Russia - Allen & Heath’s dLive series recently supported one of Russia’s biggest pop star’s, Leonid Agutin, during his recent 50-year jubilee show held at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow. The show also featured performances from many famous Russian artists, as well as special guests such as the Jazz-trumpet player, Arturo Sandoval and guitarist, Al Di Meola. dLive was used for FOH, monitors and the TV broadcast mix, with a total of five surfaces and four MixRacks employed throughout the production. At the FOH position, an S7000 was utilised as the main control surface in conjunction with an S3000. The S3000 was used as a dedicated FOH surface for the guest artists’ engineers, as well as offering additional control over the FOH mix for the higher channel count performances. Monitors were controlled by two C2500 surfaces that were located on either side o
Belgium - The massive art deco building bordering the Ixelles Ponds at the edge of Place Flagey Square has been at the heart of Belgium’s rich musical and cultural history since it opened in the 1930s. Originally called Maison de la Radio, but now known simply as the Flagey, the building provided a suitable setting for the 2018 edition of the Red Bull Elektropedia Awards, an all-Belgium annual event honouring rising stars and outstanding achievements in the country’s burgeoning music scene. Thomas Boets created a lighting design for the popular event that paid homage to its 2018 venue, while still reflecting the contemporary artistry of its honourees. Helping him in this endeavour were 380 pixel-mapped ÉPIX Strip IP fixtures from Chauvet Professional, supplied by L&L Stage Service. “The Flagey is iconic, and our show took place in the building’s Stu
UK - It’s panto time again in the UK with the slapstick, craziness and innuendos flying as fast as a foam pie in the face. At Blackpool Grand this year, putting both beauty and some beast attitude into the show, lighting designer Andy Webb specified 81 x Robe fixtures - 98 per cent of them LED sources - for a brand-new version of the classic tale produced by UK Productions for the 2018-19 season. It’s the fourth consecutive year that Andy has lit the famous UK seaside resort’s panto, which was directed by Damian Sandys with whom he also worked on the 2017-18 production. This was a huge advantage to the fluidity and creative flow of this year’s show, together with knowing the venue, a beautiful original Matcham house that is notoriously tight for space when installing the complex modern productions of the 21st century. Andy chose Robe as his main lighting
UK - St Mary’s Church in Standon, Hertfordshire is a Grade I listed building. Bequeathed to the Knights of St John in the 12th century, this processional church has experienced many architectural embellishments over the years, all of which have served to add to its character as a significant link to a rich historical past. In continuous use for hundreds of years, St Mary’s remains a community hub where alongside congregational worship, it’s used for concerts, recitals and events, attracting local audiences as well as visitors from further afield. The church is supported by an independent charity, which works to preserve and restore the ancient building, as well as by a host of local volunteers who keep its extensive churchyard in good order. In recent times, the church authorities had concluded that significant improvements were required to its internal facilitie
UK - JM Barrie’s famous tale of Peter Pan was presented on ice at Hyde Park, with capacity audiences wowed by the spectacular Imperial Ice Stars’ skating. Flying stunts, special effects, a giant Led backscreen providing animated scenery, dazzling costumes, fire-on-ice and original music and songs combined to make this narrated Peter Pan on Ice a thrilling family show. SLX supplied the truss and lighting inside a marquee supplied by Peppers Marquees, with production management, sound and rigging support from Southby Productions. Olivia Disandolo, one of Lunchbox Theatrical Productions event managers, comments: “This was our third year on ice at Hyde Park for Christmas and we have a tried and trusted team behind the scenes, which SLX is a key part of. We opened 21 November and ran to 6 January (with the exception of Christmas Day), with three to five shows schedul
Europe - For Josh Groban, two months hard touring through North America last autumn was followed by a whirlwind sprint through some scattered corners of Europe. With Christmas Day already in sight, Groban played arenas in London and Manchester in the UK, Dublin in Ireland, and Krakow, Poland, all in the space of seven days. Groban’s operatic voice takes centre stage, the main reason why production manager Zito focused his attention on sound. “I have to admit, going into this project the biggest concern I had was audio. The audio needs are very demanding.” Demanding they might be, yet with Groban an established Clair Global client, Zito had reason to be assured. “Marlow ‘Mikey’ Beck is Josh’s mix engineer and prefers an L-Acoustic system,” says Zito. “The K2 and Kara combination proved a good choice.” Zito belongs to that exclusive group of production mana
Italy - Just for the 2018 Christmas holidays, the Vatican City set up a highly original nativity scene in St Peter's Square, with a distinctive fundamental feature: it was made of sand. The nativity scene was donated by the Municipality of Jesolo, which has celebrated Christmas for the past 17 years with Jesolo Sand Nativity, an exhibition of nativity scenes made from sand by artists from all over the world. So, when a large box of compressed sand was placed in the middle of one of the most famous square in the world at the end of November, everyone knew that St. Peter would be playing host to an extra guest this year. The work was created by a team of artists, who gradually shaped the block of sand to create a true three-dimensional sculpture. The nativity scene is housed in an aluminium casing with power-driven curtains that protect the sculpture from the elements.<
Europe - Although nobody knows who Alice is, virtually everyone knows the chorus to the song. British rock band Smokie have been steadily touring Living Next Door to Alice and a raft of their other hits since the Seventies, and their success continues to fill arenas all over Europe. Czech Republic production supplier Rental Pro has just brought home a three-country tour with the band, deploying a substantial Nexo STM Series modular line array system as main PA. Playing 20,000-capacity arenas, the Smokie tour of Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary topped off what their front-of-house engineer Sean Greenaway describes as their busiest year in a decade. Accompanied by a 40-piece symphony orchestra, the five-piece band continues to deliver sell-out shows with high production values and a massive dose of nostalgia. Kicking off their 2018 tour in Czech Republic
USA - Americana rocker Jason Isbell recently completed a sold-out, six-night residency at the Ryman Auditorium, the live performance venue in Nashville. Pulse Lighting’s Ayrton Ghibli and Mistral fixtures helped light up Isbell’s shows, which have become an annual event for his fans. For four consecutive years Isbell has enjoyed a Ryman residency. This was the second year he played six shows at the historic venue, which was formerly the Grand Ole Opry House and Union Gospel Tabernacle. Isbell was supported by his band, the 400 Unit, and by his wife, singer-songwriter and violin player, Amanda Shires. Mikey Cummings, head of the design team at Pulse Lighting’s Nashville office, is also the lighting designer for Jason Isbell. He had designed a rig for Isbell’s current tour cycle, which he revamped for the Ryman residency. “We gave the rig a facelift and
Faced with their second full-scale arena tour, the mercurial Sheffield group Bring Me The Horizon (BMTH) were seeking a different look and feel from their previous shows. And so Sam Tozer was approached by production manager, Rob Highcroft, and Ollie Hutch who is one of the band’s creative driving forces as well as their FOH sound engineer. They had seen the designer’s inventive work with the likes of rapper Skepta and the Swedish DJ duo of Axwell & Ingrosso and liked his aesthetic. The design was a collaboration between all three men, but once again for the most part Tozer dipped heavily into the GLP LED fixture portfolio to bring it to life, deploying 156 of the JDC1 hybrid strobes and 88 impression X4 Bars in a set dominated by the German brand. To source this quantity of fixtures the designer turned largely to vendors, Christie Lites. “These fixtures help
Vietnam - The ‘Lighting the Stars’ series of conferences featuring internationally renowned lighting designer Patrick Woodroffe landed in Ho Chi Minh City in November 2018 with the aim of celebrating lighting and discussing its future. The event, which was organised by Vietnam ProAVL Co. Ltd alongside Claypaky and MA Lighting, presented Woodroffe to an audience keen to hear first-hand about his thirty-year career at the forefront of live music, event, architectural and theatre lighting design. Woodroffe has designed the lighting for a diverse array of big-name projects, from the London Symphony Orchestra to ABBA, from the Rolling Stones feature film Shine A Light to the Vanity Fair Oscars party to Prince Charles’s Highgrove House gardens. His achievements are remarkable. This latest Lighting the Stars seminar was held at the New Music Centre in Ho Chi Min
USA - When Eric Cathcart got the call to create a lighting design for Greta Van Fleet, he didn’t view it as an open-ended gig. “My friends from Premier Global Productions brought me to the table to design and programme a show. At the time, the idea was to turn it over to a director for the tour,” says Cathcart, the owner of Bigtime Lighting Design. As he neared completion of his work, however, Cathcart had a change of plans. “The more I got to know the guys and listen to their music, the more I got the feeling that this would be a great band to hit the road with,” he explains. It was a wise intuition. Working the boards for the Michigan-based rockers for their current March of the Peaceful Army tour has put Cathcart in the middle of an incredible adventure, one that has seen his new clients reach the top of the Billboard charts with their debut album and ga
The Netherlands - Superstar Dutch DJ Martin Garrix launched his new ANIMA live performance concept with two hi-energy, hi-profile nights at Amsterdam’s RAI with the five-day 2018 Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) festival and conference as the backdrop, an event drawing dance music, media and technology professionals and enthusiasts from worldwide to this vibrant city right at the hub of dance music culture. Garrix’s lighting designer Gabe Fraboni once again had the chance to create a spectacular new visual experience - to be enjoyed by Martin Garrix fans globally for the next 12 months - which he did with the help of nearly 300 Robe moving lights - 80 x MegaPointes, 166 x Spikies and 52 x LEDBeam 150s. Gabe uses Robe for all of his designs, and comments: “Robe is my default brand of moving light right now! The products are so versatile and the range so diverse
USA - Music City Midnight returned to the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park with a massive lighting package once again provided by Bandit Lites. Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp reported the largest turn out in the event’s 10-year history, with approximately 175,000 to 200,000 in attendance to ring in 2019 with live music from Keith Urban, Peter Frampton, Brett Young, and Judah and the Lion and a dazzling music note ball drop. “Bandit Lites has been involved with the Nashville New Year’s Eve project for well over a dozen years,” says Bandit Lites vice president Mike Golden. “Each year I stand amazed with Erik Parker, Chris Lisle and Mark Anderson for their complete focus on making this event more spectacular each and every year. This year was especially impressive due to the volume of gear and technicians; without a question it was the most calib
USA - Founded in 1968, Klondike Sound quickly became known as a preferred sound system provider for folk and jazz festivals in northeastern USA, including the Newport Folk Festival. The company also provided tour support for Ani DiFranco for 20 years and supplied sound systems for a wide variety of events throughout the region. Now owned by partners Justin Anderson, Jason Raboin, Dustin Yager, and Chris Kelly, Klondike Sound mostly focuses on shows in New England, although the company still provides some touring support. Raboin, for example, has engineered for Joan Baez for the past 17 years, and is currently serving as production manager, front-of-house and monitor engineer for Baez’s 2018 Farewell Tour, using a Klondike Sound system that includes Linea Research 44 Series power amplifiers. Anderson and Raboin discovered Linea Research amplifiers early in 2017, when
Europe - Lighting designer Tim Routledge has made good use of Robert Juliat Dalis 862 Footlight fixtures on Florence and the Machine’s current High as Hope tour by utilising the 150W LED Dalis’ variable white tones to light the eight-strong band. The English indie rock band’s eclectic music switches between the ethereal and the energetic, at times dreamy, or effervescent, with Routledge’s lighting marking out rhythmic beats or subtly backlighting the band and set. On this occasion, Routledge has worked alongside show designer Willo Perron whose wooden topographical stage design conceals 16 Dalis 862 fixtures in wooden hides, through which the light filters to light the band members and backlight the set. RJ Dalis fixtures have a slimline, low profile body that renders them unobtrusive on stage and ideal for concealing within set pieces. Routledge uses two Dali
Japan - Japan’s Imperial Theatre, located in central Tokyo along with a host of important facilities such as the Imperial Palace and the Congress, was built in 1911 and gained popularity as the first European style theatre in Japan. During the summer, as part of a refurbishment project, the theatre’s audio system was upgraded and now includes DiGiCo SD7T and SD10T consoles. The theatre sees famous Japanese actors and actresses performing in original shows, West End productions such as Les Miserables and Miss Saigon and Broadway musicals. Known locally as ‘Teigeki’, the theatre is now owned by Toho Co., a Japanese film, theatre, production and distribution company. Last July, Teigeki finished its refurbishment, which included the installation of the DiGiCo SD10T, SD-Rack, SD-MINI Rack and SD-Nano Rack with new 32Bit ADC/ DAC cards, which were sup
Australia - ABC ushered in 2019 with a star-studded concert on the boardwalk of the Sydney Opera House. Australians around the country and people around the world tuned into the ABC to celebrate the biggest night of the year, New Year’s Eve. 3.6m viewers partied the night away, tuning in to The Night is Yours concert, music, fun and fireworks. From 9.30pm, Charlie Pickering and Zan Rowe ramped up the celebrations and dialled up the volume, presenting the live show featuring a star-studded line-up of artists performing songs from a playlist voted by the Australian people. Artists rocking the night included Tim Minchin, Ben Folds, Casey Donovan, Christine Anu, Client Liaison, Baker Boy and crowd favourite Daryl Braithwaite. With millions of people watching the show live on television, iView or Social Media, lighting this event was a little nerve wracking for the
Germany - Two hundred and fifty Astera battery powered, wirelessly controlled LED lighting fixtures made a spectacular impact in Frankfurt, lighting the iconic Paulskirche building for the 70th anniversary of Human Rights Day on 10 December 2018. Eugen Blersch and Benny Coppik of Frankfurt based AES Veranstaltungstechnik drove this project to light the landmark - originally a Lutheran Church in 1789, the year of the French Revolution and now a busy and charismatic events space - in a special blue colour. In 1848 the Paulskirche became the seat of the first German National Assembly - publicly and freely elected legislative body - and an important symbol in the struggle for human rights. Working for Frankfurt city council and sponsored by the local branch of Human Rights Watch, Eugen and Benny first realised this lighting installation in 2017. AES’s Project
USA - Located on the campus of the University of North Carolina, the Carolina Basketball Museum originally opened in 2008 and chronicles the history of the UNC basketball programme. Highlighting Carolina’s numerous NCAA and ACC Championships, along with the players, coaches and staff members that made it all possible, the interactive museum recently underwent a renovation on the heels of its 7th National Championship. Working with the experiential brand specialists at Advent, the museum wanted to update their main video display as part of the branding refresh, and they did so using a 2.8mm FLEXTour LED video solution from PixelFLEX. “We had previously worked with the University of North Carolina on an update for the Smith Centre locker room that went really well, so they asked us to come back and take a look at the Carolina Basketball Museum,” began Davy Fisher,
USA - Damien Escobar concerts invariably draw a diverse audience that includes classical music aficionados and hip-hop fans. That’s not surprising. Spanning centuries and cultures, the Julliard-educated Emmy-Award winner pushes his violin in ways that Bach and Vivaldi probably never imagined, as he weaves between old and new musical genres to create a richly textured sound that is at turns challenging and gentle. Supporting Escobar’s hip-hop/classical blend, and reflecting its intricate dimensions on tour, is a Jack Thomas-designed lightshow anchored by Chauvet Professional Rogue RH1 Hybrid and Nexus Aw 7x7 fixtures. Like the work of his client, Thomas’ show achieves its power through balance. By creating sharply drawn areas of light and darkness, he provides an onstage setting that follows the music as it moves through varying moods. Accentuating those emotions are su
Canada - When Canadian rock band Billy Talent found themselves with a tight schedule of European and Canadian dates that made it impractical and prohibitively expensive to ship their integrated set back and forth across the pond, LD Colin Moore recreated the signature effects for the Canadian shows using Elation Cuepix Batten and ACL 360 Bar fixtures provided by Ontario’s Soundbox Productions. For 15 years, Soundbox has steadily added to their lighting inventory with technology that provides a wide range of clients with affordable and flexible options, among them a significant complement of Elation products. Soundbox began investing in Elation gear from SFM in 2015 and has continued to add to their inventory of Elation product ever since, a decision based largely on the products’ rich feature sets and competitive price point. Moore, who filled in for the band’s
UK - White Light recently supplied a range of ETC ColourSource Spots to the Capitol Theatre as part of the venue’s ongoing lighting upgrade. The Capitol Theatre is a multi-purpose arts venue in Horsham, West Sussex. Originally built in 1923, its art deco style auditorium features more than 410 seats on two raised levels. The day-to-day running of the venue is overseen by operations manager Matthew Effemey, who is also the production manager for the venue’s in-house productions. He comments: “Part of my role at The Capitol is to ensure the equipment we have is industry-standard, offering shows as many options as possible. This was the biggest criteria when we were looking to upgrade the lighting equipment in our main theatre space.” Matthew approached WL regarding the upgrade and worked closely with WL’s Antony Vine who visited The Capitol to demonstrat
USA - Bayside Community Church in southwest Florida is one of the state’s fastest growing ministries, with an enterprising spirit and new intelligent lighting system at its new permanent West Bradenton location. Crown Design Group (CDG) has been involved in several AVL integration projects at Bayside campuses over the years and this past fall designed and installed an Elation lighting system for a new worship space at their West Bradenton Campus. With approximately 12000 parishioners and seven campus locations, the nondenominational Christian megachurch continues to grow in popularity. The West Bradenton location, the first campus ever launched by the church, had been mobile for years but at long last found a downtown property they could convert into a permanent worship facility for their growing congregation. CDG’s Ben Graham was on the production staff at
