Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

Lighting

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No less than three of Northern Light's Touchscreen Programmable Stage Management desks are bound for the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. Situated in an award-winning complex centrally located on the Wanchai waterfront, the Academy has a range of flexible performance venues equipped to international standards. Three members of the Northern Light team who developed and manufactured the desks will travel to Hong Kong to install and programme them and provide operational training. Throughout the project, Northern Light's design team worked closely in liason with the Academy's associate director, Philip Soden, customising the desks to meet their specific requirements. Pictured left to right are Steve Courtney, Alan Paris and Dave Webster - three members of the Northern Light team bound for Hong Kong.

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Stagetec has been awarded the contract to design, supply and install a feature architectural lighting scheme for St Johns Beacon in Liverpool. The project, in association with Lee Forde from Liverpool Vision, consists of 10 Studio Due City Beams mounted on the roof tops of surrounding buildings focused on to the Beacon, a 400ft high tower housing the local radio station. DMX distribution will be achieved between buildings using the Interactive Technologies radio DMX units. The system will be controlled from a Compulite SP-4D rackmount replay unit linked to a CompuCall telephone to DMX interface allowing the whole system to be controlled from the building's telephone system. A Compulite SparkTOP system and CompuCAD software is part of the package, enabling the lighting to be programmed off-site and then loaded into the SP-4D. The project is due to be completed by the end of March.
Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

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Philips Lighting’s investment in new technology promises users of halogen lamps a better lighting product for entertainment application. The lamps now incorporate a new technology called P3, which involves coating the pinch leads with a protective coating which results in greater reliability, by reducing early lamp failure caused by overheating. In addition it allows for more freedom and flexibility of the lamp burning position. All lamps with this new technology are now clearly identified with a distinctive P3 logo. To mark its launch, new packaging has also been designed and rebranded ‘Broadway’.

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Destiny's Child, the Houston, Texas-based group, has been out touring the USA during March to celebrate their successful album, ‘The Writing's on the Wall’ and to promote their new CD, ‘Survivor,’ released this spring. For this short stint, lighting contractor Theatrical Media Services (TMS) from Omaha, Nebraska, has provided LD Shane Preston with a rig of High End Systems products including 25 Studio Spot 575s, 13 Studio Color 575s, eight Dataflash AF1000s and one F-100 fog machine, along with some conventional gear. Lighting crew chief Raymond Werthmann says the show is "constantly moving" with a moving backdrop, kabuki drops, and lots of "extra surprises." The High End gear is on every truss, Werthmann says, with eight of the 24 Studio Spot 575s on the floor and all Cyberlights in the air. Werthmann comments: "The equipment is working w

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In order to continue supplying customers in London and the South East, Playlight will be moving into new premises in North West London following the auction being held in its existing warehouse on Friday 18th May. Dan McMullan is setting up the new base with Jim Ewart who will head the new operation. Ian Duff and Andrew ‘Chunk’ Charters will be providing logistical and technical back-up. The new office will be concentrating on the dry hire of lighting, sound, drapes and starcloths to the conference and theatre markets, as well as the dry hire of film gear to the industry. It will be up and running by July and operations will carry on as normal out of the existing warehouse up until that point. The northern end of the company has also come under the spotlight and will be concentrating on the above areas, but in addition, will have a division handling OBs, festivals and studio

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Avolites has recently supplied the UK‘s two major film, video and television lighting rental houses - AFM Lighting and Lee Lighting – with ART dimming systems, which will run at a guaranteed 100 % duty cycle with very low levels of filament and choke noise. When AFM Lighting approached Avolites about their need to selectively disable the RCB functions for individual dimmer modules, the Avolites design team was happy to accommodate.The resulting facility is now offered as an option to all Avo customers, whereby the RCB function of each dimmer module may be individually disabled via a push-button key-switch. This is a common requirement during live TV recording and film shoots, where lights must be guaranteed working, without the risk of a minor earth fault (e.g. dampness on lamps) tripping the RCB protection devices.

For maximum flexibility, the Avolites ART-2000 dimmers can

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Stagetec (UK) Ltd has been awarded the contract to supply a sound and lighting system for the 'Pride of Rotterdam' - the first of P&O North Sea Ferries' two new cruise ferries. The new vessels will have accommodation including luxury suites and all cabins will have their own private facilities. They will also offer an à la carte restaurant, a two-tiered show lounge, wine bar, business centre and even a cyber zone, where passengers can surf the web. The system, being supplied through Ellie Jay Cruising Entertainment, consists of a Compulite Spark 4D lighting control desk, Allen & Heath GL3300 32-channel mixer, Sennheiser Evolution radio mic systems and a complement of signal processing and effects equipment. The ship sails on 12th April and will sail daily from Hull to Rotterdam.

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The 42nd edition of the Festival Internacional de la Canción de Viña del Mar, Latin America’s longest-running music festival, was staged in February next to the botanical garden and ‘Palacio de Bellas Artes’. Joaquín Cortés opened the festival, which also included performances by the Vengaboys, Ricardo Arjona, Lucero, La Ley and Miguel Bosé. Pat Henry, owner of the Mexico City-based lighting hire company of the same name, supplied and installed the entire lighting rig for Viña del Mar for the eighth consecutive year, and designed the lighting set together with lighting director of broadcaster Canal 13, Jaime Sato. Pat Henry supplied a large amount of Italian-made SGM scanners and moving heads for the event - 50 Galileo IV 1200s, 64 Giotto Spot 1200s and 24 Giotto Wash 1200s. Scanners were mostly installed in backlighting to liven up the stage and to illuminate the

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If you’re planning to be in Shanghai next week for PLASA 2001 at the Intex Exhibition Centre, take some time out from the show to attend the DTI-funded seminar by DHA Lighting on the use of theatrical lighting effects in architectural environments on Wednesday 4th April. As a DTI-sponsored activity, the seminar will deal with only UK-manufactured products, and PLASA stipulates that it is a seminar rather than a product briefing. DHA Lighting will be represented by Julie Harper, sales manager for Asia, who will address a wide audience through a translator. She will be using DHA products and a number of recent Asian projects - the installation of a silver DHA Gecko Image Projector in a high-tech show apartment and number of white DHA animation effects in a Hong Kong shopping mall - to illustrate how theatrical lighting effects can be translated seamlessly into an architectural contex

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From opposite corners of the globe, two well-known companies have joined together to meet the growing needs of the entertainment industry. GE Lighting, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio and Koto Electric Co Ltd, based in Tokyo, Japan, will collaborate to distribute and develop new products in entertainment metal halide discharge lamps. Under the terms of the agreement, GE will distribute metal halide discharge lamps manufactured by Koto Electric. The lamps - built to GE Lighting’s specifications and branded with the GE name - will be distributed by GE Lighting worldwide, except in Japan and the People’s Republic of China. In addition, both companies have committed to expand their discharge product offerings in the future. "We are constantly looking for ways to improve not only our distribution capabilities, but also our commitment to our customers," said Gerry Schuh,

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The Gilbert Collection is an outstanding collection of decorative art bequeathed to the British nation by Sir Arthur Gilbert and currently on display in the new Museum of Decorative Art in central London’s Somerset House. A major grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund has financed the museum as part of the restoration of Somerset House, an 18th century architectural masterpiece by Sir William Chambers. Asked by the director of the Gilbert Collection to resolve the design problems faced with the lighting in the main galleries Rupert Little, technical director of LVS took on the job and specified the new Aureol Beam Shaper from Selecon. Poor positioning of tracks in the original installation were overcome by the flexibility and adaptability of the Aureols, allowing often difficult ‘shots’ to be achieved. From a design point of view, the performance of the fixtures, coupled

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Italian spotlight manufacturer LDR will be launching two completely new ranges at ABTT in London on 4th April. LDR’s popular budget-priced 650W Tempo and 1000W Aria ranges have been completely redesigned to create the new style ‘Tempo plus’ and ‘Aria plus’ to improve performance, quality, availability, and compatibility with other manufacturers’ accessories. Tempo plus - simple 500/650W Fresnel and PC spotlights for smaller venues - are now fitted with a quality glass reflector to improve the light output, an improved focus mechanism, 150mm DIN standards accessories and added safety attachment points for barndoors and other colour wheels. The higher-power 1kW Aria plus range has a new body to accommodate 185mm DIN accessories and other detail upgrades. The new products will replace their predecessors immediately, and will be on show at the Lightfactor

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PLASA Media has just learnt that Decoupe, the Tottenham-based distributor of theatrical products, has gone into voluntary liquidation. The company, founded in 1993 by Tom Mannings, specialised in supplying high performance lighting equipment to the entertainment industry, and was until recently the distributor for the range of followspots, luminaires and digital products from Robert Juliat. The company was also the UK agent for the MDG updated range of fog generators and the Sajem Copernik dichroic Par cans. The UK distribution of Robert Juliat product has now been taken over by White Light.

The liquidators are The Thompson Partnership, based in Halsall.

More details in the April issue of L&SI.

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I’m not going to write much about Craig David; not that there isn’t much to write about, but because I expect to be writing much more in the future.

While Westlife are a well-voiced, but ultimately plastic facsimile of pop stardom (see feature this issue), Craig David has it all. Last time I made such an assertion was for Baby Bird, who promptly migrated South, so I’ll temper my predictions for David. He is a skilled songwriter - consecutive hits have established that - and he has a rich, round voice, but it was seeing him live that convinced me. He prowls the stage with the leonine grace of a caged animal. He’s compelling, urging the crowd like a Gladiator holding his sword to the neck of his vanquished foe: Thumbs up? Thumbs down? Who cares, this man is dangerous. He may not be playing as many arena shows as Westlife, but they’re sell-outs, and get this

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Laser Magic has opened an office in Bahrain, offering a full rental package which includes a wide range of laser systems, water screens, xenon projection and other special effects. The company has also invested in lighting from Martin Professional (MAC 500), Coemar (1200W washlights) as well as a range of smaller 250W and 300W intelligent fixtures from Coef. The company has also purchased new Sanyo XF10 projectors, the latest NEC plasma screens and high-quality active sound systems, making Laser Magic one of the best-stocked hire companies in the area. As one of the first projects undertaken from the new office, Laser Magic supplied equipment for the Amir's special concert in Bahrain on the 22 March.

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Today, Bytecraft Entertainment and Jands Production Services, jointly announced that they have entered into a Heads of Agreement which will see Bytecraft Entertainment Pty Ltd purchase the lighting assets of Jands Production Services Pty Ltd. This includes all Vari-Lite, rigging, dimming and associated lighting equipment. The sale will be completed before the end of April.

In announcing the agreement, Stephen Found, managing director of Bytecraft Entertainment told PLASA Media: "This is an important milestone in the development of the Bytecraft Entertainment lighting division. For the first time ever in the World, we will see the four major brands of intelligent lighting - High End System, LSD/Fourth Phase, Martin Professional and Vari-Lite, offered under one roof. The Jands inventory will be integrated with Bytecraft’s own extensive inventory which will enable Bytecraft to

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Stage Technologies in London has joined forces with Jands Electronics in Sydney to supply high tech stage machinery and equipment to the region’s staging industry.

The agreement allows Australian customers access to Stage Technologies’ products through Jands Electronics. "We will be pooling our expertise, experience and knowledge," said Jands’ managing director Paul Mulholland. "Stage Technologies has excellent credentials and is a worldwide leader in stage control systems. Coupled with our mechanical expertise and ability to source local materials, this will prove to be a very strong alliance." Stage Technologies’ marketing director John Hastie added: "Together with Jands, the complete range of Stage Technologies equipment and solutions will be supplied and well supported in Australia."

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Royal Caribbean International recently introduced the first of its Radiance class ships - Radiance of the Seas. Delivered in Miami on 21 March, the ultra-luxurious Radiance of the Seas’ cruise starts in April. This stunning vessel is the largest ship ever to have been built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, and the first joint venture between a German shipyard and an American cruise line. Local company Funa GmbH was the main contractor for the lighting and sound systems, with the key part of the entertainment lighting equipment supplied by ETC. Royal Caribbean International has a tradition of introducing surprise features on each new vessel and guests on board Radiance of the Seas will not be disappointed. With highlights such as the Colony Club, customisable entertainment space comprising four different clubs, and the breathtaking, three storey high Aurora Theatre

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Continuing the company's commitment to European workshops, DHA Lighting recently organized a product demonstration day in association with Goboland of Belgium. Held at Chicago's, part of the Radisson SAS hotel in the centre of Brussels, DHA held presentations and hands-on workshops using gobos and moving effects, as well as the Digital Light Curtain and DHA Gecko image projector. This was the first in a series of open day workshops to be held across Europe over the next 12 months - keep your eyes peeled for DHA events in Denmark, Finland, France, Holland and Norway.

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With the setting up of new Creative Technology companies in London and Birmingham NEC, the Avesco subsidiary brand is set for a substantial increase in its work portfolio. In charge of Creative Technology London is Steve Rowan, former head of Gearhouse Multimedia. From its 8,200sq.ft base in Chessington, Surrey, the company is ideally placed to service exhibition sites such as Earls Court, Olympia, Business Design Centre and the new ExCeL in Docklands. Meanwhile, the former Gearhouse NEC - based inside the Birmingham exhibition complex - has now been re-branded Creative Technology NEC, and will operate under the senior management of Chris Bramwell. This division was part of the northern group bought out of receivership by Avesco plc last month, along with Gearhouse’s Manchester and Scottish operations.

Although the established end of Creative Technology, based in Wandsworth, has

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The countdown to the PLASA Show 2001 has begun! The entertainment technology industry’s leading event will run from 9 - 12 September at Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London. With over 89% of the available stand space already sold and all the leading manufacturers booked into the show, PLASA 2001 promises to live up to its reputation as the showcase event that launches the entertainment technology year. Venue improvements have continued, with over £500,000 invested in the last 12 months to improve comfort cooling at the Show. Furthermore, an overall investment of £6million will ensure that Earls Court is a fully air-conditioned exhibition centre by 2002. Over 400 exhibitors and 14,000 UK and international visitors are expected to attend and experience the sound and lighting extravaganza that has become synonymous with PLASA. Manufacturers, suppliers and distributors of professio

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The UK’s annual pop music back-slapping gala event, The Brits, was recorded live, in spectacular style, on February 26th at Earls Court 2, London. The live production was managed by Brit regular MJK Productions.

Another regular, Vari-Lite Europe provided the complete lighting system - featuring more than 500 luminaires - as well as providing the rig for the After Show Party. Lighting designer for the event was Al Gurdon. With the ceremony designed to look spectacular both for the live audience and a massive worldwide broadcast audience, the lighting design encompassed the entire space within Earl’s Court 2, both on and around the huge stage and the specially-constructed auditorium.

The large-scale lighting rig included 40 VL2416s, 54 VL5 Arcs, 81 VL5Bs, 76 VL5s, 24 VL6 wash luminaires, 38 VL6Cs, six VL7s and 130 VL2C spot luminaires, with control from two Virtuoso consol

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Mick Scullion is to head up PSL Lighting, formerly Lighting Unlimited, as part of the re-launch of the division under the Presentation Services Group branding. Mick brings with him over 20 years’ experience within the industry, having worked for both Concert Productions (now Vari-Lite) and the Spot Company where he was a director for five years. "It is an exciting time at PSL, the new structure will bring a lot of benefit to the lighting division and allow us to offer an even better service to our clients," commented Mick. "We are currently investing in the latest lighting equipment and along with our lighting design service, we aim to build on our already successful position within the marketplace providing our clients with service to the highest level." Barry Dennison, formerly of Gearhouse XTC, also joins Mick alongside current project manager Iain Grant. The

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ETC equipment is currently being installed in two major Sussex venues, the Worthing Pavilion Theatre and the Worthing Assembly Hall. The venues are run by the Worthing Council, whose technical department, headed by technical manager Dave Lamb, has been working on the technical tpecifications for the Pavilion Theatre since the end of last year. "When the technicians at Worthing Council drew out a list of their requirements for a new control system, it was evident that ETC’s Obsession II was the perfect match," said Paul de Ville, managing director of Lightfactor Sales, who supplied the ETC equipment. He explained: "As Worthing Council already has ETC equipment installed in a number of its venues, it now sees ETC as the industry standard." De Ville has enjoyed a long-standing working relationship with Worthing Council - he was also involved in the last major techn
  1. MAVCO Awarded Contract for Patriot
  2. Medusa Theatre in Bologna
  3. Alan Law Joins SPS
  4. Moving On, Moving In
  5. Cutting-Edge Lighting from Rainmaker
  6. Moving Lights for Future Leading Lights
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Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
Sennheiser - MPU - June 2025

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