International News

[caption id="attachment_279651" align="alignnone" width="800"]Robe Basel Tattoo[/caption]

SWITZERLAND – Seventy Robe BMFL moving lights – 48 BMFL Blades and 22 x BMFL WashBeams were used on the 2017 Basel Tattoo, one of the most important military tattoos in Europe, which is staged for a week in a temporary structure erected in front of the Kaserne former military barracks in the center of the city in northwest Switzerland. The BMFLs were part of a lighting scheme by Rolf Derrer for the week long Tattoo which features 10 shows and capacity audiences of 7500 for each one. Working closely with Rolf was programmer and his right hand person Reto Engler, who has worked on the event since 2013.

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[caption id="attachment_279624" align="alignnone" width="800"]Parookaville[/caption]

WEEZE, GERMANY – After only three years, the Parookaville music festival in Weeze, Germany, has grown to become the country’s largest EDM festival and with a motto of ‘madness, love and pure happiness,’ who wouldn’t want to attend? From July 21-23, Parookaville turned the Weeze Airport into party central with the 2017 version attracting 80,000 music lovers. Some 150 DJs, including some of EDM’s top names like Tiësto, David Guetta and DJ Snake, played across ten stages.

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PRAGUE – USITT is seeking conceptual design submissions from individual designers and teams for the USITT/USA National Exhibit and Emerging Artist Exhibit for Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space 2019. USITT is accepting design submissions for both the National Exhibit and the Emerging Artist Exhibit, through October 2017. The Prague Quadrennial (PQ) is the largest performance design event in the world.

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[caption id="attachment_279602" align="alignnone" width="800"]Robe Queensferry Crossing Handover[/caption]

SCOTLAND – Scotland bristled with pride as the magnificent Queensferry Crossing – the  world’s longest triple towered cable stay bridge – was illuminated in all its 2.7 kilometer long and 207 meters high glory – by 60 x Robe BMFL Wash Beams, switched on by First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon. The lighting scheme to achieve the spectacular reveal for the official hand-over ceremony signaling the completion of the £1.35 billion project was designed by event production company JMP Productions, specified and supplied by Edinburgh rental and production specialists Black Light.

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[caption id="attachment_279579" align="alignnone" width="800"]Avo dimmers were used on this production[/caption]

UK: A bespoke ‘dimmer world’ dolly system using three Avolites ART2000 dimmer racks is proving the perfect solution for the ongoing UK and international tour of the National Theatre’s multi-award winning production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. Since first appearing to great acclaim in 2012, the play has picked up an enviable clutch of awards including seven Olivier Awards for its West End run and five Tony Awards and seven Drama Desk Awards for its Broadway production.

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[caption id="attachment_279558" align="alignnone" width="800"]Robe – The Stage Debut Awards – Best Designer Rosie Elnile – photo Alex[/caption]

LONDON – Robe was delighted to be lining up on the red carpet to welcome guests at the inaugural The Stage Debut Awards in central London, organized by The Stage, legendary weekly newspaper dedicated – since 1880 – to reporting on all elements of the rich and diverse world of entertainment and the performing arts. The awards were instigated to recognize the best breakthrough actors and rising star  creatives in theatre, with Robe sponsoring the award for ‘Best Designer’ which was won by Rosie Elnile for her eye-catching set for ’The Convert’, staged at The Gate Theatre.

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[caption id="attachment_279555" align="alignnone" width="800"]O2’s Legendary BBK Takeover[/caption]

LONDON – An abundance of GLP’s award-winning X4 Bar 20’s left the VER hire fleet for a very important event at the O2 Arena recently.They were commandeered by London-based lighting designer Sam Tozer (of Vision Factory) for a special grime event, when the Boy Better Know (BBK) collective, led by Jme and Skepta, took over the venue for the August Bank Holiday. The ‘Takeover’ weekend as it was known, took the form of a multi-venue, multi-discipline festival featuring 5-A-Side football tournaments, skateboarding, BMXing, roller disco, gaming events, cinema, food and music across six stages.

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[caption id="attachment_279540" align="alignnone" width="800"]Avo table at the KOI Awards©Thefifthestateltd[/caption]

UK – 2017 marked the 10th anniversary of prestigious lighting and video design awards event, the Knight of Illumination (KOI) Awards. This year, British lighting console and media server manufacturer Avolites was proud to have sponsored the much-coveted Concert Touring and Event Award for Stage. Shortlisted for the Avolites Award for Stage were lighting designers Paul Normandale, of Lite Alt Design, for The Chemical Brothers at the Eventim Apollo London, Michael Straun for The xx on the I See You tour 2017 at Manchester’s O2 Apollo, and Steven Bewley for Stormzy’s Gang Signs and Prayer tour at Brixton O2 Academy.

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[caption id="attachment_279522" align="alignnone" width="800"]DTS Katanas Light Lucca Summer Festival[/caption]

ITALY – The KATANAs lit Green Day, Kasabian, Robbie Williams, Rag’N’Bone Man, LP and many more on the stage of the ‘Lucca Summer Festival 2017’. The festival is one of the cult events of Italian summers, with over 100 moving lights involved – the KATANA was in the foreground of all of the fixtures which also included  the RAPTOR and WONDER fixtures manufactured by DTS. “KATANA was the indisputable protagonist; with its ‘light blade’ and its versatility it impressed many LDs.

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[caption id="attachment_279519" align="alignnone" width="800"]An Avolites Arena used for Tom Misch's set at Somerset House's Summer Series festival[/caption]

LONDON, UK – An Avolites Arena lighting console was used to program and operate the striking lighting design for producer andsinger-songwriter Tom Misch at his outdoor headline show at the Summer Series music festival held at Somerset House, London.The annual festival took place between 6 and 16 of July in the courtyard of the iconic Neoclassical building on the Thames. 2017 marked Misch’s Summer Series debut, joining other British and international festival headliner stars including Norah Jones, Goldfrapp and Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley.

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[caption id="attachment_279507" align="alignnone" width="960"]Jhankaar School of Dance[/caption]

LENASIA, SOUTH AFRICA –Dance has been an integral part of Indian culture since ancient times. Over 3,500 years ago, the Vedas’ carefully choreographed rituals were used to convey spiritual themes.  This tradition lives on in beautiful fashion in South Africa today, where the Jhankaar School of Dance in Lenasia keeps dance (often with a more modern twist) in the forefront of the cultural life of the nation’s large Indian community.

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[caption id="attachment_279495" align="alignnone" width="800"]Rolling Stones in Europe[/caption]

LONDON – Entertainment engineering experts WIcreations has constructed several major set elements and developed associated rigging systems for the spectacular stage architecture designed by Stufish for the Rolling Stones’ ‘No Filter’ European tour. WI’s team was led by Hans Willems and Koen Peeters. Their brief included three major aspects: creating a cantilevered stage roofing system above the main performance area; devising a method for rigging and securing four 23 meter high by 11 meter wide LED video screens to the front of four large steel towers and building two mobile technical areas for use onstage.

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