International News

LONDON – The very final leg of Barry Manilow’s “One Last Time” farewell tour saw the legendary singer play arenas in nine cities across the UK, culminating in a show stopping performance at London’s O2, with lighting equipment and crew supplied by Blackburn based HSL. Creative Director Seth Jackson designed and specified the rig as part of an elegant and stylish design to help ensure the star’s incredible live touring performances would linger much longer in the hearts, minds and memories of his hugely enthusiastic fan-base as this seminal ‘touring’ element of his career comes to an end.

SHEFFIELD, U.K. – For the Sheffield People’s Theatre production of A Dream, described as a “modern-day mash up of Shakespearan romance,” the production team made use of ModTruss as a structural piece of scenery.   The structure was a 37 by 19 foot platform on 8-foot uprights. It was made up of the three available sizes of aluminum ModTruss – 3″, 6″ and 12″. The production was presented in Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre.

LIMA, Peru – The new Clay Paky Scenius Spot has landed in South America for the first time and is dubbed ‘fixture of choice’ by prolific lighting designer Mario Raez in the Peruvian staging of jukebox classic Mamma Mia at the Teatro Peruano Japones in Lima. Raez is the first lighting designer in South America to put the Scenius Spot through its paces, employing six of the units in his show.

SOUTHHAMPTON, U.K. – Ovation of the Seas took its maiden voyage in April as the third Quantum class luxury cruise liner from Royal Caribbean International to feature an onboard Elation Professional lighting and video system. It follows the successful launch of Quantum of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas, both of which sail with a full complement of energy-efficient Elation Professional products.

CESENA, Italy – A band comprised of 1,200 musicians performed before a sold-out audience of 13,000 for a unique event, “Rockin’1000 – That’s Live.” The massive concert was staged on the lawn of the Manuzzi stadium in Cesena, Italy in late July.  LD Claudio Tappi used more than 400 DTS moving lights for this mega rock event. AMG International supplied the DTS fixtures for the gig.

NEW YORK – New media companies have been countering traditional broadcast and cable UpFronts with digital content NewFronts to showcase their original program slates to advertisers.  AOL upped the ante this year with “AOL Access: A New Kind of NewFront,” held in Manhattan’s South Street Seaport neighborhood.

VOLKLINGEN, Germany —Focon Showtechnic, the German distributors for PR Lighting, noted that the Chinese manufacturer’s products were used at the Electro-Magnetic EDM festival in Völklingen, which drew close to 10,000 to the Völklinger Hütte on July 16. The Völklinger Hütte, a former steel plant and world cultural heritage site, was visually transformed for a lineup that included Robin Schulz, Alle Farben, Chopstick & Johnjon, Moguai, Richie Hawtin, and others.

JAKARTA – Indonesia based Lemmon Productions purchased 54 Robe Pointe multipurpose moving lights. Pictured here are, from left, Hanslee Lim (Regional Sales Director, Robe Asia Pacific), Lemmy Ibrahim (CEO of Lemmon Productions) and Albert Leong (Technical Sales Manager, Robe Asia Pacific).

ROME – Vasco Rossi followed up his extensive tour in 2015 with another series of extravagant concerts this year, and LD Giovanni Pinna has a new tool in his arsenal – Clay Paky’s Spheriscans. The artist performed a series of shows in late June that kicked off with an event at the the Lignano Sabbiadoro stadium on June 18 and drew big crowds, especially with his concert at the Olympic Stadium in Rome.

GLASTONBURY, UK –  For nearly 40 years, Avolites equipment has been found surviving the mud in each corner of the Glastonbury Festival. This year the British manufacturer’s consoles and media servers once again managed a wide swath of the impressive visuals supporting the music on the various stages, including the main stages and secondary performance spaces as well. They included the Pyramid Stage (powered by Avolites ART2000 dimmers), the Other stage, the John Peel stage, the West Holts stage, the Acoustic stage, the Arcadia Spectacular and The Temple immersive dance environment, and also the afterhours areas such as the Unfairground art field.

ADELAIDE, Australia – The Adelaide Convention Centre has added to its already ample fleet of High End Systems consoles with the purchase of two Full Boar 4’s and six Road Hog 4’s, bringing their inventory to four Full Boar 4’s and ten Road Hog 4’s in total. The purchase is part of the plan for the anticipated mid-2017 opening of their new Plenary Building, a multi-purpose venue built on the site of the original 1987 Convention Centre, with a capacity of up to 3,500 seats.

SINGAPORE—i Light Marina Bay, a light art festival, dazzled visitors to Singapore’s Marina Bay waterfront area from March 4-27 this year. A key feature was SONICtower (pictured here), an outdoor art installation by Sound Media Artist Zulkifle Mahmod (a.k.a. ZUL). SONICtower made use of a mix of Martin VDO Sceptron 10 outdoor rated LED video fixtures (30 each in 320 mm and 1000 mm), powered by a P3 PowerPort 1500 integrated power and data processor, all coordinated with a P3-200 System Controller. The outdoor lighting system included a Martin Exterior Wash 310 quad color LED (RGBW) programmed with a M2GO controller.