Lighting

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04 December 2024

UK - Stephen Daldry’s National Theatre production of An Inspector Calls is a gripping and vivid adaptation of JB Priestley’s classic thriller. Having won numerous awards, including the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design, and having played to over five million theatregoers, the show has now returned for a new UK tour, with the previous one in 2022 being a record-breaking sell-out.

Having lit the original production back in 1992, and all of its subsequent runs, Olivier and Tony Award-winning lighting designer Rick Fisher is once again part of the creative team and approached White Light (WL), a d&b solutions company, to supply his rig; with the company having worked on the show since its original West End debut in 1995.

The play tells the story of Inspector Goole who arrives unexpectedly at the prosperous Birling family home where th

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04 December 2024

USA - New Hampshire-based LD Brian Courchine, designer at the well-known Northland Music and Arts Festival, has made a career out of studying the inexorable connection between music and colour.

Courchine recently designed the lightshow for a sold-out concert at Infinity Hall in Hartford by Pink Talking Fish. Among the more successful tribute bands, Pink Talking fish combines the music of Pink Floyd, Talking Heads, and Phish, each evoking a different aura – and each lending itself to a different palette. Adding a little extra spice to this particular evening was the healthy serving of Beatles songs thrown into the set.

Following the music with his colour rendering skills, Courchine immersed each song in hues that fit it like a glove. “I try to make a distinction between the three musical acts in the Pink Talking Fish show,” he explained. “Talk

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04 December 2024

USA - Astera will introduce QuikSpot, a flexible and innovative battery-powered LED lighting fixture designed to meet the demands of fast-paced environments in big events and media productions.

The QuikSpot fixture, a zoomable single-source spotlight, draws inspiration from the efficient workflow and convenient housing of Astera’s AX5 PAR light, while taking advantage of the optical quality of Titan LED Engine's PlutoFresnel.

QuikSpot’s whole design is optimised to save time and effort when both prepping and operating the product, making it a solution for busy rental and production companies.

Featuring Astera’s Titan LED Engine, the QuikSpot offers a 13º-60º zoom range, high colour rendering and a refined, homogenized and powerful "one-shadow" Fresnel optical system. These capabilities ensure a superior RGBMA colour spectrum, ideal fo

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03 December 2024

France - Ayrton, which has recently undergone a major expansion of its headquarters in Villebon-Sur-Yvette, south of Paris, showcased its new showroom and immersive museum with a series of events in November.

Over a two-week period, four events saw over 450 international guests, distributors, partners and lighting designers gather to immerse themselves in designs, innovative lighting solutions, and a world of creativity to inspire their next projects.

The new 1,200m2 x 8.5m high wide-format demonstration room, complete with luxurious theatre seating, provided the ideal forum to discover all of Ayrton’s products, while the immersive museum showcases the luminaires that have made Ayrton’s history. Guests were treated to cocktail receptions and dinner in the breakout rooms at every event which gave ample opportunity to network, ask questions and mak

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03 December 2024

Middle East - Procom Middle East has been appointed exclusive Zactrack distribution partner in the GCC and Lebanon.

Stephan Saremba, managing director of Zactrack International comments: “We are excited about joining forces with Procom and we are looking forward to this partnership. Both companies have a clear focus on providing high-quality products, excellent customer service and solutions to address customer needs in the various markets we are active in.

“With the commitment and expertise of Procom we are aiming to strengthen relationships with existing Zactrack users as well as expand into new markets. We are thrilled to welcome Procom to the Zactrack family and jointly grow the Middle East market with Zactrack solutions.”

"We have seen the demand for tracking solutions precede the product offerings available, and we are happy to ma

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03 December 2024

USA - We Belong Here has been uniting EDM lovers on Miami's Virginia Key Beach for the past three years, and has now hosted its first-ever festival experience in New York City amid Central Park’s lush greenery and panoramic skyline views.

Held October 4-6 at historic Wollman Rink, design collective Datum Creative built a fully immersive 360° experience for festival-goers, including a stunning visual tribute to the city’s skyline using Elation Pulse Bar strobe and effect lights. 

The We Belong Here festival, known for offering an intimate, distraction-free music experience with its ‘no video’ policy, provided Datum Creative the opportunity to design a stage that was as visually impactful as the panoramic views surrounding it. On the southern end of Central Park, the lighting and production team utilised a series of 26 staggered trus

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03 December 2024

UK - The Last Dinner Party, the all-female quintet winners of the Brits Rising Star honour at this year’s Brit Awards, wraps their theatrical sound around a flamboyant stage persona. For the band’s current tour, Ed Warren has delivered a show that engages the audience with distinctive flourishes.

The backdrop was adorned with a crescent moon and velvety clouds. It was hand painted by artist Beth Quinton, then scanned and digitally printed onto cloth with a definition so fine that it looks like a highly textured, hand-painted work.

Warren accents this beguiling backdrop with a variety of lighting effects that shade the image it projects. But, at other times, he blocks it out altogether with brilliant outpourings of light. “Just because a backdrop is there doesn’t mean you need to light it the whole time,” he observed. “A blackout moment is

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03 December 2024

USA - Robe returns to Las Vegas for LDI 2024 where the moving light manufacturer will be launching two new products, the T.5 Profile – a smaller version of the T1 – and the LedPointe, the new LED member of the Pointe family.

Also highlighted are four more new products seen for the first time at a US trade show – the iForte Fresnel, the Painte Fresnel, the SVOPATT and the SVB1.

Robe’s new expo live show, The Fifth Dimension, features ‘three live performers, jaw-dropping action and plenty of imagination’.

Robe’s other businesses – architectural and LED lighting manufacturer Anolis; UK-based lighting console and media server manufacturer Avolites; Australian-based power distribution gurus LSC Control Systems; and lighting control and integration solutions specialist Artistic License – will all be located on adjacent st

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03 December 2024

USA - Mega-Lite will showcase its latest products at the LDI Show. Visit Mega Systems at booth #2283, next to the Circle Bar, for the launch of five new products from the Mega-Lite family and the latest innovations from Mega Systems Inc.

Guillermo Cabada, head of marketing at Mega-Lite, said: "We are excited to be part of this year’s LDI and can’t wait to see all our customers and friends. We look forward to creating new friendships as we release five new products this year.”

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03 December 2024

USA/Europe - City Theatrical’s DMXcat-E is now shipping. The device is an expansion to City Theatrical’s DMXcat Multi Function Test Tool system of solutions that allows for Ethernet control of a lighting fixture.

In addition to all the functions DMXcat users currently enjoy, including utilisation of the DMXcat free smartphone application for iPhone and Android to plan, install, operate, and maintain theatrical and studio lighting equipment, DMXcat-E allows users to view and send Ethernet protocols, including ArtNet and Streaming ACN (sACN).

The DMXcat-E also allows users to perform cable testing of five-pin XLR and Ethernet cables. DMXcat-E can read SMPTE timecode as well as MIDI timecode and regular MIDI for audio and other entertainment projects. DMXcat-E allows for bookmarking of timecode as well as the ability to save a file for sharing and n

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02 December 2024

Europe - The ADJ Group of Companies has expanded its European headquarters in Kerkrade, the Netherlands. The ADJ Group includes ADJ Lighting, Acclaim Lighting, Duratruss, Elation and Obsidian Control Systems.

The new three-story Hall 4 building connects to the company’s existing facility and is now home to expanded R&D, QC, Service and Spare Parts departments. This substantial investment has been made to better serve customers through increased order processing capacity, expanded quality control, improved logistics, enhanced service, and ultimately greater innovation. Demonstrating the company’s commitment to the environment, the new building also features an extensive solar power installation capable of generating a large proportion of the electricity required to run the entire site.

“This is a significant project for the ADJ Group in Euro

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29 November 2024

Europe - The Pixera media server by AV Stumpfl is the backbone of Projektil’s latest Eonarium tour, an immersive projection mapping project that merges digital artistry with historic architecture across 30 churches and cultural sites in Europe.

AV Stumpfl’s real-time media processing, compositing and management system seamlessly handles the stunning visuals that bring these sacred spaces to life, transforming each venue into a canvas of light and sound.

The Eonarium Experiences tour, organised by the Zurich-based Projektil artist collective, comprises a series of immersive 360° light and sound shows in historic churches across Europe. Each 30- to 45-minute experience transforms the sacred places with digital artistry, transporting audiences into magnificent visual journeys that honour both the locations and the art.

By

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28 November 2024

Germany - On 9 November, the city of Berlin – representing the entire country – celebrated the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Instead of a central celebration at the Brandenburg Gate, this time it decided on a decentralised concept with five stages. In addition, 5,000 posters, designed by Berliners, lined up in a row to trace the course of the former wall.

The artistic collective phase7 performing.arts, led by Sven Sören Beyer, was responsible for the creative concept of the celebrations on behalf of Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH. Flo Erdmann was entrusted with the lighting design of the large main stage at the Brandenburg Gate (design by Sven Sören Beyer and Janik Albrecht), as well as the four side stages at the Futurium, Checkpoint Charlie, Paul-Löbe-Haus and Potsdamer Platz.

The stage production thus stretched over 4km throu

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28 November 2024

Luxembourg - Lemon Event Support is a creative event production company based in Luxembourg. The company started as a sound and lighting rental company in 2009 and in 2014 joined forces, skills and resources with video content production specialist Moast Creative Studio. Lemon Event Support grew, developed and enjoyed success delivering multiple events.

The first Robe moving light products onboard were Pointes. They were soon followed by VIVA CMYs, LEDBeam 150s, LEDWash 300s, LEDWash600+s, LEDBeam 350s and, most recently, T1 Profiles.

The fusion of the two companies enabled the provision of full design and production packages, with a separation also maintained within the structure, allowing each to work alone or together as needed, therefore embracing a greater range of clients. With the core of Lemon & Moast’s work being in the high-end corpor

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28 November 2024

Europe - UB40 recently completed their eight-city UK leg of the Red Red Wine tour, which ended 23 November at Belfast’s SSE Arena. Lighting designer Martin Dudley, owner of Martin’s Lights, is bringing the band closer to the audience through some adroit fixture placement, and the inspired use of Chauvet Professional.

“The Strike 4s are on the front truss as good old-fashioned crowd blinders, and the Rogue R2X washes are in three sets of four fixtures on the floor, one set behind each band riser,” detailed Dudley. “As everyone knows, there’s a lot of crowd participation in a UB40 show, so the blinders help the audience become part of things, in addition to helping the band see who they are singing to.

“On this tour, the Rogue washes do a lot of traditional ACL-style looks from the floor. Of course, with the Rogues, we’re able

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27 November 2024

The Netherlands - The Dutch National Opera & Ballet has selected 13 ETC Prodigy P2 stage machinery hoists and 32 ColorSource V fixtures for its Studio Boekman theatre.

ETC dealer Ampco Flashlight Sales worked on the installation and supplied the equipment, which includes P2-300kg hoists and ColorSource V luminaires; 20 ColorSource Spot V and 12 ColorSource Fresnel V fixtures.

The Dutch National Opera & Ballet – the largest theatre production house in the Netherlands – transformed a former municipality space into Studio Boekman, a premier black box theatre in Amsterdam. The Dutch National Opera & Ballet has a reputation for excellence and a commitment to innovation. Its investment in ETC’s products aligns with the venue’s efforts to use advanced technology and improve their efficiency.

Technical director at the National Ope

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27 November 2024

France - The closing ceremony of the 2024 WorldSkills Competition was staged in the 60,000-capacity Parc Olympique Lyonnais (OL Stadium) at the Eurexpo complex, Lyon, with Paris-based creative agency Concept K providing full scenography, lighting design, laser effects, video and art direction plus show calling.

Concept K’s artistic director Frédéric ‘Aldo’ Fayard was the closing ceremony’s show director, working closely on the lighting side with Theo Cannone who programmed and took on a lighting DoP role, ensuring that everything worked on camera for the broadcast and livestream channels.

The lighting specification included 72 iForte LTX and 150 MegaPointe moving lights among other fixtures, chosen for their power and versatility.

The Concept K team collaborated closely with event production company La Franco European Image

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27 November 2024

UK - The spectacular new production of the musical Mary Poppins is currently embarking on a UK and Ireland tour. Presented by Cameron Mackintosh and Disney Theatrical Group, this record-breaking show recently celebrated its 20th anniversary and continues to dazzle audiences on a nightly basis. Starring Stefanie Jones and Jack Chambers as Mary Poppins and Bert, it features a lighting design by Hugh Vanstone who approached White Light (WL), a d&b solutions company, to supply his touring lighting rig; with the company having also supplied the show’s first UK tour back in 2008.

As lighting designer, Vanstone finds himself returning to the show once again, having first lit a West End run five years ago. He comments: “When I first became involved in 2019 at the Prince Edward Theatre, it was in a ‘revival schedule’ so I had to tailor my ambitio

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27 November 2024

Germany - St. Laurentius Church in Westerwiehe has unveiled a new lighting installation that enhances the spiritual experience with adaptable and dynamic illumination. This transformation, coined ‘Lichterkirche’, integrates advanced Prolights technologies to redefine how visitors engage with the sacred space.

After a year-long renovation, the church now features a state-of-the-art media system by MediaKi, enabling visitors to control personalised lighting and soundscapes via a touchscreen terminal. Spearheaded by Schröder & Partner engineering firm, the project harnesses Prolights' LED fixtures to create effects that range from serene to celebratory.

Key Prolights products deployed in this project include ArcPod 15Q LED floodlights for vibrant sidewall and ceiling washes and ArcPod 27Q LED floodlights illuminating the altar dome.

Arc

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27 November 2024

USA - Elation invites lighting professionals to Experience Tomorrow at Booth 2224 at LDI in Las Vegas, where visitors can ‘embark on a journey through lighting’s next frontier’. Elation is providing an immersive booth experience that will transport them to a retro-futuristic spaceport lounge of discovery – ‘a gateway to new worlds where visitors can explore Elation’s latest advancements in professional lighting’.

The spaceport-styled booth balances cutting-edge technology with mid-century aesthetics, evoking an era when excitement for the future was at its peak. Elation product experts will be on hand to help visitors explore Elation’s latest technologies via immersive product demonstrations while ‘an otherworldly light show will dazzle every hour’.

The latest innovations across the Proteus, Fuze, KL, Pulse, Limelight, S

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26 November 2024

Egypt - 64 Digital Projection Titan 37000 WUXGA laser projectors were at the heart of a 3D projection mapping show, which took place on 26 October at the newly constructed New Administrative Capital Stadium in Egypt.

Located 30 miles east of Cairo, the stadium, aimed to be the centrepiece of the Olympic City, is the largest sports arena in Egypt and the second largest in Africa, seating 93,940 spectators.

For the show, HiLights Group installed an edge-to-edge 3D projection technique that integrated the stadium's floor and walls, into a cohesive display. “The immersive visuals, achieved through meticulous planning and cutting-edge technology, brought a 3D experience to life in a way that had never been attempted in the region,” says Yara Mahran, senior digital marketing specialist at HiLights Group.

The project aimed to create an unforgett

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26 November 2024

Germany - The 30th anniversary of Prolight + Sound is all about fresh impetus. From 8 to 11 April 2025, the expo will present a newly designed and expanded area for theatre and stage technology that combines four central aspects: exhibition, education, knowledge transfer and networking. Visitors can expect an inspiring platform for exchange between generations and industry experts, as well as a comprehensive range of innovative products and services.

An integral part of the concept is the ‘Theatre College’, which offers expert knowledge on relevant topics with high-quality, bilingual seminars and workshops – realised in collaboration with leading industry associations. The new Theatre Stage is the centrepiece, where presentations and the Theatre Talk invites exhibitors and the trade audience to exchange ideas. The Networking Area, with daily events and

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25 November 2024

UK - The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) has announced the launch of three new MA degree courses in technical theatre, with courses in Theatre Costume, Stage Management, and Performance Lighting Design commencing in September 2025.

These MA programmes aim to bridge the skills gap in the industry by training the next generation of technical theatre professionals in highly specialised areas essential to live performance. Each new course has been developed in response to the evolving demands of the industry, underscoring RADA’s commitment to equip the sector with supported technical specialists through in-depth and hands-on training.

The MA in Performance Lighting Design will enable students to have a sustained and lifelong career as lighting designers. Students will examine what it means to use lighting as a powerful creative tool for storytelli

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25 November 2024

USA - Floridian hard rockers Creed reunited and hit the road for their first tour in 11 years, creating a maelstrom of energy and momentum so successful that it propelled their music back into the Billboard charts, together with this year’s new Summer of 99, and Are You Ready? tours, which were among the fastest selling rock shows in the USA.

The production design was created by Mathias Kuhn and included 80 Robe moving lights and LED fixtures – 36 MegaPointes, 30 BMFL Spots, four BMFL FollowSpots, 10 Footsie2 LED footlights and four RoboSpot remote follow systems – all supplied by Bandit Lites out of Nashville.

The initial summer tour played a mix of arenas, theatres and amphitheatres with 10K to 36K capacities and the most recent leg stepped up to arenas, including Madison Square Garden, which were all completely sol