Belgium - ArKaos has produced an effective new accessory which instantly integrates the latest version of its GrandVJ software with one of the industry's most popular MIDI controllers, the Akai APC40 mkII.

The new GrandVJ Cover is a durable plastic overlay, which fits the face of the Akai APC40 mkII controller precisely. All the GrandVJ 2.1 features from the pre-installed MIDI template for the controller are clearly printed on the cover. The illuminated Akai control buttons remain clearly visible through special transparent sections of the cover. "With glow-in-the dark elements for more effect, this is a perfect combination of practicality and style. All GrandVJ 2.1 features from the MIDI template can be seen at glance, while the appearance remains supremely funky," the company says.

"The GrandVJ Cover has been designed specifically for use in live performance

Germany - Motörhead blasted off in the 1970s and rocked gloriously loudly for the next 40 years until their last live gig in Berlin on 11December 2015.

The band officially ended on 28 December 2015, two and a half weeks after that memorable show in Berlin, and part way through the Bad Magic tour with the passing of founder, lead singer and rock 'n' roll warrior Lemmy (Ian Fraser Kilmister) aged 70.

The Bad Magic tour was supporting their 22nd studio album - for which lighting designer Caio Bertti sculpted a classic rock 'n' roll look with the contemporary twist of moving lights from Robe.

The famous Motörhead bomber set piece also flew again for this European tour - its last as it would turn out - and its first time on a tour for many years. It was completely refurbished and brought bang up-to-date with new lighting including Robe Pointes and LEDWash 600s plus a full au

UK - Rock band Skindred are known for their lively and energetic live performances as well as their music which is an eclectic fusion of heavy metal, punk rock, hip-hop, electronica and reggae - and so the pressure is always on lighting designer Jordon Cooper to come up with a few surprises and touches of the unexpected.

This design for the current Volume tour is diverse, different and practical to stage in different sized venues. It was also one of the first to feature Robe's new LED ColorStrobe, together with several other Robe fixtures including MMX Spots LEDWash 600s and CycFX8s and 4s.

Jordon, one of a new wave of UK LDs designing for a series of rising star artists - has lit the band for two years.

The design for the latest leg of the tour - which culminated in an amazing hi-energy performance at London's Brixton Academy - started with the set and backdrop. The band

UK - Following a year which saw White Light expand both its expertise and resources, the company is now launching a new platform from which its extensive range of lighting, audio, rigging and video equipment will all be available to purchase: ShopWL.

The site, www.ShopWL.com is now live and has more than 5,000 products available for purchase, with more than 1,000 of these ready for next-day delivery. The site will offer every type of entertainment technology from state-of-the-art lighting and loudspeakers to the essential consumables such as batteries and tape.

Peter Threadgold, WL's customer services director, comments, "As a company, WL is renowned for providing complete production solutions. We wanted this reputation to be evident with our online shop hence the launch of ShopWL. As more customers than ever before are making their purchases online, it is important tha

UK - Over 65 years after its first production, the popularity of musical Guys and Dolls is as great as ever. The success of the 2014/15 Chichester Festival Theatre production has seen it transfer to the West End, with a tour to follow. Stage Electrics has worked closely with lighting designer Tim Mitchell to help make the transition.

Produced by Runaway Entertainment, the show has just started an eight week run at London's Savoy Theatre, after which it tours 18 UK and Irish cities through to the end of July. As an associate artist at Chichester Festival Theatre, Tim designed the lighting for the original run. Yet, unusually, you won't hear him say the word 'compromise' regarding the tour.

"Budget and time are obviously the two main creative constraints for a tour and we had to massively modify the rig. But I think we've actually improved it. It looks a lot sharpe

Taiwan - In Taibao City, Taiwan, a southern branch of the National Palace Museum has opened, driving cultural, educational, social and economical development to both northern and southern regions of Taiwan. To commemorate its inauguration, Aurora Lighting was called in to overview the design, and local distributor Jackson Yu of DLHG, to offer project support to the job.

A total of 61 fixtures were used, including 20x Fine Art 230 BEAM, 16x Fine Art 1500 Spot, 20x Studio Due City Colour and five PASP 4K SKYBEAM luminaires. Controlling these automated fixtures was an MA2 Full-size and 4x W-DMX™ BLACKBOX F-1 units.

To enhance the important landscape surrounding the building, the lighting display for the opening ceremony took place by the lake side, which created a barrier between control and lighting rig. "We got worried about DMX runs until we realised DLHG were W-DM

Spain - Clay Paky Sharpys have one again played an integral role in an epic stunt by trailblazing light artists Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) and lighting designer Matthew Button, who have combined their creative genius to pull off a sensory spectacular for Lexus Europe and singer will.i.am.

The technological feat, which is part of Lexus's campaign for the Lexus NX SUV, sees will.i.am create a choreographed laser light show in time to his hit #thatPOWER, using a trio of Lexus NXs on a disused Spanish runway lined with 350 motion-sensitive lasers and Sharpys. The number-one artist was challenged with directing the three cars to hit the beams at the right cadence to synchronise with his track.

"The fantastic beam quality was the driving force behind the choosing the Sharpy," explains Button. "Having used them previously on a project for Castrol where they

USA - The Los Angeles Theatre on Broadway and Sixth Street in downtown Los Angeles is especially hot, sweaty and crowded. Today this sumptuous art deco palace built by Charlie Chaplin in 1931 is the location for an episode of TV show Scandal and rehearsals for the camp musical Carrie - The Killer Musical Experience. Chaplin, whose photograph with Albert Einstein adorns the gilded lobby, would be proud that, despite the lack of air conditioning and the crumbling plaster walls, his dream is still alive.

A week before opening night, lighting designer Brian Gale is on stage setting trim heights and focusing lights. He works with the confidence and calm that comes with a CV that would leave anyone slack-jawed. While officially 'retired' after 24 years as a fulltime designer with the Walt Disney Company, he is currently engaged as a consultant on six Disney projects, in

South Africa - Three further African countries have embraced the popular singing competition The Voice - South Africa, Angola & Nigeria - with all three series recorded at and broadcast from Stage One, Sasani Studios, Johannesburg - and all featuring over 100 Robe moving lights prominently on their respective lighting rigs.

Johannesburg based production company Multi-Media is co-ordinating and supplying all technical elements - including lighting, sound, video, rigging and staging - for broadcaster AMPN (African Media & Productions Network) TV over an 11-month period which ends in July 2016.

Multi-Media's technical project manager, Chris de Lancey put together the team who are making it rock which includes lighting designer Joshua Cutts, asked on-board for his experience and flair in lighting live music TV shows as well as his reputation for innovation. Dewet Meyer wo

Ireland - Dublin's 398ft high Monument of Light Spire was transformed into a giant 'Lightsaber' in December to celebrate the premiere of the new Star Wars film, The Force Awakens, using powerful fixtures controlled by Avolites' Titan One DMX USB Dongle.

Commissioned by Disney, Tom Rohan of event production house Eventco conceptualised the installation alongside lighting designers Mick Murray and Matthew Cregan. The team used 16 of Clay Paky's intensely bright SuperSharpys to beam colours up the Spire to create the Lightsaber effect.

The event lasted for three weeks, with the team checking and controlling the lighting via CCTV, connected to the internet, which sent live images back. They then accessed the laptop within the Spire using the TeamViewer app.

"We did initial focusing on an Avolites Tiger Touch II and then transferred the show to a Mac laptop with th

USA - Metalcore band Atreyu have a knack for painting pictures with their music. Philadelphia-based LD Lenny Sasso did justice to the group's imagination in his lightshow on their recent tour by drawing on the zone control and pixel mapping features of Chauvet Professional Rogue and Nexus fixtures provided by Squeek Lights.

After working on Atreyu's tour for their sixth and latest studio album Long Live, Sasso described how he went beyond illuminating the stage to reflect the varying moods of the music. "The music of Atreyu can get pretty intense and it evokes powerful images," he said. "I wanted the lighting to keep up, to reflect this and contribute to taking the audience on a journey. So, for example, when there were sections of songs that were slow and dramatic, instead of doing a random slow dimmer fade between the lights as I normally do, I opted to

USA - Behind the scenes at the Emmy-nominated Jimmy Kimmel Live, lighting designer Christian Hibbard is busy bringing the shows musical performances to life. With two outdoor stages that host the hottest musical acts from around the world, Hibbard is asked to create the ideal lighting environment that best personifies the varying musicality of each artist. Understanding these challenges, Hibbard needs lighting instruments with a number of quality capabilities, which he has found in the VL4000 BeamWash luminaire from Philips Vari-Lite.

"I've been at Jimmy Kimmel Live since the beginning and we've been doing the outdoor concert series since the inaugural episode where we featured Coldplay," began Hibbard. "The lighting rig is different every time depending upon the band performing as each artist will have a look that's appropriate for their style of m

The Netherlands - Elation Professional will be showing the latest in its line of versatile, energy-efficient LED and Platinum Series lighting solutions at the ISE show in Amsterdam.

A number of cutting-edge products will be prersented at stand 11-F45, including the powerful and multi award-winning Platinum FLX hybrid moving head while seeing its European debut will be the Platinum HFX, a new mid-sized addition to Elation's hybrid family of beam, spot and wash luminaires. The ACL 360i, a new single beam moving effect luminaire in Elation's ACL Series of high-output narrow-beam LED effect lights, will also feature as will the ACL Bar, a full color batten useful as a pixel bar or wash luminaire.

Visitors will also be able to see Elation's much-talked-about Emotion moving head digital light with its next generation digital lighting technology. Other products in Elation's leading

UK - Blinding Light, the corporate and event lighting specialists, continues to expand with the arrival of account director Loz Wilcox, further strengthening the provision of account and project management support to their customers.

Loz joins Blinding Light from PRG, where he served as head of the UK corporate Eevents and exhibition market. With over twenty years' involvement in the lighting industry, Loz brings a wealth of experience to the Blinding Light team.

"I am really looking forward to working with the team at Blinding Light," comments Loz. "We share a common goal, total commitment to excellence, and it's something I see throughout the company, from senior management right through to the guys on the prep benches. It's that culture of meticulous attention to detail, which gives them the enviable reputation for the highest standards that they deserve.&q

UK - On 21 January 2016, as it welcomed members of the industry to its Embassy Theatre for the annual Association of Lighting Designer's (ALD) New Technology Showcase, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was delighted to announce the establishment of the Richard Pilbrow Scholarship.

With special thanks to alumnus and renowned lighting designer Richard Pilbrow for his generosity, the Richard Pilbrow Scholarship will support a young lighting designer at the School as they undertake the training necessary to embark upon their professional career.

Richard Pilbrow is both a graduate and an Honorary Fellow of Central, as well as an internationally renowned stage lighting designer, author, theatre design consultant and theatre, film and television producer. He is a pioneer of modern stage lighting in Britain, and his work has been seen in London, New York, Paris, Berlin, V

UK - The Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI) 2016 has launched and submissions are already coming in for its Television and Concert Touring and Events categories.

This year marks the 9th KOI Awards, which celebrates the creative talents of international lighting and digital content designers working in the UK in the sectors of TV, Theatre and Concert Touring and Events.

The 2016 edition will see the event moved from its usual date in early October to the 18th September to coincide with the PLASA London 2016 exhibition. The venue for the sparkling awards ceremony and dinner has also moved to join the PLASA show at its new location of Kensington Olympia.

Submissions are open for the Television and Concert Touring and Events categories and shows performed or broadcast between 1st August 2015 and 31st July 2016 in the UK are eligible. As with previous years the Theatre sectio

Independents' Days - This week, the UK music industry celebrates the third Independent Venue Week (IVW) with a week-long series of gigs all across the country. Led by London-based agency I Like The Sound of That, the seven-day long campaign is supported by the Arts Council through its Grants for the Arts funding programme. Its reach is expanding with 120 venues now taking part, from Aberdeen to Exeter and Belfast to Norwich. Among venues joining this year are Quay Arts (Isle of Wight), The Soundhouse (Leicester) and Nambucca (north London).

Helen Sprott, director of music at Arts Council England, says, "Arts Council England is pleased to be supporting I Like The Sound of That and their brilliant Independent Venue Week project for the second year running. It is vital that independent venues are recognised for the value they bring both to their local communities and the nati

USA - Bandit Lites has made a sizeable purchase of Ayrton's newest fixtures, including Ayrton CosmoPix-R, IntelliPix-R, MagicBlade-R, MagicDot-R and MagicRing-R9.

"I'm very excited that we have added a large variety of Ayrton products to our inventory," said Jake Tickle, Bandit's director of technical services. "Ayrton has taken a refreshing approach to their fixture design, adding innovation and consistency to their entire product line. From a service and maintainability stand point we couldn't be happier."

These products will all be seen on upcoming 2016 tours, including Dave Butzler's lighting design for Garth Brooks, Mike Swinford's lighting design for Jason Aldean's We Were Here Tour, Nick Whitehouse's lighting design for Thomas Rhett and Little Big Town's 2016 tour.

Las Vegas-based Morpheus Lights, the exclusive US distributor for Ayrton, was ple

Germany - In Berlin the New Year is traditionally greeted at the Brandenburg Gate. To welcome in 2016, TLT Event AG was once again in charge of production and technical implementation of the popular event. The turn of the year was also the go-ahead for TLT to invest in a RockLink system, which came into operation for the first time on NYE to provide a redundant fiberoptic network for the MA-Net between FOH and Dimmercity.

"As we are placing great value on reliability for our productions, we have been working with Rock Solid Technologies' RockSwitch Mk2 for some time. Moreover, there was an increasing internal necessity to invest in a redundant fiberoptic network", stated Helge Rabethge, technical director Light and Rigging.

"For the buying decision, it was important to us to invest in a reliable system that consists of as few individual components as possible

South Africa - Rental and production specialist Sound Stylists opened their Durban branch in 2010 to service the growing events, music and entertainment markets in the busy, buzzing cosmopolitan KwaZulu Natal port city, and it's expanded from a satellite operation for the Johannesburg HQ with two staff to a major branch with 11 full time employees, working across all industry sectors.

MD Kevin Glover's intention has been to proactively grow the company's work portfolio on all fronts, providing innovative and imaginative audio, lighting, and staging and AV solutions.

A steady investment in Robe moving lights has featured in the success of the Durban facility as the lighting division has increased its capacity and pushed the proverbial envelope of excellence.

Initially, Durban started with 24 of Robe's classic workhorse 575 E AT ColorSpot and ColorWash series products, but

USA - Elation Professional has announced the launch of the new ACL 360i, a powerful single-beam moving effect luminaire with the intensity of a tight ACL beam that is designed for quick-moving beam looks, pinspotting, or stunning large motion effects when used in larger configurations. It is the latest and the smallest high-output luminaire in Elation's ACL Series of narrow-beam LED effect lights.

A single 60W RGBW LED combines with an advanced collimator optic lens to produce a dense and uniform 4° colour-changing beam. Frost lens options of 10 and 45 degrees (included) can be employed to soften and spread the beam for colour washing applications.

The ACL 360i is controllable via 3 DMX modes (16/18/20 channels) and the unit is also RDM (Remote Device Management), KlingNet or Art-Net controllable. It comes with a host of standard features like 5-pin DMX In/Out connection

Czech Republic - Robe officially launches its newest and brightest BMFL series luminaire to date - the BMFL WashBeam - today, Wednesday 27 January.

An online launch platform was chosen to reach a global audience of busy industry professionals - empowering them to participate in the experience and excitement via computers and smart-devices wherever they are and whatever they are doing.

Robe's worldwide distribution network can be contacted to arrange full physical demonstrations of the BMFL WashBeam, and the fixture will be showcased at the upcoming Prolight+Sound expo in Frankfurt in April and future trade shows and exhibitions.

Delivering 300,000 Lux at 5m - BMFL WashBeam is the brightest BMFL range fixture to date.

The BMFL WashBeam joins the BMFL Spot and BMFL Blade and BMFL Wash, ensuring that Robe offers the most comprehensive range of high powered, fully optimise

Poland - Nearly 150 Philips Vari-Lite professional luminaires, including one of the latest additions to the product line the VL4000 Spot, have been installed into Torun's brand new multi-functional hub the Jordanki Culture and Congress Centre (or CKK Jordanki).

The 22,000-m2 building, designed by world-renowned Spanish architect Fernando Menis, is the culmination of an intense two-year building project that completed in December 2015. The venue is located in the city's Old Town and boasts a unique aesthetic with cutting-edge technical features.

Hired by Wroclaw-based construction company Intersystem, Philips Entertainment distributor for Poland PS TTeatr supplied and installed 144 Philips Vari-Lite moving heads into the venue's 880-seat concert hall and 300-seat chamber hall. Further Philips Entertainment lighting brands were also installed by PS Teatr, including 32 Philips

UK - With an increase of 26% of floorspace, the second edition of PLASA Focus Glasgow has been hailed a success with 50% more brands showcasing the latest in live entertainment technology and attendees increased by 32% since the inaugural show in 2014.

Cementing itself as the industry's essential meeting place for the region, the show - which opened its doors at the SECC from 20-21 January - offered live product demonstrations, two days of high quality seminar sessions and over 75 brands in an environment ideal for networking and generating business face-to-face. Attracting visitors with a combined spending power of £130m, the development of the show reflects the continued expansion of the industry in the region.

David Steedsy Stevenson from Ward Steedsy Audio, distributor of Funktion-One in Scotland comments: "It's the first time we've had a trade stand at a PLAS

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