International News

DURBAN, South Africa  – A massive fire destroyed the Durban Christian Centre’s 5,500-capacity Jesus Dome auditorium in the city’s Mayville neighborhood on the night of June 8. No one was injured in the blaze, but the structure, first dedicated in 1999, was a total loss. Three days later, the sky above the destroyed church’s parking lot lit up with beams from 12 Clay Paky Mythos fixtures, all pointed towards a star, as the congregation met together for a service. LD Michael Broderick and Brandon Bunyan of Black Coffee donated the idea and the use of the gear.  Going forward, the megachurch will hold services using a large tent until the Jesus Dome can be rebuilt.

PERTH, Australia – The APIA Good Times Tour, featuring Daryl Braithwaite, Kate Ceberano, Jon Stevens and John Paul Young, has recently completed its 16-date tour of duty, including a stop in the Perth Concert Hall. With Perth being one of the three ‘orphaned’ shows without toured production, tour lighting designer Rohan Thornton was on the phone to local rental house Concert and Corporate Productions to source a rig for the show to supplement the Concert Halls’ simple house system.

HAARLEM, The Netherlands – Marco Hartendorf, technical manager of the Philharmonie concert hall in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and his crew are working with 10 new DL4X Spots from Robe. The moving lights were chosen for their silence and LED light source. Hartendorf and the lighting team of four work across the Philharmonie‘s two main venues – De Kleine Zaal capacity 412 and The Great Hall, with 1220 sets, and also the Stadschouwburg (City Hall) which is about 2 kilometers away, still in the city center.

PARIS – InfoSport+, a themed TV channel offered by the Canal+ Group, a French film and television studio and distributor, recently installed 50 neutral white LED Robert Juliat Tibo profiles in its new broadcasting studio where they are in daily use on sports live news broadcasts. Jean-Marc Delage, decided on Robert Juliat Tibo neutral white LED profiles, on the advice of French lighting director, Frédéric Dorieux for a new studio created by designer Philippe Désert.

SYDNEY  – After a hiatus, the Australian all-night dance music festival, Midnight Mafia, returned April 23 at the Showground event space in Sydney’s Olympic Park, hosting some of Australia’s most popular DJs including The Enforcers and The Ace of Spades. LD Arian Yegenah used Chauvet Professional Vesuvio RGBA fixtures from Australian distributor Showtools during the event.

SANTIAGO, Chile – Architectural lighting designer Toni Amoros used 24 Clay Paky Mythos fixtures to animate South America’s tallest skyscraper, the Costanera Centre, with a festive light show. The building is in the heart of the chilean capital’s financial district and includes a six-floor shopping mall, two luxury hotels and office space. Its highest levels are home to Sky Costanera, the highest observation deck in South America. 

CANNES, France — BigFish SRL Ltd. supported the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, formerly the International Advertising Festival, with a visual backdrop for the three-part event, covering Health (June 18-19), Innovation (June 21-22) and Entertainment (June 23-24). BigFish specified 18 Ovation E-910FC color rendering RGBA-Lime fixtures for the event.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — UK-based A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd. supplied a range of ProLights LED fixtures to Lite Alternative for the European leg of Coldplay’s A Head Full of Dreams stadium tour — the Brit alt rockers’ seventh series of concerts, launched to support their seventh chart-topping studio album.

JOHANNESBURG – LD and set designer Joshua Cutts opted to include Clay Paky Mythos fixtures in the rig for the 2016 Miss South Africa beauty pageant. The event, staged at Carnival City in Gauteng, was broadcast live on South Africa’s M-Net and Mzansi Magic channels.

LONDON — For the Autism Rocks charity concert staged June 24-25 at London’s Eventim Apollo Hammersmith, Northolt, U.K.-based Entec provided lighting, sound and video. The concert was backed by Dubai-based 117 Live and AEG Live. This year’s performers, including Mark Ronson, Cee-Lo Green, Morris Day & The Time and bass guitar player Larry Graham, performed a show that served as a tribute to Prince.

SHEKVETILI, Georgia —The 10,000-capacity Black Sea Arena opened July 10, 2016 in a village along Georgia’s Black Sea coast, midway between the seaside resorts of Ureki and Kobuleti, Lithuania-based system integrator Scenos Techninis Servisas installed the venue’s light, LED screens, sound and stage structures, which included more than 30 tons of gear from Prolyte, L-Acoustics and Robe, among others.