International News

SYDNEY – Indie dance trio RÜFÜS recently embarked on their latest Australian tour, with lighting designers Matthew James Smith and Lynden Gare of Colourblind incorporating some Clay Paky A.leda B-EYE K20s into their production for one of the first times in Australia, impressing audiences with the fixtures’ never-seen-before effects.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Greenpeace launched a highly visible and eye-catching campaign at the the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s gathering in Copenhagen, Denmark using SGM’s G-Spot LED moving head to project onto four wind turbines. Greenpeace’s project leader Esben Sloth explains: “We wanted the light projection to be very accurate, with sharp lines and figures, in order to make the wind turbines look like a graph.”

LONDON – Embracing the “less is more” approach, LD Mark Wynn-Edwards is lighting electronic duo Lamb with just 11 Robe Pointes. His lighting inspiration came from the stark monochromicity and ‘reality’ of black & white cinema, and much of the set is lit in white. “This show is really all about lighting the ‘negative’ spaces on the stage,” he says.

DUBLIN — For Imelda May’s six-week trek to a variety of venues in the U.K. and Europe, LD James O’Neill turned to a lighting rig supplied by Northolt, U.K.-based Entec Sound & Light that included Robe LEDBeam 100s, LEDWash 600s, Showtec Sunstrips 2-Lite Moles and a single Vari*Lite VL3000 Spot fixture at FOH. O’Neill used Avolites’ Tiger Touch II console with a wing to control the rig, which also included Martin MAC 700 Profile moving lights for some shows. Entec also sourced a shimmering silver / gold drape which was used in the larger venues.

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — Slovenian singer Magnifico performed with the Serbian Army Orchestra for a sold-out show at the Križanke venue in Ljubljana. The show was part of the annual Druga Godba Festival which features numerous local and international artists, many who are paired up for unique and interesting onstage collaborations – like this one. The lighting rig, which needed to illuminate more than 40 people on stage, include 20 Robe Pointes, 12 LEDWash 600s and eight ColorWash 575 XTs.

VIENNA, Austria – Die Große Chance (A Great Opportunity) is one of Austria’s leading talent competitions. The 2014 final, staged in Studio 1 at national broadcaster ORF’s HQ in Vienna, was lit by lighting director Thomas Kruder who used nearly 300 Robe moving lights, including eight of Robe’s new Bright Multi-Functional Luminaires (BMFLs). The rig also included 133 Pointes and 146 LEDBeam 100s. Vienna-based rental company Supporting Role supplied the fixtures.

DUBAI, UAE – For a one-off, open-air rendition of Gary Barlow’s recent Since I Saw You Last touring show in Dubai, LD Tim Routledge specified an array of Clay Paky fixtures, including one of the latest additions to Clay Paky’s product line the SuperSharpy, from leading supplier Eclipse Staging Services. Routledge specified 55 x Clay Paky Sharpys, 12 x Sharpy Wash 330s, 36 x A.leda B-EYE K20s, 10 x A.leda B-EYE K10s, 15 x Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1500s and 20 x SuperSharpys to deliver ultimate versatility and impact to the diverse production by Louder Entertainment.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Copenhagen Central Station was recently equipped with 24 SGM P-5 wash lights with the goal of making it more welcoming for its approximately 100,000 daily visitors. The contractor on the project was Matrix Sales ApS with Urs Friis-Alstrup as the project manager responsible for budgeting, product selection and programming.

LONDON — Technical manager Nick Charalampidis detailed three high-profile events that Fix8Group has supported recently: the The MTV European Music Awards (Nov. 9 in Glasgow, Scotland), the Victoria Secret Fashion Show (Dec. 2, London) and the inaugural BBC Music Awards (Dec. 11, London). The company supported the visual needs at each event with Hippotizer media formatting, outputting and programming; Hippotizer HDs for a “video catwalk” and Hippotizer HDs for a 3D mapped LED cube centerpiece of the stage.

DUBAI, UAE – Eclipse Staging Services and Delta Sound both unveiled new equipment as Lady Gaga made her Middle East debut in Dubai. Promoted locally by AMI Live and ATW Live in association with Live Nation Global Touring, artRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball took place at Meydan Racecourse. Eclipse provided the lighting, video and primary and secondary power distribution, while audio was supplied by Delta Sound. The main stage lighting featured many fixtures, including 67 Clay Paky Sharpys, 11 Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1500s and 24 Clay Paky Sharpy Washs.

BEIJING – PR Lighting was given an opportunity to showcase its products in the lighting design for the APEC Welcome Banquet, which was held at the Water Cube in Beijing.  The Welcome Pathway consisted of 21 floor beams, a wave lighting belt and a large illuminated pillar. For the live performance in front of the Bird’s Nest, 500 pieces of PR Lighting’s ARC LED 3216 were used to create the colour changing effects on the outside of the wall. Finally, 260 spot and framing moving heads, 140 beam lights, 160 LED effects, as well as some stage follow spots and a full laser were programmed to project highly creative effects onto the centre of the Water Cube stage.

LONDON – British entertainers Ant and Dec hit the road with a live touring version of their TV show Saturday Night Takeaway. LD Adam Bassett of Woodroffe Bassett Design specified more than a hundred Clay Paky fixtures. They included 57 Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1500s, 32 Alpha Profile 1500s, four Alpha Spot QWO 800s, 20 Sharpys and 12 Sharpy Wash 330s, all supplied by Neg Earth. Bassett also collaborated with lighting director and programmer Roland Greil of Einstein and Sons for the run of the tour.