International News

SYDNEY – UK based Kinesys named The Rigging Shop (TRS) as the exclusive distributor for its products in Australia and New Zealand. Based in the Sydney suburb of Botany, Australia, the TRS operation is part of Pollard Productions. Their team of rigging professionals work on a variety of live shows and events, TV productions and concert touring. The company has been operating for 35 years. 

JOHANNESBURG – The first Robe Spikies to be purchased on the African continent have gone to Windhoek, Namibia based rental company Mikel-Jes. The rental company purchased eight units from Robe’s distributor DWR in Johannesburg, South Africa. Pictured here, from left, are Reazaar Abahrams, Michael Vermeulen and Berend Apollus.

MOSCOW – The Alfa Future People 2016 electronic music and technology festival attracted 50,000 fans from 20 countries to Bolshoe Kozino, near Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, about 400km east of Moscow. Alfa Bank served as the title sponsor for the three-day, five-stage event. The lineup included a variety of internationally-known DJs including Martin Garrix, Armin Van Buuren, Axwell and Ingrosso, and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike. LD Marina Larikova and video designer Yury Vorontsov worked with rental companies Laser Kinetics, Light Logic and LED Group and production company MF Group. Larikova used a Hog 4 to control Clay Paky, Martin and Chromlech fixtures, and Vorontsov used a Catalyst media server and LED DMX strips.

LONDON – The National Theatre’s (NT) River Stage Weekends festival returned to London’s Southbank this year. A free summer festival, River Stage hosts a diverse array of artists and acts, from family friendly workshops to energetic riverside raves. Chief lighting designer Huw Llewellyn used an Avolites Tiger Touch II and Fader Wing running the latest Titan v10 for control during the month-long series of weekend events.

LONDON – Paul Griffiths of Firebird Events used 24 of Robe’s new Spikie fixtures -–small, fast LED WashBeams – for a three-day sales conference staged in the Champagne Suite at the Novotel West London. Twenty-four Spikies were installed by Firebird, the three-day event’s technical solutions provider in the suite which served as the main plenary area.

JASENICE, Croatia – The 2016 Winnetou Festival, which celebrates a fictional Native American hero of several novels written in German by Karl May, also honored Pierre Brice, the French actor who portrayed the Apache chief in popular German movies. The event took place June 4-11, a year after Brice’s death, at age 86, on June 6, 2015. A memorial service highlighting the Tulove Grede mountain peaks included dramatic visuals from German lighting design company MBLightarts . The multimedia visuals made use of 34 SGM P5 RGBW washes to light up the rocks. The fixtures ran off power generators and relied upon W-DMX for wireless control.

ELEUTHERA, Bahamas —The 4th Annual All That Jazz Festival on Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas is an annual fund-raiser for the local Haynes Library. Supporting creative thinking and problem solving through its many programs, the Haynes Library values its responsibility to the wider community and holds a special place in the life of the island. Just as the library works to continually raise the bar of education and technology access, after three years of simple lighting, this year’s festival looked to increase the lighting production values for its Saturday night jazz sessions at the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve, which is located in the settlement of Governor’s Harbour. Ferri Lighting Design and Associates (FLDA) brought in lighting equipment from off-island to realize LD Bruce Ferri’s design in the Preserve’s outdoor pavilion.

ROSKILDE, Denmark – Production lighting designer Sune Verdier arranged for 40 Robe BMFL Spots to be at the heart of the rig lighting the 17,000 capacity Arena Stage at the 2016 Roskilde Festival, giving visiting LDs the tools they’d need to craft a variety of impressive looks. It was his fifth year coordinated the show visuals. Copenhagen-based rental company Comtech supplied the BMFLs, and other lighting fixtures, for the event, including 24 Robe Pointes.

MELBOURNE, Australia – In the heart of the central business district of Australia’s second largest city lies the popular Spice Market bar, ultra lounge, and  nightclub. Offering an eclectic program of DJs, live performances, and award-winning food against a stunning backdrop of Indo-Asian design, the chic nightspot draws a diverse cross section of people. Recently, in hopes of continuing their longstanding success, owners Geremy and Dean Lucas decided to update and renovate their unique establishment. 

LIVERPOOL, U.K. – Adlib added MDG’s theONE dual haze and fog generator units to its rental stock and, shortly thereafter, the atmospheric generators hit the road to amplify the looks for American blues rocker Joe Bonamassa as he toured the UK and Europe. That tour, which took place this summer, paid tribute to three of the legends of the British Blues:  Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.

BRAUNSCHWEIG, Germany – The Braunschweig Symphony Orchestra performed its 10th annual ‘Pop Meets Classic’ concert with a lighting rig that included Philips’ Showline SL BEAM 300fx LED luminaires. The concert was staged within the Volkswagen Halle. The show presented the orchestra’s re-worked versions of well-known pop songs featuring local musicians and singers, conducted by Helmut Imig.

LONDON –  Elation Professional announced plans to exhibit at PLASA 2016, which will take place Sept. 18-20 at Olympia in the heart of West London. Featured products on Stand C40 will include the company’s new Fuze Series of dynamic LED wash lights, the ZCL Series of high-output LED effects and DTW Series variable white LED lights.