USA - Lighting designer Jeff Croiter and set designer Beowulf Boritt engendered the connection between actors and audience in their work for the current (and fourth) iteration of Freestyle Love Supreme at Broadway’s Booth Theatre by creating an immersive atmosphere that enveloped both the stage and the venue itself.
“We want to have a club-like look and feel throughout the theatre as the audience enters,” said Croiter, who was also responsible for lighting the three previous productions of the show. “At times throughout the show, it’s important to be able to have a connection between the audience and stage.”
Helping Croiter accomplish this is a collection of Chauvet Professional COLORado 1 Solo and COLORado 2 Solo fixtures supplied by 4Wall Entertainment. The RGBW washes connect to the audience, the moment people begin to enter the theatre.
Dra

Europe - ETC’s Eos Family of lighting controllers is known for providing comprehensive, finely tuned control for lighting rigs of all sizes. Now, with the release of Eos v3.1 – the latest major software update for the platform – that control becomes even more customisable to suit any programming style or show. Eos v3.1 is all about you, with new tools that help you set up your workspaces – programming, 3D-visualized, and physical – just the way you want them, says ETC.
In a fast-paced show environment, you need quick access to all your content. In Eos v3.1, Custom Direct Selects now support thousands of custom target lists, which you can populate with channels, groups, palettes, scenes, and more – along with new navigation tools to help you page quickly between them. A new icon library lets you add images to both Direct Selects and Magic Sheets so that you can id

Spain - Pixotope has appointed Sergio Cardenas as their regional sales manager for Southern Europe.
A specialist in real-time graphics, virtual studios, and virtual reality solutions, Sergio’s previous experience includes roles at companies such as Orad Hi-Tech Systems and Avid Technology.
Sergio comments, “Pixotope’s ground-breaking mixed reality and virtual production solutions are leading the market, and I’m really excited to help drive this moment of growth. I’ve been following their technology for a while now and look forward to being part of a team that is pioneering virtual production, providing broadcasters with the tools needed to deliver the most demanding live productions in the world.”
This new hire aligns with Pixotope’s growth plans for 2022, which include a number of projects in Southern Europe.

USA - The new IP65 rated COLORado PXL Bar 16 and COLORado PXL Bar 8 from Chauvet Professional deliver a wide range of performance features, such as seamless pixel pitch between fixtures and fast, smooth motorized tilts up to 200ﹾ whether used indoors or out.
“We developed this fixture in response to customers who wanted a motorized IP65 rated batten that could be used outdoors at remote broadcast sites, festivals, and amphitheaters, as well as at indoor applications,” said Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet. “This versatility translates into a faster ROI for our customers.”
The COLORado PXL Bar16 has features that will expand creative possibilities for lighting designers, such as its 60ﹾ, 180ﹾ and 200ﹾ motorized tilt range options. Other examples are the 5.8ﹾ to 48.8ﹾ zoom range of its 16 45-watt RGBW LEDs, and its two zones of control for pulsing effe

Germany - In September, the International Motor Show (IAA), the world's largest trade show for passenger cars, took place for the first time in Munich as a new concept, IAA Mobility, focused on future-oriented mobility. TLD Planungsgruppe was responsible for the lighting design, among other things, for the Mercedes-Benz presence and chose Elation KL series luminaires as the lighting solution.
The Mercedes-Benz stand was an impressively staged space spread across 3,000sq.m with a total of eight vehicle premieres and the auto manufacturer's electromobility portfolio presented to the specialist audience. "With the new IAA mobility concept at the Munich location, the focus was on solutions on the way to climate neutrality, which also included implementing the manufacturer's presence as sustainably as possible," reports project manager and lighting designer Alexander Orkisch from

USA - To complement the immersive video content featured on Porter Robinson’s Nurture Live Tour, Ben Coker designed and programmed a sophisticated lighting rig featuring Martin Professional MAC Ultra Performance and MAC Aura PXL fixtures controlled by a P3-50 system controller, all provided by Christie Lites.
Porter Robinson is an electronic musician and DJ who was nominated for the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording, named MTVu’s Artist of the Year in 2015 and listed among DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs for seven consecutive years. After releasing his second album Nurture in April 2021, Robinson embarked on a nationwide tour with stops in 22 states.
Featuring multiple video walls and a video floor displaying synchronized visual content ranging from abstract animated sequences to picturesque nature scenes, the Nurture Live Tour required a lighting rig to com

Spain - Artists touring to Spain will no longer need visas for short-term engagements in a dramatic change to the current onerous rules. The change follows months of work from LIVE and the Association for British Orchestras (ABO), working alongside Spanish counterparts Asociación Promotores Musicales.
The development represents a significant boost for the sector which has, as a result of Brexit and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, seen European touring become more expensive, more complicated, and more difficult to execute.
Visas have been a significant issue for Spain which, despite representing the fifth largest live music market in the world, posed the most costly and complicated visa application process across the bloc for artists looking to travel for short-term work.
Until now, artists and their promoters have had to make applications for short-term vi

USA - Strand has announced new capabilities for the Vision.Net Gateway that offer DMX connectivity as well as RDM management and dynamic DMX snapshotting without needing a separate lighting console.
“As LED architectural lighting has become more advanced and architectural luminaires with DMX and RDM have become available, the integration of these fixtures and the entertainment lighting system has become more common and more complex,” explains Jon Hole, global product manager, Strand and Zero 88 Controls and Systems at Signify.
“That’s why we are introducing the Strand Vision.Net 4-Port DMX Interface Gateway Module, an expansion module for the Vision.Net Gateway that allows users to control DMX/RDM luminaires from Vision.Net. We’re also adding basic RDM management into the Vision.Net Gateway as well as dynamic snapshotting that brings more movement and textur

USA - Reaffirming its support for the industry and confidence in its future, Chauvet Professional has announced its plans for a high-profile presence at LDI. The company’s stand (2041) has been designed around the theme Depends on Your Perspective LIGHT and will be showcasing IP65-rated and broadcast lighting fixtures.
Featured in this collection of innovations will be the new Maverick Force series of moving fixtures; the Color STRIKE M, an IP65 rated strobe/wash with two white light tubes surrounded by a colour-mixing, pixel-mappable face; and the onAir IP soft light panels, which recently made their debut on the TBS network’s broadcast of the National League Championship Series.
In addition to its product introductions, Chauvet Professional will be hosting educational sessions on Friday and Saturday betw

UK - Two FLX S24 consoles from Zero 88 have been supplied by Ross-on-Wye, UK based CJP Broadcast for lighting control in two new broadcast studios for virtual production and television at the University of Sunderland’s David Puttnam Media Centre.
CJP’s technical manager James Ruddock, who led the virtual studio installation team, chose the consoles for their power, compact size and footprint, and as, “a good value option for educational applications of all levels with its many features and great functionality as found in larger lighting desks.”
CJP Broadcast designed and specified lighting, video, and audio technical elements for both spaces, and installed, integrated, and commissioned the virtual production studio, which is a unique resource where students can gain practical experience and learn the latest state-of-the-art techniques.
Zero 88’s FLX co

Belgium - “This time, I wanted texts that stuck to the ribs,” Koen Wauters told an interviewer when discussing Tweesprong, the 13th Dutch- language LP recorded by Clouseau, the band that he and his brother Kris formed in the 1980s.
Luc Peumans and his team at Painting With Light have been lighting shows for Clouseau for 25 years, reflecting their evolving sound on stage with richly textured panoramas. Peumans visually captures the essence of Tweesprong with a design that manages to be both bold (in keeping with the spirit of the songs), and inviting to celebrate Clouseau’s return to touring after the pandemic lockdown.
“We have been lighting Clouseau for some time, so there is a connection and understanding between us,” said Peumans. “There is a natural process to the creation of a design. For this show, we drew special inspiration from the t

UK - The fourth GlasGLOW event opened hearts and minds as people engaged with the fun and imaginative light art presented by this illuminated trail concept in Glasgow Botanical Gardens in the city’s West End. Two kilometres of lighting, set pieces and narrative magic energised the dark winter evenings, and lighting designer Grant Anderson chose Robe iPointes and iSpiiders to help ramp up the drama for central installation and finale.
Grant had used iPointes for 2020’s GlasGLOW3 event, and was delighted with the results, so he spec’d the fixtures again this year to create impressive searchlight beam effects blasting through the air around the finale lighting composition, a large area involving the main lawns transformed into an ocean of pixel dots which was traversed by guests via a central walkway.
The iSpiiders were used in this same area, horizontally beaming

UK - HireHop, the company behind the cloud equipment rental software of the same name, has opened agent offices in Australia and South Africa.
Due to the ever-increasing number of HireHop users in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, it was felt as a necessity for HireHop to better serve their users by opening local offices to provide support, implementation and training, says the company.
Since its release, HireHop has grown in popularity, with not just large rental companies moving to HireHop, but also smaller ones, as HireHop also offers a free for life version, designed for small start-ups to help them grow their business.
HireHop was originally launched in 2016 in the UK to offer “future proof, powerful and affordable equipment rental software to hire companies all over the world”, and in that short space of time, it has attracted numerous large and

UAE - Lighting design consultants Foundry has confirmed confirm the expansion of its business to Dubai, building on the success of its London-based operations.
Due to a significant increase in demand for projects in the Middle East, Foundry now has a permanent Dubai presence to service the local community.
Jason Perks has been appointed by Foundry as the new director of the Dubai studio. He will be responsible for leading projects in the Middle East and other international regions, as well as being part of the strategic team to further develop and grow Foundry.
Perks comments: “Having previously lived in Dubai, leading major international brands throughout the gulf region and beyond. I am delighted to be returning to Dubai and growing Foundry’s presence in the Middle East.”
Foundry’s director Neale Smith adds: “We are delighted to have expande

USA - Main Light, which has been providing dry hire lighting rentals to the entertainment industry since 1981, has purchased a substantial inventory of Ayrton Perseo Profiles from ACT Entertainment, the exclusive distributor of Ayrton fixtures in North America.
Perseo Profile is the first compact multi-function luminaire with an IP65 enclosure rating developed by Ayrton for intensive outdoor use. Perseo’s sleek, minimalist design in lighter-weight, die-cast aluminium is equally useful for indoor applications. Its rich feature set includes framing shutters, 18 interchangeable HD glass gobos on two wheels and a continuous dynamic effects wheel. A subtractive CMY colour mixing system combines with a variable CTO and a wheel with six complementary colours to produce an infinite palette of vivid pastels and saturated colours.
“We have been working with Main Light for ma

USA - The Barclays Centrein Brooklyn and Capital One Arena in Washington reverberated with the sound of merriment during the Fall Back Comedy Jam.
Featuring a star-studded ensemble of comics led by Academy Award winner Mo’Nique, Busta Rhymes, Rick Ross, Rip Micheals, 2 Chainz, and other talents, the show served up a nonstop stream of routines.
Creating an engaging visual setting for the show, while also strengthening the connection between the performers and the audience was a Marc Wasserman lighting design that featured a collection of Chauvet Professional Rogue, STRIKE and COLORado fixtures supplied by Audio Spectrum of Boston.
“Lighting comedy is always a fun challenge,” said Wasserman who also served as technical director of the shows. “People come to see comedy because it’s a great escape from all the concerns that surround us, especially in time

UK - Entourage Pro is an initiative in production industry crew resources. This free-to-join global networking platform “bridges the gap between artists and the production world and is set to revolutionise how production personnel are sourced, accredited and availed to the wider production and music industries”. The scheme has the backing of industry names including Avolites, d&b audiotechnik, ChainMaster, MDG, Neutrik, Robe and Yamaha.
Entourage Pro draws on director Joel Perry’s 20 year-plus association with live music production, as well as its partnership with Showcase Music, which has 52 years of industry heritage to add to the platform’s offering.
“With the global events sector starting to re-emerge, we knew the time was right to launch a service that has real relevance for the live music industry,” says Perry. “It’s an idea that has been in t

UK - Halo, a central London-based lighting and AV rental and production company founded in 1989 by Yann Guenancia, has been thriving ever since, including throughout the UK’s three pandemic lockdowns, when it was one of a few very fortunate companies in a position to remain open and keep supplying equipment for a broad range of clients.
The company’s recent investment into Astera products, including Titan Tubes and AX3 LightDrops, resulted from business actually expanding during this time as new opportunities presented themselves.
The first Titan Tubes arrived in March 2021 and were for lighting in the company’s pop-up streaming studio which was built in part of the warehouse and busy throughout the lockdown period. “More and more clients booking the space for their streams, recordings and video shoots were asking for Asteras, so we decided to buy some,” de

USA - Rapper ИF toured his Clouds (The Mixtape) album in October with a raw and stylish production design created by Chris Denholm (also musical director) and Clay Joiner (also lighting designer).
To capture the narrative flow and massive energy of his music on this first ever shed tour, Chris and Clay chose over 200 Robe fixtures as the ‘lead luminaires’.
The lighting rig included 64 Robe Tarrantula wash beams, 128 Spikies, and 16 BMFL Spots plus two BMFL FollowSpots on a RoboSpot remote follow spotting system.
Chris and Clay have both worked with the rising star artist since early days trawling 300-capacity clubs with a passion, and have seen him fast-forward in presence, popularity, and credibility to now regularly play amphitheatres and arenas. The two also have a natural creative synergy and have been production collaborators for some time.

Peru - On 29 February 2020, Argentinian folk rockers Vilma Palma e Vampiros and Peruvian alt band Plutonio de Alto Grande performed at the Parque de la Exposición. A short time later, the curtain went down on live music in Peru because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite its early and efficient response to the virus, Peru was hit much harder by COVID than many other countries. It was one of the last countries to lift lockdown restrictions, but lift them it did recently, welcoming back live music at Lima’s Parque de la Exposición in the joyful and spirited Activando Cultura festival that featured five of the country’s leading national artists representing a cross section of musical genres.
The concert was the result of Rectivate, a project initiated by Dblux and its CEO, Andrés Cuadros, to achieve the recovery of the live post-pandemic concert market in Peru. Altho

Canada - A large complement of Claypaky Mini-B fixtures, supplemented by Claypaky A.leda B-EYE K20s, illuminated the set of Qui Sait Chanter, a one-of-a-kind singing competition making its debut on Quebec’s Noovo network this fall.
The Quebec version of the show is the latest in South Korea’s I Can See Your Voice franchise, which airs in 16 countries worldwide. The US series quickly became a hit in its premier season on FOX Network last fall. Its unusual concept combines songs, suspense and performance as contestants try to identify the real singer and the imposters among a group of six participants from all walks of life.
Quebec-based Omnison provided 96 Mini-Bs, Claypaky’s smallest LED moving light for the professional market, and 12 versatile B-EYE K20s, a combination wash light, beam light and effects light, to lighting designer Jonathan Lewis f

UK - Bristol-based SLX has been appointed as the official broadcast lighting provider for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. The company will provide more than 2,000 LED fixtures to a wide variety of sports over the course of two weeks, at more than 15 competition, non-competition and training venues.
The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will see around 4,500 athletes from 72 nations and territories compete from 28 July until 8 August 2022. As the biggest event ever to be held in the West Midlands, it is expected to attract more than one million spectators to the city and have a global TV audience of 1.5 billion.
SLX will provide lighting solutions, ensuring the demanding requirements for both sport and broadcast are met. Project director Russell Payne will be working with lighting designers David Lewis and Nick Collier, both of whom have decades of experienc

USA - Signify entertainment lighting brands Strand and Zero 88 have announced the latest update to ZerOS, the software for their FLX S Series and FLX consoles.
ZerOS 7.10 includes support for multiple pixel luminaires, a library update featuring a wide range of Vari-Lite and Strand fixtures, and more. The new update is available for Zero 88 lighting consoles as well as the recently announced Strand FLX S Series consoles.
“Despite the prevalence of multicell fixtures in the market, facilities have mostly been able to find full multicell control on higher end consoles,” says Jon Hole, global product manager, Strand and Zero 88 Controls and Systems at Signify. “Many of these consoles either control the luminaire as a single fixture with a large number of parameters or patch each pixel as a separate fixture, with compromises in either approach. Even consoles with sub

USA - Guests at The Birchmere were excited to see Boney James, whose inimitable jazz saxophone stylings have earned him a Soul Train Award, four Grammy Award nominations, and a fistful of gold records, when he stepped on to the stage at the live music venue outside Washington DC on 16 October.
The club’s house LD, David Bebee, is also a fan of the artist, but as much as he appreciates good jazz, he was eagerly awaiting something else when he sat down at his console at the start of the evening: the chance to see his new Chauvet Professional Maverick Force S Spot fixtures in action at a live performance for the first time.
Bebee purchased six of the just-released 350W lightweight, IP65-rated movers from JRLX for the club, which has hosted performances by the likes of Allison Krause, Dave Mathews and the Indigo Girls. His initial plans call for him to use the fixtures a

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