USA - Having illuminated some of the world’s most prominent clubs and biggest EDM festivals, Southern California-based production design specialists SJ Lighting, with Steve Lieberman at the helm, have established themselves as a leader in entertainment technology design for electronic dance music. That reputation continued with the opening of Academy nightclub in Hollywood in January, a new 1400-capacity space for EDM junkies that has been renovated, rebranded and updated with the latest sound and lighting technology, including lighting effects from Elation Professional Platinum Beam 5R moving head beam lights and Pixel Bar LED battens. Academy, formerly the nightclub Create and before that Vanguard (both production designed by SJ Lighting), is a joint venture between Exchange LA and Insomniac, the Pasquale Rotella-led event production company behind some of music’
UK - With three churches already serving its population of 2,300, it’s perhaps surprising that one of them is building a new one in the fenland village of Isleham in Cambridgeshire. But the congregation of High Street Church outgrew the existing chapel and a larger building became a necessity. In 2009, they began construction of The Ark, which, at 2,200sq.m, is believed to be one of the UK’s largest green oak buildings constructed in living memory. Now fully weather-proof, it is expected to be completed in the not-too-distant future. Jonny Billitt from event production and equipment hire company MTS Live, and a committed wysiwyg user for more 'typical' lighting design applications, takes up the story. “Designers and builders from the project initially contacted me for advice regarding the uplighting,” he explains. “The main design requirements were t
UK - The award-winning Chroma-Q Space Force LED space/soft light has been proving its versatility for Big Shed on several major TV and photographic projects. Manchester-based Big Shed's 4,000sq.ft of professional studio facilities is the ideal space to shoot large sets, automotive photography, TV commercials and videos. After being impressed by a demo, Big Shed's Justin Windle has sub-hired in the Space Force for several big-brand clients' shoots, including utilising six units to top-light a 5sq.m, 360-degree revolving stage used to shoot stop-frame imagery of revolving cars. The Space Force's shallow profile allowed him to gain nearly a metre in elevation compared to the studio's old, conventional space light fixture. Another project required emulating the even lighting of a large hospital floor. The six units were evenly spaced to light the 50ft wide set, and
USA - Country singer Miranda Lambert captures the heartfelt openness of the summer of love in her aptly named Livin’ Like Hippies tour. Opening with a cover of the John Prine classic, That’s The Way The World Goes Round, her 20-song set takes audiences on a lively, freewheeling road trip that offers an unruffled look at life, love and happiness. Lambert’s lighting designer, Paul ‘Arlo’ Guthrie, strengthens the connection between the artist and her audience in this deeply personal show with help from the warm white glow of Chauvet Professional STRIKE 4 fixtures, supplied by Upstaging of Chicago. Guthrie is using 40 of the multi-formatted fixtures on the 23-city arena tour, which kicked off on 23 January. Flying an equal number of STRIKE 4s on downstage and mid-stage truss, he relies on the warm white luminaires (each of which has four 100W COB L
The Netherlands - Held in the prestigious Royal Theatre Carré in Amsterdam, the third annual Amateur Musical Awards featured lighting design by Coen van der Hoeven, who specified a large High End Systems rig for the show, including 16 SolaSpot 2000s, 40 SolaSpot 1000s, six Shapeshifter C1s, 20 UNO and Hog 4 control. The team’s production time was only one day, so Coen’s challenge was to get a show with 250 performers, 16-piece orchestra and 17 show numbers up and running in just a few hours. The LD also had to reckon with a live television broadcast. He explains, “We put together a group of the best specialists in theatre. V-Productions took care of delivering the equipment, together with AED Group Holland. Their board operator Kaj van Dijk programmed the Hog 4, and we ran the show on WYSIWYG during the dress rehearsal in a sports hall. Our crew chief Tijs Winte
Germany - ETC is set to present picks from its extensive collection of lighting and rigging products across three stands in Hall 3.0 - E51, F51 and E47. The event will mark the European debut of a number of products from the company’s portfolio of lighting control consoles, LED luminaires and architectural control solutions. Trainers and product experts will be on hand to offer demos and advice on all the products on display. Visitors can get a first look at the soon-to-be-launched Element 2 console – a revamp of the original Element desk – which offers the award-winning Eos software with an interface and price point that is accessible to a broad range of users and venues. Also making its regional premiere will be the ETCpad, a tablet accessory providing dedicated, touchscreen-based wireless or wired remote control for all Eos family consoles and controllers. Se
Germany - The new grandMA3 lighting console series will be shown to the public for the first time at Prolight + Sound 2018. Founded on the legacy of the previous grandMA consoles, the grandMA3 represents a radical re-think of what’s possible from a lighting control platform, says the company. The elegant new system-architecture incorporates new fixture, feature and effects-handling at its very heart. The system features “ground-breaking concepts from top industry visionaries, presented within a refined user interface, and is designed to make practical tasks more intuitive”. Interest is expected to be high, therefore in addition to 13 fully staffed grandMA3 demo stations, MA’s booth, C61 in hall 3.0, will feature a dedicated grandMA3 demonstration auditorium. Up to 70 seated visitors can enjoy a live presentation of the new grandMA3 console series from MA
France - LED lighting manufacturer, Ayrton, celebrated the winds of change last week with new headquarters and a growing product line. The LED lighting specialist moved its headquarters to a new, independent 1350sq.m space in Villebon-Sur-Yvette in south-west Paris. The new premises include a new lobby, more office space, a warehouse, meeting rooms and a permanent 220sq,m showroom. A distributor day inducting Ayrton’s broad international dealership preceded the official inauguration, which took place on Thursday 8 March 2018. Over 200 guests attended the Grand Opening event and were treated to a tour of the new premises, a cocktail dinner, and previews of Ayrton’s new light show which will be revealed to the public in its full glory at Prolight+Sound, Frankfurt next month. Star of the evening’s celebrations was the new showroom, available to all distribut
Switzerland - Atlona has strengthened its Central European sales team with the appointment of industry veteran Kai Ellingsen as senior sales manager, DACH. Reporting to Thorsten Goecke, Atlona’s director of business development EMEA, commercial, Kai will leverage his broad industry expertise to support sales initiatives and increase visibility for Atlona across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Kai’s career path over the past 15 years includes key sales and business development roles with distributors and systems integrators serving the commercial AV industry, including Kindermann, an AV systems distributor and manufacturer of mounts and lift systems based in Germany. “Atlona’s strengths in balancing price and performance, along with their very recent innovations in networked control and AV over IP, have arrived for our industry at exactly the right time,” sa
USA - Charlie Daniels’ Volunteer Jam has seen many different iterations over four decades, but none have been as distinct as Volunteer Jam XX: A Tribute to Charlie. Produced by Blackbird Events, Bandit Lites provided the lighting for the Country Music Hall of Fame member’s twentieth instalment of Volunteer Jam which featured a setlist of over 30 songs from a diverse and talented line-up including Travis Tritt, Chris Young, Alison Krauss, Lee Brice, Chris Janson, Justin Moore, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Alabama, The Oak Ridge Boys and Lynyrd Skynyrd. "Volunteer Jam XX had a kind of “specialness” about it,” said Charlie Daniels in a release. “The calibre, quantity and variety of talent who took the stage crossed lines, demographics, genres and styles that, while truly diverse, blended together to make for what was most likely the most entertaining
USA - Established in 1977, the Big Apple Circus has been a mainstay outside Manhattan's Lincoln Centre for decades and has also travelled to countless cities on tour. In 2017, the circus was purchased by BigTop Works, who decided to update Big Apple’s traditional circus presentation to a Broadway-like spectacle. Management hired veteran Broadway lighting designer Jeff Croiter to create a bold and modern lighting design for the revamped show. Partnering with lighting vendor Christie Lites, Croiter designed a powerful and versatile lighting rig that features a range of Martin lighting solutions, including Martin MAC Axiom Hybrid fixtures, MAC Aura washes, and MAC Viper Profile fixtures. "We wanted the show to look incredibly stylized and sleek, like a modern circus - but not dark or uninviting," said Croiter. "Martin fixtures were a key part of the lighting design, an
USA - More than 150 lighting designers, students, educators and other USITT visitors boarded special buses at the Broward County Convention Centre for a visit to Chauvet Professional’s global headquarters. While at the spacious facility, they got to meet with the company’s product development team for a behind-the-scenes look at some of the latest fixtures in the Ovation line of ellipsoidals, Fresnels, battens and followspots, as well as the widely- honoured Maverick and Rogue series of moving fixtures. Guests had the opportunity to take part in interactive demos of popular lighting fixtures. There were also demos of the latest ChamSys consoles. At the conclusion of their visit, guests participated in a question-and-answer session with company CEO Albert Chauvet, who was “energised and encouraged” by the idea exchange. “For me, it was rewarding to talk
Namibia - Production and rental company Mikel-Jes Productions has invested in new Robe Spiider LED wash beams which have been added to its ever-growing rental stock of moving lights. The company’s co-founder and owner Michael Vermeulen likes to keep up with the latest lighting trends. The Spiiders are the latest in a steadily expanding stock of Robe products which started in 2008 when Mikel-Jes was founded. Both Mikel-Jes and the other major entertainment and production technology supplier in Windhoek, dB Audio, have taken a Robe path for their moving light inventories. This means that as well as servicing their own shows, there is a healthy cross rental business during the busy periods. Mikel-Jes currently has around 90 Robe moving lights in rental stock including the Spiiders which they initially saw previewed at Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt. The Spiide
USA - Early March saw the third incarnation of the Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival, a four-day multi-genre music experience filled with art and entertainment held at Sunshine Grove in the heart of the Florida wilderness. The festival’s recipe of offering a range of diverse talent – this year saw Arcade Fire, Bassnectar, Halsey, Travis Scott, The Flaming Lips, Snoop Dog, and Khalid among many others – attracts a wide range of music fans. Rob Ross, site lighting designer for the festival and president of Rob Ross Design, Inc., designs and oversees the installation of the site lighting at the festival and chose to highlight one of the most important symbols of the festival in dynamic lighting, a can’t miss 90-foot tall fire tower. The fire tower, which displays prominently in the festival’s branding, including website, posters, pamphlets and site map, can b
UK - PLASA has announced dates for Plugfest, a three-day lighting conference running 25-27 April 2018 at The Copthorne Hotel near London Gatwick. Plugfest is an unmissable event for all lighting equipment manufacturers who want to ensure the interoperability of their equipment. It’s a hands-on place to ensure the reliability of lighting products, debug and improve connectivity with others. Representatives who would benefit from the event include product development engineers, system integrators, production electricians and technical support staff. The expert team behind Plugfest, Hamish Dumbreck of JESE Ltd, Peter Willis of Howard Eaton Lighting and Wayne Howell of Artistic Licence, have helped create and define many of the communication protocols relevant to the lighting community and will be on hand throughout the event. Attendees can expect ‘break-outs’ and t
Germany - High End Systems is gearing up to exhibit its latest products on a dedicated stand at the upcoming Prolight + Sound trade show in Frankfurt. From 10-13 April, visitors can discover and explore a selection of products from the console and automated lighting manufacturer, in Hall 4.0 - D59. The show will offer an opportunity for hands-on demos of a selection of High End’s Hog 4 family of lighting control consoles, designed for markets of all shapes and sizes - including Hog 4, Full Boar 4 and Road Hog 4. Visitors can also expect a surprise or two, and there will be a chance to see the new Hog 4 v.3.8.0 software, featuring a new desktop colour scheme called 'stealth,' and added external monitor/touchscreen capability for HedgeHog 4 console models. A recent introduction to the Sola Series family of automated luminaires, SolaFrame 750 boasts a compac
Namibia - dB Audio in Namibia has continued its investment in Robe moving lights with the recent purchase of 12 Spiider LED wash beams adding to their inventory of over 150 Robe moving lights, the largest Robe stock in Namibia. The lights were supplied by DWR and are the latest addition in a steady commitment to the brand which dates back 13 years by dB Audio, one of the busiest rental and production specialists in Namibia. Owner and founder David Benade started the company in 2004, initially as an audio supplier, however it soon made sense to offer other production disciplines like lighting and rigging. At that point, audio was his specialist area, a competitor moving brand was dominant in the region, and, being a start-up, budget was tight. When it came to purchasing some new LED washes, Spiiders were an obvious choice as specified by the dB lighting team led b
Canada - Lüz Studio continues to provide highly inventive lighting solutions from its base in Montreal - currently for American singer-songwriter, Børns, on his Blue Madonna world tour. This opened in Oakland, CA, at the start of the year and will travel the globe during 2018. Set up in 2005 by lighting/video designer Matthieu Larivée, Lüz Studio has frequently turned to GLP’s X4 platform for its requirements, and this latest tour has been no exception. The LD has made versatile use of 16x X4 Bar 20 battens and 14x impression X4, supplied by Upstaging of Chicago. Børns’ 2016 Dopamine tour had been non-production tour, with no lighting whatsoever, so instead Lüz Studio designed a backdrop that would be fun to be lit by local LD’s. “There were three separate layers of Red, Blue and Green, so depending on the lighting used, a different backdrop woul
USA - Even before the opening notes were sounded for Bob’s Biker Bash on 4 November, John Garberson knew it was going to be a great night. Behind the stage, the setting Arizona sun was blazing a glorious red that looked as if it came out of a classic western movie. “It was the perfect setting for an outdoor concert, and everything that followed lived up to this beginning,” said Garberson, who served as the lighting and video production manager for the Phoenix Children’s Hospital fundraising concert, which was headlined by 3 Doors Down. Contributing to the smooth flow and good mood of the evening was the versatile and power-packed lighting rig that Garberson and his team at Creative BackStage put together for the show. Anchoring that rig was a collection of 15 Maverick MK2 Spot, 25 Rogue R2 Wash and four STRIKE 4 fixtures from Chauvet Professional. “We
UK - At the start of 2018, Johanna Town stepped into the office of chair for the Association of Lighting Designers (ALD). Just two months on, she has solidified the manifesto that will steer her course and chart the direction of the association, as she embarks on this role. Town’s diverse career as a successful lighting designer contrasted against the learning struggles she faced at school inform her manifesto. Starting in the 1980s at Manchester’s Royal Exchange, where she applied for and successfully completed a two-year apprenticeship course, Town later became head of lighting at London’s Royal Court, where she remained for 17 years having lit over 50 Royal Court shows, before embarking on being a solely freelance lighting designer. Town says of her new role that she would like “to be a springboard to bring out the best in people who have plans and ambitions
Germany - The Infinity Signature Series uses the latest LED technology with European software and have a variety of control options and lenses that are familiar to every entertainment technician. “We have found an excellent partner in the world-famous manufacturer Robert Juliat, with almost 100 years of experience, to develop our new series of theatre luminaires,” says the company. Only Lumiled LEDs are used throughout the entire range. This ensures consistent binning and colour consistency. The warm white LEDs were selected to maintain a constant temperature of 3000K with a CRI of +95. The selection of coloured LEDs enables the best possible colour mixing with the highest CRI. The software offers flicker-free dimming and a flash function without time delay. With the coloured units there is also a virtual colour wheel with 64 of the most popular gel colours for the
USA - Clearwing Productions of Milwaukee used Elation Professional’s Level Q7 IP RGBW Par lights on Miller Holiday Lites in Milwaukee for the entire month of December in cold weather with no issues then rolled them right into ‘big game’ festivities in Minneapolis in January, where they continued to perform in even colder weather. Clearwing, who stock hundreds of the Level Q7 IP Par lights, provided all of the lighting, decor, video and audio equipment for Miller Holiday Lites in partnership with GMR Marketing, their second year decking the halls on State Street with GMR Marketing and Miller Brewery. Miller Holiday Lites is a yearly family-friendly tradition in Milwaukee, where guests are invited to take a mini-tour down State Street, decorated with festive holiday lighting courtesy of Miller Brewing Company. Guests had the chance to view a five-minute programme
UK - The Vegas Golden Knights hockey team not only continues to impress the sporting world with its outstanding play, they are doing it in typical Las Vegas-style. A striking projection mapping show uses Christie projection and processing technology coupled with the expertise of Image Engineering to engage the crowd and bring the story of the Golden Knights to life on the ice at T-Mobile Arena. Bringing a professional sports team to Las Vegas – a city known for showmanship and world-class entertainment is no small feat, and the Vegas Golden Knights have embraced the challenge of playing their home games in the Entertainment Capital of the World. One of the top priorities of the team is to create a truly memorable fan experience. The first-year National Hockey League (NHL) club uses 12 Christie WU20K-J projectors, Christie Mystique Install, Christie Pandoras Box and Christi
USA - Experienced production designer Travis Shirley has recently been turning to the GLP fixture portfolio in order to meet some of his more demanding challenges. Having used the company’s new revolutionary JDC1 hybrid strobe with his long-time charge, Enrique Iglesias, he has now become the first major adopter of GLP’s new Force 120 high speed, variable direction fan unit with internal RGB LED lighting - this time with country rock band, Old Dominion, having been introduced to the five-piece on their previous tour by manager, Will Hitchcock. In mapping out their touring plan for 2018 the band chose to embark on their own arena size tour before supporting Kenny Chesney on stadium dates later in the year. “There was a determination to have a presence throughout the entire year, whether in a support or headlining capacity,” acknowledges Travis. With the
