USA - The sold-out Madness Fall Tour by Canadian singer, songwriter and record producer, The Weeknd, in support of his third studio album, Beauty Behind the Madness, was a spectacular production, with set and lighting design by LeRoy Bennett of Seven Design Works. It incorporated over 650 lighting fixtures from Ayrton - including 'every available IntelliPix-R fixture on the planet' - to help realise a design concept that delivered a multiplicity of looks from the subtly atmospheric to a totally engulfing spectacle.

The music of Abel Tesfaye, the musician known as The Weeknd, is very dark and cinematic. Bennett reflected this by creating a mutable set with lots of transparency, depth and changing personalities.

Ayrton fixtures featured heavily in its creation with a grid of 270 MagicPanel 602 fixtures forming a back wall that hid two rows of washlights, and which itsel

UK - Blinding Light, the corporate and event lighting specialist has announced that following the company's success and significant growth in 2015, it has now completed a move to new larger premises.

Consisting of over 20,000sq.ft, the new facility has warehouse space to provide ample storage to support the company's expanded inventory and growth for the future. There will also be dedicated prep & pre-production spaces for incoming crews to oversee and prepare larger shows prior to despatch to site, plus a dedicated space to allow clients to hold production meetings.

The new facility is set within a large secure compound with several loading bays and storage for multiple trucks. The expansion will also result in further growth of the Blinding Light team, with a number of new warehouse technicians coming on board to support the additional workload. The new site is well locate

UK - One of world's largest temporary power generation companies was recently (25 January 2016) fined a total of £36,000 for failing to ensure that workers were not exposed to risk. The company, Aggreko PLC, appeared before Westminster Magistrates' Court to plead guilty to two charges, one under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the other under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989. They also agreed to pay the Royal Borough's costs of £90,000.

The charges followed an electrical incident where a man suffered electrical burns during the fitting out of the Earl's Court Exhibition Centre in preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games. Aggreko PLC had been appointed as the main contractor to provide a temporary electricity supply to the Exhibition Centre which was to host the Olympic volleyball tournament.

In order to carry out this work the company engaged a numb

World - Showlight (Florence, Italy, 20-23 May 2017) is now inviting lighting designers and directors, associates, programmers, scenographers, equipment manufacturers and others to submit their ideas for conference papers for the 2017 programme. Now is your chance to be part of this prestigious event!

The Showlight Quadrennial is one of the few international events organised specifically for lighting professionals by lighting professionals across the performance, television, film, architectural and event worlds. Held every four years, Showlight 2017 takes place in Florence and celebrates the 10th presentation of this eagerly-awaited lighting colloquium.

Showlight has made a special name for itself by bringing together many of the most famous names in lighting. Delegates are given the opportunity to be part of the larger international lighting community, as those with establis

UK - Maidstone-based Phonophobia Productions has supplied 16 channels of the new AKG DMS800 reference digital mic systems plus a Soundcraft Si Expression 2 digital console to Rochester based Ground:zero Productions.

Supplied to Phonophobia by Harman UK/ROI distributor Sound TechnologyLtd, the system was sold to Ground:zero Productions to accommodate an increased demand for high end production equipment in their expanding rental stocks.

Ground:zero is an event production company specializing in the production of conferences, product launches, congresses, meetings and awards shows to the corporate market nationally and internationally. The company combines creative flair with technical expertise that includes video production, hybrid events and interactive audience engagement.

Phonophobia's MD, Mark Chant is no stranger to both AKG and Soundcraft. With a host of both AKG an

USA - The Rialto Center for the Arts, Atlanta, has seen its share of inspired performances since it opened its doors in 1916, but it's doubtful that anything in the 100-year history of this legendary venue ever surpassed the raw energy level at the BMI Trailblazers Awards. Sponsored by the largest music rights organization in the US, the invitation-only event honoured the outstanding achievers in gospel music.

The brightest stars in the gospel genre were there, including Grammy-winning sibling acts, BeBe & CeCe Winans and Mary Mary; so too were R&B stars. Together, they rocked the house during the ceremonies with full-throated renditions of contemporary and classic songs, visually reflected in all their roaring glory by dynamic displays on ChauvetProfessional video panels.

"The panels were a big part of what we did to support the stage energy and frame the action for th

Germany - Rental company HELi Showequipment of Mainz has recently made a purchase of Elation Professional ACL Series narrow-beam LED effect lights. HELI Showequipment has acquired 150 of Elation's new ACL 360i single-beam moving effects as well as a supply of Elation's ACL 360 Bar colour-changing bar luminaires with continuous rotation.

"Elation is an excellent company and the ACL 360i and the ACL 360 Bar fixtures are reflective of that," stated Uwe Heinrich, CEO at HELi Showequipment, which also stocks Elation's Pixel Bar luminaires in its inventory. "The accuracy and precision of the ACL fixtures is great and the price to performance ratio is very favorable. The fixtures are an excellent addition to our dry hire stock and will be used on TV shows, tours and especially music festivals."

HELi Showequipment operates primarily as a dry hire company for vide

Ireland - When Dublin based Lightsource were looking to replace their existing fleet of LED Pars, which were nearing end of life and no longer supported, owner Billy Mahedy's attention turned last year to SGM's P-5. "This solved all the problems, giving us everything we wanted and more," he said. "And because we are expanding a lot more into the outdoor market the versatility of an IP65-rated fixture was perfect."

And so when SGM launched the smaller P-2 wash light, in a similar low profile chassis but this time weighing just 6.1 kilos he knew it would extend the options further for the amount of corporate work the company in increasingly undertaking. He therefore placed an initial order for 36 luminaires with Ian Kirby at SGM UK, promising that this would be just the start.

"The P-5 and P-2 are giving us more of a summer market which we didn't have

Italy - Vacanze Romane (Roman Holiday) is back, 12 years after its debut at the Teatro Sistina in Rome. The opening of the 2015-2016 theatre season was entrusted to the notes of this musical, lit by Clay Paky. It was written by Armando Trovajoli and Pietro Garinei, and again starred Serena Autieri and Paolo Conticini. The play is a musical take on post-WWII Rome, inspired by the film of the same name by William Wyler, with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn.

Lighting designer Francesco Adinolfi has already taken part in a theatrical project starring Serena Autieri: he was involved in La sciantosa, directed by Gino Landi, last year.

After reading this year's script, Francesco Adinolfi attended the rehearsals of the musical. What inspired your lighting design and gave you your ideas?

"Together with Oscar winner Gianni Quaranta, I studied the works and lighti

South Africa - DWR is hosting the Robe Roadshow. Josef Valchar and Harry von den Stemmen from Robe and DWR's Duncan and Bruce Riley, Robert Izzett and Nick Britz will visit Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.

New products on show will include the Robe Square, BMFL WashBeam, Viva, Robin DL7S, DL4S, Robe Strobe, Robin 1000 LEDBeam and Robin CycBar.

The dates are: Monday 8 February, Johannesburg; Wednesday, 10 February, Durban; Friday 12 February, Cape Town.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Home to the Washburn University Ichabods men's and women's basketball teams, and women's volleyball team, Lee Arena is a 4150-seat indoor sports venue that draws some of the largest crowds in NCAA Division II. Lee Arena was the first in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association to have a video scoreboard and a digital scorer's table and, in 2015, it received a new, high-performance audio system.

Sound Products, Inc. of Topeka, KS provided the new audio system. The company had upgraded Lee Arena's audio in 2001 and the university told them, "Now, we'd like you to take us up to the big time!" Lee Arena hosts graduations and other non-sporting events along with its basketball and volleyball games and it can be set up with a stage in the arena's centre or at end court. To support this wide variety of configurations, Sound Products' Monty Ehrlich chose a

Australia - Novatech Creative Event Technology have become the first Australian owners of the X4 Atom fixture from German Light Products (GLP).

"Sometimes you get that feeling, and you know that it's going to be a good, successful product," says Novatech's managing director, Leko Novakovic. "Novatech have purchased 48 units of X4 Atom, and four external power and control units. In addition to their creative potential, the X4 Atom's optics and colour output match the rest of our existing inventory of GLP fixtures."

Novatech's X4 Atom rig has already had its first successful outing, used to add a variety of looks to the Herbalife 2016 Spectacular in Adelaide. "We ran three groups of 12 X4 Atoms along some rear, centre and angled truss used for video screens," relates Leko. "It was a big room, but they were more than competitive in terms of ou

Israel - Gil Teichman is one of the most flamboyant figures on the Israeli lighting design and production scene He is also a regular investor in Robe products.

His eponymously named company, Gil Teichman, purchased their first Robes some years ago, and in fact he's known of Robe right since the start in the 1990s, when they were an OEM manufacturer. The first ever Gil Teichman purchases were of the ColorWash and ColorSpot 1200 series, around nine years ago, followed by the 700E AT series, all delivered through Robe's Israeli distributor, Danor Theatre & Studio Systems.

A strong relationship with Danor has maintained Gil Teichman as one of the distributor's largest customers for Robe, and the upgrade to the moving light stock started three years ago. This now includes some 24 x MMX Spots, 12 x LEDWash 1200s, 24 x LEDWash 600s, and was followed up in summer 2015 with the purch

UK - AFMG are to host UK EASE Training Level 1 at Sound Technology Ltd's training facilities in Letchworth Garden City on 24 - 26 May 2016.

This three-day seminar covers an overview of EASE and the basics of room modelling and sound system design. The EASE database, mapping results and visualization functions will be discussed as well. An introduction is given into auralisation and post-processing of calculation results. Case studies are presented and interpreted.

The course runs from 9am - 5pm and is presented by experienced instructor Paul Malpas of Engineered Acoustic Designs.

Sound Technology Ltd is the UK distributor of Harman Professional brands with training facilities designed to showcase a wide range of installed and live sound solutions.

(Jim Evans)

China - Beijing Global Visual Culture Development Co. Ltd. (BVGCD) recently purchased a new Adamson sound reinforcement system, making them the latest company to join the Adamson network.

In total, the company added 48 E15 line array modules, 24 E219 subwoofers, 48 S10 line array modules and four S119 subwoofers to their inventory. The sale was directed by Adamson's distribution partner Real Music and the gear was immediately put to use at the Autohome concert at Beijing National Stadium for more than 10,000 people.

"We were interested in expanding our inventory and a friend recommended that we look into Adamson products," explains Li Ran, managing director at BGVCD "After we heard the demonstration we knew it was the system for us - it sounded terrific, was easy to use and looks great plus the bass is shocking. I am pleased to say that we now have the largest

UK - A new advert for the Android and iOS-compatible Huawei Watch features a projection mapped disused theatre space powered by Avolites Ai S4 servers.

Boomerang Television was commissioned to create the new watch commercial, featuring a dancer who moves in time to his own heartbeat, which is being monitored and displayed by the device. Dylan Wyn Davies, executive producer at Boomerang approached UK-based Rhodri Shaw, now director of Transition Video Ltd, to create the 3D visuals and projection mapping.

"Boomerang wanted 3D visuals that went in time with the music, accelerating and slowing down, representing the heartbeat BPM monitor feature on the watch," says Shaw. "I brought in Kaine Van Riel from Made Up Ltd to create custom 4k resolution content for the film."

The team decided to use an unfinished underground theatre in a secret location in centra

UK - Since 2011, Sam & Mark's Big Friday Wind-Up has been a highly rated programme in the all-important 5:30pm after-school slot on British children's entertainment channel CBBC. Presented by the popular duo Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes, the show is all about fun and games, giving children in the audience the opportunity to get back at their parents through various pranks.

However, when it comes to creating clean crisp looks on the set, this nationally aired programme is strictly serious, as evidenced by the sleek looking design created by LD Lee Allen that features 48 Chauvet Professional Nexus 4x4 LED panels supplied by Richard Martin Lighting.

For Allen, the decision to incorporate the Nexus panels into his design was beneficial for two key reasons. Firstly, the Nexus panels ensure that unique lighting looks can be created for the different parts of the show. Secondly

Denmark - Pascal is marking its 10th anniversary, having formed on 1 February 2006. It has been 10 years in which the company has achieved a remarkable growth rate and established itself as the "number one power-partner" for loudspeaker manufacturers working in the self-powered PA sector.

The Danish based OEM manufacturer of high-power amplifier modules for the professional audio industry has achieved substantial and increasing year-on-year growth in its business over the last six years. That has seen it achieve a market position as the number one player in the pro-audio self-powered PA sector, where its proprietary patented UMAC class-D amplifier and UREC power supply technologies provide for benchmark designs, optimising audiophile sound quality and performance efficiency.

Senior VP business development Peter Frentz, explains, "Our remarkable growth rate is

The Netherlands - Allen & Heath's new dLive digital mixing system has been installed by popular Dutch regional TV and Radio station, RTV Drenthe.

RTV Drenthe recently moved to a larger premises to house the company's growing TV, radio and online news channels, and required a versatile new audio console to manage live music, pre-production and multi-tracking. Consulting pro audio and broadcast specialists, D.I.A Assen, the company selected the mid-sized S5000 Control Surface and DM48 MixRack.

"RTV needed a console which could work as a standalone pro mixing system, and also satisfy the requirements of a professional engineer as well as someone with no audio mixing knowledge. After a preview of the new dLive system, the purchase decision was easy," comments Jan Giezen from D.I.A Sound Light & Visual in Assen.

RTV Drenthe has TV and Radio channels, as well as mobil

UK - The O2 London has purchased Mojo Barriers to keep concert and event audiences safe.

The Mojo Barriers UK office has sold front of stage crowd barrier systems to the The O2, extending its long term relationship with the venue.

UK manager Kevin Thorborn states, "This flagship UK venue is passionate about the safety and wellbeing of its audiences. We have rented barriers to them for many years, but this purchase reinforces its commitment to their patrons and artists.

"Having delivered the barriers to The O2, we then trained its staff in the installation and dismantling of the system enabling them to deploy their in-house systems for their clients when required. If ever the arena needs to extend the barriers configuration we can supply additional compatible barriers, including our wide range of special pieces, such as curves or gates."

Operations direct

UK - A searing exploration of power, control, death and life, The Master Builder opens at The Old Vic theatre this evening. In this lively new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's classic play, the show stars Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes as master builder Halvard Solnessand and has been adapted by award-winning playwright David Hare. White Light is supplying the equipment on what promises to be an unforgettable production.

Following its opening performance, The Master Builder will run until 19 March 2016. It is being lit by Hugh Vanstone, who is working on the play for the first time. He comments, "This is a fantastic piece that deals with many dark and sometimes unexplained strands. Throughout the evening, the mood veers from naturalism to heightened reality and sometimes into the mythic".

Alongside the themes, Hugh's design was largely centred around

UK - The Theatres Trust reports that five small theatres in London will benefit from the first round of its new London Theatres Small Grants Scheme, made possible through a donation from the Mackintosh Foundation.

The five successful projects are:

Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) in Wandsworth is awarded £5,000 to replace their temporary wheelchair ramp leading to the café / bar and first floor performance space with a new permanent ramp. This improves access to BAC and contributes to the major Haworth Tompkins-led BAC capital redevelopment and restoration project.

Bush Theatre in Hammersmith & Fulham is awarded £5,000 to repair the pitched roofs and dormer windows of their former Old Library building. These repairs help to maintain the condition of this locally listed theatre's façade.

The Cockpit in Camden is awarded £5,000 to repair their leaky

Germany - After half a century, German hard rockers the Scorpions are still playing live all over the world and showing no signs of slowing down. Ticket demand for the 60 shows of the band's 50th Anniversary world tour in 2015 was so great that more than 30 extra dates have (so far) been added for 2016.

With Yamaha CL5 digital consoles available to rent wherever they go - even in the Faeroe Islands - the cost and logistics of touring are kept down and the band can continue taking their music to their fans - in even in the most remote territories!

Achim Schulze and Glen Schmeling - respectively the band's front of house and monitor engineers - first used the CL5 in 2013, when the band played three MTV Unplugged shows at the open air Lycabettus Theatre in Athens. Supplied by Hamburg-based Blue Noise and supported by the company's chief audio technician Michi Gerhards, three CL

Namibia - The first dot2 XL-F lighting console has recently entered Namibia, a new investment by leading full production solution and rental company, dB Audio Namibia, based in capital Windhoek.

The company is active in all areas of corporate and entertainment live event production - from boardroom meetings to stadium concerts - which is currently a buoyant and developing sector in Namibia.

dB Audio Namibia's David Benade explained that the decision to purchase the dot2 was made by a combination of people from company's management and lighting department, including himself and head of lighting, Desmond Coetzee. It is also dB Audio's first MA purchase. They had been considering getting a new console for some time, then an extremely busy peak event season started to ramp up and decided the time was right to make the commitment.

The dot2 XLF was delivered by MA Lighting's So

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