South Africa - Ultra Events is a technical supply and production company based in Cape Town, South Africa, owned and run by Costa Champanis and is the latest in several rental companies in the region to invest in Robe’s MegaPointe multi-functional luminaire. Ultra took delivery of four units initially with the rest to follow soon.
The company started commercial life as Ultra Sound, specialising in professional audio for assorted events markets.
Immediately the Pointes were onboard, the demand was so great that they upped the initial four units to 24 in less than a year.
Based on their success with the Pointes and the intense demand on riders for MegaPointes, they ordered these from South African distributor, DWR.
The first event for the new MegaPointes was lighting the runway show for the two-day #COSMOFest2018 fashion extravaganza, staged at Canal Walk Shopping Centre, Cape Town. Lighting designer JP Wilson integrated them with the rest of the lighting at the entrance end of the runway, where they were rigged to the sides of a trussing border running around a large LED screen.
(Jim Evans)

USA - ABC News’ live coverage of the nation’s Midterm Elections counted on High End Systems LED lighting to do the heavy lifting for the November 6 broadcast.
LD Dennis Size of the Lighting Design Group was called in to ensure that the anchors, reporters, political consultants, statisticians and other guests were seen in their best light. To meet that requirement, Size specified 42 HES SolaFrame 750s and 12 SolaSpot 1500 automated luminaires from Main Light to supplement his conventional fixture package and to keep up with the continuously-changing action.
“I’m strictly a High End guy,” the New York-based LD explains. “I was once a strong Vari-lite user, but HES has made great strides with the advances in the Sola line. That is all I specify now.”
ABC’s senior production designer Seth Easter created the special two-story high set for ABC News. The bottom floor featured desks for 20 different anchor positions surrounding the centrepiece - a circular centre floor (of Roe black marble 3 mm LED) through which stunning 3D graphics were created for the TV viewing audience. The second floor featured ABC Live’s Digital Studio. Video walls spanned both floors. The entire production was rife with reflective surfaces, ambient lighting and moving anchor positions - all of which provided lighting challenges.
More challenges appeared a month before rehearsals once the studio rig was hung. Size couldn’t get machinery such as snorkel lifts or genie lifts back onto the video floor to make any adjustments for position moves in his convention

USA - Comedian Nick Cannon returned to his hometown of San Diego, which presented him with a plaque and declared an official ‘Nick Cannon Day’ in America’s eighth largest city.
The highlight of the visit was Cannon’s sold-out Wild ‘N Out show at San Diego State’s 12,000-capacity Viejas Arena. Featuring appearances by Eman Hudson and a bevy of other guest stars, along with games like Wildstyle and Let Me Holla from Cannon’s hit MTV programme, the show served up a full Wild ‘N Out experience, one that was made all the more intimate for his hometown fans by its open circular stage.
Although the stage setup strengthened the connection between Cannon and his audience, its open design created special challenges for lighting designer/technical director Marc Wasserman of 3 with1 Grab Productions. Wasserman, who has worked on the star’s tours many times in the past, addressed these issues in stunning fashion with help from Chauvet Professional Maverick and Rogue fixtures, supplied by Pro Systems Event Solutions.
“The Viejas Arena was designed for basketball games,” says Wasserman. “Having our show on a 360° stage here meant we had to do some inventive things to create a sense of depth without breaking up the fans’ sightlines. Our stage was positioned directly under the arena’s circular scoreboard. We used this positioning to our advantage as far as hanging the lights was concerned.”
Wasserman flew 60’ x 70’ box truss centred and trimmed just above the scoreboard. Spreading 12 Maverick MK2

Poland - Tommex Żebrowscy Sp. J. has recently completed the design and installation of the audio system for the new Centrum Praskie Koneser in Warsaw, Centrum Praskie Koneser is a modern urban space combining restaurants, apartments, shops, commercial premises, a museum, an indoor exhibition centre and a hotel. The complex also has a large open public square, which is also used to host exhibitions and cultural events.
The Centrum Praskie Koneser is a project that incorporates the revitalization and adaptation of the post-industrial buildings of the Koneser vodka factory. Once employing more than 400 people, the factory could produce a quarter of a million bottles of vodka a day, with globally recognized brands including Wyborowa, Luksusowa, Żubrówka, Żytniówka and Siwucha.
In addition to the main production buildings, the original complex included warehouses, workshops, residential buildings and a school. The modern development retains a post-industrial atmosphere by combining authentic architectural elements of the old factory buildings with new buildings on the site. The complex also has its own underground car park and video surveillance.
The audio system provided by Tommex for the public areas of the complex includes the walkway zones between buildings, the covered shopping centre and the multi-purpose open square. The system provides both background music and music to accompany events. It can also be used as a paging system and is operated and controlled by a Dynacord PROMATRIX 6000, using Dynacord mics and amplification.
For music q

Europe - RCF Group has acquired DPA Microphones from The Riverside Company.
The deal comes into effect in the second half of January. DPA’s brand name and management will remain unchanged and production will continue as normal at the Danish company’s manufacturing plant in Asnæs. All existing sales channels will also be maintained.
Arturo Vicari, CEO of RCF Group, comments: “Since my early days I have been fascinated by the world of microphones. Our portfolio already represents excellence in pro audio and we are very proud to add to our roster DPA – a company that also represents excellence in the microphone industry. We can now offer the complete audio chain, from microphones to speakers for the satisfaction of professionals around the world.”
Kalle Hvidt Nielsen, CEO of DPA, adds: “We have come a long way during the past few years. Share of sales coming from new products is up from less than 5% to more than 40%, and all major areas in the business have been professionalized and streamlined. Now we look forward to a bright future under new ownership in a group with an uncompromising quality oriented approach to the Pro Audio business – just like ours.”
The agreement represents the second major acquisition for RCF in less than six months following the acquisition of loudspeaker manufacturer EAW in September 2018.
DPA, based in Allerod, Denmark, specialises in the high-end professional audio microphone market for the live, broadcast, theatre and studio end-user segments
RCF Group, with headquarters in Italy and bran

France - PlugFest, the technical event for entertainment lighting interoperability organised by PLASA, is coming to Europe on 26-28 February 2019.
The event is taking place in Lille, France, at Ibis Lille Centre Gares, and presents an opportunity for delegates to test and demonstrate device and system interoperability, with the aim of improving reliability, resolving compatibility issues and improving connectivity between entertainment lighting and related technologies.
New for 2019 will be a presentation on the ESTA Entertainment Industry control protocol standards which have been in public review since the last PlugFest, with the revised drafts of the RDMnet standard being of particular interest to many previous participants. Attendees will also learn about the latest ESTA/ANSI standards, set to be released in early 2019.
Focusing on a wide array of protocols including DMX512, RDM, DALI, sACN, Art-Net, RDMnet and LLRP, the event’s expert hosts - Hamish Dumbreck (JESE Ltd), Wayne Howell (Artistic Licence) and Peter Willis (Howard Eaton Lighting) - will be on hand during the event and will also host a series of workshops and break-out sessions.
Lille is connected to London by Eurostar and to all major European cities via mainline rail. PLASA is arranging a van for UK delegates to easily transport their equipment to the event - contact the Association for more information. A limited number of discounted hotel rooms have been reserved for the event, so earl

Europe - The popularity of BroaMan’s Route66 AutoRouter with Optocore technology has continued apace since the streamlined version of associated company BroaMan’s Route66 first debuted on the Coldplay tour. Since then the Route66 AutoRouter has featured in a slew of high profile installations, including the Westfield Centre in London, Europe’s largest shopping mall, and Luzhniki Stadium in Poland, redeveloped for the FIFA World Cup.
The attraction of the device is that it offers Auto Routing and an intelligent fibre patch bay (replacing the traditional patchbay) - this functionality powered by Optocore -making it suitable for installations with multiple connection points and mobile stage boxes as well as live events and broadcast.
Initially compatible with stand-alone Optocore networks and DiGiCo fibre loops, BroaMan has announced that the same functionality is now available for Yamaha TWINLANe cards, which support single-and multi-mode optical fibre, and AVID AVB network cards, allowing smarter theatre sound systems to be designed using their flagship consoles.
Essentially, what Route66 AutoRouter does is create a redundant star out of ring topology and closes the loop automatically between active devices and mobile stageboxes. There is no longer the need to patch cables manually, as the system is always redundant. Route66 will function as an intelligent patchbay, automatically detecting active devices and forming a loop topology from them to establish redundancy, without any user interaction. This speeds up system layout and configuration fo

UK - Following on from their success last year, Stage Electrics are hosting another equipment showcase. Taking place on 30 January 2019, at the SS Great Britain, Bristol, this event will bring the newest theatre and broadcast equipment to one place.
Featuring some of the biggest names in theatre and broadcast, such as Sennheiser, Prolyte, ChamSys, Chauvet, ETC, High End Systems and DiGiCo. There will be 19 manufacturers in attendance, demonstrating their extensive range of lighting, audio, video and staging equipment.
With free entry, this event will run from 2pm until 7pm and drinks and nibbles will be served from 5:30pm onwards. Get in touch with Stage Electrics to register, free parking will be available to all those who register before 17 January.
(Jim Evans)

World - Keith Urban’s 2018 world tour in support of his tenth studio album, Grafitti U, kicked off in North America in June 2018. Since then the talented country/rock singer, musician, songwriter and record producer from New Zealand has covered 59 venues in six months.
The tour’s production design firm, FragmentNine, chose 68 Ayrton MagicPanel-R fixtures, supplied by Upstaging, to add depth, dynamism and texture throughout this creative and dynamic show.
Video designer, Jackson Gallagher and lighting designer, Jeremy Lechterman of FragmentNine explained that part of the reasoning behind their choice of MagicPanel-R was largely due to its square face and special abilities, which fit into a mostly geometric and ‘square’ design. Forty-eight panels were rigged to four custom-built pods which automated as the most upstage visual element on stage, with two more pods left and right at stage level to provide low-level sidelight on the band.
“The MagicPanel-Rs are the workhorse of the show,” says Gallagher. “Originally Keith, who was quite involved in the design process, wanted a show that was entirely of video, with no lighting, to give a modern look and tone that was a departure from the traditional country style. However, knowing that video only wouldn’t provide us with enough key-light to see Keith and his band, we guided him away from this towards some form of illumination, and the compromise was to use non-traditional sources of light, something more atypical, which is where the MagicPanel-Rs came in.
“The MagicPanels he

Canada - Solotech has announced the appointment of Mitchell Sadofsky as sales director, effective 10 December.
Sadofsky holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and Business Management (Double Major) from the University of Massachusetts. He has been working in business management for about 15 years. His areas of expertise include, among others, account management, and sales growth planning and analysis in large-scale companies such as Peerless Electric and Alico Lighting.
“Thanks to his solid experience in business development in Ontario, Mr Sadofsky was the natural choice for this position. We are looking forward to engaging his skills and leadership,” says Philip Giffard, president, sales and integration division.
(Jim Evans)

USA - One thing that pretty much any experienced touring mix engineer can agree on is that you always pad your input/output number request to a certain degree because rare is the tour where those needs will not increase as the tour progresses. So it might seem odd that when the current Post Traumaticsolo tour by Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda got started, mix engineers Mike Fanuele and Kevin ‘Tater’ McCarthy were sharing a single DiGiCo SD12 mix surface.
After that first show, the SD12 was shipped off for the tour’s Asian and European legs, and McCarthy, who has been associated with Shinoda for more than a decade, spec’d a pair of DiGiCo's ultra-portable SD11i desks for the promo tour that preceded the Asian dates. He says he’s fielded more than one question about why he made that choice.
“A lot of people have asked me why I choose the SD11i,” he reports. “Originally, it was just Mike Shinoda and no other band members. The band and additional crew where added after all of the gear had shipped to Hong Kong for the Asian and European tours. After a few shows, I was comfortable with the all the new inputs and with the 12-fader format, so I decided to keep it. It never came off that table rack. I just popped the lid every day and was ready to go.”
Fanuele is on his first outing with Shinoda after working with a wide variety of artists ranging from Meghan Trainor and Fifth Harmony to The Chainsmokers and Garbage. “Mike began this tour cycle on stage by himself playing keys, synth, drum pads, and triggering samples from a Maschine. For

UK - Ever since starting out back in 2012, production company Sussex Events (SEL) had been running exclusively point source loudspeaker systems in its rental inventory.
But by January 2017, popular demand was suggesting that it should switch its attention to a line array solution. “Our point source systems were starting to be pushed to their limits,” admits co-founder Robert Watson. “Therefore we needed something that would cover the upgrade and also fit within our budget, enabling us to tap into a bigger market by taking on work to that we couldn't have delivered without the new system.”
So after a long search, guided by dealers Leisuretec, the Hailsham-based company chose a new Martin Audio scalable resolution Wavefront Precision Compact (WPC), SEL had set some stringent criteria. “We wanted a system without compromise on either audio or build quality, expandable coverage for 2,500 people upwards, prediction software, local support - and ideally designed and manufactured in the UK,” Watson continued.
While Leisuretec advised on issues such as pricing of competitive systems, Sussex Events’ technical team attended different manufacturers’ demo days, including Martin Audio, while the SEL man himself started paying more attention when mixing for other companies on different systems.
Eventually he gave the nod to Martin Audio. “The brand has always been close to our hearts,” he said, qualifying the decision. “We had run with W2 boxes since starting the company and one of the main theatres that we work at is all Martin Audio

USA - New Albany High School in New Albany, Indiana, recently completed seven sold out performances of the timeless classic The Wizard of Oz and used their new rig of Elation Professional lighting fixtures to help bring the musical to life.
With three top-tier theatre programmes only miles from each other, Southern Indiana is a proven mecca for high school theatre. After sister school Floyd Central High School received a lighting upgrade of Elation fixtures a couple of years ago, New Albany High School was ecstatic when their opportunity came.
“When funds came around, we were next,” said New Albany High School’s resident lighting and sound designer Crit Fisher, who was employed by the school five years ago to help resurrect what he says was an increasingly neglected programme. “Although New Albany High School has roots in theatre the program was in dire need of an upgrade when I arrived. We had a hodge podge of instruments and no LED units or moving heads at all. I was renting $4k of lighting for our shows.”
All that changed over the summer of 2018 with a lighting upgrade made up of seven of Elation’s award-winning Artiste DaVinci LED moving head spots along with six Platinum Seven LED moving heads, 18 Arena Zoom Q7IP and 15 Arena Par Zoom LED Par lights, 7 SixBar 500 LED battens and four Cuepix Blinder WW2 units, all supplied by Phoenix Lighting of Louisville, Kentucky.
“All students learn the basics of lighting and I come in and teach the specialized instruments,” Fisher explains, noting that all shows are student r

USA - With its intersecting patterns of light wrapping around a diamond-shaped configuration of risers, and cool colour schemes, the stage on Jacob Sartorius’ current tour evokes images of cyberspace. It is a fitting impression, since this Top 40 teenage artist found fame on the internet in 2016, when he was the ninth most frequently searched musical artist.
Lenny Sasso, who lit Sartorius’ first headlining shows two years ago, came up with the futuristic concept for the singer’s 2018 tour. Helping him in this endeavour was a collection of Chauvet Professional Épix Strip Tour and Rogue R1 FX-B fixtures, supplied by Squeek Lights.
Sasso arranged the linear fixtures in a matrix-like formation, filling the upstage area with light while creating a high-tech look. “I knew that I wanted to wrap the band in Épix Strips,” says Sasso. “It was just something that I kind of dreamt up. After several different designs, this was the one I landed on. It all revolved around the placement of the risers in that diamond style, which was something that we had done on Jacob’s original tours. Wrapping the fixtures around the upstage side of the risers pulled it all together.”
A total of 32 Épix Strip Tour fixtures was used in the wrap-around design. Hung on eight 10’ vertical pipes and 12 8’ horizontal pipes, the Épix units displayed light as well as video content run from a laptop with Resolume software.
Also arranged on the pipe structure were eight Rogue R1 FX-B fixtures, each with five individually controlled moving heads. Drawing on th

Denmark - Eleven trucks of production equipment is a lot for one stand-up comedian, but delivering the nuances of live comedy in an arena format is a fine art which needs a delicate balance of style and production values and for Denmark’s leading comedian, Anders ‘Anden’ (the Duck) Matthesen, this happened to be a 25th anniversary tour, so he wanted to make a big impact.
Peter Fisker has been Matthesen’s lighting designer since 2006 and in that time, the funny-man known for his multiple crazy, off-beat and appealing characters - has toured regularly as well as producing movies, DVDs and books. This particular tour was shorter than usual - the seven shows were played in Denmark’s two largest arenas - five at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen and two in the Jyske Bank Boxen Arena in Herning - reaching around 86,000 fans.
Peter took up some of that truck-space with Robe moving lights, specifying 26 x MegaPointes, 33 x BMFL Spots and another three BMFL Spots utilised as a RoboSpot follow spotting system complete with one MotionCamera and one BaseStation.
These were delivered, together with rest of the lighting equipment, by Copenhagen based rental specialist, Comtech.
Arena comedy has some very specific lighting requirements. The artist must be well and clearly lit for both camera and stage, for audiences at the back watching on the IMAG screens as well as those closer to the action.
The facial expressions as he delivers his punch lines are mission-critical to the whole audience experience and their full appreciation of the humour.

USA - Bandit Lites long time team member Chas Albea has been promoted to equipment co-ordinator for the Nashville shop. He will be responsible for planning, directing and coordinating Bandit’s massive collection of gear for preparation and distribution among productions.
Albea’s journey into the lighting world was one of happenstance as he studied audio engineering in school before a friend recommended Bandit Lites.
“After working here for a month or so, I slowly started picking up knowledge in lighting as my quest for an audio job became a thing of the past,” comments Albea. “The rest, as they say, is history.”
Albea’s 10-year tenure at Bandit Lites has taken him on the road with tours such as Montgomery Gentry, Avenged Sevenfold, Paulina Rubio, Santana, Shinedown, WWE, Lee Brice, Rascal Flatts and Alice Cooper.
“Chas was ready to make the transition from road to shop life,” comments Bandit Lites general manager Mark Steinwachs. “His time in the industry and at Bandit give him a great understanding not only of what it takes to prep and do shows, but also the equipment that Bandit has in its arsenal. Chas has done shows with most of the road crew and worked with the office staff throughout his time at Bandit; simply put: Bandit knows Chas and Chas knows Bandit.”
(Jim Evans)

UK - Signify reports that its Philips Vari-Lite VLZ Profile LED luminaires were chosen to meet some specific stage lighting demands on the recent Savage tour by British electronic music pioneer Gary Numan.
For special tour dates, including a showcase performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall, Numan and his band were joined on stage by an orchestra and choir. In response to this, the visual design, by Luke Edwards of Cue Design, successfully referenced the post-apocalyptic theme of the Savage album, while combining softer theatrical touches to complement the orchestra’s presence, both on the stage and in the music.
“To light the orchestra, we needed fixtures with a really nice light quality,” said Edwards, “but with so many tuneable instruments on the stage we also needed lights that wouldn’t throw out lots of heat. The VLZ Profile was a great option: the optics are beautiful, the colours and the colour temperature are beautiful, and it keeps the orchestra members and their instruments cool.”
Placed on high side-trusses at each side of stage, the VLZ Profiles gave side-light, colour and texture for the orchestra and choir in the upstage area, as well as for Numan and the band downstage. “Mostly, we’re using the gobos and prisms to put textured light on the orchestra, to light them in an interesting way,” said Edwards. “But I’m also using the VLZs a lot in open colour, just frosting it slightly to soften the light and get everyone lit really beautifully.”
In covering such a broad stage area, Edwards was aided by the pow

UK - The Human League’s 2018 Red tour saw the band use projection mapping for the first time, with creative content and equipment supplied by Really Creative Media.
The 27-date Red tour began in Brussels on 31 October, landing on UK shores at the Brighton Centre on 23 November, playing various size venues, from theatres and arenas, wrapping up at London’s Eventim Apollo on 8 December.
Really Creative Media (RCM) has worked with The Human League on previous tours, supplying projection equipment and creative content and the band returned to their trusted supplier to push their visual creative offering for the Red tour.
RCM supplied an MA Lighting grandMA3 Light console and OnPC Command Wing as a backup console, along with two Catalyst V6 Media Servers, six Panasonic RZ21K 20,000L laser projectors and two Panasonic RZ31K 30,000L laser projectors. These Panasonic projectors run with a laser light source rather than lamps, which means they are more reliable and the brightness is consistent throughout the projectors lifespan. The set consists of stacked 3D giant cubes, some with the band inside, which meant projection mapping onto front and rear surfaces.
RCM director Nick Dew reports: “There was quite a variation in the size of the venues, so we had the option to swap between the RZ21K and the more powerful RZ31K, depending on what levels we needed to consistently achieve the wow factor for all of the audiences. We also invested in grandMA3 consoles, which give new features to expand our creative options.”
Really Creative Media’s

Singapore - Lighting solutions expert Showtec has made a major investment in Claypaky Scenius Unico and Mythos 2 fixtures to serve its extensive South East Asia markets.
The company, which provides lighting to entertainment, corporate and exhibition events, now has 100 Scenius Unico and 50 Mythos 2 in stock. It is based in its Singapore HQ and has regional offices in Malaysia, China, Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand.
Showtec’s director of sales, Vincent Tan, says: “We are always looking to invest in the most innovative products on the market and Claypaky is ahead of the curve, producing world-class quality fixtures with distinctive features that are exciting for our market.
“The South East Asia live entertainment and events scene is growing rapidly and there is a hunger for the latest technology to achieve stunning and dynamic effects. That’s why we invested in so many Scenius Unico and Mythos 2 fixtures.
“The Scenius Unico is a fantastic multifunctional light - the fact that it can be used as both an excellent wash and a powerful spotlight makes it perfect for so many applications and therefore a wide range of clients.”
“We work closely with many lighting designers and we listen to what they want in terms of new kit,” Tan continues. “We are confident that our Claypaky investment will fulfil their requirements. In fact, a large number of both the Scenius Unico and the Mythos 2 went out almost immediately on [Cantopop superstars] Alan Tam & Sam Hui’s Happy Together Classic Express world tour, whic

Europe - Swedish artist Kristian Matsson is better known under his stage name, The Tallest Man On Earth.
His recent European tour, in support of his album When The Bird Sees The Solid Ground, has seen LD Anders Heberling using GLP’s impression X4 Bar 20 in his stage design. He deployed 13 fixtures as a floor package with the remaining batten in the roof, directly above the head of an artist who is known for his dynamic stage performances.
The fixtures were mounted in almost completely sealed custom made boxes, allowing just small cracks for the light to shine through. According to Heberling, the inspiration for this was old barns where the sun shines through the walls.
Of his choice of lighting the LD said: “I needed a pixel batten that could move but most importantly be rigged vertically to fit inside the boxes. The wide zoom was very helpful in terms of changing the look of the stage and decreasing the risk of blinding the audience too much. The fantastic output and wonderful colours were also a big factor in choosing the fixture.”
Inventory for the European leg was provided by Bright Group but Christie Lites will be responsible for supplying the kit as the tour transfers to the US. More dates will then follow in Europe as the tour runs for over a year.
Joining Anders Heberling’s team were Wilhelm Egnell, who assisted with programming and operated several shows, and Andreas Berthling who made the custom boxes.
In summary, the LD opined: “The X4 Bar 20s are of high quality and deliver great colours. That just ab