International News

LONDON — The fixed lighting grid and rig for the old church of St. John in Smith Square were becoming almost as classical as the music performed at the English Baroque church near Westminster Abbey in London. The church had been using CCT Starlet 1.2K fresnels since the early 1980s. The church got a recent upgrade with gear from Robert Juliat.

LONDON — With its convex video screen serving as the main projection backdrop, the set for Alicia Keys’ As I Am tour has a dramatic look. But Brilliant Stages engineered it to minimize the drama facing those who would need to set it up and tear it down after each stop.

LONDON — Lighting supplied by Blinding Light and a design by Mark Mumford helped define the battlefield within The Hangar at London’s O2 for teams of laser tag warriors. Live experience company Sledge, which set up the indoor digital laser tag facility, commissioned the three-month project.

LONDON — With its neutral coloration and cool concrete, stone and opaque metal surfaces, matter, a 2,500-capacity nightclub that opened recently inside the O2 in Greenwich, had plenty of neo-industrial edge, but little chromatic excitement. Dave Parry of Most Technical worked with club owners Keith Reilly and Cameron Leslie and also architects and interior designers William Russell and Sarah Adams of Pentagram to change that.

LONDON — XL Video announced the formation of a new division, XL Events, which has been created by consolidating the corporate division of XL Video and AV specialists Show Support. Located in Bromsgrove, U.K. and Hemel Hempstead, U.K., the division will be headed by Rich Rowley, who will oversee 23 associates. Pictured here, from left to right, is Rowley and XL Video managing director Lee Spencer.

KRAKOW, Poland — It may be called the Music Media Show, but along with audio systems, lighting gear is figuring prominently in this Polish trade fair. A case in point was the booth for Robe’s Polish distributor, Prolight. The 200 square-meter booth was host to Robe’s “The Future is Digital” international roadshow.

LONDON — Paul Normandale of Lite Alternative, the U.K. based lighting production company that is supplying James Blunt’s All the Lost Souls tour, is putting seven of Martin Professional’s new MAC III Profiles through their paces.

LONDON — Baz Halpin, LD for the current tour for Queen + Paul Rodgers, was looking to create a “good, old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll lighting show,” but with the kind of consistency in color that wasn’t always available with the monster rigs of yesteryear. He opted to include 80 Coemar Infinity Wash XL lights to meet the challenge.

MANCHESTER, U.K. — Lighting designer Tom Kinane used I-Pix BB7 LED wash lights for the first time on the set of the final episode of the Peter Kay talent show spoof, Britain’s Got The Pop Factor … And Possibly A New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly On Ice.

KRISTIANSAND, Norway — Moving lights and LEDs are brightening up Spot, a multi-zone nightclub that opened here recently. Over 600 Anolis LED fixtures and Robe moving lights have been installed in the two-story, 400-capacity venue.

SANDHURST, U.K. — Large-format projection joined the fireworks, orchestra and chorus for the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst’s 2008 “Music on Fire” extravaganza. The biannual three-day mixed-media event and “Firework Prom” attracted up to 10,000 visitors per night to the main training center for British Army officers, with proceeds going to the Army Benevolent Fund.

LISBURN, Northern Island — A destination for fans of Irish linen, with perhaps a few lost tourists seeking the capital of Portugal, Lisburn offers a variety of live performances from the Island Theatre, which recently invested in an Avolites Pearl Tiger lighting console.