Estonia - To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Estonian Olympic Committee, president Urmas Sõõrumaa hosted a reception for hundreds of guests that took place at the Adila Retreat Centre near Tallinn. The event was organised by Global Productions with equipment supplied by funTIME Showservice.
Guests were greeted with drinks and had the chance to mingle with each other before listening to presentations from speakers who stood on a stage that was put together using Showgear’s Mammoth Dex. Surrounding the stage, televisions mounted on Milos Pro-30 Step G trusses showed great Estonian sporting moments. To enhance the atmosphere, eight Showtec Studio Beams and twelve Showtec LED Light Bar 8s were used.
After the presentations, guests were treated to an extensive tour of Adila’s 10-hectare grounds with information directly broadcast to individuals through DAP’s Silent Disco headphones. With a range of up to 450m between the Silent Disco transmitter and the headphones, the Silent Disco system was perfect for this situation.
USA - The all-in-one KL Spot IP is a radiant and rugged static luminaire that can also function as an LED Profile by adding the optional motorised framing module, creating a lighting fixture that's both handily adaptable and primed to set your creative spirit on fire. Additionally, its IP65 rating means it is suited to both indoor and outdoor spaces.
Elation has embarked on a journey toward simplifying automated static lighting with the KL Spot IP, a venture that began with its companion, the KL Profile FC. The days of being boxed in by limited options are over, says the company. Need to relocate fixtures on the fly? With an integrated zoom lens spanning from 7° to 50°, you can place the KL Spot IP anywhere and still capture the perfect beam size - no extra lens tubes required. This translates to reduced costs, streamlined setups, and unprecedented flexibility for every performance venue and show.
This fixture emanates a superior quality of light, courtesy of its 305W five colour homogenised LED array of red, green, blue, mint, and amber sources. This calibrated RGBMA engine, boasting a 92 CRI and native colour temperature of 6500 Kelvin, bathes your stage in diffused saturates, soft-field pastels, and tunable white light. The LEDs ensure impeccable colour reproduction while delivering a staggering output exceeding 10,600 lumens.
Colour mastery takes centre stage with the KL Spot IP, guaranteeing that your designs translate seamlessly to camera. You can effortlessly rectify shifts away from pure white toward green or magenta through a green/magent
Spain - The Megapark in Mallorca, the largest open-air beer garden in Europe, has incorporated the new Ayrton Zonda 9 FX among its lighting fixtures.
The Megapark space has a capacity of 5,000 people, blending elements of an open area with the influence of a coastal zone. It features a small stage that required powerful lighting capable of working in daytime and nighttime settings. In its design, several features have been taken into account to create an appealing ambiance in which the Zonda 9 FX lights have played a crucial role in delivering a unique experience.
The latest acquisition and investment for this significant venue was the new Zonda 9 FX by Ayrton, a lighting fixture that has stood out for its advanced technology and creative possibilities, thanks to the versatility of its features and optical effects. Megapark has chosen to place them at the rear of the stage among screens. They have a large screen behind the stage and four 1m by 3m 'totems,' with three Zonda 9 FX units placed between each totem, totalling 12 Zonda 9 FX fixtures.
The Zonda 9 FX fixtures are lighting units that allows the creation of an atmosphere suitable for the desired situation but, in the case of Megapark, they have been used as a complement to LED screens, creating much more impressive effects for attendees by projecting patterns, colours, and movements, enhancing the audience's experience.
The venue already has lights like the Ayrton Perseo Beam to create aerial effects in a large, open space like Megapark. However, the Zonda 9 FX is the perfect tool to ach
USA - Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has recently had a complete redesign of the lighting rig in its 4000-seat main auditorium, which was created and delivered by 46 Entertainment of Nashville, TN, a team of engineers and technical creatives specialisng in event production, design and management.
At the centre of the current production lighting design is a 40ft diameter circular truss on a six-axis Kinesys automation system, which is rigged with 64 equidistantly spaced Robe LEDBeam 350s.
“Transformation Church has been a client of 46 Entertainment for the last 13 months,” explained project manager, Noah Wilbanks.
They work with 46 to reimagine the lighting and technical design every six months or so; a task that is achieved utilising a collection of the church’s own kit purchased from different companies over the years, together with some rental items as required for the specific current design.
Live streaming has become an essential aspect of Transformation Church’s immersive Sunday service and worship sessions, which are known for their high production values. The streams are also posted on YouTube (sometimes getting up to half a million views in the following days) so there is a definite need to keep the look and style of the presentations fresh and evolving.
The LEDBeam 350s were already owned by the church, while the circular trussing sections were rented in for the occasion, to support 46’s spectacular design which is flown above the stage and can pitch and tilt into a dynamic array of positions due to the au
Germany - “The spectacle of nature is always new,” wrote Goethe. The great poet, philosopher and playwright undoubtably felt this way in 1820 when he first encountered declaring that the massive, irregular formation of granite rocks created “an impression the like of which I have never come across on all my walks.”
The evocative beauty of Luisenburg-Felsenlabyrinth (the Luisenburg Rock Labyrinth) has always appealed to creatives, especially those connected to the world of theatre. Plays were being staged at the site as early as the 16th century. Building on this tradition, the Luisenburg Festival was born here in 1890.
The festival has grown to become one of Germany’s most renowned annual theatre events.
When lighting the Luisenburg Festival, one must deal with resin from the surrounding tall trees, which can cause LEDs to overheat. Also, the weather is often cold and damp when the lighting is setup at the open-air site in April. Then there is blistering heat in the summer, followed by cool wet conditions in September, when the festival draws to a close.
Technical service provider, Colito Productions, a recognised IHK training company, which installs and maintains equipment at the event’s 1,898-capacity open air theatre, helped the festival meet these challenges for the 2023 season with help from a collection of IP65 rated Maverick Storm fixtures from Chauvet Professional.
“Because of the environment, we have what we call special features here,” said Michael Lindner, assistant technical director of the Luisenburg Festiva
USA - “So how is my English?” Ishay Ribo asked the audience at Madison Square Garden. Not waiting for a response, he said cacha, cacha, the Hebrew term for “so-so.” The multi-platinum artist might not have nailed his English, but there was nothing middling about his performance this September when he became the first Israeli artist to headline a show at the “world’s most famous arena.”
Ribo created a transcendent atmosphere that resonated throughout the big arena. Enhancing the experience for the 15,000 in attendance was the lighting design by Tal Frid.
Working with an Audio Spectrum supplied rig that was anchored by 146 Chauvet Professional fixtures, the Israeli designer created a soaring 24-universe, mostly timecoded, show that mirrored the essence of Ribo’s deeply moving music, while also reflecting the excitement that the charismatic star brought to the stage.
At the heart of the production design was a 17m x 11m overhead transparent LED screen slanted in a downward, upstage direction that had a revolving circle below its centre. This circle, as well as columns leading up to the overhead structure, all flashed messages in Hebrew about forgiveness, reflecting the Yom Kippur theme of the show.
A collection of 56 COLORado PXL Bar 16 motorised battens outlined the screen and columns, helping to define their form. The high output linear fixtures also set the big LED screen off from its surroundings, which added to its impact.
“The idea behind the design and the timecode of the show was to convey the prayers that we say t
UK - Belimo is a market leader in the development, production, and sales of field devices for the energy-efficient control of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems.
Their UK office, located in Shepperton, Surrey, wanted to create an experience centre that would display their products and services, as well as provide a space for training, meetings, and events for their customers and partners.
Belimo approached Marquee One, part of Marquee Installations, and based on the same business park, to design and install a bespoke AV solution that would meet their needs and expectations. Marquee One Director, Luke Nowacki, welcomed the enquiry and arranged a meeting with Richard Steel, the Belimo UK technical manager. Nowacki needed to find out exactly what was required and how they wanted to use the room, to design a specific, tailored solution.
Steel explained that the experience centre would be used for various purposes, such as product demonstrations, training sessions, presentations, and workshops. He also wanted the room to be available for clients to use and to rent by other local businesses who needed a professional and modern venue for their events. Therefore, he wanted the AV system to be easy to use, reliable, and versatile.
Marquee One worked closely with Belimo’s IT team to ensure security and compatibility during the installation process. Nowacki emphasised the value of keeping communication open during the installation, in order to report and fix any issues efficiently.
The central challenge of the project was findin
South Africa - Jade Manicom from DWR Distribution recently delivered comprehensive Vectorworks Spotlight training over a two week period in Johannesburg and Durban. With the live events industry in the midst of a busy season, the classes were small but allowed her to provide personalised one-on-one training.
“The training went very well,” said Jade Manicom. “People were engaged and were asking questions. Having chatted with them afterwards, I could tell they had gained something from it. In Durban, only one delegate had used Vectorworks before, while the others were new to it. They were impressed with what it could do.”
The Johannesburg session took place from 28 August to 1 September at DWR, offering a range of training levels from basic to advanced. The curriculum encompassed various subjects such as layouts and palettes, basic tools, classes and layers, Spotlight tools, Renderworks, intermediate tools, worksheets and reports, 3D modelling, resource management, and file import and export.
The Durban training took place on 4-5 September at the Durban Jewish Club, where each delegate acquired proficiency in 2D drafting skills, 3D modelling, and the ability to create venue plans.
Jade believes that a 3D programme is something people should consider, particularly when in the process of planning the intricate details of their events, including fixture counts and related elements. Importantly it allows clients to see the concept come to life visually, making it more engaging than just a verbal description.
“With Vectorworks Spot
Austria - Since 1979, international artists have been pouring their magic over the Upper Austrian city of Linz for the annual Linzer Klangwolke. This is when the Donaupark, situated between the Lentos and the Brucknerhaus, is transformed into a gigantic performance area for what has become the city’s flagship event.
The week-long festival always begins with the so-called Visualised Sound Cloud (Visualisierte Klangwolke), which attracts around 100,000 spectators and is therefore the largest staged open-air event in Europe with free admission.
This year, director Francesca Zambello and assistant director/choreographer Eric Sean Fogel created Odyssey. A Journey Through Worlds, denoting a journey on the river of life taken by a little girl, the only survivor of an apocalyptic catastrophe.
Internationally famed Austrian lighting designer Manfred Nikitser (Scorpions, etc.) created the design for the huge performing area, measuring around 1,000 × 600m, which included three barges on the Danube and a stage on land. In order to be able to create sufficiently strong images given the large distances involved, and at the same time create as much variation in the design as possible, he turned to the weatherproof GLP fixtures Fusion X-PAR 12Z, XDC1 and impression X5 IP Bar.
Since the audience is 150m or more away from the action on stage, the production required large lighting images with plenty of punch. The ‘main stage’ this year comprised three floating transport ships on the water. And with another stage on land, a total of four location
USA - A popular Michigan tradition for over 40 years, the 2023 Detroit Jazz Festival featured over 60 performers, spontaneous late night jam sessions, and 350,000 attendees; online viewership of the festival topped 2.5m live views.
Now a division of The Display Group, Fantasee Lighting has been providing lights and design to the festival for over 20 years. Celebrating his tenth year as Jazz Fest lighting director, Jon Weaver specified High End Systems SolaPix and Lonestar fixtures for this year’s event.
Before COVID shuttered the physical festival in 2020, the festival would stream the headliners on the mainstages, and broadcast three sets on local TV every year. When Jazz Fest returned to a live event, Weaver insisted that the event be lit as a broadcast show outdoors. The lighting rigs were designed to be able to overtake the sun, and still be impactful on television from noon until the headliners came on after dark.
Jon says as more events have become film studios with a live audience, Fantasee Lighting was quick to invest in the SolaPix 7 and SolaPix 19 XT fixtures. “The SolaPix are very versatile fixtures that give a beautiful smooth wash for the stage in a small package. From the front, they provide a beautiful balanced wash for cameras at any temperature. In colours, they have the output to saturate the entire set without having to turn down the front wash required for the cameras.”
Thirty-six SolaPix 19 XTs were the primary lighting on both main stages for both camera and colour. Twenty SolaPix 7s were used on the smaller stage f
Belgium - James the Musical is a new Belgian live broadcast concept – and runaway success – staged at the NT Theatre in Ghent and produced by Dedsit.
The show was originated by James Cooke – also the host – and each episode pays tribute to a Flemish celebrity via the construction of five elaborate ‘musical scenes’ depicting key moments in their lives, uniting all the drama and emotion of live television with the spectacle of musical performance. To quote James himself, “Everybody deserves a musical” and with this format he wants to promote the drama and enjoyment of musicals generally to a wider audience.
Luc Peumans of Genk, Belgium-based creative studio Painting with Light was asked to design lighting and video, and he chose 42 x Robe T2 Profiles to provide the essential key lighting and specials for the shows.
Also on the rig were 38 x Robe MegaPointes, 20 x Spiiders and 62 x LEDBeam 150, all supplied by Phlippo Productions who provided the show’s technical production and crew utilising equipment from Rent-All.
For key lighting, Luc needed a powerful, consistent, and reliable luminaire, so a shootout was organised ahead of the first series, and the T2 chosen as a result.
The main challenge of lighting this project was ensuring the rig was adaptable enough to deliver the breadth and diversity of lighting needed.
For each episode, Dedsit chose the five landmark events from the featured celebrity’s life and together with TV director Kevin Houben and James Cooke a story was devised around these. The mus
Italy - A large consignment of Ayrton Cobra laser-sourced fixtures accompanied the successful a Tuttocuore tour from Italian singer-songwriter and musician Claudio Baglioni, which started on 21 September, 2023 from the Foro Italico in Rome and continues throughout Italy until February 2024. The high-level rock-opera is presented in three huge spatial dimensions, extending its reach horizontally, vertically and in depth.
The show, which has as its central theme the heart as the one and only reliable clock, integrates different artistic disciplines, bringing together hundreds of artists, performers, choristers and dancers, as well as a strong lighting component, projections of landscapes, faces, shapes and silhouettes. Everything is intended to help give the audience a direct connection, not through the mediation of screens, but through authentic sensory perception.
Illuminating this grand event is lighting designer and DOP, Ivan Pierri, with as many as 450 lighting fixtures, including 108 of the very powerful, laser sourced Ayrton Cobra supplied by Italian rental company, Agora. Cobra is a versatile fixture that incorporates all the waterproof features while remaining easily accessible and light weight.
"I chose Ayrton because of the excellent quality of the product. It is a versatile beam that also performs as a spot and is very strong on colours. Plus, it is IP65, a key feature for an outdoor tour," says Pierri.
"The Cobras were basically placed to frame the stage and to backlight the performers. Definitely the most valuable weapon at our di
UK - Solotech delivered a comprehensive audio and lighting package for Feist during her recent UK-EU tour leg.
Her performance at the Roundhouse in London was described by The Guardian as “one of the best live shows of the year,” showcasing Feist's outstanding musical talents. “I’ve never seen a show like it,” wrote journalist Shaad D'Souza. “[It was] one of the most masterly rock shows I’ve seen in a long time.”
Feist supplemented her performance with top-tier audio and lighting solutions to create a memorable experience. The team at Solotech, with their extensive expertise in audio, video, and lighting honed over many years, certainly rose to the occasion, providing a cutting-edge package tailored specifically to deliver Feist's amazing vision.
Technically, the audio package included: Allen & Heath dLive S5000 at FOH, with a complement of outboard including Manley Vox Box, Neve 5045, Bricasti M7s, BSS DPR901s, Summit DCL200, and a Rupert Neve 5059 Summing Mixer. Onstage the control package included a DiGiCo SD9 for monitors, as well as Shure PSM1000 IEMs and Shure Axient Radio Mics. System Processing was all done via six Lake LM44s and two d&b audiotechnik DS10s.
Although the tour used venue’s house L/R PA systems, they toured their own B Stage PA System, flown on truss in centre of room, and a surround system which used 12 speakers around the out-sides of Left, Right and Rear of the room.
Touring PA B-STAGE included, eight D&B Y10p, four E12s. B Stage, front-fills utilised six E8sTwelve D&B Y10
UK - Orbital Sound and Nemesis Research have supplied the recently launched OSCA show control hardware range to a major scare attraction theme park – Farmaggedon’s October Fear Fest.
For the past 17 years, the tranquil rural corner of Downholland near Ormskirk in Lancashire has awoken to a frightful force, as Farmaggedon opens its doors for another season. For 2023, this ghoulish entertainment is being triggered by a new power - Nemesis Research’s OSCA Range.
Combining an immersive experience with sound, lighting, lasers and flame effects, creating the total experience for the Zombie War Zone relies on perfect and tight control. For the technical team involved once again in helping to create Farmaggedon 2023, Infinity Technical & Production Services, a core element of this year's brief was to find a new way to deliver complete control via a simple system, with the daily programme involving performances every 20 minutes.
Farmaggedon Scare is the brainchild of farmer and expert scare attraction designer Mark Edwards, who opens his fiery gates each year to a new set of ever more horrible experiences, designed to terrify and tantalise visitors with a combination of scare attractions. For 2023, part of the new line-up includes the Zombie War Zone, hosting 60 visitors at a time to an action packed 12-minute arena horror experience.
Mark explains: “Having discussed the new theatrical paintball concept with Infinity Technical & Production Services’ Sam Robinson-Davies, it became apparent that having the correct show controls in pla
Germany - Salz21, a Salzburg trade fair for startups and new technologies, was illuminated by the dynamic lighting setup designed by Revolution Rental, featuring an innovative LED array of Prolights fixtures. This vibrant collaboration not only heightened the ambiance but also amplified the visual appeal of this influential gathering.
The main stage, a showcase of innovation, shone brilliantly with 22 Astra Wash7Pix and four Astra Wash19Pix fixtures. These Prolights lighting solutions bathed presenters and performers in radiant illumination, crafting a dynamic and immersive environment.
For an equally significant yet more intimate side stage, Revolution Rental harnessed the power of 18 Prolights EclExpo Flood300VW fixtures, delivering precise lighting control that added depth and focus to smaller sessions and presentations.
Complementing the two stages, Prolights fixtures also played a crucial role in the overall lighting design, with 58 Solar 27Q and 16 Solar 48Q fixtures providing ambient lighting throughout the exhibition hall. Their impeccable quality not only invited attendees into the space but also ensured functionality at its finest.
Revolution Rental, renowned for its unwavering commitment to excellence, found Prolights' fixtures to be indispensable in shaping an extraordinary event experience. The team at Revolution Rental shared their sentiments, stating: "The Prolights fixtures brought every corner of the event to life. The innovation and reliability of these lighting solutions played an exceptional role in enhancing the overall at
Germany - 01099 are currently one of the most successful up-and-coming rap/hip-hop acts from Germany.
In 2021, the successful EP Dachfenster was released, and the following year the four musicians from Dresden (01099 is the postal code of Dresden Neustadt) produced the LP, Altbau. Recently, their almost completely sold-out tour, Schnelle Brille, came to an end.
Designer Felix Seidel developed a simple but very adaptable light and stage design for the 01099 tour, using the creative possibilities of the GLP JDC1 and impression X4 Bar 20.
In the spring of 2023, he first exchanged design ideas with the band and developed various ideas from them. “My goal was to design a stage that creates a unique and captivating atmosphere that immerses the audience in the musical universe of 01099,” he explains.
Ultimately, when building the set, he decided to combine mirrors and LED panels on the stage: “This allowed us to play with visual effects and create immersive worlds that would change throughout the show to match the mood of the songs.”
The cube-shaped mirror/LED elements offered the flexibility for ever-changing images to be created, and at the same time gave the band members enough freedom of movement and opportunities for interaction on stage.
The designer placed fixtures around the set to fill the rest of the stage with light. An additional B stage in the middle of the auditorium also ensured more intimate moments between the musicians and their enthusiastic audience.
For the stage lighting, Seidel once again
Austria - When the director of this year's Linzer Klangwolke, Francesca Zambello, brought the internationally renowned Austrian lighting designer Manfred Nikitser onto the creative team as a specialist for the colossal lighting looks, it quickly became clear to them that the project would require lights of a special format. He found what he was looking for in the Proteus series from Elation Professional.
Organised by the Brucknerhaus Linz congress centre, the Linzer Klangwolke (Linz Cloud of Sound) is an open-air spectacle that attracts around 100,000 spectators each year to Danube Park in the town of Linz. This year, a moving, somewhat dystopian yet hopeful piece entitled Odyssey. A Journey Through Worlds was performed on 9 September. The odyssey, a little girl's journey on the river of life towards the source of renewal, literally took place on the waters of the Danube. With three floating platforms, an additional stage on land and the surrounding riverside scenery, the setting for the spectacle was extremely spacious.
“The dimensions and distances at the Linzer Klangwolke are much larger than at other shows,” confirms Manfred Nikitser. “The entire stage area is approximately 1000 x 600m, and the audience is also at least 150m away from the action on stage. I knew from the start that we would need particularly powerful beam lights for this; ultimately, I wanted to make the scene so large that the panorama of the city of Linz would also be a part of it.”
The designer planned to use a series of beam lights on the bank opposite the
UK - Ayrton has announced the launch of its new WildSun K9 Wash, the latest fixture in its Multisources 9 Series.
WildSun K9 Wash is particularly suitable for television, sporting events, fashion shows, car shows, or any prestigious events requiring powerful, high-quality light and perfectly rendered colour.
WildSun K9 Wash is a highly evolved variant of Ayrton’s WildSun K25 TC, specially geared to shooting TV video and broadcasting in high-definition. With a brand new sleek design and a visual footprint 20% smaller than its predecessor, WildSun K9 Wash’s weight has been drastically reduced by 25%, allowing for better integration.
This unique LED luminaire measures up to the classic Fresnel HMI 4000 lights in terms of pure output. Fitted with 217 next-generation high-output LEDs, the luminaire delivers more than 60,000 lumens of overall output with 40% less energy consumption - and does not require lamp replacements. Producing extremely high-quality, flicker-free light, this luminaire achieves a colour temperature perfectly calibrated at 5700K and a colour rendering index greater than 92. WildSun K9 Wash renders the colour and grain of skin impeccably as well as the textures and surfaces of material.
WildSun K9 Wash has the same basic specifications as WildSun K25 TC, and is equipped with powerful tri-phase stepper motors that allow fast, accurate and silent positioning.
Ayrton has developed special silicone-based high-output optics for this projector, ensuring perfect stability over time. Its optical zoom has a 6:1 ratio with a
Europe - Michael Huelskemper has joined ARRI as vice president product management business unit lighting. In this role, he is responsible for further developing, improving, and broadening the product portfolio of the lighting division.
Huelskemper has more than 15 years of experience in the development and product management of LED luminaires and luminaire components in an international environment. He spent several years in management positions at global players such as OSRAM and Philips Lighting.
Dr. Matthias Erb, chairman of the ARRI executive board, says: “I am very pleased that Michael Huelskemper, a proven expert in the field of portfolio management for LED lighting products, has joined our ranks. With this important new addition to the team, we are driving forward the realignment of ARRI Lighting. I wish him a good start at ARRI and much success in his strategically important role.”
Michael Huelskemper adds: “It is a great honour and pleasure for me to continue the story of this iconic brand with exceptional lighting products together with the ARRI team. In the field of innovative, connected, and sustainable LED lighting, there is still a lot of development potential that we can leverage together with our customers.”
South Africa - Durban-based event production and rental specialist, AV Company, run by father and son combo of Craig and Keagan Browning, has invested in its first grandMA3 console with the purchase of a grandMA3 compact XT.
The company provides full turnkey solutions - lighting, audio, LED screens & video, staging, trussing, rigging and power - for a range of events, including fashion shows, awards presentations, brand activations, product launches all over KwaZulu-Natal and across South Africa.
The console, delivered by South African distributors DWR, is the second MA console in AV Company’s inventory, following a dot2 acquired in 2016.
As the company has grown and expanded, especially as events re-started so enthusiastically after the pandemic, “We simply needed a bigger console to handle larger and more complex shows that we do,” explained Keagan.
They looked at the options and decided that as a worldwide very popular industry benchmark for lighting and visual control, it made sense from that perspective to continue with MA, in addition to the dot2 having been a great workhorse over the last six years and still used extensively on the smaller gigs.
“MA Lighting is consistently on international riders, the brand has an excellent name, and in South Africa, DWR is not only the leading professional sales company, it’s also known for its outstanding service and support,” he further elucidated, concluding that all things considered, it was an obvious choice.
AV Company’s primary lighting designer / director Mbule
Slovenia - The European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) - the largest multi-sport event for young athletes aged 14 to 18 - came to Maribor, Slovenia’s second city this year.
Lighting designer Crt Birsa from design studio Blackout was asked to be part of a team creating a spectacular opening ceremony in Ljudski Vrt football stadium by show director Nejc Levstik, a project on which he worked closely with set designer Greta Godnič and nearly 200 Robe moving lights.
Crt and Greta are known for their design collaborations which always push the barriers of innovation and what is achievable. “I was extremely proud to be asked onboard,” commented Crt, “It is always interesting and exciting working with Greta and Nejc, and everyone involved wanted to deliver an outstanding show fitting to the occasion.”
Their biggest challenge was producing the show - complete with 165 performers and a flag parade containing 3600 athletes, broadcast live on Slovenian national television - within in a very short time and with multiple variables.
To ensure all lighting bases were covered, Crt included 10 Fortes, 70 Spiiders, 16 Pointes, 36 MegaPointes, 32 LEDBeam350s and 20 Tetra2s for the rig, which, together with other lights, were supplied by Ljubljana-based Event Lighting.
They started with the empty stadium space. It is the second largest stadium in Slovenia and some of the throw distances were well over 100m. “It might sound like stating the obvious,” said Crt, “but for a stadium show you need to make sure you can fill the space so you need l
The Netherlands - The Markt (town square) in Kerkrade - the home of ADJ Europe - recently witnessed a symphonic spectacle that blended music and light seamlessly, as The Maestro & the European Pop Orchestra hosted their annual open-air extravaganza.
Utilising more than 100 ADJ lighting products, the event, aptly named The Maestro & the European Pop Orchestra Open Air Kerkrade 2023, captured the hearts of attendees with an enchanting performance that intertwined contemporary pop melodies with the richness of classical compositions.
Behind the scenes, XYMIO Event-techniek, founded in 1992 by Paul Pelen, orchestrated a technical marvel encompassing lighting, LED screens, and audio.
Guido Dieteren, known as ‘The Maestro’, is a famous orchestra leader, violin soloist, arranger, and composer from Limburg in The Netherlands. His European Pop Orchestra performs a fusion of classical and pop music, delivering a sound spectrum that ranges from delicate harmonies to powerful crescendos. Accommodating these nuances necessitated fixtures capable of seamless transition between dynamic and subdued lighting. The complexity of the setup was compounded by the need for extensive equipment hanging from the roof of the stage, which meant low weight fixtures were essential, compounded by the demand for exceptional colour fidelity, light output, and stability for TV recording.
"Lighting an open-air event of this scale posed unique challenges,” explains Paul Pelen, director of XYMIO. “The fusion of classical and pop genres demanded lighting versatili
USA - Metallica’s M72 world tour is playing to sell-out crowds across Europe and North America. The eight distinctive towers that lend a dramatic flair to the production came about when production designer, Dan Braun, had to find an alternative to his initial vision of creating tensegrity structures for the show.
“I have been interested in tensegrity sculpture for a while and was working on this concept for an indoor show,” said Braun, who has worked closely with lighting designer Rob Koenig on the production. “Our world changed when the tour went to stadiums in the round. My first thought was ‘we can’t do that.’ But after careful consideration, I said ‘why not?’”
Adapting to the necessity of working within the parameters of an outdoor 360-degree stage, the designers dropped plans for a tensegrity rig and combined “a study of proportion with paramount engineering” to arrive at the eight-tower design. “That left us with a way to do the show absent a roof, and meeting all of our production requirements,” said Braun. “We didn’t get to a tensegrity structure, so next time…”
What the team did create though, was a stunning, soaring design that underscores the magnitude of Metallica’s contribution to metal music, while reflecting the intensity of their relentless performance.
Enhancing this heady atmosphere is the bold, vividly coloured light from 144 Chauvet Professional Color Strike M motorised strobes, which like the rest of the rig, were supplied by Premier Global Productions of Nashville.
Koenig has n
Europe - Prolights Sunblast 3000FC illuminated Swedish singer Håkan Hellström's summer tour. Creative Technologies Sweden provided 32 of these fixtures, which powered a series of 15 shows nationwide.
The tour's lighting designer, Calle Brattberg comments: "I needed a punchy and bright strobe that could add both extra strobe effects and provide a fantastic wash with vivid colours.” Having previously used over 100 units of the Sunblast 3000 at Hellström's arena shows last year, Brattberg had full confidence in their capabilities.
Challenged by the unpredictable Swedish summer weather, notorious for its abrupt shifts in temperature and conditions, the Sunblast 3000 strobes showcased their resilience through their IP65 rating, consistently delivering. Calle Brattberg underlined their remarkable performance, emphasising their ability to shine flawlessly under ever-changing environmental circumstances.
Pontus Thorén, the tour's crew chief, praised the Sunblast 3000's robustness. "It's really a tank," said Thorén. "The lighting crew rigged and unrigged the units every day, in rain or sun, and not a single unit needed replacing over the entire summer."