UK - As part of the Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park series of live shows, Take That played a one-off outdoor show.

With the main stage lighting and rigging set-up supplied by PRG XL Video, lighting designer Tim Routledge was asked to provide a customised lighting design for the Take That show. He contacted PRG XL's director Music Group, Yvonne Donnelly Smith to supply over 450 additional fixtures to supplement the main rig.

He explains the brief behind his design, "The show was aimed to be a full celebration of summer festivals in Britain; from classical picnics in the park to Glastonbury, and everything in between. The band are well known for embracing production elements to make a full cohesive show and this one off show was to be no exception."

With budget in mind, and focusing on delivering the kind of show Take That are renowned for, Tim opted t

UK - Maestra London was asked to provide technical production and solutions by Quintessentially & Co for an event in Southampton Docks celebrating the relaunch of Cunard Lines' newly refitted and re-mastered flagship transatlantic ocean liner, Queen Mary 2.

A glass fronted marquee with a substantial terrace and panoramic views across the harbour was built along the dock in front of the 345m long vessel. Guests arrived, passed through the passenger terminal entrance and on to the boat, where they received a full tour of the new interiors before entering the marquee to enjoy the event hospitality.

The glass fronted design allowed a magnificent view of the boat and a snapshot into the glory of luxury cruise travel.

Maestra's team was project managed by Aisha Tarayan, Edwin Higgins was technical manager and Adam Jones worked on technical elements across all disciplines inc

USA - Production company ON Event Services (OES) of Atlanta recently utilized 16 ImageCue servers in Washington D.C. for a long-time client. The event was staged as 'Mission Control' with a 15' x 45' (4.5m x 13.7m) main video screen using four blended Christie 20K HD projectors, six smaller screens with 7K projectors, and fourteen presenter booths each with a 70" flat panel display.

Each booth had its own unique Presenter logo video loop, and was switched to play the opening and closing overall event videos. Normally it would be a difficult challenge to route and switch 16 video sources to 20 different screen surfaces, and require a massive amount of cable. OES utilized 16 of the award-winning ImageCue DMX controlled image servers to play all media, triggered off of a single cue fader from the lighting console on a single DMX universe. This synchronized all video and lighting

Europe - Osram is expanding its activities in the entertainment sector and has acquired certain assets from ADB TTV SAS to continue its business operations. The acquired business will become an integral part of Osram's subsidiary Clay Paky.

ADB is a French company which specializes in lighting for theatres and TV studios based in Saint Quentin. The transaction was completed on 3 August 2016.

"With the acquisition of ADB TTV SAS' business and the highly reputable ADB brand, we will expand our position in the innovation-driven entertainment lighting market," said Hans-Joachim Schwabe, CEO of Osram's Specialty Lighting business unit.

Originally founded in Belgium in 1920, ADB TTV SAS has held a leading position for decades as a top supplier of lighting solutions for theatre and television studios. The company's product portfolio includes luminaires, dimmers and lighting c

USA - Elation Professional has announced the launch of the new Fuze Series of dynamic LED wash luminaires. Using single-lens RGBW COB LEDs for an extremely homogenized field of light and offering a wide palette of colours, Fuze Series lights are lighting solutions for "anywhere a wash of high-quality coloured light is required".

Available in moving head and IP65-rated PAR versions, single source RGBW colour mixing gives fully premixed colour looks and an extremely flat field of light. All Fuze Series fixtures offer useful design features including a wide zoom angle range for more precise beam control, full 100% electronic dimming, variable dimming curves and high-speed strobe. The Fuze PAR's feature an optional gel frame / barn door / snoot holder as well.

The IP65-rated Fuze PAR Z60 IP is a single source PAR luminaire featuring a 60W quad colour RGBW COB LED and 7° to

Australia - Based in Perth, Western Australia, Megavision is focussed on offering clients in the event, hospitality, club, pub, production rental / staging sectors superlative service and premium equipment together with imaginative technical solutions. Founded in 2001 by Jeff Georgiou, Megavision's first investment in Robe moving lights was four years ago.

Right from the get go Jeff has looked at the 'bigger picture' of his business model and how to make it successful and different, seeing the advantages of attributes like quality and service and keeping a keen ear-to-the-ground for what's trending and in demand.

When it comes to moving lights, Jeff has purchased and experienced all the major brands over the years, so the first Robe experience grew out of his ongoing relationship with the ULA Group, Robe's Australian distributor.

LEDWash 800s suited Megavision's needs

USA - Designer Butch Allen, who is known almost as much for his flamboyant verbal style as his killer lightshows, was characteristically unabashed when recounting the start of his work on the current 98 Degrees MY2K Tour. "This is one in a series of shows I've proudly designed with my friends at Faculty Productions," said the New York-born owner of Los Angeles-based Blame Funnel Creative.

"Unfortunately, we had had very little time -- I mean 48 hours -- to programme the entire thing. My lighting directors Andy Figueroa and Dan Norman sacrificed quite a bit to survive their first patented Butch Allen programming death march, but the end result was well worth it!"

The end result that Allen speaks of was a relentlessly intense and vividly colourful lightshow, punctuated by punchy rollercoaster ride sweeps and zooms along with some impressive atmospherics. Anchoring this immer

UK - Filmed in front of a live studio audience at a purpose built arena in Glasgow, the team at the all new Robot Wars have brought a total 'rock and roll' feel to the cult classic.

Working alongside lighting designer Gurdip Mahal, in close conjunction with Gaffer James Tinsley, Aurora supplied the crew with an extensive lighting list, featuring over 200 automated heads plus an assortment of low energy LED fixtures provide maximum flexibility in helping bring the high octane action to life.

The popular Clay Paky Mythos fixtures were in abundance for their excellent beam qualities, with an array of Martin heads, including MAC Aura and Quantums providing intense colour washes throughout the arena.

A healthy selection of LED was added, including over 50 SGM P5s and 70 Martin Rush Pars, allowing moving light op Ross Williams to maximize colour/movement using a varie

USA - To a professional symphony orchestra, being able to clearly read their sheet music is the only way to put on a performance worthy of a standing ovation. Sheet music poorly lit by troublesome incandescent lighting simply won't due; especially for the best of the best.

The members of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra had to deal with inefficient incandescent lights in their musician stand lights. After they switched to LEDtronics Right-angle LED T10 Lamps, the Orchestra no longer has to worry about bad lighting holding back their performance.

In order to perform, musicians are required to read very small black notes on sheet music, most of the time in dimly lit venues. Musicians usually come from out of college, but they often continue to perform into their 70s and 80s when eyesight tends to weaken. "The ability to read music with good lighting is essential to their job

UK - Production specialist Bright collaborated again with technical solutions experts Central Presentations Ltd (CPL) who delivered full technical design and production for a live hair styling and catwalk presentation event in Manchester for cult hair brand, Fudge Professional.

The event - celebrating the Fudge Professional Core Collective - was staged in Studio 12 of the Old Granada Studios in the city which offered up a totally bare space, so everything - staging, set, lighting, sound and video - had to be built and installed from scratch to realise the Fudge team's original concept.

CPL's crew was led by Mike Radford, who commented, "The vibe of the event was energetic and lively, Fudge is a leading brand known for its alternative and 'out-of-the-box' approach to hair styling, so everything we were doing on the technical front had to help create this impression."

He

Denmark - Sound and Light is a busy rental company based in the bustling port and university town of Aalborg on the edge of the gently rolling, lush countryside of Jutland, north Denmark, and a recent investor in Robe's BMFL Spot moving light fixtures.

Focused on servicing the top end of the entertainment lighting market - incorporating TV productions, corporate events and industrials plus installations - Sound and Light was founded in the 1980s by Jess Otzen.

Due to its reputation for excellence and incredibly well maintained stock, looked after with much love and attention in their pristine warehouse on the outskirts of the city, Sound and Light also engage in a healthy cross-hire business to most other major rental players in Denmark.

Sound and Light's 16 x new BMFL Spots were added to their existing stock of Robe Pointes, also delivered by Robe's Danish distributor

UK - Zero 88 has launched a competition offering one of its powerful and flexible FLX lighting consoles as a prize.

The competition is open to anyone actively using or owning a Zero 88 lighting control product - desks or dimmers - or anyone even thinking about it.

Entrants are required to take a photo of their Zero 88 product in action in a real lighting environment - at a gig, a show, a festival, a studio, a theatre, etc., and those who don't own or use a Zero 88 product right now, but who are interested in or advocates of the brand and still keen to take part can snap an image of themselves with a Zero 88 product at an exhibition or a Zero 88 training event.

The image must be accompanied by a description of where the product is, what it's doing plus some other basic details, and a caption starting "Zero 88 in control at ...." must be finished to complete the entry.

UK - In what is being regarded as one of the biggest productions in West End history, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child recently opened at the Palace Theatre to rave reviews. The play is the eighth story set in the Harry Potter universe and takes place 19 years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. WL was approached to provide the lighting for this much-anticipated production.

The lighting designer for the show is Tony Award and Olivier Award-winner Neil Austin who comments, "My main aim for the show was to create something magical. With Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the primary desire from everyone involved was to use traditional theatre craft and techniques but push the boundaries as to what we thought was possible. We needed to produce something mesmerising and create the world of illusion that the audience would expect from Har

UK - Richard Martin Lighting reports that the GLP Impression X4 has been added to its already extensive range of products and is now available to hire.

Featuring 19 high power RGBW LEDs, each rated at 15W with a 7-50° zoom range in a slimline body with no base unit and weighing just 8kg, the GLP Impression X4 packs a big punch with a small footprint.

With a brand new optical system, it has a well-defined beam complete with hard edges in the lower zoom range and soft edges at wider angles. Fill colour mixing including CTC and customizable pixel patterns across its front face completes the package on this impressive unit.

(Jim Evans)

USA - With the introduction of the Ovation E-260WW, users no longer have to sacrifice brightness to enjoy the efficiency offered by LED technology. The new Ovation fixture has an output that exceeds that of an HPL 750W ellipsoidal, says Chauvet. Matching its brightness with efficiency, the new Ovation fixture also has a 50,000-hour LED source life to lower maintenance costs.

"The Ovation E-260WW represents a giant step forward in LED ellipsoidals," said Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet. "It is brighter than any other LED ellipsoidal, greater than the output of the best 750W ellipsoidals. This makes it ideally suited to serve as a bright key light in theatrical applications, but it still offers all of the efficiency you expect from an LED fixture."

Aside from finding a ready market in theatres, the Ovation E-260WW will also be right at home in broadcast applications, because

World - The spectacular stage set for Coldplay's 2016 A Head Full of Dreams Tour is highlighted by the new, bright, RGB Firefly FloppyFlex flexible LED neon. Currently on a seven-city US stadium run, the tour began early this year in South America, then went to Europe, and will continue to Australia and New Zealand.

"We outline the active stage surface to highlight its shape and show the stage edge," says the tour's lighting and production designer Paul Normandale of Lite Alternative.

"This provides an artistic effect for the audience as well as a safety edge light for the artist. We're using the large dome version which fits easily and quickly into a channel routed in the stage decks. The system is circuited into various sections of the stage - main, walkway, wings, etc - and also outlines the flower-shaped video screens. FloppyFlex is proving reliable and very bright." N

South Africa - The 2016 South African Music Awards (SAMAs), one of the highest profile events on the SA music calendar, was again staged at the Durban ICC Arena, broadcast live on SABC1 and enjoyed by an audience of 3000. For the first time, lighting was designed by Robert Grobler, who incorporated over 200 Robe fixtures on the rig which was supplied by Gearhouse South Africa.

The set was designed by Michael Gill from MGD and based on a collection of different sized LED screens, shaped into a multi-media environment giving everyone, wherever they happened to be seated in the auditorium, a clear and three-dimensional view of the stage.

Robert's challenge was to light all these different sections of stage separately so they could work as stand-alone elements and punctuate the overall sight lines or work together as one large overall set piece.

The Robe elements included

USA - The latest addition to the Hakkasan Group, JEWEL Nightclub inside ARIA Resort & Casino, has raised the Las Vegas entertainment bar once again, with an interactive lighting design controlled by a custom Avolites system of integrated control desks and Ai media servers.

JEWEL opened in May with a superstar-studded launch hosted by Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx, hip-hop heavyweight Drake, electro turntable stars The Chainsmokers and reality television sensation Kourtney Kardashian. To reinforce the luxury party vibe, Hakkasan Group commissioned international sound, lighting and visual design company AudioTek to "push the boundaries of technology" and create the ultimate nightclub environment for Sin City's elite.

The result is a high-impact, multi-sourced display based around the DJ's moving back wall of Ayrton Dream Panels, with both video and DMX surfaces, and Magic Dot fixt

UK - Event technical production and rental specialist PR Live has expanded its team with the addition of three new key staff members who joined the south London based company following strong business during the first half of the year.

Dave Gillett joins as head of technical, while Karl Travers and Rhys Williams both come on-board as senior project managers, all bringing a fund of experience, knowledge and excellent contacts to the PR Live equation led by founder and MD, Ian Coull.

Ian comments, "I'm delighted to welcome Dave, Karl and Rhys to PR Live, and we all look forward to the hectic pace continuing for the rest of the year. It's great to attract three people of this calibre to join our excellent and highly committed team who all share our core values, ideas and personality."

Dave Gillett has a decade of industry experience, starting off with a lighting company i

Canada - After more than a year and a half of extensive beta testing BlackTrax has released realtime motion tracking system version 2.0. BlackTrax 2.0 has the largest number of new features, GUI and workflow to date.

Marty Cochrane, BlackTrax product manager, explained, "A lot of these improvements were developed from customer suggestions, requests and general feedback. This includes better system reporting, real-time chapter programming and more control over fixtures during the calibration process."

The new fixture calibration mode improvements on the BlackTrax solution ensure faster calibration. Multi-person calibration enables several people with several different beacons to calibrate their own selection of lights. Color and gobo on the fixtures will automatically be cleared and BlackTrax will have control over zoom/iris. This will allow the user to jump in and start ca

USA - Multi-award winning 'Queen of Country' Miranda Lambert is currently touring North America on her Keeper of the Flame tour, featuring 27 x Robe BMFLs - 19 Spots and 8 Blades - part of a completely new lighting design by Minneapolis-based Paul 'Arlo' Guthrie, his first for the artist.

Arlo's brief from Miranda Lambert herself and her production and management teams was to help create a show focused on her powerful music and great connection with her fans, rather than relying on gags, ego ramps, confetti blasts and wizzy effects.

"I wanted the whole stage to have a straightforward and clean look and to ensure the LED blended seamlessly into the environment rather than being stark, obvious and contrasty," explained Arlo. The playback video content created by Empirical Studio has followed this aesthetic through beautifully, giving the video a softer and more filmic projec

USA - Lighting designer Victor Fable has been incorporating digital lighting and graphics effects from Elation Professional's Emotion digital light on television shows lately and recently turned to the new generation luminaire for the 2016 season finale of the popular competitive reality television series Survivor

The season finale of Survivor: Ka

Australia - The Wizard of Oz was staged recently to sold-out audiences at the 2,000-seat Thomas Hassall Anglican College in Middleton Grange, Australia. To give the school production a professional stage look, technical supplier Showtools Australia specified a host of Chauvet Professional fixtures, including 12 Rogue R1 Spots, 24 x COLORdash Par-Hex 12s, 24 x COLORdash Batten- Hex 8s and two Vesuvio RGBAs to create maximum dimension and atmosphere on stage.

"It was vital for us that the production of the Wizard of Oz look professional in every sense of the word," commented production designer Michael Clisdell. "Each individual element of the Chauvet Professional lighting rig enabled us to really step beyond the realm of the typical school production, and elevate the experience for the audience to that of a genuine theatrical outing."

Together with second prod

UK - Disney's hit new musical Aladdin recently celebrated its West End premiere at the Prince Edward Theatre, opening to critical acclaim on 15 June 2016. Now in its third year on Broadway and with productions playing in Tokyo and Hamburg, Aladdin will also open in Australia this summer. White Light has been called upon to provide the lighting equipment for this dazzling and much-anticipated production.

Aladdin is designed by Olivier and seven-time Tony-winning scenic designer Bob Crowley, Olivier and two-time Tony-winning costume designer Gregg Barnes.

The lighting designer for the show is five-time Tony-winner Natasha Katz whose previous credits include Once, Motown and The Little Mermaid. As the leading lighting supplier to West End Theatre, WL was approached to provide the lighting equipment on the production.

Dave Isherwoo

Latest Issue. . .