Indonesia - The 2018 Asian Games Opening Ceremony, staged in Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Main Stadium, saw LD Yves Aucoin to deliver an impressive lighting design. The OC of Asia’s largest sporting event featured a general cast of around 4000, produced by Scott Givens and Libby Hyland working with Indonesian creative director Wishnutama Kusubandio. Staging direction was by Michael Pena working with Indonesian choreographers Denny Malik and Eko Supriyanto, and the breathtakingly visual extravaganza was produced by live event specialists FiveCurrents. Montreal based LD Aucoin specified 270 x Robe BMFLs to be a major part of the lighting rig. “It was BMFLs or BMFLs,” he says. “They were the only fixture option for a selection of key positions around the venue.” These high-powered fixtures once again proved their ruggedness and reliability as
Sweden - Each year in October, the Swedish town of Alingsås near Gothenburg turns into a fun lighting event, attracting more than 80,000 visitors from around the world. For this year’s Lights in Alingsås, six groups of talented lighting and electrical students created beautiful light installations under the professional guidance from seven established lighting designers using over 50 fixtures from SGM Light. The almost 400-year-old Swedish town Alingsås started off mainly as an iron trade city, which later turned into a city for the textile industry. In the city river, the manufacturers would wash out the colour of the textiles, giving the name for the first site for this year’s Lights in Alingsås, Färgeribron (Dyers’ bridge). Led by Nielsen and van der Velden, this team focused on the visible energy from the water as well as the communa
Canada - Lighting designer Karl Gaudreau has added a large complement of Claypaky fixtures to the lighting at Bell Centre for the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens. Gaudreau selected Claypaky SharBar advanced moving LED bars, Axcor Profile 900 LED spots and Axcor Beam 300s for the arena. Montreal’s Bell Centre is consistently one of the busiest arenas in the world. It is the largest arena capacity to regularly host an NHL team, the Montreal Canadiens who make their home at the downtown venue. “I wanted to increase the fan experience and be able to create different lighting effects during the games as well as for rock ’n roll shows,” says Gaudreau. “The design is mostly based on audience lighting that delivers a true 360º experience.” The lighting designer notes that when adding new lights to the arena, “the idea was to be fully green by using only LED fix
USA - Once counted among the South’s leading cinemas, the Miller Theatre in Augusta had sat boarded up and empty for over thirty years, until being reborn as a community performing arts centre in January with a sold-out gala featuring Tony Award-winner Sutton Foster performing with the Augusta Symphony. The theatre had undergone a $23m makeover. To serve the community that saved it, the theatre features a diverse mix of shows that offers ballet one week, and kick boxing the next, with shows by stars like Chris Isaak and George Thorogood thrown in for good measure. Helping the theatre support this eclectic mix of talent is a robust new lighting rig anchored by Chauvet Professional Rogue and Ovation fixtures. “I’ve been a big fan of Chauvet fixtures ever since I learned about the line from my friend John Berrett, who I respect a great deal as a lighting designer,
USA - Last year, LiteGear designated their LiteMat+ fixture to participate in the Behind the Scenes Pledge-a-Product Programme which resulted in a generous donation of $7,500. This year, owners Al DeMayo and Mike Bauman decided to take their support to the next level and designated sales of all LiteMat fixtures to benefit the charity. Recently, they presented a cheque for $15,000 to members of the Behind the Scenes Board of Directors, representing an incredible commitment by the company, its employees and its customers to care for their colleagues who are seriously ill or injured. On presenting the cheque, LiteGear CEO, Al DeMayo, states: “With decades of experience working in the business, my partner Mike and I have worked with lots of great filmmakers. We are happy to know the Behind the Scenes charity is behind-the-technicians should they need it.” Lori R
USA - For residents of the historic Buckeye-Shaker neighbourhood, the concerts that take place on the sprawling grounds of St. Luke’s Manor offer more than a chance to enjoy good music, they also serve as a celebration of their community’s rebirth. The impressive building that provides an emblematic backdrop to the concert series had stood empty and neglected for 14 years after the hospital that originally occupied it closed its doors in 1999. When the five-story structure reopened after extensive renovations in 2013 as a multi-use facility, it served as a catalyst for a neighbourhood-wide renaissance. Designer Brent Schmidt of B Productions reflected this hopeful spirit and accented St. Luke’s Manor’s memorable architectural features, when he illuminated the building in an array of colours. Helping him in this endeavour were 24 Freedom Par Quad-4 IP and six I
UK - Aurora Lighting supported lighting designer Gurdip Mahal and gaffer James Tinsley for the 2018 Stand Up to Cancer live show. Hosted by Alan Carr, Maya Jama and Adam Hills in front of an audience at Central Methodist Hall, Westminster, the evening featured appearances from John Legend, Liam Gallagher, Little Mix, Michael Bublé and James Corden taking part in celebrity versions of some of Channel 4’s most popular shows to help build awareness of the fight against cancer. To help set the stage for the show, Aurora provided a mix of automated fixtures, tungsten and LED which the crew used to great effect, creating a stylish contemporary look that contrasted perfectly against the grandiose interior of the venue. Martin MAC Auras delivered intense colour washes to the performance areas, matched with ProLights Smartbat and SGM P5 LED uplighters plus GLP X4 Bar20
USA/Columbia - Columbian interdisciplinary architectural and events company Sonic Design recently designed and built a multi-sensory Art Car, Jaguara - a project that portrays a jaguar emerging from the Amazon River. The scheme, which was presented this summer at Burning Man in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, incorporated Elation Cuepix 16 IP LED matrix panels in the design to help spread its environmental message. Sonic Design’s director, Leo Vilar, comments: “Through this artful celebration of the jaguar, we want to raise awareness about the vulnerability of the main refuge of the jaguar, the Amazon Rainforest. “Jaguara is inspired by the symbolism and powerful spirit of the jaguar, which represents, for most ancestral American tribes, the connecting force between the world of gods and the world of men. In a time where our trends of living are disrupti
UK - On 6 November (Tuesday), A.C. Entertainment Technologies’ specialist film & TV sales team will be showcasing its broadcast lighting solutions at the KitPlus show, MediaCityUK Studios, Manchester. Chroma-Q’s Studio Force II high intensity tuneable white (2,800K - 6,500K) wash light will be shown for the first time. The fixture is specifically designed for broadcast and film applications. Studio Force II complements the Cine Gear Expo award-winning Chroma-Q Space Force tuneable white (2,800K - 6,500K) LED space light/soft light source, which has been adopted by leading television studios and specialist rental companies, including the Marjan Television Network, Aurora Lighting and Pixipixel. Quasar Science's Q-LED Crossfade Linear fixtures have the benefits of a self-ballasted variable white LED source in a compact, low profile form factor. Q-LED Crossf
UK - Tasked with providing supporting visuals for a recent theatrical run of at the Bournemouth Pavilion theatre was LD Ryan Joseph Stafford, who specified a number of Chauvet Professional Ovation E-910FC and Maverick MK2 Spot fixtures in support of his lighting concept. “A lot of the audience coming to see the show are people that know and love the classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang film, so it was important for us to recreate the feel of the original film,” comments Stafford. “To keep pace with the complex location and set changes during the show, the Ovation and Maverick combination gave us the flexibility and versatility to adjust to all manner of scenes.” Thanks to the 910FC’s full RGBA-Lime colour mixing and colour temperature pre-sets of 2800 K to 6500 K, Stafford was able to provide a number of effects on stage, including low face light from the
Estonia - The Ugala Theatre in Viljandi is one of a number of state-funded theatres and a major premium quality producing house. The most recent round of refurbishment at Ugala in 2017 resulted in a new stage machinery system for the 300-capacity main house, which also means they can now configure the space in any format. With this new versatility, they decided the time was also right for some new moving lights in the rig, and after a lot of consultation, decided on 10 x Robe DL7S Profiles and 10 x BMFL Blades. The town also has the only technical theatre training facility in Estonia which is a department of the Tartu University, and happens to have a Robe moving light rig! Mari-Riin Villemsoo is one of the venue’s four person lighting technical team, who are all also lighting designers in their own right, and she reports that having these new moving lig
USA - When two members of Swedish House Mafia - Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso - played a one-off show at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco recently, it was seen by fans as a precursor for a band reunion (along with third member, Steve Angello) in 2019. Charged with maintaining dynamic visuals, with spectacular effects throughout the performance was Sam Tozer of Vision Factory, who once again drew heavily on GLP’s catalogue for his serious ordnance. He had three key goals: to create a shape onstage that reflected the artists’ logo; to thrust the two artists out into the middle of the auditorium, and to immerse the audience in video and lighting. He succeeded spectacularly on all three. To meet Tozer’s design, Christie Lites supplied 40 of GLP’s impression X4 Bar 20 battens and 58 of the JDC1 hybrid strobes, while video effects came from PRG.
USA - Originally built in 1963, the Guardian Angel Cathedral has been serving both residents and tourists in Las Vegas for more than 50 years. With a multitude of stained-glass mosaics created by world-renowned artists Isabel and Edith Piczek, the sanctuary inside is a stunning showcase of colour and architecture. Desiring an updated LED lighting system to more effectively illuminate their worship environment, the church worked with lighting consultant Bill Brennan, principal with Just Lighting, Inc., and 4Wall Entertainment who supplied the design with Gallery and Spectra Cyc 100 luminaires from Altman Lighting. “This was the first time that 4Wall had worked with the church which was originally built in the 1960’s, and it really is a Las Vegas landmark,” began Barbara Brennan, 4Wall senior account executive. “Their existing lighting system was about 10 years o
World - Foo Fighters have recently wound down their 18-month Concrete and Goldworld tour which launched back in May 2017 at BottleRock Festival in Napa Valley in support of their 9th studio album released in October 2017. The Concrete and Gold tour has played literally every size and type of venue: stadiums, arenas, amphitheatres, surprise club gigs and festival headlines, including the famous Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. “I think we’ve done somewhere around 120 shows all told,” says the band’s long-term lighting designer and director, Dan Hadley. “We even had a week in April where we did an amphitheatre followed by a stadium, followed by a festival, followed by an arena!” Foo Fighters are well known for the length and dynamism of their shows and this, often, three-hour long extravaganza is no exception. The responsibility falls to Hadley to
UK - SpotTrack, the specialist entertainment software tool for making, modifying and maintaining followspot cue sheets, is now supporting Backup, the technical entertainment charity. Since its creation eight years ago, SpotTrack has allowed lighting practitioners to give a little back while working on their latest show, with 15% of the purchase price - £6.75 - going to charity. Users have always been able to choose whether their purchase supported the lighting charity Light Relief in the UK, or Behind The Scenes in the USA. In recent times, Light Relief has evolved into Backup, which has a wider remit, offering support to those in need across all fields of entertainment technical production rather than just those working in lighting. SpotTrack now provides another way of supporting the charity, alongside the events ranging from comedy nights to kart-fests, allow
Brazil - Wireless Solution Sweden (W-DMX) has appointed Arte em Cena of São Paulo as its distributor in Brazil. Arte em Cena imports and distributes entertainment lighting fixtures from the likes of ETC, High End Systems and Chauvet. “We are extremely excited to be able to work with such a reputable company like Arte em Cena,” comments David Ferraz, international business development manager for Wireless Solution. “Brazil is an emerging market for entertainment lighting and wireless systems, and we’re excited to be working with a company with such an important market presence, and an outstanding reputation for their service and technical support.” “Wireless Solution’s products make perfect sense in our expansion plans, as we like to provide a complete solution to our customers,” adds Everthon Rosas, CEO of Arte em Cena. “The brand is already re
USA - Elation Professional has appointed Erich Meitzner as a regional sales representative for Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana. Meitzner, who hails from Kansas, has a broad knowledge of the lighting world and brings with him a wealth of real-world experience as a touring lighting designer/director for acts like Grouplove, Walk the Moon, Liz Phair, and Bleachers. John Dunn, Elation national sales manager, comments: “As an experienced touring professional, Erich brings important on-the-road insight to the position and knows what it takes to deliver a designer’s vision. He also has excellent hands-on product knowledge and is already well-acquainted with the Elation product line. He will fill an important role in helping support our dealer and customer network and we are excited to have him onboard as a valued member of the Elation team.” (Jim Evans)
USA - ADB Stagelight, Claypaky's theatre brand, won the LDI Award for the Best Debuting Product for lighting with its new ART Centric Lighting line for museum lighting. The judges wrote: “ART Centric Lighting has created a tuneable white light fixture for lighting works of fine art with sensitivity and class. The spot or wash with a CRI of 97 is controllable via Bluetooth, changing the way you’ll look at works of art.” Simone Capeleto, ADB's CEO, comments: "The basic principle of ART Centric Lighting is to respect the works of art, which become leading players like actors on a stage. It is no coincidence that the small ART Centric Lighting units are true miniaturised theatre lights: they are made by ADB, a well-established company in the theatre world. They are not just luminaires with an elegant, non-invasive design - they are fixtures with professional optical
USA - Claypaky debuted five luminaires, including two newly-launched fixtures, at the recent LDI trade show. Claypaky also celebrated the inaugural edition of Knight of Illumination Awards USA, which the lighting manufacturer sponsors. LDI saw the launch of Claypaky’s Axcor Spot 400, a moving LED spotlight for the medium power market. Axcor Spot 400 features two rotating dichroic glass gobo wheels with a total of 14 rotating gobos, an animation disc, a rotating prism, a power-driven iris, a 16-bit dimmer, and a 5.5° to 55° zoom. It also boasts advanced tools for colour management based on a CMY system with linear CTO and six-colour wheel. Also launched at the show was the Sharpy Plus, a hybrid unit that can be used as a beam moving light or a spotlight. The fixture houses the Osram Sirius 330W X8, a new high-output discharge lamp, and weighs only 21.6kg (abou
Hungary - Located on the banks of the Danube near the Chain Bridge with a view over the famed Buda Castle, the Marriot Budapest is a popular tourist destination. Earlier this autumn, the hotel hosted a gala for Russian pharmaceutical company Garant Optima in its main ballroom. Lending an extra air of glamour and excitement to the event was a bright, fast-moving light and video show featuring Chauvet Professional Maverick fixtures supplied by Mobile Audio and Light kft. “The goal of the organisers was to create a bold international nightclub atmosphere,” comments Mobile Audio and Light technician András Praksch, who installed and ran the lighting system for the event. “We were able to do this with help from the Maverick MK2 Spot, which provided a lot of colour and brightness.” A total of 10 Maverick MK2 Spot fixtures were used to energise the gala. Praks
USA - At the entrance to Bassrush Massive AZ was a massive art display that featured two cubes, a smaller one wedged inside a larger version of itself. Emulating the signature artwork of the festival’s promotional material, the object attracted the immediate attention of fans, most of whom stepped inside the mesmerizing cubic structure for social media photos. It was the first, but certainly not the last, immersive experience they would enjoy that evening. Kicking off the Sun Valley’s Fall Music Festival season on Saturday 25 August 2, the event took fans on a head-banging journey deep inside the heart of bass-heavy sound, serving up a relentless sonic barrage from the likes of Zeds Dead, Nightmre, HEKLER and other artists. Keeping pace with every bass drop and trapstep was a searing, fast-moving lightshow designed by Joe Musico and run by lighting director Luis Torres t
USA - City Theatrical’s new Multiverse wireless DMX system was recognised as the 2018 Best Debuting Product in the Lighting Accessories and Integration category at LDI 2018. The Multiverse system can to broadcast up to 10 universes of DMX data from a single transmitter while producing less radio energy than present-day single universe systems. Every product in the Multiverse system is built around a tiny radio called the Multiverse Module. Products in the range include Multiverse SHoW BabyTM, City Theatrical’s fourth generation of the original plug and play wireless DMX transceiver system, Multiverse Node, the primary receiver in a multiple universe system and a single universe transceiver, Multiverse Transmitter, a transmitter that provides multiple universe control, and Multiverse Gateway, a transceiver that delivers multiple universe DMX with data distribution.
USA - Tomcat launched a new Lighting Pod at LDI 2018. The product offers lighting designers a much broader canvas for their creations and affords them the opportunity to present 'walls of light' on a much larger scale than with traditional truss profiles. Extreme adjustability and flexibility allow for the use of multiple lighting options within one framework that can be utilised both vertically and horizontally. The Lighting Pod is constructed from 2” x 1/8” and 1 ½” x 1/8” tubes for strength and durability, and measures a healthy 6ft x 2.6ft x 6ft for extending your lighting wall possibilities. Stable stacking and convenient transport are ensured with steel spigots, forklift pockets and heavy-duty casters. Also unveiled at LDI, Tomcat’s new Zig-Zag Truss is a unique concept that combines the advantages of pre-rigged truss - efficient truck packing and sp
Europe - Neutrik AG launched the new mediaCON product family at the recent IBC show in Amsterdam. mediaCON includes lockable USB Type-C cables and panel sockets, with all components designed for data rates up to 10 GB/s (USB 3.1), 100W power and 10,000 mating cycles. Fabio Röllin, product manager at Neutrik AG, states: “With increasing digitisation, the demand for high-quality and robust data connectors is steadily increasing. More and more manufacturers rely on USB Type-C technology. However, a lockable and reliable interface to connect professional audio components, storage media, cameras, monitors and computer hardware has been missing. The new mediaCON series now offers the perfect solution for professional AV and broadcast applications, live rental, system integration and industrial applications.” For ease of handling, the space-saving, flush-mount panel so