USA - A new tile has been added to ETC’s Unison Mosaic family, the new Touchscreen interface. The 4.3-inch (10.9cm) screen can be added to any Mosaic system running Mosaic software 2.4 or later, giving users a new option for monitoring and control over their installation with virtual faders, buttons, colour pickers and more.
“With the same user interface capabilities as the Tessera Controller the new Mosaic Touchscreen provides a simple way in for users to customise access to their Mosaic system,” says Bryan Palmer, architectural market manager at ETC. “This addition provides a fully-configurable interface at a lower price point, making the dynamic control system approachable for anyone.”
The Mosaic Touchscreen is modelled on the existing Tessera interface, which gives users a full controller feature set and also address output. The new Touchscreen removes th

UK - Returning from a 25-year haitus, Matt and Luke Goss - Bros - headlined two shows at London’s O2 Arena, giving a fresh airing to their back catalogue of 80s pop hits.
Working alongside Jamie Thompson and David Cohen at innovative show and lighting design outfit MIRRAD, the team at VER London provided the crew with an extensive LED, video, lighting and camera package to help build the suitably vibrant installation.
Featuring a 6m upstage wall created using over 160sq.m of Everbrighten 15mm LED, angled for added depth, the performance area was stepped front to back across two levels. The band were positioned directly below the screens on the first ‘step’, overlooking the main stage floor, with the drum riser rigged centre stage.
VER provided over 200 lighting fixtures, rigged using 400ft of HUD trussing in a double halo configuration with a classic mirro

UK - White Light has provided the lighting equipment for the UK tour of Flashdance – The Musical.
Based on the Paramount Pictures Film, the musical tells the story of 18-year-old Alex who dreams of attending the prestigious Shipley Dance Academy and becoming a professional dancer. Yet when a romance complicates her ambitions, she harnesses this to drive her dream.
Flashdance – The Musical is being produced by the award-winning Selladoor Productions and features a lighting design by Mark Howland. He comments: “Having never actually seen the film, this allowed me to approach the piece with a completely fresh perspective as though it were a new piece. The show is very rooted within 80’s music so I was keen to push some of the bold 80s colours which are largely associated with the music videos and concerts of that time. We also keep a lot of the ligh

Middle East - Elation Professional has appointed Venutech Audiovisual & Lighting Systems as its exclusive distributor in the Middle East.
Venuetech has been a providing professional products and services to the entertainment industry in the Middle East since 2003. Headed by one of the Middle East market’s most experienced operators, Nour Assafiri, Venuetech’s team of industry professionals is focused on all aspects of the audio, video and lighting market, from sales to technical support.
“The major target has always been to be able to provide a complete solution for our clientele, therefore we see Elation as the missing piece of the puzzle,” says Assafiri. “We believe that our experience in entertainment lighting along with Elation’s strength and reputation, as well as their continuous production of innovative products, will open doors for a strong re

Canada - Audiovisual specialist Creativ Nation used the SGM IP65-rated P-5 LED to illuminate a construction crane used to build a 30-storey tower.
Creativ Nation’s Martin Berthiaume says: “My client wanted to put promotional emphasis on his new real estate project under construction - a 30-story retirement tower, the highest in Canada.”
The company faced extensive challenges to illuminate the structures without hindering the construction and SGM’s wireless DMX technology provided versatility without compromising the functionality of the wash light.
Berthiaume explained: “Our first challenge was to limit the installation of wiring so as not to obstruct the various mechanisms of the crane from a height of 200ft. With the help of the wireless DMX technology of SGM, we were able to carry out this mandate with brilliance.”
Power consumption and ou

Italy - Street festival of light art RGB Light Experience – Roma Glocal Brightness is back in Rome this week.
The event, which attracted 60,000 visitors last year, is spanning across a 4km stretch from Pigneto to Torpignattara. From 27-29 October, public and private spaces will be lit through 19 original and site-specific artworks realised by important and emerging artists under the artistic direction of Diego Labonia and the technical supervision of Chiara Martinelli.
The artists involved are: S+C Studio, Maria Saggese and Children of Darklight, Gianluca Del Gobbo/FLxER, Andrea Daly and Federico Cecchi, Simone Palma and Diego Labonia, Fulminate, Massimo Rizzuto, MediaMash Studio, Vj Alice, Tommaso Rinaldi/High Files, Marco Amedani, RGB Light Experience/CNR, Massimo Desiato, La mia paura è Bianca, Elisa Mancini.
Those involved with the workshops and me

USA - Marc Wasserman has been having a rollicking good time lighting red-hot comedian Nick Cannon’s Wild ‘N Out tour. The New York-based designer is also getting an up-close look at the talented stars from the tour’s namesake hit MTV programme.
“The show is fantastic,” said Wasserman, the owner of 3 With 1 Grab Productions. “We have comedians like Rip Michaels, Emmanuel Hudson, DC Young Fly, Conceited, Matt Rife, Justina Valentine, Karlous Miller and Chico Bean. Plus, I get to work with some of the best hip-hop artists around.”
Wasserman is working with his tried-and-true Rogue R2 Spot fixtures from Chauvet Professional on the tour, something that he feels has been key to keeping his good times rolling. “My Rogue R2 Spots are my go-to moving light,” he said. “I can’t say enough good things about these versatile movers. Some of mine have bee

UK - Cardiff-based event and project management specialist 11th Hour has recruited three new full-time team members to help meet growing demand for its services.
Project manager Kirstie Evans joins from Cardiff Council's events team where she gained a wide variety of production experience. A graduate of The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Kirstie also has experience in TV and film production management.
She is joined by assistant project manager, Pete Morgan who studied Live Event Technology at The University of Glamorgan before gaining experience working as a senior technician in television technology supply, as well as freelancing in the wider events industry.
In an increasingly busy warehouse, Sarah Everson takes on the role of assistant warehouse manager. With a degree in Music Technology, Sarah was apprenticed at The Wales Millennium Centre where she

USAThe Global Leadership Summit is a live HD broadcast that is simulcast to more than 600 satellite locations around the globe. On 10-11 August, Relevant Audio Visual provided production for a Global Leadership Summit satellite site in Wichita, Kansas, the third largest satellite site in the country, and turned to inspirational lighting from Elation Professional to liven up the environment.
“In past years, there’s been little thought put into lighting this satellite location,” explains Brandon Deibler, creative director and project designer at Relevant Audio Visual (RAV). “Traditionally, there’s been a very flat, non-dimensional look to the room. It needed a more energetic, inspiring look to complement their message so we freshened it up with effects and colour from Elation lighting.”
It didn’t help that the

USA - The light show at the Nightchaser Stage at the 2017 Burning Man Festival held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert was controlled with the ChamSys MagicQ MQ40.
The stage was radiantly covered in multi-colored light, courtesy of LD Bryce Cherpelis.
“My ChamSys desk and I both stood up to some harsh elements here in the middle of the desert, but it was well worth it,” said Cherpelis, who used four universes in his show. “I loved the looks we were able to create. We played with a lot of different colors and intensity levels to set a very free flowing feeling for the performances. The FX generator in my MQ40 was essential in this regard. Between intensity FX, Position FX and color FX, it was always there for me. Whenever I wanted to push the boundaries of the show, my console was ready for more.”
Not surprisingly, busking was the order of the day for

USA/Europe - Experienced LD Cosmo Wilson has been lighting Aerosmith’s shows since 2012 and was at the helm of the band’s farewell tour Aero-Vederci Baby.
Cosmo first started thinking about the latest set design while the band were in South America back in 2016, and when it came to speccing the equipment he decided to go big into GLP’s impression X4 LED moving head portfolio, commandeering 272 fixtures as a direct replacement for the classic Par can.
“I wanted to create a design that was reminiscent of Aerosmith’s earlier tours, back in the 70’s and 80’, with the enormous Par can rigs and ‘finger’ style trusses,” he explained. “The big difference is the video wall which is definitely not 70’s or 80’s, but I helped to create some of the content that is at least reminiscent of the band in that era.”
The LD has been using the impre

UK - Full technical service provider Hawthorn has added the new Martin MAC Encore Performance to its inventory.
Launched earlier this month, the MAC Encore Performance is a full-featured, LED moving head that promises to deliver levels of light quality and consistent operation never seen before in an LED-based stage lighting unit. Available in two dedicated colour temperature variants: WRM for unparalleled, 3000 K warm incandescent emulation and CLD for crisp, 6000 K neutral daylight, Hawthorn have added both to their hire stock.
David Slater, Hawthorn’s group director of hire, said: “We’ve been waiting a long time for a fixture that delivers ultimate light quality whilst also being incredibly silent. When we were first introduced to the Encore Performance, we knew we’d found exactly what we’d been looking for. We’ve shown them to a number of designers and

Europe - Rammstein live tour lighting directors Bertil Mark and Faren Matern used four TimeCore units from the Dutch manufacturer Visual Productions.
The TimeCore is a modern timecode toolbox capable of generating, converting and displaying timecode. It supports and converts between SMPTE, MTC and Art-Net timecode and can convert between different frame rates. The TimeCore also handles various non-timecode protocols: MIDI. MMC, MSC, RTP-MIDI, sACN, Art-Net, OSC, UDP, TCP and HTTP. This allows the unit to be triggered by many external signals and devices.
TimeCore can be configured as a timecode master and in this case generates a stable timecode signal. Alternatively, it can also be used as a timecode slave. The LCD display shows the current running timecode in real time and the two push buttons are user-configurable.
"We use TimeCore at the key points of our ex

Spain - Robert Juliat added some French flavour to the celebrated Spanish music festival at Cap Roig, Girona this summer.
Local rental company ABS Entertainment Service supplied two Robert Juliat Merlin 2500W and two Robert Juliat Aramis 2500W followspots as front of house support for the duration of the two-week event.
The festival originated in 1927 when it began as an art and architectural and music show. This, the sixth edition of the festival in its present form, ran from 7 July to 22 August 2017 in a site spread over 17 hectares of gardens, complete with castle. The line-up of singers and bands included Anastacia, Passenger, Silvia Pérez Cruz, Norah Jones, Wilco, Woody Allen, Els Amics de les Arts and The Pretenders.
Merlin and Aramis are two of Robert Juliat’s most popular followspots and the team from ABS rigged two of each on front of house towers fo

USA - OneRepublic headlined this summer’s 34-date Honda Civic Tour of North America, with support from Fitz and the Tantrums, and James Arthur.
Core to the strikingly impressive lighting design by Mark Butts, production and lighting designer at LA-based Preset Productions, are 103 Ayrton MagicPanel-602 fixtures, supplied by global rental company VER.
For Butts and co-production designer and show director Raj Kapoor, it was the first time of touring with OneRepublic. “We have worked with the band before, but never on a big tour, and we were keen to start developing a visual style and brand for them which really captures their personality and image,” explains Butts. “We wanted this tour to be the first step in defining the OneRepublic style and to make them known for their live shows in a similar way to iconic bands like Muse, Rammstein, U2 or Nine Inch Nails.

USA - Texas-based Mexican Tejano band, Grupo Siggno, recently staged a performance in San Antonio, TX. Global Productions, owned by Adrian Gallegos and Daniel Martinez, helped brighten their stage by utilising moving heads from PR Lighting and several fixtures from Mega Systems, who distribute the Chinese brand in the US.
The event took place in the Cowboys Dance Hall, where over 4000 people enjoyed the concert, produced by Global Productions. In addition to PR Lighting’s XLED 3007, production also included four XLED 4022RZ and four Phantom from PR Lighting.
Both Global Productions and Grupo Siggno’s lighting designer, David Luis Rosas, expressed their amazement at the XLED 4022RZ, which is equipped with a beam angle zoom range of 5° to 60° and can create illumination and colour mixing in both near and far distances. When used in Wash mode, the beams come togethe

Denmark - Lighting designer Sune Verdier of b-ql.dk and scenographer Benjamin La Cour collaborated to produce a dynamic lighting aesthetic for a new production of Green Day's American Idiot rock musical staged at Den Grå Hal (The Grey Hall) in Copenhagen.
They chose Robe moving lights - DL7S Profiles, DL4S Profiles and Spiider LED wash beams - to be at the core of the lighting, which was developed as a co-design for the show.
Benjamin’s almost bare stage set features three large moving scenic pieces initially making up the stage floor, which resemble giant slabs of concrete, representing the crushing of individuals refusing to conform to the norm. These move constantly throughout the show, each rigged on four half tonne vari-speed motors - creating different spaces, rooms and locations as the story – of life, individuality, expression and being someone - un

UK – Chauvet fixtures have been installed at one of Manchester’s most famous industrial-era buildings, Victoria Warehouse, which was transformed into a multi-purpose cultural hub with a corporate event space, The Bays.
Installed by the Sterling Event Group, the venue benefits from a collection of 165 Chauvet Professional COLORdash Accent Quad fixtures.
Richard Nicholson, project manager at Sterling Event Group, positioned the COLORdash fixtures next to the industrial-era steel columns to ensure more immersive coverage.
“Given the architectural setup within both bay areas, the compact build of the COLORdash Accents ensured that we could provide a discrete solution for downlighting each pillar,” he said. “What’s more, we know from past experience that these fixtures are incredibly easy to set up and install. As a result, we were able to integrate them s

UK - White Light has been called upon to provide the lighting equipment for I>The Toxic Avenger’s West End debut at the Arts Theatre, London.
The show is written by Tony Award-winning duo Joe DiPietro and David Bryan and is lit by Nic Farman, who has worked on the show since its first London run. He comments: “I’ve worked with the director, Benji Sperring, many times before and my brief for this production was to have a lot of fun and be brave with my design. We often like to create bold stage pictures filled with colour and, for this show, it was especially important to create the cartoon style world in which the musical is set.”
The show first opened at the Southwark Playhouse last year and Nic believes that the musical still embraces its B-Movie origins. He comments: “For the West End version, we wanted to ramp up the rock feel of the show and add more

Russia - Moscow-based production company MAX MAX chose the technology of award-winning beam shaper the Claypaky Scenius Profile to feature in two distinct lighting designs for two large-scale anniversary events.
In June, MAX MAX designed, created and produced the 50th anniversary event for Swedish brand Oriflame, celebrated at Moscow's Olympic Stadium. The event was split into two main sections, a business conference followed by a formal gala dinner, the Banquet of Directors. The MAX MAX team was tasked with creating entirely different lighting looks for each, to follow in quick succession.
"For this production we worked closely with lighting designer Evgenii Juhnevich to create straight and calm lighting looks for the conference on the first day and a dynamic, bright and complex lighting for the Banquet," says Maxim Martynov, CEO of MAX MAX Productions.
Prov

USA - The Music City Food + Wine Festival returned to Bicentennial Park for another weekend that celebrated the culinary crafting of world-renowned chefs, mixologists, sommeliers and self-proclaimed foodies.
Bandit Lites joined forces with C3 Presents and Jeff Wendt to create a lighting package that would add to the ambiance, energise the space and bring colour and light to more than 20 tents, a DJ booth, and the Grand Pavilion Taste tent.
With food and spirits from more than 80 purveyors, ticket holders were given the opportunity to indulge in a weekend of artisan flavours and exceptional experiences including an intimate bourbon tasting with Preston Van Winkle of Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery, BBQ from Martin Bar-B-Que Pitmaster Pat Martin, a Gospel Brunch along the Music City Walk of Fame Park, panels and chef demos and a Grand Taste Pavilion with tastings, showcase

Denmark - Lighting designer Johnny Thinggaard Lydiksen used 104 Robe fixtures to craft the light show for Danish hip hop band Suspekt.
The band requested the LD to create “a new live visual experience” for their tour, which kicked off at a stadium at the start of the year.
In addition to the Robes – comprising 48 x Pointes, 48 x Spiiders and 8 BMFL Spots - Johnny decided on a slightly old-school look, adding over 400 PAR cans to the stadium show rig and 24 strobes.
The overriding idea was that all versions of the design – large or small-scale – should share the same aesthetic. For the autumn club tour, the LD uses 10 x Spiiders, 10 x Strobes and 16 x 8-lite audience blinders on wind-up stands. “I wanted to keep it brutally stark. It was the vibe of the music that gave me the idea for the wall of PARs for an extreme contrast in lightsources and basical

India - Electronic music festival Ultra hit the road under the moniker Road to Ultra played two shows in India in September, one of which included Elation Professional lighting gear supplied by Elation partner Star Dimensions India.
Star Dimensions handled lighting and trussing for the event and turned to 12 Elation Platinum SBX hybrid moving heads and Platinum Beam 5R beam effect moving lights for what Ashish Mehta, director of Star Dimensions, described as an “out of the box” design. “We had the SBX fixtures on both a front bar and back bar truss, creating mesmerizing effects on stage and towards the audience while the Platinum Beam 5Rs were used for nice mid-air gobo effects,” Ashish Mehta explains. “We rigged many 5R Beams across the stage and sound tower extension and their sharp narrow beam created a larger than life look.”
Star Dimensio

South Africa - The latest series of Take Me Out Mzanzi – aired on M-Net’s Mzanzi Magic network in South Africa – was recorded over six weeks at Sasani Studios in Johannesburg, featuring a lighting scheme designed by Rob Grobler, with equipment supplied by rental specialist Gearhouse South Africa.
Produced by Rapid Blue, the show has a style book and a specific look that has to be followed, explained Rob, who chose over 130 Robe fixtures to assist him in achieving this task on the lighting side. The methodology by which the various creative departments can arrive at these aesthetic conclusions… is left entirely to the expertise and imagination of the local production teams and professionals.
Beforehand, Rob received research material from Rapid Blue and watched numerous You Tube videos of other editions before drawing up the lighting plot, which featured

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