International News

MANCHESTER, UK – The Lowry, a venue located in the Manchester area launched its first festival of arts, Week 53, from April 28 to May 8. The 11-day festival, which brought together contemporary dance, visual arts, music and theatre in interactive installations, exhibitions and performances, featured more than 200 international artists, and will be held annually for the next three years with a view to extend into the future. A recently purchased ATMe haze generator joined The Lowry’s 15-year old MDG Atmosphere unit.

HONG KONG – Stage Tech Limited, a Hong Kong-based production company, has been using truss products from Milos for a variety of custom projects, fulfilling their stated promise to clients of “highlighting your ideas, enchanting your guests and making special occasions even more memorable.” In particular, they have used the Milos M400 range of truss for a variety of custom installations in public places within Hong Kong. Among their many creations is a hanging sculpture in Pacific Place shopping mall for its 25th Anniversary celebration and a hanging goat display at the PMQ Goat ARTventure exhibition gallery. 

GRONAU, Germany  – Veteran rocker Udo Lindenberg didn’t panic as his 70th birthday approached on May 17. Instead, he prepared for his Keine Panik (No Panic) tour, which also features dancers, jugglers, acrobats, a UFO, a giant pink piano, a Russian empress, a houseboy, a children’s choir, biopic clips, various movies and so on … not to mention a jam-packed set list with over 30 songs. LD Günter Jäckle lit the 16 concerts in venues ranging from stadiums to mega-halls, using a rig that included GLP Impression X4 Bar fixtures.

DORTMUND, Germany – The Reggae Summer Festival brought the sound of Jamaica to Revierpark Wischlingen in Dortmund, Germany.  Simon Sonnenschmidt lit up the Dancehall Soundsystem Arena with three Clay Paky Sharpys, four Spheriscans and four Supersharpys, using a dot2 core plus and dot2 F-wing for control.

NANCHANG, China – The Wanda Cultural Tourism City complex in Nanchang, China packs a theme park, movie park, aquarium, hotels and retail stores within an area measuring two square kilometers. It is expected to attract 10 million visitors a year to the southeastern Chinese city. The Flying Theater and Interactive Theater in the Wanda Movie Park and the Domed Theater in the Wanda Aquarium feature Alcorn McBride A/V, lighting and show control equipment. 

BENSALEM, PA — A couple of nights a week at select Sky Zone Trampoline Parks, the main lights are switched off—and new elektraLite eyeBall UV fixtures are turned on—for an event called “Glow” where participants wear neon clothing and bring or buy glowing swag items to engage in the interactive games at the park in the dark.

DUBLIN – HSL supplied lighting, rigging and a Kinesys automation system for the European leg of Chris Brown’s “One Hell of a Nite” tour, working for production designer and manager Tom E. Marzullo from Out Of Our Minds Creative Services, LLC. HSL project managers John Slevin and Jordan Hanson coordinated everything for the Blackburn, U.K.-based rental company and ensured that the production design, created collectively by Tom E with input from Christie Lites’ Robert Roth and Robert Achlimbari from All Access, was supplied with all the lighting, rigging and automation elements it needed. The Europen shows took place in May and June, 2016.

SAARBRUCKEN, Germany — LD and production designer Bertil Mark has been crafting the looks for German pop and R&B singer Sarah Connor’s recent shows using a combination of GLP’s X4 (Tunable White) LED fixtures and 32 of the new X4 Bar 20 battens. Connor has been touring in support of her most recent album, Muttersprache (Mother Tongue), which has gone triple platinum since its release in May 2015.

MANNHEIM, Germany — The Scorpions are out this year promoting not just an album, but a 50-year legacy that includes 18 albums in all. LD Rainer Becker and Manfred Nikitser, associate LD and lighting director, are using grandMA-controlled Clay Paky fixtures for the tour, which included a series of dates during May at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. The photo here captures a moment from the band’s performance in Mannheim, Germany in late March.

MANCHESTER, U.K. – Commemorating 100 years to the day of the start of the First World War’s Battle of the Somme, “Somme 100 Manchester” was a massive public art and performance event that took place in Manchester, U.K.’s Heaton Park on July 1. That battle, between British and French allies against German troops, would prove to be far more costly than anyone anticipated, killing or injuring nearly a million soldiers in less than a five-month span. dbn Lighting, working for Somme 100 and Manchester City Council, provided lighting, LED screen, rigging and set elements for the event.

UTRECHT, The Netherlands — Housed in a former industrial plant, the DeFabrique canal-side event space’s eight rental halls combine the preserved industrial elements with an immersive lighting design by Bijman AV. Ramon Bijman used 400 Robe PARFect 100 fixtures to light the rental halls, which can accommodate events ranging in size from 50 to 3,500 people. The PARFect 100s were Bijman AV’s first Robe purchase, sourced via Robe’s Benelux distributor, Controllux..

PADERBORN, Germany – For the Jugend Forscht (Young Scientists) competition held at the Schützenhof Paderborn events venue, locally based lighting company Jansen Lichttechnik provided the rig and lights including 20 Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330s, 16 A.leda Wash K10s, 8 Alpha Spot 800 QWOs and 6 A.leda B-EYE K10s, as well as dot2 products. Marcus Krömer served as lighting designer and on-site operator at the event. Others crew members included Herbert Löser, video production manager; Nils Weber, technical manager; Juri Zitzer, rig manager; and Markus Fuest, “live cutter.”