Lighting

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20 September 2024

Spain - Currently touring to promote their second album Fuego, Spanish band Xeria has also mastered LightShark so that they can easily adapt their own show to suit different sized venues.

Lighting designer Alex Conde, founder of Aconde Design, was commissioned to design the lighting for the band Xeria, who are currently touring Spain to promote their new album Fuego.

"My main responsibility was designing the layout of the lighting equipment, programming the lighting for each song, and automating MIDI commands with Xeria’s Cymatic Audio LP-16 MIDI audio system and an IRing MIDI 2 adapter,” he explains.

“For this tour Xeria is using four Equipson Mark Beam 201 moving heads, eight Equipson Mark Mbar RGB 4 lighting bars, and four Equipson Mark MF 1500 VT fog machines. To ensure that the lighting setup matched their music,

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20 September 2024

Belgium - EventCom is a specialist in the provision and rental of AV equipment based in Gembloux, in French-speaking Belgium, managed by director Thomas Richard.

The company has invested in a number of Robe mobile lighting products, including the newest iFORTES and Esprites.

EventCom has also just completed a new extension to their warehouse and offices, which will triple their operational space to 2,600sq.m of storage and 600sq.m of office space. This will allow EventCom to operate more efficiently and grow as planned over the coming years.

“Robe is the top brand right with an excellent range of fixtures and a great reputation for reliability and value,” stated Thomas, whose first purchase was 24 x MegaPointes in 2021 which have worked constantly ever since.

“Getting MegaPointes really did have that much impact, they were that

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20 September 2024

UK - Astera’s new LunaBulb product – launched in May – won a coveted PLASA Award for Innovation earlier this month during the PLASA at Olympia in London.

This adds to the product’s growing collection of accolades which has also recently included a Best of Show award conferred by film-tv-video at the EuroCine expo in Munich in July.

PLASA’s Awards for Innovation judging panel commented that LunaBulb “combines a broad feature-set in a much-loved conventional aesthetic”, which clearly impressed them as much as it has many Astera customers and users.

LunaBulb weighs in at just 81 grams (0.179 lbs) and is designed for indoor and outdoor use. Key features are DMX control, full-colour RGBMA and a CCT range from 1,750K to 20,000K and five inbuilt wireless technologies (CRMX, RDM, Bluetooth, WiFi, IR, and UHF), and naturally it is compat

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19 September 2024

Europe - Icon of the Seas, Royal Caribbean International’s new ship, built at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland, features more than 40 different entertainment, leisure, and retail spaces, including three primary entertainment venues. The Royal Theatre presents full-scale productions, including the first rendition of The Wizard of Oz at sea; Absolute Zero is a premium ice-skating arena; and the Aqua Theatre features aqua shows put on by a cast of aerialists, high divers, robots and synchronised swimmers.

Two of Icon’s main entertainment venues – Royal Theatre and Absolute Zero – have Robe moving lights at the heart of their installed lighting rigs, while approximately 250 other Robe and Anolis LED fixtures are being used throughout the ship in 10 separate areas.

The various Robe fixtures include iForte, Forte FS and iForte FS

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19 September 2024

Germany - The best 64 drift drivers meet in the City of Iron every year to determine the title of Iron Drift King. Amidst the impressive backdrop of the Ferropolis Industrial Museum with its giant open-cast mining excavators, the professionals raced on a customised racetrack in front of thousands of spectators.

The drift manoeuvres were dynamically staged by the technical service provider i:TECS Event Production, which used the Cameo Oron H2 IP65 Hybrid Phosphor Laser Moving Heads for the first time.

The i:TECS team placed a total of 30 Oron H2s on the roofs and booms of the four bucket wheel excavators in Ferropolis in order to effectively stage the races in the open-air arena.

“We have significantly expanded the lighting concept for Iron Drift King compared to last year, and decided to use moving lights on the excavators for the first tim

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18 September 2024

South Africa - One of South Africa’s leading educational institutions, North West University (NWU), has chosen power solutions from LSC Control Systems at the core of the recent technical upgrade of its largest performance space, the Sanlam Auditorium. The APS (Advanced Power Systems) units were provided and installed by LSC’s South African representative, DWR Distribution.

Sited at NWU’s campus in the city of Potchefstroom, around 120km to the southwest of Johannesburg, the 957-capacity Sanlam Auditorium is the hub of NWU’s cultural life, hosting a varied programme of theatre, conferences, film screenings, dance, musical performances, lectures and ceremonial functions.

Recently, the time had come for the venue to undertake a complete upgrade of its ageing lighting system, which included fixtures approaching 40 years of service. Glenn Cunniff

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18 September 2024

UK - Karoliina Helin has joined 3LR Lighting as in-house architectural lighting designer.

A native of Finland, Helin’s lighting career started after she graduated from UWE with a degree in Interior Architecture. Realising the power that lighting could have within a space, one she describes as “artistic, creative and technical all at the same time”, she joined re:Light in Bristol where she worked as senior lighting designer. She has since worked for Satore Studio in Cardiff as well as being a freelance lighting designer, during which time she collaborated with 3LR on hundreds of projects.

Helin comments: “I am thrilled to officially become a part of 3LR Lighting. Over the past three years, I’ve worked with Matt and the team on countless occasions, and we share the same passion of bringing spaces to life through lighting; particularly driven

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18 September 2024

Germany - Diversified, a leading global technology solutions provider, has announced the appointment of Johannes Stehr as vice-president of Enterprise EMEA. This strategic hire underscores Diversified's commitment to developing world-class enterprise offerings and addressing the growing demand for consistent global technology standards with robust local support.

In this newly created role, Stehr will lead Diversified's expansion of Workplace and Media operational capabilities across Europe, with an initial focus on Germany. His appointment marks a significant step in Diversified's global strategy to enhance its ability to serve multinational enterprises with a harmonised approach to technology deployment and support.

"As organisations increasingly seek standardised technology experiences across their global footprint, they also require deep local exp

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17 September 2024

UK - Celebrating its “best show for many years”, PLASA Show once again took residence in the Grand Hall of Olympia London from 1-3 September, demonstrating continuous growth - occupying 10% more floor space, welcoming a steady 5% increase in visitors and showcasing over 30 new exhibitors.

Despite an unexpected heatwave in the city and the extended summer festival season, visitor figures for Sunday - the event’s opening day - saw a 9.5% increase compared to 2023, while day two’s footfall also exceeded previous years, according to the show’s organisers.

The show floor welcomed a healthy cross-section of industry visitors, from entry-level professionals to senior leadership, with 15% more students visiting compared to 2023 and 79% of attendees declaring “influential purchasing power”. Key job roles of those in attendance included directors

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17 September 2024

UK - Entertainment technology distributor Entedi announced its partnership with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) at PLASA Show 2024.

Through this partnership, Entedi and RADA are set to ‘transform the training landscape’, acting as a hub for the entertainment lighting industry.

By providing in-depth demonstrations and specialist equipment training, Entedi will play a key part in ensuring that RADA’s delivery of lighting theory and the practical application of the latest technologies stays at the cutting edge.

Cally Bacchus, managing director at Entedi, comments: "We are incredibly excited to collaborate with RADA. This partnership represents a unique opportunity to nurture the future and current generation of lighting professionals by combining RADA's exceptional educational framework with Entedi's industry-leading technology an

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17 September 2024

Europe - The announcement of Showlight’s return next year (19-25 May in Dijon) created considerable interest at PLASA Show 2024.

Showlight’s organisers report that there was a healthy contingent of students enquiring about the subsidised student scheme and great interest in the introduction of afternoon workshops for 2025. Showlight is encouraging manufacturers, designers and students to put forward their ideas for more workshops. If you have a proposal, contact papers.committee@showlight.org

A large number of papers proposals have been received following the call for papers in June and more submissions are welcome. Remember to submit your ideas for consideration by the papers committee as soon as possible.

“The Programme of Papers is the heart and soul of Showlight and we want to be able to bring you the best and most entertaining topi

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17 September 2024

The Netherlands - Dutch pioneer of the hard techno industry, Verknipt, has been known for its wild techno music events for over a decade, hosting multiple festivals at a number of locations across the Netherlands. With a growing worldwide following, the events are a melee of wild lighting and laser shows combined with ‘freaky’ performances to the tunes of stellar line-ups of hard rave artists.

Verknipt ArenA, which took place on 20 July 2024, was the biggest yet: a record-breaking gathering of 40,000 ‘slaves to the rave’. Classed as ‘the world’s biggest hard techno rave’, the sold-out event was the first ever for Verknipt at Amsterdam’s Johan Cruijff Arena.

Netherlands-based Martin Ciesluk of Outside the Circle, the company that designed and ran the light show for Verknipt ArenA, ensured that Ayrton Cobra was one of t

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17 September 2024

USA - Mega-Lite has introduced two new fixtures: Drama EW 200 and Drama EC 200 luminaires.

Drama EW 200 offers daylight white light (6,024K) with 9,053 lumens at 19°, suitable for bright, natural illumination and perfect for gobo projections and creating vibrant atmospheres.

Drama EC 200 provides a mix of lime, amber, red, green, and blue colours, improving lumen output and efficiency without sacrificing colour saturation.

Both fixtures, featuring a 200W quietly cooled LED, are designed for versatility. They have a four-blade shutter system to project light where you want it and interchangeable 19°, 26°, 36°, and 50° lenses, making them ideal for churches, theatres, and other noise-sensitive spaces.

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16 September 2024

Puerto Rico - When Marcos Efraín Masís Fernández, known professionally as Tainy, and Lex Borrero teamed up to launch their music company Neon16, “a multifaceted talent incubator” in 2019, they adopted the motto “fear nothing, impact everything”.

This attitude was on full display at Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot during Data Loading, the highly anticipated show from Tainy. The multi-Grammy winning songwriter and sound engineer mesmerized the sellout crowd with “a full throttled performance”, during which he was joined by stars like Bad Bunny, Rauw Alejandro, Jhayco, Young Miko, Arcángel and Álvaro Diaz.

Helping to rev up the energy on stage was a relentless, fast-moving lighting design by Richard Vicens and ShowVault that utilised an impressive 450-fixture rig from Musique Xpress Lights.

Most of the rig w

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16 September 2024

UK - Offering considerable hands-on experience and the first steps into a technical career in the arts, applications are open again for Lighthouse Young Technicians, organised by Lighthouse Poole arts complex. It is a nationally recognised training course for young people aged 13-19 eager to get to grips with lighting, sound and stage management in a variety of indoor and outdoor settings.

“Since its launch in 2018, the Young Technicians course has proven to be a valuable, real-world route into a career in technical theatre,” says Charles Shenton, Lighthouse creative engagement producer.

Guided by industry specialists in a structured 12-week course, the budding technicians navigate all elements of technical theatre to gain the experience they need to pursue a future career, working alongside all technical departments in the build up to opening ni

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13 September 2024

UK - Elation has announced that Sound Technology has been appointed as the exclusive distributor for Elation and Obsidian products in the UK and Ireland, effective now. In addition to its existing portfolio, Sound Technology will manage all aspects of Elation and Obsidian sales, service, training, and support in the region.

Located in Letchworth Garden City, north of London, Sound Technology is a leading distributor of high-profile brands in the professional audio, lighting, and MI retail sectors. The company is part of the Midwich Group, one of the largest specialist audiovisual distributors in the UK and Europe.

Marc Librecht, sales and marketing director for Elation and Obsidian in Europe, emphasised the partnership: “We are excited to have found a dedicated partner who can help us expand the Elation and Obsidian brands in this extremely importa

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13 September 2024

Vietnam - Acoustic & Lighting System (A&L) Group’s Vietnam team recently hosted an industry meet and greet with Vietnam’s creatives at Revons Studio in District 4, Ho Chi Minh City. The event, titled Spatial Visualisation, invited Vietnam’s top show designers, production directors, choreographers and technical directors to touch, experience and experiment using the BlackTrax real-time tracking and automation solution. 

Acoustic & Lighting System (A&L) Group is a value-added event technology distribution network, with a regional coverage across six countries in South-East Asia, including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and certified BlackTrax reseller for the region. 

For this event the Group’s Vietnam branch chose to showcase the company’s solution package of BlackTrax integrated with multiple

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13 September 2024

The Netherlands - The Schouwburg theatre in Lochem, eastern Netherlands, has selected 40 Source Four LED Series 3 luminaires, 12 High End Systems Halcyon Gold and 18 SolaPix 7 automated fixtures to upgrade its space.

ETC dealer Ampco Flashlight Sales delivered the fixtures to the theatre, which houses 400 seats for a variety of performances including cabaret and cover bands.

The venue originally housed tungsten lighting and following European legislations – which ban the use of halogen lights in the long run – decided to make the move to LED. Schouwburg’s team found that in comparison to their original tungsten lights, the addition of the Halcyon, SolaPix and Source Four LED Series 3 fixtures made a huge difference in saving power. The selected fixtures have been placed above the main stage, on the sides of the stage as well as above the audien

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13 September 2024

UK - Robe lighting enjoyed “a brilliant PLASA 2024” in London Olympia, tapping into the hustle and energy of the show.

Four new products were launched by the Czechia-based manufacturer – the iForte Fresnel, the Painte Fresnel, the Svopatt and the SVB1 WashBeam moving light, all attracting plenty of interest as Robe continued the celebration of its 30th year.

Robe also premiered its new live exhibition performance extravaganza, The Fifth Dimension complete with three live performers including aerial acrobat and dancer Oskar Skrypko, who caused such a stir at Prolight earlier in the year!

All of Robe’s businesses – Avolites, LSC, Anolis and Artistic Licence – occupied their own areas surrounding the main Robe stand, demonstrating the bi-directional synergies between all of these and capitalising on the buzz and positivity o

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13 September 2024

Germany - Arri has announced the Arri SkyPanel S60 Pro. The latest addition to the SkyPanel family combines the benefits of the classic SkyPanel S60-C with innovative updates that service the needs of today’s professionals while delivering cost-performance and versatility.

To satisfy the increasing demands of production workflows, SkyPanel S60 Pro offers new and enhanced technical features. The digital twin, an exact replica of the luminaire in Unreal Engine, developed by Arri Solutions, offers “unparalleled customisation and control throughout the entire production chain”. This digital twin reduces workloads and improves efficiency in preproduction, on set, and in post-production by allowing crews to quickly synchronise real-world and virtual camera and lighting systems for live collaboration.

Enhanced serviceability is also featured with Clou

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12 September 2024

USA - Rob Koenig and his team are working with Metallica on the second North American leg of the band’s M72 World Tour.

Elevating the show on this tour “to a new, and even higher level of engagement” is an innovative production design by Dan Braun, supported by an equally original lighting design by Koenig that features 144 Chauvet Professional Color Strike M motorised strobe washes supplied by Premier Global Production.

The design’s 360-degree stage brings the band closer to the crowd and affords clear views from anywhere in the big stadium. Those views are also bold, as Koenig pours volumes of bright light on the stage, impressively without having any truss-mounted fixtures, except for a small number around the drum riser.

“This kind of stage was all part of Dan Braun’s vision for the tour from the start,” said Koenig

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12 September 2024

UK - First performed on Broadway in 1964, in a production which won 10 Tony Awards, Hello, Dolly! is the classic Jerry Herman musical about Dolly Levi, a strong-willed matchmaker who travels to New York to find a match for the miserly, unmarried Horace Vandergelder. It has been revived countless times over the years, having first arrived in the West End in 1965.

Now, almost 60 years on, a new production has recently opened at the London Palladium, directed by Dominic Cooke and starring Imelda Staunton. It also features a lighting design by the Olivier Award-winning Jon Clark who approached White Light (WL), a d&b solutions company, to supply his lighting rig.

This latest production of Hello, Dolly! has been several years in the making. Initially intended to open in July 2020, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has

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12 September 2024

UK - Avolites, a Robe business, chose this year’s PLASA Show to debut its new Diamond 7 (D7) console in the UK – the newest addition to the Avolites Diamond collection.

The two variants, the D7-330 and D7-215 received lots of attention across the show days from students and industry professionals. The console offers high-end performance that can travel anywhere you go.

Also making its debut at the PLASA Show was Prism One, the latest version of Avolites’ Prism media software (soon to be released) designed principally for lighting designers.

Key new features include an added preview window, cross fade on a layer, hardware decode acceleration for H.264/H.265, control over multiple banks and layers, live input and NDI input, as well as virtual return and region of interest on outputs.

All of these were demonstrated to an enthusiast

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11 September 2024

USA - The SC4 Fine Arts Theatre at St. Clair County Community College in Port Huron, Michigan, faced an urgent need for a lighting upgrade due to an outdated system that had been in use for decades. Japheth Boivin, director of integration at Mercury Sound & Lighting, an AV solutions company that had previously installed a video streaming system and digital signage for the theatre, spearheaded the lighting design for the renovation and chose Elation KL and Fuze series luminaires.

“The main impetus for the project was that the previous system was failing on all fronts due to its age and obsolescence,” commented Boivin, who says that the previous mix of conventional PARs and ellipsoidals dated anywhere from the ‘60s to the ‘90s. “They wanted a technology upgrade to something more reliable, more capable, and more versatile.” 

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