USA - The Winter Jam Tour Spectacular, Christian music’s largest annual tour, is travelling the East Coast with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites. The evening of worship and fellowship features performances and messages from Christian music’s top artists and speakers including Skillet, Kari Jobe, NewSong, Jordan Feliz, John Crist, Nick Hall, KB and Building 429. Due to the number of acts taking the stage, production manager Jerry Holcomb designed a lighting system that offered plenty of options for various looks, while balancing budget and flexibility. “Because Winter Jam allows each artist full access to the rig, we need to have enough depth and variety to allow for different programming styles,” said Holcomb. “Also, because Winter Jam is seated end stage 360, leaving open sight lines in always a concern.” Bandit Lites provided more
USA - Charlie Puth hasn’t had much downtime since the release of his debut album, Nine Track Mind, in early 2016. The breakout pop singer hit a number of major markets for the first time on his most recent North American tour alongside Shawn Mendes, and utilised Adamson Systems Engineering’s E-Series and S-Series loudspeakers. The tour marked FOH engineer Liam Clifford’s first outing with an Adamson system. He says: “I loved the vocal clarity in the E-Series more so than any other box I’ve mixed on. That’s the most important thing to me, especially when mixing a pop artist. The other big plus is the amount of headroom we had. FOH was often between 140ft and 160ft from the PA every day due to a B-stage located where FOH would typically go. Even at this distance, it felt like the PA was right in front of me.” The typical configuration on the trek, w
South Africa - DWR Distribution’s initiative SOS Charity Fund helped secure bedside lamps and other lamp fixtures for The Hope School in Westcliff, Johannesburg. The school provides education for around 200 students - from the age of three to those in grade 12 – with physical disabilities and disadvantaged backgrounds. Recently a company approached the Hope School to assist them with the refurbishment of the hostel bathrooms. They then took it a step further and generously decided to upgrade the girls’ dormitory with new furniture, bedding and curtains. All that was needed was mattresses and lamps. The receptionist at the school, Val Rogers, who assists with fundraising, was set to task and sent out e-mails to various companies. She wrote: “Our school tries as best we can and we do have a programme, which enables families with a need. On Fridays, the id
UK - An investment in a pair of 7,000lmPanasonic projectors has enhanced the University of Birmingham’s drama students’ adaptation of the book Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy. With the requirement for a projector that could achieve a high level of output to cut through stage lighting plus project onto two different surfaces during performance, the University of Birmingham went to Stage Electrics for guidance. Stage Electrics’ Paul Lucas liaised with the Universities Drama Department to interpret their requirements. He says: “It became apparent that the department wanted to acquire professional technical equipment that exposes students to the leading brands and technology. They needed projectors that could be used for full performances, delivering a high-quality presentation whilst still being portable enough to move between their various spaces and
USA - Dallas-based technology design firm Idibri was chosen to design a new sound system for the Alamodome, the City of San Antonio’s 65,000-seat multi-purpose facility. The PA specified was the L-Acoustics’ K2. Installed by LD Systems’ integration division, the new system is now composed of 76 K2 boxes and a dozen KS28 subwoofers powered by LA8 and LA12AX amplified controllers, with fill support from X8 coaxials on the club level. “The Alamodome is a huge venue with some very real acoustical challenges, but you still want to give every seat the same great experience,” says Ray Givens, sales engineer and project manager for LD Systems, on the Alamodome sound system renovation. “The K2 lets us get excellent coverage and meet the SPL requirements of every game, including the Final Four - which will get really loud - without sacrificing speech intelligibility.
USA - Despite record-setting freezing temperatures, professional football fans had a lot to cheer about during Super Bowl 52 as incumbent champions the New England Patriots faced off against the Philadelphia Eagles for the coveted national title - which drew over 100m viewers and 67,612 live audience members. Pink set the tone for the evening with a dazzling one-minute, 53-second rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner, sung through her Sennheiser Digital 6000 wireless microphone system. On a night brimming with excitement and anticipation for the two teams and fans around the world, Pink exuded both confidence and class, sweeping listeners through an unforgettable performance of the US national anthem - with every emotional nuance of the famously difficult 19 semitone song captured in detail by Sennheiser’s Digital 6000 wireless system. “For an artist
UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd. (AC-ET) has supplied Dynamic Audio Device (D.A.D) loudspeakers to the Victoria Theatre, Halifax to provide high fidelity professional stage monitoring for performers during the venue's diverse programme of shows and other live events. Built in 1901, the 1,512-seater venue caters for everyone; from no-holds-barred rock 'n' roll, chart-topping pop, ballet and opera, to comedy, family shows, musicals and the annual pantomime. The speakers were supplied as part of a full upgrade to the theatre's audio system, with the sale handled by Steve Eaton, senior sales executive in AC-ET's dedicated audio division. Following a site visit to discuss the client's technical needs and budget, Steve recommended the D.A.D speakers as a very cost-effective solution for delivering stage monitoring to complement the high performance of their
USA - Famous lives are often the focus of exhibits at The National Museum of African American History and Culture and its neighbour, The National Museum of American History. But rarely do these two prestigious institutions, which are part of the Smithsonian complex, roll out the red carpet for heroes quite like those who were honoured this January at DC in DC. Held over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, the two-day event celebrated super heroes with the world premieres of the Black Lightning television programme and the animated Batman film Gotham by Gaslight. At the after party for the pop culture extravaganza, lighting designer Elizabeth A. Coco set an appropriately festive and glamorous tone with a sparkling atmosphere. Adding to the ambience was the colourful uplighting she did at both museums with a collection of Chauvet Professional WELL Fit
UK - Using SGM’s P-5s, director of Teknique Systems Ltd., Tony Kennedy, created a magnificent colour changing lighting system on the exterior of the most popular museum in Glasgow, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. “We chose to add 18 SGM P-5 fixtures because we wanted to use a quality LED fixture that was reliable, energy saving, and compact,” said Kennedy, who worked on the installation together with City Building Glasgow. With over 40 years of industry experience, Kennedy designed a new cost-effective lighting system with a wireless pre-programmed control system, enabling the staff to easily colour change the building for special events. “Our vision was to upgrade the existing lighting to a new modern LED system that would allow our client to keep the lighting colour temperature the same as the old fixtures, but have the advantage to be able to
Europe - In 2018 the Ehrlich Brothers are once again touring large arenas in Germany, Luxemburg, Austria and Switzerland with their latest show Fascination. The two brothers, Andreas and Chris Ehrlich, have developed a spectacular show featuring illusions in which high-tech stage equipment plays a major role and that is packing some of Europe’s largest halls and stadiums. On their current tour, for example, the Ehrlich Brothers are making an eight-ton, 2,000 BHP monster truck materialize on stage out of nothing as well as "teleporting" individual spectators right across the hall. To realise a production of such complexity, the Ehrlich Brothers have been relying on chain hoist systems and controllers from Movecat. To replace the kinetic systems previously used, Ehrlich Entertainment GmbH invested in Movecat‘s VMKS chain hoists, V-Motion-E variable motion con
USA - Showtime Sound LLC, Kevin Hart’s regular production company, recently met the challenge of a special in-the-round setup for his New Year’s Eve appearance at Orlando’s 10,000-seat CFE Arena. This challenge was tackled with help from Chauvet Professional Rogue and Nexus fixtures. “There are different situations to deal with when you have a 360° open stage,” said Zack Bunner, head lighting tech at Showtime Sound. “We were able to use the fixtures in our rig to create a sense of space onstage, surrounding Kevin with light without interfering with the connection you get from the open layout. Working closely together with Kevin’s lighting director Ken Delvo, Showtime project manager Brett Angstadt did an excellent job designing the rig so we could achieve the balance we were looking for.” The team from Showtime used 12 Rogue R2 Wash fixtures and 16 Ne
UK - Originally opened by Mark Birley in 1963, Annabel’s is probably London’s most famous private member’s A-list nightclub. It has welcomed legends of film and music, models, heads of state, aristocrats and royalty, including the Queen, Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor. Moving two doors down to far larger premises at 46 Berkeley Square, Annabel’s has completed a £65m transformation of the grand Georgian townhouse that is the venue’s new home. The Grade I listed four-storey mansion boasts some of central London’s finest Palladian interiors, including a cantilevered stone staircase Now owned by West End dining tycoon Richard Caring, the original Nina Campbell interiors have been updated for the 21st century by designer Martin Brudnizki, who was also responsible for the makeover of The Ivy and the interiors of Mr Caring’s new restaurants Sexy Fish, loca
Europe - Croatian rockers Parni Valjak were the first in Croatia to benefit from Robe’s new MegaPointe luminaires, as part of a batch just purchased by technical production company Promo Logistika. Twenty-two of the fixtures were part of an eye-catching lighting rig designed by Miro Hrg for a special gig by the band at the 18,000 capacity Zagreb Arena. In fact, Miro’s design was all Robe in the moving light department! He also utilised 20 x BMFL Spots onstage plus another two – at the back of the arena for follow spots – together with 12 x LEDWash 600s and eight MMX WashBeams. Also new from Robe in the Promo Logistika rental inventory were 16 x LEDBeam 150s positioned in the stage wings to illuminate audience in front of the corner areas and also fire across those at the front of the arena. Miro designed lighting, video and set for this large, high profil
USA - After visiting the award-winning holiday light show Illumination at the Morton Arboretum outside of Chicago a couple of years ago, Descanso Gardens asked lighting and visual design group Lightswitch to create and realise a new winter nighttime experience designed to attract guests and increase the popularity of the historic Southern California botanical gardens. This year marked the second year Lightswitch has designed Enchanted Forest of Light at Descanso Gardens and the fifth year of Illumination at Morton Arboretum, creating visually stunning and memorable experiences using a bevy of Elation Professional fixtures, including the company’s award-winning IP65 -rated Proteus arc-source moving heads. Lightswitch was responsible for lighting design and creative direction for Enchanted Forest of Light and Lightswitch principal Chris Medv
USA - Animals As Leaders were eager to co-headline a tour with fellow progressive metal stars Periphery. The two bands share a similar philosophy of music making, and both feature ample amounts of outstanding guitar virtuosity. Having performed multiple one-offs together, they also connected on a personal level. But joining forces on the 24-city Convergence tour, which concluded in early December, did present a challenge for Animals As Leaders lighting designer Victor Zeiser of Squeek Lights. Sharing the stage meant the band needed a rig that could be set up and taken away quickly. At the same time, since Animals As Leaders would be playing larger venues than on its previous tour, Zeiser needed a lightshow with greater output. The New York-based LD came up with a solution that balanced mobility and brightness with help from 12 Chauvet Professional Rogue R1 Washes tha
New Zealand - On Auckland Anniversary Weekend, on 27 Saturday January, Auckland Harbour Bridge was transformed by the launch of Vector Lights – featuring a renewable energy technology powered light show that ignited imaginations and demonstrated a smarter way to power the city. The cutting-edge installation is designed, managed, installed and programmed by internationally-acclaimed Mandylights, vividly demonstrating the new lighting capabilities and a smarter way to power Auckland as part of a 10-year smart energy partnership between Vector Limited and Auckland Council. The audio-visual performance is made up of three chapters – the first references Tama-Nui te Ra (the sun), the original source of energy, and the second Hikohiko (electrical energy) representing it as energy and technology, and the final Hei te Ao Marama (the future world of light) as an acknowledge
UAE - When it comes to luxurious glamour, expectations in the UAE city of Dubai couldn’t be higher. For any club catering to a high-end clientele, regular refreshes are an essential part of remaining vital to the late-night scene. It was with this in mind that nightclub and lounge, VII - located, appropriately enough, on the seventh floor of the Conrad Dubai hotel - recently undertook a complete overhaul, introducing a fresh look and a new Funktion-One sound system, supplied and installed by Em-Tec. Club owner Rocky Bhatia first met Em-Tec’s Andy Williams and Alex Bracken at the Formula One Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi. Impressed by the Funktion-One sound system they were using there, he asked the pair to visit VII and devise a set-up capable of delivering that same sonic quality. The initial brief was for a very high-end club/lounge space, but as the concept evolved, t
UAE - The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) 46th National Day celebrations took place on 2 December 2017 with a series of events organised by the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism. The centre-piece was a spectacular, hour-long event, which took place in a custom-built, temporary stadium and featured an L-ISA immersive audio system, provided by Delta Dubai with engineering services supplied by Australian Emmy Award winning audio-visual design company, Auditoria. The Here is the Future event programme developed by event producers Done + Dusted UK featured a three-scene, 11-chapter spectacle showcasing a future that will benefit from innovations such as artificial intelligence, space sciences and renewable energy, all slated to enhance the living standards and happiness of the citizens and residents of the UAE. It was attended by the UAE royal families and leaders,
UK - New Zealand artist Lorde has just completed a world tour in support of her second album Melodrama. Kicking off in September in Manchester, she played a series of UK dates running into October, before moving on to Europe, ending in New Zealand and Australia in November. UK-rental company Adlib Audio supplied an L‑Acoustics K2 system for the duration of the UK and European dates, its scalability and light weight making it suitable for the varying venue sizes, as well as their weight loading restrictions. “We chose K2 because it has similar sonic qualities to L‑Acoustics K1, but in a smaller, lighter enclosure,” says Adlib system engineer Sam Proctor. “A lot of smaller venues have a strict weight allowance and K2 proved invaluable.” Sam notes that although there are similar sized systems that are the same approximate weight, they do not repro
Belgium - Not many musicians can claim to have the relentless creative output of Belgian artist Maarten Devoldere. When he's not performing and recording with his award-winning band, Baltazar, Devoldere pushes the musical envelope as the main singer songwriter of his own solo side-project, Warhaus. To mark the release of Warhaus' second album in October of this year, Devoldere brought in Belgian design masters Arf&Yes to craft a powerful yet minimal stage setup for a supporting European tour. Central to Arf&Yes' visual design were six Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Wash fixtures that are used to illuminate the stage’s central focal point, a custom-made embossed wall of pyramids. Serving as a backdrop to Devoldere and his band, the pyramid brings an aesthetic element to the stage. The vibrant colours and punchy wash effects of the Maverick MK2 fixtures, po
Italy - Public broadcaster RAI, a long-time user of Lawo products and solutions, has just taken delivery of 37 Lawo V__pro8 8 Channel Video Processing Toolkits. The new Lawo equipment will be employed in a nationwide technical upgrade and renovation of studios and OB vans located all over Italy. System integrator and Lawo partner ARET Video and Audio Engineering, headquartered in Milan, won the tender after participating in a test procedure which scrutinized prominent brands’ ability to process video in broadcast environments. Alessandro Asti, ARET’s VP of sales comments: “The unique features and flexibility of V__pro8 – its ability to synchronise, convert, embed / de-embed and apply delay to both audio and video, as well as monitoring eight inputs at once – received the maximum technical marks in the tender. Thanks to the outstanding performance of the V__Pr
UK - Light artist Philippe Morvan and programmer Émilien Guesnard relied on the power and feature set of Avolites' Titan Mobile console to realise one of the highlight installations of this year's Lumiere London Festival, which took place in January. Morvan's DOT installation, which was located at St Pancras Square in London's Kings Cross, was the latest in a series of light installations by the French designer, whose work has been seen across the world. Characterised by the synchronisation of light and music, Morvan's designs engage the viewer with geometric, abstract patterns and pulses of movement. As with all Morvan's creations, DOT's deceptively simple result masked a complex creative process, helped in no small measure by Avolites' Titan Mobile. "It was a long process," confirms Morvan. "I wanted to create something organic, smooth and
Belgium - Luc Peumans of Genk-based international design practice Painting with Light designed the lighting The Little Mermaid as it was staged in Belgium for the first time. Lighting equipment was delivered by Benelux rental company Phlippo Showlights together with audio and rigging. The RoboSpot system was tech’d by Ilse Witlox, also the lead operator, who is an expert in the somewhat ‘black art’ of follow spotting. Precise follow-spotting was absolutely crucial to a complex and visually rich production like this. The 11 x BMFL Blades complete with 11 RoboSpot MotionCameras were positioned on a front truss, an advanced truss and on two side trusses. Six on the front truss were positioned as three on the left and three on the right; the three on the advanced truss (‘behind’ the front truss and above the audience) were in the left, right and cen
UK - Stylus Productions recently provided Martin Audio’s MLA loudspeaker array as the preferred sound reinforcement for American rock band Good Charlotte on their UK tour. The service company already owned the control/stage packages for the band and for the PA they turned to Martin Audio partners, RG Jones Sound Engineering and Capital Sound, working closely with Simon Honywill in system development and optimisation. They also supplied infrastructure and production management service for the tour. MLA rigs went into Glasgow Barrowlands, Southampton Guildhall and Brixton Academy, and the PA appeared in various configurations, and with different optimisations to suit the venue - but included MLA/MLX plus MLA Compact and MLA Minis, with DD12s for fills. Stylus Productions MD, Sam Thomas, confirmed that the decision to spec MLA was collaborative, but had not bee
