USA - Alec Morris from Anthrolight Productions in the UK embarked on a North American tour this autumn with guitarist and ex-Genesis member Steve Hackett, illuminating the performances using an NX1 lighting console from Obsidian Control Systems.
The 31-show tour, Foxtrot at 50, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Genesis's Foxtrot album, kicked off on 3 October in Montreal and concluded on 18 November in Los Angeles. It marked Morris' first time designing and operating lighting for the guitarist, with tour manager Adrian Holmes overseeing the logistics.
Alec began designing lighting on a Martin LightJockey and M-Series consoles years ago, transitioning to Obsidian after Elation took over the console line. “The software kept developing and improving,” he says. “I saw improvements in functionality and the support was excellent, so I continued to use it.

UK - The close of Entec’s 30th anniversary year as the first-call production supplier to The Bootleg Beatles has coincided with the Fab Four themselves returning to the top of the singles chart.
The Bootlegs are currently traversing the UK on another successful Christmas tour as they wrap up 2023 - a year that witnessed the passing of co-founder and partner, and original ‘George Harrison’, Andre Barreau.
“It’s hit us all hard and I miss Andre so much, as we all do,” says management partner Neil Harrison who, as ‘John Lennon’, founded the band with Andre in 1980 after co-starring in the hit West End musical Beatlemania. “He knew The Beatles’ history with forensic detail, and was able to direct the authenticity of the costumes, the video content and the music with absolute precision. He instinctively knew what was right or wrong.”
At a

Denmark - Forty Astera NYX Bulbs were central to a kinetic light sculpture that was created for London-based creative agency Audience’s design for a recent Deloitte Shared Services Conference (SSC) staged at the Bella Centre, Copenhagen.
Audience’s project director for the event, Neil Scrivener, working on it for the third year, explained that the Deloitte team wanted the SSC’s plenary sessions to be staged in the round, which presented challenges for both set and scenic designs as nice clean 360-degree sightlines are vital.
Audience’s creative team, led by client and strategy director Stephen McIntosh, proposed a scheme for a contemporary plenary space incorporating two large 20m-wide x 4-metre-deep LED screens with a special ‘light feature’ above the stage.
They then worked with Neil and lighting designer Paul van dan Heijkant - working on the eve

France - On 12 November in Paris, 163 Robert Juliat Dalis 862 footlights took part in the Chiroptera show, a collaborative project by JR, Damien Jalet and Thomas Bangalter.
The public gathered at the Place de l'Opéra watched an impressive 20-minute ballet in front of the façade of the Palais Garnier, which was dressed in a huge trompe-l'œil fresco revealing the entrance to a cave, that masked the scaffolding currently covering the façade of the building as it is being restored.
"We worked closely with the three artists behind the project, and came up with a very specific lighting concept," says Antoine D'Halluin, associate director of Concept K, a French company specialising in artistic creation. "We had to use lighting to serve the show while ensuring all the technology required for such a creation remained invisible to the audience. We therefore deliberately deci

Malaysia - Architectural lighting control manufacturer Visual Productions has announced a distribution agreement with Acoustic & Lighting Systems, a solution provider with headquarters in Malaysia and local offices in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. This collaboration marks a significant step forward for both companies in delivering lighting control solutions to the system integration market in South East Asia.
"We are thrilled to partner with Acoustic & Lighting Systems, a company with a rich presence in the system integration market in South East Asia. This collaboration aligns perfectly with our vision of providing advanced lighting control solutions to architects, designers, and system integrators in the region," says Maarten Engels, managing director at Visual Productions.
Eugene Yeo, general manager at Acoustic & Lighting says: "Acoustic &

UAE - The Laserworld Group and Pro Lab Trading, one of the region’s largest distribution companies for entertainment technology, have announced a new partnership to distribute laser systems in the Middle East. Pro Lab has a well-established distribution structure all over the region, matching the broad portfolio of laser systems manufactured by the Laserworld Group - from entry-level effects to high-end quality lasers.
“It is great that we found such a strong, well-respected partner in the Middle East region, with offices in many countries with highly trained staff”, states Denis Phoenix, sales director of Laserworld. “It will be a great benefit to have a good stock holding in the region for quicker delivery and support for our customers. Pro Lab has a proven track record in the region, and our products perfectly complement their range of distributed products.”

USA - Jackson Browne recently wrapped up another successful tour, including four back-to-back performances at New York’s Beacon Theatre with long time lighting provider, Bandit Lites.
Bandit supplied lighting designer Chris Stuba with a package consisting of Ayrton Ghibli, Chauvet Rogue R2X Washes, Elation Seven Batten 72, Martin MAC Viper Profiles, Robe Robin LEDWash 600 and VL 3600 Spots.
Browne’s long-time production manager Dennis Scrimo gave Stuba carte blanche with the lighting (“as long as it didn’t suck,” Stuba noted.) “I try to set a mood and stay out of the way,” he explained. “It is an old school show with very little movement: there is nothing symmetrical in the rig and I use no gobos on the band.”
With Browne forgoing follow spots, Stuba relies on the VL 3600 Spots for key lighting saying: “They have a nice colour for an LED fix

Italy - Sondrio has been transformed into an enchanting Christmas landscape with a mesmerizing light show, made possible by the Prolights Mosaico range image projectors. The project, managed by communication agency Sviluppo Creativo and rental company Liteo Tech, turned Campello Square into a captivating snowy setting with projections of the Enchanted Forest, created using the Prolights Mosaico and Mosaico L projectors.
In total, 13 units of projectors were utilised, customised with gobos and animation wheels, also crafted by Prolights. These versatile projectors designed for outdoor installations played a crucial role in establishing an immersive Christmas atmosphere in the main square of Sondrio.
The decision to opt for Prolights Mosaico projectors was driven by the pursuit of flexibility and quality. Daniele Licchetta, the lighting designer of the Liteo Tech team, e

South Africa - The Globe is a 2,200sq.m multipurpose event venue at the heart of Durban’s Suncoast entertainment and leisure complex. It’s one of KZN’s and the country’s most popular event spaces and recently took delivery of new Robe Painte and LEDWash 600+ moving lights.
The new fixtures are part of an ongoing upgrade programme that ensures the venue systems stay abreast of the latest and most appropriate production technologies to offer their clients and guests, and were delivered by Robe’s South African distributor, DWR.
At the centre of the drive to get the new kit was Thabo Ntsala, audio visual specialist / manager for Suncoast Casino, Hotels & Entertainment.
As head of the technical department in Durban, Thabo is responsible for the technical teams looking after all the audio and visual infrastructure in the complex, its ongoing technical r

USA - Country-bluegrass band The Turnpike Troubadours are continuing their hit US A Cat in the Rain Tour with Ayrton Zonda 9 FX and Zonda 3 FX LED moving head washes, Bora LED beams and washes, and Khamsin LED profiles dominating the rig.
The tour, which kicked off last summer, follows the August release of the band’s album of the same name. It wraps at Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth, Texas just before New Year’s Eve.
Nashville-based independent lighting designer and programmer Joshua Schultz has been working with The Turnpike Troubadours for the last two years. In designing the tour, he wanted to “keep the focus on the band and not go over the top with a gigantic rig. We have to be able to scale to the size of the venue, which ranges from 5,000-seat theatres to 14,000-seat arenas.”
Schultz also wanted “an entire rig of Ayrton fixtures”, a goal he achie

UK - London’s Royal Albert Hall has continued its progressive upgrade to LED with the installation of 80 Martin Professional ELP PAR fixtures. The fixtures were supplied by White Light, via Martin’s UK distributor Sound Technology.
Jon Vivash, lighting operations manager, Royal Albert Hall, confirmed the new fixtures have been installed in six groups of six in the gallery, a further six groups of six in the circle, and an additional four either side of the organ for the choirs. All are predominantly used for the lighting of audience seating areas.
“The Martin ELP PARs have opened up a huge range of looks in the house for both spoken word, when soft audience glows are required, to rock’n’roll ACL looks and strong saturated colours immersing the audience,” Jon explained.
The initial decision to upgrade the existing tungsten fixtures was partly influence

USA - Four hours and twenty-two minutes is a long time; about an hour longer than it takes to fly from New York to Miami, almost twice as long as the average NBA game, and even longer than Bruce Springsteen’s longest show, a four-hour-and-six-minute performance that took place in Helsinki in 2012.
Yet this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony ran that long without a dull moment. There was plenty to captivate the live audience at Barclays Centre, as well as those who watched the livestream on Disney+, from the touching (Adam Levine singing Faith to honour the late inductee George Michael), to the electrifying, when no one remained seated as Missy Elliot, decked out in a glittering gold suit and backed up by an abundance of dancers, rattled the arena with a fiery medley of her hits.
Supporting the diverse marathon (there were 14 inductees, p

Slovenia - Joker Out have enjoyed a busy year with touring shows, representing Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest in the UK, and recently playing a sold-out performance at Ljubljana’s biggest arena venue, Stožice - which was lit by Klemen Krajnc, part of the Blackout design studio.
This was an all-Robe moving light rig – with 100 Robe luminaires breaking down as 32 x MegaPointes, 64 x Spiiders, 19 x LEDBeam 150s and 13 x Fortes plus a quantity of strobes and LED floods.
Klemen has worked with the band since 2021 when he was asked to light the launch of their first album, Umazane misli.
Robe is his go-to moving light brand, and it’s a popular choice for his Blackout LD colleagues including Crt Birsa. Robe’s success in this region is also in part due to the proactive approach by Slovenian distributor, MK Light Sound in getting Robe out there in so ma

Saudi Arabia - ETC dealer, Oasis Enterprises has supplied ETC control, networking and fixtures for Al Hadath’s new broadcast studios in Riyadh.
The Al Hadath news channel – which specialises in both regional and global current affairs – has launched its new studio as part of an ongoing expansion of the channel’s operations in the region.
Oasis Enterprises worked with Al Hadath to achieve its requirements of a creating a modern, dynamic space that is equipped with the latest advancements in LED technology. Their fixtures of choice were ETC’s versatile ColorSource Spot jr’s – these were controlled by Eos Apex; selected for its powerful colour tools and award-winning software. They also chose Response Mk2 DMX Gateways for networking and powerful data distribution in the studios. These were installed following a year of planning for the modern space.

USA - ClearOne is strengthening its regional sales rep network with the appointment of Vision2 Marketing to represent the company’s entire line of solutions in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.
According to ClearOne CEO Derek Graham, Vision2 Marketing has the extensive industry experience and in-depth local market knowledge across all channels to best present the ClearOne value proposition to partners and end user customers. “Vision2 has what we need to significantly grow our business throughout the south and southeast of the United States,” Graham said. “Expert product specialists, channel focused sales professionals who understand what each channel needs, and a service and training team that supports the entire sales process.”
Vision2 Marketing CEO Mick Beisel stressed, “We are proud to add ClearOne to our portfolio

UK - Sound Technology, distributor of Harman Professional audio and lighting solutions in the UK, is holding a technology showcase event at Troxy in London on 17 & 18 January 2024.
The event will allow visitors to experience the JBL Professional Performance Audio range, including the VTX A Series line array - A12, A8 and the ultra-compact A6 – as well as the new SRX900 powered line arrays. The showcase also features the smaller format and portable PA systems including the IRX100, EON700 and PRX900 series, as well as the IRX One, EON One Mk2 and PRX One column PA systems.
In 2019, Troxy chose JBL Professional VTX A Series as its house PA system, installing two 12-box arrays of VTX A12 with additional VTX A8 boxes fulfilling front fill duties.
More recently, Troxy replaced its in-house lighting rig with Martin fixtures, consisting of MAC Ultra, ERA 800 Per

USA - Not only was Elation busy at a hectic booth each day at the LDI trade show in Las Vegas, the Elation team hosted a pair of invitation-only IYKYK events for lighting professionals that proved just as popular.
“That was one of the busiest trade shows I’ve experienced in quite some time,” enthused Elation global vice-president of sales & marketing, Eric Loader. “Our booth was consistently packed and our new products were very well received, especially the new Proteus series fixtures and the new fanless Fuze Teatro. We also surprised some people by showing the first fixture in our new Sol line of versatile blinder effects and new Pulse line of strobe bars, and the feedback was outstanding.
“We had an overwhelming response to our IYKYK events which attracted hundreds of professionals across the lighting community and surpassed all our expectations so ov

USA - The ability to think outside the box is often the lifeblood of a successful production design, even when that “box” is the actual stage itself. Such was the case recently for the team at Events United when they had to come up with a way to light the artists performing at the Hope Fellowship Church’s Hillfest in News Ipswich, NH.
Organisers of this Christian music festival added a thrust to their main stage. This configuration brought their star-studded lineup of artists closer to the audience, but it also necessitated some modifications in front lighting.
“With the stage having a thrust, we needed to position fixtures to light performers farther out, away from the stage than our downstage truss would allow,” explained project manager, Martin Lyons. “We used the Maverick Storm 1 Washes placed up on the hill by FOH to wash the thrust. Their zoom range a

UK - Hosted in the Heineken Suite at Bristol City’s Ashton Gate stadium - the Stage Electrics Showcase will feature more than 25 of the leading manufacturers of lighting, audio, rigging, pyrotechnics and special effects. The showcase on 25 January presents an opportunity for visitors to get hands-on experience with the latest products from exhibitors, and to discuss their needs with representatives from all the brands.
The Stage Electrics Showcase is free to attend, registration is now open. Delegates who sign up to attend the Showcase before 20 January, will be eligible for free car parking at the venue (normally £7.50). The showcase is open 2pm-7pm, with a seminar from Prolyte planned for 1pm. A pyrotechnics display will take place during the event, with the opportunity to discuss your pyrotechnic needs with the team from Le Maitre.
Stage Electrics sales director,

Singapore - Lightware Visual Engineering has announced the appointment of Candice Siow as regional director for Southeast Asia.
Based in Singapore, Candice joins Lightware with more than 15 years of sales management experience in the audio-visual industry. In her new role, she will be responsible for the company’s operations in Southeast Asia and will focus on expanding Lightware’s presence in the region, working in close collaboration with key stakeholders to deliver a unified corporate message and go-to-market approach.
Prior to joining Lightware, Candice spent 15 years with Kramer Electronics, most recently serving as regional sales director ASEAN.
“I am delighted to join Lightware at a very exciting time in the company’s development,” commented Candice. “My goal is to build our presence in the region by working closely with our partners to deliv

USA - ETC has announced F-Drive compatible versions of Irideon FPZ, Irideon WLZ, and Source Four Mini LED. These additions make it even easier to pair ETC luminaires with ETC’s flagship LED driver solution. Direct connection to the F-Drive system enables facilities to build more cost-effective lighting systems, all backed by a state-of-the-art lighting control solution.
The award-winning F-Drive LED power system is both modular and centralised for easy installation and maintenance. Swappable driver cards and power supplies in the F-Drive R12 rack make all critical components readily accessible. A wide variety of LED systems, including Irideon and Source Four Mini LED, can take advantage of the centralised drive and power structure of F-Drive to reduce costs and simplify the remote lighting positions.
Source Four Mini for F-Drive offers a compact LED solution that fi

UK - Two of the theatre world’s leading creative lighting designers, Paule Constable and Tim Lutkin, have both become early adopters of GLP’s new impression X5 platform.
Both have been supplied by Sparks Theatrical Hire, while a third designer, Paul Pyant, has also requisitioned the X5 for Noises Off at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, which is currently in production.
Paule Constable had been keen to work with the impression X5 again after debuting it on The Devil Wears Prada and Guys and Dolls at The Bridge Theatre gave her the perfect opportunity. “I first looked to the impression X4 and then the X5 to replace the big soft keylight that I’ve always used 5kW units to give me. I think it’s amazing that an LED unit can provide that same diffuse, soft directional push - but I also love the beam control and quality when it is spotted down.

UK - Stage Electrics is providing support for the next generation of lighting designers at the Jasmin Vardimon Company.
The Jasmin Vardimon Company is a professional dance company founded by the choreographer and artistic director, Jasmin Vardimon. The Company performs nationally and internationally, with productions including ALiCE, Pinocchio, Alice in VR Wonderlands and more. JV2 is a professional development diploma, which provides performers with an opportunity to train and develop alongside the Jasmin Vardimon Company dancers.
Stage Electrics managing director, Dave Coull emphasises the importance of the relationship: “Stage Electrics have a proud history of supporting emerging talents as they embark on a career in technical theatre. Assisting young people at this early stage of their development supports the healthy continuation of the indu

Gibraltar - Fresh Entertainment, Gibraltar's sole professional audiovisual company has an impressive track record dating back to 2005, Fresh Entertainment CEO Jonathan Collado has turned to Elation fixtures since 2012 to elevate a diverse range of projects in Gibraltar, from conferences to major music festivals.
Despite the challenges posed by the Covid pandemic, Fresh Entertainment successfully maintained its staff and used the time to lay the groundwork for new festivals. Identifying an opportunity in the local market, Jonathan, a former DJ, launched.
The festival marked a significant milestone as the first European EDM music festival to make a post-pandemic return in 2021, attracting attendees from Europe and beyond. Held annually in July, and with a Christmas edition added to the lineup, Jonathan emphasises that Elation lighting has been integral to the festival's

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