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Green Day 99 Revolutions Tour

Green Day 99 Revolutions Tour photo by Steve Jennings

Green Day 99 Revolutions Tour

Green Day released three albums in quick succession late last year — ¡Uno! (Sept. 21), ¡Dos! (Nov. 9) and ¡Tré! (Dec. 7) — along with a documentary chronicling the process — ¡Cuatro! — that premiered at the X Games in Aspen, CO earlier this year (now available on CD). After some preliminary promotional gigs, the band’s “99 Revolutions” tour supporting the album trilogy started in earnest with a North American leg in March and April 2013. The band then headed to Europe for shows slated from May through August 2013.

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For Wet Republic, MGM Grand in Las Vegas installed a curved LED screen measuring 38 by 10 feet in size.

A Curved LED Wall, Shining in the Sun

Names like Tiësto, Deaudmau5, Steve Aoki and Calvin Harris bring gatherings like the Electric Daisy Carnival, Ultra Music Festival and Coachella to mind, along with the Las Vegas nightclub scene — lots of late night revelers, partying to the beat to impressive, and sometimes blindingly bright, lighting and video displays. But what happens when you take the same big-name DJs and use them to draw partiers to the casino’s pool, in broad daylight? They can serve up the same throbbing basslines, but when the DJs are spinning in the sun, there’s no way a light show can deliver the same impact.

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Logo Channel's NNN Awards with Vari-Lite.

LD Tom Kenny Uses New VL3015LT Spot on NNN Awards

HOLLYWOOD, CA – The Logo Channel’s NewNowNext (NNN) Awards celebrate the most fantastic aspects of pop culture in music, television, film, web, fashion and just about everything in between. Produced in Hollywood, CA, inside the Henry Fonda Theater, the annual awards ceremony is lively, fun and energetic. When LD Tom Kenny was asked to oversee the lighting design he leapt at the opportunity to create a lighting rig full of Vari-Lite luminaires, including the new VL3015LT Spot from Philips Vari-Lite.

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MTV's 2013 Season Upfront at NYC's Beacon Theatre

Staging MTV’s 2013 Season Upfront at NYC’s Beacon Theatre

The way TV works has radically changed over the decades, from only three major networks and one screen per household to an explosion of options, not just with an expanded array of networks delivered via cable and satellite, but a whole new array of interactive media platforms as well. But one tradition that’s still holding steady, and keeping those on the live side of the entertainment industry busy, is the TV network “upfront” — elaborate corporate events designed to pique the interest of TV advertising buyers, the press and other VIPs in advance of the annual crop of new TV programming.

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ETC Source Four LED Lustr+ fixtures lighting 750-seat Pleasance Grand, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

ETC Gears Up for Edinburgh Fringe 2013

EDINBURGH, Scotland – Scotland’s annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe, held every August, is always a busy time for lighting manufacturer ETC.  This year, rental company Pleasance has teamed up with dealer Black Light to install in every one of its spaces ETC lighting and 26 ETC control desks.

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How to Destroy Angels 2013 Tour photo by Steve Jennings

How to Destroy Angels 2013 Tour

Teams and projections don’t look as impressive when they pass through clear air, hence the profusion of hazers and foggers and theatrical scrims for visual impact.
For the 2013 tour for How to Destroy Angels, a band created by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, LD Roy Bennett worked with longtime NIN art director Rob Sheridan on various semi-transparent alternatives. The goal: to come up with something that would create a novel visual twist — surrounding the band members in a box-like shape, yet standing up to the rigors of a touring production.

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Active Production and Design's setup for a social event.

Active Production and Design Celebrates 20 Years

“Trying to build a business was tough, as we were competing against larger companies with a lot more gear,” Active Production & Design’s Matt Clouser says, as he reflects on his company’s 20th Anniversary. “We had to be aggressive, and that usually meant with cost. I think any of us that start a business will end up ‘giving shows away’ as they say in the business until we build it up enough to understand there are costs in a professional organization.”

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Dave Matthews.

Dave Matthews Out for Cross-Country Summer Swing

LOS ANGELES – The Dave Matthews Band hits the road for an extensive national tour with Clay Paky lighting, grandMA2 consoles and MDG foggers along for the ride.  The band started its 45-date cross-country swing in mid-May and wraps after Labor Day.  Theatrical Media Services is providing the lighting gear and consoles for design company and video vendor Filiment Productions.  Fenton Williams is the longtime production designer and lighting designer; Aaron Stinebrink is the lighting programmer and designer.

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Iain Reed and Sydney Harbour Bridge

Inviting the Public to “Paint” the Bridge in Sydney

LD Iain Reed Turns Sydney Icon into Interactive Artwork
Vivid is the winter festival of light, music and ideas, held around the harbor in Sydney, Australia; for 2013, it ran from May 24-June 10. Winter down under is surprisingly scheduled when it is summer in the USA. Vivid came about in the dying days of the previous state government, and was such a success that it has returned each year, bigger and brighter. It brings people to the city in the down season.

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Christie Digital

Christie InControl Mobile App

ORLANDO, Fla. – Christie unveils the Christie InControl projector mobile app for applicable iOS devices. The Christie InControl APP is aimed at rental and staging customers using Christie 3-chip DLP M Series and J Series projectors. The App provides a responsive user interface to commonly used projector functionality, such as power on/off, shutter control, test pattern selection, and lens zoom and focus, in addition to more advanced projector functionality like 2D keystone and color management. Christie InControl will be available globally as a free download from the Apple App Store later this month.

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