USA - ETC's CUE (Create. Understand. Experience.) professional development conference can help lighting professionals improve their skills and become more confident in their work. CUE - to be held 26-28 June, in Madison, Wisconsin - will have something for designers and programmers of all skill levels, whether they have years of experience in the most well known venues, are just getting started in their careers, or consider lighting to be their hobby or side job, say the organisers.

The conference is beneficial for professionals who work with all different kinds of lighting, including for theatre, houses of worship, broadcast, dance, academic institutions, architecture, live events, and more.

This summer's CUE conference will be the third end-user event that ETC has held. Attendees to previous CUEs have been able to apply what they've learned to their everyday work. "The

UK - An illuminated sculpture which features two up-cycled Star Wars craft is now on display in an exclusive public exhibition in Manchester's Spinningfields district.

Designed as a collaboration between lighting specialist, Andrew Gibson of Tyson Lighting and Vinny Smith of Northern Backdrop Interior Design, Heavy Petal has been fashioned from retro Raleigh bicycles which have been used to create the X Wing Fighter and TIE Interceptor from the iconic movies.

This innovative design installation, recently showcased in science, culture and technology magazine, Wired, has been moved from an exhibition at Tobacco Dock in London where it attracted high profile attention from the media.

Andrew commented: "I decided to use neon-effect Encapsulite fluorescent tubes to bring the ships to life. The ice blue gun tube offers reflections off the ships' chromed b

Germany - MA Lighting has introduced a new range of compact lighting control solutions - the dot2.

The dot2 range consists of three lighting consoles; dot2 core, dot2 XL-F, dot2 XL-B; two playback expansion wing solutions; dot2 F-wing and dot2 B-wing and the dot2 Node4 (1K) network output node as well as the dot2 onPC console software and the dot2 3D visualisation software solutions.

Designed for small and mid-sized projects and venues, dot2 offers advanced functionality with ease-of-use. Full tracking backup is available via plug and play networking.

Intuitive operation is the core of the dot2 philosophy and with all connectivity onboard, the dot2 range is suitable for most theatre, touring, corporate, television and education lighting environments.

The easy to operate dot2 software is available in multiple languages and provides onboard Help and Direct Hints to guide a n

USA Lighting designer Justin Kitchenman of FadeUp Design Group and the team at Elite Multimedia were impressed with rising country music artist Cole Swindell when he opened for superstar Luke Bryan last year. They were in a good position to appreciate this emerging talent, since Kitchenman was the LD on the tour and Elite provided its lighting and video package. So when Swindell announced his current Ain't Worth The Whisky tour, they were eager to put together a lighting package, which is precisely what they wound up doing in colourful fashion with some help from 44 ÉPIX Strip 2.0 units from Chauvet Professional.

"We've had a great relationship with Justin and production manager James 'Mo' Butts, who works with Luke Bryan and Cole Swindell," said David Venus of Elite Multimedia. "Justin has used the ÉPIX strips in various rigs over the past few years

Germany - Robe enjoyed another mega busy and successful Prolight+Sound expo in Frankfurt, with the launch of 10 new products and four hyperactive days on the booth in Hall 11 at the Messe exhibition centre.

This was preceded by Robe's sixth biennial International Distributor Conference, staged a day ahead of the exhibition at the Dorint Hotel Frankfurt Niederrad, and attended by over 150 Robe distributors from around the world. The conference detailed the company's growth trajectory over the last two years, highlighting the trends and outlining strategies for the next five years and beyond.

The hard work, creativity and productivity of the top performing distributors were recognized in a series of awards, and the event proved an ideal precursor and motivator for the exhibition where Robe' colourful booth featured multi-lingual staff communicating in over 20 different languages

USA - LA band Maroon 5 has kicked off their World Tour 2015 with two grandMA2 full-size consoles controlling lighting and video elements. Maroon 5 launched its World Tour 2015 in Dallas and will finish in Auckland, New Zealand. The tour is in support of the band's fifth album, V which was released last year.

LeRoy Bennett, the production designer for the tour, has branded the stage with strong 'V' motifs, inspired by the album artwork, incorporated into the trussing and transparent set pieces. Lighting and video create a dynamic, constantly changing environment on an arrow-shaped stage.

Plexiglass panels, filled with special effects smoke, act as upstage display surfaces for video content while the downstage stage was constructed as a giant, hollow plexiglass 'fishbowl' that could also be filled with smoke and lit with 20 Clay Paky Sharpy Washes. The ceiling structure h

USA - Bandit Lites international sales and installation team is expanding with the hiring of Rudi Aldridge and Brandon Gauthier.

Rudi Aldridge joins Bandit as a sales and design associate with more than 20years of experience in venue operations and management, including the Tennessee Performing Arts Centre as an event master electrician and technical director at a multi-venue facility at Vanderbilt University.

In his new position, Rudi will be working with Bandit clients through the entire process, from concept, to design, installation and training.

In addition to Aldridge, Bandit's sales team also is growing with Brandon Gauthier as an installation and service specialist. Due to his previous experience as the lighting and sound director of the Orlando Repertory Theatre, lighting supervisor for the Wallis Annenberg Centre for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills and as a pro

USA - Back in 1782, George Washington consented to have the small 'College at Chester' renamed in his honour. More recently, the students and alumni at Washington College (the tenth oldest in the US) have been showing their appreciation for this gesture by throwing a giant annual party in honour of the first president. This year's George Washington Party may have been the most colourful ever, thanks in no small measure to a dynamic lighting display created with a collection of Legend, Q-Wash and COLORado fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

Massimo Didonna of Partners in Sound (New York) created the party's lighting rig to be impactful and versatile at the same time. "The party is a very big event for the school," said Didonna. "Not only does it draw a huge turnout of students, it also attracts quite a few alumni. The students want dancing, intensity and visual exc

Germany - At the Prolight+Sound International Press Award, also known as the pipa award, SGM's Q-7 RGBW won the award for best lighting product.

Journalists from more than 100 dedicated special interest magazines from all over the world were called upon to nominate and vote for the best equipment in the marketplace, and they selected the Q-7.

"To be recognised for this ground-breaking LED fixture is amazing. It has quickly become an industry standard and I am proud to see it implemented in so many great designs," said SGM CEO Peter Johansen.

The Q-7 is a low-profile and compact RBGW flood, blind and strobe containing 2,000 powerful LEDs providing 28,000 lumens. It is also available in as a Q-7 W with a pure white light output offering 60,000 lumens.

(Jim Evans)

Germany - ETC is celebrating another successful Prolight&Sound show, in which they had their biggest stand space ever, spread across two areas.

On one of their stands, visitors were able to get an exclusive preview of the Eos console family software version 2.3, which is due for release in summer and adds a number of new options for controlling colour. Anne Valentino, ETC's Eos product manager, says, "Among the changes are multiple colour space options, which can be used for any type of mixing system and improved gel matching and new display options. Tinting tools - such as warmer and cooler - can also be used to adjust colour.

"Spectrum tools expose emitter settings for LED fixtures, and with ETC LED fixtures provide an adjustment at an emitter level that will maintain the white point. A number of colour fade path options are allowed, with a graphic to display the c

UK - Welsh Indie rock band Catfish & The Bottlemen recently played two sold out shows at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire to finish a successful run of shows around the UK. LD Scott Galloway provided the sparkle for the tour using an Avolites Tiger Touch II.

Galloway created a "compact but punchy" show using a package from Nitelites, including six Chauvet Slimpar Pro's, four Martin Atomics, eight 2-cell blinders, and eight Clay Paky Sharpys.

Though he has toured with Avolites consoles since 2012, this was Galloway's first show using the Tiger Touch II. He had to be creative with his show design as he was limited on colours. "When I came onboard the band requested I only use red as a stage wash, which can make it difficult creating separate looks for every song," he explains.

"It can be really interesting to see what you can do when you're limited to usin

Norway - The Norwegian Military Tattoo is held biannually in the Oslo Spektrum, attracting military marching bands and performing teams from all over the world, including Norway's armed forces, His Majesty the King's guard band and drill team. With more than 20,000 spectators in the audience, the event is televised and broadcast on Norway's national television station to more than a million viewers.

Bright Norway, formerly AVAB CAC has been involved with the event since the first tattoo held over 25 years ago, supplying full technical services including lights, audio, video, staging and special effects but as the years have passed, the event has become more spectacular and complex.

As Hans Peter Jenssen, Bright Norway's network specialist explains, "This show is very complex timing wise. As one band leaves the arena, another has to enter on precise cues and this has to be

UK - UK alt rock band Fightstar - critically acclaimed for their distinctive sound and experimental blending of numerous metal genres with orchestral and others - celebrated their 10th anniversary by playing five high profile shows dotted around the country, culminating in a gig at London's Brixton Academy, with a Robe moving light rig designed by Will Dart.

Ahead of the shows - spread out over three months and starting at the Forum in London - Will received a list of bullet points from the band about what they did and didn't want to see in the show.

Coincidentally, this happened to be almost identical to the ideas he was already formulating in his head for the design. The basic premise was to have a dramatic beamy style of lighting that was fundamentally dark and moody, yet punchy and hugely powerful at the same time.

The design featured four upstage 45 degree angled truss

UK - Scottish rock band Simple Minds - renowned for numerous memorable and anthemic hits, particularly during the 1980s and 90s often tinted with gritty political resonance together with a hyperactive 35 year touring career - are back on the road with the first new album in five years Big Music.

Simple Minds live have also been known for their spectacular and audacious lightshows, and this tour features another impressive creation by long term lighting designer Steve Pollard, whose working relationship with Simple Minds dates back to 1981. In fact, along with founder members Jim Kerr (vocals & song writing) and Charlie Burchill (guitars, keyboards and song writing), he's the only remaining member of the original team.

Blackburn based lighting and visual rental specialist HSL has been supplying lighting kit for all Simple Minds touring work for the last three years and a

UK - Later with Jools Holland makes a welcome return to TV screens with live performances from musical legends and cutting edge new acts.

Ably lit by LD Chris Rigby, Aurora shipped a suitably rocking lighting package to the Maidstone Studios for this, the 46th series of the BBC flagship music show.

Show one alone featured a line up worthy of any festival date, including the newly reconvened Blur who were last on the show 15 years ago. Other acts featured on the bill include English singer-songwriter Laura Marling, London foursome the Vaccines and Mali punk blues outfit Songhoy Blues. Singer/songwriter Marc Almond also joined Jools for the customary chat at the piano.

All eight episodes promise an equally classically eclectic line up of leading purveyors of quality music from the past, the present and the future.

Recorded in front of a live audience, Later is

UK - Pearce Hire has confirmed their participation at the upcoming PLASA Focus trade show, taking place at the Royal Armouries in Leeds on Tuesday 12 and Wednesday 13 May 2015. Pearce Hire has become a regular exhibitor at the show and will once more be promoting their production services and rental business.

"We recognise the significance of this regional event and it has now become an important date in the diary for us to network with industry colleagues and clients," observes Shaun Pearce, MD Pearce Hire. It will be the third year running that the Cambridgeshire based company has taken a stand at the sell-out show.

Pearce Hire operates nationally and internationally and their expertise covers all aspects of production management, production solutions and bespoke installations, in addition to an extensive inventory of rental equipment for dry-hire.

"This is

USA - The 50th annual Academy of Country Music Awards were held 19 April at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. Among the many superstar performances, possibly the biggest of the night was Garth Brooks with his tribute to the men and women of the US armed forces.

Placing an exclamation point on the salute was the lighting design of Bob Dickinson, Jon Kusner and the rest of the Full Flood team, which utilized Syncrolite SXL 7K fixtures on stage and upstage to backlight Brooks and his band during this especially emotional moment of the broadcast. This year's ACM Awards set a world record for the most attended award show.

Syncrolite fixtures were also used throughout the stadium adding excitement and drama to the entire evening. Twenty-four SXL fixtures provided big beams of light making dramatic backgrounds throughout the show. Programming the dynamic stage system was Andy O'Reilly a

UK - East Anglia-based CEG Hire & Productions has added the Robe Robin BMFL Spot to its growing hire inventory.

CEG's director Ben Bowles says: "In 2014 we took the decision to make a significant investment in the Robe Robin range, and we felt that in 2015 it was time to take this to the next level with the BMFL Spot. In line with our current growth plan, the BMFL allows us to be involved with new exciting projects, as well as supply to a growing sub-rental market within the UK and Europe.

"The BMFL is not only a complete workhorse of a fixture, but it also provides unique features not available in any competing product available on the market today. It has enabled us to provide a versatile range of fixtures that any of our LD clients and production customers would have a hard time resisting the temptation not to specify them on their next project."

The invest

USA - XS, the award-winning club at Encore at Wynn Las Vegas, has led Nightclub & Bar's Top 100 list for an unprecedented six years. Renowned nightclub lighting designer Steve Lieberman of SJ Lighting, the creative force behind many leading nightclub lighting designs, was engaged to work his magic on XS and give the club a new, more technology driven look. He met this challenge with a bold futuristic design that drew on the pixel mapping power of the Nexus Aw 7x7 warm white LED panels and ÉPIX Strip 2.0 LED strips from Chauvet Professional.

"I've enjoyed a good relationship with the team at XS," said Lieberman. "When XS managing partner Jesse Waits announced that they were ready to take the next step at the club in terms of lighting, we put our heads together to come up with a state-of-the-art concept. They wanted to incorporate newer technology into

UK - Colour Sound Experiment's Haydn Cruickshank (H) took control of the lighting console on the latest leg of an ongoing tour by electronic gurus Underworld.

Colour Sound provided both lighting and LED screen for H's lighting and visual design. His relationship with the band dates back 22 years, with this tour a continuing 20th anniversary celebration of their seminal first album, dubnobasswithmyheadman, a special expanded edition of which was released in late 2014.

H received a loose brief for the lighting, which was that it should be 'minimal', so he kept things restrained, raw and relatively monochromatic for the first half of the show, which was a powerful and complete rendition of dubnobasswithmyheadman - performed live in its entirety for the first time ever.

After this, he morphed the lightshow into a different style which became funkier and more colour

USA - For the last 30 years, members of the world of Gospel music have gathered to honour African American artists at The Stellar Awards. Bandit Lites and lighting designer Mark Carver once again joined forces to help set the stage for the event, which included both a live audience and a televised programme. Co-hosted by David and Tamela Mann and Rickey Smiley, the event bestowed special honours on President Barack Obama, Bishop Paul Morton, Andrae Crouch and Al 'The Bishop' Hobbs.

Due to the special milestone year, this year's production expanded into a much larger scope and scale in the Las Vegas Orleans Arena. With more than a decade of working with the Stellar Awards, Carver knows how to create looks that thrill the crowds in their seats, and translate well on to television.

Carver's design consisted of Martin Vipers for graphic air effects and hard edge back light, Vl3500

Germany - PR Lighting enjoyed one of its most successful European outings ever at this year's Prolight+Sound Show in Frankfurt, where it presented seven new products.

The Chinese manufacturer also brought a team of 12 sales and marketing support staff from China, and with a dedicated lightshow booth running adjacent to that of their German distributor, Focon Showtechnic, they were able to demonstrate their 'magnificent seven' - the XLED 1061, XLED 3007, XLED 3019, XR130 (in Spot and Beam versions), XR330 Spot, XR1000 Framing and XRLED 700 Spot - as well as other popular catalogue items.

Visitors were able to engage directly with these, and control beam aperture, colour and gobo patterns, via the ChamSys touch panel interface on the fixtures - which proved extremely popular. A purpose-designed large white plinth was built under the overhead lighting truss so that the library of

Germany - GLP entered this year's Frankfurt Prolight+Sound Show on the crest of a wave and by integrating its evolving portfolio of products into a carefully thought out, fully pixel mapped presentation (incorporating sister company G-LEC), they clearly set out their intent.

Having firmly established their impression platform as a market leader in LED moving lights they have this year branched out into a versatile batten in the form of the X4 Bar 10 and double length X4 Bar 20 - which perform a myriad of functions from a conventional cyclorama to a wall washer and mid-air beam sweeper.

Aside from introducing the local market to these bar lights - which are already being highly specified on top tour riders - GLP also reports that the new impression X4 L was extremely well received by LDs who could immediately see the creative possibilities offered by the pixel-mapping function.

Germany - Winners of the Lightconverse and High End Systems Lighting Challenge were announced at ProLight+Sound 2015 in Frankfurt.

Using High End Hog4 control products with Lightconverse v56 for visualization, the competition amongst entrants was extremely high due to the calibre of videos submitted. At the final count, the following creative people took the top prizes:

First Place went to George Jackson, who won Lightconverse Unlimited and a High End HedgeHog4 N console.

Second Place was captured by George Ivanenko, who won Lightconverse Trace.

Third Place was awarded to Angelina Vyushkova and Alan Hanson, with Lightconverse Media being their prize.

The Popular Choice Award went to Cycloid, who won Lightconverse Media.

(Jim Evans)

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