News

NEW YORK – The Daryl Hall and John Oates 2016 tour kicked off this year at New York’s Madison Square Garden and will continue through the summer.  Nashville based Morris, in collaboration with well known designer Jesper Luth, provided the production and lighting design.  Featured in the design are 140 Solaris Mozart fixtures.

NEW YORK – The Entertainment Technician Certification Program’s (ETCP) Portable Power Distribution Technician (PPDT) examination will be offered at more than 190 testing centers in North America beginning July 15 for computer-based testing.  There is no application deadline and once a candidate is approved he/she can usually test within a couple of weeks, depending on candidate volume. Because this is a new examination, score reports will be delayed during this time.

NEW YORK – When American Idiot hit the Broadway stage in 2010, theatergoers were treated to more than just the punk-rock sounds of Green Day’s iconic rock opera; they experienced the visual impact that lighting can bring to storytelling. When Pace University staged American Idiot in 2016 at the NYC campus’ Schimmel Center, LD Zach Blane took an approach with his lighting rig that – like punk rock – broke the rules, using theatrical fixtures not just for traditional purposes, but for hard-driving strobe effects.

NEW YORK – Brillz (aka Sami Diament) has been touring the U.S. with his “Twonk Di Nation” tour in recent months with a hard-hitting light show from designers Ethan Kairer, Jim Feeney and Corey Mattonen. The visual impact comes from a collection of Nexus 4×4 LED panels and MVP Ta8 Curve video panels from Chauvet Professional supplied by Hatboro, PA-based Zeo Brothers.

LOS ANGELES – R. Kelly’s “Buffet Tour” is serving up a musical extravaganza, which fans are eating up in arenas across the US.  Performance Lighting of Elk Grove, Illinois is providing 50 ChainMaster motor hoists and grandMA2 full-size and light consoles to the massive production.  A.C.T Lighting, Inc. is the exclusive distributor of both brands in North America.

MIAMI – E11even Nightclub in downtown Miami attracts an impressive number of top DJs and other dance music artists, especially around Winter Music Conference time. The profusion of EDM, hip hop and house music talent has been even more marked since the two-story club expanded by opening a rooftop dance and chill area that recently received a lighting upgrade from iDesign Productions that included Elation Professional lighting fixtures.

BURBANK, CA – Volt Lites has taken delivery of the first Clay Paky Scenius Profiles in the U.S., according to A.C.T Lighting, Inc., the distributor of Clay Paky fixtures in North America.  Voit Lites, which opened in 2010, added 24 of the luminaires to its inventory. The company already has a complement of Clay Paky Sharpy and Mythos fixtures. Clay Paky’s Scenius Profile fixture debuted at Prolight + Sound earlier this year, joining Clay Paky’s Scenius Spot fixtures, which had debuted in 2015.

LAS VEGAS – Garth Brooks continues his maverick Man Against Machine tour which started in fall 2014 and has been delighting his massive and loyal fan base. The country superstar is known for his exciting live shows and amazing connection with his audiences, as well as for taking a very active interest in his production and stage presentation. Lighting designer Dave “Gig” Butzler  likes to keep the lighting rig constantly evolving to ensure that Brooks’ extended touring campaigns are constantly fresh.

LAS VEGAS — For the seventh time, PLSN and FRONT of HOUSE readers will have the opportunity to nominate lighting, staging, video and audio technologies worthy of an Indispensable Technology “IT” Award. The awards competition recognizes technologies that have advanced the state of the art in each of those categories within the previous year. The recognition process starts with nominations from readers of each magazine. Top nominated products make it onto the Parnelli Awards ballot for a final vote.

ZOTTEGEM, Belgium —For the Dunk! Festival, which ran from May 5-7 in Zottegem, Belgium, LD Frederick Heerinckx of BlackBoxDesign specified 42 Chauvet Professional Nexus 7×7 panels, making use of the fixture’s classic tungsten looks and pixel mapping capabilities. The festival acts as an extension of the independent record label, Dunk! Records and serves as a platform for its bands to perform to thousands of post rock and post metal fans.

VANCOUVER, BC – Under the working title “Hidden Fortress,” filming for the third installment of the Planet of the Apes commenced in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver in October 2015. Production crews have chosen to utilize Larson Electronics’ explosion proof fluorescent light fixtures on set, as well as their four-foot hazardous location light fixtures. Larson Electronics’ four foot, two-lamp fluorescent light fixtures are being used for War for the Planet of the Apes, due out next summer.