UK - London's Royal Albert Hall used their Jands Vista T4 console to provide thrilling lighting for Christmas Spectacular - a festive show collaboration with classic music promoter, Raymond Gubbay.

Christmas Spectacular featured a combination of favourite music classics, breathtaking dance, thrilling lights, sensational lasers and a fantastic indoor firework finale. Special guests included West End star Kerry Ellis and chorister Jack Topping.

Royal Albert Hall (RAH) lighting design and systems manager, Richard Thomas utilised the venue's Jands Vista T4 console to control the ambitious lighting production.

"The vision for my design was to produce an exciting and dynamic light show in conjunction with lasers and pyrotechnic effects, to complement the music, dance, ballet, and vocal performances," says Richard. "The music programme was quite varied,

USA - What's Thanksgiving without The Muppets? Or Lady Gaga? Or all of them appearing together in ABC's Lady Gaga & The Muppets Holiday Spectacular with guests Sir Elton John, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ru Paul. It was definitely an occasion to roll out Clay Paky Sharpys and Sharpy Washes.

Lighting designer Tom Beck got a call for the show the Monday before the Friday load in as Lady Gaga was finishing her latest album and time was running short.

"I really wanted to use Sharpys and Sharpy Washes," says Beck who grabbed 20 of the former and 23 of the latter from the inventory of ELS. "It was the first time I had the chance to use the Washes, which I really love. I wouldn't mind trying a whole rig of just Sharpy units."

The set designed by Tom Lenz featured "a lot of curves and arches - it was beautiful," Beck reports. "I put up an arche

Dubai / Qatar - With three spectacular events, A&O Technology in the role of general contractor, along with its in-house creative department under the leadership of the lighting designer Jerry P. Appelt, was able to close out the year 2013 in style and hit the ground running in 2014.

At the end of November, the lighting specialist bathed the Burj Khalifa in light to mark the announcement that the city had been chosen to host Expo 2020. On 18 December, a magnificent light show in Doha followed to mark National Day 2013, and a further superb lighting spectacle that included a record-breaking firework display on 31 December at the Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai heralded the advent of 2014.

"A&O Technology is now excellently placed in terms of ideas and expertise to participate in shaping the future of the lighting sector," says Marco Niedermeier, CEO.

It began with the n

USA - Lighting Designer Justin Townsend (Here Lies Love and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) specified Elation Platinum Beam 5R moving heads for the Broadway musical A Night with Janis Joplin playing at the Lyceum Theatre in New York and was delighted with the fixtures.

A Night with Janis Joplin is a musical journey celebrating the legacy and unmistakable voice of '60s rock legend Janis Joplin. "It's rock 'n' roll so I wanted a lighting fixture that could be featured visibly, as well as one that projects a nice beam," Justin says, who acts as both set and lighting designer on the show.

"It's my first time using Elation and I'm really happy with them. They are bright, have great articulation and the price point is nice; just perfect when you have to watch the budget. They project a great, sharp beam and are really dynamic. They made for a nice a

UK - The Kings Theatre in Southsea, Portsmouth is one of those Edwardian treasures that are fast becoming a rarity in the provinces. This exquisite example, with its Italian Renaissance style of décor and façade, first opened its doors in 1907 and has seen the likes of Sarah Bernhardt, Noel Coward and Ivor Novello grace the stage. As a centre for arts and entertainment, it has served the audiences of Portsmouth and Southsea faithfully ever since.

Fast forward to 2013 and the Kings has successfully moved with the times, upgrading and modernising its facilities without losing any of its original charm and theatrical heritage, not always an easy balancing act as technical manager, Nick Benjamin explains. "The time had come to replace our house followspots - the inclusion of new moving light fixtures on our rig meant our old models were simply not bright enough to do th

Brazil - DJ David Guetta completed an incendiary nine-date Brazilian tour in January, which saw Robe moving lights on the spec for most of the shows.

Guetta's lighting is designed by Jonathan 'Leggy' Armstrong - well known for his imaginative and stylish shows which have graced several leading dance acts including Basement Jaxx. The touring team works with entirely locally sourced productions wherever they play, and lighting on the road for this leg of the ongoing world tour was overseen and operated by two lighting directors - Alex 'Junior' Cerio of Smash Productions and Sam MacLaren of LightLab - both also LDs in their own right.

Between them and the video visuals produced by Ben Brett's Pilot video control system, operated by Nick Briggs, Guetta gets a dynamic world class show wherever he plays.

This is also a very exciting and refreshing way to work, fusing structured el

USA - Elation Professional invites lighting professionals to the intimate environs of PLASA Focus Nashville and Booth 429 for the opportunity to talk in depth with qualified Elation personnel and get a more thorough look at Elation's line of versatile lighting and control solutions. Join the Elation team 18-19 February at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium where the Elation staff will be happy to demo the latest products.

"We always enjoy exhibiting at the PLASA Focus shows because of the amount of quality time we get to spend with visitors," states Elation sales director Eric Loader. "Getting detailed feedback on our products and really taking the time to show what our products can do is often hard at the larger trade shows. The intimate format of PLASA Focus and the high-quality free educational seminars bring in customers who want to learn about new technology

UK - SGM's versatile and compact LD-5 light domes are increasingly finding favour in some of the UK's key late night entertainment venues.

Having been plunged into paper lanterns for Wonderland in Maidstone, and featured in a giant immersive display at Sanctuary in Glasgow, they are now being put to equally innovative use by two installation specialists, Andy Pound, operations director of Technical Arts Ltd, as part of Luminar Leisure's Oceana nightclub conversions into Pryzm, and by Sound Power director David Ridout as a standard fit in the large Australian outback themed Walkabout Inns.

These LED domes, with an outer diameter of just 80mm, can be used in any orientation, with a maximum number of 35 domes in a single chain. They can also be custom designed to fit any housing, and are controlled via three-channel DMX.

An example of their adaptability was shown by Pound in Pr

UK - 2014 looks set to be the year of the B-EYE, the latest innovation from the Clay Paky stable of moving light fixtures. The design and effect possibilities of the K20 and its smaller sibling, the K10 are best seen when the lights are in action; even a thorough study of the written documentation doesn't really seem to quite do them justice.

Exclusive UK and ROI distributors, Ambersphere Solutions were on hand to provide support and service at one of the B-EYE's latest outings - the recordings of the Jonathan Ross Show for production company, Hot Sauce and at the Graham Norton Show for So Television. All the fixtures for these recordings were supplied by Aurora Lighting Hire who have a well-established reputation in television lighting and know exactly what works best on camera.

Lee House from Ambersphere's technical sales was enthused by the B-EYE's reception.

USA - Luke Bryan has rolled out his That's My Kind of Night Tour, and Elite Multimedia Productions in Nashville is providing grandMA2 consoles as Bryan once again takes to the road. The popular country artist's new tour is named after his latest single, which has catapulted to # 1 in the country charts.

"We just concluded the Dirt Road Diaries Tour with Luke; his new tour will run from January 2014 to the end of October", says Tom Wilson, vice president of event productions at Elite Multimedia Productions.

Lighting designer Justin Kitchenman of Fade Up Design Group points out that Bryan "wants all of his productions to be big, ambitious and with lots of bells and whistles. When someone walks into this show they're walking into a party."

Bryan is at the centre of the action figuratively and literally. "We designed a 42-foot wide circle stage th

India - India commemorated the remarkable milestone of three years with zero polio cases in January 2014 with the 'India is Polio Free 'campaign, staging seven special events in major cities across the country - Mumbai, Delhi, Agra, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jodhpur and Bikaner - on the same day.

In each of these cities, prime historical monuments were projected on to and lit using Robe moving lights and LED fixtures.

These included Agra Fort in Agra; India Gate and the Red Fort in Delhi; Hyderabad Public School in Hyderabad; the Teeli Wali Mosque in Lucknow; the Sojati Gate in Jodhpur and the Junagarh Fort in Bikaner, together with the key commercial landmark Air India Building in Mumbai.

All installations were designed by Rasesh Parekh from Mumbai based lighting company (MIET) Maya Intelligent Entertainment Technologies in conjunction with its sister company IES (Integrated Ente

UK - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light is headed to the Event Production Show February 11-12 at Earls Court 2 in London to showcase the latest lighting and effects equipment for the events industry. The company will feature new products from Core Lighting, JB Lighting, and ArKaos Pro on stand G50.

New to the show will be Core Lighting's latest product - the lightweight ColourPoint RGBW uplighter designed for quick setup and sleek presentation. CORE Lighting specialises in battery-powered, wirelessly controlled LED lighting fixtures designed for instant illumination anywhere including events, parties and productions indoor and out. Also on display from CORE Lighting will be the Point30 - available in RGBW, tunable white, and 4200K colours - and the high output, low energy Flood30, IP65 rated with a rugged casing perfect for temporary or permanent outdoor installations

Europe - Only a few days after its official launch, everyone is already talking about it! The video of the Clay Paky demo show at PLASA London 2013 clocked up over 10,000 views in the first twenty-four hours. Curiosity for the new B-EYE was huge, also thanks to the engaging advertising campaign that accompanied the launch with its "bee-concept" look. Lighting professionals recognize a really innovative product when they see one and immediately catch on to the wide range of new creative possibilities it offers for their projects.

After only one month, the B-EYE had already won prizes at PLASA and LDI, the two biggest world awards in our industry on both sides of the Atlantic. Comments on forums, Facebook and YouTube were rife, creating expectations for a debut fit for a true star.

And its stage debut shortly followed. In January 2014, B-EYEs were installed on the ligh

The Netherlands - As ISE 2014 prepared to open its doors, over 950 exhibitors were putting the finishing touches to their stands, helping to ensure that the 11th Integrated Systems Europe will be not just the largest tradeshow for professional AV and systems integration ever held in Europe, but also the brightest and the busiest, say the organisers.

The 2014 total of 952 exhibiting companies represents an increase of more than 6% on last year's figure, and over 200 of those companies are completely new to ISE, giving visitors a wealth of new business opportunities in every technology sector served by the event. The show will occupy more than 36,000 net square metres for the first time, while pre-registration also reached record levels.

Yet Mike Blackman, the event's managing director, believes the real story of ISE 2014 lies behind these impressive numbers. "This week we'

Germany - Lighting plays an especially important role on live illusion shows and dynamic lighting from Elation Platinum Series moving heads are working their own magic on German illusionists the Ehrlich Brothers' current tour. Ehrlich Brothers Magic is a one-of-a-kind show and with 60 cities on the schedule is the biggest tour ever by a magic act in Germany.

Lighting, video and audio service provider is Professional Event Solutions (PES), a full service rental house based in Bünde, the same German town that the Ehrlich Brothers call home. "Our close relationship means we are more than just a dry hire company for the Ehrlich Brothers," says PES managing partner Carsten Müller.

"We've worked with them in the past as technical partners and are involved in many other aspects of the show as well. A magic show of this caliber requires an abundance of supporti

UAE - When you open a new club in one of the most upscale hotels in one of the world's most sizzling nightlife cities, it had better be something special. The experienced team that launched the Boutiq Ultra Lounge in Dubai obviously understood this, which is why they scoured a couple of continents, drawing inspiration from the hottest night spots in the US and Europe before they opened their club. It's also why they retained the services of LD Michael Meacham of iDesign Productions in Miami who used Chauvet fixtures to create a special look in club's VIP lounge.

Meacham, who has a long list of outstanding international club lighting designs to his credit, did not disappoint. This much is obvious as soon as one sets foot inside the 5,000 sq. ft. Boutiq Ultra Lounge. Stunning light displays from floor to vaulted ceiling greet visitors; and then there's a world-class selection of h

The Netherlands - Martin Professional's new M6 is a lighting console that functions as a highly advanced visual control surface. Designed to control everything from conventional and moving lights to the most advanced media server, the M6 has been designed for today's demanding multimedia shows and tomorrow's challenges, says the company.

Incorporating the latest available technologies with an industrial multi-core processor, solid-state drives and custom-designed high-brightness touch screens, the M6 is capable of delivering up to 64 DMX universes directly from the console's network ports without using costly external processors.

With advanced features like a LiveBlender T-Bar, FastDial rotary encoders, Paired Playback buttons and BriteTouch display, the M6 is Martin's most advanced console design ever. It offers a total of 44 playbacks, including dual Main Go sections, 10 mot

UK - AVA Lights - the North West-based LED lighting specialists - has secured a contract to supply energy-efficient lighting to Virgin train stations across the country.

Virgin Trains has invested in AVA's LED lighting technology to help reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs for many of its train sites across the UK. The large-scale refurbishment project, which begins in February, will cover over 13 train stations and car parks nationwide. These include Coventry, Lancaster, Carlisle, Wigan and Penrith, with more locations expected to follow during the year.

Lighting accounts for a significant amount of energy usage across Virgin's properties and AVA LED technology was specifically chosen to offer a cost-effective route in achieving a 90 per cent reduction in power consumption, when compared to out-dated lighting technologies.

The AVA LED products, which will be ins

The Netherlands - Martin Professional, Kollision and Transform Architects have completely refurbished the exterior of the Confederation of Danish Industry building in Copenhagen, which now boasts a beautiful façade, highlighted by an ever-changing LED media surface for a more engaging and emotional presence.

The location of the building was the main reason for a media façade solution, as it sits in Copenhagen at Rådhuspladsen, where outdoor advertising has been an integral part of the area for more than 100 years.

Transform architect Lars Bendrup said, "This LED media façade was the next logical step. It's an entirely new way of communicating through the language of light. Confederation of Danish Industry is showing a new face - one that reflects dynamism and change."

The media façade incorporates 4,000m of Martin Professional's VC-Strip in a customized outdoo

UK - Robe moving lights helped ramp up the drama, excitement and adrenaline for the 2014 Autosports Live Action Arena in Hall 5 at Birmingham UK's National Exhibition Centre as part of the three day 2014 Autosports International exhibition staged by Haymarket Events.

Lighting designer Nathan Wan used over 150 Robe moving lights as an essential part of his rig, which also featured Sunstrips, PARs and other generics. He has lit the Live Action Arena show for the past five years, and is a big advocate of Robe moving lights. Once again he was back in the lighting driving seat for the Live Action Arena's technical production suppliers, Network Productions.

With up to six shows a day, 5000 motorsport fans at a time could enjoy all the thrills and spills of fast cars right there in the Live Action Arena, including high-octane stunt craziness from Terry Grant, wheel-to-wheel racing an

Paraguay - Since 2003, pastors Emilio and Bethany Abreu dreamed about building a church in which to hold services for more than 20,000 people in Asunción, Paraguay ... and in 2009 their dream came true with the Iglesia Centro Familiar de Adoración (CFA).

Since then, the search for excellence and the challenges presented by the building itself, together with the quest to be as sustainable as possible, led them to renew the original lighting equipment and install Robe LEDWash 1200s, MMX Spots and the new Pointe multi-purpose fixtures.

Mr. Jorge Miers, TV and multimedia director at the Iglesia CFA, says, "I conducted some research keeping in mind the requirements of this first purchasing stage of new equipment. Together with Pastor Abreu and the administration board and thanks to technical consultation with Guillermo Traverso - Robe lighting's Regional Sales Manager for La

UK - The theatrical grade dimming and colour palette of Chroma-Q's Color Force 72premium performance LED battens were utilised by lighting designer Tim Mitchell to provide precise control, dramatic colour changes and subtle intensity for the Royal Shakespeare Company's (RSC) recent production of Richard II, which received rave reviews from UK critics.

The recent run of Shakespeare's Richard II, with David Tennant and directed by RSC's artistic director, Gregory Doran, kicked off at the RSC's main Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, before moving to London's Barbican last December.

Tim, who serves as associate artist for the RSC as well as the Chichester Festival Theatre, specified seven Color Force 72 RGBA colour-mixing fixtures to light metal chain 'legs' rigged across the stage to a height of 8m. The battens were placed directly above the chains i

Germany - As one of Munich's most popular attractions, BMW World is an extremely important showcase for the premium automaker. Whether visiting BMW World as a tourist or there to pick up a new car, BMW World offers an extraordinary brand experience to customers. Today, BMW World features an eye-catching Martin colour illumination on the outside of the building - a dynamic lighting scheme that has now been extended indoors as a daylight solution.

As one of the world's great luxury automakers, the atmosphere surrounding presentations of the various car models must be perfect, avoiding both shape and colour distortion. Therefore, especially high demands are put on the lighting environment. An extremely even daylight illumination is required - a uniform level of light that must be guaranteed no matter the ambient conditions, time of day or time of year.

"The Martin LED fixtur

Germany - Successfully launched at PLASA 2013, the Clay Paky B-EYE is turning up with other surprises at ProLight+Sound; firstly B-EYE has become a comprehensive product line including: B-EYE K20, B-EYE K10, B-EYE K10 Easy and B-EYE K10 CC.

The A.leda B-EYE K20 is a high performance wash light, a breathtaking beam light, and a creator of completely new spectacular visual effects. Its unparalleled versatility makes it an extremely interesting creative tool for all lighting designers, says the company.

The B-EYE K10 version with rotating front lens makes its world debut at ProLight+Sound. By popular demand, Clay Paky has decided to add this important feature, which was previously only available on the K20 version. The K10 and K20 luminaires therefore provide identical features: same optics, same colour engine, same visual and 'beam' effects. Only the light output changes, since

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