International News

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – For Afrikaans is Groot, a showcase for Afrikaans artists in South Africa backed by record label Coleske Artists, MGG has been serving as the main technical suppliers. LDs Joshua Cutts and Christopher Bolton split the design load for the concerts, staged in Pretoria in the last fall and Cape Town this spring. They designed and programmed the looks on separate grandMA consoles on the same network, using 24 universes to control a rig that included MGG’s Clay Paky A.Leda B-Eyes (K20 and K10), Sharpys, Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1500s and some Clay Paky Mythos units as well.

BARCELONA, Spain — The 2016 Primavera Sound festival, staged in Barcelona June 1-5, was brightened by Clay Paky A.leda B-EYE K 10 fixtures provided by ARA SO.

GLASTONBURY, U.K. – QER SFX provided confetti, streamers, and pyrotechnics for three major headline acts at the muddiest Glastonbury on record. Battling against pouring rain and mud that threatened to swallow flight cases, the company, which has offices in the U.K. and U.S., serviced its biggest Glastonbury festival to date. With trends in special effects rapidly becoming a staple of festival entertainment, the QER SFX team were called upon to supply custom visuals for Foals, Muse, and Adele on both Friday and Saturday night.

PLAYFORD, Australia – Northern Sound System, an educational facility that also offers a 400-capacity venue that can be rented for live performances, recently turned to local installation and production company AJS for a lighting control system update. AJS replaced the aging lighting console with a Road Hog 4 setup from High End Systems.

LINCOLNSHIRE, U.K. – For the 2016 Lost Village music festival, dbn lighting from Manchester supplied lighting, LED screen and crew to the main stage and four other performances spaces. It was the second year of this unique boutique festival staged by Lost Ventures. dbn’s Nick Buckley worked with site and production management coordinators Andy George, Jay Jameson and Ben Atkins.

JOHANNESBURG – For the 2016 Ghoema Awards, which honor achievement in South Africa’s Afrikaans music industry, LD Christopher Bolton from Johannesburg based Keystone Productions used 180 Robe fixtures. The awards event was staged at the Jo’burg Theatre in Braamfontein, the city’s lively downtown area. The show was recorded for Afrikaans TV channel KykNET. Bolton worked closely with stage director Barry Pretorius and camera director Eugene Naidoo on the project.

KONIGSWINTER, Germany – System integration and event technology company Kuchem Konferenz Technik has added 110 of Elation Professional’s SixBar 1000 LED battens to its inventory. The Elation SixBar 1000 is a color-changing batten featuring a 6-color LED multi-chip that can be used for a variety of purposes such as general purpose wash/strip lighting, uplighting, cyc wash, accent lighting or as a pixel strip.

HAMBURG, Germany – LD Jerry Appelt teamed up once again with lighting director / programmer Marc Brunkhardt to craft the looks for Hamburg-based dance group Scooter as the troupe embarked on their Can’t Stop the Hardcore tour. Visiting venues ranging from 5,000 to 12,000 capacity. The focal point of the stage and set design were five raked pods, loaded with lights and flown above the stage to form a scalable roof — and featuring many of the show’s 65 GLP impression X4 L’s.

PILTON, UK – At the 2016 Glastonbury festival, Fineline Lighting provided Chauvet’s Professional’s Rogue R1-FX-B and Maverick MK2 Spot fixtures, adding to the range of looks at the event. Fineline specified 16 Rogue R1 FX-B blade-style fixtures for the WOW! Stage, which was located in Glastonbury’s Silver Hayes area and featured EDM and DJ artists. The company also provided 10 Maverick MK2 Spots at The Circus Big Top (pictured here), where concert music gave way to stage performances by Pirates of the Carabina, Yvette Dusol, Eric McGill and other acts.

KENSINGTON, Australia – To light the foyer at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), based near Sydney, Adrian Wight and Marcus Kelson from the institute’s lighting department augmented the existing Anolis architectural lighting fixtures used for the space with 16 Robe DLX Spots. NIDA’s assistant technical manager Bryte Cameron credited the Robe fixtures for energy efficiency, low maintenance and their ability to highlight specific areas and elements of any exhibition or artwork.

JOHANNESBURG – In South African history, Sophiatown, aside from violence and poverty, was Johannesburg’s renowned ‘mixed suburb’ in the days of Apartheid. Affectionately remembered for the lively politics, music, jazz and blues, it was where people lived together, undivided by color, before the authorities tore it apart. Sophiatown, the musical production, played tribute to this society and also formed part of the Market Theatre’s 40th birthday celebrations while new Robert Juliat Dalis 300W LED Cyclights were put to use.

BELGIUM – Belgian based engineering and automation specialist WIcreations has designed and fabricated a custom rotating system to hold and rotate five large scenic objects for the current ‘Chaos’ tour by popular Spanish singer, Malú. The niece of famous Flamenco composer and guitarist Paco de Lucia –;Malu’ hit the big time and had her first hits as a teenager in the 1990s, which has been followed by a truly stellar career. This current tour lasts until November and will have played 69 dates in Spain by the time it concludes.