UK - Lighting designer Jip Nipius controlled the lighting for a special 'cinematic' two-part show by English rockers Suede at London's Roundhouse in November using an Avolites Tiger Touch II for the first time.

Nipius has been working with Suede since the late 1990s and was asked to create a lighting design to complement the band's 'experiential' new shows, which were performed to launch a new concept album and short film.

For the first half of the show, lead singer Brett Anderson and his bandmates performed behind a partially transparent screen, onto which their movie - a 'dark and dramatic tale of love and despair' - was projected. For the second half, the screen was pulled up to reveal the group as they played a selection of Suede classics.

Avolites' exclusive Netherlands distributor Fairlight supplied the Tiger Touch II to Keylight's Gary Yates after inviting him and

UK - For Blyth Fireworks & Lighting Spectacular 2015, DTS Raptors and Evo fixtures brought the skies of Northumberland alive with stunning results for the 18,000 strong crowd awaiting the display.

Five DTS Raptors were mounted on a large commercial ship's helicopter pad, while Blyth's historical lighthouse was highlighted with help from a single Raptor. Full advantage was taken of the limitless pan rotation to create an unforgettable sight. Back on firm ground the DTS Evo fixtures delivered stunning effects across the bow of the ship and along the starboard side with rotating gobos and colours. The EVO fixtures provided bright and crisp beams.

"The DTS fixtures delivered stunning aerial displays of light across the skies of Northumberland and out into the North Sea," says David Thompson of Steadlands Lighting & Sound. "It was very impressive to see the incredi

USA - Country superstar Miranda Lambert's Roadside Bars and Pink Guitars tour reprises the name of her first headlining tour in 2010. It follows her Certified Platinum tour earlier this year and features an all-female line-up.

"This is a 13-city tour playing a lot of the markets that Miranda hasn't been able to hit in recent years," notes Nashville-based production designer Chris Lisle. "The design of the show is pretty straightforward with three overhead trusses and a floor lighting package. We also have some soft goods and scenic pieces that play heavily into the design. Miranda wanted to keep this one simple, so there are no video elements. She just wanted to go out, have fun musically and do a 'bad ass light show.'"

Lisle selected 20 Clay Paky B-EYE K20s for the rig. Ten each are in midstage and upstage trusses alternating with spot and beam fi

Spain - Wireless Solution recently participated in the performance Sama-Sama - Live Experience for Cirque du Soleil. The project invites the audience to immerse themselves in a parallel universe where they will follow the story of a mysterious community known as the Samis, who have built a unique space for creativity and inspiration, bringing people together through the joy of creation in a way never experienced before. They call this place Sama-Sama, which means "together" in Filipino.

The Samis (performers) danced and sang in the middle of the crowd holding and juggling a long light pole, designed by interactive experience's designers Rafael Mizrahi and Mickey Martin - the object was made of telescopic aluminium poles and 3D printed plastic parts, making it lightweight for the performers. "Wireless Solutions provided the most reliable wireless technology

UK - Robe continued its support of lighting designer Yaron Abulafia's book, The Art of Light on Stage - Lighting in Contemporary Theatre published by Routledge, with a UK launch at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.

Around 100 people rocked up to the event which took place in the foyer space of the Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House, preceding the evening's three provocative performances staged by the Leeds-based Phoenix Dance Theatre, which were lit by Yaron.

Yaron was delighted with the turnout and interest in the book, which received its world premiere at the 2015 Prague Quadrennial in June, also supported by Robe.

The book presentation followed a similar format to that of the PQ, with a three-way conversation between Yaron and Nick Moran, senior lecturer in lighting for live performance, BA Theatre Practice course team at London's Centra

China - Located in the prominent business district of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, EVER Club is fast becoming the city's ultimate party destination. In order to set itself apart from the diverse throng of crowded lounge bars and night clubs around it, EVER Club prides itself as a unique fusion of both - serving a broader demographic than just the affluent urban crowd.

Embodying the unique Ningbo culture that values "art, quality and relaxation", EVER Club aims to become "a club with vitality". To make this happen, a robust sound system is essential. The team at EZPro International Ltd opted for six Powersoft K3 amplifiers to drive four EAW Avalon CLUB.two loudspeakers.

"The system must be able to express EVER Club's mysterious flavour and individuality, and to create an atmosphere where clubbers can resonate with the music," shared Mr. Zhu, techni

UK - PLASA Focus Glasgow 2016 returns to the SECC with another distinguished seminar programme that will deliver two days of free pro audio and lighting presentations discussing the latest technologies for the live entertainment technology industry.

Thought provoking speakers include Grant Anderson, the Scottish Lighting Designer, in collaboration with lighting, AV and sound specialists Black Light who designed the popular Botanic Nights - 2015, a unique night-time experience. Grant Anderson explains how the light installation evoked an emotive reaction from the audience.

Anderson comments: "In Scotland, it's often said that you can experience four seasons in one day. Visitors to Botanics Lights have been able to experience four seasons in just one night. It made perfect sense to me to combine nature and light with seasonal changes as the three are inextri

USA - At the 49th Annual Country Music Association (CMA) Awards, held at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on 4 November, Sennheiser's wireless systems and microphones were well represented among performers and presenters with 83 microphones in play during the evening. Miranda Lambert, who sang through her Sennheiser SKM 2000/MMD 935-1 wireless transmitter and capsule combination, scooped her sixth consecutive Female Vocalist of the Year award.

Audio production services provider ATK Audiotek, which specializes in live television event programming, provided the live sound system and monitoring for the show and requested Sennheiser's complete live audio microphone package. "Sennheiser was well represented with the artists," commented Jeff Petersen, sound engineer at ATK Audiotek. "When you are doing a live nationwide broadcast, reliability is crucial. Sennheiser always

UK - dbn Lighting from Manchester collaborated in another exciting, innovative and off-the-wall production with producers Walk The Plank to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the landmark Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay, Wales. dbn's Stephen Page was asked to design lighting for the spectacle, staged outside along the main concourse approach to the Centre.

Staged on Saturday 12 September, the show, Ar Waith Ar Daith was a year in the planning and making and with over 600 participants, the largest outdoor theatre production in Wales to date. The show attracted crowds exceeding 12,000 who were enrapt as the age old tale of Welsh history, myth, allegory and magic unfolded via a series of promenade choreography, large format projections onto the side of the building, gravity-defying aerial stunts, lantern processions, choral singing, dance numbers and a truly exhilarating py

Italy - Award-winning lighting designer Bruno Poet felt privileged and inspired when offered to work in Verona Arena with the spectacular live show Intimissimi On Ice. At the same, this was his first opportunity to deploy SGM's LED luminaires in his creative design.

Show director, Francisco Negrin, describes the elegant ice-skating show as "a generator of the energy of shadows and light". The two acts depict very different aspects, where Act I starts with the dark energy in violent and chaotic forms exploring the dark sides of male/female relationships with both loneliness and desire. The desire turns into passionate lust and then into real love. Act II, however, is about light, joy, playfulness culminating in a celebratory finale.

For such an impressive and emotional show, lighting played an essential role. And with a lighting designer on board internationa

USA - When the ghosts and goblins surfaced at two major Halloween events recently, the mood was scary fun. With all the partying, laughing, and other trick or treat activities, there was plenty of noise. What was crystal clear, however, were the announcements and the music emanating from two sound reinforcement system setups deployed by Raven PMG. Consisting of Aero 20A line arrays and LX-118A subwoofers from Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio, the sound was loud, proud, and it kept the spirits high.

Raven PMG specializes in all aspects of event production and execution, including sound for touring artists, sporting events, music festivals, and more. This Halloween, the company was contracted to handle sound services for Halloween New Orleans, a four-day event designed to raise money for Project Lazarus, which helps people cope and live with HIV and AIDS. Equally notable, the c

Angola - A new sound reinforcement system has been installed at Patio Luanda. This popular restaurant is a very well-known space located in the city of Luanda and hosts a variety of events such as weddings, corporate events as well as live music activities.

Patio Luanda was looking for a system that could offer high sound pressure levels, reliability, an aesthetic design and high sound fidelity throughout the venue. The new solution was designed and installed by the manufacturer's representative in Angola, Mr. Julio Cardoso.

To achieve these requirements, the choice on the main system was the Next PX systems, chosen for its versatility, sound quality and reliability. On the stage the choice was the Next Lam112x stage monitors.

"The project was designed and conceived to satisfy all the needs of Patio Luanda including live performances as well as DJs performance,"

Sweden - Spargrisarna kan rädda världen (Saving Pigs Can Save The World) is the newest revue style production being staged at the well-known Lorensbergsteatern in Goteborg, Sweden. Produced by Kulturtuben, four actors deliver political satire and critiques of topical issues at breakneck speed backed by a 10-piece orchestra.

Lighting is designed by Michael Sevholt, the venue's technical manager, and a partner and founding member of Kulturtuben, who has included eight Robe DL4S Profiles and 14 x LEDWash 300s in his rig.

After reading the script, he realised that he needed moving head profiles to effectively key out the actors and also a moving wash light for illuminating the musicians located on a platform that changes places onstage during the show.

The set - designed by Rolf Allan Håkanson - is mainly lit with conventional fixtures. During the rehearsal period,

UK - Bristol-based entertainment lighting hire and event production specialist Fineline Lighting is celebrating a successful 2015 using Avolites Titan consoles, dimmers, Ai servers and TitanNet Processors on some of Europe's leading festivals.

More than 17,000 people flocked to Devon's Somersault Festival in July for a five-day musical extravaganza. Fineline provided lighting for four main music performance areas at the festival, including the 15m wide Main Stage.

The production lighting rig was designed by Fineline's Stuart England, and based around the requirements of the various headliners, an eclectic and interesting line up of Bombay Bicycle Club, Laura Marlin and The Staves. "The house lighting desk was an Avolites Sapphire Touch and all the dimming was Avolites," says England.

At Cornwall's Eden Project, Fineline provided the production lighting for the 2

UK - Following on from their successful run of festival shows across the summer, when Major Lazer confirmed their autumn UK tour, they contacted PRG XL Video to supply a flexible video package of LED pods, DJ booth and screens across a variety of venue sizes.

Phil Mercer, PRG XL's Music Group director, worked with Major Lazer's production manager, Joel Stanley, and lighting and visual designer, Kyle Kegan, to create a custom-built video setup which could be varied in size according to the venue.

Using Pixled F-12 LED, the video team worked closely with All Access, who constructed the staging for the tour, to create four pods and a DJ booth. Everything was prepped together to ensure the construction precisely fit the LED tiles. Joel Stanley explains, "We wanted a more scalable design for this tour, and having video and staging prepped together made everything much easier

UK - Twenty years since it was first staged, the annual Music of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards 2015 event took place at the Leeds First Direct arena on 4 November.

Production manager for the event, Rob Smalldon reports, "I've done the MOBOs for the last 10 years. As a live event direct to broadcast, the creation of an exciting and vibrant atmosphere within the venue is essential and how it sounds is a big part of creating that atmosphere. Since my first one, I've worked with Britannia Row (Brit Row); they did a great job then and they've never let me down since. The thing is they understand the show, they understand the multi-performance format so well, and they know that for the MOBOs, perhaps more than any comparable show, it needs to be nice and loud and Brit Row surpass both the audience and performers' expectations."

That said, certain broadcast sensitivities hav

UK - FBT UK is holding a one-off demonstration day on 12 January 2016 at The Backstage Centre, Purfleet in Essex to showcase its speaker systems and associated products.

The event is being held in two sessions and visitors are welcome to choose either the morning or afternoon event (a buffet lunch is being provided in either case).

Products on demonstration will include the FBT Muse 2-way line array system, which features dual 10" custom Low Frequency drivers and dual 1" B&C drivers in birch ply cabinets. The dual 10" drivers offer great low frequency performance from this very compact design. The system has been massively successful, already selling over 4,000 units worldwide.

Also on demonstration will be FBT's Mitus system, which features B&C drivers throughout - 2 x 6.5" Low Frequency and 2 x 1 inch High Frequency drivers in a lightweight polycarbo

Italy - With 18 months to go until Showlight 2017 takes place in Florence, the first exhibitors have already confirmed their attendance.

Arri, German Light Products (GLP), Hawthorn and Robe are the first to sign up for the much-anticipated lighting quadrennial, scheduled for 20-23 May 2017, with several other companies already lined up to join them.

This is the tenth fixture for Showlight which has grown in popularity since it first appeared in London's Barbican in 1981.

"Showlight is always a memorable fixture in Hawthorn's exhibition calendar, not only because it provides a great oversight of the very latest in lighting ideas, with time for everyone to attend presentations and digest ideas, but also gives an opportunity to network with industry colleagues old and new," says Hawthorn' s managing director, Martin Hawthorn.

Mark Ravenhill, president of GLP Ger

Germany - MA has launched its dot2 blog for this exciting new lighting console range. This new online platform will connect everything related to dot2 that's happening on the internet, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and other social channel mentions, says the company. Also, it will offer multiple ways for users to communicate with other dot2 users and MA Lighting.

Users can send pictures of their dot2 in action on projects and post them in the blog. They can learn more about the dot2 in the 'tips and tricks' section, find out about other dot2 users on the road in the 'stories' area, or discover all hot news and dates - from trainings to tradeshows - in the 'dates' section.

Besides the blog, there is also the dot2 website which offers multi-language product-related information, and the dot2 forum which is all about technical topics and support.

MA invites

China - Allen & Heath's Qu-16 digital mixer was recently installed in Run Li Xin Private Lounge in Chengdu, Sichuan, China.

Supplied by EZPro's Chengdu branch, the exclusive lounge has a very advanced sound and lighting system, including EAW speakers and Powersoft amps, centred around the Qu-16.

"The brief from the lounge's owners brief was to install well known audio and lighting products, with attractive appearance to match the interior style. They wanted Hi-Fi sound quality, and most important of all, a system with high efficiency and ease of use," explains technical manager at EZPro Chengdu, Mr. Lian.

For easy access for the sound engineers, the Qu-16 is installed in the DJ booth, and remote wireless control of the whole system is available via the Qu iPad app so that the sound engineers can be absent from the room if required.

"The Qu-16 is easy to

UK - UK festival industry group Powerful Thinking launched an incisive environmental impact report, 'The Show Must Go On', detailing a cross-industry response to the global environmental challenge, with a vision for change, on November 26th, 2015.

The Show Must Go On was introduced at the 'Sustainable Strategies' panel at the UK Festival Conference in London's Roundhouse, which focused on how festivals can minimise their carbon impact. It is subsequently being presented to the UN Convention on Climate Change, Paris, Nov 30th to December 11th 2015, where 196 countries will meet to sign a new climate change agreement.

The report's authors hope that by presenting a concise overview and proposed roadmap for reduced carbon impact at festivals in-line with international targets and that the UK festival industry sector can lead by example in achieving impact reduction targets by 20

USA - Dan + Shay wanted to do something out of the ordinary for their Just The Right Kind Of Crazy tour. It was, after all, their first headlining tour, and the rapidly rising country duo -- who made their Grand Ole Opry debut only a year earlier -- were looking for a design that would stand out over their previous supporting act rigs. For this they chose the Nexus 4x4 LED panel from Chauvet Professional, provided by 4Wall Lighting Entertainment as the centrepiece of the design.

Dan + Shay once again turned to LD Taylor Price for their design. The LD had created an impressive design for their spring/ summer tour earlier this year supporting various artists. "I began working with the band in the spring of 2014, when they were opening for one of my other clients," said the LD. "We've had an excellent rapport since. The guys brainstormed some ideas, and tour

Germany - Full service event services and exhibition provider, Matrixmanagement in Stuttgart has purchased AV Stumpfl Wings Engine Raw 4K uncompressed triple stream 4K50/60 media servers for use in high-profile events and exhibitions projects. In addition to the own servers

Georg Rössler, founder and CEO of Matrixmanagement states, "Our advertising, exhibition and event customers are demanding more detail and finite, brilliant presentations on larger projection and LED screens for exhibitions and events globally. We are uniquely positioned to offer them the best server technology and combined services to achieve their objectives."

Thierry Heldenbergh, managing director at AED Display adds, "Following our initial purchase of 15 Wings Engine Raw media servers in September, we supplied Wings Engine Raw media servers to Matrixmanagement through our AED Lease prog

UK - Verbatim's hi-tech LED candle lighting is being used as a safe, realistic and practical alternative to open flame candles by the producers of War and Peace, a TV adaption of Tolstoy's classic Russian novel to be screened by the BBC in 2016.

The TV series is being made by BBC Cymru Wales Drama in partnership with The Weinstein Company and BBC Worldwide/Lookout Point. During filming in Russia, local production company Globus Film Studio took the decision to install over 1200 Verbatim LED retrofit lamps to create appropriate lighting when shooting important scenes such as those in a historic ballroom.

The chandeliers of the ballroom were equipped with Verbatim LED VxRGB Natural Vision Candle lamps which deliver up to 50lm output and offer up to 25,000 hours of guaranteed lifetime. These lamps provide a warm candle-like glow that closely matches the colour spectrum o

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