INDIANAPOLIS – John Reed, owner of Indianapolis-based Stage Tech, Inc. died July 4, 2017 after a short illness. He was 62. Reed, who had served as a lighting director on tours for Frankie Valli and others, founded Stage Tech in 1975 as a lighting and staging company and later moved into audio production for big events including the Indianapolis 500 (pictured here).
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MONTREAL – Cirque du Soleil acquired New-York-based Blue Man Productions, a global live entertainment company best known for the award-winning Blue Man Group show, performed in more than 20 countries and seen by more than 35 million people worldwide since 1991. The acquisition widens Cirque du Soleil’s audience pool, adding to their portfolio six resident productions established across the U.S. and in Germany, as well as a North American tour and a World tour.
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DIEPENBEEK, BELGIUM – In his 11 years as Epica’s lighting designer, Erwin Van Lokeren has never repeated a look from song to song. Neither he nor the band would have it any other way. Never afraid to blaze their own musical path, the symphonic metal pioneers have transcended genres by pulling in wildly disparate influences from Vivaldi to Star Wars, and weaving them all into a uniquely transformative sound. Van Lokeren, who collaborates closely with two of Epica’s members Coen Janssen and Isaac Delahaye, has accentuated the band’s musical message with a ceaseless flow of compelling looks, each more unique than the next.
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LONDON – d3 Studio partner, Amsterdam-based, Live Legends, has expanded its fleet with the first European debut prerelease d3 gx 2 media servers. The new gx range comes with a Notch Playback license, allowing users to create, simulate, render, composite, edit and play in realtime. d3 Technologies’ gx 2 couples the power of its pro range with the most powerful GPU for unparalleled real-time generative content, a field in which Live Legends are an industry leader.
SYDNEY – Mandylights has today announced the company’s expansion into the United Kingdom, with the opening of a new office headed by UK designers Liam Tully and Tom Edwards. Operating since 2006 from Sydney, Australia, Mandylights has delivered lighting, visual and production design projects in over fifty countries across touring concert, broadcast, special event, theatre and corporate markets. The company’s recent touring and Vegas residency designs for the Backstreet Boys are recent additions to an impressive list of credits including multiple tours for artists including Ricky Martin, Taio Cruz, Cats – The Musical, China’s G.E.M. and numerous others.
ORLANDO – Prolyte Group hosted its first North American Campus event on truss training in Orlando last month, just one day prior to the opening of InfoComm. Organized in cooperation with its North American distributor A.C. Lighting Inc., the event had an impressive list of participants. The Prolyte Campus event was acredited by both ESTA (ETCP) as well as InfoComm (CTS), offering continuing education credits and interesting and high-standing content that is recognized by industry bodies as well as those who participated.
PHOENIX, AZ – Beer isn’t the first thing most people associate with Arizona, but The Grand Canyon State has become a hot bed of micro brewing. A local survey by a Phoenix news outlet found that the city alone is home to 29 different establishments that brew craft beer. Recently, the Arizona capital celebrated its growing local brewing industry with BruFest, a day-long festival featuring a mind-boggling assortment of craft beers, bountiful taco buffets and hours of penetrating punk and metal music.
AUSTIN – SolaFrame Theatre is the industry’s first automated LED luminaire to deliver completely silent operation. Engineered with no fans, SolaFrame Theatre features a full effects package including framing shutters, high CRI, gorgeous colors and impeccable dimming. SolaFrame Theatre is a natural fit for designers that work in theaters and other venues where fixture noise is simply not acceptable.
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – Slightly Stoopid may have two decades of touring under their belts, but the genre-busting band still keeps shows fresh and energetic for audiences around the country, pulling from their 12 albums including their recent release Meanwhile… Back at the Lab. Bandit Lites is proud to be providing a lighting package for their current tour. Lighting designer Scott O’Connor created a stellar design for the funk, reggae and punk rock band by capitalizing on equipment that would fill the stage with dynamic, audacious looks, while still allowing for versatility across the various venues and emphasizing a ‘less is more’ mindset.
LONDON, UK – Dinamo Riga, the Latvian professional hockey team, teamed with Stage Crew, Latvian technical production service, to mark Dinamo’s final home game of the KHL 2016/17 season. And center to the stunning pre-game visuals was a Hippotizer Karst Media Server, running Hippotizer V4. The impressive Arena Riga has been home to the Kontinental Hockey League club Dinamo Riga since 2008, offering a 10,300 capacity when the ice is laid out. One of Latvia’s leading indoor venues – artists to have played concerts there include Ed Sheeran, Elton John, KISS, Metallica, and Tiesto – Arena Riga provided a superb backdrop and center piece for the show.
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LOS ANGELES – When companies present their newest products at exhibitions, aesthetics are crucial and lighting plays a key role in their presentation. Auto shows place especially high demands on lighting. That was the impetus behind development of Elation Professional’s new cool-white Fuze Wash 575™ LED PAR moving head luminaire with motorized beam control.
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BELGIUM – Painting with Light renewed its long-term working collaboration with the Summer Opera at Alden Biesen, a beautiful 16th century castle in the village of Rijkhoven, Limburg, eastern Belgium … just a 20 minute drive from the creative design practice’s own HQ in Genk. Paco Mispelters from Painting with Light was tasked with lighting this year’s production of Gaetano Donizetti’s well known comic opera “Don Pasquale”, celebrating 20 years since the start of the successful annual opera event. In keeping with the light-hearted and animated rhythm of the piece, Paco wanted to keep the lighting upbeat and vibrant in style and feel.