Smart Financial Centre Hosts Morrissey’s Houston Show After Last-Minute Venue Change

SUGAR LAND, TEXAS – Legendary Smiths frontman, Morrissey, performed for more than 3,000 fans at Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land on Friday, April 14 after confirming and announcing the venue change two days prior. After a series of thunderstorms saturated their outdoor concert lawn, White Oak Music Hall approached Smart Financial Centre to host Morrissey’s Houston performance, which already had two previous cancellations. Despite a 5,000-seat Easter service scheduled for Sunday, the venue mobilized its staff to reconfigure the auditorium to accommodate the performance in a short timeframe.

IOWA CITY, IA – We the Kings filled their April with weekend college fly dates. After wrapping up their 10th anniversary tour for their self-titled album, they took LD Nathaniel Beckett with them and a bright Astera LED light rig. Most of the college shows had a very minimal lighting package supplied by the schools, so the 16 Astera AX1s and eight Astera AX3 Lightdrops provided the much-needed eye candy for the punk rock performances.

ORLANDO – WrestleMania 33 set a record last month as the most-watched WrestleMania ever.  Dubbed an “ultimate thrill ride for the ages,” WWE’s signature event at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida featured 13 matches, including two world championships.  A larger-than-life ring atop the massive truss centerpiece was designed and installed by All Access Staging & Productions.  Around the perimeter of the giant ring were oversized red, white, and blue ultra-bright ring “ropes” illuminated by 2,000 feet of Firefly FloppyFlex LED neon.

Read More »

NEW YORK – Kate Shindle, President of Actors’ Equity, the national labor union representing professional actors and stage managers, released the following statement after the U.S. Senate passed a bill that would fully fund the National Endowment for the Arts for the remainder of the federal government’s fiscal year. The Senate vote comes one day after the U.S. House also voted to fund the NEA and comes weeks after President Trump proposed in his budget to eliminate the NEA entirely.

PHILADELPHIA – Staged entirely outdoors for the first time in its 82-year history, the 2017 NFL Draft brought a record-breaking crowd to the Rocky steps outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The NFL noted that more than 250,000 people attended the event, which ran from April 27-29. In support of the event, coordinators C3 Presents turned to Mountain Productions to provide a 3,000-seat temporary amphitheater. The roof was supported by 20 posts, spanned a downstage width of 250 feet, and the structure exceeded 70 feet in height.

WASHINGTON, DC – Beach blankets and yoga mats aren’t normally found inside the long, high-ceilinged central nave of the National Cathedral. Recently, however, the iconic church’s usual seats and pews were removed so people could lie down on these coverings to gaze at an astonishing lightshow that transformed the building’s cavernous interior into a vast and infinitely fascinating panorama of color with help from a collection of WELL Fit LED fixtures from CHAUVET Professional.

Read More »