France - On 27-28 November, ETC will be teaming up with Avab Transtechnik France at JTSE, and this year ‘an exciting announcement’ will be made exclusively at the show. High End Systems will also be exhibiting at the annual tradeshow, which takes place at Porte de la Chapelle in Paris. Visitors to the stand - 140-141/162-163, Dock Pullman - will gain an overview of the product range, including the latest innovations and lighting solutions by ETC and HES. In Dock Eiffel, in-depth product presentations will also be available in JTSE’s Black Boxes, an area dedicated to demonstrating lighting equipment in optimal conditions. Amongst the products on display and available for demonstrations are ETC’s Eos family of consoles - Eos Ti, Gio @5 and Ion Xe; ETC’s newly launched Relevé Spot fixture and High End Systems’ SolaFrame 3000, SolaFrame 750 fixtures and Hog 4-
USA - Opportunity knocks in different ways. Eric Price was enjoying his summer last year when he got a call from his old friend David “Suge” Jun, whom he had worked with on tours in the past. The guitar tech for Taking Back Sunday, Jun told his friend that the band was looking for a lighting designer and encouraged him to contact them. Price jumped at the chance. Price’s enthusiasm wasn’t fuelled only by his appreciation of the iconic band’s sound, but also by the creative opportunity their versatile music offers a lighting designer. Price’s design flowed with their far-ranging music on their tour with Coheed and Cambria this summer. Helping him achieve this feat was a versatile lighting rig supplied by JR Lighting Design that featured Chauvet Professional Rogue R2 Wash fixtures. “I’ve been working with the band since summer 2017, and it’s an amazing
Spain - The 2018 Dreambeach festival, staged near the fishing town of Villaricos in Andalucía, is a picturesque location traditionally known for its unspoiled beaches and jaw-dropping sunsets - and also for hosting the largest dance music festival in Spain. Dreambeach welcomes 155,000 music fans to the region to enjoy five days of electronic music. Main stage production designer Eduardo Valverde this year specified 70 x Robe MegaPointes, 50 x Spiiders and 16 x BMFL Spots - together with other lighting, all supplied by rental specialist Fluge. For this show, the stage construction featured some serious metalwork and had an epic ‘wide’ look - characteristic of many dance style events. The set featured a series of convex video-clad semicircles protruding horizontally above the deck, resembling a giant - spacey - slot machine! The Spiiders were positione
USA - Tucker Wilde, the LD for Lettuce on their current fall tour, values the creative challenge of keeping up with the band’s free-wheeling style. He also appreciates another benefit that comes from working with a group that plays at prime live music venues: the opportunity to work with some great house rigs. This point was driven home to Wilde recently when Lettuce appeared at Omaha’s Slowdown club, and he encountered Chauvet Professional Rogue R3 Spot fixtures for the first time. “I really enjoyed walking into a room with some new fixtures to try,” he said. “We have a great touring floor package, but I really rely on festival/house rigs for flown spots and profile fixtures. This was the first time I have had an opportunity to use the Rogue R3 Spot, and I really enjoyed them.” Wilde made full use of the six Rogue R3 Spot units that were flown on centre st
UAE - Verity Studios brought a display of dancing drones to Dubai Mall’s 10 Year Celebrations. Titled Talisman, the show is running daily until 28 November, with 44 autonomous Lucie micro drones flying together to form clusters of light, flying strobes and even fireworks in the Star Atrium, in a choreographed performance, accompanied by projections, lasers and film. Raffaello D’Andrea, founder and CEO of Verity Studios, comments: “The Dubai Mall show is a beautiful display of moving art - and we have created a performance worthy of the 10th anniversary. It’s been fantastic to work alongside Lune Rouge Entertainment, the new company created by Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil, and help the team there deliver their first-ever show in the Middle East. “Verity Studios is constantly looking to push the boundaries of drone technology as a
USA - Former PLASA director Chris Toulmin has joined Entech Roadshow in an advisory role ahead of the first Entech USA Roadshow in April. Toulmin has over 35 years of experience in the entertainment industry. As a director of events at PLASA he was responsible for delivering the PLASA Show following the event’s relocation to London Olympia and also oversaw the the Association’s regional Focus shows. Toulmin comments: “I am delighted to be working with Entech Roadshow LLC as a consultant on the inaugural US Roadshow in 2019. This tried and tested formula in the Australia/New Zealand market is a great fit for the expansive geography of the significant North American market. It’s a refreshing new model that adds in a positive way to what has gone before and brings a new level of convenience, accessibility and networking for decision makers and industry knowledge
UK - When Maggie Rogers appeared at London’s KOKO club to support the release of her new single Give A Little, designer Ben Everett of Mirrad reflected her multifarious sound with a lightshow that was as varied and multi-dimensional as her music. Helping him in his undertaking was collection of 14 Chauvet Professional Rogue R1 FX-B fixtures, supplied by Colour Sound Experiment. “The initial concept behind the design was to incorporate a mix of vintage looks with tungsten fixtures and more current electronic looks as a nod to both the folk and electronic genres that heavily influence Maggie’s music,” said Everett. “Budgetary constraints limited the number of tungsten fixtures we could incorporate, but we did rely very heavily on the Rogue FX-Bs to provide enough diversity to do justice to her music. When you have 14 of the FX-B as we did, you can create an e
UK - Signify’s new effects luminaire, the Philips Vari-Lite VL10 BeamWash, is delivering a dynamic performance for Tom Odell’s current European tour. Lighting designer Joe Beardsmore is among the first lighting designers in the world to use the VL10 BeamWash on a touring show. With a set ranging from gentle, solo ballads to big, high-energy rock numbers, he looked for lighting fixtures capable of producing endless effects versatility. The VL10 BeamWash delivers this, along with the brightness, beam quality and colour palette typical of the Vari-Lite brand. “The VL10 honestly blew me away,” he says. “Tom trusts me to complement his show with my best design ideas,” says Beardsmore, who has worked with Odell for two years. “For this tour, I wanted to add some more theatrical elements, to supplement some of the quieter songs in particular. On the UK leg I use
Germany - PRG Germany has struck a deal to add at least 100 fixtures of GLP’s new impression S350 LED moving head to its hire fleet. Some of the units were immediately specified by leading LD Jerry Appelt for use on the second MTV Unplugged appearance by rock musician Udo Lindenberg. GLP product manager Michael Feldmann and key account manager Oliver Schwendke had already conducted a product training following delivery of the first tranche of 40 units. Schwendke comments: “We are proud to have supplied such a significant number of units to PRG Germany and to have them as an early adopter. The impression S350 offers just the kind of package they need, given the broad range of productions that they service.” Feldmann adds: “We believe that the impression S350 with its high colour rendering, framing unit, form factor and weight, offers the perfect pac
USA - Nashville-based production company 44 Designs was an early adopter of Elation’s Artiste DaVinci and recently used the award-winning LED moving head spot in their production design for country music artist Jake Owen’s Life's Whatcha Make It tour. 12 of the full-featured DaVinci fixtures were put to creative use by lighting designer and production manager Chris Nathan on a successful six-month long tour that’s been on the road since last spring. Owen played sheds and baseball stadiums around the country over the summer with a recent fall leg moving into arenas. Nathan found the Artiste DaVinci a quality spot luminaire for both the outdoor and indoor venues. “For the first leg we used the DaVinci as overhead profiles for key light and aerials while on the fall leg they lived on side trusses and focused on the runway and thrust as well as aerials,”
Iceland - Lava Tunnel is a spectacular lava tube tunnel - one of the longest in Iceland at 1360m. Its majestic and intricate interior collage of colours and textures is the result of massive volcanic eruptions 5000 years ago. At the entrance, three openings in the ceiling create columns of light, while at the end, it splits into three smaller tunnels all equally imbibed with natural beauty. All these geological masterworks are now releveled by a creative lighting installation designed by Agust Gunnlaugsson, senior lighting designer at Oslo, Norway and Reykjavik, Iceland based company EFLA Engineers, utilising 100 Anolis ArcSource LED fixtures. The tunnel’s proximity to Icelandic capital Reykjavik had made it popular with visitors for some time, so much so that in 2016, it was closed due to vandalism, littering and health and safety concerns. (Jim Evans)
Denmark - Popular Danish band Nephew reunited this year after a four-year hiatus, announcing two major gigs in October 2018 at the Jyske Bank Boxen Arena in Herning and the Royal Arena in Copenhagen. Over 30,000 tickets sold out in a day. Lighting designer Theis Wemuth of design company Create This was tasked with the production design - lighting, video and set - for the shows. He specified 149 x Robe MegaPointes as the main moving light fixtures. The fixtures were chosen for their multifunctionality and brightness which Wemuth knew would be a perfect complement and contrast to the 420sq.m widescreen video backdrop that was central to the look and aesthetics of the stage. Eight BMFL Spots were on the front truss, six working as remote follow spots in conjunction with six Robe RoboSpot systems, together with other lights, all of which were supplied by Copenhagen-b
UK - Broadcast and event lighting specialists Version 2 has appointed Graham Baskeyfield as its new finance director. Working closely with Version 2’s MD Nick Edwards, Baskeyfield will play a key role in the company’s expansion over the next five years, as they realise their 2022 vision. He joins from Aurora, where he’d previously collaborated with Edwards, their then incumbent MD. During their tenure the company went on to exceed plan year on year delivering significant growth to its shareholders. The success of Aurora was crystallised in 2015 with its acquisition by VER (PRG). Edwards comments: “We are delighted to be welcoming Graham to his new role at Version 2. His experience is second to none, and is well in-tune with the challenges of our ever-changing fast-paced industry. Graham is already well respected by both our team, and external stakehold
UK - The UK Hog Factor competition final took place at Production Futures as two teams competed in a lighting showdown using High End Systems’ Hog 4 console. Rose Bruford’s ‘Two CLCs and A Norwegian Walk Into A Bar’ won the lighting programming contest, whilst ‘Hogging Bruford’ finished runners-up. The finalists programmed to Foo Fighters’ Pretender. The judges, including renowned LD Jonathan Armstrong and senior product manager for Hog consoles, Sarah Clausen, took into account the artistic impression of the live show as well as the programming style of the Hog 4. They agreed that the winning team “produced a better structured show in the desk, and had a better use of colour and contrast with their design, portraying a better journey throughout the song”. Clausen comments: “Both teams showed a real ability to break down the song and s
South Africa - Rock band Prime Circle have invested in Robe fixtures. Marco Gomes the band’s bass guitarist, songwriter and manager together with lighting designer Benjamin ‘Benji’ Muir-Mills chose Robe miniPointes, LEDBeam 150s and VIVAs which the band have purchased from distributor DWR. Gomes and Muir-Mills explained that touring in South Africa can be challenging - many venues on the circuit offer minimal lighting, so having their own rig now means that wherever they go, they can enjoy the continuity of a great lightshow, fans get better production values and less time is needed for re-plotting each show. Instead that creative clawback can be spent in developing the core lightshow they now enjoy with their own kit. It also makes get ins and outs significantly quicker and more efficient. The decision to go with Robe was based on having used the products on ma
Austria - Studio Due Light, in collaboration with Laman Gmbh in Austria, has recently illuminated the Novomatic Forum in Vienna as part of a façade lighting overhaul. The previous fixtures installed were traditional luminaries with a high-level of energy wasted. The project included replacing the façade uplighters on the ground and first floors, along with the balcony lighting around the forum. Confronted with new challenges to accommodate the LED fixtures, the specifiers noticed the impossibility to run DMX cable to the bottom part of the building, to replace the in-ground fixtures with the energy-efficient ones. Faced with this issue, Mr. Robert Makovsky of Leman Gmbh turned to Studio Due to come up with a cost-effective solution. After several tests on-site, Studio Due implemented W-DMX into their Terra Plus RGBW RDM fixtures. “We have implemented Nano TRX modul
Denmark - More than 130,000 people and 184 artists saw the AVB debut of Luminex Network Intelligence in a cooperation with Bright Group and Meyer Sound at the Roskilde Festival. On thr Orange stage and the Arena stage, audio was running on AVB protocol from Meyer Sound Galileo Galaxy 816 network platform through a network of 28x GigaCore 10 switches of Luminex Network Intelligence. “We were very happy to have Luminex on board for the Roskilde festival. There are many reasons to go for the GigaCore range of Luminex but definitely the easiness, the GUI and the rock-solid reliable performance of their switches is remarkable,” says Fredrik Arwidson from Bright Group Sweden. “Furthermore, we were delighted with the upfront training, the intensive testing in our Stockholm warehouse and with the presence of Roel Apers (Support engineer) of Luminex Network Intelligence during
UK - Back in the mists of time, dinosaurs roamed and ruled the world . . . and now with the arena spectacular Walking with Dinosaurs, they are doing so again (see production report in LSi November). This time the mist, or rather haze and low fog, is courtesy of MDG with three ATMe haze generators and three ICE FOG Compack HP low fog generators supplied by Sonalyst, the South Wales-based production company looking after the UK and European tour of this show. Sonalyst was already aiming to expand its investment in some serious haze and fog equipment when Walking with Dinosaurs LD John Rayment approached them with his requirements for the tour which called
World - Shania Twain is hitting the road with her Shania Now tour. Twain has wowed audiences in North America and Europe this summer and autumn with her fast and ever-changing stage show. The constant motion and changing looks on stage are aided and abetted by Ayrton’s MagicPanel-602 fixtures. Creative director and lighting designer Rob Sinclair, and lighting director Michael Straun were specific in what they needed to achieve the stunning visuals for this show which are based around five large, automated LED video cubes with dancer platforms placed on top. Sinclair stated, “Shania wanted a fast-paced show where the appearance of the stage and people constantly changed, with the band, the video cubes and the dancers in constant motion. We needed to find some square-faced lights to complement the square video cubes, and the MagicPanels were the perfect answe
Australia - Audio, video and lighting services provider NW Group recently bolstered its lighting inventory with Martin by Harman lighting fixtures, provided by Show Technology. To serve the live concert and touring markets, NW Group specified MAC Aura XB and MAC Quantum Profile fixtures. Graeme Whitehouse, general manager, NW Group, comments: “We’ve used Quantum Wash, Viper and Aura fixtures with great success for years. We were in the market for next-generation fixtures that could deliver rapid movement and beautiful colour mixing during high profile stage performances. After testing numerous fixtures with local supplier Show Technology, we decided to go with Martin MAC Aura XB washes and MAC Quantum Profiles. “We’re extremely happy with our choice - the Aura XB and Quantum Profiles enable us to provide even more value to our clients in the arts and ent
USA - Wu-Tang Clan celebrated their 25th anniversary with a sold-out concert 240 miles to the north of Staten Island at the Tsongas Centre in Lowell. The show featured a Freddy Thompson lighting design that featured over 60 Chauvet Professional fixtures, supplied by JDI Productions, Inc. Thompson’s show did more than provide eye-popping visuals to match the various moods on stage; it also created a light bridge that connected the Wu-Tang Clan to their devoted audience. “There’s a strong bond between this group and their fans,” he explains. “The start of the show was pretty intense. The crowd was all about seeing the group making their appearance on stage. So, naturally we focused a lot on audience lighting.” Thompson used 16 Rogue R3 Wash, 16 Maverick MK1 Hybrid, 12 Rogue R2 Wash, 16 Legend 230SR Beam, and four STRIKE 4 fixtures to create his looks on stage
Europe - Lighting designer Pryderi Baskerville is working with creative director Sean Evans, production designer Jeremy Lloyd from Wonder Works, video director Richard Turner, production manager Chris Kansy and production director Andrew Zweck to deliver for Roger Waters’ live productions. Pryderi has worked for Waters since 2013 and as LD / lighting director / lighting programmer since 2016. The Us+Them world touring cycle (see LSi September 2018 for production report) started in May 2017 and runs until December this year. Pryderi specified 97 x Robe BMFL WashBeams for the stadium version of the shows and 57 x BMFL Spots and 8 x BMFL Blades for the arena gigs.
Australia - LSC Lighting Systems has appointed Jeff Morgan as its new regional sales manager for Australia. Morgan has over 25 years’ experience in the lighting and entertainment industry, having worked as a lighting systems technician, electrician and technical support officer as well as in sales and installation roles. In the past decade, he managed Lots of Watts Central Coast in New South Wales, specialising in lighting and audio sales and developing bespoke projects for local schools and churches. In his role at LSC, Morgan will provide technical sales, training and dealer support in Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales. “I am delighted to have Jeff join LSC,” says Gary Pritchard, managing director at LSC. “His experience and knowledge of the industry and the fact that he has specified, installed and used LSC products for many yea
Belgium - Developed and engineered in Belgium, Lucenti “brings innovation to the high-speed entertainment lighting industry”. “With power line communication, we saw an opportunity to take festoon lighting to the next level,” say Yoeri Renders and Olivier Leirs who have been developing and testing for the past years to get the Lucenti bulbs durable and the protocols flawless. “By sending the data to control the bulbs over the power line, we reduce cabling. Standard socket wiring can be used to make lines of up to 250 meters long with 128 individually addressable bulbs.” The flagship bulb called the Pearl has RGB coloured LEDs in the base and a dimmable LED filament. Each channel is individually adjustable through the controller. With the app you can opt for plug and play, or connect your DMX (wired or wireless) lighting console and integrate it with the rest o
