LAS VEGAS – A lone gunman opened fire onto a crowd of close to 22,000 attending Jason Aldean’s performance at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas at 10:08 p.m. Oct. 1, killing at least 58 and injuring more than 500 before taking his own life. It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
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SAN BERNARDINO, CA. Leading California production company Stage-Tech again dipped into its extensive inventory of Elation Professional lighting gear to deliver an impactful lighting package for the Hard and Pink stages at this year’s Hard Summer Music Festival. With a venue change somewhat late in the scheduling – a move from the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana to the more scenic environs of the Glen Helen Amphitheater in San Bernardino – Stage-Tech had to be both flexible and resourceful, a challenge they met with the help of adaptable Elation lighting.
UK: A bespoke ‘dimmer world’ dolly system using three Avolites ART2000 dimmer racks is proving the perfect solution for the ongoing UK and international tour of the National Theatre’s multi-award winning production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. Since first appearing to great acclaim in 2012, the play has picked up an enviable clutch of awards including seven Olivier Awards for its West End run and five Tony Awards and seven Drama Desk Awards for its Broadway production.
SOUTH AFRICA – Robe moving lights were the primary light sources on the Main Stage at Innibos 2017, a high profile arts and music festival staged in and around Mbombela (Nelspruit) in South Africa presenting Afrikaans music, theatre, literature and visual arts. The fixtures were part of a striking visual design by Johan Ferreira of BF Production Services. Johan has lit the event’s main stage for 12 years now – changing his approach dramatically in terms of technology over that time.
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE – Even after being crowned the winner of NBC’s Emmy-winning smash show The Voice, Chris Blue is the same humble, thankful person from Knoxville, Tennessee, and to show his appreciation to the city that raised him, Blue performed at the historic Tennessee Theatre, where tickets sold out in five minutes, and two additional shows had to be added, only to have all three shows sell out in minutes. Bandit Lites, whose world headquarters is based in Knoxville, was tapped to provide the lighting package for the special event.
NEW YORK – Barbizon Lighting Company’s CEO, Jonathan Resnick, died Sept. 28, the company noted. He led the company that his father, Sam Resnick, co-founded with Sid Bloom 70 years ago after working in broadcast news and studying at Brown University.
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NEW YORK – A pair of oversized gun-shaped scenic elements and supporting truss toppled forward and on top of Marilyn Manson during his concert at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom on Sept. 30. Band and crew members quickly lifted the scenery off the performer, who was taken to a hospital on a stretcher. Reports noted that Manson’s shows that had been slated for Oct. 2 (Boston) through Oct. 14 (Houston) would be postponed and rescheduled at unspecified dates.
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — For the U.S. citizens on the island of Puerto Rico, Hurricane Irma was bad. Even though the eye of the storm did not hit the island as it passed by on Sept. 7, the storm was powerful enough and close enough to leave more than one million residents without power and three fatalities in its wake. But then came Hurricane Maria on Sept. 20, which was worse. Its eyewall made a direct hit, ripping off roofs with its Category 4 winds as it scraped across the 100-mile-wide island, defoliated the landscape, destroying crops and knocking out power for almost 100 percent of the island’s 3.4 million residents.
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DETROIT – Covering 650,000 square feet and rising eight stories above the ground, the new Little Caesars Arena stands as a symbol of the comeback taking place in America’s “Motor City.” On Sept. 12, Detroit’s hometown hero Kid Rock christened the multi-use complex by performing its inaugural concert as part of a six night home stand that sold out in one day.
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SAN FRANCISCO – It’s summer in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. 200,000 people are enjoying three days of live Rock & Roll, and more. . . No, it’s not the Summer of Love, 1967, it’s the tenth annual Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, where the crowds are cleaner, and Flower Power is now a sustainable, green business. And flying high over the stage is a festoon lighting system featuring IMS DMX-controlled RGBWW lamps.
LONDON – Robe was delighted to be lining up on the red carpet to welcome guests at the inaugural The Stage Debut Awards in central London, organized by The Stage, legendary weekly newspaper dedicated – since 1880 – to reporting on all elements of the rich and diverse world of entertainment and the performing arts. The awards were instigated to recognize the best breakthrough actors and rising star creatives in theatre, with Robe sponsoring the award for ‘Best Designer’ which was won by Rosie Elnile for her eye-catching set for ’The Convert’, staged at The Gate Theatre.
LONDON – An abundance of GLP’s award-winning X4 Bar 20’s left the VER hire fleet for a very important event at the O2 Arena recently.They were commandeered by London-based lighting designer Sam Tozer (of Vision Factory) for a special grime event, when the Boy Better Know (BBK) collective, led by Jme and Skepta, took over the venue for the August Bank Holiday. The ‘Takeover’ weekend as it was known, took the form of a multi-venue, multi-discipline festival featuring 5-A-Side football tournaments, skateboarding, BMXing, roller disco, gaming events, cinema, food and music across six stages.