Ireland - Chauvet Professional PVP LED video panel technology was specified by Dublin-based company, Just Lite Productions, to illuminate the main stage area at Ireland's Life Festival for the exclusively electronic music line-up, headlined by London's Groove Armada.

The back of stage area was rigged with PVP S7 LED video panels to create a 6-by-2m screen. The PVP S7 is a solid, high definition video panel with black face SMD LEDs and a tight pixel pitch of 7.8mm, suitable for a high-ambiance festival setting where high-resolution graphics and a high contrast ratio are required. The p

UK - Britannia Row Productions Training is hosting an Open Evening on Tuesday 16 September - 6.00pm - 8.30pm at its Wandsworth Training Centre in London.

Says the organisation, "Learn about the course from the world-class sound engineers who deliver our training, and who will be running practical demos for you. Explore the facilities and hear from students how our training has enabled them to start their careers in live sound. Come along and tell us how we can help you!"

(Jim Evans)

UK - This year, the Bupa Great North Run was the first event of its kind in the world to reach its one millionth entrant. On 4 September both Newcastle and Gateshead Quaysides, along with the River Tyne were transformed into a huge outdoor arena marking the countdown to this year's run.

The stunning opening ceremony included mass choreography, live music, boats, giant floating sculptures, projection mapping, pyrotechnics and more to tell the incredible story of the North East, featuring a creative team who have previously worked on the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Opening Cerem

Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden AB has welcomed Bo Wendemo as R&D engineer, effective immediately.

Wendemo has 25 years of experience with wireless technology and spent the last 10 years at Nokia Denmark as RF senior engineer, which included 18 months as international assignee project leader in China, helping to build up and train the new RF team in Beijing.

Wendemo's addition further adds to the already strong R&D team at Wireless Solution, having over 35 years combined experience with companies including Ericsson, Sony, and Nokia.

Niclas Arvidsson, CEO of Wireless Solution say

Israel - The fifth annual Masada Opera Festival, held at the foot of Mount Masada-one of Israel's most popular tourist attractions-featured stunning performances of Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata opera for an audience of thousands over the course of six days.

With Mount Masada serving as a stage backdrop and the sets incorporating the desert elements of the area, lighting director Bogumil Palewicz along with Michal Znaniecki, stage director, and Luigi Scoglio, set designer, deployed Martin Professional fixtures to provide stage and effects lighting.

The outdoor stage was create

The Netherlands - Elation Professional has announced the world premiere launch of a "truly innovative game-changing product that is unlike anything on the market today". The Sniper is a new type of hybrid multi-effect lighting fixture and laser simulator that gives the creative LD an all-new tool to create stunning light shows.

Unveiled at the PRO Show in Birmingham, England, the Sniper is a revolutionary hybrid beam, scanner and laser simulator in one. Emitting a powerful, precise and ultra-narrow 3° beam, a high-speed X/Y scan and Z rotation mirror system allows the Sn

Belgium - Splendit is a Belgian lighting and sound rental company based in Liedekerke and headed by Marijn Broeckaert, who has a great passion for the industry and is also an LD / programmer in his own right.

He formed the company in 2007 with the ambition of becoming a premium equipment supplier to top-end professional production markets, offering the highest standards of excellence.

Splendit has built up a reputation for servicing some of the leading TV shows and lighting designers. In the last years Marijn also consciously made the decision to start investing in Robe moving light

USA - California based sales and rental company Felix Lighting - headquartered in Los Angeles with a recently opened office in San Francisco - has added 40 x Robe Robin CycFX 8 moving LED batten fixtures to its rental stock, which also includes Robe Pointes.

The CycFx 8s were initially purchased for the Sunday Night Football introduction with Carrie Underwood on NBC, featuring lighting designed by Benoit Richard, and were part of a specification that also included 47 Pointes.

The new CycFX 8s are now part of Felix Lighting's rental stock where they are already proving popular.

Acc

China - Elation Professional's new high-powered Platinum BX beam and hybrid Platinum SBX moving heads debuted in a big way on the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games held 16 August in Nanjing, China.

Lighting designer Sha Xiao Lan, who wowed the world with his lighting design for the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, awed spectators once again with a brilliant light show that incorporated 400 Platinum BX and SBX fixtures. Production company for the event was Beijing Fengshang Shiji Culture Art Co., Ltd.

Held at the Nanjing Olympic Sports

UK - Every so often one of those invaluable lighting 'gadgets' comes along that is simple yet indispensible. The Lightsock is such an accessory, say the designers.

Made of flexible, flame-retardant fabric (rated BS5867 Type B), The Lightsock is a reusable, environmentally-friendly cuff that fits easily around the lens tube of a lantern and any accessory attached to it, whether it be a simple top hat or a colour scroller with top hat. The Lightsock eliminates light spill without the use of conventional heat-resistant adhesive black tape.

"There is nothing worse than white light

UK - When it comes to the London premiere of the Marvel superhero film Guardians of the Galaxy, you know you're going to need a robust, reliable, and feature-rich console to control the lighting: step forward Luke Edwards and his Avolites Tiger Touch II.

Thousands of fans turned up at the capital's Empire Theatre in Leicester Square to see stars including Vin Diesel arrive on the red carpet and be interviewed on a specially created structure that boasted 20 x LED pixel tracks, amongst other fixtures.

Using the Tiger Touch II's pixel mapping feature, Edwards - who also works a

USA - ETC is committed to mentoring students who have an interest in lighting and stage technology. One way the company achieves this is through its annual LDI Student Sponsorship, where a select group of students is awarded an all expenses paid trip to the LDI tradeshow as a way to help launch their careers.

The students have the opportunity to go the behind the scenes with ETC, to learn about the latest technologies, and to network with some of the industry's key figures. The sponsorship also pairs the students with industry luminaries who serve as mentors, offering advice, inspirat

USA - Philips Vari-Lite reports that 4Wall Entertainment has made a significant investment in the new VL4000 Spot luminaire. With inventory now in stock at their five nationwide locations, 4Wall and Philips Vari-Lite continue their longtime partnership to provide high-quality automated lighting instruments that inspire designers and technicians to push the creative limits of their productions.

"Adding the versatile VL4000 Spot to our inventory was an easy decision" said Michael Cannon, 4Wall CEO. "Vari-Lite luminaires have been a staple of our inventory for many years n

UK - Manchester based lighting and rigging company, dbn Lighting, is no stranger to SGM products. Historically their hire fleet has contained large quantities of the popular Palco 3 and Genio LED fixtures to service their wide roster.

Now the Manchester-based rental company has brought its range up to date by acquiring 24 of SGM's new P-5 low profile LED wash lights from SGM UK; the unit was designed to replace the Palco series, and bring the concept of the powerful IP65 rated wash light into the 21st century.

According to dbn director and lighting designer, Stephen Page, the purcha

Italy - The historic Villa Cornér della Regina, which dates back to the 16th century, is surrounded by ancient grounds and a swimming pool. It has been completely restored to offer a warm unique atmosphere. The luxurious hotel Relais is a perfect place to spend your holidays, but also for weddings, business dinners, meetings and any other event that needs a special setting.

In July, the renowned textile manufacturing company Isko organized a big event at Villa Cornér, which included a show of next season's collections. Menabò, an all-round Forlì-based marketing and com

Dubai - The multiple Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter Lady Gaga kicked off both Dubai's live event season and the European leg of her global tour, artRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball last week. Promoted locally by AMI Live and ATW Live in association with Live Nation Global Touring, the concert took place at Meydan Racecourse on the 10th September and marked the artist's first visit to the Middle East.

eclipse Staging Services was selected to provide all lighting, video and primary and secondary power distribution, while audio was supplied by Delta Sound. Martin Lubach, General Manager

UK - The seventh Knight of Illumination Awards has once more seen record submissions for the title of outstanding lighting and video design in the sectors of TV, Theatre and Concert Touring and Events. Combined with the fact that industry sponsorship and support for the event is at an all time high, it's clear that the KOI 2014 will be the most coveted invite of the autumn season.

The KOI Awards, organised by Clay Paky alongside the Society of Television Lighting Designers (STLD), the Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) and Ambersphere Solutions, will be held following the first d

Volume Control - New regulations should be introduced to protect live music venues from possible closure following noise complaints, the Musicians' Union has said. At the Trades Union Congress conference this week, the union proposed a motion, which was passed, demanding the introduction of new regulations that would help put a stop to the "worrying trend of long-established music venues being forced to close after only one or two complaints from neighbours".

Increasing numbers of residential properties being built close to venues has resulted in noise abatement notices from

Slovenia - Maribor's Lutkovno Gledalisce (Puppet Theatre) sits on the site of an old Minorite monastery dating back to 1271, nestling down by the Drava River in Slovenia's picturesque second city.

The transformation into the bustling performance space is a meticulously stylish integration of contemporary cool with ecclesiastical history offering a main performance space (Veliki Oder) for 273 children and 182 adults. It was completed four years ago and this summer a new exterior Letni Auditorium was added to the back of the building, complete with seating for 522 people.

In a streak

USA - Nemetschek Vectorworks has announced the new Vectorworks 2015 version of its award-winning line of software products, including: Vectorworks Designer, Architect, Landmark, Spotlight, Fundamentals and Renderworks. This marks the beginning of its worldwide rollout, which continues with the release of localized versions in nine additional languages in the fourth quarter of this year through the second quarter of 2015.

"With every new release, we concentrate on giving customers the enhancements and features they want, and, more importantly, what they need to make their visions

USA - Since 1995, Rx Bandits has been blowing past musical boundaries, joyfully blending and twisting rock rifts here with reggae slants there, then adding a little ska or jangle to come up with a fresh exhilarating sound that's hard to categorize, but very easy to love.

Recently, for the group's highly anticipated Gemini Her Majesty Tour, LD Sohail e. Najafi returned the favour by helping the convention-defying band enter a new lighting realm with pixel mapped Nexus 4x4 panels from Chauvet Professional.

"Rx Bandits is always taking their music to new places, and they want this

Lebanon - La Production is one of the top rental and technical solutions providers in Lebanon. Headed by Roger Bakhos and based in Hazmieh a dynamic suburb of metropolis of Beirut, the company works all across the Arab states as well as parts of Europe including Greece and Spain.

They have recently made a new investment in 48 x Robe LEDWash 600s.

La Production has been operating for 14 years, eight of those headed by Roger. With 33 full time employees and a wider pool of regular freelance technicians, the go-ahead company has an extensive lighting inventory, LED screens, video proje

USA - There may have been clouds looming on the opening day of Lollapalooza, but that couldn't stop fans from pouring into Grant Park.

Bandit Lites worked with 3SRcreative, the design firm comprised of lighting designers Seth Jackson and Nathan W. Scheuer, media/video director Brent Sandrock and project manager Jack Rushen to light the event, where more than 130 artists performed on eight stages over three days, culminating in a weekend of great performances by both up-and-comers, bonafide legends, and the most popular artists of today.

In its tenth year at Grant Park, and a massive

USA - Philips Vari-Lite has announced the '1 on 1 with Vari-Lite' video contest designed to challenge lighting designers, technicians, and fans worldwide to produce a one-minute video featuring one single Vari-Lite luminaire. With prizes that include a paid trip to LDI or Prolight + Sound, GoPro Cameras, and Vari-Lite SWAG packs, the winners of the contest will be selected by an independent panel of judges and all entries must be received by 17 October 2014.

"Knowing the high level of creativity that exists with lighting professionals worldwide, we are very excited to launch the

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