Happy New Year - Our normal daily news service will now resume after the Christmas break and we'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all good things for 2017!

Northern Culture - A musical, Humber Bridge, a 14th-Century masterpiece, a circus in a cemetery and the Spiders From Mars will be part of Hull's year as UK City of Culture. The £32m programme will take over streets and venues throughout 2017. Hull will celebrate famous local figures including poet Philip Larkin and director Anthony Minghella. And it will put the spotlight on unsung heroines like 1940s and '50s boxing champion "Battling" Barbara Buttrick and pioneering musician Ethel Leginska.

Hull 2017 director Martin Green said, "Women's stories come through. It has traditionally been a male-dominated city, quite patriarchal. But we have found at every turn new stories about women." Hull C

USA - Born into a showbiz family, Pepe Aguilar has been performing from an early age and is today a flag-bearer for the Ranchera and Mariachi genres of Mexican traditional music.

The multiple Grammy award-winning star has had his stage shows lit by Ricardo Ortiz during the past year - with the LD dipping heavily into the catalogue of PR Lighting for his design solutions.

A veteran of some 15 years in the live concert, festival and touring business - particularly in his native Mexico - Ricardo and his partner, video director Hector Ortega, have kept the look of the production ever-changing as it has moved from venue to venue.

At the LA Forum recently, the full lighting rig was in play, including seven raked elements of truss, fanning outwards from upstage centre. Five of these extensions were terminated in large white claws, giving the rig the impression of a large cat'

USA - In 2002, Parkview Church Orland Park, IL, moved into a new larger campus to accommodate its growing membership. At the time about 600 people attended Sunday services at the 54-year-old house of worship. Today well over 7,000 people come to the church or one of its two satellite campuses to worship every weekend.

There are many reasons why Parkview Christian, which is ranked by Outreach magazine as one of the 100 fastest growing churches in the US, has attracted so many new members. High on that list is its commitment to connect to worshippers with services that are relevant to modern sensibilities.

This commitment was very evident in Parkview Christian's well-attended Christmas service this year. Drawing over 20,000 people, the service touched hearts and souls with its warm, uplifting message, a communal candlelight observance, and contemporary praise music fe

USA - Country artist Granger Smith's 2016 touring exposed the rising artist to even larger audiences, and featured a lighting design by Sean Semler that included 12 High End Systems Shapeshifter C1s.

Lured away from another artist, Sean says "Granger's live performance and overall attitude was just infectious to me - and here I am today." As Smith is very 'hands-on' with programming ideas for his touring show, Semler explains, "Granger has a very creative mind, and likes to be a part of the brainstorming process. We'll bounce ideas off one another and design and program the show. I value this type of working relationship - I believe it ensures the probability of the wants and needs of the artist.

"When I first came on board, my PM and I discussed budget and options for a freshly designed lighting rig that would achieve looks not being utilized by the majority of touring gr

USA - Red, green and blue have long been the foundational core colours of creative lighting. Laser lighting is no different, as laser diodes have produced red, green and blue hues for decades. As laser technology progresses, precision colour mixing and advanced optics yield stunning creative light designs, yet red, green and blue remain critical to any setup. That point was X-Laser USA's focus while developing the new Aurora Crimson, Aurora Emerald and Aurora Cobalt quad-aperture projectors.

"We know we created something special with the Aurora series in 2015, so we wanted to provide new Aurora fixtures that were still affordable, simple, safe and bright," Adam Raugh, president of X-Laser USA, said. "We decided to go with classic red, green and blue options because those colors are consistently the most used and most versatile."

The Aurora Crimson illuminates with 800mW of

USA - Regarded nationally as the home of the American Musical, Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam, Connecticut, has produced over 250 musicals throughout its illustrious history. In their current production of Chasing Rainbows, the production team asked Tony Award-winner Ken Billington to oversee the lighting design behind the inspirational musical about the real road to Oz.

Celebrating the story of theatre-darling Judy Garland from childhood to stardom, Billington needed lighting solutions that would allow him to create a powerful yet intimate environment inside the historic venue, and in his design, he chose PHX LED Profile Spots from Altman Lighting.

"To be honest, I was initially concerned that the fixture might not be bright enough, but that was not the case," began Billington. "The intensity of the PHX LED was exactly what I needed and they also provided me wit

UK - PRG XL Video, the UK operation of Production Resource Group (PRG), has announced a major investment in ultra-high brightness Panasonic laser projectors.

The new projectors continue the company's policy of investing in innovative new technology. The PT-RZ31K projectors offer a range of benefits over traditional projector technology. Traditional units average 1200 hours of use per lamp, whereas laser modules have a life of around 20,000 hours. The extended life, and subsequent reduction in maintenance make the units more efficient and cost effective to run.

The reduced heat output from the newer light source also means less cooling is required. Fan units in traditional projectors can be noisy, which is a major issue in theatres, galleries, and for corporate events, and so this efficiency makes the new laser models far quieter to operate than their counterparts.

Lase

USA - Country music sensation Chris Janson is taking Music City by storm, so when the time came to record live from the red carpet for the 50th Annual CMA Awards Red Carpet Show for AUDIENCE Network at famed Nashville honky tonk, he wanted the concert lighting to be extraordinary.

Lighting designer Victor Fable called upon Bandit Lites to supply lighting for the event which featured a full set of Janson's hits, including his famedBuy Me a Boat, which was named the Country Song of the Year by iHeartRadio Music Awards.

Bandit supplied Ayrton Magic Dots, Ayrton Magic Blades, Chauvet Freedom Pars, GLP Spot Ones, MAC Auras and two Grand MA 1 Lite consoles for control.

Four vertical trusses with ACL 360 bars provided the energetic lighting looks needed to match the energy of Janson's enthusiastic performance.

"That guy was on fire," said Bandit crew chief Andy Kni

USA - Typically gifts are exchanged on Christmas Day, but lighting designer Daniel Thibault received one of his best presents of the holiday season on New Year's Eve. Thibault of Life is Art Studios did the Disco Donnie Presents NYE show headlined by dubstep star Ookay at the Fillmore Charlotte.

"The Fillmore did a lighting upgrade this past fall and added a lot of Rogues," he said. "They're flown on the mid-stage and upstage truss. The way they're positioned, they wash out evenly from both truss positions to give you a crazy number of cool looks. I didn't need to rely on help from any floor package; with these Rogues I could immerse the whole stage in light. Ookay and the supporting artist Warez throw down some bold, quick-moving looks, so the intensity and the speed of the Rogues was much appreciated."

Thibault used 20 Rogue R1 Wash and six Rogue R1 Beam fixtures

Europe - LD Luke Edwards is currently touring with Berlin-based Danish singer songwriter and keyboardist Agnes Obel.

The live touring campaign for the newly released Citizen of Glass, Obel's third album, started gently with a six-week bus-and-trailer tour around Europe.

Needing to make a serious visual impact with a few versatile lights that would take up minimal space, Luke specified six Robe DL4S LED Profiles and six of the new Spiider LED washbeams as a floor package, which packed down neatly for stowage in the trailer with the backline.

Positioned around Agnes and her four-piece band on a riser layout created by stage manager Wayne Chapelle, these 12 fixtures provided the bulk of the show lighting, augmented with elements from the different house rigs at each venue.

As quality and quantity of house rigs varied greatly along with the sizes of the venues f

USA - The Bowery Ballroom in New York's Bowery section of Manhattan houses an Elation LED lighting rig and attracts a wide variety of musical talent from well-known acts like Coldplay and The White Stripes to up and coming talent. Housed in a 1920's Beaux Arts building, the Bowery Ballroom is a memorable date on any band's touring calendar.

On 3 November, American pop duo Capital Cities played a pair of shows at the venue as part of their fall 2016 tour. Capital Cities production designer Noah Sharp, who also runs lighting for the band, had eight Satura Spot CMY Pro LED moving head spot luminaires, eight Platinum Wash ZFX Pro LED moving head wash lights, and six ACL 360 Bar LED battens at his disposal for the shows, supplied for the Bowery Ballroom install by Christie Lites.

"I was very excited when I saw that the lighting rig was all colour mixing fixtures," said Sharp, w

UK - In demand lighting and production designer Steven Bewley selected the award-winning Claypaky Mythos and Sharpy to create signature lighting looks for alternative rock band Nothing But Thieves on their debut album tour, which ended with a show at London's 02 Academy Brixton.

For the tour's UK leg, Bewley, whose recent production design for rapper Wretch 32 received significant recognition across social media, enlisted 32 x Mythos and 10 x Sharpys from audio and lighting production specialist Nitelites.

"More and more bands are asking for lighting looks that create a strong visual impact across social media platforms," explains Bewley. "I was mindful of this when I took the reins on the design for Nothing But Thieves. I programmed the show on my own set-up and sent them through videos on how it could look. Luckily I pretty much nailed it the first time and we ended up w

Israel - Ronen Najar, one of Israel's leading lighting and visual designers has brought his imagination and style to the latest tour by Israeli singer Avram Tal, supporting his latest studio album Now Life.

At the Tzora Kibbutz near Jerusalem, Robe BMFL Spots were at the core of the design.

Between eight and 12 Robe BMFL Spots - depending on the size of the venue - are rigged upstage on the rear truss. These have been newly purchased especially for the tour by rental company Hakol Bakol based in Pardes Hana. This is their second Robe purchase and it was prompted by Ronen's specification.

The stage design for Avram Tal - known for his distinctive voice and powerful stage presence - also features five scenic metal flowers which are flown at the back, and have integral moving beam lights and some static LED blinders fitted in the petals.

Ronen specified BMFLs b

USA - Notorious for their musical improvisation, extended jams and surprise gags, Phish returned to the stage for their annual New Year's Run at the famed Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, New York.

On 31 December, after performing for three hours, Phish began revealing their surprise New Year's gag at 11:30 pm with a musical production of Petrichor, a track from their latest album Big Boat, accompanied by choreographed dancers, 16 kinetic LED umbrellas that floated above the stage and synthetic rain, made of small crystals, which fell from the ceiling of The Garden.

At the stroke of midnight, as if the kinetic LED umbrella performance wasn't enough, Phish literally made it rain cats and dogs (balloons) as they wished their fans a Happy New Year. With the Garden buried in a mass of colourful balloons and confetti, Phish successfully finished their set with

UK - Clarke Peters' jukebox musical Five Guys Named Moe, featuring R&B pioneer Louis Jordan's greatest hits, has been delighting audiences at the Festival Square Theatre, Edinburgh. Called a Christmas Carol in zoot suits, the dazzling new production of the hit West End and Broadway musical features a cabaret set that includes 32m of the new Digital RGB FloppyFlex by Firefly.

"The rear wall of the set is a slice of an old vinyl record," explains LD Philip Gladwell, "and we use FloppyFlex to simulate the record's grooves, programmed to give a spinning effect. We chose Digital FloppyFlex to bring the scenery alive and achieved fantastic results. The smooth movement and vibrant colour is exactly what we needed. I can't think of another product that could deliver such a stunning effect."

Production electrician Gareth Clowes adds, "I highly recommend FloppyFlex. It

The Netherlands - Absen will present a focused sector showcase on its stand 12-C45 at ISE 2017. Visitors are encouraged to get 'hands-on' exposure to the new products, such as the Absen HDV Series - designed for corporate impact - and the "one action" Absen M2.9 LED panel.

Nacho Perez, the recently promoted vice managing director at Absen Europe, comments, "The Absen stand will be a must see this year for all integrators and end users looking for high impact and high quality visual display solutions. The new products we will be presenting are designed to meet the evolving needs of the integrator - and this is the opportunity to try them first-hand.

"With plenty of open and private meeting space on our stand as well as the Absen bar, our European team looks forward to discussing exciting projects and supporting needs."

Absen's HDV series of UHD LED video walls, designed

UK - The Ambersphere Solutions are gearing up to welcome visitors to PLASA Focus at Glasgow's SECC on 18-19 January. At Stand C1 the team will be on hand to discuss and demonstrate a selection of fixtures from each of the four premier manufacturers Ambersphere represents.

The Dalis 862 from Robert Juliat is a 150W LED footlight that features two rows of 24 asymmetric reflectors; each row can be controlled independently providing flexibility of deployment. Commended at the PLASA 2016 Awards for Innovation the Dalis is yet another example of quality and intelligent design from Robert Juliat.

Adding to Ayrton's family of Magicdot fixtures is the Magicdot-SX which features a revolutionary 8:1 optical zoom that has an impressive range of 5o to 40o and can switch from Beam to Wash virtually instantaneously. The unit boasts the same compact form, dimensions and features as the M

USA - Elation lighting gear is a staple of SJ Lighting designs and the successful relationship continued this past fall on a number of top dance events produced by Insomniac.

SJ Lighting is one of our industry's top production design firms with demanding clients like Insomniac Events, headed by CEO Pasquale Rotella, calling on Steve Lieberman and his team to create spectacular environments for some of the US.'s top festivals, year after year. With the dance music festival season now extending well into the fall and growing globally, EDM revellers can party nearly year-round. Dreamstate, Escape Psycho Circus and EDC Orlando, all fall festivals that included Elation gear, are three successful examples of EDM's continued expansion.

This year's Dreamstate expanded to four stages with new stage designs and enhanced production to go along with the costumed performers and high-en

Belgium - Every December, visitors from throughout Europe visit the old market square of Belgium's largest city, Antwerp, to enjoy one of the continent's most tradition-rich and colourful Christmas festivals. Adding to the warm Yuletide ambiance is the glowing lighting display that adorns the gothic buildings surrounding the square. At the heart of this panorama of light is the magnificent 123m tall Cathedral of Our Lady illuminated by 50 Chauvet Professional COLORado 1-Quad IP fixtures.

Supplied by S2 RENT, the LED wash fixtures were positioned on the balconies of the tower, a UNESCO protected site that has stood proudly in the centre of the Antwerp since 1521. According to Joery Gysen, production director at S2 RENT, the COLORado fixtures were an essential part of his company's vision for transforming the historic tower into the centrepiece of the square's Christmas lighting

USA - Nutramax, the maker of dietary joint supplements for pets and people, is known for its emphasis on supporting employees through team building. A good example of this is its tradition of all-embracing Christmas parties. These carefully planned affairs include bountiful food, beautiful decorations, top flight entertainment and, this December, a stunning light and video show by Image Productions Services, using Chauvet Professional fixtures and LED video panels.

"We've done the Nutramax Christmas party before and it's always a lot of fun," said Tyler Lussier of Image Production Services, who designed the lightshow. "From an entertainment standpoint, this event -- which was produced by Michael Yorkell (also of Image Production Services) -- is much more elaborate than your average corporate party.

"Last year, the party featured Cirque Dreams Holidaze on stage. This year,

UK - London-based rental company Colour Sound Experiment was the first in the UK to purchase Robe's brand new Spiider LED WashBeam moving light - with 30 being delivered directly after the PLASA expo in London in October.

These went straight out on the Placebo Retrospective tour, with show visuals designed by Jvan Morandi. The tour is a showcase of the band's ground-breaking work from 20 years at the forefront of indie and alt.rock.

"We were very excited to be the first in the country with Spiiders," enthused Colour Sound's Haydn Cruickshank (H), "I think they have great potential and I was really pleased that Jvan could integrate them into his design which - as we would all expect - is refreshing, ambitious and different."

Jvan has worked for the band for 11 years and is known for his innovative 'out-of-the-box' designs, of which this is no exception, bringing a raw b

USA - NEP Group has completed the acquisition of Creative Technology's parent company Avesco.

Based in Pittsburgh, USA, NEP is one of the world's largest outsourced production partners supporting premier content producers across the broadcast and live events industries.

Alongside Creative Technology (CT), NEP operates four other live events businesses focused on Large Screen Display. These comprise Faber AudioVisuals and Mediatec Solutions in Europe along with Screenworks and Sweetwater in the US. All businesses are expected to retain their existing identities.

The senior management teams will remain unchanged with Graham Andrews leading CT's US and Asia Pacific businesses.

Dave Crump will continue to lead CT's UK, Spanish and Middle East operations and will in due course take over management of the Mediatec Solutions business in the UK and the Faber AudioVisuals b

UK - From the makers of the multi award-winning Color Force II, Chroma-Q has announced the UK launch at PLASA Focus Glasgow 2017 of their LED PAR, the Color One 100X. With nearly 60% more output than its predecessor and one of the brightest fixtures in this category, it enables users to reach NEW heights of performance.

The Color One 100X combines its superb output with the proven performance benefits of the original Color One 100 - including homogenised RGBA colour-mixing, extremely smooth and uniform output, a pure white, theatrical-grade dimming, convection cooling for quiet operation, and Chroma-Q's exceptional fixture-to-fixture consistency.

(Jim Evans)

USA - USA - Lighting is a hands-on business, but the latest technology is often out of reach for students. To address this issue, ETC is offering a special lighting controls package exclusively to students and educators. The ETCnomad Student Package, now available from ETC dealers, allows students and teachers to purchase a 512 ETCnomad software key and a Gadget II USB to DMX/RDM interface for the usual price of just the Gadget alone.

The software key unlocks fully-functioning, professional Eos and Cobalt software for Mac or PC, while the Gadget allows a computer to output two universes of DMX to the rig. Armed with a laptop and these small-but-mighty devices, students can hone their skills, supplement the equipment at their schools, colleges, universities or local theatres, and go out into the world with their own, portable ETC lighting control system.

This global offer e

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