South Africa - Set and lighting designer, Joshua Cutts from Visual Frontier, used one grandMA2 full-size, one MA NPU (Network Processing Unit) and grandMA2 onPC for back-up on Miss South Africa, hosted at Sun City's Superbowl. Cutts explains that the beautifully lit HD televised production, with the set and full technical supplied by Dream Sets, went back to a fashion show feel.

Gavin Wratten was the producer and director from Sic Entertainment: "The show concept came about as Gavin talked me through his ideas," commented Joshua Cutts. "He wanted to go back to a fashion show production. The main stage, with two wide staircases on either, tapered into a long ramp which extended into the centre of the Superbowl.

"Miss South Africa is usually a banquet affair, but this year Gavin felt the audience should be seated around the ramp, without any distracting table

USA - Everyone knows that energy efficient LED fixtures like the Iluminarc Ilumipanel 180 IP are good for the environment, but in at least one case they can directly save the animals that occupy our planet too. This was recently demonstrated in convincing fashion at the iconic Sundial at Turtle Bay Bridge in California's Shasta Cascade region.

The metal halide fixtures that had previously been used to illuminate the pedestrian/bicycle bridge were causing a serious threat to the sensitive salmon that spawn directly under the glass bottomed structure. As this halide lighting burned at night, it reflected into the water and in the air, allowing predators to find and decimate the salmon population.

Jeff Dennis of Multi-Lite USA was called in as project manager to find a solution to this environmental issue. At the same time, Dennis was also asked to enhance the aesthetic appeal of

USA - Nashville-based companies Cour Design and Elite Multimedia Productions are continuing their partnership with the designer's midi-controlled lighting and video system on pop artist Nick Jonas shows in 2015.

Cour Design co-founders Gordon Droitcour and Erik Anderson focus on efficient tour design based on midi triggering of lighting and video cues from the band's existing backing tracks. Using Jands Vista Bryon's lighting software, Arkaos Media Master Pro, Capture and Ableton as the master programme, Cour Design builds a whole show for video and lighting.

Having a self-contained, auto-triggering, midi-controlled system using notes, bars and measures from Ableton allows the visual performance to be based in a more musical way with notes, bars and measures as opposed to SMPTE and time code triggers.

"The idea is we create a design and we program the whole show for vid

UK - XL Video is sharing in the runaway success of supergroup McBusted, an energetic fusion of two of the most popular pop-punk-rock bands from the early noughties - McFly and Busted - which is delighting generations of both original and new fans, all equally exuberant, on their latest UK arena tour.

The show's design and set concept is a non-stop, high-octane narrative set in a classic 1980s arcade games machine, which was the brainchild of artistic director Paul Caslin. He's known both bands for around 10 years and has a background in video and filmic art, so visuals and moving image were always going to be prominent in the aesthetic, which also includes snippets inspired by renowned cult movies of the 1980s and 1990s like Wayne's World, Back To The Future, The Mighty Ducks - the formative era in which they all grew up.

Production North is handling all t

USA - Over the past eight years, Illuminate Production Services of Sacramento has completed a number of installs and special event projects at Destiny Christian Church in Rocklin, California, including lighting systems for their main Worship Center, lobby, outdoor facade, and most recently, the Youth Centre.

"We wanted to make sure we had a company that would stand behind the gear," stated Rick Franke of Illuminate Production Services when asked the main reason why ADJ Group lighting companies feature so prominently at Destiny Christian. "We chose to go with Elation products in particular because the church needed a product that was cutting edge but wouldn't break the bank and Elation delivers every time."

Destiny Christian Church is an active parish with a number of ministries, classes and outreach, and has over 3,000 worshipers in attendance each weekend.

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd., a leading 'one-stop' international provider of cutting-edge professional equipment with over 40 years' experience supplying to the industry, will showcase a selection of the very latest solutions available from their vast portfolio of over 200 premium brands - on stand N-E02 at PLASA Focus 2015 in Leeds, UK.

Sales teams from company's four specialist product divisions will be on hand to demonstrate and discuss the latest technologies from leading marques which AC-ET are the exclusive UK dealer for - including Chroma-Q, Jands, Prolights, Spotlight, GLP, Columbus McKinnon Entertainment, BroadWeigh, Dynamic Audio Device, and Green Hippo. Other leading brands showcased include Manfrotto, Litec and Petzl, amongst others - all available from the company's multi-million pound inventory.

Also featured are AC-ET's in-house Cable Expres

UK - Twilight Trees will be exhibiting at Grow London this year, 19-21 June. Twilight Trees will "add a twist of sophistication and excitement to a one-off event or for use as a permanent installation".

The trees are made with sturdy resin base and are powered by 24v plug. The environmentally friendly LED lights are clustered within cherry blossom petals that illuminate the trees creating a charming, captivating and eye-catching visual experience. The trees are very easy to assemble and are available in 1.5m - 3m sizes.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Philips Vari-Lite reports that the new VL4000 BeamWash luminaire is now shipping worldwide. The VL4000 BeamWash combines wash capabilities with intense beam functionality and the ability to produce a powerful, collimated shaft of light all without the need to change lenses. Using a Philips 1200W lamp, one single fixture can now achieve multiple creative looks through its 43,000 lumens of output and amazing optics making it the beast of any lighting rig.

"As we strive to create the most powerful and innovative automated luminaires on the market, we are extremely excited to now be shipping the VL4000 BeamWash luminaire," said Julie Smith, Philips Vari-Lite general manager of the Americas. "Building on the success of the VL4000 Spot, the VL4000 BeamWash offers simplicity through its single front lens to achieve a multitude of exceptional wash, beam and shaft ca

UK - Lighting Resources will be making it premier UK tradeshow appearance at the 2015 PLASA Focus in Leeds.

"We are very much looking forward to seeing clients new and old, where will be take this opportunity to introduce them to some new brands that LR are exclusively representing in the UK, as well as our own brand LR Technology," says managing director Darren Jackson. "We will be exhibiting the entire Innov ativeand very desirable Ape Labs product range, including the Mobilight 4, Apelight, Lightcan and the never seen in the UK before - Apestick. We will be demonstrating how easy it is to control using the 2.4 Ghz Remote Control System."

There will also be product representation from: Eurolite, Ehrgeiz and Futurelight - as well as LR's range of LED Tape and LED flexible neon.

To register for PLASA Focus Leeds, visit:

UK - White Light returns to the Royal Armouries in Leeds this month for the annual PLASA Focus exhibition 12-13 May.

On stand N-C24 in New Dock Hall, visitors will find the latest lighting, effects and audio solutions including White Light exclusive products from manufacturers Altman Lighting, ArKaos Pro, Core Lighting, JB-Lighting, Interactive Technologies, Look Solutions, LSC Lighting and Wireless Solution; and from manufacturer EM Acoustics. White Light's display of products will focus on LED lighting, show control systems, special effects and loudspeaker equipment.

Visitors will find the latest in LED lighting technology from US manufacturer Altman Lighting, including the new Spectra Cyc 400 featured for the first time at the show. The fixture blends colours via a patented LED blending lens which reduces pixilation from direct view. The Phoenix LED 250W and 150W profiles w

UK - The lightshow at Lush Cosmetics' 2015 global awards embodied the ombination of style and sensibility that characterizes Lush, thanks in large measure to an almost-all LED collection of fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

Presentation Design Services Ltd. provided staging, PA, set, AV and drapes, in addition to lighting, for the two-day event, which attracted 800 guests from around the world to the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC) in Bournemouth, Dorset. Essential to setting the glittering mood at the event and gala was a versatile assortment of Chauvet Professional products that included 12 Nexus Aw 7x7 warm white LED panels, eight Rogue R1 Beam moving fixtures, eight Rogue R1 Spot moving fixtures and 90 PVP S5 LED Panels (supplied to Presentation Design Services by Impact Production Services).

"The event was spread across three rooms of the BIC and required fu

Germany - This year's Mayday, one of the most famous electronic music events in Germany, took place on 30 April in Dortmund, Germany. Twenty thousand party people visited this spectacular event headlined Making Friends.

Besides the unique lighting design with spectacular effects and scenes, the laser show played an important role for the event: The strong, precise beams that perfectly matched the beat of the music emotionalized the audience.

Laserfabrik, who did the laser show design and implementation on the main stage, relied on laser gear from the Laserworld Group for this large event. More than 200W of laser power were in use on the main floor - four RTI Nano RGB 20 systems created the main power beams, supported by eight RTI Femto RGB 7 and several supporting laser systems. The de-centralized, digital laser control signal processing was done with 5 DSP Mark2 workst

Germany - Laserecene 2015 is billed as the premium exhibition in Europe fully dedicated to laser display-technology in the fields of entertainment, art and education.

The exhibition is a marketplace for buying and selling, a community for networking, a forum for exchanging ideas and an opportunity for contributing to industry trends by bring together manufacturers, suppliers, buyers and technicians.

The main exhibition categories include: laser systems, control equipment, laser projectors, laser show software, laser show artwork, laser advertising systems, show tips & techniques, stage technology and event services.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Volkswagen Finance's new £25 million building in Milton Keynes opened with a bang in April. Hawthorns and Fantastic Fireworks were brought in to supply a stunning visual finale to an evening of music and celebrations, with Pixie Lott topping the bill.

The brief was to illuminate the building and produce a lightshow for the finale and fireworks display. Hawthorns lighting designers Matt Oscroft and Paul Bird selected Clay Paky Sharpies, both wash and spots, Alpha 1200 profiles and Glow Ups. Also selected were Robe BMFLs which really impressed the lighting designers.

The fixtures were used to provide a gobo breakup across the whole building, then during the finale they were used as high intensity beams projection high into the sky. The whole system was plotted prior to the event on Hawthorns' Wysiwyg suite, system controlled via a Grand MA 2 - Bird's desk of choice.

UK -The Technical Theatre Awards' nominations close on Wednesday 13 May - so now's the time to ensure someone's outstanding achievements working behind the scenes are celebrated.

Anyone working in theatre industry can nominate their colleagues, crew members or favourite hire company. This is your opportunity to highlight why your chosen nominee stands out from the rest and deserves some recognition. It only takes a few minutes to nominate at www.technicaltheatreawards.com

Nominations will officially close during PLASA Focus in Leeds. Following this, organiser Ian Taylor will be inviting a panel of independent industry figures to shortlist the nominations. This is a new initiative for 2015, as suggested by TTA supporters as a way to improve the awards process.

Voting for the UK awards will open during the ABTT Trade Show on Wednesday 24 June 2015 at Alexandra Palace in London

USA - Lighting designer Tom Kenny produced another spectacular large-scale work to illuminate the 2015 mtvU Woodie Awards staged at the vast Austin American Statesman site on the south bank of the Colorado River during the SXSW Music Festival. The popular event, organized by MTV's 24-hour college network, capitalized on the buzz, excitement and sizzling array of cool, new, emerging and cutting-edge music that grips the city of Austin, Texas, for the week.

Tom works on many high-profile awards show designs and continues to create new and original lighting schemes. For this year's Woodies, he incorporated over 200 Robe moving lights - Pointes, LEDWash 1200s and LEDWash 600s - into the rig, for which his starting point was a stunning stage-set sculpture crafted from tens of thousands of wood planks, imagineered by Julio Himede.

The jagged wood structure clad the two stages which

USA - Country legend Vince Gill is touring the US with lighting provided by Bandit Lites. With 20 Grammy Awards, two Entertainer of the Year CMAs and more than 26m albums sold, Vince Gill's shows are an exercise of musical genius for the multi-instrumentalist singer-song writer.

As Vince Gill's lighting designer for the past four years, Dylan Mire felt the lighting needed a refreshing new look that would complement the show but not distract from Vince or the bluegrass band.

"The lighting needed to be simple and effective to highlight an established artist," Mire said. "We also needed the gear to fit into a limited amount of truck space."

Mire utilized VL 2500 Spots, Robe CycFX8 and Martin MAC Auras in the design, placing GRN Par 64 fixtures for light columns on the backdrop and Chauvet Color Dashes as truss toner. Mire also uses a GrandMA 1 full console.<

Benelux - ETC has changed its sales structure in Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg) from a distributor based model to a dealer market, in order to provide the highest quality support in the region. The new system went into effect on 2 April, with three companies named as dealers.

"In March, our Belgium distributor, FACE bvba, opened an office in the Netherlands," explains ETC regional manager Tim Stokholm, "and we approved them as an official dealer. To best serve our customers, we decided to make Benelux a dealer-based region." ETC's dealers in Benelux are now FACE, Lightco and Controllux.

"FACE has been expanding steadily in the Netherlands," says FACE CEO Karel de Piere. "We opened our support centre in Rotterdam, and a new consultant, Fons de Vreede, joined our team. If you can add a world class brand like ETC to your portfo

USA - Cello concerts and head banging don't usually occur in the same building unless of course you're at a 2Cello's concert complete with a rock 'n roll lighting design and dynamic lighting effects by Elation Professional.

Out on a spring US tour, 2Cellos is a cello duo that combines training in classical music with youthful rock energy to present a special concert experience. Riding a wave of popularity - the band even played with Elton John recently at his residency in Las Vegas - 2Cellos are selling out shows at every stop.

Lighting designer for the 2Cellos US tour is Chris Maguire, who has over 25 years of touring experience under his belt (Ted Nugent, et al) yet admits that at first he wasn't quite sure how to light the more untraditional band. "It's just two cellos and a drum kit and there are big stages to fill," he says. "But they play everything from B

UK / Germany - Avolites proved its truly international appeal at Prolight+Sound 2015, teaming up with dealers, distributors and friends from around the world to celebrate the launch of its Arena console, the new Titan V9 operating system, and its industry-leading new features such as Autoblend.

Visitors to the Avolites Prolight+Sound stand came from more than 40 countries, and included a high number of potential new distributors, especially from North and West Africa and the Caribbean.

Now, the Avolites team is continuing the buzz by debuting its well-received new products in the UK at PLASA Focus, Leeds, on stand N-D01.

"The Arena consoles attracted a huge amount of attention during April's Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt - we were inundated with lighting designers, rental companies and specifiers, generating a fantastic response from many of the people who came to see the

UK - The 2015 Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI) has announced that it has added a brand new award in the Concert Touring and Events category.

The KOI Awards, which celebrates the creative talents of international lighting and digital content designers working in the UK, has added a 'Club' category, which will allow the Awards to widen its reach to celebrate LDs working at all scales of touring.

Proposed to the committee by KOI chairman of Concert Touring and Events Sarah Rushton-Read, the category was introduced in response to feedback from lighting designers working with new bands just starting out on the touring circuit. It will mean that these LDs, often working with just a floor package and having to use each venue's house rig to realise their design, will also be recognised for their creativity.

"Often designers that are touring club style venues with just a floo

World - Maroon 5 has kicked off its World Tour 2015 with 100 Clay Paky Mythos and 20 Sharpy Wash fixtures occupying a prominent place in the rig.

Maroon 5 launched its World Tour 2015 in Dallas on 16 February and will finish in Auckland, New Zealand in October. The tour is in support of the band's fifth album, V, which was released last year.

Roy 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 2

USA - British rock band Queen have worked with several vocalists since the death of front man Freddie Mercury in 1991. On the most recent world tour, original band members Roger Taylor and Brian May recruited American Idol's Adam Lambert, whose flashy onstage presence was complemented by 97 Martin Professional MAC Viper AirFX lighting fixtures.

Lighting designer Rob Sinclair was approached in 2012 and asked to do lighting for the Queen Extravaganza, the official Queen tribute band. His work caught Queen + Adam Lambert's attention and they asked him to come and work for them on the upcoming tour. "It was a case of being at the right place at the right time," said Sinclair.

The lighting design process for the world tour started back in the fall of 2013, when Sinclair, the band and Set Designer Ric Lipson first met and came up with the idea of a Q-shaped stage. Lipson a

Germany - Laserworld has introduced the RTI Velox laser moving head, available from 1.7W RGB up to 14W RGB. The RTI Velox is initially presented as the RTI Velox RGB 2.5 laser, but more versions will be available within the next few weeks - with laser powers of up to 14W RGB.

The extreme torque of 15Nm and the resulting high rotation speed of up to 180rpm make this unit the perfect gear for highly spectacular show productions and effects. Due to the high end laser system with great colour balance and extremely fast scanners, a use for TV productions or high profile shows is no problem at all.

The ILDA control signal can be fully used for laser control, and the Velox moving yoke itself is controlled via the standard DMX512 protocol. A DMX-only operation is also possible.

When a laser show system is moved on a yoke, it is absolutely essential, that it repositions accurately -

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