International News

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.

JOHANNESBURG — Robe DigitalSpot 5000 DTs were used to project images onto an elliptical set for the three-day annual conference of Avroy Shlain, South Africa’s leading direct-sell cosmetics house. The event was staged in the Pavilion at the Sandton Convention Centre and attended by 850 delegates.

BELFAST — LD Stuart Gray and lighting supplier Adlib Lighting are giving speed metal band DragonForce anthemic rock ‘n’ roll looks for the group’s current U.K. tour. More upbeat than most metal bands, DragonForce still relies on a heavy dose of smoky looks and beams.

BEIJING — Lighting designer Durham Marenghi specified individual i-Pix BB4 LED cells to up-light the performers onboard the special double decker London bus in the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics Handover sections of the 2008 Beijing Olympics & Paralympics Closing Ceremonies. The two Handover events took place three weeks apart in the Birds Nest stadium, and were integral elements of both Games’ Closing Ceremonies.

ROTTERDAM — Extending a tour attended by close to a million fans, Queen and Paul Rodgers are supporting the recent album The Cosmos Rocks this fall with a four-month, 14-nation European tour. An LED screen measuring 17 meters wide and five meters high is traveling with the tour, flashing images of Freddie Mercury.

LONDON — Its 2.2 million members in 150 countries and regions have a joint mission of exposing and documenting human rights abuses. But if its mission is deadly serious, Amnesty International also relies on live comedy and music for part of its fundraising activities. A case in point is the 14th incarnation of its Secret Policemans Ball, recently staged at London’s Royal Albert Hall and broadcast the following day on U.K.’s Channel Four.

MAINZ, Germany — Robe’s international road  show, titled “The Future is Digital,” had a two-day stop recently at SKY Europe's Mainz-based TV Studio, in the same neighborhood as ZDF Television’s headquarters complex. The two-day event included hands-on product demos, and was attended by visual designers, operators, programmers, technicians and other industry professionals from across Germany and Austria.

PARIS — Traditional pipe and drape may not have gone the way of the horse and buggy yet, but LED displays with video graphics are becoming increasingly dominant in the trade show world.  Barco reports that for this year’s Mondial de Automobile in Paris, its LED displays are used on over 70 percent of the booths at the show.