Lighting

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26 September 2024

Europe - The Disney in Concert series has been bringing Disney magic onto the large concert stage for many years. The production has been on tour once again in 2024, visiting arenas in Germany and Austria with the Hollywood Sound Orchestra.

To keep the numerous soloists under the spotlight in front of the large LED wall at all times, gruppe20, the lighting technology service provider in charge, decided to rely on a zactrack SMART system.

“Stage production has continually developed in terms of technology over the years,” explains Klaus Mayer, managing director of gruppe20, which has overseen lighting and rigging for Disney in Concert since 2016. “The number of performers appearing on stage at the same time in musicals has grown as well. When eight or more artists are on stage, using followspots is no longer feasible. Also, with

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26 September 2024

USA - Martin Castañon’s design for the lighting rig at the 27th annual Santa Barbara Mariachi Festival called for 12 Chauvet Professional Color Strike M motorised strobe-washes and 12 blinders. But instead, he got zero blinders and 18 Color Strike M fixtures.

“The rig was originally supposed to have the Color Strike Ms on the up and mid truss for a total of 12 – blinders were specced out for the downstage,” recalled Castañon. “Somehow when the rig was built, we accidentally got the extra six Strikes instead of the blinders. In the end it worked out beautifully as it tied the whole rig together. It was great having the horsepower to punch things up for the crowd, especially in colour, not to mention when riding the beams on them. It looked like the night turned to day. I didn’t miss the blinders at all.

“I used the Strikes mos

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25 September 2024

France - Marseillais comedian Redouane Bougheraba’s On m'appelle Bercy tour, produced by Gilbert Coullier Productions, included sold-out performances at the Accor Hotel Arena in Paris, the Velodrome Marseille, and other large venues.

Supporting Bougheraba’s performance on his tour is an Andreas Monschauer lighting design that, like the popular comedian himself, is versatile, free-flowing and always engaging.

Monschauer is powering his shows with ChamSys consoles: a MagicQ MQ500M Stadium Console with a wing at Marseille, and a MagicQ MQ250M at the Accor Hotel Arena. Working with a scenic design by Vincent Rautureau (G the Imagineers), Bougheraba uses lighting and video to set a tone that is “at once dramatic and inviting”. He uses up to 80 universes of lighting. Supplied by MPM (which also furnished the sound), the lighting is run thr

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25 September 2024

USA - Bandit Lites continues its transformation in its Gen8 leadership with the promotion of Sophie Phillips to technical services manager.

Phillips earned her BFA in Lighting Design and Technology from Kent State University. While in school, she worked at Cedar Point, Porthouse Theatre, and was the president of the technical theatre group for two years. She joined Bandit Lites in 2021 as a moving light technician. Now as the technical services manager, Phillips will oversee the entirety of Bandit’s Technical Service Department, a move that she says makes her feel “empowered”.

“I have grown a lot over the last three years and am ready and willing to start a new generation of Bandits,” said Phillips. “Michael T. Strickland is at his core a leader, and his ability to trust people and move forward is a skill. He has taught me that being a ma

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24 September 2024

UK - Assembly is right at the heart of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and an integral part of this celebration of arts and culture.

The 2024 event saw Assembly – one of the largest venue operators at the Fringe – operating 26 venues featuring over 240 diverse shows embracing multiple entertainment genres, with lighting managed by Martin McLachlan, Assembly’s Festival Fringe head of lighting since 2018.

This year, McLachlan specified an abundance of Robe moving lights for several of Assembly’s key venues.

The Assembly Festival Fringe operation involves over 90 technical staff (covering sound and stage management in addition to lighting) over a six-week period, which includes two weeks of build and rehearsal before the three-and-a-half-week festival. McLachlan, together with a small team of four, oversees the house stage lighting and cre

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24 September 2024

Canada - CAST Group of Companies reports that it has been certified by Great Place To Work. The award is based entirely on what current employees say about their experience working at CAST. This year, 85% of employees said it’s a great place to work.

"Great Place To Work certification is a highly coveted achievement that requires consistent and intentional dedication to the overall employee experience," says Sarah Lewis-Kulin, the vice-president of global recognition at Great Place To Work. She emphasises that certification is the sole official recognition earned by the real-time feedback of employees regarding their company culture. “By successfully earning this recognition, it is evident that CAST stands out as one of the top companies to work for, providing a great workplace environment for its employees."

“We are thrilled to become Great Pl

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24 September 2024

Europe - Following the worldwide success of the Rivale Profile which sold over 10,000 units in less than a year, Ayrton has introduced the Veloce Profile, the second ultra-equipped luminaire in its ‘Ultimate’ family, which has been specially designed for use in large spaces.

Veloce Profile is a versatile, IP65-rated luminaire capable of operating in all conditions, indoors and outdoors, including saline-heavy environments. Veloce Profile features a new sealed monoblock 850W high-efficiency LED module, calibrated at 6,500K, which offers a luminous flux of 43,000 lumens with optimum positioning on the black body to achieve perfect light neutrality.

Its proprietary 13-lens optical system offers a zoom ratio of 13:1 and a zoom range from 4° to 52°, its 180mm front lens capable of delivering an ultra-intensive 4° beam.

Veloce Profile, like

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23 September 2024

USA - On 30 December 1959, travellers heading up Las Vegas Boulevard to visit one of the burgeoning city’s new resorts like The Stardust, The Dunes, or The Sands were greeted by a towering 25ft pole sign that read ‘Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas’.

Although those once glitzy establishments are long gone, replaced by new generations of resort casinos on The Strip, the sign – with its distinctive stretched horizontal shape and cross piece at the top – is still standing.

The scenic designers at StationSix thought it would make an ideal backdrop for another ‘Las Vegas institution’, The Killers, when the multi-platinum band did their three-week residency at The Colosseum At Caesars Palace, which ended on 1 September.

Steven Douglas, the band’s long-time lighting designer, saw things the same way. He collaborated with the scenic desig

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23 September 2024

The Netherlands - After successfully transitioning from conventional static lighting to dynamically versatile LED fixtures at Rijswijkse Schouwburg Theatre in Rijswijk, Ronald de Blecourt, head of stage technique, reflected on the satisfactory outcome.

“When you know what you’re looking for and you are lucky enough to have a great team, the full trust of your management board, and of course the means, all you have to do is find the right fixtures,” he reflected. “The new LED lighting from Elation has allowed us to create more visually attractive productions and has enhanced the entire theatrical experience.”

The path to finding those ‘right fixtures’ had its own story. Following several not-entirely satisfactory fixture demos, de Blecourt was contacted by Bert Schmeits, key account manager Benelux for Elation Europe, who believed that E

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23 September 2024

USA - The stars gathered onstage, backstage and at the stage right artists bar in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena packed with music fans and anticipation for a special concert – Toby Keith: American Icon, a tribute to the late singer-songwriter, who in addition to being a successful musician and performer, was a philanthropist and supporter of those who served their countries in the military.

Tom Kenny was asked by producers Adam Freed and Alex Colletti to light this show, which was filmed for broadcast on the NBC network, and Kenny’s lighting rig included three different types of Robe moving lights – eight BMFL Follow Spots on RoboSpot systems, 12 iForte LTX WashBeams and 61 MegaPointes. The lighting vendor was 4Wall, who supplied from its Nashville shop.

Kenny’s task was to ensure the broadcast had a sumptuous ‘big rock show’ a

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23 September 2024

USA - Reggae band Stick Figure recently wrapped their Sacred Sands Summer Tour with a lighting system provided by Bandit Lites. Led by Scott Woodruff, Stick Figure is known for their blend of reggae and dub, weaving together infectious rhythms and melodic hooks with mellow vibes and positivity.

Lighting designer Nesta Garrick chose fixtures that would provide a range of effects, utilising Chauvet Color Strike M, Elation Proteus Maximus IP 65, Elation Smarty Hybrids, GLP X5, ACME Gemini and Robe MegaPointes.

“Everything served its purpose,” said Garrick. “We have a long set with a bunch of different songs, and these fixtures were selected to give us multiple choices and looks without being repetitive throughout the show.

“The MegaPointes were able to give good effects coming off with their beams, but at the same time they’re

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23 September 2024

Portugal - Europalco, in partnership with Knower Impact Meetings, reports the success of AIVØLUT1ØN, the first conference in Lisbon entirely dedicated to Artificial Intelligence (AI). Held in the Sala Tejo of the MEO Arena, this event brought together business leaders, innovators and AI enthusiasts to explore the power of AI in business management and beyond.

The AIVØLUT1ØN event marked an important milestone in the AI landscape, attracting many attendees. Europalco played a big part in this success by providing full AV and staging services. Europalco's team of approximately 28 members worked on-site and after two months of extensive preparation, they flawlessly executed all technical details.

An impressive 25m curved main screen and a 4m raised circular screen in the middle served as the event's centrepiece. This configuration was reinforced by

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23 September 2024

USA - Mega-Lite has introduced the ZIP Strip C40 which features 40 pixels of red, green, and blue narrow 5º beam LEDs, while the ZIP Strip WW40 comes in a warm white look.

These fixtures allow for the creation of multicolour light curtain effects by chasing the pixel in various groups and speeds. With four control profiles available, you can use a basic DMX or an advanced pixel matrix system to manage your pixels effectively.

Both fixtures stand out for their lightweight and compact design. Their compact three-hole yoke makes them easy to mount, ensuring they can be mounted in tight spaces or on various surfaces easily.

The ZIP Strip provides additional choices for lighting effects by pixel-mapping your stage venue to “create any look you want”.

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23 September 2024

UK - Following the appointment of Tom Anstey and Aurora Harrington in June this year, Spotlight Sound is expanding once again with a new hire. It means the team has increased by 50% this year as demand for their services grows.

The event production and AV installation company has welcomed Chloe Richardson as marketing executive this month. Chloe has considerable experience in marketing, having joined from Acclaim Handling after three years.

Director of Spotlight Sound, Sam Dimond, says: “Chloe has joined us after a thorough search for a top marketing executive. It was Chloe’s experience and skills that really stood out as she has worked in all areas of digital marketing and across many sectors. Chloe will work on steering our marketing strategy to reach our target audience and has already settled into the team really well.

“2025 is look

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20 September 2024

Spain - Colombian music sensation Karol G recently concluded her historic Mañana Será Bonito world tour with four stadium shows in Madrid, Spain.  

The year-long run, the first stadium tour headlined by a Latin female artist and reportedly the most extensive European tour by a Latin artist in history, featured an ambitious production with lighting design by Lightswitch senior director Ignacio Rosenberg, working with lighting vendor PRG. At the heart of the design were Elation Proteus luminaires, which played a vital role in both the stadium and arena shows.

The tour began in August 2023 and spanned the US, Mexico, and Latin America, with the European leg launching on 8 June 2024, in Zurich. Rosenberg used the Proteus Maximus and Proteus Hybrid Max across Latin America and Europe for their IP-rated durability, which was essential for the c

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20 September 2024

UK - The Schools Engagement Programme, launched in January 2024 in the East of England region by The Power of Events with grant support from the EIF, has announced that Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) has been confirmed as exclusive sponsor of the Edinburgh region. This now takes the UK roll-out to five regions alongside recently confirmed new regions Birmingham, Hertfordshire and the South Coast of England.

EICC’s support will enable The Power of Events, in partnership with local event professionals volunteering as schools ambassadors, to deliver an event industry showcase and overview of career opportunities to secondary schools & colleges across the Edinburgh region, starting in Spring 2025.

The Schools Programme has already attracted 200+ school ambassador industry volunteers across the four Nations willing to support the p

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20 September 2024

Spain - Currently touring to promote their second album Fuego, Spanish band Xeria has also mastered LightShark so that they can easily adapt their own show to suit different sized venues.

Lighting designer Alex Conde, founder of Aconde Design, was commissioned to design the lighting for the band Xeria, who are currently touring Spain to promote their new album Fuego.

"My main responsibility was designing the layout of the lighting equipment, programming the lighting for each song, and automating MIDI commands with Xeria’s Cymatic Audio LP-16 MIDI audio system and an IRing MIDI 2 adapter,” he explains.

“For this tour Xeria is using four Equipson Mark Beam 201 moving heads, eight Equipson Mark Mbar RGB 4 lighting bars, and four Equipson Mark MF 1500 VT fog machines. To ensure that the lighting setup matched their music,

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20 September 2024

Belgium - EventCom is a specialist in the provision and rental of AV equipment based in Gembloux, in French-speaking Belgium, managed by director Thomas Richard.

The company has invested in a number of Robe mobile lighting products, including the newest iFORTES and Esprites.

EventCom has also just completed a new extension to their warehouse and offices, which will triple their operational space to 2,600sq.m of storage and 600sq.m of office space. This will allow EventCom to operate more efficiently and grow as planned over the coming years.

“Robe is the top brand right with an excellent range of fixtures and a great reputation for reliability and value,” stated Thomas, whose first purchase was 24 x MegaPointes in 2021 which have worked constantly ever since.

“Getting MegaPointes really did have that much impact, they were that

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20 September 2024

UK - Astera’s new LunaBulb product – launched in May – won a coveted PLASA Award for Innovation earlier this month during the PLASA at Olympia in London.

This adds to the product’s growing collection of accolades which has also recently included a Best of Show award conferred by film-tv-video at the EuroCine expo in Munich in July.

PLASA’s Awards for Innovation judging panel commented that LunaBulb “combines a broad feature-set in a much-loved conventional aesthetic”, which clearly impressed them as much as it has many Astera customers and users.

LunaBulb weighs in at just 81 grams (0.179 lbs) and is designed for indoor and outdoor use. Key features are DMX control, full-colour RGBMA and a CCT range from 1,750K to 20,000K and five inbuilt wireless technologies (CRMX, RDM, Bluetooth, WiFi, IR, and UHF), and naturally it is compat

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19 September 2024

Europe - Icon of the Seas, Royal Caribbean International’s new ship, built at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland, features more than 40 different entertainment, leisure, and retail spaces, including three primary entertainment venues. The Royal Theatre presents full-scale productions, including the first rendition of The Wizard of Oz at sea; Absolute Zero is a premium ice-skating arena; and the Aqua Theatre features aqua shows put on by a cast of aerialists, high divers, robots and synchronised swimmers.

Two of Icon’s main entertainment venues – Royal Theatre and Absolute Zero – have Robe moving lights at the heart of their installed lighting rigs, while approximately 250 other Robe and Anolis LED fixtures are being used throughout the ship in 10 separate areas.

The various Robe fixtures include iForte, Forte FS and iForte FS

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19 September 2024

Germany - The best 64 drift drivers meet in the City of Iron every year to determine the title of Iron Drift King. Amidst the impressive backdrop of the Ferropolis Industrial Museum with its giant open-cast mining excavators, the professionals raced on a customised racetrack in front of thousands of spectators.

The drift manoeuvres were dynamically staged by the technical service provider i:TECS Event Production, which used the Cameo Oron H2 IP65 Hybrid Phosphor Laser Moving Heads for the first time.

The i:TECS team placed a total of 30 Oron H2s on the roofs and booms of the four bucket wheel excavators in Ferropolis in order to effectively stage the races in the open-air arena.

“We have significantly expanded the lighting concept for Iron Drift King compared to last year, and decided to use moving lights on the excavators for the first tim

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18 September 2024

South Africa - One of South Africa’s leading educational institutions, North West University (NWU), has chosen power solutions from LSC Control Systems at the core of the recent technical upgrade of its largest performance space, the Sanlam Auditorium. The APS (Advanced Power Systems) units were provided and installed by LSC’s South African representative, DWR Distribution.

Sited at NWU’s campus in the city of Potchefstroom, around 120km to the southwest of Johannesburg, the 957-capacity Sanlam Auditorium is the hub of NWU’s cultural life, hosting a varied programme of theatre, conferences, film screenings, dance, musical performances, lectures and ceremonial functions.

Recently, the time had come for the venue to undertake a complete upgrade of its ageing lighting system, which included fixtures approaching 40 years of service. Glenn Cunniff

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18 September 2024

UK - Karoliina Helin has joined 3LR Lighting as in-house architectural lighting designer.

A native of Finland, Helin’s lighting career started after she graduated from UWE with a degree in Interior Architecture. Realising the power that lighting could have within a space, one she describes as “artistic, creative and technical all at the same time”, she joined re:Light in Bristol where she worked as senior lighting designer. She has since worked for Satore Studio in Cardiff as well as being a freelance lighting designer, during which time she collaborated with 3LR on hundreds of projects.

Helin comments: “I am thrilled to officially become a part of 3LR Lighting. Over the past three years, I’ve worked with Matt and the team on countless occasions, and we share the same passion of bringing spaces to life through lighting; particularly driven

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18 September 2024

Germany - Diversified, a leading global technology solutions provider, has announced the appointment of Johannes Stehr as vice-president of Enterprise EMEA. This strategic hire underscores Diversified's commitment to developing world-class enterprise offerings and addressing the growing demand for consistent global technology standards with robust local support.

In this newly created role, Stehr will lead Diversified's expansion of Workplace and Media operational capabilities across Europe, with an initial focus on Germany. His appointment marks a significant step in Diversified's global strategy to enhance its ability to serve multinational enterprises with a harmonised approach to technology deployment and support.

"As organisations increasingly seek standardised technology experiences across their global footprint, they also require deep local exp