Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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UK - 2015 marks 10 years since Billy Elliot the Musical first opened at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London. Following its first performance on 11 March 2005, the show has gone on to become one of the most popular and successful musicals in the West End. During the past decade, it has won numerous awards, opened in countries such as Australia and South Korea, and has branched out to nationwide tours across America and Canada. During its entire West End run, the show has only ever had one lighting supplier - complete production solution specialist White Light.

The musical has won four Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical. It also went on to win 10 Tony Awards, 10 Drama Desk Awards and a record-breaking seven Helpmann Awards in Australia. It has transferred to Broadway

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Italy - Every year on 24 June, Turin is crowded with thousands of people - not only from Turin but from other cities such as Florence and Genoa, where it is an annual public holiday. Its purpose is to honour the Feast of St. John (La Festa di San Giovanni).

Shows, games, concerts, sport events and wonderful exhibitions take place, with people dressed in traditional costumes and spectacular fireworks over the River Po - this year watched by up to 200,000 in the city's biggest square, Vittorio Veneto Square.

This is where Martin Audio's technology partner, Corsinotti Sas, had fielded its new MLA Compact system, which was being deployed for the first time. The company has handled this event since 1986, using a Martin Audio W8LC Martin Audio compact line array since 2004. However, Rinaldo Corsinotti, the eponymous rental company owner, said that this year they had made an importan

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Austria - Pushing the limits of what can be achieved in video playback, Austria's AV Stumpfl has introduced "the world's first and only triple-stream 4K uncompressed media server, Wings Engine Raw".

"With Wings Engine Raw, we've delivered on user requests for the smoothest possible uncompressed playback system with full timeline control," says Horst Damoser, sales manager at AV Stumpfl. "Built to support a range of applications requiring a high-quality image sources matched to particular display requirements, user benefits include newer, faster and unrivalled installation functionality."

Using a single custom engineered RAID 10 system, Wings Engine Raw is capable of delivering constant data stream of three-channels of true 4K (4,096 x 2,304 pixels) uncompressed video content at 60fps plus up to 16 text and picture layers, and up to 24 uncompressed

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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USA - Recently, the Zac Brown Band launched their Jekyll + Hide North American stadium tour presented by BAI. Production designers Louis Oliver and James Scott from Okulus worked with Special Event Services (SES) that provided grandMA2 full-size and grandMA2 light consoles. With offices in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Nashville, Tennessee, SES is marking its 28th year offering full production services, audio, video and lighting equipment. It has been providing lighting for Zac Brown Band for more than five years.

James Scott and Louis Oliver are co-founders of London-based Okulus, a show, lighting and production design group for live music and broadcast. Okulus launched last summer, and its clients include You Me At Six, Chvrches, Passenger and Disclosure. Scott was production designer for the Zac Brown Band last year under the banner of Times Design Ltd.

The brief for Ol

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Azerbaijan - Over 670 Clay Paky fixtures amazed two sold-out audiences of 68,000 at the first European Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies, held 12 and 28 June at the Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan. The fixtures were the backbone of the lighting design by Bob Dickinson and Ted Wells, assisted by lighting director Travis Hagenbuch. Assistant lighting director was Charles Dabezias. Executive producer was Scott Givens of Five Currents.

The newly built 225,000sq.m stadium was embellished with 437 units of Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330, 66 units of Sharpy and 174 units of Clay Paky Mythos. The fixtures were placed essentially everywhere, from Mythos on the field of play surrounding the stage and lining the top of the stadium to the Sharpy and Sharpy Wash 330 fixtures filling in every level in between.

The inaugural event was broadcast throughout Europe and beyond and featured alm

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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

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India - Pixel Projects established local trading entity Pixel AV India PVT LTD in early 2015. The Bangalore office is now fully operational with premises occupied in the Jayamahala Extension.

The new team consists of experienced AV project managers, engineers and account managers from the local area. The Bangalore team also have access to Pixel Projects' departments and resources across the globe including the company's centre of excellence for Design and CAD in the UK office.

The office is manned by country manager of Pixel Projects India, Somit Mukherjee. He has over 15 years of managerial experience in the Indian AV industry in varied roles. His diverse experience provides him with a thorough appreciation of the various stages involved in AV projects as well as clear insight into and understanding of the local business climate, making Somit ideally placed to oversee Pixel P

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USA - The Cunard Line was looking for a way to celebrate the 175th anniversary of its first transatlantic crossing, when Kelly Easterling approached the company with an idea that was outside the box - or perhaps more aptly outside the ship! Easterling, the creative director and principal designer at Quantum Theatricals, proposed creating a dynamic lightshow set to music off the side of the 1,132ft Queen Mary 2, the company's flagship ocean liner. Much to the delight of the massive crowd in New York harbour on 14 July, this is precisely what he and his dedicated team wound up doing with help from 50 intensely bright Legend 230SR Beams from Chauvet Professional.

The 230W Legends were the only fixtures used on the ocean liner for the magnificent lighting display. (Four other movers were on shore as part of the show.) Positioned alongside the railings of the port side promenade deck

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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal

Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.

With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

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USA - Nashville-based rental and production specialist Elite Multimedia has made its first Robe purchase. Twenty CycFX 8 fixtures are going out on country star Luke Bryan's new tour as specified by lighting designer Justin Kitcheman from FadeUp Design.

Jason 'Cannonball' Jenkins, Elite's head of lighting, says: "I like the fact that the fixture has a variable zoom, which is more unusual on an LED batten and brings greater flexibility, both as a scenic light as well as for aerial and audience effects."

The Elite team and Justin received a demo from Robe Lighting Inc. to make sure that the CycFX 8 met all the criteria for the tour and then committed to the purchase.

On the tour the CycFX 8s will be used along the front of the stage for lighting faces and also as an audience lighting special.

Justin has been a fan of Robe for some time and comments: "I needed a

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UK - A.C. Special Projects (ACSP) have specified, supplied and commissioned a complete LED lighting and visual effects solution for LEGO Friends to the Rescue, an all-new live show spectacular which recently opened at the LEGOLAND Windsor Resort.

The show is set in the resort's new land, Heartlake City, which recreates the fun and colourful world of the popular LEGO Friends toy range. During the show, guests join Heartlake City's five female characters on an action packed adventure which is full of music, dance and special effects.

SGA Productions were commissioned by the LEGOLAND Windsor Resort to enhance the show's live action performances with some of the very latest theatrical-style production values. They approached ACSP at last year's PLASA London show to specify lighting and visual effects solutions which would give the shows a 'wow factor', whilst also being sui

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USA - Bandit Lites is providing the lighting for Brian Wilson's summer tour, where he and his band, featuring Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin, continue to play the greatest Beach Boys and Brian Wilson songs.

Lighting designer Chris Stuba looked to Wilson's own music for inspiration in creating an elegant looking show. "I love the man and I love the music," said Stuba. "His band is one of the best out there working today."

Stuba utilized VL500D fixtures as the main wash, with VL3500s as key lighting in addition to four the floor with MAC Auras to light the drapery. MAC Vipers provided backlighting and VL2500s were used as "chin kickers".

"The VL500D is still my favourite wash fixture," explained Stuba, "and while it does have some limitations in the blue and green range, the red range and the tungsten all make up for it. It is very

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UK - At the start of 2015, Current RMS became an Add-On Partner for cloud accounting software Xero. Now the system has just released a seamless, real-time integration with QB Online, another popular cloud accounting software in the AV, Production and Events industry.

"Post invoices and credit notes from Current directly to QB Online and effortlessly keep you customer data in sync, reducing duplication of data and time spent updating multiple systems - streamlining the rental cycle that one step further," says Current RMS.

"Using cloud solutions to manage your business processes, instantly allows you to become more agile and versatile, responding to customer requests at the drop of a hat. Your cash flow and the management of your accounts is vital to the growth of your business and by moving your accounts into the cloud, you are provided with real-time visibility

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UK - Prolight Concepts has released the V1.5 software update for the popular LED Master 64 DMX controller from Transcension. The update allows the user to patch a virtual dimmer for any fixture that does not feature its own onboard dimmer channel (i.e. 3 DMX channel RGB fixtures). The virtual dimmer gives control over intensity for all functions of control including manual colours, fades and chases.

Users can download the V1.5 software from the product page of Prolight Concepts' website and load onto the controller using a standard USB stick (2GB max.).

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USA - At the mid-year mark, Christie Lites reports a busy and successful 2015 for its new Chicago rental office, which officially opened in January. The full-service, 50,000sq.ft warehouse in the suburb of Woodridge, Illinois, marks #13 for this North American stage lighting and rigging rental company.

Said Christie Lites CEO Huntly Christie, "I have always considered Chicago the sister city to my home town of Toronto. We both enjoy great history, architecture, water, food, sport and wonderful people. Christie Lites is pleased to complete this sibling connection with the opening of our new warehouse in Woodridge. We can now provide local service and support in the home of the largest convention centre in North America."

"The calendar has been active primarily with corporate events," said Christie Lites operations manager Eric Eaton, citing the city's large

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South Africa - Three years ago, Martin Professional held a lighting competition to showcase their lighting design software and controllers around the Frankfurt Pro Light and Sound Show in Germany and in Russia. Entrants submitted videos of their designs, set to a pre-determined piece of music and let the public vote on the best submission and contestants then won prizes from Martin Professional.

Electrosonic SA decided to take this concept to the next level: Why not invite entrants to design their own show, to their own music, and then perform the show to a live audience?

"A year ago the Electrosonic SA Lighting Team pitched this idea to the organisers of Mediatech Africa in the hope of hosting the competition at the 2015 trade show. Claire Badenhorst (general manager) and Simon Robinson (exhibition director) liked the idea and we were all confident it would prove a drawc

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USA - Her farewell tour is called Rock This Country and country icon Shania Twain is doing just that as she bids good-bye to her fans from coast to coast. More than 300 Clay Paky lighting fixtures are along for the ride, selected by lighting designer Mark Butts who also serves as the tour's coproduction designer with Raj Kapoor.

Last year, when Twain was in her residency at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas where Kapoor was her show director, Butts conceived a "big, edgy, modern rock 'n roll look" for her farewell tour. "I wanted a big lighting rig, big pyro, lots of automation - the biggest possible system that we could easily move around the country," he says. "And that led me to Clay Paky."

According to Butts, "The only way to implement a rig of this size was to use super efficient small, high-power lights with a ton of features. There was

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Europe - Clay Paky's award-winning hybrid fixture, the Mythos, has joined Brandon Flowers on his European tour, with lighting designer Steven Douglas making full use of its multi-functionality for the majority of the show's stunning looks.

Playing across Ireland, Germany, Italy and the UK, The Killers' frontman was out in support of his The Desired Effect solo album campaign.

Douglas has been working with Flowers and the Las Vegas-based rockers for over 10 years, building design ideas from scratch for each of their highly successful tours. For Flowers' run of solo dates, Douglas' design was centred upon defined beams of light to create an architectural feel, employing six Mythos as the workhorses of the floor package.

"My idea for this tour was to move away from using wash fixtures and to use dark space to accentuate beams," explains Douglas. "We found

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Sweden - Nordic rock band, The Cardigans, are currently touring with Allen & Heath's GLD Chrome digital mixing system, supplied and managed by Swedish PA company, Parashoot.

"We have been using Allen & Heath's iLive systems on The Cardigans since the revival tour in 2012, and more recently, I used the GLD system on the Nina Persson's Animal Heart solo tour, so it felt natural to move to the GLD Chrome for this summer tour. Nina's vocals in particular sound so wonderful through GLD, I was confident about making the switch," says Parashoot's Oscar Söderlund.

Parashoot selected a Chrome GLD-112 for FOH, with a Chrome GLD-80 on monitors. The band's monitor set up is mixture of wedges, and wireless and hardwired in-ears. An AR2412 remote IO rack is installed as a stage box, with two 2 AR84 racks in another rack containing a multi-track player/recorder and the band's and

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USA - Royal Caribbean International partnered with Daktronics, in conjunction with Robotic Arts and ABB, to implement a never-been-done-before visual experience for their new Quantum Class cruise ships. Anthem of the Seas made its first voyage on 22 April, 2015 with the visual spectacular first showcased on the maiden voyage of Quantum of the Seas in November 2014.

Daktronics worked hand-in-hand with all parties involved from the initial concept through the final installation to provide a first-of-its-kind experience now available on cruise ships and known as RoboScreens.

"We were looking to develop the next big feature for the Quantum Class and after initiating concepts with ABB and Robotic Arts, it became apparent that selecting the best display solution would be a critical element," said Christopher Vlassopulos, superintendent of SLVR and architectural lighting fo

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France - More than 400,000 spectators gathered on Paris' Champs de Mars for the 14 July La FΩte Nationale (Bastille Day) public holiday. Marking the culmination of the French Revolution in 1789, and signalling the rise of France as a nation, the crowd assembled at the foot of the Eiffel Tower for a performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana by 250 musicians from the National Orchestra of France and of the Radio France Choir.

TV viewers and radio listeners in France and beyond joined the assembled tourists and local residents to listen to the music and watch the firework display that followed.

Sound for the concert was mixed on two mc²36 desks at FOH - one handling the orchestra and the other for the choirs. Two Lawo Dallis I/O systems, used as stageboxes, were connected via Ravenna/AES67 Audio-over-IP technology to a newly developed Nova router. An additional Yama

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Guatemala - The Frater is the largest Christian Church in central and South America and has recently undergone a major lighting installation.

"We worked hard," says Walter Moran head of the lighting project, "but it's important that everybody is happy with the achieved result. A special thanks goes to Fabiano

The Frater is a modern multi-complex venue built on a 113,000sq.m site in San Cristobal, a few miles away from the city centre of Guatemala. The 50,000sq.m building includes a main auditorium with 13,000 seats.

The Frater belongs to a Christian congregation, Fraternidad Cristiana de Guatemala, established in the late '70s by Pastor Jorge H. Lopez. The congregation is founded on the values of the family and through the years has gathered thousands of people - becoming a model for Central and Latin America.

The main auditorium is used for religious servic

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UK - Woolf Works, Wayne McGregor's first full length ballet for the Royal Ballet, performed at Covent Garden's Royal Opera House, was met by critics and audiences with high acclaim. The ballet triptych is based on Virginia Woolf, as viewed through her three major novels: Mrs Dalloway, Orlando and The Waves.

The original score by Max Richter was realised for the stage by sound designer Chris Ekers who successfully brought together a truly complex sound production incorporating music from a live orchestra, electronic music and sound effects, in an environment typically neither set up for nor suited to amplification.

Ekers commented, "It was evident from the way Max had scored each segment that amplification would be necessary. To allow full creative control, a TiMax SoundHub delay-matrix was always going to be a part of my specification, and as t

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Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
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