Lighting

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02 May 2025

UK - ChamSys’ strong commitment to support – as evidenced by its long history of providing standard-setting educational and support programmes – will come shining through at the company’s PLASA Leeds stands (N-A28 and N-B23, shared with Chauvet Professional) at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, 13-14 May. 

In addition to showcasing products such as its flagship MagicQ MQ500M+ Stadium Console and the new MagicQ Compact Wing, making its first UK public showing, ChamSys will be hosting a full schedule of educational events, including presentations by celebrated LDs Ed Warren and David Howard, as well as interactive demonstrations.

In his session, the multi-award-winning Warren will be demonstrating how he uses MagicQ for live and pre-programmed shows in a seamless fashion every time. During his interactive Q&A session he will walk visitors thro

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01 May 2025

USA - Brigham Young University-Idaho has invested in 14 Ayrton Cobra2 fixtures for its Rexburg campus.

Cobra2 is a phosphor laser source luminaire with an extreme range of focus and excellent colour reproduction. Its IP65 rating makes it a suitable choice for outdoor conditions.

Patrick Laing, lighting designer with BYU-Idaho’s AV and Broadcast Productions, says the university already had Ayrton Khamsin, Ghibli, Argo 6 FX and Zonda 3 FX fixtures and was looking for an IP-rated beam to cover more outdoor student events. 

The brightness of Cobra’s laser source easily cuts through other lighting, and its gobos and prisms, infinite pan and tilt, and saturated colours will offer Laing new creative options for a range of student activities. The fixtures have already been used in BYU-Idaho’s Hart Auditorium for a concert by a YouTube sensatio

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01 May 2025

USA - Bandit Lites has announced the addition of the ACME Tornado to its line-up of concert touring inventory.

“The ACME Tornado seamlessly integrates multiple visual effects into a single, versatile fixture, empowering designers to explore and realise their most ambitious creative visions,” said Bandit Lites VP of business and innovation, Jake Tickle.

“The fixture’s colour mixing, sharp gobos, and versatile zoom range provide the tools needed to craft immersive, stand-out looks. By adding the ACME Tornado to our rental fleet, Bandit is reaffirming our commitment to offering designers the latest, most dependable technology to bring their visions to life on the road.”

The Tornado will initially be featured on Trevor Drawdy’s lighting design for country superstar Hardy’s upcoming tour, as well as Mike St-Jean’s lighting design f

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01 May 2025

Europe - At Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt, Obsidian Control Systems previewed the NXW – a sleek, portable, and fully featured PC control wing designed to bring professional-grade power to any Onyx setup.

Through its USB-C connection, the NXW provides a responsive, professional hardware surface to operate Onyx on any PC system without compromises. Designed for freelancers, touring professionals, and fixed installs alike, the NXW delivers everything lighting operators love in a compact, road-ready form. From RGB-backlit motorized playback faders to RGB-backlit keycaps and customizable multi-function buttons, every detail is crafted to boost speed, precision, and creativity.

“The NXW might be small in size, but it’s packed with features our users have been asking for,” says Koy Neminathan, business development director at Obsidian. “Whether yo

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30 April 2025

UK - Indie rockers The Wombats are currently touring the UK and Europe with a bold new visual identity, powered by the first touring deployment of the VLHive 151 Digital FX lighting fixture from Vari-Lite.

The show has been designed by lighting designer Rosie Haigh, who is also Vari-Lite business development manager at Signify. Haigh’s design embraces a dynamic, textural approach that brings the band’s latest album, Oh! The Ocean, vividly to life on stage, without a single LED screen in sight.

As part of the creative brief, The Wombats asked Haigh – who has worked with the band for over two years – to move away from video walls, while still delivering rich depth and high-impact visuals upstage. In response Haigh harnessed the creative power of the VLHive 151 – a fully digital lighting fixture that merges high-output light, advanced

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30 April 2025

Switzerland - Basel-based lighting and scenic designer Lukas Marian chose Claypaky Tambora Batten Squares and Sinfonya Profile 600 fixtures for the world premiere of Oresteia. The dance production by choreographers Frank Fannar Pedersen and Javier Rodriguez Cobos debuted with the St. Gallen Dance Company at the Konzert & Theater St. Gallen.

Based on Greek mythology, Oresteia features an immersive scenography and lighting design by Marian with embedded Claypaky fixtures that achieve a special aesthetic. The original Oresteia is a trilogy of fifth-century BCE Greek tragedies by Aeschylus concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of the curse on the House of Atreus, and the pacification of the Furies.

“I had complete freedom in planning the de

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30 April 2025

USA - Stray Production Services, a full-service event production company based in Lititz, Pennsylvania has announced an investment in Elation’s Paragon LED profile moving head. The move strengthens the company's already robust inventory of Elation gear and sets the stage for Paragon to become a workhorse fixture across various indoor and outdoor productions.

Stray is located on the Rock Lititz Campus, a production campus and home to dozens of leading production vendors in the live events industry. Only a short drive from New York, Baltimore, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia, Stray specialises in events of all types, including large-scale installations. Its extensive Elation inventory is a key part of its production capabilities but as its outdoor event roster continues to grow, so does the need for powerful, IP-rated fixtures.

“We wanted quality

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29 April 2025

UK - For the first time, PLASA Focus Leeds has launched an official mobile app, now available to download on both Apple and Android devices. Introduced following the success of the PLASA Show London app in 2024, which saw strong uptake among visitors, the new app is designed to maximise engagement and efficiency at the 2025 show.

Taking place at the Royal Armouries, Leeds on 13–14 May 2025, the event will once again welcome thousands of professionals working across live events, AV, lighting, audio, rigging, staging and more. The PLASA Focus Leeds app serves as a comprehensive, digital companion for navigating the show, enabling you to:

 - Access and print visitor badges directly from the app

 - Browse a full exhibitor and product list in advance

 - View the detailed seminar and workshop schedule

 - Use the inter

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29 April 2025

Mexico - Based in the thriving commercial and industrial centre of Monterrey, the capital of the state of Nuevo Leon in northeastern Mexico, and occupying 7,000 sq.m of warehouse space, technical production company Serpro Producciones offers lighting, audio, rigging, stage, and backline rentals.

Led by Emmanuel Gonzalez and supported by an enthusiastic team, Serpro has built a reputation for service quality and is active in all sectors of entertainment, with a particular focus on the music industry. The company supplies numerous festivals, including the renowned Pa'l Norte Festival in Monterrey, as well as concerts and touring shows of all types and sizes.

A regular Robe investor since 2016, over the last two years the moving light inventory has jumped substantially to now include 120 x Robe Fortes, 13 x iFortes, 24 x iForte LTXs and a 12-wa

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28 April 2025

France - The Showlight quadrennial is a rare event that you do not want to miss. Three days of lighting professionals networking and exchanging ideas, listening to speakers at the top of their profession, all in the beautiful setting of Dijon, France. This gathering only happens once every four years – and it’s for everyone.

Historically, Showlight is conducted solely in English but this year is different. Located in France and supported by French lighting manufacturer and headline sponsor, Robert Juliat, we look forward to welcoming many French-speaking delegates as well as international attendees.

To make sure nobody misses a word, for the first time Showlight is offering simultaneous translation of the Papers and Q&A sessions across four languages. Delegates can choose to listen – and ask questions – in English, French, Italian and Spa

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28 April 2025

Denmark - Litecom has made a major investment in new Robe moving lights. The company is based in Copenhagen and has a branch in Stockholm, Sweden and works extensively across the two countries and throughout Scandinavia.

2024’s purchases include 50 x Forte Profile moving lights, 60 x Painte Profiles and 136 x Spiider LED wash beams, all delivered by Danish distributor, Light Partner. This was followed by a further investment of 24 more Fortes, another 50 x Paintes plus three BMFL FollowSpots.

“This decision was based on boosting our inventory with reliable stage lighting products that are universally useful across all our projects,” explained Litecom lighting designer Martin Wallin.

Wallin has been with the company for 19 years and oversees all the major broadcast projects, which have included supplying lighting to the Eurovision Song C

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28 April 2025

France - "Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist." Kelian Sevrée and the team at Concept K embrace that concept, and they proved its merit in style at the 2025 Dystopia festivals, held in two separate locations, Mulhouse and Rennes.

At both sites, they departed from the standard practice (that says you must have a massive video wall on a festival’s main stage). Instead, they animated their two main stages, both of which were devoted to hardcore music, with brawny collections of lighting effects, including the Chauvet Professional Color Strike M, as well as some compelling cubic set pieces.

“Unlike what is done in most modern productions, we chose not to include a video screen at the back of the stage,” explained Sevrée. “Given the scale of the event, we were able to break away from this standard element, a

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28 April 2025

India - The Chambal riverfront in Kota, Rajasthan is an urban development that has rejuvenated a 6km stretch of land into a thriving cultural and tourist destination.

Designed to celebrate the architectural heritage and cultural richness of India, the riverfront features 26 distinct ghats, each representing a different regional style. Among these, the Rajputana Ghat highlights the art and traditions of nine regions of Rajasthan, while the Sahitya Ghat pays homage to literary giants with statues of renowned authors and a library housing thousands of books.

Beyond its cultural significance, the restoration of the Chambal Riverfront plays a crucial role in ecosystem revitalisation, renewing the connection between the community and the river. The west-side garden of the project combines art, lighting, and horticulture, offering visitors a captivating exp

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25 April 2025

USA - Billie Holiday observed that every song – like every person – must be unique, or it isn’t music. As a lighting designer, Jack Thomas agrees. Guided by this principle, he set out to leave visual fingerprints on each song in Bayside’s current North American Errors Tour.

“I programmed this show with Bayside to be very precise with cue-to-cue transitions so each moment of every song has its own specific fingerprint,” he explained. “Doing so keeps the energy fresh and exciting.”

Thomas’ ‘fingerprints’ provide the accompaniment to the emotionally powerful music on the New York punk rockers 25th anniversary tour. Calling forth a variety of lush colour blends, artful touches of atmospherics, unique light angles, and a touch of geometric patterns courtesy of this Chauvet Professional Epix Bars, Thomas reflects the distinct

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25 April 2025

South Africa - Cape Town-based Flicker-Free Lighting Rentals is a new lighting rental and dry hire company headed by Jason Watts, geared towards offering the region’s buoyant film, TV, commercial and event industry premium lighting solutions.

Their seed investments included several Astera products – Titan Tubes, AX5 and AX9 LED PARS, LunaBulbs and HydraPanels – flexible, fully wireless, innovative fixtures that have been constantly busy and have helped contribute to the company’s immediate success since launching in 2024.

Watts explained that they are dedicated to supplying film productions, gaffers, DOPs and event lighting designers with quality kit – quickly and seamlessly. Their carefully selected inventory caters to multiple sectors and hybrid applications, with a strong focus on both direct rentals and dry hire to other rental companie

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24 April 2025

UK - IPS (Impact Production Services), specialist supplier in the delivery of staging and structures, technical production, and equipment hire to the events industry has announced that its new, purpose-built warehouse in Milton Keynes is now officially open.

This opening marks a significant milestone in the company’s continued growth journey and represents the realisation of a vision first announced in February. The new facility, located just a mile from the existing site, is now fully operational and already playing a key role in supporting IPS’s expanding operations across the UK and beyond.

“Opening this new facility has been long awaited, and we’re absolutely thrilled to see the warehouse up and running,” said James Mason, founder of IPS. “This is a major investment in the future of IPS, and as we prepare for the summer, we’re excit

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24 April 2025

Finland - A large complement of Claypaky Sharpys and Tambora Batten squares illuminated the final qualifying event for Finland’s entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. 

The finale of UMK (Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu), or New Music Competition, was held at the Nokia Arena in Tampere on 8 February when broadcaster Yle treated viewers to six performances to determine who would represent Finland at Eurovision in Basel, Switzerland in May.

Lighting designer Pekka Martti and Ari Levela, creative director/founder of MOBB Helsinki Oy, designed the stage for UMK 2025. Martti chose 68 Sharpys and 46 Tambora Batten squares to light the two-hour show.

“Sharpys were used as audience ‘extras’ for songs with 360º shots and when performers went out on the catwalk,” explains Martti. “Sharpys still giv

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24 April 2025

UK - The Human League’s Generations arena tour kicked off its UK leg in December 2024. By the band’s third show they’d already elicited a five-star review from the Guardian, who described the show as “An evening of immaculate electro pop, delivered with grace, precision, and elation”.

Behind the scenes, seasoned production manager Sarah Hollis was at the helm. Hollis has been production managing tours since the late 90s and has worked with The Human League since their 2008, Steel City tour. “I was also the stage manager on that tour,” she explained, “which was a mixture of arenas, theatres and a couple of academies (and not in the order you’d like!) so let’s say it kept me on my toes, and I’ve been working with the band ever since.”

Emmy Award winning designer, Rob Sinclair, was asked by the band’s

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24 April 2025

Europe - Raw Cereal, a renowned global creative production studio, was tasked with designing a bold, immersive visual experience for Hardy's Quit!! tour. With Hardy's evolving musical style blending country, rock, and pop, Raw Cereal had to ensure the visual elements matched the energy and variety of his performances. For the second time, they relied on AV Stumpfl's Pixera media server, known for its flexibility and robust feature set.

Cort Lawrence, the tour’s creative director, explained the scope of Raw Cereal's involvement: "On the show, we handled everything from the production design, stage design, lighting design, scenic design, as well as pyro, special effects, video content, and just overall show." The team was responsible for creating a comprehensive experience that connected Hardy's new album visuals with his live performances.

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24 April 2025

USA - On its latest world tour, metal band Underoath wanted to remind its fans of where the group got its start, while celebrating the 20th anniversary of the successful album, They’re Only Chasing Safety. The set begins with what appears to be a dingy living room and gradually evolves into an expansive, modern show with intense lighting effects provided by Sonus Productions out of Moorestown, N.J.

“I always try to tell the story,” said Lenny Sasso, lighting designer for the tour and director of touring accounts at Sonus Productions. “Essentially for the band, this tour was telling the fans, ‘This is where we came from. This is how we wrote the record’.”

With the minimal initial visuals, Underoath gave a glimpse at the physical practice space in which They’re Only Chasing Safety came to life. The setlist featured a p

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23 April 2025

South Africa - After six years off the calendar, Mediatech Africa is back. The original and largest trade show for AV, broadcast, and live event tech on the continent returns from 3 - 5 June 2026 at the Johannesburg Expo Centre (Nasrec) – and it's bringing the industry back together to mark 25 years since the first show in 2001.

Mediatech Africa has been a cornerstone of the continent’s AV and broadcast industry since day one. More than just an expo, it’s a space for the industry to connect, share ideas, and stay in step with the latest tech. Its legacy is built on collaboration, community, and innovation – drawing top brands, global suppliers, and the passionate people who keep the industry moving forward.

Simon Robinson, co-owner of Mediatech, recalls: “Our first show was in 2001 at the Sandton Convention Centre. It was small, focused mos

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23 April 2025

USA - As the lighting designer for the multi-platinum Grammy winners Diamond Rio, Willis Underhill has run his dynamic lightshows in a variety of venues from arenas and music halls to festivals. But it's doubtful that any have been quite like the site of his most recent setting when he lit the band's show at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo.

First, there was the venue's size. The 19,000-capacity Frost Bank Centre, home of the San Antonio Spurs, is big by any measure. Like all massive spaces, it presents a challenge to any designer wanting to foster a sense of intimacy between the artist on stage and the audience. This is especially concerning when lighting a band like Diamond Rio that thrives on connecting to the crowd. Complicating matters even further in this case – the stage was in the centre of the rodeo floor and Underhill's FOH was two levels u

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23 April 2025

Slovenia - For the show that determined the Slovenian 2025 Eurovision entry, Crt Birsa from design studio Blackout fitted nearly 400 lighting fixtures into a 20 x 20m space in Studio 1 at the Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTVSLO) complex in Ljubljana.

A large proportion of these were Robe moving lights – with 54 MegaPointes, 54 Spiiders, 24 Pointes, 12 Fortes and 14 Tetra2s on the rig – all delivered by Slovenian rental company, Event Lighting.

Crt added these to all the fixtures that were available from RTV’s studio in-house rig, which also included two Robe BMFL Blades used as rear spotlights for the main artists.

Crt’s lighting design was developed in close collaboration with set designer Greta Godnic, an elegant diagonally orientated square LED stage – allowing it to change shape and texture – located in the middle of th

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23 April 2025

USA - When experienced theatre LD Jared Sayeg started planning the design for Topdog/Underdog – Suzan Lori-Parks’ darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity at the Pasadena Playhouse – he recognised the importance of having fixtures that “could truly accommodate both slow smooth fades and sharp shuttering as well as big strokes of light that engulf the playing space.”

It was a blend of warm and cool in constant contrast to one another, he explains: “Emulating both a tungsten quality inside, and the ability to pierce through the space with sharp cold light from the outside were key elements to the design.” Helping him achieve his goals were GLP impression X5 IP Bars.

This was Sayeg’s 20th production at the Playhouse, and a primary consideration – especially relevant to proscenium-based venues – was to control