UK - To best support and grow its rapidly expanding user-base, global design and BIM software developer Vectorworks has announced the formation of a new office in the UK. To facilitate this new corporate office, Vectorworks has acquired Design Software Solutions Limited, a long-time reseller of Vectorworks software. The Vectorworks UK office will build on the support, training and sales infrastructure developed by Design Software Solutions as a launch pad for further development in the region. The new office will be led by Tamsin Slatter and Adrian Slatter, former directors of Design Software Solutions. “With more than 10 years of experience helping users make the most of their investment in Vectorworks software, Design Software Solutions has provided significant input to the growth of the UK market while also providing valuable support and training materials,
UK – The 2017 Knight of Illumination (KOI) Awards has announced this year’s shortlist of lighting and video designers, recognised for their creative work in the Concert Touring & Events sector. The winners will be announced at the 10th anniversary KOI Awards ceremony, to be held at London’s Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith, on 17 September. The KOI Awards was established to publicly celebrate the achievements of lighting and video designers in the sectors of Television, Theatre and Concert Touring & Events. The annual Awards are open to designers whose work has been showcased in the UK in the previous twelve months. The Awards is now one of the most celebrated nights in the live entertainment design industry calendar, with more than 500 leading creatives and professionals in attendance at last year’s celebrations. The Concert Touring & Events shortlist is the
USA - It isn’t often that a rock star coming off three successive Billboard Top Ten albums takes time before a big show to hold a yoga class, but then Michael Franti has made a habit of defying expectations, whether it’s with his genre-bending music, or unconventional dress code. (He gave up wearing shoes in 2000 and hasn’t donned a pair since, save for the flip-flops he puts on to board airplanes.) Franti’s iconoclastic and richly fertile imagination was on full display at his 13 July appearance with his band Spearhead at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Supporting their multifarious performance was a Matt “Jonezy” Jones designed light and video show run with a ChamSys MagicQ MQ80 console. Kicked off after the conclusion of his Love Out Loud Yoga class, Franti’s show took the audience through a weaving musical journey that touched rock, hip hop, blues, da
USA - The Moody Blues have been touring since the fabled moment in music history referred to as the British Invasion, and while they have 18 platinum and gold albums, retail sales of more than 70m units and decades of touring behind them, the trio, consisting of Graeme Edge, Justin Hayward and John Lodge shows no plans of stopping any time soon. The band’s illustrious career stretches across more than half a century. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the album Days of Future Passed, Bandit Lites supplied the lighting and video elements for the legendary group’s latest tour. Bandit Lites supplied lighting designer Mick Thornton, now in his fifteenth year with the band, their exclusive GRNLite Moving Washes, GLP X4, Robe Pointes, 4 Lite Moles and LED Pars, along with Chauvet Video Panels (6mm) and Clay Paky Mirage Video Panels (20 mm). “The bal
UK - Miss Saigon has recently embarked on a major UK tour, taking the full West End production to every corner of the UK. The show opened at the Curve, Leicester in July before moving to Birmingham Hippodrome, from where it travels to Ireland, Wales, Scotland and back to England, culminating at Norwich Theatre Royal in September 2018. Travelling with the show, with its lighting design by Bruno Poet, are two MDG ATMe haze generators, purchased specifically for the tour by White Light. “My Associate LD on this show, Warren Letton discovered the ATMe hazer and recommended that I take a look at them,” says Poet. “I have used MDG’s Atmosphere machine many times before and love the fabulous haze they deliver. And we used two Atmospheres on both the West End and Broadway productions of Miss Saigon where they stood the test of time. “But it was the extr
Europe - Robbie Williams’ latest European tour takes in all points east and west of the continent throughout the summer, culminating in two shows in the Russian cities of St Petersburg and Moscow in early September. Touring in support of Williams’ 11th studio album, The Heavy Entertainment Show, the production reflects the nature of both the artist and the album, mixing full-on schmaltz with in-your-face entertainment in an atmosphere that is cheeky, loud and proud to be brash. In a design set to dazzle in keeping with the effervescent star, lighting designer, Mark Cunniffe, opted to use 200 Ayrton IntelliPix-XT LED matrix fixtures to line the front edges of the stage, which is – what else – star-shaped. “One of the major challenges of a stadium show is that 50%-60% of the show is played in daylight, before transitioning into night-time later on. The further
Europe - Lighting and production designer Mark Cunniffe knew what he wanted to create his vision and met up with SGM to provide the right luminaire. Besides this newly developed G-4 Wash-Beam, a vast amount of Q-7 and SixPacks are to be found in his design. When creating the plot for the Robbie Williams Heavy Entertainment Show Tour, or for that matter any other lighting design, Cunniffe is very much driven by the artist, for whom he is working. “I try to achieve something out of the ordinary and wherever possible something thought provoking, but at the same time I stay clear of any approach that could be considered to be overpowering the performance. “I still believe very strongly that the role of a lighting and production designer is to be supportive and sympathetic as opposed to overpowering. I consider myself to be nothing more than a support act for th
Poland - Transcolor Lucjan Siwczyk, one of Poland's major rental companies, is located in greater Warsaw, since 2010 in a substantial purpose-built warehouse and office complex complete with two large studios which are regularly hired out by TV production companies to record a range of series and programmes. Television is a core market for Transcolor which also services other studios with lighting and video equipment – together with concert touring, special events and long term installations. To assist with the busy schedules, there are now over 300 Robe fixtures in the rental inventory including 200 plus LEDWash 800s and over 100 Spikies. They started looking at Robe in 2012 - having been a distributor for a competitor brand for several years and consequently having a big stock of their fixtures – it was a big moment - explained technical manager Szymon Kos
USA - Altman Lighting has announced the appointment of Miles Dudgeon as their new Northeast regional sales manager for North America. Based in upstate New York, Dudgeon will manage the Altman Lighting sales efforts in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. “I am thrilled to add Miles to our sales team,” said Nick Champion, Altman Lighting vice president of North American sales. “His background working with industry manufacturers is extensive, and his work as an end user adds a perspective that will help him be able to quickly understand and address the needs of our customers and partners.” As an ETCP-certified entertainment electrician, Dudgeon most recently worked as the master el
UK - To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Wholehog lighting control desk, the Flying Pig Systems team, along with an original Wholehog console, will reunite at the PLASA Show in September. In 1992, three young, twenty-something men - Nick Archdale, Tom Thorne and Nils Thorjussen - exhibited a new control system for live entertainment lighting at the PLASA Show in London. Called Wholehog, it had been conceived, developed, road-tested and launched in less than a year. Its disruptive power and features drew huge interest from the market, while its impact was recognised by the PLASA Show's Awards judges who unanimously named it Lighting Product of the Year. Wholehog was a landmark in the history of entertainment lighting control. For the three founders whose blood, sweat, tears and (no doubt) more tears had led them to this point, it was an extraordinary achievement ag
UK – Matrix has introduced a range of LED products designed for the live event sector. Matrix’s 2.6mm pixel pitch LED creates high definition clear images, suitable for exhibitions and conferences that need a superior display platform. Matrix reports that it has received “great feedback” for the product, with benefits including magnetic attraction function on each LED panel, optimised cable management, and one-man operation. Examples of the product in action can be seen on the Matrix YouTube channel. (Jim Evans)
Spain - The annual Premios Max Awards celebrate Spanish individuals and organisations who have making outstanding contributions to the performing arts and are organised by the General Society of Authors and Publishers (SGAE). This year they were staged at the Palau de les Arts in vibrant Valencia. Lighting designer Juanjo Llorens took up the challenging task of lighting the high-profile event which was also broadcast live on TVE2, for which he utilised luminaires in the venue’s house rig, together with some specials, notably 30 x Robe Pointes, six BMFL WashBeams and five PATT2013s. These were all supplied by Madrid based rental company, Fluge Audiovisuales. Juanjo’s starting point for the lighting was this year’s theme of the Mediterranean and in particular the famous and beautiful Levantine light as depicted in the works of Spanish painter Joaquin Sorolla. From
Belgium - Rental company EQS Pro-Rent has recently taken delivery of Elation Professional’s new Artiste DaVinci LED moving head spot luminaire, as well as the company’s ACL 360 Matrix LED moving head panel. Wouter de Loose, owner of EQS Pro-Rent, based in the town of Rijkevorsel, commented on the decision to add the fixtures to their rental inventory. “We have worked with various Elation products for several years,” he said. “Last year we bought 16 units of the Rayzor Beam 2R, a narrow beam moving head that we are still very pleased with today. Due to our growth in the rental sector the past year, we have been looking for new devices to expand our range. We found the road to Elation very quickly.” Together with Coen Criar of Elation partner Geronika and Bert Schmeits of Elation Professional, a comprehensive demo was undertaken of various Elation products. A
UK - On a hot and sticky evening in early July, revellers packed pop-up central Manchester venue, the Castlefield Bowl, spilling over onto the adjacent railway viaduct and the balconies of nearby apartments - intent on witnessing the Abba-like anthemic indie rock of Arcade Fire. PRG supported production manager Bob O’Brien and the show designers, Moment Factory, with a versatile package of lighting and video to facilitate a 32- date European tour, taking in a variety of indoor and outdoor venues, as well as headline festival performances. Lighting designer Chris Bushell discussed the nature of the tour, and the processes between him and the other creatives on the design team: “I worked with the creative director, Tarik Makou from Moment Factory, as well as video director Icarus Wilson-Wright and the band themselves to design the look of the show. The concept we sta
USA - The North American phase of Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic World Tour is now in full swing, with 63 dates from July to November. Opening in Las Vegas after 44 dates in Europe, the tour will continue to Latin America and Australia through next year. 214 Solaris Flares are key components of a spectacular show that celebrates the artist’s musical roots. “Flares are my go-to light,” says lighting designer, Cory FitzGerald. “I like to use them in pixel mode so that we can take full advantage of the wash/pixel features as well as the powerful strobe. We have 68 mounted in the stage facing up, to under-light the transparent floor “cells”; 70 are mounted vertically, end-to-end, as a single ‘bar’ downstage for our main audience effect lighting, with a further 76 hung throughout the rig and upstage from trusses, for stage strobing and more effects.” FitzGerald
USA - As a provider of laser hardware for nearly a decade in the US, X-Laser USA is expanding its reach and is now able to capitalize on opportunities in the international laser show market. X-Laser has chosen as its representative the firm Oso Colmenero, a solutions and equipment specialist for the professional lighting, audio and video industries in Latin America. Through this approach, X-Laser is now able to serve countries in South and Central America, plus Mexico. “We’ve been receiving inquiries about laser shows and laser systems from Mexico, Argentina and Colombia that we simply couldn’t support,” Adam Raugh, X-Laser’s president, said. “Now that we’re working with Jerry and his trusted team, we’ll be able to reach those markets and more with safe, high-quality laser systems.” “Jerry,” refers to Jerry Colmenero, the founder and presid
USA - Sonic Bloom, Colorado's premier EDM festival, is held at Hummingbird Ranch in the spectacular surroundings of Colorado's Spanish Peaks. Denver-based Nexus Productions has been working the festival for the past four years and this year served as the main stage lighting vendor (Bloom Stage) for the first time, supplying all trussing, lighting, motors, distros and more. “Sonic Bloom’s lighting is focused around creating an intimate environment that compliments the many diverse acts throughout the weekend,” said Nexus Productions owner Chuck Williams, who served as lead lighting designer for the Bloom Stage. “I've had this stage concept brewing in my head for a while now and I’m glad we were able to execute it. I really enjoy watching it go from our cads to a full-blown festival stage.” All three of the festival’s stages had their own distinct are
UK - Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, Christ Church, situated in Swindon's Old Town was dedicated in 1851 and now enjoys Grade II Listed status. It was built to cater for Swindon's growing population as the town became a centre of trade. The church, affectionately known as The Old Lady on the Hill, occupies an elevated position and its graceful spire is visible for miles around. The church was recently closed for the first time in its 166-year history to allow major remodelling and upgrading of its interior. Integrator Enlightened was invited to design and install a completely new lighting system that would best complement and enhance the beautiful interior architecture. The system was to offer flexible control over daily and specialist lighting states, at the same time as being economical to run and maintain. Director Simon Marcus of Enlightened designed an entir
Italy - Philips Lighting reports that its lighting technology was used for the Global Denim Awards Triennale in Milan, an annual celebration of the best of denim couture. Visited by His Majesty King Willem-Alexander and Her Majesty Queen Máxima of The Netherlands, this year's event focused on Italian and Dutch collaborations in design, innovation, sustainability and craftsmanship. Philips Selecon Accent LED BeamShaper fixtures were used to illuminate the mannequins displaying the outfits inside Milan's Palazzo della Triennale. The lighting was installed by Dutch lighting specialist Jurlights, whose experienced art director Pol van Veen was the lighting designer for this special international showcase. As a specialist in lighting high-end international fashion events, van Veen's priority is to enhance the appearance of the clothing on display, bringing to the fore all
Europe - This summer, Norwegian Cruise Line welcomed the spectacular Norwegian Joy to its fleet. A custom-built ship for the Chinese cruise market, Joy offers a luxurious experience for up to 3,850 guests. The ship features the first racetrack at sea; multiple bars, restaurants and casinos; a shopping centre; a water park; and a theatre. To help set the right mood for the ship’s many and varied attractions, the vessel is equipped with multiple lighting control desks and an array of lighting fixtures from ETC. At 167,725 tons and 326m (1,069 feet) long, Joy is one of the largest cruise ships ever built, and was constructed by major German shipbuilder Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany. AV systems integrator Wärtsilä Funa Solutions was appointed to deliver the entertainment systems for the ship’s numerous attractions. The Funa team specified a total of 10 ETC
USA - The tranquil heavily wooded mountains of northeast Pennsylvania bear no resemblance to the gritty streets of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighbourhood, where BangON! NYC made its name throwing all-night EDM warehouse parties and festivals. Recently though, the New York event company demonstrated that its good time formula plays just as well in the country as it does in the city, when it hosted the Elements Lakewood Festival. Representing BangON! NYC’s first foray out of its home-base, the three-day festival on the outskirts of tiny Lakewood featured an international mix of over 100 DJs on its seven stages, including superstars Claude VonStroke, Lee Burridge and Keys N Krates. Spencer Lavoie of 4 Life Entertainment brought some extra urban intensity to the EDM performances while also highlighting the natural beauty of the festival’s surroundings by deploying an impres
Ireland - The INEC Killarney has recently purchased an Avolites Arena console as part of a major upgrade to the venue's house lighting rig and control system. The sale of the British manufacturer's largest and latest lighting console was made by Avolites' accredited UK reseller A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) who worked with the INEC Killarney to supply the new house rig and control network. "The INEC Killarney has just installed over 100 ProLights LED moving heads and static LED fixtures, plus a full conventional rig featuring ETC and ARRI units," says the venue's house lighting designer, Kieran Somers. "We needed a console that had the power and processing ability to run the new system. Often, I have to design full lighting productions from scratch within very tight deadlines, so the console had to be intuitive to allow me to design and program effectively.
UK - American musical theatre star Idina Menzel recently played the Royal Albert Hall, as part of the UK leg of her 2017 world tour. The singer, famous for her roles in Broadway blockbusters Rent and Wicked! - is also known for her Oscar and Grammy award winning song Let it Go from Disney’s animated film Frozen. Production, lighting and video design for the tour is by Abigail Rosen Holmes, who has also designed shows for artists such as Miley Cyrus, The Cure, Shakira and The Pet Shop Boys. Working with Abbey on the design and programming of the tour were Felix Peralta lighting programmer, Dan Scully video content and editor, and Eric Marchwinski programming video. Lighting and video director Teddy Sosna commented: “Abbey and I have worked on numerous projects together - we met several years ago when she was teaching lighting and video d
USA - Bandit Lites once again worked with C3 Presents, providing the site and structure lighting for the fourth year in a row at Lollapalooza in Chicago’s Grant Park. Working closely with C3 Presents production manager Tyler Crain, Bandit Lites successfully illuminated the multitude of structure locations for all the signage, entryways and archways throughout the 319-acre park. Bandit Lites provided more than 2050ft of truss and more than 400 fixtures to encompass the festival. By using Bandit Lites exclusive GRNLite LED Pars and Batten, Bandit covered the landscape in a multitude of colours and supplied the lighting system for the Merchandise Palace, KidzPalooza Disco tent and the Perry’s sign. Highlighting the VIP and platinum ticket holders’ environment, Bandit also supplied 6800 feet of festoon lighting accenting the lively environment. The sprawling fe
