UK - BeamZ Lighting enjoyed a busy three days at the PLASA Show in London, showcasing its technical lighting solutions. “We would like to thank everyone who visited our beamZ booth at the PLASA Show in London. Our innovative, affordable lighting solutions fascinated industry professionals and set new standards in lighting technology,” said Mario Velders, CEO of beamZ Lighting (Tronios). “Our presence at the PLASA Show was nothing short of spectacular. We unveiled our latest lighting marvels, leaving attendees spellbound. One of the stars of the show was the Ignite300LED 300W BSW, a powerful beam/spot/wash LED moving-head fixture that is ready to revolutionise live events and stage productions.” The StarColor200, the latest addition to the StarColor family, a wall wash fixture known for its extensive colour spectrum and versatile control options, also took
USA - The Legacy Arena in Birmingham AL stands 10 stories tall. It’s also spacious, with an oval floor that measures 24,200 sq.ft, but earlier this summer, the big venue, which has hosted concerts by Grammy-winners, the Davis Cup, and other marquee events, took on the aura of a warm, soul-enriching space, when it served as the site of Church of the Highlands Motion 23 Conference. An immersive and inviting production design by the church’s creative director, Brian Worster, and broadcast-lighting director Griffin McCravy, along with the rest of their team, set the stage for this intimate setting in the 17,000-seat arena. “This is a student conference born out of our local church’s youth ministry,” said McCravy. “Although the conference has grown over the years to become an arena event, we always want it to reflect this vision. With this goal in mind, we built
Germany - Top international electronic dance music acts, along with 65,000 ravers, again transformed the former Pydna missile base in the Hunsrück area of Germany into one of the hotspots of the European EDM scene. Gerdon Design has been providing the Nature One festival with creative designs for over 10 years - and this year was no exception, with designer Marek Papke’s team again responsible for the event’s open-air floor. Numerous pyramids, which formed part of the set construction, and the unbridled light output from 64 GLP KNV Cubes played a key role in maintaining all-round consistency for this largest open-air floor of the festival. “As a design element, the pyramid already existed at Nature One in 2019,” notes Papke. “The pyramids, which were originally made as a special construction, were still available and everyone involved wanted not only to use
Germany - Theater Erfurt is synonymous with sophisticated musical theatre, enriching the cultural scene of Germany's Thuringian state capital through operas, musicals, and concerts performed by the Erfurt Philharmonic Orchestra. Built in 2003, Theater Erfurt is recognised as one of the most modern venues of its kind in Europe, offering immersive sound and excellent sightlines. It has recently enhanced its 800-seat main venue with the addition of an ETC ArcSystem Pro LED lighting system. Previously, the theatre's ceiling was adorned with ETC Source Four PAR fixtures that utilised traditional incandescent lamps to provide a warm and uniform light. However, in a bid to promote sustainability and energy efficiency, Theater Erfurt’s technical director opted to replace these older luminaires with modern LED technology. This change promises to bring a new level of efficiency to t
UK - TV, broadcast and event lighting rental specialists, Version 2 Lights has announced a management realignment to support its continued growth. Day-to-day operational responsibilities will be assumed by technical manager Sam Crook, warehouse manager Darren Gale, general manager Emma Gale and rental manager Joe Marter. This will form the Version 2 senior management team, who will take on ownership of daily operations at V2 HQ. Crook and Marter have been well-known industry figures, and long-term trusted collaborators for nearly two decades both at Version 2 and the previous blueprints Aurora Lighting and London Light. The company also reports that Emma Gale has recently accepted the responsibilities of company secretary. Founder, Nick Edwards will return to a key account role, project managing and supporting LDs, producers and production managers who will dra
USA - The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), the organisation that oversees Bluetooth technology, has announced the completion of Bluetooth Networked Lighting Control (NLC), the first full-stack standard for wireless lighting control. By offering standardisation from the radio through the device layer, Bluetooth NLC ‘enables true multi-vendor interoperability and mass adoption of wireless lighting control’. "The establishment of globally available wireless standards has always been a key landmark in enabling connected device ecosystems to achieve their full promise. Wireless lighting control is no different," said Andrew Zignani, senior research director at ABI Research. "Bluetooth NLC expands the supplier opportunity by instilling buyer confidence and peace of mind, increasing the likelihood of adoption, and unleashing the lighting control market's total potential.
France - The much-anticipated League of Legends EMEA Championships (LEC) took place 8-10 September at the Sud de France Arena in Montpellier. The popular e-sports tournament took place in front of a packed arena and was streamed live online, reaching peak viewing figures of over 650,000 during the final matchup between G2 Esports and Fnatic, which saw G2 take the win. TSL provided the lighting package for the three-day event, working with head of production Ben Vignola from 1 Up Productions and lighting designer Mat Stovall on behalf of ConCom inc. A broad range of TSL’s fixtures were utilised from manufacturers such as Ayrton, SGM, Robe, GLP, Martin and more. Over one hundred Ayrton Perseo Profiles were used to provide audience illumination as well as effect lighting. TSL’s ever popular Robe Spiider enabled programmers Eric Barth and Zach Matusow to e
Italy - Prolights products illuminated the second edition of I Venerdì di Ercolano, a culturally enriching initiative promoted and commissioned by the Ente Parco Nazionale degli Scavi di Ercolano (National Park of Herculaneum Excavations) and the Italian Ministry of Culture. This project seamlessly transformed the evocative route into an enthralling journey through the culinary annals of ancient Rome, enriched by the innovative lighting setup crafted by Prolights. The lighting rig was installed by Artemia, a system integration company, under the stewardship of project managers Lucio Sabatino and Alessandro Limongiello. The monumental setup featured approximately 500 Prolights products, including Smart BatPlus, SmartBattenQ, ArcPar 7, and LumiPix 16H. These devices gracefully bathed the wide expanse of the Herculaneum excavations. The Artemia team, satisfied ove
Philippines - The Adam Hall Group continues to expand its international distribution network. With immediate effect, Joint Venture Audio Visual and Lighting will take over the exclusive distribution of Adam Hall Group's own brands LD Systems, Cameo, Gravity and Palmer in the Philippines. Joint Venture Audio Visual is a corporate merger of several companies, including full-service provider Systech Lighting and Controls. Under the umbrella of Joint Venture, Systech will represent the AVL brands of the Adam Hall Group in the Philippine market. "We are pleased to add one of the largest event technology manufacturers in the world to our distribution portfolio with the solutions of Adam Hall Group," explains Oliver C. Yulo, president Joint Venture Audio Visual Lighting. "Since the end of the COVID pandemic, the APAC region has been one of the fastest growing markets ever. T
UK - London’s Southbank Centre has expanded its inventory of Ayrton LED moving head fixtures with the addition of 12 Ayrton Mistral S spots to its permanent rig over the Royal Festival Hall’s Clore Ballroom. The Clore Ballroom is an adaptable open space in the main foyer of the iconic 1950s building which turns its hand to many uses including musical performances, art installations, graduation ceremonies and other community events. This summer, as part of Christine and the Queens’ Meltdown, it played host to the immersive dance work of BitterSuite, while other events have ranged from club nights to a rehearsal space for youth music group, Kinetika Bloco, one of the Southbank Centre’s Creative Engagement Partners. Mistral is Ayrton’s highly compact, lightweight, powerful 300W LED spot fixture designed for scenic applications. Mistral S delivers powerful metall
The Netherlands - Music, art and culture came together, once again, at ParkCity Live 2023 in Heerlen. This year, the event took place on the first weekend of July. SLF Group Rental + Sales BV provided lighting equipment by Showtec and Infinity for both the main stage and the dance area. ParkCity Live is a family-friendly festival that regularly sells out and this year was no exception with the maximum capacity of 17,500 visitors reached on both days. The festival attracts both national and international acts and covers various music genres as well as comedy and theatre. The main stage and dance area both featured lighting by Showtec and Infinity supplied SLF Group Rental + Sales BV. The light design for the main stage was created by Wesley Houben of The Nota Experience. Twelve top-of-the-range Infinity S601 Profile moving heads, chosen for their powerful output, wide
USA - M&T Bank Exchange in Baltimore has opened as the city’s newest live event venue with an Elation Professional lighting package that can cater to any occasion from concert to reception and everything in between. The new 14,193 sq.ft performance space has been created within the shell of an historic 19th century bank building and represents the long-awaited final phase of the France-Merrick Performing Arts Centre. When the refurbished Hippodrome Theatre opened in 2004 as the centrepiece of the France-Merrick Performing Arts Centre, original plans called for a smaller performance space to open next to it. The Hippodrome Foundation had preserved the historic Eutaw Savings Bank as part of the larger arts complex, with the thought that it could become a flexible venue for shows and events that didn’t need the Hippodrome’s 2,300-person seating capacity. Now, nearly t
Czech Republic - Colours of Ostrava is the Czech Republic’s largest music festival, currently staged against the imposing backdrop of old blast furnaces, cooling towers, ore cauldrons, casting shops and other industrial relics from the Dolní Oblast Vitkovice (DOV) steelworks in Ostrava, the country’s third biggest city. The 2023 edition was another success, with over 250 artists appearing across 20 stages over four days. Robe moving lights had a big presence, including on the two largest performance areas - the Ceska Sporitelna / Main Stage, and the adjacent Liberty Stage. Colours’ technical director Josef ‘Pepa’ Ženíšek led a core production team of 35 from his Prague based company, SMART Production, who co-ordinated all aspects of the technical production - staging, rigging, lighting, sound, video, audio, stage management and all associated infrastruct
The Netherlands - The latest firmware version for the Infinity Chimp DMX consoles is now available from Highlite. In version 2.21, several new functionalities and bug fixes improve the quality of the platform. Chimp 2.21 introduces the Cuelist Pause feature, giving users even more control over their lighting cues. This function is seamlessly accessible through multiple inputs including fader buttons, MIDI, DMX In, Cuelist Commands, and Virtual Executors, adding flexibility to performances. The new Tap Speed capability revolutionises the way effects are managed, allowing users to seamlessly synchronise effects. While effects remain in sync with the global synchronisation, their speed is now calculated as a rate based on 60 BPM, ensuring consistent synchronicity even within cues with varying speeds. The new firmware introduces FX Speed Master Settings, which allow
The Netherlands - Absen is set to unveil its latest innovations in broadcast and esports at IBC 2023. The company will showcase its latest LED technology on Stand 2.B24, where visitors will have the opportunity to see virtual production, rental & staging, and commercial displays in action, as well as get hands-on with Absen's LED technology. In addition to the exhibition, Absen will host a range of events and activities on its stand including interviews with industry experts on the latest trends and developments in LED technology. Absen will also be hosting live casting of esports tournaments and other events on its stand, giving visitors the chance to experience the excitement of live LED production. There is also a chance for visitors to the stand to compete 1-on-1 in a game of Rocket League on an Absen's state-of-the-art LED display. “IBC 2023 show is the perf
USA - Reflecting the fiercely independent personalities of Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard in light on a co-headline tour requires a deftly balanced show, one that celebrates each legend’s journey. A towering, power-projecting, cathedral-like design by Mike Cooper that featured Chauvet Professional Strike Array 4 blinders and Color Strike M motorised strobes did that in style, supporting the individual personality of each of the two bands on their recently concluded co-headline USA tour. Matt Mills ensured that Mötley Crüe was supported by dynamic looks, that reflected the multi-platinum band’s identity, while LD Kenji worked on Def Leppard. “I was one of the programmers when we did preproduction for this show last year at Lititz,” said Mills. “On this run of six shows, I filled in for lighting director, Michael Willingham running the Mötley Crüe segment.
Denmark - Bellevue Teatret (Bellevue Theatre) is located in Klampenborg, a suburb north of Copenhagen, Denmark. Its scenic location is about 100m back from the beach, and views from the front of the building overlook the Øresund strait. Founded in 1936 and designed by architect Arne Jacobsen, the building is one of his seminal works - and one of several in the area - as well as an important example of Danish functionalism. In the last year, the theatre has invested in more Robe moving lights, with the purchase of 12 x TX1 PosiProfiles - the first to be installed in Denmark - joining their 24 x LEDBeam 350s acquired in 2021. The fixtures were chosen by production manager Bjarne Olsen and technical manager Martin Vive Rasmussen for their 746-capacity main house. The theatre - popular with both the local community and a wider audience of theatre fans - stage
Australia - The sparkle and ambiance that characterised the 63rd annual TV Week Logie Awards was enhanced by the innovative lighting solutions offered by Prolights. This event, held at Sydney's The Star and broadcast by the Seven Network, is regarded as one of the highlights of the Australian television industry, attracting celebrities and industry professionals from all corners of the country each year. The lighting setup that wowed the attendees was supplied and installed by Chameleon Touring Systems, in collaboration with Show Technology, the official Prolights distributor in Australia. The selection of luminaires was key, and the result was a lighting rig comprising approximately 150 Prolights solutions, including EclPanel TWC, VersaPar, Smart BatWash and EclPanel TWCJr. The TWC EclPanels played a fundamental role in all the installations, illuminating not only the
Belgium - The Antwerpen Sportpaleis played host to a cornucopia of projected lasers and lighting earlier this summer when promoters, Zillion presented their new immersive Iluminati dance concept. This new design, conceived by Frank Verstraeten, who co-promoted the event with Yves Smolders, ran over two days - each with nine hours duration. A capacity 14,500 crowd immersed themselves in this purpose-built 3D ‘black box’ environment on each night. Helping to create the magic were an abundance were GLP JDC1 and JDC Lines -some 85 x JDC Line 500 and 40 x JDC 1 hybrid strobes were deployed. “We used all of these fixtures, not only as a conventional strobe but also to create an atmospheric glow, enabling us to punch through with the other moving heads,” said lighting and set designer, Thomas Boets (from LDP). They placed 45 of the JDC Line 500 on two large trusses ab
The Netherlands - This year’s Kingdance Festival and Dance4Liberation had a much in common. Both celebrated important national holidays, the King’s birthday, and the liberation of the Netherlands from Nazi occupation in the closing days of World War II. Both featured an electrifying line-up of EDM stars and other performers. And both took place on the same stage with the same lighting rig at the Wijthmenerplas lakeside park. There was, however, one critical element that separated the two festivals: time! Kingdance ended exactly one week before Dance4Liberation began. A lot can happen outdoors in the 168 hours (or 604,800 seconds) that make up a seven-day week, especially when you’re dealing with a climate as capricious as that of the Netherlands. But the rig shared by these two festivals performed smoothy, even though it remained in place for the entire week, th
Gregg Maltby, a Las Vegas-based independent lighting designer, chose an array of Ayrton fixtures for Peter Frampton’s Never Say Never tour. Versatile Ayrton LED fixtures such as the Diablo and Eurus profiles and the Zonda 9 FX washes comprise about half the rig. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton lighting in North America. Frampton’s North American tour kicked off in June in Huber Heights, Ohio and wrapped in Sandy, Utah in August. The artist recently extended the tour with a series of November dates starting in Louisville and finishing before Thanksgiving in Nashville. OSA International, Inc. in Nashville, the lighting vendor for the tour, provided the Ayrton fixtures to long-time customer Maltby. “I’ve used Ayrton lights for a long time, including for Huey Lewis, Boston, and the Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly hologram tour,” says Maltby.
Germany - ARRI has announced the launch of SkyPanel X, an all-weather LED luminaire and latest addition to the SkyPanel family. Introduced as a modular system and configurable into different sizes, SkyPanel X now offers native soft, native hard, and open-face lighting. ARRI’s SkyPanel X connects advanced LED technology with flexibility, broadening possibilities for diverse applications and all existing workflows, addressing the extensive needs of studios, rental houses, and corporate clients. With a variety of innovative features, SkyPanel X is tailored to the requirements and working dynamics of DPs, gaffers, console operators, lighting designers, and broadcast technicians, says ARRI. SkyPanel X provides superior low-end dimming with flicker-free operation from 100 to zero percent for direct, close-distance key lighting. With a dynamic CCT range from 1,500 to
UK - LED architectural and architainment lighting manufacturer Anolis Lighting enjoyed a busy, productive, and successful PLASA 2023 expo at London’s Olympia, where its stand was prominent in the ‘village’ of parent company, Robe Lighting. Anolis highlighted its new Calumma, Ambiane and Eminere product ranges during the three-day expo. Anolis’ Calumma M & S fixtures are now available with asymmetric optics specifically designed for street, road, and pathway use, where unwanted glare reduction and efficiency are paramount. This luminaire is engineered for pole mounted applications that optimise pole spacings and enhance sustainability, and while this was not aimed at PLASA’s primary visitor demographic, it looked cool, attracted lots of comment, and demonstrated the ongoing development and commitment by Anolis to offer comprehensive full ranges. “C
USA - English rock band Asking Alexandria is out on tour promoting their latest album with a lighting system provided by Bandit Lites. Comprised of guitarists Ben Bruce and Cameron Liddell, drummer James Cassells, lead vocalist Danny Worsnop, and bassist Sam Bettley, the band released their eighth studio album Where Do We Go From Here? on 25 August. Following the band’s European tour, lighting designer Corbin Alvae sought to utilise fixtures that would offer a host of functions to supply the band big, stadium style lighting that would translate to clubs and theatres. “The band has such a groovy and heavy rock ‘n roll style that I needed to provide a design that really highlighted that and bring those moments to life on the stage even more,” explained Alvae. “When Corbin reached out to me about his design for Asking Alexandria, I was beyond exc
