Pharos - Leaderboard - May 2024

Projects

Details
UK - Last year, sound, lighting, AV and stage technology services company Northern Light was asked to install a new, more energy efficient, house and work light system for the Genting Arena. The primary goal was to enhance the overall customer experience and to have something very different to the other arenas in the UK. The solution was an innovative combination of ETC and GDS lighting fixtures.
In 2015, Genting UK, part of leading global leisure and entertainment company, the Genting Group, took over the former LG Arena at Birmingham’s NEC. Now known as Genting Arena, the 15,700-capacity venue is the Midlands’ premier entertainment destination, hosting events from world-class comedians, sportspeople, singers, songwriters, dancers and daredevils.
“Northern Light has enjoyed a good relationship with the NEC group for several years, having completed successful ins

Details
USA - Music and romance have always made for an irresistible combination so whether it’s love for another or love of the music, or both, Insomniac’s annual Crush concerts are the happening EDM events around Valentine’s Day. In mid-February, EDM enthusiasts gathered for Crush San Fran, Crush SoCal and Crush Arizona for a celebration of heavy beats and beating hearts with a lineup that featured top names like Afrojack and other hot DJs.
This year’s Crush concerts proved to be another spectacular EDM triumph from promoter Insomniac Events, headed by CEO Pasquale Rotella, who again called on Steve Lieberman and his team at SJ Lighting to create the stimulating atmosphere. SJ Lighting worked with lighting vendors Felix Lighting (Crush San Fran, Crush SoCal) and Hardwired Production (Crush Arizona) on the events.
Lieberman is known for his lighting and production de

Details
USA - Holo-Gauze, 3D display solution for large hologram effects, and Christie’s digital projectors were instrumental in realising Beyoncé's holographically enhanced performance during this year’s Grammy Awards. Delivered by leading live events production specialists PRG, the near-15-minute extravaganza included content created by Beyoncé's own Parkwood Entertainment management company.
A huge, highly transparent and reflective 40ft x 22ft Holo-Gauze screen from Holotronica and three 30K Christie Boxer 4K30 projectors produced the holographic magic, delivering incredible 3D visual special effects from Parkwood Entertainment. A second 40ft x 22ft Holo-Gauze and multi- projection/media playback system was utilised for Beyoncé’s rehearsal stage. PRG and Holotronica had previously worked with Beyoncé and Parkwood Entertainment on the singer’s Tidal X: 1015 performanc

Details
USA - Located about 90 miles outside Chicago, the Once Upon A Dream performance group doesn’t merely entertain children with richly imaginative tales, it actually makes them part of the show, inviting them on stage with storybook characters. The magic of Once Upon A Dream was on full display recently at the theatre’s recent Royal Winter Ball, where kids danced with a cast of legendary fairy-tale characters, gliding across the stage under the transformative light of Chauvet Professional Rogue fixtures.
Jordan Chance, owner of Luxe Productions, made four Rogue R2 Wash fixtures the centrepiece of his design for the event. Positioning the fixtures above the stage across its width, he relied on them to provide dramatic downlight that accented key moments in the production, as well as for spot cues and general stage washing.
“The Rogues worked extremely well to set moo

Details
UK - CPL (Central Presentations Limited), working for producers Eclipse Communications, provided a full technical production package – video, lighting and sound - to the 2017 SEMTA Awards event staged in the ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, London.
The Senior Skills Council for Science, Engineering & Manufacturing Technologies (SEMTA) is a not-for-profit organisation specialising in engineering training in the UK. Its high profile annual Awards event recognises excellence within their various nationwide apprenticeship schemes.
The CPL team was led by Lee Gruszeckyj. It was the fourth consecutive year for CPL in this role, and as the success and visibility of the event has advanced each year, so has the commitment to increasing the production values. It was the second time the Awards has been staged at this venue where awards in nine categories were pres

Details
China - Allen & Heath dLive S Class mixing systems were used at the recent LeXiang Music Festival and Shijiazhuang Music Festival, which were recently held simultaneously in China’s Shijiazhuang City.
A flagship S7000 Surface and DM64 MixRack was employed at FOH at LeXiang Festival, managing performances from several of China's top artists, including rock star Zheng Jun, folk band HangGai, and pop star Tanya Chua.
“The sound quality is excellent. With separate MixRack and Surface design, audio distribution is more reliable and low latency becomes possible. dLive has a latency of less than 0.7ms, which I think is an extraordinary breakthrough,” comments Wu Tianjun, FOH engineer.
Meanwhile, a second S7000/DM64 system was provided by production company, S.A.G, to manage monitors at the Shijiazhuang Festival. Three DX32 Expander Racks were also employed to

Details
UK - RG Jones’ long relationship with Martin Audio was extended in fine style again this month at the Raymond Gubbay-promoted Classical Spectacular at the Royal Albert Hall. RG Jones supplied not only a full-size Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array (MLA) for the main PA but also an MLA Compact rig for the side-fills.
MLA had first replaced the Martin Audio W8 Longbow when Simon Honywill, long time FOH engineer for the event (and Martin Audio ambassador), first specified it back in November 2011.
“Simon evangelised about MLA and I am happy to build on the foundation laid down by him and the RG Jones team,” says Phil Wright, who took over sound mixing duties from Honywill two years ago (working on a DiGiCo SD7). Alongside him was system tech Luke Murphy, implementing a sound profile set up by RG Jones project manager, Matt Sussex.
Wright believes that the sound

Details
USA - Country music’s newest rising star Aaron Watson isn’t one to give up when things get tough, so when he was told he wasn’t commercial enough to make it as a singer, the Texas native returned to his home state and proved all the doubters wrong.
Now, with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites, Aaron Watson is performing to sold-out crowds and promoting his album, Vaquero, the follow-up to his historical and aptly named album, The Underdog, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, the first-ever independent solo male country artist to do so.
Utilising four different types of fixtures on tower and riser faces, lighting designer Anthony McCoy mindfully chose each one, giving special consideration to truck pack, load in time and versatility of looks, especially given the divergent sounds of Watson’s music which ranges

Details
Singapore - Illuminate Productions provided creative and technical production once again for Kingdom Invasion 2017. Almost 10,000 people from 37 nations converged upon Singapore’s Changi Expo from 14-17 March for the popular Christian conference now into its 5th year, with over 10,000 more tuning into the live stream on the final night of open meetings.
Lights for the show were newly purchased and supplied by Glorious AV. The total fixture count amounted to 24 Claypaky Scenius Spots, 48 Claypaky Sharpys, 24 Claypaky A.Leda B-Eye K20, and over 100 channels of generic fixtures.
Claypaky once again proved their worth, with a low failure rate and a solid performance. Mr. Huang Muen, creative and technical director of Illuminate, loved the Sharpys. “I’ve used imitations on shows in China,” he recalled, “and working with the originals shows just how much of a diff

Details
Spain - The School of Modern Music (TAF) has installed an Allen & Heath dLive S Class digital mixing system, comprising a S5000 Surface with DM64 MixRack, in its concert hall.
Located in Madrid, the centre offers a wide educational programme, focusing on practical experience and a detailed curriculum and requiring professional world-class facilities, staff and equipment.
Alex Blanco, chief technical officer at TAF, comments, "Students should feel that what they are learning is useful, so we endorse practical assignments from the outset. dLive was chosen because of its expansion possibilities and exceptional configuration flexibility, which allows us to manage any type of event, from concerts or theatre productions to broadcasting.”
The dLive system is employed to manage the school’s concert and theatre productions as well as for touring duties and TV show

Details
UK - Bat out of Hell the Musical opened at the Manchester Opera House in February where it is currently enjoying a 12-week run. The show is the brainchild of Jim Steinman and rock superstar Meat Loaf - a romantic adventure about rebellious youths. Steinman composed Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell albums and always dreamed of lifting the tracks from record to stage. Forty years later the dream has become a reality.
Production manager Simon Marlow, who will also take the production to the London Coliseum in June for another 12-week run before transferring the show to Toronto, knew that for this technically complex large scale production he would require the help of Unusual Rigging. He said, "As production manager here in the UK and technical supervisor in Canada, I am in charge of everything, from the set, engineering, automation and rigging etc, to costumes, wigs an

Details
Canada - Lighting designer Al Paquette was looking for some new and exciting fixtures to incorporate into his design for the current 1000 Arms tour by Canadian country rockers Blue Rodeo - and chose Robe Spiiders and PATT 2013s which were newly purchased by lighting vendor Apex Sound & Light from Ontario, Canada.
Al has worked with the popular band for the last six years, and this is the fourth full production tour he's done with them for which he created a totally original look and design. He knows what they are comfortable with onstage, "it's about setting the right mood and environment for the music," he explained.
Limited truck space was another consideration for this one, so getting maximum impact from a minimum number of fixtures was essential. Keeping this in mind he chose the 20 x Spiiders and five PATT 2013s.
The Spiiders were evenly positioned along

Details
USA - Like a warm summer breeze, the music of pop punk pioneers We The Kings has always been reassuring, pleasing and tinged with a sense of expectation. Beginning with their platinum breakthrough single Check Yes Juliet, on through We’ll Be A Dream (with Demi Lovato), the band has served up some of the most memorable let’s journey forth together love songs for the generation that came of age with the internet.
True to this breakaway spirit, We The Kings has set out on the road to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its debut album with an ambitious 37-city tour that began in Nashville on 17 February and will wrap up at the Slam Dunk festival in the UK. Travelling with the band on the US leg of this journey is a versatile road-friendly rig from New York-based Squeek Lights that is made up almost entirely of Chauvet Professional fixtures.
“We designed

Details
UK - The British TV show Strictly Come Dancing approaches its 15th season this year. Renowned for its visual razzmatazz, the show’s lighting depends on a vast network of data control, an essential component of which is the powerful ProPlex IQ Two 1616.
“We purchased an IQ 1616 Ethernet-DMX node last autumn for Season 14,” says Mark Newell, lighting gaffer and chief systems tech for the show. “It’s an integral part of a system incorporating two consoles and a media server, all outputting on the same network. We’ve been using the ProPlex node to output DMX for a grid of LED battens, pixel-mapped within the media server, and used to light any band extras or special props that the couples use during their dances.
“Because the consoles we use for Strictly have a limited number of outputs, we have to swap routing during the show. The ProPlex IQ 1616 is

Details
UK - Rental company Adlib continues its work with top comedians, having just supplied full production – sound, lighting and video – for Jack Whitehall’s sold out, three week At Large UK arena tour. The Liverpool based company previously supplied production for his ground-breaking 2014 arena tour, which was staged in the round.
Having appropriate production in the right proportions and places is a key to delivering comedy on a large scale. It is about presenting this very intimate and personal style of entertainment and communication in a way that ensures audiences in larger venues enjoy all the same essential experiences as a one-to-one scenario.
Steve ‘Patto’ Pattison mixed front-of-house, working with a strong team from Adlib including monitor engineer / sound crew chief Marc Peers and systems tech Tony Szabo, who was responsible for the precision and detai

Details
Australia - Philips Lighting reports that its LED stage lighting added to the drama and detail of an award-winning production of the hit Broadway musical Wicked at the historic Theatre Royal in Hobart, Tasmania.
In the role of both lighting designer and technical supplier was Gareth Kays of GK Productions, Tasmania's leading performance technology consultancy. His brief was to create an impressive, Broadway-style production on a comparatively small stage.
"One of my main challenges was disguising the ground support system which allowed lead character Elphaba to take flight during the number Defying Gravity," Kays explained. "I used Philips Showline SL BEAM 300fx moving head luminaires at full zoom for back lighting Elphaba as she rose into the air. Light radiated out from her, masking the mechanics and giving the impression she truly was flying. I used Philips S

Details
USA - Quickly becoming on the of the hottest stars in country music today, Cole Swindell has recently set out on the What the Hell World Tour with fellow country music superstar Dierks Bentley. Fresh off his very successful Down Home Tour, Swindell and his production team were looking for a fresh tour design to take on the road in 2017.
Once again working with tour provider Elite Multimedia, production manager James “Mo” Butts began the process of finding the ideal tour design and in the end, it was the creativity of Sooner Routhier at SRae Productions that was chosen to highlight the Academy of Country Music award winner.
“When we started outlining the new tour design we chose four designers that we really felt were doing great work and asked them to submit design proposals for a completely new production design,” began Butts. “As an artist, Cole loves video

Details
USA - Versatility is a key ingredient in any lighting rig that Creative Production & Design builds for a multi-artist show. This was especially evident recently when the Austin, Texas-based company created a lighting and video show for CRUSH Dallas 2017, part of a four-city Insomniac production. Their immersive, high octane rig engaged the packed house at the South Side Ballroom, while also supporting the diverse musical styles of artists on stage, thanks in part to a massive collection of PVP X6IP LED video panels from Chauvet Professional.
“My business partner Justin Jenkins and I always try to make our show designs flexible and well rounded,” said Dan Wyatt of Creative Production & Design (CPD), who served as the production manager and designer on the project. “This event was no different. Not only did we have DJs like Yellow Claw that just need a table full

Details
Sweden - Located on a tree-lined avenue, restaurant Usine adds a touch of French industrial flair to the heart of Stockholm’s business district. Featuring a bistro, tapas bar, café/takeaway and conference facilities, a zoned Yamaha audio system blends seamlessly with the venue’s aesthetics.
Usine’s name comes from the French word for ‘factory’, which is reflected in its girders, overhead air ducts and other services being left exposed and made a feature of. AV specialist Watt & Volt was contracted to design and specify a zoned audio system, choosing Yamaha CIS products to deliver high quality audio in a challenging environment of hard, flat reflective surfaces.
Controlled by an MTX5-D matrix processor, the system is divided into nine zones and features 32 VXS8 full-range, surface mounted loudspeakers, plus two IS1112 subs in the main bar/dining area, two

Details
USA - Country music star Brantley Gilbert has launched The Devil Don’t Sleep tour playing arenas in North America through early spring in the first leg. Nathan Alves and Howard Jones co-designed the show, which features Claypaky Scenius, Mythos 2, Sharpy and Stormy Strobe fixtures.
The tour supports Gilbert’s new album of the same name. Jones’ company, Nashville-based DCR, is supplying all of the show’s equipment; it has provided gear for Gilbert since before his first record deal. The tour marks Alves/Jones second collaboration for the artist.
The Devil Don’t Sleep is a departure in design from Gilbert’s recent tours. “In the past tours used truss structure to define a shape, like the motorcycle motif for last year’s tour,” Alves explains. “Now we’re using digital scenery with videowalls front and center. That gives us more flexibility to take hi

Details
The Netherlands - Allen & Heath’s dLive S Class and ME digital mixing systems have been purchased to manage the On Stage live radio show for no.1 Dutch radio station, NPO 3FM.
The new radio show includes performances from live bands, and incorporates visual clips. dLive manages the live radio, floor sound and several feeds for live internet streaming. Comprising a S5000 and DM64 with DX32 expander rack, the system is fitted with MADI and Waves network cards, with an IP8 remote controller and a ME personal monitoring system, including 6 ME-1 mini mixers, for monitoring the bands. dLive is configured to provide three different mixes going to the DJ desk, and dlive communicates with the DHD radio mixer via Dante.
“As a fanatical iLive user, I was pleased to get the opportunity to purchase the dLive and ME systems. The learning curve was only about one hour,” exp

Details
UK - Working for exhibition designers and producers event.live, Blackout were approached for the third year to provide rigging for Microgaming’s stand and bar at the ICE Totally Gaming exhibition at ExCeL, February 2017.
The Microgaming stand and bar designed and produced by event.live had a daily change in set design to encourage repeat footfall and stand out from the visually competitive surrounding stands. The final day of the show engaged delegates with a castle-themed bar, utilising Blackout’s rigging expertise to suspend a number of chandeliers from one half of the truss grid above the bar to surround guests with in-keeping decor, whilst being entertained by professional sandcastle sculptors organised by Microgaming.
Tim Searle, Blackout’s project manager and his six-strong crew, over the course of three days, supplied and installed 300m of black Prolyte H4

Details
USA - The Nashville Municipal Auditorium hosted the Youth Evangelism Conference in March. Bandit Lites provided the lighting package for the event for Orchestrate Experience with lighting designer Trey Meares and Orchestrate Production director Alex Fleming. Featured guests included Dave Edwards, The Skit Guys, Luke MacDonald and the YEC Worship Band.
Due to the audience size and the nature of the conference, Meares created an 'in the round' setup to an end stage in the arena, giving attendees the maximum amount of impact, while still being mindful of the calling of the conference. “Lighting always has the ability to drive the ‘mood’ of the room, and I make an effort to not let the technology overpower the message that is being delivered by the organisation,” Meares shared.
“On the other hand, lighting can make the room exciting for the attendees and can als

Details
USA - Crossroads Christian Church has been growing in Corona, California, since it was founded in 1892. Now occupying a large, multifaceted campus including a modern 2500-capacity Main Worship Centre, the church welcomes around 7000 attendees every weekend to enjoy its message, and the sophisticated live show that frames it.
Tyler DeYoung is the technical director and FOH engineer at Crossroads, and has recently specified an SSL Live L500 digital audio console for FOH duties, which was supplied by systems integrator CCI Solutions.
"As well as the three services in the main auditorium, that space is also regularly rented out for music events and used for other special church events, explains DeYoung. "We run about 48 inputs every weekend - full drum kit, tracks, keyboards, two guitars, bass, five vocals, and a couple of acoustic guitars. On top of that we might add stri
  1. W-DMX extravaganza on Melbourne’s White Night
  2. Sustainable lighting solution for university centre
  3. Going green on St. Patrick’s Day with Chauvet
  4. Colour Sound Experiment migrates with Bonobo
  5. White Light is Out of Order for UK theatre tour
  6. Nexo STM reinforces new Shanghai music venue
Page 373 of 381
Robe - Large MPU
GLP - MPU - May-June 2024

Latest Issue. . .