awards show, which took place in Zurich’s Hallenstadion, is a tribute to national and international musicians in over 10 categories.
Gerdon, who lit the awards show for the first time, worked together with associate LD Nik Evers of stage/lighting design firm HELL Studio. Gerdon and the design team, which included stage designer Timo Martens from HELL Studio and content designer Roger Staub, were entrusted with creating a great atmosphere in the arena. Production company Habegger was

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UK - Power Logistics has won a competitive tender that sees its contract to deliver comprehensive temporary electrical distribution services and generator provision to several of The Jockey Club’s most prestigious racecourses extended for a further three years.
Having already successfully provided electrical distribution services and generators for four and three years respectively, Power Logistics’ track record, high levels of service, investment in equipment and competitive pricing structure have resulted in the contract extension.
The contract encompasses generator hire, design, consultancy, installation, maintenance and de-rig for all The Jockey Club’s temporary power requirements. Power Logistics will continue to provide generators, cabling and distribution equipment and lighting solutions to service catering, trading, display and betting areas at many of

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Germany - The Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin has once again been publicly acclaimed, for THE ONE Grand Show. On one of the biggest stages in the world, more than a hundred artists gave life to a show whose extravagant costumes were designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier.
The story revolves around an abandoned revue theatre, which is awakened from its deep sleep by an underground party. One of the party-goers gets lost in the magical aura of the venue, and the director of the former theatre brings back memories of the olden days. Past and present intermingle in a sort of daydream, and the young man is overcome by an ever-stronger feeling of nostalgia for one particular person (The One).
The show lighting was designed by Peter Morse, using - among other lights - 22 Alpha Spot HPE 1500s, 21 Alpha Profile 800 STs, 15 Alpha Spot HPE 300s, 17 Sharpy Wash 330s and 12 K-20 B-E
  1. Over 600 Robe fixtures light RAI event
  2. ALD bestows Showlight bursaries
  3. Elation Proteus Beam now shipping
  4. City Theatrical brings innovation to USITT 2017
  5. ENTTEC joins LAV Studio roster
  6. Qatar company boosts Robe rental stock
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