USA - Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has recently had a complete redesign of the lighting rig in its 4000-seat main auditorium, which was created and delivered by 46 Entertainment of Nashville, TN, a team of engineers and technical creatives specialisng in event production, design and management. At the centre of the current production lighting design is a 40ft diameter circular truss on a six-axis Kinesys automation system, which is rigged with 64 equidistantly spaced Robe LEDBeam 350s. “Transformation Church has been a client of 46 Entertainment for the last 13 months,” explained project manager, Noah Wilbanks. They work with 46 to reimagine the lighting and technical design every six months or so; a task that is achieved utilising a collection of the church’s own kit purchased from different companies over the years, together with some renta
Germany - “The spectacle of nature is always new,” wrote Goethe. The great poet, philosopher and playwright undoubtably felt this way in 1820 when he first encountered declaring that the massive, irregular formation of granite rocks created “an impression the like of which I have never come across on all my walks.” The evocative beauty of Luisenburg-Felsenlabyrinth (the Luisenburg Rock Labyrinth) has always appealed to creatives, especially those connected to the world of theatre. Plays were being staged at the site as early as the 16th century. Building on this tradition, the Luisenburg Festival was born here in 1890. The festival has grown to become one of Germany’s most renowned annual theatre events. When lighting the Luisenburg Festival, one must deal with resin from the surrounding tall trees, which can cause LEDs to overheat. Also, the weather i
USA - “So how is my English?” Ishay Ribo asked the audience at Madison Square Garden. Not waiting for a response, he said cacha, cacha, the Hebrew term for “so-so.” The multi-platinum artist might not have nailed his English, but there was nothing middling about his performance this September when he became the first Israeli artist to headline a show at the “world’s most famous arena.” Ribo created a transcendent atmosphere that resonated throughout the big arena. Enhancing the experience for the 15,000 in attendance was the lighting design by Tal Frid. Working with an Audio Spectrum supplied rig that was anchored by 146 Chauvet Professional fixtures, the Israeli designer created a soaring 24-universe, mostly timecoded, show that mirrored the essence of Ribo’s deeply moving music, while also reflecting the excitement that the charismatic star brought to
UK - Belimo is a market leader in the development, production, and sales of field devices for the energy-efficient control of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems. Their UK office, located in Shepperton, Surrey, wanted to create an experience centre that would display their products and services, as well as provide a space for training, meetings, and events for their customers and partners. Belimo approached Marquee One, part of Marquee Installations, and based on the same business park, to design and install a bespoke AV solution that would meet their needs and expectations. Marquee One Director, Luke Nowacki, welcomed the enquiry and arranged a meeting with Richard Steel, the Belimo UK technical manager. Nowacki needed to find out exactly what was required and how they wanted to use the room, to design a specific, tailored solution. Steel explain
South Africa - Jade Manicom from DWR Distribution recently delivered comprehensive Vectorworks Spotlight training over a two week period in Johannesburg and Durban. With the live events industry in the midst of a busy season, the classes were small but allowed her to provide personalised one-on-one training. “The training went very well,” said Jade Manicom. “People were engaged and were asking questions. Having chatted with them afterwards, I could tell they had gained something from it. In Durban, only one delegate had used Vectorworks before, while the others were new to it. They were impressed with what it could do.” The Johannesburg session took place from 28 August to 1 September at DWR, offering a range of training levels from basic to advanced. The curriculum encompassed various subjects such as layouts and palettes, basic tools, classes and layers, Sp
Austria - Since 1979, international artists have been pouring their magic over the Upper Austrian city of Linz for the annual Linzer Klangwolke. This is when the Donaupark, situated between the Lentos and the Brucknerhaus, is transformed into a gigantic performance area for what has become the city’s flagship event. The week-long festival always begins with the so-called Visualised Sound Cloud (Visualisierte Klangwolke), which attracts around 100,000 spectators and is therefore the largest staged open-air event in Europe with free admission. This year, director Francesca Zambello and assistant director/choreographer Eric Sean Fogel created Odyssey. A Journey Through Worlds, denoting a journey on the river of life taken by a little girl, the only survivor of an apocalyptic catastrophe. Internationally famed Austrian lighting designer Manfred Nikitser (S
USA - A popular Michigan tradition for over 40 years, the 2023 Detroit Jazz Festival featured over 60 performers, spontaneous late night jam sessions, and 350,000 attendees; online viewership of the festival topped 2.5m live views. Now a division of The Display Group, Fantasee Lighting has been providing lights and design to the festival for over 20 years. Celebrating his tenth year as Jazz Fest lighting director, Jon Weaver specified High End Systems SolaPix and Lonestar fixtures for this year’s event. Before COVID shuttered the physical festival in 2020, the festival would stream the headliners on the mainstages, and broadcast three sets on local TV every year. When Jazz Fest returned to a live event, Weaver insisted that the event be lit as a broadcast show outdoors. The lighting rigs were designed to be able to overtake the sun, and still be impactful on televisi
Belgium - James the Musical is a new Belgian live broadcast concept – and runaway success – staged at the NT Theatre in Ghent and produced by Dedsit. The show was originated by James Cooke – also the host – and each episode pays tribute to a Flemish celebrity via the construction of five elaborate ‘musical scenes’ depicting key moments in their lives, uniting all the drama and emotion of live television with the spectacle of musical performance. To quote James himself, “Everybody deserves a musical” and with this format he wants to promote the drama and enjoyment of musicals generally to a wider audience. Luc Peumans of Genk, Belgium-based creative studio Painting with Light was asked to design lighting and video, and he chose 42 x Robe T2 Profiles to provide the essential key lighting and specials for the shows. Also on the rig were 38 x
Italy - A large consignment of Ayrton Cobra laser-sourced fixtures accompanied the successful a Tuttocuore tour from Italian singer-songwriter and musician Claudio Baglioni, which started on 21 September, 2023 from the Foro Italico in Rome and continues throughout Italy until February 2024. The high-level rock-opera is presented in three huge spatial dimensions, extending its reach horizontally, vertically and in depth. The show, which has as its central theme the heart as the one and only reliable clock, integrates different artistic disciplines, bringing together hundreds of artists, performers, choristers and dancers, as well as a strong lighting component, projections of landscapes, faces, shapes and silhouettes. Everything is intended to help give the audience a direct connection, not through the mediation of screens, but through authentic sensory perception. Illu
UK - Solotech delivered a comprehensive audio and lighting package for Feist during her recent UK-EU tour leg. Her performance at the Roundhouse in London was described by The Guardian as “one of the best live shows of the year,” showcasing Feist's outstanding musical talents. “I’ve never seen a show like it,” wrote journalist Shaad D'Souza. “[It was] one of the most masterly rock shows I’ve seen in a long time.” Feist supplemented her performance with top-tier audio and lighting solutions to create a memorable experience. The team at Solotech, with their extensive expertise in audio, video, and lighting honed over many years, certainly rose to the occasion, providing a cutting-edge package tailored specifically to deliver Feist's amazing vision. Technically, the audio package included: Allen & Heath dLive S5000 at FOH, with a complemen
UK - Orbital Sound and Nemesis Research have supplied the recently launched OSCA show control hardware range to a major scare attraction theme park – Farmaggedon’s October Fear Fest. For the past 17 years, the tranquil rural corner of Downholland near Ormskirk in Lancashire has awoken to a frightful force, as Farmaggedon opens its doors for another season. For 2023, this ghoulish entertainment is being triggered by a new power - Nemesis Research’s OSCA Range. Combining an immersive experience with sound, lighting, lasers and flame effects, creating the total experience for the Zombie War Zone relies on perfect and tight control. For the technical team involved once again in helping to create Farmaggedon 2023, Infinity Technical & Production Services, a core element of this year's brief was to find a new way to deliver complete control via a simple system, wi
Germany - Salz21, a Salzburg trade fair for startups and new technologies, was illuminated by the dynamic lighting setup designed by Revolution Rental, featuring an innovative LED array of Prolights fixtures. This vibrant collaboration not only heightened the ambiance but also amplified the visual appeal of this influential gathering. The main stage, a showcase of innovation, shone brilliantly with 22 Astra Wash7Pix and four Astra Wash19Pix fixtures. These Prolights lighting solutions bathed presenters and performers in radiant illumination, crafting a dynamic and immersive environment. For an equally significant yet more intimate side stage, Revolution Rental harnessed the power of 18 Prolights EclExpo Flood300VW fixtures, delivering precise lighting control that added depth and focus to smaller sessions and presentations. Complementing the two stages, Prolights
Germany - 01099 are currently one of the most successful up-and-coming rap/hip-hop acts from Germany. In 2021, the successful EP Dachfenster was released, and the following year the four musicians from Dresden (01099 is the postal code of Dresden Neustadt) produced the LP, Altbau. Recently, their almost completely sold-out tour, Schnelle Brille, came to an end. Designer Felix Seidel developed a simple but very adaptable light and stage design for the 01099 tour, using the creative possibilities of the GLP JDC1 and impression X4 Bar 20. In the spring of 2023, he first exchanged design ideas with the band and developed various ideas from them. “My goal was to design a stage that creates a unique and captivating atmosphere that immerses the audience in the musical universe of 01099,” he explains. Ultimately, when building the set, he decided
Austria - When the director of this year's Linzer Klangwolke, Francesca Zambello, brought the internationally renowned Austrian lighting designer Manfred Nikitser onto the creative team as a specialist for the colossal lighting looks, it quickly became clear to them that the project would require lights of a special format. He found what he was looking for in the Proteus series from Elation Professional. Organised by the Brucknerhaus Linz congress centre, the Linzer Klangwolke (Linz Cloud of Sound) is an open-air spectacle that attracts around 100,000 spectators each year to Danube Park in the town of Linz. This year, a moving, somewhat dystopian yet hopeful piece entitled Odyssey. A Journey Through Worlds was performed on 9 September. The odyssey, a little girl's journey on the river of life towards the source of renewal, literally took place on the waters of the Da
UK - Ayrton has announced the launch of its new WildSun K9 Wash, the latest fixture in its Multisources 9 Series. WildSun K9 Wash is particularly suitable for television, sporting events, fashion shows, car shows, or any prestigious events requiring powerful, high-quality light and perfectly rendered colour. WildSun K9 Wash is a highly evolved variant of Ayrton’s WildSun K25 TC, specially geared to shooting TV video and broadcasting in high-definition. With a brand new sleek design and a visual footprint 20% smaller than its predecessor, WildSun K9 Wash’s weight has been drastically reduced by 25%, allowing for better integration. This unique LED luminaire measures up to the classic Fresnel HMI 4000 lights in terms of pure output. Fitted with 217 next-generation high-output LEDs, the luminaire delivers more than 60,000 lumens of overall output with 40% les
Europe - Michael Huelskemper has joined ARRI as vice president product management business unit lighting. In this role, he is responsible for further developing, improving, and broadening the product portfolio of the lighting division. Huelskemper has more than 15 years of experience in the development and product management of LED luminaires and luminaire components in an international environment. He spent several years in management positions at global players such as OSRAM and Philips Lighting. Dr. Matthias Erb, chairman of the ARRI executive board, says: “I am very pleased that Michael Huelskemper, a proven expert in the field of portfolio management for LED lighting products, has joined our ranks. With this important new addition to the team, we are driving forward the realignment of ARRI Lighting. I wish him a good start at ARRI and much success in his strate
South Africa - Durban-based event production and rental specialist, AV Company, run by father and son combo of Craig and Keagan Browning, has invested in its first grandMA3 console with the purchase of a grandMA3 compact XT. The company provides full turnkey solutions - lighting, audio, LED screens & video, staging, trussing, rigging and power - for a range of events, including fashion shows, awards presentations, brand activations, product launches all over KwaZulu-Natal and across South Africa. The console, delivered by South African distributors DWR, is the second MA console in AV Company’s inventory, following a dot2 acquired in 2016. As the company has grown and expanded, especially as events re-started so enthusiastically after the pandemic, “We simply needed a bigger console to handle larger and more complex shows that we do,” explained Keagan.
Slovenia - The European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) - the largest multi-sport event for young athletes aged 14 to 18 - came to Maribor, Slovenia’s second city this year. Lighting designer Crt Birsa from design studio Blackout was asked to be part of a team creating a spectacular opening ceremony in Ljudski Vrt football stadium by show director Nejc Levstik, a project on which he worked closely with set designer Greta Godnič and nearly 200 Robe moving lights. Crt and Greta are known for their design collaborations which always push the barriers of innovation and what is achievable. “I was extremely proud to be asked onboard,” commented Crt, “It is always interesting and exciting working with Greta and Nejc, and everyone involved wanted to deliver an outstanding show fitting to the occasion.” Their biggest challenge was producing the show - complete w
The Netherlands - The Markt (town square) in Kerkrade - the home of ADJ Europe - recently witnessed a symphonic spectacle that blended music and light seamlessly, as The Maestro & the European Pop Orchestra hosted their annual open-air extravaganza. Utilising more than 100 ADJ lighting products, the event, aptly named The Maestro & the European Pop Orchestra Open Air Kerkrade 2023, captured the hearts of attendees with an enchanting performance that intertwined contemporary pop melodies with the richness of classical compositions. Behind the scenes, XYMIO Event-techniek, founded in 1992 by Paul Pelen, orchestrated a technical marvel encompassing lighting, LED screens, and audio. Guido Dieteren, known as ‘The Maestro’, is a famous orchestra leader, violin soloist, arranger, and composer from Limburg in The Netherlands. His European Pop Orchestra perfo
USA - Metallica’s M72 world tour is playing to sell-out crowds across Europe and North America. The eight distinctive towers that lend a dramatic flair to the production came about when production designer, Dan Braun, had to find an alternative to his initial vision of creating tensegrity structures for the show. “I have been interested in tensegrity sculpture for a while and was working on this concept for an indoor show,” said Braun, who has worked closely with lighting designer Rob Koenig on the production. “Our world changed when the tour went to stadiums in the round. My first thought was ‘we can’t do that.’ But after careful consideration, I said ‘why not?’” Adapting to the necessity of working within the parameters of an outdoor 360-degree stage, the designers dropped plans for a tensegrity rig and combined “a study of proportion with param
Europe - Prolights Sunblast 3000FC illuminated Swedish singer Håkan Hellström's summer tour. Creative Technologies Sweden provided 32 of these fixtures, which powered a series of 15 shows nationwide. The tour's lighting designer, Calle Brattberg comments: "I needed a punchy and bright strobe that could add both extra strobe effects and provide a fantastic wash with vivid colours.” Having previously used over 100 units of the Sunblast 3000 at Hellström's arena shows last year, Brattberg had full confidence in their capabilities. Challenged by the unpredictable Swedish summer weather, notorious for its abrupt shifts in temperature and conditions, the Sunblast 3000 strobes showcased their resilience through their IP65 rating, consistently delivering. Calle Brattberg underlined their remarkable performance, emphasising their ability to shine flawlessly under ever-chan
USA - Show designer Scott Holthaus of Happy Machine Design wanted “a big and bright fixture” for metal band Disturbed’s Take Back Your Life tour, and the Vari-Lite VL6500 Wash “checked all those boxes with flying colours”. The large format wash fixture from Vari-Lite, offered “a gigantic source of power” to the Disturbed show according to Holthaus, placed in a direct view position on stage where its high output stood out even against the pyrotechnics and other effects on stage. “Lights have to compete with a thousand pounds of propane a show!” said Holthaus. “If the lights are not killer bright, leave them in the box.” The VL6500 Wash offers over 50,000 lumens of power, a large 14” aperture and distinctive Dichro*fusion blades, allowing it to stand out in the design. Ten VL6500 Washes were placed against the upstage wall, with four more hung in
The Netherlands - Lighting controller manufacturer Visual Productions has announced it has joined the Q-SYS Technology Partner Programme. This programme enables software and hardware technology partners to create market-ready solutions that integrate seamlessly with Q-SYS cloud-manageable audio, video and control platform. As part of the programme, Visual Productions has worked closely with Q-SYS, who has fully vetted and endorsed the following plugin integration with a Q-SYS Ready badge (developed by Visual Productions and verified by Q-SYS). The CueCore2 is a compact form-factor lighting controller for semi-permanent installations and architectural lighting. Designed for non-stop operation, the CueCore2 has no moving parts; the unit is completely solid-state and achieves a remarkable level of reliability that allows lighting engineers to ‘fit and forget’. Althou
Greece - Elation Professional has announced expansion of its presence in Greece through an exclusive distribution partnership with Panou SA. The partnership, which took effect on 1 October 2023, marks a significant milestone in Elation Professional's commitment to delivering top-tier lighting products and services to the Greek market. Panou SA, with roots dating back to its foundation in Athens in 1964, has long been a pioneer in the electronics and audio-visual technology industry. Over the decades, the company has experienced exponential growth and has established itself as a prominent player in the professional lighting market. Notably, Panou SA has evolved into one of Greece's premier companies for system integration. The collaboration between Panou and Elation began in 2019 with Panou’s successful distribution of Obsidian Control Systems products. Building on t
