USA - Country music icon Tim McGraw embarked on his Sundown Heaven Town 2014 tour in May, with Silent House production designer, Baz Halpin orchestrating a typically inventive set that evolves as the show unwinds.

Having been approached by production manager, John 'Lug' Zajonc and tour manager Nick Cua, Halpin was soon discussing concepts with the artist himself. "He wanted this show to look unlike anything he had done before - moving away from the traditional imagery of country music and into something more modern looking." He also wanted to display abstract 'light and shape' imagery and integrate the lighting with a multiple LED screen canvas."

To help him implement this, Halpin, in conjunction with lighting director Pat Brannon, selected 134 of GLP's impression X4 LED moving heads to create a highly imaginative lighting dynamic.

Along with colleagues

UK - Utopium contributed to the stunning setting for the inaugural Bristol Summer Series, 25-26 June, 2014, for Metropolis Music when it supplied a comprehensive lighting production, including newly acquired fixtures.

These were the first major music events in Bristol's Harbourside for 10 years: open air concerts featuring Paolo Nutini on 25 June, with The Pogues 26 June and the promoters have since announced their intention to establish an annual Bristol Summer Series event.

The stage was framed by a tall ship, the Kaskelot, where Paolo Nutini played a combination of his hits with tunes from his latest album Caustic Love to a sell-out crowd of 5000, while The Pogues were also a huge hit, attracting 3500 people who danced the night away to Irish punk-folk classics.

Utopium's Colin Bodenham and John Newman combined their skills to design and deliver the stage lighting

Germany - Since July 2014 HB-Laserkomponenten GmbH is a member of the Laserworld Group and underlines Laserworld being the world leader in the field of manufacturing and distribution of show laser light systems.

Martin Werner, CEO at Laserworld, has overseen several acquisitions and new foundations of companies in the Laserworld Group in the past years, where he sees an obvious trend: "In an increasingly difficult niche-market, consolidating is essential to configure in a way to be competitive and at the same time provide products that perfectly meet the requirements of the customers. Achieving this in such a specialized industry like ours is only possible with a strong team of highly qualified individuals; Laserworld provides the ideal framework for this."

The company network already spans the whole world. The various companies maintain their independence, identity

USA - Free registration is now open for PLASA Focus: Austin 2014. Taking place at the Palmer Events Centre on 9-10 September, this will be the second time PLASA Focus has returned to Texas since the launch of the event series in North America in February 2012.

PLASA Focus provides visitors with the opportunity to check out the latest products from some of the biggest names in entertainment technology. Companies already signed up to exhibit include: d&b audiotechnik, Chauvet Professional, TMB, Altman Lighting, Drape Kings, Harrington Hoists, Lightronics, Elation Professional, and Big House Sound, among many others. With many other applications being processed, companies interested in exhibiting are advised to move quickly to secure a spot.

Running alongside the exhibition is the PLASA Professional Development Programme which offers attendees free access to seminars. The program

South Africa - From humble beginnings, JMVR restaurant owner, Mike van Reenen, had the right idea when he opened his first venue, Soccer Shack in Pretoria 15 years ago.

Today he owns and manages five very successful venues in the city, one of which is Europa Night Club situated in Sunnyside. Europa has been going strong for the past eight years and the time recently came for Mike to up his game and upgrade the sound and lighting for the venue, making it on par with international specs.

He started with the audio system and involved Wild & Marr who did what they do best!

DWR Distribution was approached to manage the lighting upgrade. Schalk Botha from DWR worked with Mike and Henno van Wyk, regionaly manager for JMVR, on the solution to highlight the key areas.

After a few meetings and demos the choice was made. Robe's Robin 100 LEDBeams and Robin CYCFX 8's have been install

Australia - When Darlinghurst Theatre Company, The City of Sydney and architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer set about to renovate and repurpose Darlinghurst's Burton St Tabernacle as The Eternity Playhouse, there were always going to be a lot of technical and physical challenges. The building was originally constructed as a Baptist church in 1887, and now had to be adapted to run lights, sound, power and flybars, as well as accommodate clear sightlines for the audience.

With the Tabernacle's heritage came beauty and workmanship, including the decorative timber ceiling. Intricately worked and carved, the timber inlays are original to the Tabernacle and are a masterpiece of an almost lost art. Beautifully restored, they are a highlight of a visit to the theatre. But how do you run a functional lighting rig and grid without blocking the view of the ceiling?

Working with Darlinghurst T

USA - Production designer Steve Cohen's association with Billy Joel dates back an astonishing 40 years. Based on this vast experience he has conjured up some further magic for the artist's latest tour, which takes in an open-ended monthly residency at Madison Square Garden. By becoming established as the fourth franchise at MSG the artist has reaffirmed his close association with New York City, and has been delivering some stupendous performances.

Along the production journey, as technology evolved into LED, so Cohen encountered the world of the GLP impression series - using both the original impression 90 and 120 RZ zoom as well as the Volkslichts. But it was the later introduction of the X4 that confirmed his love affair with the impression LED platform.

"I saw the X4 for the first time on the GLP stand at LDI when Mark Ravenhill showed them to me. The technology and co

USA - The CVS Caremark Charity Classic is known throughout Rhode Island for bringing big name golfers to the state (20 PGA pros were at this year's event) and raising much-needed funds for local causes.

This year's edition of the event, which has raised well over a $1m annually since it began in 1999, also brought something else to the area - big name entertainment in the form of Lady Antebellum. The multi-Grammy winning, platinum recording artists performed before over one thousand invited guests at the Rhode Island Convention Centre, illuminated by a zesty lightshow created by Derek Iorfida, using a variety of Legend moving head fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

"This is a major event throughout the state," said Iorfida, president of JDI Productions in Johnston, Rhode Island. "The gala at the convention tops off a charity golf tournament that generates a lot

UK - Lighting and visuals rental company HSL supplied an extensive lighting specials package - including 140 new Philips Nitro LED strobes - for the Prodigy's show-stopping headline performance on Friday night at Sonisphere 2014 in Knebworth Park.

Show designer Andy Hurst has developed the latest spectacular look for the band who are playing a series of festival headliners and own shows throughout Europe across the summer, where they are maintaining their reputation for high production values and epic visual and sonic experiences.

HSL is also supplying a standard 'floor specials' lighting rig for the entire tour which is being used in conjunction with a festival / venue 'house' rig at all gigs and which is built to Hurst's specification.

HSL's project manager Mike Oates comments, "We love working with the Prodigy. They are one of the most innovative artists and put huge

UK - The Royal Opera House in London has recently invested in SpectraCyc 200 units from Altman Lighting for their Linbury Studio Theatre. The new cyclorama wash fixtures, which have replaced existing tungsten fixtures, use an LED source with RGBA colour-mixing to achieve a nearly limitless colour palette. Designed for both theatrical and architectural applications, the Spectra Cyc blends colours via a patent pending LED lens and can be adapted for either floor mounted or sky-cyc uses.

Before deciding on the Altman fixtures, Paul Hornsby, lighting systems manager at Royal Opera House, researched several technologies and product options. With the Linbury hosting a wide variety of performances during the regular season as well as private events and functions, it was essential that the new lighting fixtures provide a wide array of colours without compromising on brightness.

"

Germany - Germany had a lot to celebrate at this year's Football World Cup - including victory over Argentina in the final - with event technology supplier sld mediatec of Nuremberg turning to an Elation Professional lighting package to highlight the viewing party of German national team matches at Kennametal Kick and Groove Festival Park at Nuremberg Airport.

Some 20,000 fans gathered at the park to witness live the success of the German team on the big screen. Complementary lighting effects from Elation Platinum Series, Design Series and LED moving heads, along with Elation LED Par lights and white light luminaires were used to decorate the open air park and provide a festive atmosphere for the gathering of friends and fans.

Lighting designer for the Kick and Groove event was Sebastian Gross, who commented on his lighting requirement, stating, "I needed lights that were

Nigeria - With bases in Nigeria and Ghana, TV production company, Ultima Studios are responsible for developing high viewing television programmes such as the music talent show, MTN Project Fame West Africa and the territorial franchise, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.

As a premium media production organisation - one of the most prolific in sub-Saharan Africa - they are backed by their own cutting-edge production inventory to service their studio work - and this includes nearly 50 discharge and LED moving heads from Chinese manufacturer PR Lighting.

As they gear up for season seven of MTN Project Fame West Africa they will again turn to their large stock of XS 1200 Beam, XL Beam 300, XR 300 Beam, XR 200 Beam, XPar 360, XLED 1037, PR 5000 Spot and XR 230 Spot.

Both MTN Project Fame West Africa and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? are recorded

USA - When San Antonio's Tobin Center for the Performing Arts opens in September, its H-E-B Performance Hall and Alvarez Family Studio Theater will boast Robert Juliat Cyrano and Buxie followspots, respectively.

The new Tobin Center rises behind the façade of the former San Antonio Municipal Auditorium along the famed River Walk downtown. The 1,750-seat multi-purpose house will be the home of the San Antonio Symphony and other resident companies; its inaugural 2014-15 season will feature such diverse performers as comedy legend Bill Cosby, radio icon Garrison Keillor and "The Prairie Home Companion" and the Scottish Ballet's production of "A Streetcar Named Desire."

The four-level H-E-B Performance Hall is the largest of the Tobin Center's performance spaces; it has installed four Cyrano 2500W HMI followspots whose narrow beam angle makes them the perfect

USA - Philips Lumileds proprietary CrispWhite Technology was awarded the coveted LFI Innovation Award in the category of LED/OLED Chips and Modules at LightFair International 2014.

Luxeon CoB with CrispWhite Technology was developed specifically for retail applications including downlights and spotlights where the truest colour representation is desired by store owners and retail customers. CrispWhite is offered throughout the Luxeon chip-on-board (CoB) line of arrays. These arrays feature the highest combination of efficacy and lumen density in the industry, with a lumen range of 1,000-10,000 lm and typical efficacy of 100 lm/W.

Thousands of show attendees including lighting professionals and designers got a sneak peek at CrispWhite's light spectrum at LightFair International 2014 and the Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition earlier this month.

"We displayed sat

Europe - Lighting designer Jamie Thompson has again turned to GLP's LED impression series to help create dramatic stage impact for this year's world tour by Bastille.

Three years after successfully integrating the impression 90s (and Zoom) into The Script's show design, his company MIRRAD, which he runs with experienced co-lighting designer Bryan Leitch and Dave Cohen, specified 60 of the German manufacturer's popular X4 moving heads. The inventory was supplied by PRG after first providing a demo of the fixtures.

Technology has advanced a long way in three years, and Thompson admits, "I'm really loving the X4 . . . I feel that GLP has made another huge leap with this new range. Combining both power and effects, this range has really come into its own."

The London-based band, fronted by Dan Smith, has been playing a range of successful shows, including the massive C

Ghana - The Gearhouse Group of Companies, the leader in the South African market for equipment rental for live events, is extending its service to the continent with the establishment of Gearhouse Ghana, a fully-stocked operation located in Accra.

The Group has seen a steady increase in demand for cross-border services in recent years, in line with the escalating interest in the African continent as an event destination. Gearhouse regularly services events in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Seychelles, Saudi Arabia, UAE, India, Brunei, Tunisia, Congo, Namibia, Egypt, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Zambia and Tanzania - amongst others.

Now, Gearhouse is able to provide West African events with the same level of technical services as would be available in any other major event destination, both quickly and cost effectively, the company says.

Heading up the new company are Bil

Romania - SGM partner, production company FIVE'S, is providing full technical production services as well as stage, sound and lighting design for the Bergenbier Friendship Tour in Romania. This summer festival covers ten major cities with two shows per weekend, bringing people together with the message of building up friendships and spreading love and happiness throughout the world.

Bergenbier is one of the leading Romanian beer brands and its tour features the top musical trends and bands in Romania and expects a total audience of 500,000 visitors.

The mission for FIVE'S has been to select the most sustainable technology to support this show concept, and for this general manager Andrei Popea and his team decided to include six SGM G-Spot moving heads, four P-5 wash lights, 12 X-5 white LED strobes and 12 SixPack blinders.

Opting for an SGM LED solution has its clear benefit

Romania - When the SCF Black Sea Tall Ships Regatta Constanta 2014 took place recently on the Black Sea in Romania, PR Lighting, and their local customer Temple Media were on hand to provide the technical dynamics for a spectacular show on the waterfront.

Temple Media invested in large quantities of XR 200 Beam and XLED 1037 washlights. In fact they deployed 20 of each at this event to meet the imaginative stage design conceived by the company's CEO, Dan Chiorcioiu, (formerly director of photography on TVR, Romanian National Television) and Ramon Barbu, Temple Media's in-house LD for the show - which included a performance by Romania's leading pop rock band, Holograf.

This time around the rental company provided all staging and technical infrastructure, including a full lighting manifest and d&b sound system, in conjunction with with Iasi-based rental company, Tricorp Events (

Norway - The triple award-winning Clay Paky B-EYE has been dubbed a 'fixture without limitation' due to its '100% perfect' performance whilst on tour with popular Norwegian pop-band Postgirobygget.

The A.Leda B-EYE is the latest LED effects light to be released from Clay Paky and has already accrued a PIPA 2014 award for best light, as well as industry awards at both LDI 2013 and PLASA 2013. Lighting designer Petter Nilssen of Norway based distribution house Elektrik Solutions specified 12 of the B-EYE K20s from rental outfit Spekter A/S for use on his vibrant lighting design for Norwegian pop-stars Postgirobygget.

"We needed a fixture that was easy to tour but also gave us unique looks at all the places we visited," explains Nilssen. "The A.Leda B-EYE K-20 really is the fixture Postgirobygget and I have been waiting for. It is such an incredible fixture that we

Singapore - To light a show within budget and with a limited fixture inventory has always been one of the lighting designer's most common challenges. But when lighting designer Jonathan Sin knew he could use eight Source Four LED Lustr+ luminaires for his five dance pieces in Singapore's Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts' (NAFA) 2014 graduation show, Crossings, he felt relieved as "things became promising when I knew I had the privilege of using ETC's new LED fixtures."

Sin chose the Source Four LED Lustr+ luminaires as side lights to support the tungsten Source Four fixtures in his design. "This decision allowed me to have very flexible colour changing options while minimising the rig on my side booms to four fixtures per boom," says Sin.

Another reason Sin fell in love with Source Four LED Lustr+ luminaires was their extraordinary range of colour and su

UK - Engage Production Ltd, specialist in interactive technologies for branded environments, has announced a showcase of holographic technologies at its dedicated FLUX Innovation Lounge on 23 July. Engage staff, along with innovation partners and experts in the field, will share a range of holographic solutions with visitors.

Holographic technology continues to make rapid advances. Visitors to the FLUX Innovation Lounge will discover a range of approaches including the two metre tall Holo, designed by Conran Partners, the world's first 360° interactive hologram. Also featuring is Holotronica's Hologauze, which allows large scale holograms to appear to 'float'. Finally, FLUX will also demonstrate a number of smaller holograms, suitable for POS or exhibitions.

"Today's customer is becoming increasingly desensitised to typical methods of digital signage and now require m

USA - The second annual Many Hopes Gala had a clear, if somewhat ambitious, goal in mind: raise $400,000 to open a new school in Kenya for 900 students. Being a relatively new charity, the event's organizers needed to accomplish this worthy objective without relying on some of the lavish trappings that more established Manhattan non-profits often use to attract donors.

Nevertheless, the new charity managed to accomplish this feat in stunning fashion with a gala-dance party for young professionals that featured up-and-coming theatrical stars and a snappy DJ booth area energized by PVP S5 LED video panels from Chauvet Professional.

Held at the legendary Canoe Studios in the city's Chelsea section, the event was hosted by a group of young glamorous stars like actress-singer Leighton Meester, AnnaLynne McCord from Dallas and Zachary Levi, who plays Chuck Bartowski in Chu

UK - Chilfest 2014 - the three day music extravaganza staged in Tring, Hertfordshire, UK and produced by Universal Event Productions (UEP) - was another resounding success.

The event, compered by Keith "Cheggers" Chegwin brought two days of the very best music from the 1980s - indie rock from the Boomtown Rats, Big Country, Heaven 17, etc.; classic pop from Jason Donovan, Boney M, Go West - and contemporary pop with Union J, 911, Stooshi and many more to the leafy heartlands of Tring.

Chilfest was started last year initially as a novel and interesting way of celebrating UEP's 15th year of successful operation. As the idea gained momentum, it took on the format of a full scale two day music based festival with fun and entertainment for all the family.

The Chilfest event and concept went down such a storm that Steve Butcher and his team decided to go ahead and do it

The Netherlands - Light Image are a lively, energetic and imaginative lighting design, programming and operating practice based in Utrecht, The Netherlands, comprising three core people - Bas van der Poel (LD), Renzo Hagel (LD / operator) and Jeroen Van Der Velden (media servers / technical drawing specialist).

The company was established in 2011 and specialises in supplying creative lighting and visuals for TV shows and live events of all types.

Light Image works closely with directors and DoPs to produce the full visual design package required for a show, including lighting, set design, LED elements and control, all adding up to a coherent and harmonious visual picture.

This includes specifying the equipment and sometimes sourcing and tech'ing it on site. They are working increasingly with Robe products on almost every show.

"Our working relationship with Robe all s

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