UK - ETC Congo lighting control desks have been used for the annual Summer Sundae music festival in Leicestershire.

Starring Tinchy Stryder, Seasick Steve and folk rock band Mumford & Sons, the three-day festival focuses on indie, alternative and local music. The festival began as a single day event in 2001 and has grown since then to three days, adding two campsites. Programmer Florian Baeumler and lighting designer Andy Finn used a full size ETC Congo on the main stage this year, with a Congo jr as backup, supplied by Hawthorne Theatrical.

"This is the second time I've worked on the lighting for Summer Sundae," says Baeumler, "but only the first time we've used Congo control. I love the versatility of the desk and its ability to handle live events with ease. It makes a big difference that you can program blind, not affecting what's happening on s

USA - Tulsa, Oklahoma's Church On the Move (COTM) is a modern-day house of worship whose contemporary appeal is exemplified by a dynamic and ever-changing rig of Martin Professional lighting gear.

"We are constantly changing our sets to keep things fresh and help our creative team connect with our audience," says Daniel Connell, who has served as the COTM's full time lighting designer for the last three years. "On average we do a redesign every three months or less and average about five or six sets a year.

"For this reason we've decided to stick with renting all of our intelligent lighting rather than purchasing. This gives us the flexibility to change things up as we need without being hampered by the cost and difficulty of buying new gear and selling old. This also keeps labour costs down by not having to keep a moving light repair tech on staff."

UK / USA - lighting designer Paul Normandale specified a grandMA2 light console to run lighting for the Scissor Sisters current Nightworks world tour. Normandale likes the feel of the console, and used one with Glen Johnson (Scissor Sisters lighting director) on the Courteeners earlier in the year. Johnson has been using the grandMA2 ever since it became available with great success and enthusiasm.

Instrumental to them choosing it this time around was the new Universal Effects and Universal Presets, features implemented with the latest software upgrade. This means that if a colour is programmed in CMY it can be applied to all fixtures using a CMY effect, dispensing with the need for separate palates for fixtures. If two dimmer channels are used to create a dimmer effect (i.e. a chase) then stored as a Universal Effect, any fixture with a dimmer can be selected and this ap

UK - Sunpower (UK)'s new indoor range of LED drivers includes the AC Dimming (or phase cut) LED Driver product, which features compatibility with ordinary Triac dimmers. This makes 1 - 100% dimmable LED lighting as easy to install as traditional conventional dimming lights, says the company. Unlike earlier designs, these drivers require just a simple leading edge dimmer for dimming control, eliminating the need for external DC control circuits and additional installation rewiring. The dimming LED Driver's output voltage and current variants give contractors a wide choice of easy to install LED driving options.

This completely new extension to Sunpower's LED driver line-up comprises a new wave of the PCC Constant Current and PCV Constant Voltage Driver ranges as well as the AC Dimming LED Drivers. This allows an optimum mix of product outputs, voltages and functionality to fullfi

USA / Europe - After meeting while recording in Nashville, Robert Plant and lighting designer Chris Lisle ended up at Bandit Lites for a few days experimenting with old tried and true lighting fixtures. Plant had very definite vision of what he wanted, and it was lighting standards of PARs, lekos, fresnels and cyc lights - All of this is scattered around on a series of small stands and vertical pipes.

The show is controlled with the classic Hog 2 console and sets up in little to no time. Bandit client rep Brent Barrett worked with Lisle, tour manager Rick Feulner, production manager Gary Trew and Trinifold Management rep Nicola Powell to insure complete satisfaction of the simple but dynamic vision Robert Plant held in his head.

Plant and Lisle spent a few days at Bandit Lites Nashville facility programming the lights and completing the show before it even hit the road with hi

UK - WiSE (Women in Stage Entertainment), the industry organization set up to address the under representation of women in the backstage, technical and design disciplines of entertainment, smashed even its own expectations during PLASA 2010.

Co-founder Sarah Rushton-Read says: "During the show we shot past the 200 barrier in terms of membership and now have over 270 members and counting! It was great to meet and greet so many of our members on our own stand and we thank our sponsor Bryan Raven of White Light, Esther Heaslip and the White Light team for making this happen. The WiSE stand was heaving every day during Tea O Clock (4pm - 6pm), where WiSE members served tea and cakes to industry colleagues and other WiSE members. Of course we could not have achieved this without all the wonderful WiSE women who were prepared to - tongue in cheek - don their pinnies, bake some fa

UK - Havells Sylvania, the global designer, manufacturer and provider of professional lighting solutions has opened its European headquarters in London. The move aligns with the global strategy of Havells Sylvania to better serve its European customers and become more agile in a dynamic international market and high growth developing markets, says the company. The new office will be inaugurated by Qimat Rai Gupta, chairman & founder of Havells Group.

A statement says, "This decision underscores the company's vision to consolidate Havells Sylvania's position as one of the leading global designers and suppliers of lighting products. Set in a global lighting market characterized by an increasing demand for energy-saving and eco-friendly light sources which is forecast to reach US$24 billion by the year 2015, Havells Sylvania is well-positioned to cater for the European market

UK - Stage Electrics has once again provided full technical production for the Guardian Hay Festival, held in Hay-on-Wye in the Brecon Beacons each summer. The world's leading literary festival, famously labelled by Bill Clinton as The Woodstock of the mind, has also exported its concept to create sister events in India, Columbia, Mexico, Spain, Maldives and Kenya.

In 23 years the event has grown from a number of venues in the picturesque town to a much larger greenfield site just outside. The site infrastructure is designed to ensure that visitors and guest celebrities alike enjoy the experience without traditional festival discomforts. Generous trackway and tentage ensure that encounters with mud, even in a wet year, are minimised; conversely, on sunny days there is plenty of space for visitors to relax on the lawns.

Content spans the literature readings and di

USA - Barco/High End Systems announced today that it will be showcasing a broad spectrum of product offerings in their booth at LDI in Las Vegas. This year's event will serve as the launch pad for several new lighting products and upgraded solutions designed to illuminate live events with creative lighting effects.

Barco will introduce its new intellaspot XT-1, an advanced lighting fixture designed to set a new benchmark in price and performance, says the company. The intellaspot XT-1 offers innovations in optics, lamp configurations, high lumen output, energy efficiency, zoom range, and overall feature set - all at a highly economical price point.

The DL.3 digital light and the Axon Media Server have both been recently updated with enhanced hardware and new Version 2.0 software - providing additional media streams and creative effects, as well as a host of new features. These

USA - Lighting designer Tim Dunn from Gearhouse South Africa will give a presentation about lighting the acclaimed Closing Ceremony for the 2010 FIFA World Cup for Robe at the Lighting Design International (LDI) exhibition 2010 staged in Las Vegas 22 - 24 October.

The presentation is currently scheduled to run once daily for the three days of the show - one of which will be in Spanish. Full details to follow. Interested parties can register for a place at the front desk of the Robe booth.

Robe ColorWash and ColorSpot 2500E ATs and REDWash 3-192s were used extensively - along with other fixtures - in the award winning event at Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa, produced by The VWV Group.

Dunn's presentation will detail the challenges faced by him and his team, which included precision lighting around the large format pitch video projections. Dunn will also expan

Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden has added Shelly Li to its sales team. Li is a native of China and speaks fluent Chinese as well as English. Her duties will include sales support to the Asian market as well as support to all of the W-DMX OEM partners in Asia. She will also work with the regional sales managers in Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania.

Li has six years working experience from a leading lighting manufacturer in China and she brings with her a vast network of connections in several countries where she worked as regional sales manager. She will work in the Wireless Solution headquarter office in Uddevalla, Sweden and travel regularly to her region to offer local support.

"I'm very excited to be part of the Wireless Solution team," she says, "The W-DMX brand is well respected and has been involved in some very impressive installatio

UK - Compulite's new iControl App for the Apple iPhone and iPod is a powerful application to remotely control and edit basic functions of all Vector and Dlite lighting consoles.

The App provides real-time information of the console through a friendly user interface. By using the iControl App, you are able to control moving lights, conventional lights, create and store cues and libraries, add groups, control highlight and lowlight and more, says the company.

The application also allows you to control Pan and Tilt through an interactive trackball as well the ability to control all parameters using an interactive wheel, all from a remote location anywhere within your local area network.

(Jim Evans)

Germany / Austria - The National Theatre Mannheim, Oberhausen Theatre, and Osnabrück Theatre in Germany, as well as the Vienna State Opera are all investing in the MAC III Performance, Martin Professional's new 1500 W profile moving head with continuous framing system. The four venues will acquire a total of 48 Martin MAC III Performances, which will replace older Martin MAC 2000 Performances and Martin PAL 1200s, as well as fixtures of other manufacturers.

The Martin MAC III Performance is based on the successful MAC III Profile, which has proved its operational reliability for years on the largest tours. It was therefore the appropriate starting point for the theatre version. The effects module of the MAC III Profile can be easily replaced with the framing module of the MAC III Performance.

Due to the modularity of the luminaire, nothing further is required - the assembled

USA - Las Vegas was the destination earlier this year for two lucky winners of the Robert Juliat competition, staged in celebration of the company's 90th Anniversary.

Jean-Jacques Mansard, technical director of Le Channel Scène Nationale de Calais, and his wife, Isabelle, won the five-day trip for two to Las Vegas, with a four-night stay at the Caesar's Palace hotel, after entering the competition at the SIEL-SATIS 2009 show in Paris.

Visitors to the stand were invited to write a short testimonial about Robert Juliat products. These were subsequently entered into a draw, the first prize of which also included a helicopter night-flight over Las Vegas and two tickets for the Cirque du Soleil show, O.

Mansard's winning testimonial, which was picked at random, stated, "Since 1982 I have been working with Robert Juliat products and I am delighted with them. They offe

UK - Lanta Lighting was an integral part of TV's The Gadget Show attempt at the world's largest game of Tetris. Viewers of Five's popular tech show saw one of Lanta's best selling LED lights enter the record books when 200 Fireball PAR Cans were used recently at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre.

Lanta's managing director, Grant Lester explains why the Fireball PAR64 TRI was chosen by The Gadget Show: "Everyone knows that LED fixtures use a fraction of the power of incandescent bulbs, so choosing this technology was an obvious choice." He continues "Lanta was the perfect partner for the TV show since they needed a large number of reliable units at short notice. Tri-colour, DMX-controlled, Fireballs fitted the bill to a tee."

Nearly a kilometre of data and power cables networked the Lanta Fireballs into a single, computer-controlled grid.

USA - In the 12 months since setting up its North American operation under Mark Ravenhill, GLP German Light Products Inc has grown rapidly. Now the company is set to expand further, boosting its national sales force, with coast-to-coast representation.

With immediate effect, East Coast sales will be handled by Rick Fallon, who for the past 14 years has been dealer sales manager for lighting manufacturers and distributors Creative Stage Lighting, and prior to that worked in sales at theatrical supply and installation company BMI Supply.

The Central belt will be covered by Carl Wake, who has spent the last four years working at Austin-based Lightparts. Prior to that he worked for a number of years at Martin Professional Inc. in Florida as well as various production companies in San Francisco.

Finally on the West Coast, Ed Cheeseman will be looking after regional sales of all G

USA - When you win your first NFL Super Bowl - as the New Orleans Saints did in February - a proper community space for celebration is a must, and is especially relevant in a city as renowned for celebration as New Orleans.

Champions Square is a new outdoor festival space conveniently located near the Louisiana Superdome (home to the New Orleans Saints) and New Orleans Arena. Used for a variety of events, its amenities, including the latest in Martin Professional dynamic lighting, make a suitable place to host pre- and post -game activities, outdoor concerts and festivals, special events or any celebration.

Installed at Champions Square in August were energy-efficient Martin Exterior 400 luminaires and Martin LC Plus Series LED panels. Designed for outdoor use with full-weather IP65 protection ratings, both the Exterior 400 luminaires and LC panels add a versatile measure of d

UK - Blackburn- based lighting rental company HSL supplied Vari*Lite moving lights and over 700 Pulsar ChromaStrips of varying lengths for the new ITV series, Magic Numbers, produced by CPL and aired live weekly in the prime time Saturday night slot of8pm.

The show's lighting was designed by Tom Kinane, who has used HSL to supply lights to numerous shows in recent years. HSL's project manager was Sean McGlone, who comments, "It's always good to work with Tom and his team. The show looked fantastic, interesting and different, and we're especially happy to be working on such a high profile new production."

Magic Numbers was presented by Stephen Mulhern, directed by Chris Power broadcast from The London Studios (TLS) on London's South Bank. Kinane's starting point for the lighting design was the vibrant set designed by Andrew Gates, based on a sequence of

USA - At LDI 2010, in addition to its traditional hospitality, Wireless Solution Sweden will display W-DMX Generation 4. G4 is able to repair corrupted data and vouches for maximum security by running on dual band and creating a backup duplicate of the signal.

The entire G4 product line includes Adaptive Frequency Hopping technology to avoid interference from Wi-fi, Intercom and other radio products, W-DMX invisi-wire and data-safe technologies for unparalleled fidelity, and support for RDM (Remote Device Management) so W-DMX units and lighting fixtures connected through W-DMX can be configured remotely with no fuss or cables.

As the newest member to the G4 line, Wireless Solution will also show the new W-DMX BlackBox F-2500 for the first time in North America, a multiple universe unit as standard that can act as two transmitters, two receivers, and one repeater - three functi

USA - Apollo Design Technology will be displaying Multiform's latest LED Lighting products at LDI 2010. Following their successful launch at last year's show and a series of 'Big City Bash' exhibitions throughout the USA, Apollo will be presenting a display of LED lighting effects using the MultiSpot HP 1009 and the MultiBeam HP 1018

The MultiSpot HP delivers 27W of solid state lighting power, using Multiform's UCO (uniform colour output) approach, leaving the days of visible red, green and blue LEDs behind, says the company. The lens panel with 36 mm Clear Pass lenses has a beam angle of 30 degrees, to suit most applications. The MultiSpot HP uses temperature controlled fan cooling and a silent switch-mode power supply meeting all regulatory approvals as well as the unbeaten 4 channel DMX control.

The MultiBeam HP marks Multiform's top-of the-line model for indoor LED lightin

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USA - At this year's LDI, in addition to the traditional 'Village', TMB will also be hosting a dedicated demonstration suite for personalised demos of TMB high-tech exclusive products in an private and quiet setting. Located near the TMB Village, hands-on condensed training and personalised demos will be provided for Avolites, Hippotizer, Kinesys, LumenRadio (DMX only), Parrot, and more.

TMB and manufacturer product experts will be on hand to show the latest hardware, software, upgrades, and applications. TMB's Demo Suite will be open all hours of the show.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Lighting designer Doug 'Spike' Brant of Performance Environment Design Group used the Martin MAC 401 Dual on a special pregame show to kick off the 2010 NFL season and to honour the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints and the city of New Orleans.

The 60-minute pregame show - NFL Opening Kickoff 2010 Presented by EA Sports - featured performances by Grammy award-winning artists Dave Matthews Band and Taylor Swift. The show was broadcast live on 9 September on NBC and the NFL Network.

Brad Hafer of Atomic Lighting hooked up PEDG with the 401s for a test drive. "We used them to light the site and they were impressively bright. I was impressed with the zoom and the behind-the-lens colour mixing system was also quite good," stated Brant.

The event was held outdoors at Jackson Square Park in New Orleans and by all reports the hot, humid and wet weather wa

UK - Stage Electrics' specialist outdoor sports lighting team was in action at the Aviva London Grand Prix this summer as two days of world-class sports saw the world's top athletics stars jet into Crystal Palace.

Part of the new Samsung Diamond League, a series of the top 14 grand prix meets from around the world, the Aviva London Grand Prix featured in a BBC2 broadcast with event production by Fast Track on behalf of UKA, and broadcast facilities by SIS Live.

Stage Electrics, which has been involved in the event for the past six years, supplemented the installed lighting with broadcast quality lighting across the stadium's bowl, to the levels specified by lighting designer John King.

In addition, specially phased equipment was required along the 100m straight to provide flicker-free lighting for the BBC's super-slow-motion broadcast cameras. Stage Electrics project manager

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