USA - At the 21st Parnelli Awards in Anaheim, Bandit Lites was once again named Lighting Company of the Year and Michael T. Strickland accepted the honour. “Bandit is again humbled to be so honoured by the industry we love so much,” stated Bandit founder and chair Michael T. Strickland. “To have our peers bestow this honour upon us is amazing. Everyone at Bandit works tirelessly each day to allow our clients to ‘experience excellence’, and that is what drives us. “The number of great firms in this industry makes the win even more special,” he continued. “Bandit will always go to extra lengths to assure the highest quality of service and people in the industry. And speaking of people, I wish to thank the entire Bandit family for making this happen. Without them, there is no Bandit.” This is the eighth Parnelli Award for Bandit Lites, who has bee
USA - There are things you will always see at a Parker McCollom show, like the rising young country star getting down close and personal to interact with fans. From the moment he walks out on stage, the ACM’s New Male Country Artist of the year, puts things in high gear with his melodic voice, rolling out a welcome mat for fans, inviting them to get up to dance and sing-along. Such a warm, embracing mood lends itself to being supported by an inviting tungsten-like glow of light, believes McCollom’s lighting director, Alex Sanchez. And that’s precisely what the Texas-born star is getting on tour with a Chris Lisle lighting design that often immerses the star and his band in an evocative amber glow created with Chauvet Professional fixtures. “I personally love using ambers,” said Sanchez. “They warm up the stage beautifully and looks great in photos. This yea
Portugal - Europalco and Vallis Capital Partners have announced ‘a capital partnership’ between the two organisations. This partnership will allow Europalco to continue its growth, through regional expansion and business segments. This partnership is based on constant innovation and the introduction of new features in the market, which are already characteristics of how Europalco is viewed in the sector, says a joint statement. “The partnership with Vallis Capital Partners is a new stage in Europalco's development,” says Pedro Magalhães, founder and CEO of Europalco. “We will continue with the same identity and culture that characterises Europalco, offering our customers the most innovative solutions in terms of events and shows, allowing us to participate in projects of great dimension and renown nationwide and internationally. Investing in new technologies
Canada - Quebec’s KOTV is wrapping up the first season of Zenith, a new concept in live musical competition broadcast by Radio Canada, where song stars of different ages fight for the votes of an audience of 100 judges representing four generations. Lighting designer Martin Labrecque selected Ayrton Zonda 9 FX fixtures for the show in what is believed to be their first TV broadcast appearance. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton lighting in North America and Eric Belanger is the show’s lighting programmer. Zenith aims to unite viewers from the Baby Boomer generation and Generations X, Y and Z in front of the small screen. Each week four well-known singers cover hits from yesterday and today in a battle to get the most votes from a studio audience of 100 representing those same generational demographics. The audience is divided into four
UK - Manchester Opera House has recently replaced its in-house followspots by purchasing two Robert Juliat Arthur LT 800W LED followspots from White Light. Arthur LT is a long-throw version of the original Arthur followspot with a narrower beam (4°-10° zoom range) and an output that exceeds that of an HMI 2500W followspot. It has an enhanced light quality with a CRI >94 and a sound level that is quieter than any of its discharge rivals, all of which helps to ensure Arthur LT is as suitable for theatres as for concerts or big arenas. The Arthur LT units replaced Manchester Opera House’s aging Cyrano followspots which had given a good 15 years of service at the busy venue. White Light’s business development manager, Jonathan Haynes, first introduced Arthur LT to Stuart Graham, head of technical operations at the Ambassador’s Theatre Group, owners of Manc
Europe - MA Lighting has released grandMA3 software version 1.9. This software release presents ‘massive workflow improvements and new functionalities’. In addition, there are lots of improvements in overview and visibility. The encoder bar got a first clean up and better graphical elements and additional information for the user lead to an enhanced programming experience. The software release version 1.9 also provides multiple workflow improvements and massive optimisation in network and multi-user environments. MA Lighting offers grandMA3 v1.9 public webinars! 45 minutes with the most important changes and functions of the new software version, presented by the MA Lighting Tech-Support. This is the link to register for one of these free webinars on 18., 19. and 20. April:
Germany - Visitors to the Elation stand in Frankfurt (Hall 12.1 B49, C49) can can meet the team and discover how Elation can help you achieve your goals ‘through the power of positive rELATIONships’. Elation offers offer a broad range of automated lighting complemented by professional Obsidian lighting control and Magmatic atmospheric effects. Visit Hall 12.1 B49, C49 at Prolight+Sound to learn all about our newest cutting-edge products. The Proteus Brutus is a powerful 75,000-lumen LED wash fixture with IP65 rating designed for piercing beam looks and high-intensity washes in any environment. The Proteus Excalibur is a powerful IP65 beam moving head ‘set to assume the role as the new 21st Century searchlight’. With extreme power (20,000 lumens), narrow 0.8° beam (3.5° expander lens available), and wide front aperture, it excels at creating aerial lig
The Netherlands - For 18 days this winter, Het Amterdames Winterparadijs turned RAI Amsterdam into an enchanted world that filled 38,000sq.m of indoor space, (plus 5,000sq.m outdoors), with many attractions including a market, massive indoor-outdoor ice-skating rink, snow play area, ferris wheel, apres cross country skiing trail, silent disco, and a variety of food and drink options, as well as on-stage performances by various artists. Providing the technical production that supported this captivating event, produced by 4PM Entertainment, was Unlimited Productions. For the lighting that was so essential to setting the “winter escape mood” at the attraction, the production specialist relied on over 600 IP65 rated Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by Splendit. Having IP65 rated units for the event was essential to Unlimited Productions achieving its vision for
Hungary - Pop-rock band the Bagossy Brothers Company marked their tenth anniversary with a spectacular concert at Budapest’s MVM Dome recently where a complement of Claypaky lighting fixtures helped deliver an unforgettable experience to a crowd of some 20,000 fans. The band’s lighting designer Ádám Pintér selected Claypaky Sharpy Plus, Sharpy Plus Aqua, Sharpy, A.leda B-EYE K20 and HY B-EYE K25 fixtures for the rig. According to Pintér, the basis of his lighting plot was 40 Sharpy Plus and Sharpy Plus Aquas, selected for the versatility of their spot functionality and light beams. “The light and speed of the 24 fixtures placed on the catwalk in front of the stage is still a classic,” he says. “They served as a particularly good effect for the faster, more electronic parts of the show.” But the real key elements of the show were the 16 HY B-EYE
Slovenia - The Križanke Summer Theatre (Poletno gledališče Križanke) in Ljubljana, is one of the city’s favourite venues, utilised by the city’s Ljubljana Festival in summer, as well as for a variety of concerts and shared with the School of Design and Photography. The 3400 standing / 1400 seated capacity arena is located inside the courtyard of the former Holy Cross Monastery, right at the heart of Slovenia’s capital. During the pandemic, an elegant new load-bearing tensile fabric roof was installed – this was planned for some time – which facilitates production elements like lighting and sound, as well as providing year-round weather protection. New Robe moving lights were purchased as part of a major upgrade to the house lighting system and a major investment by the municipality. Križanke did have house lights previously, explained technical manager
USA - Pharos Architectural Controls has confirmed attendance at this year’s LightFair, where the brand will be officially launching its newest controls solution, Expert, to the US market. The exhibition, which is now a biennial event, is taking place at the Javits Centre in New York. It brings together a five-day conference, held between 21-25 May, and a three-day trade show between 23-25 May. Visitors to Pharos (booth 1769) will be able to explore and interact with Expert, with members of the US team on hand to provide demonstrations of Expert, Designer, and the remote management and control solution, Cloud. Pharos representatives will include Thomas Ladd, sales director; MG, regional sales manager; Chad Kuney, sales manager; and Katrina Maurer, technical support specialist. Expert, the latest addition to the Pharos portfolio, is an innovative and straightforw
Germany - ArKaos– launches its new powerful and flexible VS4 media server at the Prolight+Sound expo in Frankfurt next week. The ‘industrial strength’ design and build of VS4, complete with custom rock-solid motherboard and a fast graphics engine, offers 4 x 4K outputs (or 16 x HD) and runs on Windows 11. Its sturdy, no-nonsense appearance reflects its place in the ArKaos VS range of creative visual control products – which also includes the popular VS1 – of which it is the ‘big brother’. The aesthetics have been developed in keeping with the contemporary style of InMusic’s dynamic brand portfolio. Running seamlessly with the latest ArKaos MediaMaster software, VS4 interfaces and works with any lighting console, and is targeted at high end television studios, streaming facilities and broadcast scenarios. With this exceptionally rugged engineerin
Ireland - A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ireland and Seamus Reck of Lx2000 Stage Lighting Hire recently teamed up to supply and install the lighting for Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral in Cork. Lighting supply for the Cathedral posed a difficult task from the outset when it was determined that the fixtures were to be installed at 12m high with the only access being a cherry-picker. Additionally, the brief also included making sure that the lighting would enhance live streaming, while not obstructing sightlines from the rear gallery. When it came to deciding what type of lighting to use for their installation, the team used their expert knowledge, in consultation with the client, to assess the project and looked at two options from Prolights: the EclPanel TWC Jr and the ArcPod27Q. Unable to demo either fixture in situ, they demonstrated the EclPanels (with onboard W-DMX r
UK - Stirling Old Bridge, located on the River Forth, is one of the most important crossing points in Scotland. The present Stirling Bridge was built around the 1500s, yet this historic site has played host to many important moments in history, including the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 and the Jacobite Rising of 1745. One of the few medieval masonry arch bridges in Scotland, Stirling Old Bridge is one of the most critical river crossings in Scotland and acted as the main crossing point of the River Forth until the early 1800s, dubbed a ‘gateway to the Highlands’. Electrical contractors and installers Forth Electrical Services (FES) appointed LITE to create a new, dynamic, colour-changing design for the lighting on the bridge. LITE provided initial designs and plans and supplied the light fixtures, recommending several solutions from their market-leading portf
UK - Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons is a rom-com about what we say, how we say it, and what happens when we can’t say anything anymore. Written by Sam Steiner, it was first performed at the Warwick Arts Centre in 2015 before transferring to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It recently made its West End debut at the Harold Pinter Theatre, starring Jenna Coleman and Aidan Turner, and featured a lighting design by Aideen Malone, who approached White Light (WL) to supply her lighting fixtures. Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons focuses on the story of a couple who live in a world where a law is passed enforcing a 140-word limit per day for every person. It also features an incredibly intricate timeline, set over 101 scenes which rarely run in chronological order; something that had a strong influence on Aideen’s design. She explains: “The show i
USA - Rosco Laboratories has agreed to an IP licensing agreement with Rotolight, relating to Rotolight’s cinematic special effects CineSFX patent portfolio in the US, UK, and Europe. Rosco acknowledges the validity of Rotolight’s patents and is pleased to join Rotolight’s licensing programme. Rosco and Rotolight acknowledge and respect each other’s intellectual property and value fair competition, says a joint statement. Rotolight CEO Rod Aaron Gammons said: “We are very pleased to welcome Rosco to our CineSFX licensing programme and appreciate their proactivity and professionalism in approaching us for a license for use within their DMG Lighting products. Rotolight continues to invest millions each year into research and development in order to bring industry-first innovations to market, that saves filmmakers time and money on set. Any other infringing companies
USA - The owner of 3 With 1 Grab Productions, Mark Wasserman knows a thing or two about comedy, having plied his lighting skills for comedians like Nick Cannon (Wild N Out), Mo’Nique, and Rip Micheals’ Fall Back Comedy Tours. Hitting the artist on stage with light from unexpected directions, and keeping it all fresh, underscores the element of surprise, which, when you come right down to it, is at the heart of the best punch lines. On 1 April, Wasserman got a new appreciation for the importance of side lighting when he lit the highly anticipated (and sold out) April Fools Comedy Jam at Brooklyn’s Barclays Centre. Produced and hosted by Rip Micheals, the show featured an all-star line-up of comics and musicians led by Tiffany Haddish, Donnell Rawlings, Emmanuel Hudson, Conceited, Bill Bellamy, Adele Givens, Melanie Comarcho, Faizon Love, HaHa Davis, DJ Envy, Rob Staplet
UK - Kartfest 2023 is all set to be the biggest and the best Backup has ever held. Taking place on 6 July, the event will see 34 teams of expert industry racers, as well as a few novices thrown in for good measure and laughs, all driving towards becoming winners of the coveted championship title. There will be tweed and flowery dresses galore, and a host of stalls to keep non-racers amused throughout the day at the first ever Kart-Fest Village Fete. None of this would be possible without the generosity of the Kartfest sponsors. For this year’s event, Chauvet Professional once again takes up the headline sponsor slot, with first time main sponsor 5 Star Cases deciding to join them after their exciting - and hilarious - experience of sponsoring last year’s inaugural Flight Case Challenge. But why do they want to commit their time and money to Kartfest again? “It
Qatar - Event management company Qatar Vision utilised an extensive array of Claypaky lighting fixtures for an outdoor event announcing the multi-year partnership between Qatar Airways and Formula 1 (F1). The special Motorsport Festival for guests and the public was held at the Lusail Boulevard entertainment destination in downtown Doha. Qatar Airways, winner of multiple Skytrax Airline of the Year awards and the title sponsor of three Grand Prix events this year, was named the global partner and official airline of Formula 1 racing through the motorsport’s 2027 season. To mark the announcement and to celebrate the F1 events coming to Qatar in 2023, Qatar Airways invited VIP guests and 50,000 spectators to a special evening on Lusail Boulevard featuring F1, drift cars and a MotoGP bike racing down the strip and a display of a FIA World Endurance Championship hypercar.
The Netherlands - To provide immersive concert lighting and adequate key lighting for television cameras at the André Rieu Summer Concert Special, Rieu’s touring lighting designer Fabian Huijts collaborated with Light-H-Art’s Henk-Jan Van Beek, Jaco Alblas and Sebastian Van Der Laan to deploy a massive lighting rig that prominently featured MAC Ultra Performance fixtures. Since founding the Johann Strauss Orchestra in 1987, Rieu’s tours have been among Billboard’s Top 25 highest-grossing tours in the world numerous times. In 2022, André Rieu played a series of hometown concerts in Maastricht’s Vrijthof, a majestic town square dating back to the Roman Empire. In addition to attracting thousands of fans from hundreds of countries around the globe, the concerts were filmed for live television broadcast. To help him bring classical masterpieces to life, Rieu
France - Creatiq celebrated 2023 in style as the first company in France to offer Robe’s new compact Painte moving light in a rental fleet based in Noeux-les-Mines in the Hauts de France. The 12 new Paintes are joined by 16 x new Robe LEDBeam 350s ordered simultaneously to complete a flexible and dynamic new investment package which has already been busy on numerous shows and events. Driving this move was Creatiq’s Cristophe Pawliszko, now the sole owner of the company he originally founded in 2006, then as one of six partners. Creatiq supplies full production packages – backline, sound, lighting, structure, stages and video – for a range of shows and events from concerts to corporates, awards shows and other presentations and ceremonies. Typically, Creatiq will also provide stage, lighting, sound and production design as part of their full produc
Germany - Cameo will be coming to this year's Prolight+Sound with a packed product offering. The lighting technology brand of the Adam Hall Group will not only present numerous product highlights at its stand (Hall 12.1, B24), but will also organise its own series of live events, the Lumen Being Talks, consisting of interviews and discussion rounds with industry experts and young, up-and-coming minds from the lighting scene. In addition, trade fair visitors can visit a special Surround Experience at the Adam Hall Group's Experience Centre in Neu-Anspach via a specially provided shuttle. At the Cameo stand, the focus this year is primarily on outdoor and broadcast applications. Among other things, the lighting technology manufacturer will present its new IP65 moving heads from the OTOS Series, as well as the new, compact S2 IP LED Softlight Panel for use in film,
Germany - Robert Juliat will exhibit at Prolight+Sound, Frankfurt on the stand of its exclusive distributor for Germany, Lightpower, in Hall 12.0, Stand C60, where it will be presenting a selection of its LED lighting fixtures. First up is RJ’s award-winning Sully 4C, a range of colour LED profile and Fresnel spots. Sully Profile (650SX 4C), which was granted the 2022 LDI Award for Best Debuting Product in the Lighting category, is a four-colour (RGBLime), 200W LED profile with a choice of 3 variable zoom options. A wealth of features and control options deliver perfect whites and high quality saturated and pastel colours, all packaged within a housing of renowned RJ build-quality. The coloured-LED compartment – around which the Sully range is designed – also makes it a swift, practical and economic solution to convert RJ 600SX tungsten fixtures to LED. Sul
UK - Currently running at the Unicorn Theatre, The Three Billy Goats Gruff tells the story of Baby, Middle and Big as they hatch a plan to venture across the bridge to find some grass to eat – but must outwit a horrible troll first. A musical retelling of the classic fable, the show features a score from Olivier Award-winning composers Stiles and Drewe. It features a lighting design by Sam Waddington, who approached White Light (WL) to supply his lighting fixtures. The Three Billy Goats Gruff marks a welcomed return to the Unicorn Theatre for Sam, who has been lighting shows at the venue since 2017. About this latest production, he explains: “It became apparent from the first read and listen to Billy Goats that the entire vibe is just fun. There’s little call for tip-toeing (except across the bridge, of course), but very much a need to heighten dramatic
