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)

USA - With 163 acts serving up an array of great music from rap to pop to EDM to classic rock and a plethora of other styles, Coachella has aptly been described as a "forest of festivals".

Dedicated techno house heads and dance music fans had no trouble finding their way through this musical forest at the 2015 version of the festival. They headed straight for the Yuma Tent, where house bumping heavyweights chugged away for hours on end in an eye-popping DJ Booth set off by a swarm of pixel-mapped Nexus Aw 7x7 LED panels from Chauvet Professional.

Lighting designer Steve Lieberman of SJ Lighting arranged 47 of the Nexus Aw 7x7 panels in front of the DJ booth to create a video surface that lent a club look to the performance area. The LD also deployed over 100 other high output fixtures throughout the tent, positioning moving beams in the upper sections of the ceiling

UK - Artistic Licence has announced a significant upgrade to its popular free software application, DMX-Workshop.

Designed as a network management, analysis, configuration and diagnostics tool for Art-Net networks, DMX-Workshop now offers an improved user interface and sophisticated new functionality. This includes a 'ping radar' for instant node detection, data packet analysers for both Art-Net and RDM over Art-Net, and the ability to transmit sACN and KiNET data.

Not to be left out, the handy Bandwidth-Tester application has also undergone a major overhaul. Bandwidth-Tester is designed to allow stress testing of a network by transmitting multiple universes of lighting data. The new version allows the user to select unicast operation in Art-Net 3 mode or to broadcast data for worst case network analysis. In addition to Art-Net, the sACN and KiNET protocols are also now suppor

Germany - UK wireless LED lighting manufacturer Core Lighting enjoyed a busy and successful Prolight+Sound 2015 - the first time the Core brand has exhibited directly under its own banner at this show but with the usual support of White Light as exclusive European distributor.

Core with White Light took advantage of the dynamic international mix of Prolight's visitor base to launch its new StripPoint LED batten fixture, as well as using the opportunity to meet potential new dealers from Europe and further afield.

Having just appointed Keylight as dealer in the Netherlands to supplement other dealers in other European countries, Core is keen to further expand its network worldwide.

They additionally showcased the tiny new PinPoint units and best-selling ColourPoint Mk2 range of wireless battery-powered up-lighters together with other innovative luminaires, all proudly 'Made i

Mexico - Ensconced amidst the glistening glass, steel and concrete modernity of Santa Fe, a bustling commercial and business hotspot in the west of Mexico City, in their new office and warehousing facility at the Expo Bancomer is Matatena Producciones.

The company is a design and rental - sound, lighting and video - specialist fast gaining recognition for the imagination, creative flair and energy they bring to a variety of events - from product launches, corporates and industrials to weddings, parties and socials.

The company was started six years ago by Manuel Macouzet Hierro and Gerardo Boue who had initially met a couple of years earlier whilst working on assorted events - for different companies at the time. Matatena is a new and recent investor in Robe products with the purchase of 32 Pointes.

They are also a 'preferred' technical production supplier for events at the

Denmark - The eye-catching Black Diamond cultural centre in Copenhagen is a modern waterfront extension to the old Royal Danish Library building. Earning its quasi-official nickname from its polished black granite cladding and irregular angles, it houses a number of public facilities, centred round its top-lit atrium.

One of the main features of the centre is The Queen's Hall, a 600-seat auditorium used for a variety of events ranging from classical and jazz concerts to literary events and conferences. The hall's cutting-edge acoustic modelling allows for sound reinforcement that can be adjusted to the specific requirements of the type of music being played. This, in theory, made the venue ideal for the recording of classical music, but the noise generated by the existing lighting system rendered this impossible. In fact, the hall's authorities had, with little success, sought a

Europe - Entec's lighting department is enjoying another busy season with The Australian Pink Floyd Show (TAPFS), currently touring Europe with a lighting design by Phil White which is being operated by Tom Mumby.

Entec's project manager Noreen O'Riordan comments, "It's great to see the popularity of this tour grow together with the investment in production values. It really proves that there is a huge demand for live shows and that a diverse selection of people want to appreciate legendary and influential music first hand. Apart from that, we're very proud to be part of an absolute top production team and crew."

Entec's working relationship with TAPFS dates back to 2004, when they decided to seriously up the ante in terms of production.

That same year, current TAPFS Production Manager Chris Gadd - universally known as Gaddie - also undertook his first gig for Ente

South Africa - For the live telecast of Miss South Africa 2015, designer Joshua Cutts of Visual Frontier picked up producer / director Gavin Wratten's gauntlet to help bring a fresh look to the high profile beauty pageant staged at Sun City Superbowl.

Central to his lighting and set design was the specification of 24 x Robe BMFL Spots moving lights. Gavin's re- imagining of the show in a new and contemporary context involved a 30m long black high-gloss central runway emanating from the stage, traversing to the centre of the venue.

Sic Productions produced the event for Sun International. The traditional gala dinner set up was ditched in favour of tiered VIP seating - fashion show style - flanking the catwalk.

Broadcast live on TV channels MNET and Mzanzi, this redefinition of traditional beauty pageant presentation was hailed as a major success by the media and received with

Germany - Prolight+Sound 2015 was a great success for Clay Paky. The 60 demos that were held one after the other in German and English during the four-day fair were seen by more than 10,000 people, with an average of 150-200 spectators at each.

The Clay Paky stand was designed to look like a large cinema where the Clay Paky lights were the stars of the show, thanks to a high resolution LED wall provided by Unitech Digital Media.

Pio Nahum, Clay Paky CEO, comments, "In my memory, I cannot recall another ProLight+Sound that was so busy and so full of visitors. Our demos were literally taken by storm and the interest in our new products was constant and widespread. We had some very interesting new contacts and noticed a general revival in the industry."

Clay Paky's stand stood beside the Osram stand. This year, Osram chose to be in the hall devoted to show technology

UK - Lighting designer Tom Campbell is using an Avolites Tiger Touch II for the entire run of Australian progressive rock band Karnivool's European tour - and has recently upgraded to the new operating system Titan V9.

Karnivool has played dates in countries across Europe, including France, The Netherlands, Germany and the UK. Campbell has been controlling a large rig for much of the tour. At one of the major UK shows at London's Roundhouse, this included a mixture of Robe MMX spots, Robe 600LED wash and 100LED beams, Showline NITRO 510 strobes.

"The new features of V9 are great - Key Frame Shapes is an extremely powerful new addition to Titan," says Campbell. "It adds a new dimension to the show, even the band noticed and mentioned how it looked cool in soundcheck. I used this to run some original looking dimmer effects over 42 asymmetrically rigged 60-watt squ

Germany - French LED lighting manufacturer Ayrton surprised visitors and clients with the launch of no less than seven new products at Prolight + Sound 2015. The newest developments added three fixtures to Ayrton's Creative Solutions line, two specimens to its Imaging Displays portfolio and a further two additions to its Automated Luminaires range.

Heralded as the A61 Project prior to the show, Ayrton revealed a totally new technology that combines the first 94mm diameter narrow beam angle collimator with the latest generation high-power (40W or 60W) Osram multichip LED. Together these two elements create tighter beams with "an unrivalled centre beam intensity" that Ayrton has incorporated into three new Creative Solutions fixtures: MagicDot-R, CosmoPix-R and VersaPix-RS.

The latest member of the RADICAL series, MagicDot-R is the first professional moving head LED lu

USA - Chauvet Professional has added a versatile LED house light to its award-winning line of Ovation stage and studio fixtures. The new Ovation H-105WW is a warm white fixture that features COB LED technology to produce an exceptionally flat, even, flattering field of illumination when used as a house light in any environment.

Powered by a 100-watt, 50,000-hour-rated, 3048K (at full operation) LED source, the Ovation H-105WW is suitable for theatres, houses of worship, colleges and other venues that want to bring the energy-saving, low-heat, low-maintenance advantages of LEDs to their house lights. Additionally, it features convection cooling for completely silent operation, as well as adjustable PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to eliminate flickering, making it a perfect choice for applications that involve TV and video filming.

"Many theatres and churches are so happy wit

Germany - The launch of Green-GO's new wireless extension of its Ethernet based multi-channel digital intercom system at this year's Prolight+Sound has been hailed a huge success by the company's sales manager Silvio Cibien.

He explained "We chose to début the new wireless system in Frankfurt as the event is always a highlight on our calendar and we are aware of the calibre of people that are drawn to the show. It is a truly international event and we wanted to introduce our new product to the world. It really is a remarkable development for the Green-GO system and as predicted, it was an amazing crowd catcher."

Silvio continued: "This year, we chose to take a display at the entrance of hall 8 which was instrumental in leading many curious customers to our booth. Visitors to our stand got to see the system in action and were extremely impressed with what

Germany - Robert Juliat served up an extremely well received menu of new products at Prolight + Sound 2015, starting with the presentation of its new asymmetrical LED cyclorama light, DALIS. The new 300W batten proved the hit of the Lightpower Village: DALIS stunned everyone with its powerful, smooth coverage and the huge variety of pastel and saturated colour generated by its 8-colour LED sources. "The spread and density of the light produced combined with the silent fanless operation makes it ideally suited to theatre and television," says sales director, Claus Spreyer. "We are really excited by the prospect of bringing this superb new Robert Juliat product to our customers."

Prolight+Sound also saw the official launch of Roxie, Robert Juliat's first LED followspot. The compact 300W wonder went down a storm with the visitors who said it is the ideal energy-

Germany - Philips has secured yet another successful year at Frankfurt's Prolight+Sound expo. The company launched a wide range of industry-anticipated new products from its entertainment lighting brands, including the Vari-Lite VL4000 BeamWash, Strand Lighting 500ML console and an array of innovative Showline luminaires, which garnered much excited feedback from visitors.

A dedicated Philips Vari-Lite booth was situated in the Lightpower village, where the VL4000 Spot and VL4000 BeamWash were product highlights.

"The new Vari-Lite VL4000 BeamWash gained much attention and a lot of praise at Prolight + Sound," says Bjoern Gaentzsch, Product Manager for Marketing and Public Relations at Lightpower. "Our customers were very happy with the fact that Vari-Lite has again developed a true masterpiece."

Alongside the Vari-Lite stand, Philips supported partner co

UK - Over the past few years there have been a number of studios closing in London meaning that more and more work is being filmed in different parts of the country. So it was very refreshing when we recently filmed The Javone Prince Show in up-and-coming Rivoli Ballroom.

The South London building was originally built back in 1913 and is the only ballroom still intact in London. It has been used for a variety of different things over the years but the untouched cool, vintage interior now means it's the kind of trendy venue artists such as Noel Gallagher want to play.

The beautiful building was the perfect backdrop for a stand up style comedy show with a cabaret style twist.

After his success on shows such as Horrible Histories, I've Got No Head and PhoneShop, award winning comedian Javone now has his own new sketch show.

Javone trained at LAMDA and as

USA - A new contemporary live entertainment venue, Livewire, opened recently in Scottsdale, Arizona, outfitted with a large, professional lighting and video system from Elation Professional supplied by Elation dealer Fyxx Entertainment. Located in the heart of Scottsdale'sEntertainment District, Livewire is Arizona's newest premier concert and performance space, playing host to a spectrum of national touring acts (Jeff Bridges, The English Beat, Boyz II Men) and up-and-coming local bands all supported by state-of-the-art sound, lighting and production.

Designed from the ground up for live music, the 14,000 sq ft. venue occupies the same location that iconic Scottsdale nightclub Axis/Radius did for 16 years. Les Corieri, owner of Evening Entertainment Group, shut down the club last summer to make way for the 1,100-guest live entertainment destination.

Adrian de Pamphilis, owner

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