International News

MEXICO CITY – Ha*Ash, the Mexican sister duo of Hanna Nicole and Ashley Grace, have been out on their “Primera Fila” tour with visual support from Chauvet Professional fixtures. LD Jonathan “Goofy” Galicia used 12 Next NXT-1 moving LED panels supplied by Meridian Pro.

VIBORG, Denmark – For the 2016 edition of Snapsting, a 10-day festival held in Viborg, Denmark every June, local rental company Lystek provided Robe moving lights for the main entertainment stages. Kristoffer Neilsen, a lighting designer who heads up Lystek, worked with Johan Kvartborg to light the event’s main stage with eight Robe MMX Spots, 12 LEDBeam 100s and two ColorStrobes and four LEDWash 600s. For the smaller Nytorv stage, Jesper Levin ran a rig including eight LEDBeam 100s and four Pointes, and eight LEDWash 600s lit that stage’s Skyliner roof structure. Lystek deployed more Robes, including DLS Profiles, more Pointes and LEDBeams, for the festival, which featured 260 performances and activities, mostly for free, around the city.

BERLIN, Germany – Freelance LD Rick Kay used GLP X4 S and X1 fixtures to light British poet and spoken word performer Anne Clark on a tour through Germany, with stops in Belgium and the Netherlands. The “Wasted Wonderland” tour, which also featured co-collaborator herrB, traveled with a minimized lighting rig suited to the 300-to-800-capacity clubs where Clark and herrB performed.

ANTWERP, Belgium – For an event at the Lotto Arena in Antwerp celebrating Belgian venue Cherry Moon’s 25th anniversary, LD Steven Couliez designed the lighting, video and structural set elements to go with an evening devoted to techno, trance, house and retro sounds. Nachtcollective created the video content, and Belgian lighting rental company Splendit supplied a rig that included Robe Pointes, CycFX 8s and LEDBeam 100s. 

MANCHESTER, U.K. – Before resigning in mid-July, former U.K. prime minister David Cameron championed a plan to create three million new apprentice positions by the year 2020. Announced last summer, the plan is designed to encourage the development of a better-skilled work force, which could help the U.K. compete in the global economy. As part of that larger effort, the U.K.’s National Rigging Advisory Group (NRAG) announced a trial program called the Live Event Rigging Apprenticeship. It provides formal training to new recruits, supporting them beyond the National Rigging Certificate Level 2. Key rigging leaders from Blackout, UK Rigging, RTM Rigging, PSI Production Ireland and NEC Group attended the trial run of the newly-created LERA program to test the assessment format and marking system before it is formally launched to the industry in September.

INTERLAKEN, Switzerland – For the annual Greenfield rock festival, LD Nico Müller of technical supplier Go Audio used more than 150 Clay Paky fixtures. The Main Stage was equipped with 39 Alpha Wash 1200 fixtures, 36 Mythos and 18 Stormy CC strobes. Müller’s rig design for Greenfield’s smaller stages included 18 A.leda B-EYE K10, 18 Mythos, 16 Alpha Spot 800 QWO and eight Stormy CCs. The festival, which ran from June 8-11, welcomed more than 40 international rock, punk and metalcore bands including Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Prodigy, Dropkick Murphys and Bullet For My Valentine (BFMV). More than 100,000 people from across Europe attended the four -day event.

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.