USA - On 21 October, 2016, Nashville-based LED video manufacturer PixelFLEX will launch an Augmented Reality LED video experience at the LDI Conference and Tradeshow inside the Las Vegas Convention Centre.

Located in Room N103, PixelFLEX will showcase a myriad of new products which include the AR-LED, the LumiFLEX LED basketball floor, plus ultra-high resolution 2.6mm and 1.25mm LED video technology all brought together to create an earth-shattering experience. Open to all attendees at LDI, PixelFLEX will hold a complete technology demonstration at the beginning of every hour taking visitors to an Augmented Reality Rave, complete with a DJ and a true 3D LED visual experience.

"We are very excited about the LDI Conference and Tradeshow as it will give us an ideal opportunity to unveil our latest LED technology to a wide variety of our clients and production partners," said

UK - Artistic Licence, inventor of the Art-Net ethernet lighting control protocol, is celebrating a win for Art-Net 4 at the 2016 PLASA Awards for Innovation ceremony.

The judges noted that Art-Net continually evolves to support the back-bone of production technology, incorporating complementary protocols with full backwards compatibility.

Wayne Howell, CEO of Artistic Licence and the inventor of Art-Net, comments, "I released the first version of Art-Net over 15 years ago in response to a pressing industry need. It's been very gratifying to see such widespread adoption of the technology, and I'm delighted that PLASA has now given official recognition to the important role that Art-Net plays within the industry."

(Jim Evans)

UK - "The Clay Paky lights at PLASA 2016 were captivating and successful," said Pio Nahum, Clay Paky CEO, when he got back from the London show, which has returned to Olympia. The industry met the stylish revival of the show very warmly with the participation of numerous visitors and skilled professionals from all over the world.

Clay Paky presented its products at their best, at a large booth in the Ambersphere village, through a demo-show programmed by lighting designer Alex Mildenhall, operator on TV show X-Factor.

The Clay Paky Scenius Profile won the PLASA Award for Innovation. The judges said "This product's innovation reaches from the lamp and reflector all the way through the optical path."

The Scenius Profile was not the only acclaimed product at the Clay Paky booth. Visitors and the award judges themselves showed great interest in the Shar-Bar, a movin

UK - Robe's high impact London themed stand - complete with genuine vintage London bus - was right at the core of the 2016 PLASA exhibition in London where it caught the eyes of visitors and provided a lively and invigorating environment to showcase the latest technology from the Czech lighting manufacturer.

The just launched Spiider LED wash beam luminaire was the visual centrepiece of the stand, with 42 Spiiders arranged on a scenic 'super-web' web at the heart of a spectacular lightshow that ran every hour.

Just launched globally on the internet via the trending 'Spiiders all over the web' video three days before the show, it was the hot product of the expo!

The super-web was neatly concealed behind drapes that transformed the stand into a theatrical space to show off Robe's other highlighted products which included the new Halo pixel ring, the all-LED DL series and

Peru - Light4Brands, the exclusive dealer of Airstar lighting solutions in Peru, deployed several lighting balloons for the 20th edition of the Festival de Cine de Lima, which took place at the Gran Teatro Nacional del Peru from 5-13 August 2016.

For the fourth time in a row, Light4Brands (L4B) was selected to manage the lighting for the festival red carpet. The Airstar lighting inventory was made up of two 90cm wide Crystal balloons, flanked on both corners of the theatre building and a pair of three-metre-high air ventilated Towair cylinder towers, placed on the top of the stairs to welcome the lucky few during the show nights. To complete the lighting of the event, an impressive three-metre-wide, helium inflated, Lunix LED balloon was anchored and proudly displayed the event logo 15 metres high.

The Lima Film Festival is the most important cinema event in the country an

USA - Country music star Hank Williams Jr. is wrapping up his co-headlining tour with Chris Stapleton with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites.

Lighting designer Bart Burnham shared the vision for the production came from a collaboration between tour manager Charlie Sanderson, production manager Billy Kline and stage manager Jimmy Davis. "The concept was to create a more intimate setting for Hank's acoustic set, use lighting fixtures to spell HANK and to project Hank logo's onto the backdrop and traveller curtain, which would be closed during the intro track and acoustic set," said Burnham.

On the downstage truss, Martin MAC Auras provided a wash for the band and audience warmers during the introduction and acoustic numbers while GLP Impression X4s were used as band specials and as a wash look for Hank's acoustic sets.

VL 3000s featuring custom gobos focused on

Germany - As a long-term customer of GLP, last year Black Box Music exchanged all their old GLP impression 90 and 120RZ fixtures for the current impression X4 series.

Earlier this year, they purchased their first 40 X4 Bar 20 battens for the successful Sarah Connor Muttersprache tour - since when the Berlin-based company has invested in a further 165 GLP impression X4 Bar 20 and 84 GT-1.

The GT-1 promises to offer the best of three worlds: spot, beam and wash in one unit, with a zoom ratio of 22:1. With its auto sensing power supply it is also made further suitable for touring by its low weight, of just 25kg.

These are features appreciated by the professionals of Black Box Music, who have been using both the GT-1 discharge lamp as well as the X4 Bars on the current Rammstein tour.

Alongside equipment rental, the focus of the Berlin company is the planning and imple

USA - Ground-breaking products call for an innovative marketing approach, which is precisely what Roland delivered with its 909 Day Celebration. A nonstop 24-hour straight live streamed marathon with feeds from around the world, the widely anticipated event, saw the unveiling of 30 new Roland and Boss products, including synthesizers, digital keyboards, DJ mixers, percussion video switchers, amplifiers and effects.

Part music festival and part product intro event, the 909 Day Celebration featured performances by a wide range of artists like Linda Perry, Smallpools, Echosmith, Mike Garson, Saint Motel, DJ Pierre and more.

Lighting these performances for the event, which was marketed under the banner The Future Redefined, was an appropriately cutting-edge collection of Chauvet Professional gear, including Rogue R1 FX-Bs, Rogue RH1 Hybrids, Rogue R2 Washes, Rogue R1 Washes an

UK - Kew the Music is a programme of music events that takes place over six nights at the historic Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, south-west London. This year's event witnessed headliners The Corrs, Simply Red, Will Young, Jools Holland, Bjorn Again and Gypsy Kings play to over 40,000 people during the week.

Kew wished to deliver the greenest, most fuel-efficient event possible and promoters Kilimanjaro Live engaged Cardiff-based 11th Hour Events to meet their stringent demands. At the main stage itself, 11th Hour provided power for: lighting, sound, video screens and working lights. In addition, the company supplied power to the backstage area, artist facilities, concessions, caterers, hospitality areas and toilets as well exit/safety lighting.

Architectural lighting of the trees in the gardens completed a comprehensive installation. Meeting the environmental demands of

USA - Bandit Lites recently added more gear to its ever-growing inventory, with the newest addition being the GLP X4 Atom.

The GLP X4 Atom boasts a compact body, bright output and a motorized 9:1 ratio zoom for a 3.5 to 34 beam angle. Its interlocking system allows the fixture to be built into various configurations, meaning it can be used for all of Bandit's various lighting applications including corporate events, touring and special events.

One such example is the Atoms use at events for Blackberry Farms, a luxury resort in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains. As the exclusive event producer for the culinary and wine haven, Bandit strives to ensure that every production detail is executed impeccably, and when the new Bramble Hall amphitheatre event centre needed a fixture to solve a zoom and spotlight problem, the GLP X4 Atom proved the be the solution.

"Mary Cele

UK - Colour Sound Experiment supplied lighting, rigging and Kinesys automation to two high profile arenas at the 2016 Creamfields dance music extravaganza staged in Daresbury, Cheshire, UK.

The festival was memorable for many reasons including the new Steel Yard venue -an awesome 50m wide by 100m long space offering up to 26m of headroom with a capacity of around 9,000, designed and built especially for Creamfields by Acorn Structures.

"We were very excited to be asked by the event's technical producers LarMac LIVE to supply lighting and rigging for Steel Yard," says Colour Sound's H (Haydn Cruickshank). "It's always interesting and invigorating to work in new spaces, you have to think out of the box and everyone - all the individuals and companies - involved in creating the amazing Steel Yard vibes worked very hard and as a tight team to deliver a great experience for the

UK - Following its success in the West End, Las Vegas, Canada and on Broadway, the smash-hit Million Dollar Quartet is returning to the UK for a new touring production. This energetic musical tells the story of the afternoon in which Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins recorded some of the best known rock 'n' roll songs of all time. White Light has been approached to provide the lighting equipment .

Million Dollar Quartet takes place on 4 December 1956 and is set in Memphis, Tennessee. It features more than 20 classic tracks including Hound Dog, Blue Suede Shoes, Great Balls of Fire, Long Tall Sally and I Walk the Line. The lighting designer is David Howe, who comments, "The incredibly talented director Ian Talbot and set and costume designer David Farley have perfectly captured the space and atmosphere

South Africa - DWR Distribution has scheduled a three-day Introduction Beginners TV Lighting Workshop presented by Angus Clarke from the 11-13 October 2016 from 9am to 5pm. The course will be hosted at DWR's premises in Johannesburg.

Angus was fortunate enough to be involved in many firsts in the new SA TV Industry in the 1970's. He lit the first Live Studio Sport Transmission, as well as the first live newscasts. He was also responsible for the lighting design on the first major TV musical and children's productions as well as Shakespearean and other period dramas and ballet productions.

He has designed the lighting setups for major productions such as Deal or no Deal, Idols SA, World Cup Special for SuperSport amongst many others. He is a consultant to the TV industry and assists in numerous Lighting installations and training projects.

Cost of t

USA - Production company and Elation dealer Stage-Tech delivered a large Elation lighting package for one of Southern California's most popular rave events, the Hard Summer Music Festival. Both the Hard Stage, the festival's main stage, and the Pink Stage featured Elation lighting gear with the Platinum FLX hybrid moving head continuing its busy summer.

Some 32 of the award-winning FLX fixtures were used in the Hard Stage setup, each multi-functional light alternating with LED wash lights from center stage fingers of angled overhead truss. "The FLX were chosen for their punch and versatility as a beam and profile light," said Stage-Tech's Charley Guest, owner of the Santa Fe Springs-based company. "They were used for the majority of the beam effects and were the meat of the rig. It was the FLX's that created much of the impact."

Held 30-31 July at Auto Club Speedway in Fon

UK - Not everyone gets to have their lights gracing a 55 ft. tall, 60 ft. wide, 50 tonne spider made from re-imagined industrial waste and Robe is proud that Arcadia Spectacular chose to invest in its moving lights to ensure this masterpiece of imagination, engineering, resourcefulness and fully immersive performance will have its own lightshow and the highest production values.

The Spider, which started its journey at the Glastonbury Festival circa 2010 when its first incarnation was crafted with love, enthusiasm and some glorious craziness by Pip Rush and Bert Cole, is now gaining widespread international acclaim. As the Arcadia performance concept leads to more and more high profile bookings around the globe, the time was right for them to be self-sufficient in terms of production hardware.

Arcadia technical production manager Tim Smith takes up the story, "We had playe

UK - Gaming event lighting specialist Steve Thurkettle selected Titan - the lighting and media control interface from UK manufacturer Avolites - to drive his complex audio-visual design for the 58th Insomnia Gaming Festival (Insomnia58), the UK's biggest ever celebration of gaming culture. The event took place at the NEC in Birmingham over the August bank holiday weekend.

The Insomnia Gaming Festival has been running since 1999. Organised by specialist gaming event producers Multiplay, it is now housed in nine halls at the NEC. Insomnia58 was the biggest Insomnia Gaming Festival yet - with a record attendance of 66,783 people. Gamers have the chance to play an impressive selection of the latest games in halls packed with thousands of PCs and consoles, take part in tournaments, watch the live finals and join in live Q&A sessions with gaming stars.

Multiplay's senior product

UK - Dan Quayle and Russell Payne of SLX (the recently re-branded Hire & Live Events Department of Stage Electrics) recently contacted Ambersphere Solutions' Matt Cowles of technical sales about the Ayrton NandoBeam-S3.

Cowles says: "At less than 9kg, the S3 is the smallest of the NandoBeam range but at up to 4,000 lumens it packs a powerful punch and offers designers accuracy, speed, optical flexibility and reliability all in one go. It is a great addition to any hire inventory and I was more than happy to go down to Bristol to do a demo for the team at SLX."

The demo was a success; Quayle says: "We needed a lighting product that not only met the demands of our events team, but would give our customers a budget-friendly option as well. In order to achieve this, price point was the key. However, I didn't want to comprise on quality, serviceability and ease of installation

UK - Following its successful launch in the US, Marq Lighting, a new player in the entertainment lighting sector, has announced the European launch of its diverse range of innovative, professional lighting products.

Marq Lighting is an independent brand owned and backed by the resources of music industry heavyweight inMusic. InMusic has a long-standing reputation designing, engineering, manufacturing and marketing fourteen different brands of music recording and performance equipment and software, including innovative DJ brands such as Denon DJ, Rane, Numark, Akai Professional and Alto Professional.

Marq was born from a long-established pedigree of innovative in-house music/DJ design and engineering, where the needs and requirements of artists and performers are well-understood and experienced first-hand. This experience offers a perspective that directly benefits the desi

Denmark - Fermaten is a busy community-based live music and performance venue in Herning, central Denmark, which has a lively entertainment programme encompassing around 140 shows a year and a capacity of 700 - expanded from 500 eight years ago following extensive refurbishment.

The venue has been running for 26 years and recently invested in new Robe moving lights, with four DLS Profiles, eight DL4X Spots, and 16 x LEDBeam 100s, all supplied by Robe's Danish distributor, Light Partner.

Currently one of the top music venues in the country for technical production, Fermaten has also built a reputation as a training ground and inspirational stepping-stone for future industry professionals.

Technical manager Daniel Friis specified the Robe kit together with Light Partner's technical sales specialist Johan Kvartborg, himself an ex-Fermaten volunteer. Dan and venue manager

USA - Bandit Lites has once again increased its workforce with the addition of Alex Becker and Jamie Sullivan. The two join the team as lighting technicians to meet the influx of events and productions in 2016.

Becker and Sullivan provide support for prepping sales installations, local touring shows in addition to moving light repair. They also cover all aspects of productions for events centring around the area, including Blackberry Farm productions, charity events and concerts.

Upon his graduation from Jacksonville State University with a B.A. in Technical Theatre, Becker joined the Smoky Mountain Opry as lighting director. He then became the head electrician for national tours including Sesame Street Live and assistant electrician for Elf: The Musical national tour. "

Prior to joining Bandit, Sullivan worked as a stagehand and fly rail operator in addition to

UK - Liquid Entertainment - a London-based company specialising in the production of lavish Asian weddings - relies exclusively on equipment from British manufacturer Avolites to ensure each and every one of the company's high-budget matrimonial extravaganzas is technically flawless.

Liquid Entertainment has grown from a small DJ hire outfit to a full-scale event production company within a few years. Director Randeep Chaggar says investment in the right technical equipment is key to this success within the industry. After trying out many different brands and products, he settled on Avolites as his supplier of choice.

"The main reason we chose Avolites was because of the company's continual development of its software, based on customer feedback, and the rock solid build of its touring desks," says Chaggar. "Some of our desks have been constantly in use, in and out of flig

UK - Long-standing design partners for Grosvenor Casinos, Roberts Limbrick Architectural Practice, recently turned to trusted installation company TechLED Ltd to deliver the external lighting upgrade project for Grosvenor Casino The Victoria, London - the jewel in the crown of Grosvenor's Casino estate. To meet the requirements of a prestige 24/7 leisure venue, IP68-rated Flex Pro Exterior from Acclaim Lighting was specified for its endurance and reliability.

The exterior refreshment followed hard on the heels of an extensive and impressive internal refurbishment, also designed and implemented by Roberts Limbrick with lighting installed by TechLED Ltd.

Subject to stringent planning restrictions, the design for the exterior of the first floor venue was kept simple and closely followed the distinctive original look. Roberts Limbrick's John Moony explains, "The focus was to a

UK - PRG XL Video's UK operation has made a sizeable investment in lighting fixtures and supporting inventory. The investment is in a range of lighting products which will be used across PRG XL's key market sectors, and will particularly support specific requirements from the West End theatre business.

PRG XL Video has added ETC Lustr2 Profile, Martin MAC Viper Performance and Wash DX, Martin Rush Par2, Rosco Miro Cube, and GLP Impression X4 lighting fixtures to its inventory. Additionally, PRG XL has expanded its fleet of consoles with Grand MA2 desks and accompanying network processing units; and added to its range of effects equipment with new MDG Atmosphere Hazers and Look Solutions Cryo-Fog units.

PRG XL Video is also adding capacity to its followspot fleet, with new Lycian 1295 ELTs added to the inventory; and additional units of PRG's award-winning, proprietary Grou

USA - He's big (over 50ft tall), rather grotesque looking with a devilishly menacing expression, and completely lacking in substance. Yet he's the source of civic pride and the object of affection for the people of New Mexico's capital. His name is Zozobra (Old Man Gloom), and every year he serves as the centrepiece of Fiestas de Santa Fe, the oldest continuous civic celebration in North America, dating back to 1712.

People celebrating this festival write their "sources of gloom" on paper and have them stuffed into the amalgamation of wood-wire-paper-netting-and-duct-tape that is Zozobra. At the height of the celebration, the 2000lb. puppet is set afire, taking everyone's concerns with him to a smoky hereafter. Before that, however, Zozobra is surrounded by dancing, music, merriment and, this year, a spectacular lightshow designed by Creative Backstage using Maverick and Rogue

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