Lighting

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02 September 2024

Australia - It was confirmed at PLASA Show 2024 that with effect from 1 September, Melbourne-based manufacturer LSC Control Systems will become the Australia & New Zealand distributor for UK-based lighting controls and visual systems manufacturer, Avolites.

Both companies are owned by Czech Republic-based moving light and LED manufacturer, Robe lighting s.r.o.

This significant development will be mutually beneficial to both brands in Australia & New Zealand – and to the market as it signals a new period of opportunity for the region’s professional lighting industry.

It also brings these two renowned brands full circle. Although in robust competition for more than 30 years, the two enjoyed a successful partnership back in the 1980s, when LSC provided certain products under OEM license to Avolites.

As Robe businesses, both c

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02 September 2024

UK - Follow-Me BV, the Dutch manufacturer of 3D performer tracking solutions for the AV and entertainment industries has announced the launch of its Track-iT Weatherproof Anchor. This new product is being showcased by Entedi, Follow-Me’s UK sales partner, on stand G33 at the PLASA Show this week.

The Follow-Me Track-iT Weatherproof Anchor is designed to integrate seamlessly with Follow-Me Track-iT systems, using ultra-wideband technology, multiple anchors are strategically positioned to pinpoint tags placed on the performer, building on scalability and improving tracking capabilities in outdoor environments.

Its IP65 rating ensures the Track-iT Weatherproof Anchor can withstand anything from dust and downpours, delivering consistent and reliable results whatever the weather. Built to perform reliably in a variety of conditions, the units meet rigor

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02 September 2024

UK - Claypaky is unveiling new models in the Tambora and Mini-B families as well as on other latest products such as Arolla Aqua, HY BY-EYE K15 Aqua, Volero Cube and Rhapsodya.

The stand will feature a pre-recorded product presentation, with video content displayed on the LED Wall. In between product presentations you can request hands-on demos from both Claypaky and CP Wave technical staff.

Tambora Rays is a blend of volumetric effects and single pixel mapping for unparalleled performance: the 9x3 rows of high-power RGBWW LEDs will inspire your creativity. With pixel-to-pixel control, a total of 27 single LEDs can be managed for ‘creative potential and stunning lighting effects’.

This compact and lightweight powerhouse can be used in grids, as a stage or screen border, arranged in vertical or horizontal arrays, or as columns or flying ba

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02 September 2024

UK - Sound Technology has announced its appointment as the UK and ROI distributor for the Sumolight Groups’ Sumomax lighting system.

Sumomax is a 500W full colour RGBWW LED soft light luminaire designed for film, television, and photography professionals. Known for its high output, adjustable colour temperature, and compact design, the Sumomax has rapidly gained traction in the global entertainment industry.

Steve Fay, managing director of Sound Technology, stated, "We're excited to represent Sumolight in the UK market. Its innovative lighting system perfectly complements our expanding portfolio of lighting brands and reinforces our commitment to providing cutting-edge solutions to creative professionals."

Tim Zur, managing director of the Sumolight Group, commented, “We are delighted to be able to start our journey with Sound Technology

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02 September 2024

Spain - DJ David Guetta delighted audiences with his show The Monolith on 25 July at the Ciutat de València Stadium. For more than four hours, the artist offered an unforgettable musical and visual performance, combining his characteristic electronic sound with dazzling visual effects that captivated the audience. The event brought together more than 18,000 spectators, consolidating itself as one of the major events of the year in the city.

The Monolith solidified its status as David Guetta's premier show in Spain, an exclusive production crafted specifically for this event. The impressive, large-scale set design seamlessly integrated the latest technology with visual effects, creating ‘a comprehensive sensory impact’ on the audience. Every detail was synchronised, immersing the audience in a torrent of immersive, powerful sounds that

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02 September 2024

France - In partnership with Leap Creative Studio, PixMob technology lit up 70,000 fans at the Stade de France for the Paris Games closing ceremony. PixMob’s X4 LED wristbands were distributed to each person in attendance, both fans and athletes alike.

With these bright LEDs, each person represented a pixel on a massive human-resolution TV screen. On this screen, PixMob’s Moving Visual technology cast animated effects that illustrated the long and epic history of the games, from ancient chariot riders to a modern animation of the symbolic rings painted across the audience.  

PixMob’s Moving Visual Transmitter technology transforms audiences into interactive canvases. By seamlessly connecting fans to the action, the MVT allows for the projection of moving graphics onto crowds, turning the audience itself into a video screen that seamlessly ble

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30 August 2024

France - Musée de l'air et de l'Espace, a 150,000sq.m museum located next to the Paris-Le Bourget airport, sparkled during Cercle Festival 2024. Created by Cercle, an artistic movement that produces experiences, events, festivals, and immersive musical journeys that showcase artists on ‘unique stages’, the festival delivered an absorbing tapestry of sights and sounds.

At the centre of the festival was a stage set up under the fuselage of Air France’s prototype Concorde, supersonic jet airliner, with the dancefloor located in the museum space around the aircraft. Enhancing this immersive setting on a multitude of levels was an inspired lighting design by Steph Viallon that featured 55 Chauvet Professional Color Strike M motorised strobe washes provided by Magnum.

"I wanted to work on both height and depth, and to obtain reflections under the Co

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30 August 2024

UK - Having appeared to great acclaim and huge popularity last year, Classic Gear Live, which presents some of the key lighting and sound products that have shaped the entertainment industry, is back for 2024 at this year’s PLASA Show.

This year’s display builds on the success of last year, with some returning favourites and a whole bunch of ‘new’ classics besides.

On show this year: the Vari-Lite VL2, VL4 and Artisan for those who missed them last year, but alongside them the Vari-Lite’s rivals from back in the day, the moving mirror lights – GoldenScan and RoboScan, controlled by a Wholehog II console, marking the 30th anniversary of its PLASA debut.

Stepping back a generation: Avo’s QM500, or for a complete contrast in size, Zero88’s Sirius, the console that introduced so many to memory lighting control. Many would then gra

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30 August 2024

UK - Robe is using the buzz and hustle of the 2024 PLASA London expo to launch four new products – the iForte Fresnel, the Painte Fresnel, the SVOPATT and the SVB1.

The new Robe Liveexpo production performance extravaganza will be premiered on stand A70 – The Fifth Dimension, featuring three live performers, lots of tech and heaps of imagination.

Robe’s other businesses – architectural and LED lighting manufacturer Anolis, networking and control specialist Artistic Licence, UK-based console manufacturer Avolites and Australian-based power distribution gurus LSC – will all be located on adjacent stands.

The Fifth Dimension will feature a diversity of Robe fixtures like iBolt, iForte LTX, T32 Slim, Footsie1 and Footsie2 Slim, iSpiiderX, TetraX, Tetra2, the ever-popular LEDBeam 350, the RoboSpot remote follow spot sys

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30 August 2024

UK - Avolites plans the UK debut of the Diamond 7 (D7), the newest addition to the Diamond collection of consoles, at this year’s London PLASA show on stand C28 within the Robe village. Two variants, D7-330 and D7-215, positioned as “the ultimate travel and performance console”, that can be packed in a standard Peli Air case and checked in as hold luggage to fly anywhere with you, will be on the Avolites stand for demonstration.

Other hardware available for demonstration on the stand includes the flagship lighting control console the Diamond 9, with both variants D9-330 and D9-215, along with the T3 and T3-W – Avolites’ smallest footprint professional lighting control product, where portability, compactness and performance are crucial.

Plus, the tried and trusted Essential Collection Sapphire Touch, Arena, Tiger Touch II and Quartz consoles

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30 August 2024

UK - The Obsidian Control Systems team is attending the upcoming PLASA Show with new devices in its award-winning Netron data distribution range, including the world's first line of IP66-rated data signal products for entertainment.

Despite the immense amount of IP-rated entertainment technology on the market, lighting professionals have lacked IP-rated data distribution devices to provide the required infrastructure. Obsidian has changed all that. On display at Stand C26 will be a six-port RDM Splitter (RDM6 IP), six-port EtherDMX Node (EN6 IP), and an eight-port managed POE Network switch (NS8 IP), all IP66 rated and in stock and shipping.

The Netron IP66 range blends the proven chassis and connector technology of Elation’s established IP65 Proteus lighting fixtures with the Netron data platform. The Netron IP66 range utilises a custom-designed d

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30 August 2024

UK - LDR’s Lisa and Marco will be present at the trade show, thanks to the support of distributors Gobo Plus (Stand E80) and Prolight UK (Stand G28). They will be available to anyone who wishes to learn more about the new Astro Followspots or any other product showcased at the event.

“Our products, particularly the entire range of followspots, are considered the best in their specific category, and we are very keen to illustrate their excellent features and clearly explain the technical features,” says Lisa Papi, managing director of LDR. For this reason, we always strive to be present at significant events.”

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29 August 2024

UK - A new partnership has been announced by lighting designers Ross Chapple and Nick Jevons. Auratecture brings together the combined creative talent of these two lighting and production designers to offer a “design house” with a bold artistic vision for clients seeking “dynamic, unique, and innovative lighting and stage concepts”.

“We have a historical friendship stretching back over a decade, during which time we have admired each other’s creativity and work ethos. Our individual artistic visions are contrasting yet complementary, and we felt the time was right to bring our thinking, skills and resources together to build something really special – a design partnership where our creativity could nurture exciting new collaborations,” explains Jevons.

“Nick and I are both musically driven people,” expands Chapple. “Creating imp

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29 August 2024

Europe - Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres world tour has received widespread acclaim since launching in 2022, not only for the band’s celebrated music and engaging onstage presence, but also for their efforts in ushering in a new era of sustainable touring. Award-winning lighting designer Sooner Routhier has been working with Coldplay since 2019 and, keeping with the environmental ethic, she chose to light the shows using greener, more eco-friendly fixtures. The lighting vendor for the tour is a long-time partner, Upstaging.

Routhier’s original tour design launched in 2022 in support of the Music of the Spheres album, and the band is continuing the current stadium tour with the same design. For this summer’s European leg, which launched on 8 June at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, she was looking for the most effective way to add a se

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29 August 2024

Romania - The Sibiu International Theatre Festival, which is put on by The National Theatre Radu Stanca Sibiu, has just celebrated its 31st year.

This year the June festival featured indoor and outdoor theatre, music and dance, as well as street acts, and drew more than 100,000 international visitors who enjoyed over 830 performances, involving 5,000 artists from 82 nations. Among those performers was American actor John Malkovich, César Award-winning French actress Isabelle Adjani, and Romanian theatre director Silviu Purcărete.

Adding to the magic of the 2024 edition of the festival, which was built around the theme of ‘friendship’, was a massive collection of over 250 Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied and installed by Andrei Popea and his team at Backstage Production Group.

The Backstage team deployed 106 of these fixtures, as w

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29 August 2024

Germany - Open Beatz is the largest open-air festival for electronic music in southern Germany and attracts tens of thousands of visitors to the 50-hectare site in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, every year.

Performers on the five creatively designed stages in 2024 included Afrojack, Nicky Romero, Felix Jaehn, Lilly Palmer, and many more. Eventures GmbH was responsible for the lighting, sound, and video equipment on the three largest stages. Tobias Reinartz (visualprime) was responsible for the lighting design, working with the new Cameo Oron H2 Hybrid Phosphor Laser Moving Heads for the first time.

The Oron H2, which Eventures sourced entirely from NicLen’s dry hire stock, was the central element of the lighting design this year. “The Oron H2 is the brightest and most powerful beam moving head I’ve seen to date,” says Reinartz. “It offers everyth

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29 August 2024

Germany - For more than 20 years, the Airbeat One festival has entertained fans with the harder side of electronic music with an event that features cutting-edge stage design, epic light shows and leading international DJs. 

Airbeat One 2024 was recently held at Flugplatz Neustadt-Glewe, where lighting designer Christopher Rostalski, CEO of CR Lichtdesign, used 130 Claypaky Tambora Linear 100 LED pixel-mapping bars designed for versatile lighting effects and artistic set decoration. 

The annual event is one of the largest EDM festivals in Germany, drawing some 100,000 visitors. Every year has a different country theme with France being highlighted in 2024, and the stage designs and presentation of the festival reflecting that choice: the main stage was a faithful replica of the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre in Paris.

Rostalski selected 130

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29 August 2024

Europe - Highlite has announced the expansion of the popular Infinity Raccoon Series with the introduction of four new members to the family: Raccoon P7/7, Raccoon Junior P4/7, Raccoon Junior P7/4, Raccoon S420/4 and Raccoon W40/4.

Designed to meet the demanding requirements of high-end lighting applications, the Infinity Raccoon Series offers “unparalleled performance, advanced control options and rugged IP65 construction, making it a serious contender for professionals in TV studios, theatres, museums and more”.

The Infinity Raccoon Series features meticulous attention to detail in colour calibration, advanced control features and robust build quality. Each fixture in the range offers a wealth of features designed to deliver exceptional lighting experiences, setting new standards for the industry.

The series has been intelligently struc

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29 August 2024

UK - ETC Ltd has announced the newest addition to its growing sales force with Joe McDonald joining as field project coordinator for the UK and Ireland. In his new role, Joe will be managing sales projects and building customer and end user relationships across the country. He will support regional sales manager Jeremy Roberts and associate regional sales manager Matt Cowles in working with ETC’s dealers, distributors, and customers.

McDonald previously worked as assistant head of lighting at Curve Theatre in Leicester where he gained in-depth knowledge and insight on ETC’s equipment and how best to use the products to meet the needs of the shows. Over a number of years his experience led him to work as a production electrician for the theatre’s own shows such as A Chorus Line (UK tour) and Evita. McDonald has also worked on musical p

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28 August 2024

Europe - Neg Earth supremo Dave Ridgway came to the assistance of creative director and lighting designer Terry Cook when he was seeking the kind of raw power from a new-generation washlight that audiences at an AC/DC show might expect.

“It needed to be bright, versatile, bold and strong,” says the designer, one of three partners at Woodroffe Bassett Design (WBD). And so Ridgway recommended GLP’s impression X5 IP Maxx, promptly arranging a shoot-out. Terry Cook’s conclusion: “It brought meanness, real character and was unapologetically angry. It was definitely an AC/DC light,” he states. “We have history of embracing new technology on AC/DC tours and the Power Up tour was no different.”

At the same time, he noted a further advantage: the fixture’s IP rating. In fact, its waterproof qualities would prove vital during the tou

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28 August 2024

The DALI Alliance has announced that the annual DALI Alliance Lighting Awards are officially open for 2024, including a number of new categories. This is part of a refresh of the renowned awards to better recognise diverse innovations and applications from across the lighting industry. Interested participants have until 7 October 2024 to make their submissions.

The traditional application categories have been consolidated to a list of five awards: Residential, Commercial Interior, Commercial Exterior, Industrial & Infrastructure, and Horticulture. Alongside the updated application categories this year’s DALI Lighting Awards will include the following innovation categories:

Best Use of D4i: Recognising innovative applications of DALI D4i technology in lighting systems, including enhanced data communication, energy management, and advanced control capabi

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28 August 2024

Europe - Riku Kauppinen, director of business development for MA Lighting, died on 16 August. He was 52 and had been battling cancer. MA Lighting paid tribute:

“It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of Riku Mikael Kauppinen, who died peacefully on Friday, 16 August 2024, at the age of 52, after a courageous battle with cancer. Riku was surrounded by his family and friends at the time of his passing.

Riku was a highly respected and beloved figure in the lighting industry, known for his innovative approach, technical expertise, and unwavering passion for his work. Riku held a Master of Arts in Theatre and Drama with a specialisation in Lighting Design from the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. His education and early experiences shaped him into a leader who was not only skilled but deeply connected to the art a

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27 August 2024

France - Creative design practice Concept K employed 100 Elation SŌL I blinders at the Solidays Festival in Paris at the end of June, one of the first uses in Europe of the creative blinder and effect light. Lighting supply was by Dushow, a festival provider for many years, with lighting design by Frédéric ‘Aldo’ Fayard of Concept K.

Solidays is an annual music festival held at the Longchamp Racecourse in Paris. Organised by Solidarité sida, it brings together more than 150 artists and 170,000 festival-goers for three days with proceeds going to organisations fighting HIV/AIDS.

Aldo, founder and artistic director of Concept K, used the SŌL I blinders to artfully adorn the festival’s main stage, commenting: “Lighting designers have been looking for a source capable of replacing the FL650 and the SŌL I from Elation is the answer to this r

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27 August 2024

USA - LightParts, the parts and repair source for entertainment lighting, is celebrating surviving for 20 years in the entertainment lighting business. And a pandemic too!

LightParts was founded in 2004 by Don Pugh and Robert Mokry as the worldwide support centre for High End Systems’ legacy products like Intellabeam and Emulator. Industry support and demand quickly led to support for most all major entertainment lighting products.

In 2018, LightParts introduced its line of metal halide lamps, then expanded into tungsten lamps like the discontinued Strand Leko lamp. In response to customer requests LightParts started selling new, manufacturer B stock and used gear, all with warranty.

Robert Mokry of LightParts comments: “We’d like to thank our customers, our fantastic staff, past and present, along our supplier partners for making Light