USA - It was quite a run for the Brummies in 2019. Since making a splash a year earlier with their breakout LP Eternal Reach, the indie folk trio has maintained a global touring schedule appearing at festivals from Electric Picnic to Bonarro. The rapidly rising band capped off the year with a homecoming of sorts, returning to their native Birmingham, Alabama to perform a NYE show at the city’s Saturn live music venue. Contributing to the good time atmosphere was a Jessica Sanders designed lightshow that featured a whirlwind of colours along with some intense audience lighting, all provided by a house rig anchored by Chauvet Professional Rogue, COLORado, and STRIKE fixtures. Positioned overhead on ceiling mounted truss structures, the rig gave Sanders the opportunity to create dome-like colour panoramas over the stage. “It was a really good arrangement that
UK - Lighting and video specialist Colour Sound Experiment supplied lighting equipment, LED screen, rigging and crew to the most recent UK leg of Respect: The Aretha Franklin Songbook tour which has just finished. The vibrant and animated two-hour live concert was created by Adrian Grant (producer of Thriller Live) and directed / choreographed by Tiffany King, celebrates the huge success and songs of Aretha Franklin - the Queen of Soul. It was delivered by three leading vocalists - Stacy Francis, Tanya Edwards and Cleo Stewart - together with a live band, a gospel choir and ‘preacher man’ AJ Lewis. Colour Sound had supplied the tour earlier in the year, so production manager Aaron Booth again returned to Haydn Cruickshank and the team in West London. For this one, they were also asked to supply a lighting and visuals director, so regular Colour
USA - Lighting designer Mason Delman lit an NYU Tisch School of the Arts production of Legally Blonde with Elation Artiste Picasso moving heads and praised the multi-functionality and responsiveness of the high-performance LED profile luminaire. 4Wall Entertainment in New York, with Al Ridella as key account manager, provided 10 Artiste Picasso fixtures for the Tisch New Theatre student organisation production at the Skirball Centre in November. Delman comments, “This is a theatrical show and the Picasso fit in well. It was a bit smaller and we didn’t need the extra bells and whistles that the Monet has. Being compact was convenient and better fit our needs.” At roughly two an a half hours, Legally Blonde is not a short, easy-to-light pop musical yet a fairly complicated show as Delman explains. “Most musicals that are adapted from movies are a b
Australia - The International Queen of Burlesque, Dita Von Teese, returned to Australia with Glamonatrix, her most lavish touring show to date. It was the first outing for Phaseshift Productions’ Claypaky Sharpy Plus fixtures. Dita’s production manager and lighting designer, Alex Goldberg, was thrilled to have the new fixtures at the beginning of her world tour. In Glamonatrix, fans were treated to a full evening of comedy and striptease that celebrated diverse beauty. “This is the type of show that provides a lighting designer with the opportunity to be an active element in the presentation itself,” says Goldberg. “Often, when you have one performer on stage the lighting becomes an essential part of the show that interacts with the dancers’ performances, keeps everyone looking glamorous, and transforms the entire atmosphere to create beautifu
UK - The team behind the ground-breaking Blackout installation have released the results of the UK Backstage Entertainment Industry’s Evaluation on Mental Health Awareness. This pioneering study was launched alongside the acclaimed 6-minute immersive experience at September’s PLASA Show, held at London Olympia. Funded by leading industry associations PLASA, the ALD, the ASD, the ABTT and the PSA, the academic analysis was conducted by Dr Paul Hanna, research director in clinical psychology at the University of Surrey. Hanna has worked closely with Blackout’s core creative team since they launched the installation in May 2019 at The Guildford School of Acting.
According to the survey, the prevalence of mental health issues among those working in the UK technical, backstage and entertainment industry is far higher than the national avera
South Africa - DWR’s first sale of Astera Titan Tubes in the country was to freelance gaffer Andre Beumer from Just Light It in Pretoria, who works extensively with several leading DoPs and other clients in the film, TV, commercials and video industry. No sooner had DWR and Astera struck the distribution deal, Andre was on Duncan Riley’s doorstep, and in fact the eight-way Titan Tube kit was DWR’s original demo kit, which he purchased on the day it arrived in their warehouse in Johannesburg! Duncan commented: “I always knew Astera was going to be popular, but even I was taken aback by Andre’s enthusiasm. He rocked up, virtually snatched them from us, transferred the money and disappeared in a cloud of dust up the road,” he says laughing. “I think he was straight out on a shoot that day using them.” “They are totally amazing tools,” confirms An
Singapore - When Singapore-based lighting design company, Roadie Pte purchased a substantial number of Ayrton lighting fixtures from exclusive local distributor, Total Solution Marketing Pte, it was an opportunity to find out what persuaded them to choose their 24 MiniPanel-FX and 18 Diablo-TC fixtures. Roadie’s professional team of individuals provides lighting design for productions, shows and events locally in Singapore and internationally. They were pleased to explain that the fixtures had been purchased primarily to support their lighting designs and that they chose Ayrton for good reason: “As lighting designers who are constantly on the ground, we look out for multiple factors in our equipment - quality of light, flicker-free LED sources, uniqueness, versatility and form factor are vital. The quality of light from both Diablo-TC and MiniPanel-FX is superb. The fixt
USA - Employees from around the country convened at Bandit Lites Nashville location for the company’s annual general meeting. A special celebration was held for Eric ‘Rock’ Shafferman, who has surpassed 40 years with Bandit Lites. Shafferman’s storied tenure at Bandit includes touring with Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Rogers and Alabama as well as working the Super Bowl, Bonnaroo, Farm Aid and President George W. Bush’s inauguration. “I first met Rock in 1979 when he joined the Bandit family as a driver on Kenny Rogers,” said Bandit chair Michael T. Strickland, a longtime friend of Rock. “He quickly climbed the ladder and became one of the top lighting technicians in the industry. Everyone that knows Rock simply loves him. I have never heard Rock speak ill of anyone, and he has a work ethic and ability second to none.” Craig Richter (lighting designe
UK - Pantomime season in the UK and Ireland brought another crop of hilarity and slapstick to stages up and down the countries. One of the most high-profile presentations for this season was UK Productions’ Peter Pan at Blackpool Grand Theatre, directed by Anthony Williams and lit by Andy Webb. Andy specified all-Robe LED fixtures with the T1 Profile at the core of his lighting scheme. The design also included Spiider wash-beams, ParFect 100s and 150s, DL4S Profiles, LEDWash 300s and CycFX 8s. Andy has a lot of experience in lighting the world of pantos, which requires some classic theatre treatments, but also leaving room for experimentalism and fun. He has also worked at the Grand Theatre before, an original Frank Matcham designed house - and now a Grade II Listed building - dating back to 1894 that is exceptionally tight for space when staging comple
Australia - For the tenth year in a row, AGB Events has produced its Lights of Christmas spectacular in Sydney. It has become a tradition, and a much-anticipated event for families throughout the city - and beyond. The first Lights of Christmas was established by AGB Events in 2010 with the support of the NSW State Government. “We take great pride in creating meaningful and memorable public celebrations that draw communities together so successfully that they become an integral part of the cultural landscape,” comments Anthony Bastic, CEO and creative director of AGB Events. “That’s what Lights of Christmas has become.” “While it’s a unique event, Lights of Christmas is representative of the kind of events we’ve created for governments and city/state councils around the world - not just Australia, but the United States, Europe
UK - For the past seven years, an impressive selection of high-profile bands and artists has taken to the Great Hall stage at Central Hall Westminster for BBC One’s live New Year’s Eve concert. Most recently, multi-award winning singer Craig David entertained the nation in the countdown to 2020. As the in-house technical production partner at Central Hall, White Light (WL) provided all lighting and rigging for this live show, produced by BBC Studios for BBC One. Performing with his band, the Craig David Rocks Big Ben Live celebrations kicked-off with a string of Craig’s biggest hits, before the clock struck midnight. Then following the Mayor of London's New Year's Eve Fireworks, BBC One coverage returned to Central Hall for one of Craig’s world-renowned TS5 DJ sets to close the party. WL’s venue technical manager at Central Hall, James Thurlow
Canada - LD Érik Nowosielski-Lamoureux lit a Christmas concert at Montreal’s Salle Marguerite Bourgeoys performing arts centre by Petit Chanteur de Laval with 30 Chauvet Professional Rogue moving fixtures in his design. “My Rogue R2 Spots were on cases, and rather than space them evenly, I had almost all of them go to the right to accent the band,” he explains. “A pair of R2 Spots were placed close to the band and behind them, so I could create dramatic effects back lighting them. Another R2 Spot was at the downstage right corner, and two of the units were placed along the stage right deck for side lighting the choir. My sixth R2 Spot was on the downstage left corner for lighting solos, side lighting, and audience lighting.” In addition to the Rogue R2 Spots, Nowosielski-Lamoureux’s rig featured eight Rogue R3 Spot, 10 Rogue R2 Wash and six Rogue R2 Beam f
USA - Design group Lightswitch first turned to Elation Professional’s Fuze Wash 575 LED white light luminaire in 2017 and again utilised the auto show-optimised moving head to light three top car manufacturer booths at the 2019 edition of the LA Auto Show. “The Fuze Wash 575 is one of a very small number of automated LED fixtures that we use extensively in the auto show market,” states Chris Medvitz, partner and principal at Lightswitch. “Because of its light weight, feature set and price point, it has very quickly become a workhorse in automotive lighting for shows.” Held 22 November to 1 December at the LA Convention Centre, Lightswitch used the Fuze Wash 575 on the Subaru, Nissan and Infiniti booths at this year’s LA Auto Show. Medvitz designed the booth lighting working with booth designers George P. Johnson on the Nissan and Infiniti booths, and desig
Denmark - For Alphabeat’s two arena shows in November, Theis Wermuth of Create This relied on trussing to envelop his client in a tulip blub style configuration of light created with 78 Chauvet Professional Rogue R1 Wash fixtures. He arranged his trussing on four high columns on either side of the stage, with the area over centre left empty to create the effect of cradling the band in light. “Our overall idea with this design was to create an open, yet sharp, look,” says Wermuth. “We had more or less turned the trussing up side down, so it surrounds the stage and band below them - and not from above them as you usually see on tours. There were some challenges in creating this trussing concept, but Nordic Rental of Denmark, which supplied us with the rig, came up with the perfect customised solution.” Wermuth had the fixtures mounted on modular pipes wi
USA - Mexican super-group Bronco recently played at the The Rave/Eagles Club in Milwaukee, much to the delight of their legion of fans. Known for their modern interpretation of grupero music, which blends elements of rock, cumbia, norteño, and mariachi, the band adds modern instruments and incorporates elements of pop to create a big, bold sound. Miguel Angel Pecina Torres, the band’s lighting designer, matched this sound with some power-packed looks when the appeared recently at the club’s spacious (25,000 sq. ft.) Eagle Ballroom. Helping him in this endeavour was a rig anchored by Chauvet DJ fixtures supplied and installed by High Frequency Productions. “Bronco’s music is really interesting,” said Juan Ocampo, owner of High Frequency Productions, who specified the fixtures for the show. “They blend a variety of traditional genres to create something com
UK - IPS is the first rental stockist of the new SGM G-7 BeaSt fixture. This LED moving head with beam and strobe effect incorporates a parabolic reflector, which creates zoomable collimated beam effects with a 10,000-lumen pixel controllable strobe in the centre. IPS MD James Mason says: “I was really impressed with these units from the first time I saw them, as they are able to create such a wide range of effects. Also, they are incredibly bright - and fully IP66-rated.” The G-7 BeaSt fixtures will join a well-established range of SGM products already working hard in the IPS hire inventory, including G-Profile Turbo, P-5 and Q-7 fixtures. MD Mason adds: “There has been a lot of anticipation following previews at PLASA Show, and then the big reveal at LDI - our customers are already specifying the G-7 BeaSt on shows for 2020.” (Jim Evans)
Poland - Warsaw’s PGE Narodowy Stadium scored a first in its history when it sold out a concert of Polish artists to an enthusiastic audience nearly of 60,000 fans. Co-headliners hip-hop artist Taco Hemingway and pop artist Dawid Podsiadlo are recognised as a new wave of talented Polish performers so Pawel ‘Spider’ Pajak gave them the star treatment with a complement of Claypaky fixtures lighting their acts. “This was a very special gig for the music industry in Poland; I would say it was a kind of game changer for Polish artists and the music market here,” says Pajak, who is founder of creative collaboration platform, Percepto [LAB]. He acted as lighting designer, production designer and creative visual director for the show and is a long-time collaborator of Podsiadlo’s. “The overall design of the show was based on a huge LED canvas with a total width o
Australia - Sydney’s Rooty Hill suburb is now home to a new $100m theatre space. The 2,000-seat proscenium arch theatre will be able to house large-scale musicals, ballet, opera companies and symphony orchestras. HF Events Pty, headed by Colin Baldwin, was tasked with supplying and installing the theatrical lighting, dimmers, power and lighting control system. “When we were asked to look at the design and installation of power distribution and dimming for the new Coliseum Theatre, we immediately went to LSC Lighting,” comments Colin. “I have a long-standing relationship with LSC and have great respect for their product.” Consequently, a shopping list of LSC products was made including 240-way Redback Patch Panels, Redback 36-way Patch Panels, MDRX 10-way data splitters (RDM-enabled), GenVi 12 x 10A dimmer/ power distribution and of course, APS 12
Luis Varona, who has spent over 15 years as an executive at leading companies in the region, has joined Chauvet Professional as business development manager for the Caribbean and Central America. He will be responsible for Chauvet Professional and Chauvet DJ products in that market. “Luis is well-known and respected throughout the region,” says Stéphane Gressier, Chauvet’s international sales director. “As a result of his varied experience, he has a deep, personal understanding of how lighting fixtures are used in virtually every type of application, His knowledge and insights, as well as his passion for excellence, will be invaluable in enhancing our level of support and service to the customer.” Varona comes to Chauvet from PSAV, where he served as a regional senior project manager. Prior to that, he spent a decade at Baynon, Puerto Rico-based Musique Xpress, In
Switzerland - On 22 November 2019, the Maag Music Hall in Zurich hosted the final of Switzerland’s Next Top Model, broadcast live on the ProSieben TV channel. Estec Visions, a creative company specialising in the events field, took care of the set up by choosing Prolights Digistrip IP 100. Andi Gschwend, project manager for Estec Visions, comments: “Our motto is ‘Aesthetics Meets Tecnology’. We believe that every single work of art is the development of a precise vision. Our goal is to implement that vision and then make it possible. Prolights Digistrip IP 100 perfectly suited our needs because they’re a creative solution to satisfy today’s stage design high standards. The fixtures were controlled through Art-Net with Mad Mapper and the final result exceeded expectations. Thanks to Plusmusic, Prolights’ distributor for Switzerland, who provided con
USA - Peter L. Spadaro III was just about to take a break from a busy touring schedule when he got a call to light a show by the up and coming jam-funk band Goose. “As a fan, I like their music,” says Spadaro. “They also pull a lot of different influences into their sound, which opens up a lot of creative opportunities for you as a designer. They’re really a lighting designer’s dream.” At Manhattan’s Mercury Loungs, Spadaro had to overcome one significant obstacle: the small stage. He was able to meet this challenge with help from a floor package supplied by Andrew Goedde, the band’s regular designer, that featured eight Rogue RH1 Hybrid, six Rogue R1 Spot, and six Rogue R2 Wash fixtures, as well as two STRIKE 4 units. “I was glad to have these fixtures from, Andrew’s floor package,” says Spadaro. “This was my first time lighting these gu
USA - As one of the lighting designers at a dynamic and active house of worship, Nic Vazquez is accustomed to creating live production designs. It’s something he helps facilitate every week at Willow Crystal Lake. Recently, Vazquez had to dig deep into this well of experience, when he had to adopt a different mindset by lighting the church’s first all-acoustic service in its new building. “We’ve always done more anthemic style experiences, where I build visual momentum around the intensity of the music,” said Vazquez. “However, with the acoustic sets, I didn’t have the same musical builds. Instead I had to centre the design around long cue times, gradual colour shifts, and more subtle details to allow the lighting to accentuate the music.” Vasquez met this challenge with help from an extensive collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures. His rig for th
USA - Seth Jackson was called on by Premier Productions to design lighting for a special fall concert series that saw three of the most prolific bands in Christian music tour the US to packed houses. The special USA arena tour featured multi-platinum-selling artists Casting Crowns, Hillsong Worship, and Elevation Worship, three top acts that brought together their devoted fan bases all under the same roof for a night of music, worship and praise. Jackson designed an adaptable rig using 51 Elation Proteus Rayzor 760 and 20 Smarty Hybrid LED moving heads, along with 12 Elation Protron Eclypse multi-effect lights, and then turned it over to each group’s design team to put their own different touch on. Lighting supply was by Bandit Lites. The 17-date circuit kicked off 1 November in Memphis, Tenn., making stops in major cities across the country before culminating in H
UK - Technical event specialists LFPS has been helping bring a suitably seasonal look to the arcade situated on Piccadilly in Central London in celebration of its 200th Burlington Christmas. Working with creative design agency L’Atelier 5 and expert paper artist Andy Singleton, LFPS leant their extensive rigging and technical expertise to help bring the installation to life. Running the entire length of the grade II listed building, the design features a giant golden Christmas ribbon, pirouetting amongst snowflakes and fairylights above the splendiferous shopping arcade below. Colour coded to match the arcade’s architectural styling the golden hues and crisp, white snowflakes delivered a wonderfully festive look, floating effortlessly overhead. Speaking about the project, LFPS managing director Rob Myer says, “It’s always exciting to be a part of high-profile
