UK - Blackout created a bespoke fabric backdrop for Beyonce as she performed a glittering rendition of her latest single XO for the Brit Awards 2014 at London's O2.

The drapes and rigging specialists, led by project director Kevin Monks, collaborated with Brits TV and Beyonce's production team to install an 8m wide by 12m fine gauze high speed roller screen which became the centre piece of the star's simple yet glamorous performance.

In collaboration with set company, Steel Monkey, the team installed three steel boxes upstage of the screen, clad with multiple layers of white voile to create a series of projection surfaces for XL video to display creative content. At the opening of the performance, Beyonce stood between the fine gauze and a giant close up of her face was projected live onto the screen, appearing to the audience as if suspended in mid-air.

As the star b

UK - Chauvet Professional has announced it has become Corporate Supporter of the Theatres Trust. Chauvet Professional will also provide further support to the Trust as sponsor of the delegate lunch at this year's Theatre Trust Conference, scheduled for 28 April, at the City Varieties Music Hall in Leeds.

The Theatres Trust is the National Advisory Body for Theatres, protecting theatres for everyone. Operating nationally in England, Scotland and Wales, the Trust promotes the value of theatre buildings and champions their future.

General manager Michael Brooksbank commented, "As a manufacturer, we feel honoured to play a role. Theatre is the backbone of the entertainment technology industry and a natural symbiosis already exists. Having come to understand in greater detail and recognise the work of the Trust, allegiance and community support became a natural next step for C

Germany - Le Maitre has been asked to provide the pyrotechnics as well as flame effects for this year's PRG Festhalle exhibit at Prolight & Sound. Live shows will take place 18 times a day over the course of the four day exhibition with free entry for all visitors.

The Festhalle, the main hall at the Frankfurt show, occupies over 32,000sq.ft and will be the home for PRG over the course of the four-day show. Visitors will be able to watch a spectacular live event production where they can experience PRG's integration of complex systems using state of the art light, sound and video technology. Attendees can also go on "behind the scene" tours to learn more about the services and market sectors that PRG serves.

Le Maitre will be providing over 2000 pyro products in the form of 1x35ft Gerbs and 30' Gold Glitter Mines, as well as their CometFlames for the 60 shows. Elemen

Russia - The closing ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics wrapped up the most expensive games yet with an exquisite cocktail of Russian music, ballet, art, design and literature - plus a witty and inspired sprinkling of self-deprecation. Much of the action took place amongst a dynamic forest of light, which was created and built by set and stage designer, Tait Technologies, and programmed by creative UK collective, Immersive.

Throughout, the Forest of Light provided the stage architecture that gave scale and perspective for much of the action that unfolded on the huge Fisht Stadium floor. It also provided the perfect TV-picture framing vehicle for the stunning aerial and stadium TV pictures, broadcast worldwide on 23rd February 2014.

The impressive Olympics Closing Ceremony design was by Danielle Finzi Pasca. The Forest of Light comprised a custom LED product, de

UK - Blackburn-based lighting and visuals rental company HSL supplied lighting and a new LED product to the highly acclaimed and much anticipated first full production tour by trip hop trio London Grammar.

On the tour, HSL supplied a new GoldPix 77 LED surface. This is a 500 X 500 mm panel populated with 7 x 7 warm white LEDs with very narrow beam optics, which is incredibly light, robustly built and ideal for touring and making a high visual impact.

The tour's stylish and off-beat visual design was created by Steve Bewley, who rose to the challenge of producing a scalable and flexible rig that would look good wherever they played. The heterogeneity of venues on the tour included some more unusual places and spaces, and all the kit also had to fit into one 26 tonne truck.

Bewley, well known for his innovative work with Enter Shikari, Shikari Sound System, & Dizzee Rascal sta

UK - Artichoke reports that an artwork commissioned for the Lumiere light festival in Durham 2011 has found a permanent home in the city.

Helvetictoc by Swiss web designer Tobie Langel, will be installed in Durham this week. The work, which describes the approximate time in words, will be projected onto the wall of the Clayport Library in Millennium Square.

The piece is an affectionate tribute to both an iconic typeface and to the nation of clockmakers from where it came. The artwork's witty use of language recalls the era before smartphones and the almost forgotten act of asking someone for the time.

Helvetictoc originated as a small web application combining a number of Langel's interests: typography, minimalism, randomness, humanisation of digital user interfaces and the perception of time.

Langel's app was spotted online by Artichoke, who saw its possibil

Turkey - The power of over 200 Clay Paky fixtures was employed to light the first-ever Turkvision Song Contest 2013 in an impressive lighting display that has been dubbed the 'temple of light'.

Turkish production house Phantom Event Engineering (Phantom) worked with lighting designer Eran Klein from Cochavi & Klein Light Architect on the show's impressive lighting solution. The team specified the 48 x Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1500s, 30 x Alpha Spot HPE 1200s, 80 x Sharpys, 36 x A.leda Wash K5s and 24 x A.leda Wash K10s to 'build' the empyrean set.

"We had to use light as a structure," explains Klein, "The show is a multi-national televised event and we wanted to find an abstract way to symbolise togetherness so we created the on-stage 'temple of light'."

To create a powerful and punchy colour scheme Klein and his team utilised the Clay Paky fixtures in a laye

UK - London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) staged Harold Pinter's Betrayal and Cole Porter's High Society at the end of 2013 utilising the strong colours and smooth dimming of Philips Selecon's PL range of LED fixtures.

RADA runs a four-term specialist course in Stage Electrics and Lighting Design as well as a two-year foundation degree in Technical Theatre and Stage Management, which allows students to specialise in lighting in their final year.

Two of RADA's specialist lighting design students worked on each of the productions: Amy Mae for Betrayal at RADA's GBS Theatre; and Matt Leventhall for High Society at RADA's Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre.

RADA's head of lighting Matt Prentice consulted with Selecon to specify a mixture of PLprofile1s, PLfresnel1s, and PLcyc1s to the drama school, which is generally regarded as one of the most prestig

USA - Bandit Lites has announced the hiring of Andrew Fisher as senior systems integrator. Fisher will be assisting with system specification sales, system integrations, and providing client solutions alongside Chris Barbee, Bandit's global director of sales.

While earning his BSBA in finance from UNC Charlotte and studying theatre at UNC Wilmington, Fisher worked at both a Broadway scenic house and as an LD. He spent several years at Barbizon in their systems group before his most recent position of national sales manager for The Light Source, focusing on their LED product line.

About his new position, Fisher shared his excitement saying, "I see Bandit as a leader in the entertainment industry. Chris has built an exceptionally strong team in the Bandit systems division. Custom, quality, and innovative services are everyday parts of Bandit. I'm thrilled to take that to th

UK - To set the scene for Valentine's Day and to launch the duo of Durex Embrace sensual pleasure gels Will Glendinning from Allium, a high profile live event company, approached PRG to provide a lighting solution. PRG provided the lighting equipment and crew to lighting designer, Durham Marenghi's specification to stage a spectacular light show on London's Southbank on the evening of 13 February, at the Observation Point near the OXO Tower.

Lighting tests were carried out on the fixtures at PRG's East Molesey warehouse in South West London to gauge the length of the beams in the night sky and to see what visual effects could be used on the evening. The show was then pre-programmed for the launch by Pryderi Baskerville in conjunction with Durham Marenghi using WYSIWYG software.

Seventy-six Clay Paky Sharpy Beam lights were used and rigged on two circular trusses, the inner cir

UK - "We really can't tell you how much this saved our home and family."

"For everybody who contributes to Behind the Scenes, thank you. You helped save my life."

"I can't thank you all enough. Light Relief does life changing work, and my life has been changed by what you do."

Without the help of either Light Relief in the UK or Behind the Scenes in the US and Canada, these people - and many more - would have been in real financial difficulties as a result of illness or injury.

A major fundraiser for both charities is By Design Day, being held this year on Thursday 24 April. You can make a personal donation, hold a collection at work or - if you are a designer - you can support the day by giving a day's royalties to one or both of these charities.

To date Light Relief has awarded more than £60,000 in grants to help lighting professiona

UK - This year, Robe was already involved in some of the highest high profile New Year's shows around the world including Berlin, Las Vegas and New York ... and once again its moving lights were right at the centre of the action for Chinese New Year celebrations in London's Trafalgar Square, featuring an afternoon of onstage entertainment culminating in a massive son et lumière extravaganza finale show to welcome the Year of the Horse.

Organised by the London Chinatown Chinese Association and supported by the Mayor of London and Westminster City Council, the event - which lasts all afternoon and covers activities happening in the key areas of Leicester Square, Soho, Charing Cross Road and Chinatown - celebrates Chinese history culture and art, and is the biggest outside Asia.

Lighting, audio and power specialists Ethix Management run by Paul Jones supplied an all-Robe moving

Sweden - One of Sweden's largest 'theatre show restaurants', Rondo, has upgraded its house lighting system to Chroma-Q Inspire premium performance, energy-efficient LED house lights, to transform the feel and atmosphere of the popular venue.

Situated in Scandinavia's biggest theme park, Liseberg, in the city of Gothenburg, Rondo stages high-class after-dinner entertainment shows and has featured performances from some of Sweden's leading musicians. One of the country's most historic show venues, around six million happy guests have danced, dined and celebrated here since Rondo opened sixty-five years ago. The venue is renowned for its glamour and exquisite dining experience.

Rondo wanted to upgrade their conventional tungsten house lights with a more modern and energy-efficient LED system, as well as offering an extra immersive dimension to their performances.

The existing s

USA - Following the success of his 2011 EPIC 1.0 tour, Eric Prydz knew his EPIC (Eric Prydz In Concert) 2.0 shows had to raise the stakes of EDM visuals, and therefore collaborated again with show designers, technical specialists & content creators Immersive to realise a world-class audio/visual sensation.

Hailed by the world's press as an example of boundary-pushing design, London and New York-based show designer Immersive created an enormous set incorporating LED screens rather than projection surfaces, lasers, holograms, smoke machines and other visual effects.

Reviewing the show, the LA Times praised EPIC 2.0 for "raising the stakes for how artists present dance music live, in ways unique to their own aesthetic"; LA Music Blog commented, "The seamless marriage of deft live mixing and visual spectacle was magical to behold; I can only hope this

Australia - Since Perth's Concert and Corporate Productions (CCPWA to their friends) purchased their Jands Vista L5 they've barely had the pleasure of its company. And it's that kind of that kind of immediate return on investment that really makes a production company happy. Sean McKernan, general manager of CCPWA, couldn't be happier with its absence. "We got it mid-September and we only had it in our warehouse for 12 hours before it went out on its first tour!"

After purchase from Jands, the L5 flew into Perth to be prepped by the CCPWA crew, and soon turned around and was put a plane to Brisbane, where it kicked off on UK metal band Bring Me The Horizon's national tour. As that tour finished up, the desk went straight over to US rockers Fall Out Boy for another lap of the nation.

"It was a good month and half before it came back" Sean continued, 'and it'

Germany - Avolites and Avolites Media are powering up the latest stable of products to be unveiled at this year's Prolight + Sound.

The show promises to be Avolites' biggest presence yet. Avolites and Avolites Media will take their own dedicated stand at Frankfurt - Hall 11.0 Stand D40 - but will also be exhibiting with longstanding friend and partner, Trendco, also in Hall 11.0 B41A.

Avolites Media will showcase the new S-Series Media Servers, along with the latest generation in the Infinity line, the Ai Infinity EX series.

The Ai S2, S4 and S6 media server are the latest server systems from Avolites Media and offer two, four and six Display Port / DVI outputs respectively. They feature 3rd generation PCI Express motherboards, graphics cards and RAID SSD drives for unrivalled performance along with 4K Ultra HD capability in the S4, S6 and S8 servers. The Dual Processor, hi

USA - The new W-DIMm3 from RC4 Wireless is a miniature wireless DMX receiver and three-channel DC dimmer for use with Wireless Solution W-DMX transmitters. Its small size, just 80mm x 40mm x 20mm, is ideal for use in props, practicals, and costumes. A comprehensive RDM implementation is accessible when RDM functionality is enabled in the host W-DMX system.

Each dimmer channel handles up to 50W at 12V. The device operates from 6V to 35VDC, and each dimmer can deliver 5A. Total device power handling, limited by input connections, is 10A. Over-temperature and over-current shut-down provide protection again wiring errors and load faults.

Any DMX channel can be assigned to any dimmer, with a choice of non-dim, linear, or ISL curves optimized for smooth, flicker-free LED dimming. This makes the W-DIMm3 ideal for stage, film, or video. Use RDM to configure DMX channel, dimmer curve,

Germany - Elation Professional is set to light up the world's biggest trade show for show technology with a host of new technologies optimized for professional stage applications (Stand D68 Hall 11)

Elation is a leader in the use of energy-efficient Platinum lamp technology and will be showcasing three new luminaires in the Platinum range of professional moving heads including the Platinum Wash 16R Pro, a flexible feature-packed luminaire that has use as both a wash and beam; the Platinum Profile 35 Pro, a full-featured fixture with internal framing; and the Rayzor Beam 2R, a small and speedy fixture powerful enough to work alongside larger luminaires.

As an acknowledged innovator in LED lighting, Elation will also have on display the Satura Spot LED Pro moving head featuring a 300W LED engine that is as bright as a traditional 575W discharge fixture. Other featured products w

UK - High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire-based cross rental facility Dry Hire Lighting has invested in a substantial quantity of new Robe moving lights to boost their available hire stock of Robe fixtures, making them one of the largest rental stockists of Robe fixtures in the UK.

The new purchase comprises of a mix of Robe Robin Pointes, Robin LEDWash 600s and Robin LEDBeam 100s.

Dry Hire Lighting made the move due to an increased demand generally across all sectors for all of Robe products which are appearing with increasing frequency on specifications for concert tours, theatres shows, TV series' as well as special, corporate and industrial events and presentations.

"We have the largest rental stocks of the Pointe in the UK and it is definitely the fixture of the year right now," says Dry Hire Lighting's Rob Merrilees, "It's being used on numerous productions and

Czech Republic - Robe has renewed its sponsorship of Czech MotoGP racer Karel Abraham for the 2014 Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix.

Abraham kicks off the 2014 season with a brand new Honda bike and lots of positive attitude.

Says Robe s.r.o CEO Josef Valchar, "Supporting Karel in the Moto GP was a great success for us last year! It provides an exhilarating international event that can be enjoyed worldwide by everyone and a great opportunity for us to offer hospitality and a special experience to our clients and friends."

Last year Abraham had some bad luck and had to drop out of the competition after a nasty shoulder injury for which he is still receiving treatment.

Right now he comments, "The most important thing is that I enjoy racing again ... and I am sure the rest will follow." He has just turned 24 and is already a veteran of his tenth M

USA - Litepanels, a Vitec Group brand and provider of LED lighting for the broadcast and production industries, has announced the release of its new Sola 4 Traveler KitTM. Designed specifically to accommodate the needs of shooters and productions on the go, the Sola 4 Traveler Kit includes three Sola 4 LED Fresnel fixtures in a rugged, ergonomically designed, trolley-style hard case.

Customised for safe and easy transport from location to location, the Sola 4 Traveler Kit weighs only 65 pounds (29.5 kilograms). The three fixtures included in the kit can be easily deployed for a traditional three-light set-up, and the kit's custom foam insert is expandable to allow for the addition of a classic Litepanels 1x1.

Litepanels' Sola 4TM is the smallest DMX controllable LED Fresnel on the market. The daylight-balanced LED offers the controllability and light-shaping properties inheren

Germany - At Prolight+Sound 2014, Chauvet Professional will be represented in stand 34, Hall 11 by an array of luminaires, like new additions to the Nexus line with Nexus Aq 5X5 and Nexus Aw 7X7 narrow beam panels, ÉPIX Bar 2.0 and ÉPIX Strip 2.0 pixel-mapping fixtures, Legend 330SR Spot powerful moving yokes, Legend 412Z moving head wash fixtures and more. Additionally, Chauvet introduces a new line, Rogue, which debuts with powerful and feature-packed spot and beam fixtures that bring great value and performance, says the company.

Chauvet Professional is also making it easier for "non-technical" users to create professional video and pixel-mapping displays with its groundbreaking ÉPIX Series. Included are two one-meter linear tri-colour LED fixtures that work together seamlessly - the ÉPIX Bar 2.0 and ÉPIX Strip 2.0 - and the &Eacut

Germany - Robert Juliat will be exhibiting at Prolight+Sound alongside its German partner, Lightpower, in the Lightpower Village (Hall 11.0 Stand D76).

Robert Juliat will exhibit its range of lighting fixtures and showcase its expertise in followspot design with examples of its Lancelot, Cyrano and Victor followspots on the stand.

Cyrano's distinguishing features - which include perfect 100% - 0% dimming, easy-operation of pan, tilt, iris and dimmer functions, and the inclusion of progressive frost and dichroic filters as standard - continue to rank it as one of the most desirable followspots for theatre and opera houses, says the company.

Lancelot has proved itself invaluable for live concert tours and stadium shows being the followspot of choice for five of Billboard's Top Ten Tours of 2013. Its 4000W of HTI brilliance was seen to dazzle on tour with no less than Bon Jovi,

USA - Louisville, Kentucky, is known for its festivals and special events and the city's annual Light Up Louisville event between Thanksgiving and New Year's is one of its most popular. Elation Platinum Beam 15R Pro moving heads and IP-65 rated ELAR 108 PAR RGBW lights were used for the 2013 edition, which included an extra component, 40 Nights of Lights that featured light projection and a nightly light show set to music.

Designed to bring more citizens and visitors downtown to celebrate the season, Light Up Louisville is a four-block festival of lights and this season included two 15-minute timecoded on-street light shows set to Christmas music. The light shows played each of the 40 nights with colour projection onto trees, street lights and buildings all adding to the festive atmosphere.

Axxis, Inc. of Louisville was responsible for the entire productio

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