International News

AARHUS, Denmark – Russian band DDT toured across Russia, former Soviet countries and Europe in 2011 and continue into 2012 with a Martin rig. Stage and lighting designer Andrejs Dubkovs of Lumen Art Division spec’d MAC III series and MAC 2000 series fixtures along with MAC 700 Washes and MAC 301 Wash luminaires.

LONDON – TheatreCraft 2011 is an annual free workshop and open day for a “behind the curtain” view of the entertainment industry. White Light was the lead sponsor, held Nov. 28 at the London Coliseum. Visitors aged 17-25 were able to learn from experts in their fields on a variety of aspects of the industry, from writing to wig making, with lighting in between.

AUSTIN, TX – Austrian artists Nik P. and Andreas Gabalier performed a sold-out tour of Germany with 10 of High End Systems’ new Technospot automated luminaires taking center stage. Two DL.3 digital lights, two Showpix and two StudioPix LED graphic display fixtures and 10 Studio Beam automated luminaires rounded out the equipment package, controlled with a Road Hog Full Boar and Wing.

SERIATE, Italy – Kaiser Showtechnik recently purchased Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1500 lights to illuminate Augsburg, Germany’s town hall. Alpha Beam 700s and Sharpys were also used on the temporary display which featured Augsburg’s football team colors on the night of their final game.

REGGIO EMILIA, Italy – Entertainment group No Saints has added SGM lighting products to its string of four Wonder-branded nightclubs in the UK. Cosmic Electronics installed the equipment, including 10 new SGM X-5 white LED strobes and a quantity of SGM moving heads.

MASCOT, Australia – An ETC EOS console is controlling a production of Moby Dick for The State Opera of South Australia. The show is the same show theatrical LD Don Holder originally designed for the Dallas Opera. Holder, unable to make the trip to Australia to oversee the replication, called on associate Gavan Swift to oversee the process. Jands provided an EOS 4000 console, which Swift found easy to work with.

LIVERPOOL, UK – ADLIB finished out the year supplying lighting, sound equipment and crew to the final leg of comedian Russell Howard’s “Right Here Right Now” UK arena tour. ADLIB’s LD Ian Tomlinson designed the tour’s lighting. With just Howard and a single chair onstage, the challenge was on to make it an intimate and friendly environment for the delivery of a comedy show in a series of larger venues.

LONDON – HSL supplied the lighting equipment to the 2011 British Military Tournament at Earls Court in London. LD Steve Sinclair’s design required a big rig to showcase a presentation from a cast of 700 troops, armed forces bands and 100 horses. The horses presented a special challenge: lighting had to be angled and positioned so as not to spook them with shadows or other effects.

LONDON – Cover It Up are finishing one of their busiest years to date. Their diversity of projects for drapes, soft goods and dressing for events ranged from the AEGON Masters Tennis tournament at the Royal Albert Hall to the Red Bull F1 Racing End of Season Party at Silverstone’s The Wing.

GHENT, Belgium – The 2011 I Love Techno (ILT) event needed lighting that could stand up to the non-stop, fast-paced 12-hour techno dance rave for 35,000 attendees. Event LD, video and production designer Thomas Boets of LD Productions specified more than 100 Robe ROBIN 600E spot and LEDWash moving lights to illuminate the Blue Room, one of five arenas. The ILT took place at the Flanders Expo in Ghent, Belgium.

AUCKLAND, NZ – New Zealand LD Ben Cooper chose 24 Robe ROBIN 600 LEDWash moving light fixtures for the 2011 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards. This was Cooper’s second year to handle the award show design, and his first time to use the LED fixtures in a major event – the first being a charity gig in a hotel ballroom. Spot-Light Systems Ltd., of which Cooper is co-owner, supplied all the lighting equipment.

AARHUS, DENMARK – Nickelback performed the halftime show for this year’s Canadian Football League championship game. The Grey Cup took place Nov. 27 using a large Martin lighting and video package to accommodate the crowds at Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium. Christie Lites Vancouver supplied the moving lights, while Epic Production Technologies supplied the LC panels with P3 upgrade. Robert Sondergaard designed the lighting and production for this, one of Canada’s biggest annual sports and TV events.