International News

LONDON – Leading up to the historic election that would choose Sadiq Khan, London’s first Muslim mayor, SXS Events used 16 Rogue R2 Washes to illuminate the London Mayor’s office, located near the Thames and Tower Bridge. The RGBW LED fixtures were used to wash the entire edifice and draw attention to an HD-projected image displaying the words: “5 May: Have your say.” Khan assumed office May 8.

COLOGNE, Germany – For the current “Adele Live 2016” world tour, which typically opens with “Hello” and wraps with a final encore of “Rolling in the Deep,” the British vocalist has been able to fill the biggest arenas in the U.K. and Europe, often on consecutive dates. Patrick Woodroffe and Adam Bassett, along with lighting director Roland Greil, have supported the artist with a variety of impressive looks with a rig that includes nearly 100 fixtures from Robe.

GLASGOW, Scotland – American singer and songwriter Halsey kicked off the European section of her Badlands tour at Glasgow’s O2 Academy earlier this year. Creative Directors of production design company Okulus, Louis Oliver and James Scott, turned to Ayrton once again when creating an adaptable lighting design which could be modified to suit all of the venues in the European tour dates.

UTRECHT, The Netherlands  – Rigging Box, a Dutch rigging supplies rental companyh that is part of Ampco Flashlight Group, added to its inventory of Prolyte Truss by using that company’s Truss Exchange Program. The program encourages Prolyte truss end users to exchange their older, well-used inventory items for brand-new gear. Rigging Box’s staff and new Prolyte truss are pictured here.

LONDON — Macklemore & Ryan Lewis recently completed their 2016 European/U.K. jaunt with more than 30 gigs scheduled from early March to late April. The lighting and visuals design by Paul “Arlo” Guthrie included Robe BMFL Spots and PATT 2013 fixtures. The duo are set to kick off their North American tour in Vancouver, BC later this month.

BIRMINGHAM, UK – The 2016 Bhangra Showdown (TBS) event produced by Kudos AV and the Imperial College Punjabi Society is a major Bhangra dance competition. This year the event moved to Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena. The event featured an impressive lighting design created by Tom Grant and Nathan Wan, which used 80 Robe moving lights at its core – 16x BMFL Wash XFs, 18x MMX Spots, 24x LEDWash 600s and 12xPointes.

MOSCOW — Harman’s Martin fixtures illuminated the 5th International Circle of Light festival in Moscow for nine days last fall. Several architectural landmarks of the capital city were used in a variety of multimedia and lighting installations aimed at transforming urban spaces into canvases for innovative works of art. Russian company LBL developed the concept of the festival, and the team collaborated with designers from gst.moscow to deploy a range of modern lighting solutions, including Martin fixtures, in order to implement their creative ideas.

AUCKLAND – New Zealand’s theatres, venues and hire companies have embraced the High End Systems Hog platform, with multiple units installed around the country by NW Group. The latest addition, a Road Hog 4 in Auckland’s SKYCITY Theatre, joins a flagship Hog 4 in Tauranga’s Baycourt Theatre, a Road Hog 4 in Auckland’s Bruce Mason Theatre, multiple Hog models across the seven council-run Positively Wellington Venues, and Hogs for hire across the country.

CANBERRA, Australia – Canberra Theatre Centre (CTC) has three main venues – the 1,244 seat Canberra Theatre; The Playhouse, which holds 614; and The Studio, a black box space with 100 capacity. Last year, the CTC invested in its first moving lights. Head of lighting Andrew Tweedie opted for Robe fixtures, which were delivered by Elite Sound and Lighting. Pictured here is Elite Sound and Lighting’s Darren Russell on the left with Andrew Tweedie, CTC’s Head of Lighting.

DUBLIN and BELFAST – Production Services Ireland (PSI), a Dublin- and Belfast-based lighting, rigging and visuals production specialist, is supplying lighting and rigging equipment to the current UK and European tour of Riverdance, one of the most successful dance shows in the world. It’s PSI’s fourth tour with Riverdance. On this tour, they have made a substantial investment  in the new EXE-Rise 1000kg 8:1 double-braked electric chain hoists  – the first off the production line in Italy, delivered to PSI by Area Four Industries through Adam Beaumont. They are part of a total investment in over 50 new motors.

LONDON –  Exhibitionism, a major museum retrospective of the Rolling Stones’ long career in music, is taking over both floors of London’s Saatchi Gallery through Sept. 4. The multi-media show features more than 500 artifacts within nine gallery spaces. Woodroffe Bassett Design (WBD) is using GLP LED fixtures supplied by White Light for the exhibition. They include 25 GLP impression X4 fixtures and six of the new X4 Bar 20 batten fixtures.

MANCHESTER, U.K. – English alt rock band-of-the-moment The 1975 are touring the UK and Europe with an inspired video screen and light staging concept created by show director Tobias Rylander and augmented by Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330, Mythos and Alpha Profile 1500 fixtures.