International News

[caption id="attachment_281655" align="alignnone" width="800"]Sunrise Avenue photo by Mandy Privenau [/caption]

FINLAND – From mid-October to early December, Finnish rock band Sunrise Avenue toured across Europe on their “Heartbreak Century” tour, a run of smaller venues before the five-member band hits the road on a bigger arena tour in the new year. Light, set and video were supplied by Ambion GmbH headquartered in Kassel, Germany. Lighting designer Stephan Aue, who supported the band for the first time in 2015 on their enormously successful arena tour, was once again responsible for the lighting design, relying on products from Elation Professional, among others.

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[caption id="attachment_281631" align="alignnone" width="800"]Cinderella Lit with Robe fixtures[/caption]

BLACKPOOL, UK – Just like the fairy-tale glass slipper that glided effortlessly onto Cinderella’s foot uniting her and Prince Charming, lighting designer Andy Webb has designed a beautifully colorful and fitting lighting scheme for “Cinderella”, this season’s pantomime at Blackpool UK’s famous  Grand Theatre … utilizing entirely Robe LED products. It’s the third year that Andy has been asked to light this popular panto for UK Productions. Returning to the same venue has some definite advantages he explains, both in terms of knowing the space and what you can and can’t achieve in it, and also having an ongoing relationship with the local crew and technicians.

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[caption id="attachment_281615" align="alignnone" width="800"]Philip's Lighting newest fixtures deliver a magical environment for Bosnian folk artist, Bozo Vreco at Belgrade's Sava Center[/caption]

BELGRADE, SERBIA – Philips Lighting (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, today announced that its newest stage lighting fixtures have helped to deliver a magical environment for the recent concert at Belgrade’s Sava Center by leading Bosnian folk music artist, Bozo Vrećo. To create this enchanted environment in the 4,000-seat Sava Center, Serbia’s largest concert venue, lighting designer Nebojsa Milojevic required powerful lighting fixtures.

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[caption id="attachment_281609" align="alignnone" width="800"]Cinderella Lit with a Tiger Touch Console[/caption]

UK – Oh no they didn’t! Oh yes they did! The lighting team at The Grand Theatre Blackpool is using an Avolites Tiger Touch II console to control the magical light show for the historic theatre house’s star-studded Christmas pantomime performance of fairy-tale classic, Cinderella. The show marks the 21st anniversary of production company, UK Productions, one of the country’s leading musical theatre and pantomime production groups.

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[caption id="attachment_281577" align="alignnone" width="800"]Zach Sternberg cuts a dash with Ayrton MagicBlade-FX for Sylvan [/caption]

EUROPE – One of indie pop’s most exciting young bands, Sylvan Esso, is making waves on both sides of the Atlantic, having played top venues across North America this summer, including the Fox Theatre in Oakland, the Hollywood Palladium, Brooklyn Steel New York and Prospect Park, before completing a European tour in support of their second album, What Now in the autumn. The dynamic duo engaged production designer, Zach Sternberg – who has been with them since their first album in 2013 – to devise an equally exciting and dynamic set and lighting design capable of handling the ‘crazy spaces’ they played on tour, with venue capacities that ranged from clubs to theatres.

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ESTEIO, Brazil – A weekend dance music festival ended in tragedy Dec. 17 when the stage structure collapsed in high winds, killing DJ Kaleb Freitas, 30, and injuring three others, according to early reports. Freitas, who had sustained head trauma, died shortly after arriving at the hospital. The festival, staged Dec. 16 and 17, drew between 4,000 and 5,000 with a lineup including, Dostrescinco, La Triple Nelson, Once Tiros La Trampa, Trotsky Vengaran, Vicios and Vultures.

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SINGAPORE – Founded in 1984, the award-winning LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore is a stunning example of modernity and creativity dedicated to providing its students with top class education in contemporary arts and design. It moved its main campus to McNally Street in 2007 where its many new facilities included the 480-seat Singapore Airlines (SIA) Theatre and several studio and rehearsal spaces.

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[caption id="attachment_281543" align="alignnone" width="800"]Elai Botner tour 2017 [/caption]

ISRAEL – Israeli singer songwriter Elai Botner & Yaledi Haucutz  completed an extensive seven month tour of Israel with some uber-cool lighting created by Mickey Vilensky, who chose an all-Robe moving light rig! The 12 x BMFL Spots and 24 x Spiider LED wash beams were supplied, together with the rest of the lighting equipment, by Simul Argaman Systems.

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[caption id="attachment_281514" align="alignnone" width="800"]Cassper Nyovest [/caption]

JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG – November 2017 saw the third iteration of the “Fill Up” series of concerts which South Africa Hip Hop artist, Cassper Nyovest, has been using as a vehicle to inspire local youth to recognize their worth and ably demonstrating that anyone can realize their dreams with sufficient perseverance. “The reason I do these shows is to change the mind of an African kid” says Nyovest.

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[caption id="attachment_281511" align="alignnone" width="800"]L-R Sofia, Gina, Isabella and Emmanuel Ziino ribbon cutting ceremony[/caption]

PORT MELBOURNE, Au – Show Technology, Australia’s leading professional lighting distributor, kicked off the festive season at the opening of their brand new facility in Port Melbourne on the 6th December 2017. It was a fantastic evening with over 150 clients, partners and friendly faces in the industry in attendance, entertained with typical Melbourne trendiness featuring food trucks, lots of laughs, music and festive holiday spirit that celebrated the opening of their newer, bigger building.

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[caption id="attachment_281502" align="alignnone" width="800"]NZ Lions Lit with GLP Products[/caption]

NEW ZEALAND – Earlier this summer Oceania, the biggest lighting rental company in New Zealand, invested in 24x X4 L LED heads from GLP, which went out the same day they arrived to support the British & Irish Lions’ rugby tour down under. Over six weeks they were ever present on all regional games and the three All Blacks test matches.

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[caption id="attachment_281354" align="alignnone" width="782"]Miguel Vidal of Tecnica Vidal[/caption]

ARGENTINA – Tecnica Vidal is the largest rental and production company in the west of Argentina, and one of the top five in the country. Founded by Miguel Vidal in the 1980s … it is located in Rivadavia the center north of Mendoza province, internationally renowned for its wine production. The company has 20 full time employees at the moment and supplies the full range of technical production services, encompassing lighting, audio, video, staging, rigging and power, a ‘single-source’ solution business model that has proved very successful.

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