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The Visual Splendor of Coldplay’s ‘A Head Full of Dreams’ Tour

Perfectly timed Comets explode during the opening song. All photos by Steve Jennings

The Visual Splendor of Coldplay’s ‘A Head Full of Dreams’ Tour

Coldplay hit America this summer with its first tour since 2012, titled A Head Full of Dreams in support of their seventh album by the same name. The London based quartet celebrated its 20th year by launching a three-year long tour earlier this year in South America. The North American tour started in NYC on July 16 and will continue throughout the summer by playing arenas with a scaled down production during the week and filling stadiums on the weekend with the larger production.

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A 3D surround framed the main stage. Photo by mhvogel

Adele Live 2016 Tour

It starts with “Hello” and ends with “Rolling in the Deep,” and in between is enough music, lighting, and video to sell out the world’s biggest arenas for consecutive nights. “I think the real success of this show is that the line between lighting, video and scenic is very blurred,” says lighting designer Patrick Woodroffe. “You are never quite sure what you are seeing and this very much plays into the aesthetic around which the whole show is created.”

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ESTA Announces Volunteer of the Year Awards

NEW YORK – The ESTA Board of Directors has honored two groups of volunteers with the Volunteer of the Year Award: the Technical Standards Program’s Stage Lifts Working Group and the ETCP Subject Matter Experts for the Portable Power Distribution Technician Certificate.

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Hallway to the Jewel VIP area. Photo by Jason Sievert - Invision Studio.

Jewel Nightclub at Aria Resort in Las Vegas

Hakkasan Group, a worldwide hospitality company with establishments located across the globe in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the U.S. invited PLSN to get a closer look at just what makes the multi-faceted Jewel Nightclub shine. Located at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, MGM wanted to create a nightclub that catered to their high-end clientele, something that was intimate and different.

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A matrix of Elation ACL 360i fixtures line the wall. Photo courtedy Bisou Club.

Bisoü Club in Monterrey, Mexico

Bisoü is an upscale club in Monterrey, Mexico, that operates not only as the cosmopolitan city’s newest nighttime destination but also as a showcase of modern club lighting technology. Opened in spring 2016, Bisoü boasts a stylish design accentuated by a state-of-the-art lighting package of Elation Professional luminaires supplied and installed by Elation’s Mexican partner, Adimsa.

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LED lighting helped meet LEED stipulations.3Ten photo by Alison Narro

3Ten: Austin’s Newest Showcase Club

A beloved address in Austin, TX is downtown at 310 Willie Nelson Boulevard. It belongs to the Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theatre, also the studio home of the Austin City Limits TV show tapings of some of the top names in music. Sharing that same address is 3TEN, a new intimate showcase room downstairs from ACL Live. The one-level, 350-capacity space opened in March 2016 as an extension of the ACL venue as well as its own club.

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Winners of the 2016 KOI Awards

Knight of Illumination Award Winners Announced

UK – Lighting and video content design ceremony Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI) announced the winners of the 9th edition during a prestigious ceremony at London’s iconic Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith on Sunday 18th September. The well-attended ceremony saw almost 500 professionals come together to celebrate the achievements of lighting and video designers working on shows across the UK.

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Pitbull 2016 tour photo by Steve Jennings

Pitbull 2016 Tour

Michael Smalley and Gabriel Fraboni Update Pitbull’s Show Looks

For Pitbull’s 2016 tour, Michael Smalley and Gabriel Fraboni collaborated on the production design, with Smalley once again serving as lighting designer, programmer and director. Smalley and Fraboni also shared video content duties for the show.

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Lynyrd Skynyrd augments the lighting with side torms they carry. Photos by Ryan Terry

Buffalo Chip Campground 2016

35 Years of Camping and Festivities in Sturgis, SD

Motorcycle enthusiasts have been flocking to the small town of Sturgis, SD to attend one of the largest bike rallies in the world for years. The Sturgis rally got its start in in 1938 by a group of riders of the Indian motorcycle brand, who originally held stunts and races, including the Black Hills Classic, as the first original event was known. The rally was canceled due to gas rationing in WWII, but roared back in the postwar years and has since grown into a magnet for motorcycle riders from around the world. The 2016 rally was the 76th event.

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View from FOH of Donald Trump speaking at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, photo courtesy RNC 2016

Programming History

The Republican and Democratic National Conventions, from the View of the Lighting Programmers

This summer saw the two major U.S. political parties hold their presidential national conventions in July — the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, OH at the Quicken Loans Arena, and the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, PA at the Wells Fargo Center. Both had large multi-level stages, venue-covering lighting rigs, enormous video wall elements and audiences full of enthusiastic delegates. Lighting a convention is no small assignment when you consider that the live images broadcast globally are indelible moments in history. The lighting designer for the 2016 RNC was David Grill, principal of David Grill Associates, Inc. Previously lighting director on five consecutive conventions, this was his first as the lead lighting designer. In Philadelphia, returning for his sixth DNC was lighting designer Robert Dickinson, Principal of Full Flood, Inc.

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