Pharos - Leaderboard - May 2024

Projects

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Denmark - The Rytmisk Sal of Musikhuset Aarhus - the largest music house in the Nordic region - has upgraded its stage machinery system with ETC’s Prodigy P2 hoist and QuickTouch+ 12 controller.
The popular culture and events house draws over a million visitors each year for concerts, musicals, theatre shows, opera and much more. The building’s lighting and technical teams had been looking to renovate the rigging system in the Rytmisk Sal (or rhythmic hall), also known as the ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll hall’ in the music house.
Head of lighting at Musikhuset Aarhus, Ole Nielsen, came across ETC’s range of upper stage machinery products during a visit to the renowned ETC factory in Middleton, USA and was keen to find out more. He recommended the equipment to head of production Jonas Knive, which lead to Atendi, the Danish distributor of ETC, being contacted to supply

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Costa Rica - Televisora de Costa Rica operates Teletica Canal 7, a private TV channel that was the first TV station in the country back in 1958. Although the station produces a variety of popular programming for the local market, they have been operating for years using a mix of budget lighting fixtures and rented gear. Seeking to upgrade, Elation Professional automated luminaires were chosen as part of an on-going lighting refurb.
With four or five different productions a year to tend to, most of which last for a period of three months, Canal 7 lighting manager Alejandro Alvarez has many roles to play. During the recent lighting install, Alvarez and his team handled rigging of the stage, including design and rigging of the TV lighting and intelligent moving heads, as well as configuring and mapping video, LED screens, and projectors. He is also behind the lighting console

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USA - For 87 years, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, also known as RodeoHouston, has reigned as the largest livestock exhibition and rodeo in the world. The 20-day-long event at NRG Stadium offers a plethora of attractions for the 2.5m people who visit every year.
Providing visual support for this multi-faceted event in 2019 was an immense and very versatile lighting rig from LD Systems that featured over 150 Chauvet Professional fixtures.
“When putting together the lighting rig, we really needed to be flexible,” said Nathan Brittain of LD Systems. “Our lighting had to offer full production looks for the wide range of artists that appeared on our stage night after night. At the same time, we also needed lights that could contribute to the atmosphere throughout the event grounds. The key challenge was managing a project of this scale, which is something we

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UK - Lighting designer Tom Kenny specified 42 Astera Titan Tubes as part of the lighting rig for The Who’s Moving On! tour.
The iconic band is playing 31 dates in the US, Canada and England accompanied by a local orchestra conducted by Keith Levinson, plus special guests including violinist Katie Jacoby and cellist Audrey Snyder. The tour is also promoting The Who’s first new album in 13 years.
The orchestral presentation demanded a new style and approach to the visual design. With Roger Daltry against the idea of deploying a video wall at the back - or in fact, any onstage video elements - there was a clear directive to strip back and encourage audiences to focus on the show.
The backdrop is made up from a silver threaded laser fabric, a beautifully textured surface that takes the lighting well. Meanwhile, a curved, mid-stage drape made from Bule and

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Mexico - Fifteen years after winning the Mexican reality/talent show La Academia, Carlos Rivera is still finding new ways to connect to audiences and stir passions. The award-winning singer and actor is demonstrating this on his current tour of South America, Mexico and the United States in support of his latest album, Guerra.
At his tour’s recent stops in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua, Mexico, lighting designer Daniel ‘Gacela’ Romero delivered a richly textured lightshow that featured Chauvet Professional fixtures, supplied by Pro Audio Solutions.
Romero chose 12 Maverick MK1 Hybrids, 12 Maverick MK3 Wash luminaires, 14 Maverick MK2 Spots, and 24 Rogue R2 Washes to amp up his tour design. The Maverick fixtures anchored his show.
Drawing on the overlapping 8- and 4-facet prisms, as well as the versatile gobo package of the Maverick MK1 Hybrid

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China - Marking the start of the summer season in China, the Xi’an Strawberry Festival was one of the first major multi-day festivals of 2019 and featured a Martin Audio PA on the main stage.
The event included multiple stages, many top Chinese acts and indie foreign acts over the two days. The festival included Chinese rock legends New Pants, well known R&B singer and producer Fang Datong, creative singer Wang Shi’an, Tizzy T & Man Shuk, the young generation’s leading female rapper Wan Nida, and avant-garde Japanese act Yahyel.
Modern Sky, the company behind the Strawberry Festival and a number of other large music festivals, has a long-term relationship with Beijing Pacific Budee and Martin Audio that dates back to 2012. Since then, the Strawberry Festival has been held over 75 times in 27 different cities and Martin Audio’s line arrays have always

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Belarus - Kraftwerk Trade LLC, the exclusive distributor for Adamson Systems Engineering in the Republic of Belarus, has installed the country’s first permanent S-Series solution in the Grodno Regional Philharmonic’s new concert hall.
In addition to being the professional home for the philharmonic, known locally as Kapella Grodno, the hall will serve as a creative and cultural hub for both the city and wider region of Grodno in Western Belarus, presenting various artistic disciplines for residents and visitors alike.
“As the new, state-of-the-art home for arts and culture in Grodno, this venue will showcase world-class artists and performers, so we were tasked with installing a world-class audio system that would properly cater to their needs,” shares Ulyana Barkova, deputy commercial director, sales & field services division, with Kraftwerk Trade. “Adams

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USA - Two Princess Cruises ships - Diamond Princess and Sun Princess - have undergone a major upgrade to their entertainment offerings with a new approach to live sound, bringing L-ISA Hyperreal Sound and Immersive Hyperreal Sound experiences to their guests.
Princess Cruises decided to raise the on-board sound reinforcement to a new standard and has specified L-Acoustics L-ISA configurations, supplied by L-Acoustics certified provider Norwest Productions.
L-ISA is an object-based immersive sound technology that uses placement of sound sources to achieve spatialisation, enabling anything from a customisable, ultra-realistic live sound field to fully immersive 360° sound design.
Princess Cruises entertainment experience department began exploring implementation of immersive live sound, noting that live performance audiences are increasingly exposed to immersive

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Europe - It was a coincidence that the paths of Papa Roach and lighting designer Mathias Kuhn should cross.
"About two months ago a lighting man was looking for a few shows in Russia and a festival gig in Germany," recalls Kuhn. “Three months later it became Papa Roach’s European tour, while another colleague took care of the gigs in the USA.“
For Kuhn, the band made their decision in his favour after a festival tour of Europe last year. “It just feels good when the lighting is turned on,” says frontman and band leader Jacoby Shaddix. “It’s a lot of fun for me too,” retorts Kuhn. “Performing live, this band is simply full of energy, and meanwhile I‘ve practically become a member of the family.”
Currently Kuhn and Papa Roach are more or less constantly on the move. After a support tour with Shinedown in the USA, playing mainly arenas, in the

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USA - Sue the T. Rex has a new home in the Chicago Field Museum’s Griffin Halls of Evolving Planet.
Lighting and AV presentation for Sue’s new home were designed by Lightswitch Chicago using ETC and Xicato luminaires and ETC controls. The fossil is named after Sue Hendrickson, who discovered the skeleton in South Dakota in 1990.
Following a three-month prototyping phase to show the curators how Sue would be lit the new quarters, the design team at Lightswitch Chicago produced a meticulously-cued AV presentation worthy of the $8.7m fossil.
“Conservation of the delicate stones and resins is very important - Sue will receive about a quarter of the light, and none of the direct sunlight it did before,” says Thatcher Waller, senior lighting designer for Lightswitch Chicago.
The project called for the complex integration of control protocols and diverse

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Hungary - Alt-rock band Vad Fruttik (Wild Fruits) headlined a special concert to celebrate the eighth season opening of Budapest Park, one of the largest outdoor venues in Europe.
Lighting designer Peter Pálocska from Budapest rental company Lajter Light designed a production lighting scheme to ensure the band and their 8,500 fans enjoyed a memorable night out.
Part of his distinctive luminescent styling for this show was a backwall of 72 Robe Spiider LED wash beam fixtures, which added drama and excitement to the visual picture.
Pálocska has also lit many other concerts in Budapest Park - which features a 24m x 12m x 12m (WxDxH) stage - and a landmark gig which any Hungarian band is extremely proud to play.
Vad Fruttik trusted him to produce something special for this show, utilising a combination of the house lighting fixtures (including moving lights

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USA - Bandit Lites is providing the lighting for the Peter Frampton Finale - The Farewell Tour, presented by SiriusXM, a nearly 50-date run this summer and fall produced by Live Nation.
Frampton has announced he will retire from regular vigorous touring at the end of this year due to his diagnosis of Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM), and with a career spanning over more than half a century, he has a massive body of work to draw from for his legion of fans. “Peter Frampton helped shape the sound of the 70’s and it is an incredible honor to be a part of this historic farewell tour,” said Bandit Lites vice president Mike Golden.
This tour reunited lighting designer Chris Lisle and Frampton, who had worked together seven years ago. “To be a part of this final tour of his career was truly an honour,” says Lisle. “He is such a great person both on and off sta

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UK - Following a sold-old run at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Trevor Nunn’s revival of the classic Broadway Musical, Fiddler on the Roof, has taken up residence in the West End at London’s Playhouse Theatre.
Sound designer Gregory Clarke was approached by Nunn to design both productions. Clarke chose to use EM Acoustics equipment throughout, based on a main Halo-C line array system supplemented by EM Acoustics’ EMS Series for the wider vocal and orchestra systems.
Clarke explains that the design brief for this version of Fiddler was to create an immersive experience for the audience. “A great deal of work was done to modify the auditorium in order to transform it from a familiar West End venue into a plausible Russian village. It looks and feels wonderful but inevitably loudspeaker positions were severely limited. Halo-C was instrumental in miti

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Spain - The Canary Islands boasts one of the most spectacular and outstanding annual carnivals in the world, where the streets explode with colourful parades, outdoor parties and music events on every island.
This year was no exception with around 600,000 people coming to enjoy the exuberant display of colour and light. One major highlight was Una noche en Río, a show directed by Israel Reyes with set designed by Carlos Santos, and lighting design and technical direction by Jonay Díaz, partner of RGB Canarias S.Coop. Díaz’s lighting for this show, which ran for 21 performances, was bolstered by 40 Ayrton Ghibli LED moving heads, supplied by GAM Eventos.
The carnival has gained a global audience and Díaz is very aware of how the eye-catching event transcends the borders of Spain. “The Drag Queen Gala is seen everywhere in the world with spectacular audien

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UK - Beyond the four Glastonbury Festival stages on which RG Jones Engineering fielded Martin Audio systems, there was also a strong Martin Audio PA presence on the John Peel stage, The Park and Left Field, courtesy of SWG Events (SWG), who have been supplying numerous stages with sound and lighting infrastructure since 1995.
For the John Peel stage, SWG sub-contracted elements of the audio supply to Martin Audio MLA partner, Stage Audio Services (SAS). The latter’s MD, Kevin Mobberley confirmed that having fielded MLA Compact previously they upgraded to the full-size MLA this time around for enhanced control, coverage and consistency.
With design assistance from Simon Honywill, the main PA hangs comprised 20 MLA cabinets (10 elements flown each side) with 12 MLX subwoofers providing LF extension. Four of the popular DD12’s, positioned on the stage, focused the so

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UK - Arcadia’s Pangea, described as “a primordial world of infinite possibility” promised the latest immersive AV, lighting, sonic and pyro adventure created by Arcadia Spectacular under the artistic direction of Pip Rush and Bert Cole.
Technical production specialist CPL continued its working relationship with Arcadia by supplying six Barco UDX-4K32 projectors with fibre optic signal and control infrastructure for 360° projections that were integral to the show based around the 140t centrepiece of Pangea.
Arcadia celebrated its 10th year at Glastonbury, having previously implanted their 50t spider stage in the hearts and minds of fans for the best part of a decade.
Arcadia’s structures are built entirely in scrapped and repurposed materials. The crane, a graceful artefact of industrial architecture, was transplanted from Avonmouth Docks in Bristol, just

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UK - RG Jones Sound Engineering returned to Worthy Farm following its fallow year to deploy Martin Audio systems across four major stages of the Glastonbury Festival.
While Martin Audio’s flagship sound system, MLA, once again graced the Pyramid main stage as well as West Holts and the Genosys stage of Block9, Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision Longbow (WPL) made its festival debut on the new IICON stage featuring an immersive 6.1 channel surround sound system designed by Simon Honywill.
The Pyramid Stage bustled with electrifying performances throughout the three-day festival, with Stormzy delivering an impassioned headline set on the Friday, followed by The Killers on the Saturday and rounded off with a nostalgic tour de force by The Cure to close out Sunday night. Other performers included Sheryl Crow, Liam Gallagher, Janet Jackson, Bastille and Kylie.
Th

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Europe - The Laserworld Group is integrating the ShowNET interface as the mainboard in most of their laser systems. This means a multitude of new features to those devices, says the company. Not only can they be used for direct laser control via Showeditor or Showcontroller (the new professional laser software) through LAN connection, but they also have an integrated SD card that ILDA frames can be loaded to.
These files can then be triggered via Art-Net, DMX, in stand-alone-operation and in some units even in sound-to-light mode. The possibility of putting self made content to the laser systems adds further intelligence to the devices, which usually are only used to work with either basic, premade content or external “intelligence” through ILDA control software.
Every ShowNET interface comes with the full version of Showeditor for free, so every laser system with

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Ireland - A New Yorker visiting the Dublin St James’s Gate Guinness brewery with her Irish fiancé helped celebrate a momentous milestone recently when she became the 20 millionth visitor to Guinness Storehouse, Ireland’s most popular tourist attraction. The occasion was highlighted with an event that included an indoor concert for 500 guests along with an outdoor lighting spectacle in which Elation Proteus Hybrid weatherproof moving heads helped draw attention to the brewery.
Dublin-based lighting designer Conor Biddle was brought in by events and branding agency Archetype as creative director for the event, which took place 25 April. “The brief was to have the whole city looking in one direction - toward the brewery - so I knew I needed a powerful beam,” states LD Biddle, who adds he had seen the arc-source Proteus Hybrid used on the New Year’s Eve light show on

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UK - From the Pyramid Stage, where Tim Routledge used the COLORado Solo Batten on headliner Stormzy, to the Flying Bus Stage, the Greenpeace Field and the Acoustic Stage, Chauvet Professional proliferated at the 36th edition of the Glastonbury Festival.
On the Pyramid Stage, a large collection of COLORado Solo Batten fixtures helped outline the architecture of the set and provided immersive colour washes from multiple directions.
At the Unfairgrounds, the GLX Productions team led by managing director and lighting designer Glenn Gridley, used an extensive array of Maverick fixtures to create transformative moments. This was most notable on the Flying Bus Stage, where GLX conjured up an engaging effect with help from 12 Maverick MK Pyxis, 12 Maverick MK1 Spot and three Maverick MK1 Hybrid units.
Maverick fixtures also had a transformative effect on the festival’s

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USA - With over 100,000 residents, Greeley is part of an urban corridor that populates the front range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. The Greeley Ice Haus is a city-owned, indoor, all-season, multi-use skating rink.
Senior AV and theatre technology consultant at K2, a Boulder-based AV consulting firm, Kevin Hodgson led the design and worked with the Denver office of Ford AV on the installation of a new sound reinforcement system at the Greeley Ice Haus. Hodgson specified Danley Sound Labs loudspeakers and subwoofers for the upgrade.
“The Greeley Ice Haus seats about 1,000 people on one side of the rink, and the University of Northern Colorado team’s fans can fill it up,” Hodgson says. “The previous sound system was well over a decade old and had become increasingly unreliable after the building took a lightning strike and after years of aggressive volumes

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Belgium - Ruiselede-based event design and production company John & Jane in Ruiselede has added a fleet of Robe lighting fixtures to its inventory.
The company, which is run by Nico Laniere and Katrien Vermeire, specialises in corporate events but is also supplying technical production needs to a select alternative summer festivals. This work prompted the company’s most recent purchases of Robe lights: a total of 58 MegaPointes and 48 LEDBeam 150s.
The operation includes a technical production / scenic company Delta Rent, which works alongside and independent from John & Jane as required. They have been a steady investor in Robe moving lights from the start, in tune with their aspirations of supplying the very best and most innovative technology and services for their clients.
The new MegaPointes and LEDBeam 150s have been in constant use since arrivin

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France - Nexo’s Geo M10 Series mid-size line array is making its debut in the sporting world as part of a new fixed-installation sound system for the Stade Pierre Brisson in Beauvais, north of Paris.
Systems integration company Vidélio has worked closely with Nexo’s in-house engineering team to design, specify and install the system, which will greatly enhance the match experience for 10,000 fans.
The Stade Pierre Brisson is a multi-use facility, primarily hosting football matches, and serving as the home ground for AS Beauvais Oise FC. Neighbouring club Chambly FC, which has recently won league promotion, is sharing the stadium as its own ground is not yet registered for Ligue 2 games.
The stadium is able to hold 10,178 spectators, in West and East facing grandstands. The time had to come to replace the aged entertainment PA system, and, from the very first

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Russia - This winter, a festive event took place in Moscow that stood out prominently against the background of other similar projects. This was due to its conceptual approach, and stylish and thoroughly thought-out stage design, where each element played its role in bringing the core concept to life.
GLP’s LED fixtures were the main performers in the lightshow. These not only decorated the event with spectacular effects, but gave a clue as to the overall concept.
KNVs were included in the equipment list even before this idea had been discussed; the show itself included introduction and solemn entry of the key figures with elements of a theatrical performance, concluding with a small concert featuring such famous singers as Ivan Dorn and Dima Bilan.
“When in December we learned that KNVs had become available in Russia, we immediately chose to use them in t
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  5. Vero VX delivers on Gottwood’s main stage
  6. Nora Jones comes home with SSL
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Robe - Large MPU
GLP - MPU - May-June 2024

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