UK - Manchester-based dbnAudile has served as event technology providers for The Warehouse Project ever since the series of popular club nights debuted in 2006. This year, seeking a new linear lighting effect that could do more while ensuring operation in wet conditions, the company turned to Elation’s versatile Proteus Rayzor Blade.
The Warehouse Project, which runs from September through New Year’s Eve, features acclaimed DJs and musicians as well as less established artists, and is continually rated as one of the best dance/DJ club venues in Europe. dbnAudile handles audio, lighting, video and rigging for the project’s run, which has been held in the refurbished Mayfield Depot in Manchester since 2019.
Pete Robinson project manages the operation for dbnAudile and has served as lighting designer since The Warehouse Project’s inception. He explains that the

Denmark - Hip hop band, Suspekt, appeared in a one-off date at Copenhagen's 47,000 capacity National Parken Stadium in September. Suspekt is renowned for playing with cool lighting effects and Ayrton was delighted that its Zonda 9 fixtures were chosen for the dramatic lighting system that included 168 Zonda 9 Wash and Zonda 9 FX fixtures.
Zonda 9 Wash is the first luminaire in a new family of Ayrton products devised for stage lighting, equipped with a high-performance 40W LED source with RGB+W additive colour synthesis. The lighting was supplied by VIGSØ, Denmark, and the striking lighting and stage design was provided by Johnny Thinggaard of CMY.
Thinggaard elaborated on his choice of lighting: “The concert was a one-day event and the band's biggest show to date. I chose to use the Zonda 9 Wash because of its large light surface - I really like the way that the la

USA - Alongside showcasing a selection of fixtures from the company’s existing catalogue of professional luminaires through a lightshow programmed by concert LD Steve Kosiba, ADJ Lighting will use the LDI tradeshow to exclusively introduce many exciting new products.
Visitors to the expo will be the first to discover the new Vizi Beam CMY automated beam luminaire, the ElectraPix series of lime-infused hex LED wireless bars and par, the next generation Aria X2 wireless DMX system, and the much-anticipated IP-rated additions to the popular Jolt Series of multifunction LED strobe/wash fixtures.
Popular with concert lighting designers and nightclub integrators alike, ADJ’s Jolt Series features a collection of potent fixtures which each feature brilliant bright white strobe/blinder LEDs combined with multicoloured chase effects in the same versatile unit. Taking the se

USA - GLP (German Light Products) will showcase its innovative portfolio in a future-oriented design, on stand #194. The company invites trade fair visitors to climb aboard its all-white ‘GLP Spaceship’, which will also provide the setting for ‘a very special world premiere’.
GLP's JDC1 Hybrid Strobe is a popular standard that set new standards when it was originally introduced. The JDC2 upgrade will be shown for the first time at LDI.
Larger, significantly brighter than the JDC1, IP65-certified and equipped with a still under-wraps secret special feature, the JDC2 is ‘set to revolutionise the world of professional show lighting again’. Visitors to the stand can look forward to a newly designed show that breaks from the classic light shows at the exhibition stand.
After the successful market launch of the impression X5 Wash 2021, the impression X5 IP

USA - Claypaky is returning to LDI again to present its recently launched products. The joint display, in Booths (179, 279, 285) in the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Centre, will feature the company’s top-of-the-line products for the entertainment industry.
Besides all the new products and innovative technologies shown, it is also the first time since ARRI’s acquisition of Claypaky, that the two companies will be exhibiting together at LDI, thus presenting a broader product portfolio in addition to the entertainment-oriented product range.
On debut will be Rhapsodya - a high power, low-noise multi-spectral - LED based fixture designed for a variety of applications such as theatre, TV production, touring and live events. It uses a custom 1200W multicolour RGBAL LED engine, capable of a 24,000-lumen output.
Rhapsodya incorporates AccuTone, a sophistica

USA - Vari-Lite has announced a new, higher output light engine upgrade for their workhorse VL2600 Series fixtures. The light engine upgrade provides significantly higher output to the popular line of moving head luminaires while aligning with Signify’s commitment to sustainability by promoting circular economy, minimising waste by extending the existing product lifecycle rather than making iterative new versions, for a positive impact on the environment and society.
Originally released in the spring of 2018, the VL2600 Series is, to date, one of the most popular Vari-Lite fixtures ever produced. Boasting a profile, wash, and spot version, the VL2600 Series is a full family of fixtures with a broad colour palette, a wide range of features, and a consistent light engine across the series. It’s possible to rent a VL2600 Series luminaire on every continent on the globe, and

Switzerland - The Zurich Open Air Festival, held over three days in suburban Glattbrugg, features artists from an array of genres, from ballads to electronic beats, and hard rock anthems to indie tunes. Jazz, blues, and folk join the diverse mix for good measure. The artists on stage at this year’s (10th annual) rendition of the festival, included Robbie Williams, Zara Larsson, Bastian Baker, The Killers, The Chainsmokers and Paul Kalkbrenner.
The production design on the 2023 festival’s substantial main stage also embodied a very diverse range of creative inputs. Defined by two high towers, each with a large vertically-oriented video wall at its base, the towers were connected by horizontal rows of lights. Other rows of lights extended from each wall and sloped down to smaller stage left and stage right columns.
Contributing to the rich visual panorama was a colle

Greece - DirectOut and Audio & Vision have joined forces to establish an exclusive partnership for distribution in Greece. With this strategic alliance, Audio & Vision will now serve as the official distributor of DirectOut products in Greece.
Audio & Vision has established itself as a reliable provider of premium AV products and services in Greece since the beginning of their activities in 1998.
"We are proud to add DirectOut to our distribution portfolio in Greece," says Mr. Alkis Kotsifas, general manager of Audio & Vision. "With a 25-year track record in the professional audio, video and lighting solutions sector, we have been committed since the foundation of our company to provide our customers with the highest quality of products and services. We seek the best partners worldwide to achieve our goals, and our new partnership with DirectOut is a te

Europe - Prolight is reinforcing its commitment to excellence in cable manufacturing through a substantial investment in cutting-edge testing equipment. The collaboration with Distro Design yielded a remarkable achievement when tasked with developing a new cable tester.
The Cirris powered tester manufactured by Distro Design for Prolight is the largest to date with over 380 test points. This tester was a great challenge, something we relish doing. Working with Prolight was seamless and very easy something we hear a lot around the industry. They are a growing company with a great reputation we are immensely proud to have been asked to work with them in designing ‘the beast’,” says Distro Design MD, Ben Stearn.
Chris Beesley, product sourcing manager at Prolight says: “As the cable department grows here at Prolight, our need for a centralised, rapid test facility

USA - City Theatrical will be introducing three new solutions available for demonstration in Booth 809 at LDI, including the DMXcat-E, Multiverse Connect Module, and Wing Nut Socket. These products are expansions of City Theatrical’s award-winning DMXcat Multi Function Test Tool system, family of Multiverse wireless DMX/RDM technology, and expansive hardware collection.
City Theatrical will also be offering an LDI event giveaway of one DMXcat Multi Function Test Tool or RadioScan Spectrum Analyser, at the winner’s choice, to one randomly selected event participant who registers with the City Theatrical team in Booth 809 before the event concludes. The winner will be announced via email one week after the show.
Available to demonstrate at LDI Show 2023 and shipping in 2024, City Theatrical’s new DMXcat-E (P/N 6100) is an expansion to City Theatrical’s DMXcat Mu

USA - Creativity is set free when it reaches the edges of the physical world. This spirit is at the heart of Chauvet Professional’s LDI booth (1261), which is dedicated to the goal of converging physical and digital worlds.
Designed by Studio Lab, the booth utilises disguise, Unreal Engine and other emerging virtual production technologies to celebrate the fusion of the physical and digital. In the process, it also highlights the latest innovations from Chauvet Professional, ChamSys, and Kino Flo that will help designers ‘Reach Across Worlds’ to create transformative productions for concerts, tours and broadcast applications.
Entering the booth, visitors will be able to see and feel the immersive, reality-bending effect of new, innovative products like the REM series of video panels. Featuring two products: the cinema-grade REM 1, an 800 NITS indoor panel with a

USA - Masque Sound has once again teamed up with sound designer Joshua D. Reid to bring the travelling productions of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical to life with a custom audio equipment package, for both its East and West Coast tour.
Featuring the hit songs You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch and Welcome Christmas, The Grinch discovers there’s more to Christmas than he bargained for in this heartwarming holiday classic. Max the Dog narrates as the mean and scheming Grinch, whose heart is “two sizes too small,” as he decides to steal Christmas away from the holiday-loving Whos.
In designing the sound for this year’s Grinch tour, Reid's goal was to create a flexible and efficient touring sound system that could capture the magic of Dr. Seuss' classic holiday narrative while providing the highest level of clarity for aud

Austria - For its global premiere on the stage of Vienna's Ronacher Theater, the musical Rock me Amadeus - The Falco Musicalwas illuminated using Prolights' Astra Wash.
This musical, with evocative scenes, intricate choreography, and dazzling costumes, demanded an extraordinary lighting setup to properly showcase the spectacle and celebrate the life of the musician Falco.
The design, crafted by the lighting designer Howard Harrison and musical lighting supervisor Lucas Berger, featured various mobile wash lights from Prolights' Astra Wash series - specifically, the Astra Wash19Pix and Astra Wash7Pix.
Harrison's choice to incorporate the Astra Wash19Pix into the lighting rig on both the ceiling and side walls was not only for their versatile light effects but also for their decorative potential, thanks to the integrated pixel ring.
Meanwhile, the Ast

UK - This week, Celestial’s epic drone light show, Evolution, was showcased for the first time ever at Gloucestershire County Cricket Club in Bristol to a select audience in preparation for launching the show to the general public in December. Drone light technology is being used to tell ‘the greatest story of all time’ - The story of our evolution.
The story, narrated by Tara Fitzgerald, starts with the Big Bang, the explosive inception of the universe and journeys into the emergence of the sun, our solar system and the planets that inhabit it.
The cosmic voyage accompanied by a cinematic soundtrack, guides viewers through the origins of conscious life on Earth, from the humble beginnings of single-cell organisms to the awe-inspiring reign of the dinosaurs and culminates in a celebration of the diverse tapestry of life on Earth today.
Evolution

USA - LIT Lighting in Tempe, Arizona recently specified, designed, sold and installed new lighting and production equipment in the Footprint Centre, home arena of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. The installation, which comprised a new entertainment lighting solution, included Ayrton, MA Lighting, MDG and RapcoHorizon brands, all exclusively distributed in North America by ACT Entertainment.
“Pro basketball is not just a game anymore, it showcases elements promoting crowd activation and interaction, which at the Footprint Centre include a dance team, half-time performances often by A-list artists, and a dunk team with trampolines and the team mascot,” says LIT Lighting project manager Casey Jones. “There are a ton of moving pieces that now require entertainment lighting solutions to guarantee that fans have a better experience at games in every po

Germany - Astera has announced the launch of their new White Remote - a pocket-sized tool that allows for instant point-and-click control of the full Astera lighting ecosystem.
The remote is designed to act as a counterpart to the existing IR ‘FX Remote’, which allows for colour, strobing and effect control at the click of a button. With both the FX and White Remote in-hand, a lighting engineer can execute precise lighting changes in seconds.
The White Remote can turn single or grouped sets of lights off and on instantly and from a distance and can also be used to quickly add lights to a control group (initially configured through the app), which then allows for lighting changes to be disseminated over the full group simultaneously.
The remote has a number of preconfigured buttons for light temperature, running through 12 preset values from 2400 to 10,000 ke

USA - Behind the Scenes has announced that AC Power Distribution (ACPD), a brand of ACT Entertainment, has joined the Pledge-of-Support Programme. ACPD will contribute a portion of the profits from their new LunchBoxPD data and power distribution system to the charity.
ACT Entertainment is a leading supplier of entertainment industry products across six different end markets, including professional lighting and control equipment; audio, video, fibre and power distribution; cables; connectivity; metalwork; custom manufacturing; and design.
ACPD’s LunchBoxPD integrates power and data distribution into one device without compromising either. The LunchBoxPD nodes offer four DMX ports to break out from an Ethernet data network, while still allowing data to pass through. In doing so, it delivers CRMX wireless DMX data directly to a traditional lunchbox power solution, pro

France - ChamSys has announced that, starting 1 December, its entire product line will be distributed in France by Chauvet France, a wholly owned subsidiary of ChamSys’ parent company Chauvet.
In its new home, Chauvet France will sell, service, and provide training for the full line of ChamSys consoles, including the popular Stadium series, which has been used at major concerts, festivals, and theatrical productions throughout France. The new distribution arrangement will also allow ChamSys to broaden its French language training programmes.
Concurrent with this development, lighting programmer and designer, Rémy Rouvoy has joined Chauvet France as the ChamSys business development and support manager. Rouvoy brings considerable experience to his new position, not only through the many shows he has worked on personally, but also as a result of the key posi

UK - Global investment group CDPQ has acquired a minority stake in Solotech. The goal of this transaction, which represents the largest investment in the company since 2013, is to support Solotech’s acquisition and organic growth strategy to expand its presence in various markets and create more value for its customers.
“With this investment - the largest in the last decade for Solotech - CDPQ will support the company in its next growth stage. Aligned with CDPQ’s priorities, this means not only shifting activities into high gear, but also facilitating the company’s global expansion and promoting its audiovisual and technological know-how,” said Kim Thomassin, executive vice-president and head of Québec at CDPQ.
“CDPQ’s commitment is a gauge of confidence in our business model, and their financial investment will allow us to seize new business

Germany - Dr. Raphael Kiesel takes over the management of ARRI’s lighting division on 1 December 2023. In this role, he is responsible for the entire business unit.
Dr. Kiesel reports directly to Dr. Matthias Erb, chairman of the executive board at ARRI. Dr. Kiesel is currently responsible for global quality management at ARRI. In this role, he has systematically refined quality management at the company. The focus of further development is on the structured transfer of customer requirements into the film technology company’s products and services.
Dr. Erb, chairman of the ARRI executive board, remarks: “We are extremely pleased that we have been able to win Dr. Kiesel for this position. As the new head of the division, he will continue to drive the development of ARRI Lighting. I wish Raphael the best of luck and success in this exciting and challenging task.

USA - Offering powerful output, lime-infused LEDs, a patented ‘sit-flat’ design, a multi-purpose scissor yoke, DMX or IR remote control, and an optional frost filter, Eliminator Lighting’s new Mega Hex L Par is billed as ‘a next generation LED PAR which won’t break the bank’.
This versatile fixture is suitable for a wide variety of lighting applications from uplighting walls to illuminating stages, highlighting décor elements to getting the party started on the dance floor. With a light weight and flexible design, it is equally suited to use by event companies and mobile entertainers as it is for permanent installation in bars, clubs, and other leisure venues.
Powered by four bright 20-Watt HEX (6-in-1) colour mixing LEDs, the compact Mega HEX L Par offers impressive output in a wide variety of colours. Each LED combines red, green, blue, lime, amber and

USA - Vari-Lite will be presenting several new console products at the LDI Show in Las Vegas. New solutions that will be shown in the Vari-Lite booth at LDI include the recently launched Vari-Lite Neo X5 Console, a preview of the next-gen Neo X Server, and new updates to the Neo and ZerOS console software platforms.
The Neo X5 console is a compact, high-performance five-fader lighting console running the powerful Neo platform. “The Neo X15, the larger 15-fader member of the Neo X Series, launched at LDI 2022 to resounding success,” says Jon Hole, global product manager, Vari-Lite Systems and Controls at Signify. “We are excited that the X5 console will also make its public trade show debut at LDI this year.”
The Neo X5 console offers five multifunctional motorized playbacks, backlit encoders, and a built-in monitor as well as a soft touch control screen. The

USA - Robe launches four new products on Booth 911A at the 2023 LDI expo in Las Vegas next week - the iT12 Profile, the T32 Cyc, and two new variants of the PATT series of scenic illumination, the HolyPATT and the MolyPATT.
Additionally, shown for the first time at an expo in North America will be Robe’s new iSeries of IP rated and robustly weatherized moving lights - the iForte LTX - together with iEsprite, iPainte, iTetra2TM and iBeam350TM luminaires.
There will be a special preview of a new generation of searchlight and sky-flower fixtures soon to be launched by Robe.
The Las Vegas version of Robe’s 2023-24 expo spectacular live show, The Power of Imagination will be presented five times a day on the booth - a nine-minute extravaganza of colour, movement, and creative energy, highlighting Robe’s new and current products in an environment for whic

Europe - Rock-pop-punk band Engst is continuing along its successful upward trajectory. The new album Irgendwas ist immer (There is always something) is selling fast and the current tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland, is already largely sold out.
The production design for the tour is the work of Jonas König of Koeniglicht, who, in addition to deploying many empty beer crates within the set, is using exclusively GLP fixtures.
This is the epitome of stretching a tight production budget for a young, up-and-coming band. “A beer crate costs practically nothing and fits the theme quite well,” says Jonas. He uses a matrix made of GLP impression X5 Compact behind a central wall constructed of beer crates. On the floor in front of the wall he has placed impression X5 Bar 1000. Other crates, stationed in the rows between, house a line of Fusion X-PA

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