USA - The Brothers: Celebrating 50 Years of The Allman Brothers Band show was staged at New York’s Madison Square Garden just before the state went into lockdown. Lighting designer Chris Ragan utilised over 100 Robe fixtures in his design for the epic four-hour performance which delighted Allman Brothers and Allman Brothers Band (ABB) fans from several generations and all walks of life. The Brothers’ cult status and their dynamic fusion of blues, jazz and country with their own distinctive rock sound have resulted in their music and influence being relevant long after their first period of ‘glory days’ in the 1970s. Chris has many connections and crossovers with several current members of the ABB, which has been a client for lighting rental vendor BML-Blackbird for 30 years - showing some impressive client loyalty. When the late Earl “Pappy”
UK - Robe UK has appointed Theresa Gibson as head of marketing. Theresa has worked across a mix of sectors including marketing / live event agencies, and also in the world of entertainment technology for a distribution company, all of which will be a “massive asset” to Robe UK, comments managing director Mick Hannaford. “Lights set the scene, create atmosphere and can really bring any environment to life, so to be working with a market-leading moving light manufacturer is fantastic,” she commented. Theresa will be based at Robe UK’s HQ in Northampton. The scope of her role there will include coordinating marketing activities across events, tradeshows and exhibitions, digital and social media and a range of integrated brand communications. She will be collaborating closely with her colleagues at Robe UK as well
USA - Elation Professional continues its Elation Hour online presentation series Wednesday, 29 April, where three of America’s top lighting designers for television – Victor Fable, Joshua Hutchings and Ed Motts – join hosts John Dunn and Matthias Hinrichs for a Tools & Techniques discussion about the ins and outs of television and broadcast lighting. The free webinar will take place at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time in the U.S. The Elation Hour is a weekly virtual presentation that delves into the more personal side of product development while also addressing the technology and process behind the Elation’s most popular product series. The series also includes discussions with some of our industry’s most noted designers who share their experience across the broad scope of entertainment lighting. RSVP
USA - Rising high over the flatland at the mouth of the Manitowoc River as it flows into Lake Michigan, the Briess Grain Tower in Manitowoc, WI, has served a familiar landmark for sailors and townspeople for generations. On the night of Friday 10 April, the venerable structure offered another kind of hope and reassurance. From 7:45 to 11 pm, it glowed in blue against the clear, dark sky as a show of solidarity and support for the healthcare workers and front-liners during the Covid-19 pandemic. Local businesses, The Wharf Manitowoc, Powerhouse Productions and Brennan Seehafer Productions, came up with the idea of lighting the tower, along with another landmark, the decommissioned WWII submarine, USS Cobia, to honour these unsung heroes. “They are making great sacrifices to ensure that things continue to function during the pandemic, and this is a way for our communi
South Africa - The SOS Charity Fund was established in December 2016, and from the start was met with generous support from the entertainment industry. The charity is now pleased to donate R50,000 to Feed our Crew, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that is providing temporary support through food vouchers to the technical and casual event crews during the Covid-19 lockdown period. While DWR Distribution established, administer and are a contributor to the SOS Charity Fund, the entertainment industry has fully participated in fundraising events. “Although DWR Distribution is also going through a tough time, the money we’ve raised for the SOS belongs to the people and not to us,” said Duncan Riley of DWR. “The SOS was established to help people in times like these, this is what it’s all about.” When all events were abruptly shut down due to Covid-19, Tam
UK - LSi is sad to report the passing of lighting designer and Society of Television Lighting And Design (STLD) committee member Chris Harris. He passed away on 7 April whilst being treated for COVID-19 and associated complications. Harris had over 45 years of experience in the entertainment and broadcast industries, including 14 years at BBC's Pebble Mill Studios in Edgbaston. He had worked at most of Birmingham's leading theatres, including the Birmingham Hippodrome, the New Alexandra Theatre, the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and the ICC. He also managed the TV studio and theatre technical departments at Rugby School for many years. Most recently, Harris was the lighting director for Channel 5's The Gadget Show. The STLD says in a statement: "Chris was a tireless member of our committee, giving untold hours of his time to it and travelling many m
USA - Created at The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, Bliss is a new musical fantasy full of emotion and humour that shatters assumptions about what a fairytale princess should be. The empowering tale had its world premiere run 7-23 February and was enthusiastically received for its catchy music and non-traditional storyline, plus its scenic and lighting design. The unorthodox ethos carried into the lighting rig as well where lighting designer Yael Lubetzky incorporated Elation Rayzor 760 luminaires in her design, an LED moving head fixture you more typically find in a concert rig, which is exactly where the LD first discovered it. “I saw a Rob Thomas concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York and saw the Rayzor 760 and thought these are exactly what we want in the show,” Yael shares. “When I saw the units sparkle effect, I was so surprised. I had never seen anyth
USA - Every day, dancers at Sarasota Contemporary Dance, in Sarasota, FL, gather at the company’s studio to rehearse intricately choreographed routines that will later be performed before appreciative audiences. On some occasions, the company’s studio in Sarasota’s bustling Rosemary District, will be turned into a performance space, either for a special dance, or a “behind the scenes” event put on for donors. When this happens those in attendance are invariably dazzled, not only by the graceful moves of the dancers, but also by the colourful and elegantly balanced lighting created with 20 Chauvet Professional Ovation P-56FC fixtures supplied by the New York-based Lighting Design Group. The studio, which opened in 2018, is stylish and comfortable, but its relatively low ceiling presents a challenge for anyone lighting a dance performance. Fixtures that are rel
Australia - Astera AX1 Pixel Tubes are doing their bit - both as energising effects luminaires and as practical lights - marking out the social distancing spaces - onstage at Delivered Live, a new performance-based web streaming concept for music and comedy. The show is broadcast weekly from The Studio at Harry The Hirer Productions’ HQ in the Richmond district of Melbourne. The project is being driven by artist agency Handshake Management, technical and production rental company Harry The Hirer Productions and The Victoria State Government, offering a mix of entertainment from some of Australia’s established and rising star artists who are based in and around the city. It’s also designed as a fundraiser to provide vital financial assistance for those directly impacted by the devastating effect of the Coronavirus pandemic on the live show and events
UK - Various landmark installations that have been lit with Anolis lighting fixtures have been turning blue on Thursday evenings for the Clap For Carers initiative in support of the National Health Service (NHS) and other essential workers. This includes Rhyl Promenade in North Wales where several key features are lit; Bromley High Street in Kent, a major thoroughfare in the heart of the city and popular live music venue the O2 Guildhall in Southampton, Hampshire. All the Anolis-lit areas across the seaside town of Rhyl are turned blue for the NHS including the Pavilion Theatre, Clock Tower, Sky Tower, waterfall, and seafront viewing shelters. The 80m-tall Sky Tower is highlighted with ArcSource Outdoor 48MC RGBW integrals which transform it into an elegant beacon of light at night with smooth and even coverage of lumens up and down the mast. The current Pa
UK - Stage Electrics has supplied High End SolaFrame 1000s to the Gala Theatre Durham, owned and operated by Durham County Council. The company’s Davie Bell says Stage Electrics “were able to demonstrate a number of fixtures to the Gala Theatre and assist in their process of choosing the right solution for their venue.” Tez Errington, the acting technical manager at the Gala Theatre who made the purchase decision, explains: “This unit was considerable quieter than its rivals, offering more features, with clean cut colours and great shutter control, too. But the thing that sold it was both the light output and how quiet the fixture was.” The venue purchased eight in total with flight cases. “Despite the difficulties facing everyone in the industry, I am pleased Stage Electrics was able to deliver these units ready for when the venue re-opens - let’s
USA - John Clark, the production ministry lead at Red Rocks Church in Littleton, has had to dig deep and explore new ways of doing things now that worship services have moved completely online. On Easter Sunday, Clark created a rich and engaging visual setting for Red Rocks’ online service that was, at once, powerfully moving, yet warm and intimate enough to engage viewers through sometimes small, mobile screens. Live-streamed on Living as One and featuring a 50-member ‘virtual choir’, the harmoniously balanced service was illuminated by a rig that featured Chauvet Professional COLORado, Ovation and Rogue fixtures. “I like to think of challenges as opportunities,” explains Clark. “Lighting a completely streamed or online service definitely changes the game. A fair amount of principles stay the same, but by and large LDs are called upon to ‘throw out the p
USA - Popular Nashville bar, restaurant and live music joint Rebar At The Dam has recently upgraded its stage with a new AV system. Featuring a rig comprised mainly of ADJ fixtures, the new setup offers touring quality production to the local performers and visiting artists who play at the venue each week. Owned and operated by Nashville entrepreneur Rhonda Russell, Rebar At The Dam is a sister location to the original Rebar that has been a staple of Nashville’s Midtown area for the past decade. Located on the outskirts of town beside the J. Percy Priest Dam, the new Rebar opened a couple of years ago and is a considerably bigger facility with plenty of space to host live music. However, bands playing the venue had to bring in their own PA and had very little in the way of lighting, which led Rhonda to look at installing a permanent AV system towards the end of last year.<
World - Chroma-Q is offering free weekly training webinars on a number of lighting topics. The multi-award winning LED specialists kicked off the series last week with a webinar about LED Colour in Practice. This included an overview of some of the technologies that go into creating tools for discerning designers, why small details can make such a big difference when it comes to the end result. “Supporting our wonderful industry and the individuals in it is our top priority,” explains Paul Pelletier, global brand manager. “It is important to us to use this time wisely and as an opportunity to help our industry learn new skills, as well as build on existing ones. We were delighted with the turnout of our first webinar and hope to reach even more people with
Belgium - A short time ago, a group of road cases loaded with gear left the Sound&Co warehouse for what was supposed to be a four-month rental. Then the Covid-19 outbreak brought live events in Belgium to a sudden halt. Although the lockdown is still very much in place, the cases are now playing a new role in bringing entertainment to the people. This time as backdrops in the improvised livestream studio that Sound&Co has set up in its 1,200sq.mfacility. Quite a few people have been seeing those cases-turned-backdrops too. At last report, Sound&Co had streamed seven post-lockdown performances by DJs like Kaaprisun, Twallie, Lloyds and Sound of the Basement. Supporting them is a rig anchored by four Chauvet Professional Rogue R2 Wash fixtures and run with a ChamSys MagicQ MQ80 console. “We wanted to create the look and feel of a club or party with
USA - On 22 April, Elation Professional is launching The Elation Hour, a weekly virtual presentation that will delve into the more personal side of product development while also addressing the technology and process behind the company’s most popular product series. Also on the schedule are a series of discussions with some of the industry’s most noted designers who plan to share their own personal insight and experience across the broad scope of entertainment lighting. Hosted each Wednesday by Elation national sales manager John Dunn and global product manager Matthias Hinrichs, the first Elation Hour presentation - Behind the Products - R&D - will take place on 22 April at 10:00am PT (6pm BST). The free webinar is an opportunity to hear about the more human aspect of a busy R&D department while gaining insight into the how and why behind some of E
Europe - From mid-February to early March, German-Canadian singer Alice Merton was on the road to promote her debut album Mint +4. Merton is also known in Germany as a jury member of the popular TV show The Voice of Germany. Her Mint +4 tour took the artist to Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Denmark. The artist presented her repertoire of indie pop songs supported by a versatile lighting setup from GLP. The lighting and set design was a co-production between Merton's manager Paul Grauwinkel - with whom she also runs her own label Paper Plane Records International - and lighting technician Maximilian Hermsdorf, in close coordination with Merton herself. It was Hermsdorf who joined the tour as lighting operator. The technical team around Merton and Grauwinkel had been in constant communication about new and existing products from the GLP ca
USA - Bandit Lites’ Nashville shop is being transformed with an expansion that encompasses the entire building and multiple departments. With a new suite of offices for the sales team, a new Technical Service Division shop and a prep floor area growing from 18,000sq.ft to 44,000sq.ft, the expanded shop will be better equipped to handle Bandit’s business including world tours, corporate events, festivals and system installations. “Bandit had outgrown its current space,” comments Bandit Lites general manager Mark Steinwachs. “Making this move gives us more room to prep ever-growing shows as well as still giving us room to grow in the future.” Bandit’s team has been practising social distancing and adhering to current state requirements, and select members were able to proceed with streamlining the expansion of the spaces including a mezzanine for i
USA - Owing to the social distancing required to fight the coronavirus pandemic, live-streamed video has seen a surge in popularity over recent weeks. Individuals, organisations and corporations are all using this technology to stay in touch with their audiences, but many aren’t equipped with the necessary lighting technology to do it effectively. For this reason, ADJ has created a series of new lighting packages that are designed to make it easy and affordable for both individuals and organizations to enhance the visual appearance of their video recordings and live streams. “With a bewildering amount of choice available, ADJ wants to make investing in the right live stream lighting as simple and cost effective as possible,” explains ADJ USA’s national sales manager, Alfred Gonzales. “Our new Live Stream Lighting PAKs feature carefully selected bundles of lig
Sweden - Riksteatern, the Swedish National Touring Theatre, was due to take its production of Love Songs on a three month tour of Sweden from early March, with lighting director and designer, Jörgen ‘Hajen’ Haimanas, choosing six Ayrton Diablo LED profile luminaires as a major feature of his lighting design, in what would be Diablo’s first national tour of Sweden. Due to the current Covid-19 crisis, the tour was only able to complete the first five dates before it was necessarily postponed by lockdown. Love Songs is described as a ‘sentimental love bomb’, a musical evening depicting love in all its forms, featuring the musical talents of Arja Saijonmaa, Frida Beckman, Lisa Hu Yu, Robert Hannouch and Peter Järn. Haimanas used his considerable lighting talents, to create an incredible array of looks using the six strategically placed Diablo units in a desig
France - The coronavirus pandemic has already seen many examples of those in the entertainment technology and production industry putting their skills and resources to good use - from morale-raising actions to physical contributions and manufacturing items to aid the massive efforts worldwide to contain the spread of infection. In normal times, S-Group is a busy full production and rental operation with four regional bases and a HQ in Alès, north of Nimes in the South of France, and this time of year they’d have an average of 20 tours on the road as well as servicing numerous long term rentals. However, with the live show and event Industry at a complete standstill, S-Group’s manufacturing division has instead energised its 3D printing capabilities to assist in producing protective visors for workers engaged in the various frontline healthcare and first response s
Mexico - Verge Aero recently added a new dimension to Mexico’s biggest and oldest carnival. A 130-drone display, in the skies above Mazatlán’s Olas Altas bay, delivered a spectacular new twist to the town’s traditional six-day carnival celebration, Carnaval de Mazatlán. Situated on Mexico’s west coast, Mazatlán has one of the world’s greatest carnival traditions. Held annually since 1898, marking Mardi Gras and the start of Lent, Mazatlán’s exuberant six-day carnival is reputed to be the world’s third largest, after Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans. This year, Verge Aero’s drone technology, specially developed for live entertainment productions, was brought in to precede the spectacular firework display by local pyro supplier, Pyromar. Verge Aero worked together with local partner, Sky Precision, to create the light show and coordinate it with the hug
USA - ETC has introduced On Headset, a new audio series that allows listeners to programme a major theatrical production in realtime whilst listening to the audio cues of a lighting designer. “Our goal with this project is to fill the gap between the traditional classroom or ‘e-training’ methods of console learning and actually sitting behind an Eos desk in a theatre,” explains ETC senior field service engineer Victor Seastone, “This is a console flight simulator to help with both.” The series features esteemed Broadway lighting designer Ken Billington and a lightly curated recording of the headset conversations during technical rehearsals of the New York City Centre Encores’ Me and My Girl in May 2018. The New York City Centre, a well-known and distinctive theatre, welcomes 300,000 visitors annually to its establishment which was founded
Australia - On 15 April, Australian skies were lit up in support of those fighting the COVID-19 global pandemic whilst also drawing attention to the plight of the country’s entertainment industry. Organised by ALIA, the event also served as a morale boost for the lighting industry. Production companies, sole traders, distributors and manufacturers all joined in the effort. The brief was fairly open being just colourful with a bit of movement and initially, premises only were to be lit up. But many companies were able to light significant landmarks including hospitals, theatres, town halls, sports stadiums and even a lighthouse. Many sought permission from the aviation authorities to project high into the night skies. In an act of generosity, Brisbane-based Gobotech offered free gobos to those taking part. ALIA was “blown away by the number of participant
