USA - City Theatrical will be demonstrating its new technology at LDI on 17-19 November 2017 at booth 2660. Multiverse is a breakthrough in wireless DMX/RDM technology that gives lighting users a new range of options for performing lighting tasks more easily than ever, while producing less disruptive radio energy. City Theatrical’s vision of the new lighting world is one in which every DMX device contains a a tiny, inexpensive Multiverse Module, and where legacy lighting products have a Multiverse Node near them, allowing entire productions containing hundreds of fixtures and dozens of universes to be operated wirelessly. Multiverse Node is the first building block of the Multiverse system. Each Multiverse Node is a transceiver. As a single universe transmitter, it functions in a similar plug and play manner to City Theatrical’s SHoW DMX SHoW Baby, but speaks the m
UK - Full-service technical production company Blitz, A GES Company has recently invested in 24 ProLights Luma 1500 LED luminaires for use on high-profile corporate and live events. Part of the global GES network, UK-based Blitz produces hundreds of events annually and has built up a loyal customer base over the past 25 years. The company provides production services for conferences, product launches, awards ceremonies, AGMs, exhibitions and road shows to a diverse range of global financial brands as well as aerospace and tech giants amongst others. When Blitz's lighting manager Nick Clarke was looking to invest in a new moving spot fixture for medium and large-scale events, he approached technology reseller, A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) for some options to look at. Nick commented: "The Luma 1500 is ideal for us. It provides a great output LED source
UK - Full service production company Stage Production is supplying all the production for a new multi-purpose event space in Birmingham called Crane and has turned to Elation Professional products to fulfil the lighting brief. Crane, which opened on 29 September is a large space with a raw industrial feel in the heart of the Digbeth district of central Birmingham. Along with elevated ceilings, iron beams and exposed brick work, the space is defined by two 5-ton rolling cranes that span the width of the building and roll down its length on steel girders. The venue is run by The Rainbow Venues, which own a complex of other converted warehouse event and club spaces in the area, many of which Stage Productions has also been supplying production for over the last eight years. Every week, a DJ or other artist performs at the 3500-capacity venue. Crane’s stage changes per
Argentina - In their hit single At Dawn, Argentinian rockers La Beriso sing about the undying resilience of dreamers. It is an apt theme for this hard-rocking group of seven musicians who struggled for some years after they formed their band in the gritty port city of Avellaneda, before breaking through as one of South America’s hottest artists, an accomplishment that led Rolling Stone Argentina to proclaim them “the new hope of street rock”. The band’s intense passion was on full display in their 2 September performance at Rosario’s Metropolitan concert hall, not just in their unflinchingly honest music, but also in the vividly coloured lightshow that supported it note for powerful note. Lighting designer David De Martin anchored his high-octane rig around a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by Deligio - Producciones Técnicas.
USA - UK manufacturer Avolites will be joining with its US distributor Group One to show visitors the latest developments from the Avolites control and Ai media server product ranges at LDI 2017 in Las Vegas. LDI 2017 will see the official release of the latest version of Avolites Ai media server software. Ai v10.1 continues to build on the freshly redesigned Ai user interface and introduces a variety of powerful new features for all Ai users. The new features of Ai v10.1 include updates to Notch live effects integration, native 3D projection mapping and simultaneous timecode playback and live improvisation - all with effortless compatibility with the rest of the show system. The Avolites booth will showcase Ai's close integration with Notch, the providers of real-time, interactive, creative video tools. Visitors can meet with members of the Notch team and see a
Germany - If the six musicians of PUR keep their fans waiting for a whole year, there has to be a very good reason. And a gigantic, one-off concert provided the answer, as for the sixth time at the Veltins Arena, 65,000 fans flocked to the PUR & Friends concert. This gave them the chance not only to celebrate their band, but also a number of high-profile guests. Among them were Andreas Bourani, Daniel Wirtz, comedian Bülent Ceylan and Max Giesinger. The success of this mega event was assured at the beginning of the year, when all tickets were sold out in a very short time. What the sold-out arena would be offered over the 150 minutes could only be described as ‘excitement’ - as the six musicians entered the venue to a fanfare and took to their gigantic stage in the centre of the arena. Lighting designer Günter Jäckle, who has been one of the permanent associates o
UK - Utopium has invested in new energy efficient lighting fixtures. The company has added the SGM G-4 Wash fixtures, compact DMX-controlled LED Fresnel wash lights with superb colour mixing abilities and low power consumption. Contrary to most conventional wash lights, the G-4 comprises red, green blue, amber and mint LEDs, which mix directly in the light source. The fixture also contains a dichroic enhancer to create a deep blue which delivers a highly saturated backlight effect. Utopium’s other recent acquisitions include: Martin VDO Sceptron 10, Hippotizer Amba Media Server, Avolites Tigher Touch 2 and Chauvet Colarado 2 Solo. Utopium’s Colin Bodenham remarked: “By constantly reinvesting in our stock we can be sure that we are able to support our clients’ creative requirements. These fixtures are great additions to our dry hire and event lighting inve
USA - Lighting designer Butch Allen created a stunning visual design for American rock band Paramore’s Tour Two US tour using a bevy of Elation Professional’s compact ACL 360i beam effect lights. Supplied by LMG Touring for the fall leg of the band’s US tour, which wrapped up on 17 October, 72 of the single-beam moving effects formed the aerial lighting focal point throughout the show. “I needed a very small fixture with big output,” Allen said. “The lights were in the projection field for video and minimizing shadows without sacrificing the lighting look was a challenge. The ACL 360i fit the bill perfectly.” Allen, who was using the fixture for the first time, praised its intensity and named its small size and low weight (33 cm/13 in tall and 5.2 kg/11.5 lbs) as important factors in its choice, as well as the ability to fit the budget. LMG Touri
Europe - Production manager Will Wilkinson engaged the services of Video Design, Negative Earth lighting and SSE for sound during Lady Antebellum’s recent European tour. The band visited the Netherlands, England, Scotland and Ireland during the European leg of the tour comprising six dates between 1 October and 10 October, with the crew and band arriving on the continent on 27 September. Wilkison says: “When you tour with such a tight schedule at an arena level, the key is being able to source close what we use in the US. In that sense of matched equipment, it was a very smooth transition from the US into Europe. As far as Video Design was concerned, our biggest concern was over the video content. With almost no time for production prep ahead of our first show in Amsterdam we needed to send our content over before we arrived and have it loaded onto the server.
UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies recently supplied Edinburgh-based rental & production company Black Light with Luminex GigaCore switches to provide a dual redundancy fibre network for the reveal of the new £1.35bn Queensferry Crossing bridge. The lighting scheme, designed by event production company JMP Productions and supplied by Black Light, was switched on by First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon to commemorate the completion of one of the biggest infrastructure projects in Scotland in a generation. With the structure spanning 1.7 miles / 2.7 kilometres over the River Forth, and the launch event attracting a huge amount of media interest, Black Light needed to ensure that the technical infrastructure for the ambitious lighting scheme performed seamlessly. The ultra-reliable system they chose consisted of Luminex GigaCore network switches, plus
UK - Rental company Ian Livie Concert & Corporate Lighting helped set up Paul Rodgers’ Free Spirit Tour with a minimalist rig of moving light and Leko fixtures and video content on Resolume controlled from a grandMA2 console. Ian Livie and LD Jared Trinnaman are committed MA Lighting control aficionados. Livie says: “I had worked with Warren Cracknell for many years on Joe Bonamassa, the US blues guitarist so when he discussed the option of working with Paul Rodgers on the Free Spirit Tour I knew I had to invest in a console I was confident would stand the test of touring time both now and into the future. The LD, Jared Trinnaman felt the same way; I saw the show at the Royal Albert Hall and was so impressed with what he did with the console.” Trinnaman himself had already invested in MA control. He says: “I’ve been an MA user since 2012. I
Czech Republic - Czech pop rock band Kryštof celebrated their 25-year anniversary with a sold-out arena tour and a two-night concert at the Stadion Evžena Rošického in Prague, where they played two shows to over 70,000. Full production – including around 100 Robe moving lights – for the tour and the stadium shows was supplied by ZL Production who have a long association with Kryštof. The band’s lighting designer Jiří Rouček is also a long serving crew member, and since 2010 he has also been working as head of lighting for ZL Production based in Plzen and Prague. A number of LED screens were involved in the stage design – both on and around the stage itself and across the PA wings each side widen out the overall picture and ensure that all in the venue, even those at the very back, could get a good view of the action. The strong video presence and
France - Airstar became an official partner to the Régates Royales Cannes this year after five consecutive years of cooperation. Airstar’s lighting solutions were once again installed at the heart of the historic classic yachting event - the 160th edition of which took place between 23 and 30 September. Airstar’s Crystal lighting balloons took pride of place, with two 160cm and three 200cm envelope balloons in situ on the docks around the boats and at the stands in the exhibiting village in the centre of Cannes opposite the Palais des Festivals. Some were then relocated to Palm Beach for the evening’s festivities. With a set up time of just 15 minutes, yet designed to withstand tough outdoor conditions including wind gusts of up to 70 km/h, the Crystal range is perfectly suited to an event of this nature and are maintenance free. The Crystal lighting ballo
New Zealand - MDR Sound and Lighting installed 12 Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Spot fixtures to replace the incandescent fixtures in the Auckland War Memorial Museum The Mavericks were deemed well suited for this project for their CMY + CTO colour mixing capabilities and their 440W output. “We found that the Mavericks were the only fixtures we tested to render all colours perfectly even at 100% output,” commented Auckland Museum’s Liam Brown. He added: “This is a foyer space that receives indirect sunlight most of the day through its south facing glass ceiling, but the brightness and intensity of the Mavericks overcome this without any problem.” He adds: “When they’re not providing general coloured wash lighting in the evening or early morning, the Mavericks function as pin sharp spot lights to focus on the objects on display at ground level,
USA - Altman Lighting is preparing a showcase of its theatrical and architectural lighting innovations at LDI 2017. At booth #2236, the company will present the complete family of Chalice LED recessed and pendant downlights, the line of Gallery LED architectural luminaires, and also the award-winning Pegasus LED Fresnels and PHX LED profile ellipsoidals. The Chalice LED Series range of downlights is available with mounting options that include pendant, recessed, aircraft cable, wall and yoke mount; and dimming choices ranging from Mains Dimming to DMX. Designed for museum, art gallery, hotel, restaurant and retail lighting, the Gallery LED Series offers a 92+ CRI and dimming options that include Mains Dimming, DMX, 0-10VDC and DALI. With variety of colour temperatures, this scalable family produces 4000 lumens of white light output, and can be used to build your soluti
Czech Republic - Colours of Ostrava is the biggest international music festival in Czech Republic and one of the largest in Central Europe. With its unique location at the Dolní oblast Vítkovice, an old Czechoslovak mine with UNESCO World Heritage status, the festival draws some of the biggest musical acts from around the globe. This year, it treated fans to performances from the likes of Imagine Dragons and alt-J on five stages. Tasked with creating a high octane lighting rig for one of the festival’s Absolut stage, lighting designer Martin Vocetka supplied a number of Chauvet DJ Intimidator Spot 375Z IRC and Chauvet DJ SlimPAR Pro H USB fixtures. Vocetka used four Intimidator Spot 375Z IRC fixtures from Chauvet DJ to set the right visual tone for the intense musical performances on stage. Particularly stunning was the interaction between the Intimidators and the
USA - Grammy award-winning bluegrass singer Alison Krauss recently concluded a 21-city autumn tour with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites. Lighting designer William Anglin held a singular focus in his design: make the artist shine. “Her talent and the talent of the band do not require a cue intensive show,” he said. “We treat her show in more of a theatrical style. It's always such a pleasure to work with a performer of her level.” Bandit Lites supplied Martin MAC Viper Profiles, GLP X4S and GLP X4 Bar 10 fixtures, Elation CuePix WW2 Blinders, Robe Robin 600 LED Washes, Coemar Halos along with two grandMA2 Lite consoles. “Alison is not a fan of spotlights, so it is very important to light her with two nice warm tungsten key lights,” said Anglin of the design. “We were really surprised by the Coemar IWash halos. They are a bit older fixtures but
The Netherlands - Philips Lighting has announced the availability of the new Philips VLZ range of moving head luminaires for professional show lighting applications. The range improves on the Vari-Lite VL3000 Series and offers a smaller footprint, improved beam quality and additional features based on the latest LED technology with the familiar Vari-Lite colour performance and programming workflow. The three fixtures - the VLZ Spot, VLZ Wash and VLZ Profile - are dedicated to their individual functions, yet designed to work in unison. All deliver fast, accurate and repeatable movement on all functions. "With the VLZ we have kept the best features of the successful VL3000 Series, and brought them up to date with our latest light source technology," says Martin Palmer, Vari-Lite product manager at Philips Entertainment Lighting. "While each fixture is engineered f
Europe - Chilean composer Nicolas Jaar brought in Colourblind to design the lighting and video on his European tour. The tour made its way through a host of venues and famous festivals, including Glasgow’s Barrowlands and Barcelona’s Sonar. Colourblind, headed by Lynden Gare, designed a show to compliment the Chilean’s explorative music creations, and centre to the operation was a Hippotizer Media Server. The Karst unit used both SDI outputs, as well as splitting the DP to feed the LED strips. Running Hippotizer, it also fed IMAG screens at a number of the festival appearances. Scenarios covered during the run included projection at front of house on to a special 3m reflection surface (replaced with upstage LED at festivals); rear projection through smoke; LED strips by Light Initiative; and IMAG were present at festivals. The lighting team also used Marshall SDI
UK - Harman Professional has appointed Sound Technology as its UK distributor for Martin. The deal is hoped to streamline logistics for customers, with Sound Technology holding substantial Martin stock in the UK and a supply of spare parts locally. The Hertfordshire-based company has distributed Harman audio solutions and services since 2008 and has now expanded its operations with a dedicated professional lighting team helmed by former Martin UK sales director Ritchie Reed as business development manager (professional lighting). Jonas Stenvinkel, group director entertainment EMEA, HARMAN Professional Solutions, comments: “We are very pleased about this expansion of our partnership, Sound Technology has been our distributor in the UK for many years, and with their strong representation across the country, we believe the expansion of our great partnershi
USA - Superfly, organisers of the inaugural Lost Lake Festival in Phoenix, Arizona, entrusted long-time collaborator Bandit Lites with providing the lighting for the event’s two mainstages. The lighting company supplied the lighting package for the Camelback and Piestewa stages, where performances included The Killers, Chance the Rapper, Pixies, Huey Lewis & The News, The Roots, Dreamcar, Run the Jewels, Odesza and Major Lazer. “The main brief for the two SAM575 stages was to make them individual, so they each had their own character, and to make them logistically friendly for changeovers and any band lights or scenic pieces that would come in,” said Bandit production manager Dizzy Gosnell. The Camelback stage had over 130 fixtures and featured Magic Panels, Rogue Hybrids, Cuepix WW2, VL6000 Beams and Illumipanel architectural washes controlled w
USA - Robe’s BMFL Blades and BMFL WashBeams were specified as a major element of the house lighting rig at the new Little Caesars Arena in midtown Detroit. Crossfade Design’s Eric Wade specified the fixtures, while his team – comprising Jason Robinson, Michael Nevitt and John Early - coordinated the installation and programming of the new lights. The crew chose 36 x Robe BMFL Blades and 24 x BMFL WashBeams for their brightness and optics and flexible future sets. They also chose Anolis ArcDots, 450 of which are mounted on the tensioned wire grid covering 80% of the ceiling and combine with 1,700 LED strips for a vibrant, dazzling environmental effect. The BMFLs Blades are around the perimeter of the ice (for the ice hockey events), with the BMFL WashBeams rigged in the high corners of the building, all trimmed at around 100 ft. above the floor. They n
UK - White Light is providing the lighting equipment for Venus in Fur, a Tony Award-winning two-hander starring Natalie Dormer and David Oakes that recently opened at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London. The set design features a raked floor pushing through the proscenium into the house with a steeply-angled ceiling overhead, which meant there was no opportunity for overhead lighting. Hugh Vanstone, lighting designer for the show, comments: “The play itself dictates a lot about the setting and lighting as the action takes place in a New York rehearsal room whilst a thunderstorm rages outside. The room is initially lit with fluorescent strip lights but also has a small improvised lighting rig, which the mysterious Vanda commandeers to soften the mood in her attempts to win over Thomas.” “The way I approached this play was to ensure there was a marke
USA - GLP will set up a ‘village’ at its 2,500 sq ft booth #1173 at this year’s LDI 2017 expo on 17-19 November in Las Vegas. Volt Lites’ Matthew Shimamoto will be combining all GLP tools into an integrated lightshow in a bid to emulate his award-winning 2016 stand lightshow. The product display will be bathed in a party atmosphere as GLP’s impression brand marks its 10th anniversary. The whole family, from the original impression 90 onwards, will be showcased for the benefit of nostalgists. Lighting professionals looking for new solutions can see demonstrations of the JDC1 hybrid strobe for the first time while the new impression S350 will be launched during the event. The fixture has been designed to meet the demands of lighting designers looking for a single fixture that can be used in multiple applications. Also making its debut will be the F
