Italy - Italy - Vasco was back this summer, 2014, with seven sell-out concerts at stadiums. The tour consisted of three dates at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome and four at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Milan. Vasco became the first artist ever to do three consecutive nights at the Stadio Olimpico, and set a new record total number of 21 performances at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

The show itself was fit for breaking records: an exceptional, extremely impressive production. Clay Paky's lights were a must for the stage. The new A.Leda B-EYE K20s stood out in particular among the 'special lights' in the lighting design. There were 38 on stage and 15 on the large external structure.

"In order to use these lights," Vasco's lighting designer Giovanni Pinna explained, "I got great support from Clay Paky, because we are not talking about traditional lights... we are talkin

UK - Respected production technician Andy 'Fraggle' Porter ensured the Pyramid Stage at this year's Glastonbury was a dazzling display of bright and frenzied strobe effects by rigging 33 Showline SL Nitro 510 luminaires in an arch array.

Heavy metal headliners Metallica were one of the many acts that took advantage of the SL Nitro 510 strobes, which were supplied to Glastonbury by Neg Earth. Throughout the weekend, the strobes exhibited their versatility and offered the various lighting designers endless creative possibilities as the plethora of acts performed.

"Last year we used the SL Nitro 510 strobes in combination with our standard strobes and they worked really well," says Fraggle. "They are also a fantastic energy saving solution - a whole bunch of conventional strobes all bumped together has a huge impact on the generator mains which can cause us issues

UK - It would be practically impossible to overstate the importance of the Everyman Theatre to the city of Liverpool. To list the names of those whose careers are synonymous with it, would be to compile a who's who of artistic giants, their ground-breaking work deeply embedded in the national psyche, their place at the top table of British cultural history assured.

In the early 1960s a group of artists, poets, writers and musicians who met at the then Hope Hall Cinema, decided that the building would make a good theatre and in 1964, the Everyman was born. Closed in 1975 for rebuilding, it reopened in 1977 and there followed 34 years that shaped the careers of Willy Russell, Alan Bleasdale, Julie Walters, Bernard Hill and Pete Postlethwaite to name a just a handful.

In 2011, the Everyman closed its doors again for a £28m redevelopment, funded for the most part by Arts Cou

USA - Carlos Santana and Buddy Guy have garnered 16 Grammy Awards between them, and for one magical night this summer, the two guitar virtuosos performed on stage at The Greenwich Town Party under the light of 22 Legend 230SR Beams from Chauvet Professional.

An intensely bright moving yoke fixture powered by a 230-watt Osram Sirius lamp, the Legend 230SR Beam anchored a muscular lighting rig installed by JDI Productions of Johnston, Rhode Island. "We used over 140 fixtures on the stage, covering the performers and reaching out into the audience," said LD and lighting crew chief Derek Iorfida. "This was a dynamic series of performances, not just by the two iconic headliners but all the artists on the programme, and we wanted to match the intensity of the music with an overwhelmingly powerful lighting display."

Iorfida singled out the Legend 230SR Beam, which

UK - At PLASA London 2014, Harting (Stand No. G15) is featuring its RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) systems for asset management in the theatre and touring environment, along with rugged connectivity solutions for audio-visual multimedia events.

Harting's RFID technology can be applied for improved asset management for entertainment rental/hire companies and for theatres which share equipment for touring shows. The Ha-VIS RFID system offers a high degree of flexibility to simplify the implementation of scalable solutions in different application sectors.

The system combines rugged, high-performance RFID readers with powerful data pre-processing to ensure high-speed data transmission and optimum dynamic network performance. An efficient software solution allows the scaling of RFID solutions from individual readers through to enterprise-wide solutions across different loca

World - Lighting designers can enter their own Imagination into the wysiwyg Lighting Design Video Challenge by CAST Software - a challenge open to all current wysiwyg R33 users and members and to those who become so before the deadline of 26 September 2014.

"As in previous years, we're looking to discover the next lighting design talent through pre-visualization, but this year's participants will be challenged by having a 'budget' just like they would in a real world project. This 'budget' will be represented by an equipment limitation list," explains, Igor Silva, marketing manager at CAST Group.

"Entrants can be pros or amateurs - all you need to do is be a registered wysiwyg member, follow the equipment limitation list and guidelines, create a two-minute video of your lighting design using wysiwyg version R33 then post it to your YouTube account and share it o

The Netherlands - Hedon, a well-known live music venue in Zwolle, the Netherlands, has recently had a full Robe moving light rig installed into its new building which features an 850 capacity main hall plus an equality active small room that can accommodate 200 people.

The venue, partly owned by a cultural event and community activity organisation called Travers, has been a local landmark for the last 15 years, showcasing an eclectic and vibrant mix of international and home-grown talent - anything from comedy to music of all types - with a hectic schedule of 25-30 shows every month, and sometimes as many as 50.

Hedon's head of technical Martijn Deenan started working there four years ago as well as continuing his very active freelance career, and he oversaw all the technical aspects of the venue throughout the refurbishment project. Meanwhile, his other work keeps him up-to-d

Russia - In celebration of the 2014 World Cup final game, the three towers of Vorobievy Gory, an iconic residential complex in Moscow that faces the German Embassy, were lit during the match with the colours of Germany and Argentina's national flags. With only a single day to light the towers, lighting designer Sergey Babaliants of Moscow-based BaSinstall was brought in to programme the tower's existing system, which includes 198 Martin Professional Exterior 200 fixtures.

Installed in 2006, the exterior lighting for each of the three towers features 30 Exterior 200s for the 'crown', located on the roof level and 36 Exterior 200s for the 'gallery', located three floors below the crown. The design is controlled via LightJockey placed on the second level below the middle tower, while the left and right towers were connected through wireless DMX signal via an omnidirectional antenna

Austria - Every summer, the Theater im Hof, in Enns, Upper Austria, produces a classical production, such as Faust, Cyrano de Bergerac and pieces by Shakespeare. This year, the company will present The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) by Long, Singer and Winfield, which contains all 38 stage works and 154 sonnets all in one. The ambitious show was programmed with the help of ETC Eos software on the new ETC Nomad controller.

After years of using a large riding hall, this year's production will be staged in the basement of the Ennsegg Castle. With little space to spare for front of house control positions and a hectic production schedule, technical director and lighting designer Ueli Riegg found the new PC based Nomad controller to be the solution.

Thanks to the new screen management in Eos v2.2 software, including a simple to use onscreen co

World - One Direction embarked on their worldwide Where We Are tour this spring, performing in some of the biggest stadiums around the globe to millions of screaming fans. For shows of this size and scope, lighting designer Paul Normandale turned to the powerful versatility of the Vari-Lite VL3500 Wash FX luminaires, supplied by Lite Alternative.

Having designed shows for some of today's biggest concert touring artists including Arctic Monkeys and Coldplay, Normandale is used to making a huge impact with his designs, which often feature the VL3500 Wash FX at their core. "The VL3500 Wash FX luminaire has long been a favourite of mine," says Normandale. "Because of this, it has formed the basis of many of my designs over the last few years."

Normandale's design for One Direction needed to pack a huge punch in order to stand up to the extensive onstage

Germany - Astera has released its latest wireless creation and instalment in the X-Series, the Lightdrop (AX3). The updated and enhanced replacement to the previous Lightdrop (AL3-M) is equipped with many more features and improved capabilities, the company says.

This compact and powerful RGBW spotlight improves on its previous model with high-power Cree LEDs and other top-quality components like Samsung batteries and in-built, optional CRMX wireless DMX by LumenRadio. The polyamide/polystyrene housing protects and cools the device from its heat-generating, high-powered components, keeping it cool, thus maximising its run-time.

Being twice as bright as the previous Lightdrop, the AX3 is also considered a replacement for other discontinued Astera lights such as the 24W Wireless Spotlight (AL7-L). The AX3 contains a 15W Cree LED chip, with a narrow 13° beam angle, which make

UK - Hire company, Point Source Productions, and event production company, Light Motif, have entered into an exciting new partnership to service the events industry.

Founded by Rob Mills, Light Motif is a young company made up of creative individuals with extensive experience in the events industry.

Light Motif specialises in the creation of vibrant, bespoke designs that determine the look and feel of an event. Strong emphasis is placed on the advance presentation of visuals to the client and high levels of pre-planning to ensure every event delivers the 'wow' factor and meets the clients' expectations.

The company is expanding rapidly and has recently appointed Kelly Yeomans, previously of Fisher Productions, as Business Development Manager, to drive forward its business with venues, agencies, clients and other event suppliers.

Part of this exciting growth includes the ne

China - ROE Visual Co., Ltd, a leading manufacture in creative LED display industry, has launched Black OnyX P3.47 HD LED display.

The Black OnyX is ROE Visual's new high-performance indoor HD LED display incorporating professional industrial design. Magnesium alloy panel makes it lightweight and strong. The module uses Multi-Color's newest anti-glare black LEDs to get a high contrast ratio. Driving IC MBI5153 supports a high refresh rate and great image quality at a low brightness.

The Black Onyx is powered by ROE visual's new control system - Evision. It supports a max. resolution of 2560x1024. Real-time brightness adjustment by knob and real-time configuration by LCD monitor. All calibrating and operating parameters are stored. You don't need to reset the display after replacing a module.

The innovative and friendly design supports a convenient installation for both hangi

USA - Award-winning Broadway actress; New York Times best-selling author; Grammy recording artist and American Idol winner - Fantasia Barrino has already worn many hats extraordinarily well in her young career, but this multi-talented superstar is (by her own description), one thing above all else: a soul singer. This much was very evident to the fans at her recent southeastern tour stops. Holding nothing back, Fantasia rocked the house to its very core with a heartfelt collection of powerful tunes all supported by an appropriately intense light show featuring a variety of Chauvet Professional fixtures.

Lighting designer Jay Chiari and lighting tech Brandon Thomas of Audio Visual Services (Macon, GA) used 12 Q-Wash 560Z-LED moving yoke washes, six COLORado Batten 72 Tour linear washes and 18 Legend 230SR Beam moving beams in a rig that drenched the stage in intense colours. &quo

Germany - Not to be mistaken for a swimwear company, Bikini Berlin is a culturally protected Grade II listed building in the German capital, whose recent revitalization included the installation of over 1000 energy-efficient LED luminaires from Elation Professional.

Located next to the famous Berlin Zoo, Bikini Berlin is a concept shopping mall with stores, offices, cinema, and hotel, a day and nighttime destination for locals and tourists alike. Aimed at a style-conscious audience with high standards when it comes to a shopping experience, Bikini Berlin opened in late 2013 after a three-year renovation that preserved the initial character of the venue.

The centrepiece of the building complex is the historical 200m long Bikinihaus, a light, open colonnade and architectural symbol of Berlin's west cityscape. Popularly called Bikinihaus due to its two-tier architecture that is r

South Africa - Cape Town-based rental and technical production company, Ultra Events has completed its first purchase of Robe Robin Pointe moving lights - with a delivery of 12 units from Robe's South African distributor DWR Distribution, to be followed by another 12.

Ultra's owner and founder Costa Champanis first saw Pointes at the 2013 Mediatech trade expo in Johannesburg, and was immediately impressed.

"I like their versatility and they are also hugely popular at the moment and getting specified frequently. So knowing I could get a good ROI, I went ahead with the investment," he explains, adding that one of Ultra's central philosophies is also to keep abreast of the latest technologies ... and owning the Pointes keeps them right there!

"The flexibility of the Pointe being able to go from a tight parallel beam to a spot, to a comprehensive wash and producin

USA - Indoors or outdoors, rain or shine, the COLORado 2-Quad Zoom IP from Chauvet Professional will reliably light up stages and performers with intense, ultra-vibrant RGBW colours. Containing 14 brilliant 15-watt Quad-Color (red, green, blue, white) LEDs, which emit up to 8,000 lux at 5 meters, this beefy new addition is the brightest, most powerful PAR-style colour-wash fixture in the entire COLORado IP family, says the company.

It is also very rugged and weatherproof; built to withstand serious onslaughts of wind and precipitation, the COLORado 2-Quad Zoom IP is IP66 rated with an M12 GORE valve for assured internal equalization. Even the proprietary power cord and DMX input cable that come included with the unit top the ingress protection scale at IP66, making the COLORado 2-Quad Zoom IP a perfect choice for summer concerts, amphitheatres, festivals, fairs, sporting events

UK - The 2014 Edinburgh Festival and Fringe is the biggest yet, increasing on last year's program by 11% and making it the world's largest arts festival in history. Eaton's Zero 88 team have reacted in a similar manner by increasing their support and training opportunities at the festival. Product Specialists Paul McEwan and Jon Hole, along with UK sales manager Mark Morley, are all staying in Scotland's capital city to ensure superior support is provided throughout the festival's three-week run.

"The exact number of Zero 88 consoles at the festival is still unknown, but estimates are that over 150 different performance spaces are using everything from ORB XF and Solutions, through to Jesters and even Level 6s," commented Paul McEwan, who is in Edinburgh for the whole festival. He added: "Around 50 of these venues took advantage of our free training before they op

UK - Lighting for the recent Royal Court Theatre (RCT) production of Tim Crouch's Adler & Gibb was designed by award winning and leading theatre lighting designer Natasha Chivers, who included two of Robe's MMX Blade fixtures in her lighting scheme which were used extensively throughout the drama.

The fixtures were rigged on an upstage bar, either side of the centre and used for two distinct and different effects. Firstly as back-light specials, and secondly, with the addition of gobos and crossing to downstage centre, they formed part of a forest break-up look that focussed on a grave.

The MMX Blade units were recommended to Chivers and Jack Williams, chief LX at the Royal Court by Matt Prentice, head of lighting at RADA - after they have been very successfully used on productions there. (Williams is an ex RADA student).

The MMX Blades "ticked all the boxes"

UK - The inaugural Jonathan Speirs Memorial Lecture will take place on the evening of 25th September 2014, from 6:30pm in the Satinwood Suite, at Glasgow City Chambers, Glasgow. Jonathan Speirs (1958-2012) is widely acknowledged by architects, lighting designers, building services engineers and many others to have been one of the world's finest lighting designers. To celebrate his vision and passion for lighting, the Jonathan Speirs Memorial Lecture, entitled 'Light + Dark = Architecture,' will be given by his long term creative partner, Mark Major, fellow founder of Speirs + Major.

This lecture offers a wonderful opportunity to see a presentation given by one of the world's foremost lighting designers, Mark Major. It will hold great appeal to all those interested in lighting and architecture, including architects, interior designers, landscape architects, lighting designers, li

USA - Summer continues for Bandit Lites with the Firefly Festival, a four day musical event with what has been called "the strongest line-ups of any US festival". With seven stages and 125 artists, the four day festival kicked off 19 June and included a craft beer bar, coffee house, arcade and a relaxing area dubbed the hammock hangout.

While in only its third year, the Firefly Festival has grown from 30,000 people enjoying great music at an 80 acre site to 80,000 people rocking out on a 300 acre site. Bandit Lites provided the festival lighting for the four main stages and worked with Leif Dixon who was the LD for both headliners: Jack Johnson and the Foo Fighters, playing on Friday and Sunday nights. The festival line up also included Outkast, Imagine Dragons, The Lumineers, Beck, Pretty Lights, Weezer, Arctic Monkeys, Childish Gambino, Girl Talk and Tegan and Sara.<

China - Following hot on the heels of the recently launched LED Studio 3205D for large-scale applications, PR Lighting has announced that the new LED Studio 3203T/3203D fixtures - the latest additions to this product portfolio - are now ready for shipment.

Whereas their predecessor houses a single 500W LED source the new LED Studio 3203T/D contains a 250W LED - making it suitable for the TV studio, theatre and multi-functional situations as well as commercial display.

Unlike the LED Studio 3205D this latest model boasts two different colour temperatures (3200K on the LED Studio 3203T and 5600K on the LED Studio 3203D). And with a colour rendering index (CRI) Ra of >93 it is higher than that of the LED Studio 3205D.

Other than that, it shares the same design as its counterpart, with 50,000 hours lamp life, luminous flux measurements of 7100 lumens (14°), 10,700 lumens (48

USA - Heavy metal icons Mötley Crüe are out on what could be their final tour before retiring and drummer Tommy Lee is going out in style atop a custom-made 'Crüecifly' drum coaster, aka the Tommy Coaster, lined with effects from Elation Flex LED Pixel Tape.

Over the years, Tommy Lee has continually come up with creative ways to fly his drum kit with the latest incarnation a type of rollercoaster that has him bolted on and flying and flipping through concert venues. The truss structure required some dressing however and Matt Mills, lighting director and programmer on The Final Tour, (lighting designer is Sooner Routhier) turned to the ease of possibilities that Elation's Flex Pixel Tape offers.

"The main look Tommy wanted was one similar to the runway lights you see at the airport, the strobes that go in sequence to help pilots find the runway," Matt explai

UK - The characteristic power and colour of Chauvet Professional's lighting range let its presence be known across several music stages and live production areas at this year's Glastonbury festival.

At the Temple stage on The Common, lighting designer Paul De Villiers provided a set to complement the video-mapped exterior design of the stage structure using the popular, powerful and versatile, Chauvet Professional Legend 412Z wash fixture and the full extent of its 8- to 33-degree zoom range to create a very wide beam stretching across the crowd - adding vital contrast with depth, colour and strobing to the overall lighting display in this Chichen Itza-inspired DJ zone.

Offsetting the intense colour of the structure's exterior, de Villiers counterposed the warm white wash of the Chauvet Professional Nexus Aw 7x7 LED panel wall system on the back of the DJ booth area. The Nexus

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