On May 12, the historic Palais-Royal in the heart of Paris was the site of an EDM dance fest “Monumental Tour Europe” with a crowd of 2,000 raving to pulsating beats and bass drops beneath a canopy of powerful beam effects from Elation Proteus Excalibur moving heads.

Technical solutions provider Magnum provided all of the lighting, sound, power and truss for the event, including the Excalibur fixtures. Elation French distribution is by Best Audio & Lighting.
Needing an outdoor-rated beam light that could project far into the night sky, six Excalibur fixtures worked from the top of the building in a powerful and unmistakable fan of luminosity.

The 20,000-lumen Excalibur features an extremely narrow 0.8° beam that widens to 3.5° when needed using an expander lens.
Powered by a long-life Philips Platinum 500 FLEX lamp (550W), its long-throw beam acts as a brilliant searchlight and is visible at great distances.
The EDM event highlighted artists and young talent by combining heritage with electronic music, video, scenography and lighting.

The Palais-Royal façade came alive with a dazzling array of lighting effects and video projection as Excalibur beams radiated out from the top of the Palais-Royal, heightening the atmosphere and announcing for kilometers around that a significant event was taking place.

The event supported the EU’s declaration of 2022 as the European Year of Youth and was part of a cultural program to celebrate the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which runs through June 30. The show will be broadcast on June 30 on France TV’s Culturebox.

For more information about Elation Professional, you can visit : www.elationlighting.com

Stage Electrics recently installed a pair of Robert Juliat Arthur 800W LED followspots at The Lowry, Salford Manchester. The Arthur 5°-15° followspots were supplied to Stage Electrics by Ambersphere Solutions, Robert Juliat’s exclusive UK distributor.

The 1700+ seat Lowry is an important theatre for the north-west of England and runs a varied programme of plays, musical theatre, ballet, opera, stand-up comedy, and rock and roll gigs, and has also hosted ITV television’s Britain’s Got Talent and The Royal Variety Performance.

The RJ Arthur followspots were selected for their impressive output which is capable of matching the lumen output of an HMI 2500W Aramis followspot at similar angles.
“The Lowry has been operating with RJ Aramis followspots since we opened in April 2000,” says Dave Wimpenny, one of the Technical Managers at The Lowry.

“One of them finally gave up the ghost in late 2021 so we took the decision to upgrade to two new spots after 22 years! We looked for LED alternatives to the Aramis and the Arthur looked very good on paper.
I spoke to Jayney Bell (Technical Sales Consultant at Stage Electrics) who assured me that these would be the best option and managed to bring them in within our budget.”

The RJ Arthur units were installed in The Lowry’s front-of-house followspot box which is 15m above the auditorium floor with a throw distance of 28m at 37° from the edge of the stage. Their first mission was on a run of Les Miserables in April.
“They proved themselves to be good units which were plenty bright enough,” says Wimpenny. “Mark Eastwood, one of our experienced operators, reported using them for the song Bring Him Home at around just 25%-30%!”

Now the technicians have had a chance to use the new Arthur spots, what do they think of their performance? “They are of a very high spec and have a similar punch and colour temperature to the Aramis,” confirms Wimpenny.

“I compared the two Arthurs and one remaining Aramis together and the difference is very slight. The spot ops found them comfortable and easy to use. I like the placement and smoothness of the dimmer and it’s right next to where your hand sits while operating.”

If past experience is anything to go by, the Arthur followspots are looking forward to a long career at The Lowry: “Our remaining, original RJ Aramis followspot is still in service as a backup or a third spot if needed,” says Wimpenny.

For more information on Robert Juliat Arthur and any of its wide range of followspots and other lighting solutions, you can visit www.robertjuliat.com

And also on www.stage-electrics.co.uk and thelowry.com

The Cheetah in Atlanta, Georgia, is one of the most prestigious clubs in the southeastern United States, and was recently equipped with a completely new audiovisual setup. For this, the integrator responsible for the job, idesign from Miami, Florida, used a total of 60 Cameo moving lights and spotlights.

The new lighting design setup in The Cheetah includes 22 Cameo OPUS S5 Spot Moving Heads, installed on each side of the main room. idesign were impressed not only with the light output and colour blending of the Opus S5, but also with its range of flexible installation options.
In addition, idesign placed 22 Cameo Azor B1 LED Beam Moving Heads inside the transparent LED cubes that dominate the room, while 16 Cameo Q-Spot 40 RGBW spots round off the installation and deliver the room’s basic lighting.

Complex Challenges

One of the specific challenges of this demanding installation was the combination of flat and focused lighting in the main area with the visualisation of the suspended transparent cubes, which can be used by the club’s lighting designers to create extraordinary effects.
The custom hardware solution had to be designed so that the moving AZOR B1 units inside the cube architecture were easily accessible, and all of the cabling between the modules and the spotlights could be integrated.

“When I first saw Cameo at Live Design International in Las Vegas a few years ago, I knew immediately that it was a fantastic lighting manufacturer,” says Michael Meacham, owner and lighting and video designer at idesign. “I was impressed by the quality of the spotlights right from the outset.”

Optimal Support

In addition to the quality of the Cameo spotlights, Meacham and project manager Holmes Ives also highlight working with William Brieva, Adam Hall Business Development, Cameo Americas: “William supports us at all levels. It is also thanks to him that, time and again, we are able to raise awareness with groundbreaking projects like The Cheetah.”

Further information:

thecheetah.com
idesignproductions.com
cameolight.com

adamhall.com
blog.adamhall.com

GLP has announced that it will be launching an active recruitment drive, geared at further expansion, following the decision by GLP US Inc. president Mark Ravenhill to take on a reduced role. In a letter to the industry, Ravenhill says he intends to step away from the day-to-day running of GLP’s US operation in order to focus on guiding future global strategy in a more consultative role.

He states that “after more than 13 years with the GLP and having taken the North American subsidiary of the company from an idea on a piece of paper to where it is today, I have decided that it is time for a change, and I will be moving from an operational role in favour of a more reduced role.”

Meanwhile, the tried-and-trusted GLP Inc. management staff remains, headed by long-term operations director AnnaLise Laundrup and Carl Wake, technical director.
Furthermore, to harness and nurture the enormous success GLP has experienced in North America – including Cosmic Truss and Scenex Lighting – the company is actively recruiting at all levels.

GLP founder and CEO Udo Künzler is confident that the momentum will be retained: “Mark has been a great influence at GLP, and has built our US business from the ground up, while at the same time retaining his associations with production designers at the top level across the globe.

“This decision gives us the opportunity to open a new chapter for GLP and move onto the next part of the journey. All things evolve, and to preserve his legacy and ensure all his great work is not wasted, we will be actively recruiting.”
“Most gratifying is that we are not losing Mark’s services entirely,” Künzler continues, “and we are delighted that he will continue to help guide our strategy in order to maintain the good relationships that we have built up with lighting professionals.”

The final word of assurance comes from Ravenhill himself: “You will still see me at key events across the world, where I will be waving the GLP flag – and I can still be contacted via the same email and cell number!”

For more information about GLP, you can visit www.glp.de/en/

An entirely new development in object-based mixing, the Adamson Fletcher Machine utilizes amplitude and time localization, so objects are clearly perceived at their intended position, offering the listener a more direct connection with the music.
The rendered signals that are sent to the loudspeakers are calculated from the objects point of view, ensuring the best spatial coherence for most listening positions.

AVB/MADI or Dante, double PSU and up to 128 I/O.

The Stage Unit is a 3U 19” rack-mount, capable of controlling either 64 or 128 inputs and outputs with the compact Traveller Model being able to handle either 32 or 64 inputs, paired with 32 outputs.

The first public release at ISE Barcelona 2022 of the Fletcher Machine in a movie theater.

Each of these are available with hardware configurations operating in AVB/MADI or Dante audio at 48 or 96 kHz.
All configurations keep latency at an amazingly low 1.33 ms.

The easy-to-use user interface is based on the digital mixing desk approach and includes a complete set of mixing tools including EQ and compression for each object, up to 4 auxiliary sends and up to 8 VCAs, loudspeaker positioning in 3 dimensions, as well as a unique, high-quality integrated reverb with a vast amount of control.

A picture we’ll quickly get used to, a 5 hangs arrangement that match the width of the scene, driven by the brand new Adamson Fletcher Machine rendering processor

The Traveler version of the Fletcher Machine.

The Adamson Fletcher Machine can receive OSC and MIDI messages so it can also be controlled using external devices.
As well, it can be easily interfaced with tracking systems to accurately track object movements.

The remote operation software is available for either Mac or Windows operating systems.

More information on the Adamson Fletcher Machine website

Hard rock band Shinedown has just wrapped its biggest stage show to date on, “The Revolution’s Live Tour,” already their second headlining North American trek of the year.
Lighting design was by Mitchell Schellenger with Carter Fulghum out on the tour directing a rig that included effects from Elation Professional Seven Batten 72 linear LED lights. Lighting supply was by Bandit Lites.

“Revolutions” kicked off April 1 in Spokane, Washington and travelled throughout the U.S. before wrapping in Knoxville, Tennessee on May 7. The acclaimed quartet, hailed for their high-octane live shows, are touring in support of their new album “Planet Zero” to be released July 1.

Seven Batten shapes

The six-foot-long Seven Batten 72 strip lights lined 20-ft sections of automated truss that moved into various configurations throughout the show. As the truss angled into different positions, kinetic lines of light moved to form varying shapes and different looks, which Fulghum says made for a great effect.

“One of my favorite looks was something we called X Wing,” he explains, “where some of the trusses angled up while others angled down. The effect was to create a look that mimicked the form of an X-Wing Starfighter from Star Wars. It was a great look and one of many.”

Custom effects

The Seven Battens were used to help set the mood throughout the entire show, including interludes between songs when they were used as audience lights. Although known for their hard driving numbers, the band achieves a variety of sounds and plays a number of slower ballads as well.

“It runs the gambit and therefore we needed a flexible light that could adapt,” Fulghum says, explaining that they used the color-changing linear effects for strobe looks, chases and hits, glow looks and accents. They even accessed the fixture’s 10 zones to create big or small squares of ever-changing light. “We got a lot of use out of them for sure. We custom made all the effects and with the RGBAW+Lime+UV engine there was lots of color choice.”

Other Seven Batten fixtures were used from a vertical truss position behind a video wall to light band members from the back while a pair of units placed under grated staging on the downstage shined up to light the band from below.

Fulghum, who has been touring with Shinedown since 2012, says he had several people come up to him after the show to comment on the strip lights. “It’s one of the major lights in the rig and although there is a lot of ambient lighting, they cut through in a big way and really got noticed. In fact, there were times when I had to dim them down they were so bright.”

Bandit

Bandit has counted Shinedown as part of the Bandit family ever since Bandit owner Michael Strickland heard the album “Leave a Whisper” in 2003. Fulghum has been working with Bandit for years and says the advice and support he gets is first rate. “Over the years, Client Rep Brent Barrett, Jake Tickle (tour support) and owner Michael Strickland have been very active with advice and have always been very supportive.”

The Shinedown rig is now heading back to the Bandit facility in Nashville where it will be revamped – still with Seven Battens – before heading to Daytona Beach later in May for Welcome To Rockville 2022 where the band headlines May 21 alongside Guns N’ Roses and Rise Against. Shinedown then head to Europe for a string of festival shows in June before returning to the States for more shows in July.

For more information, you can visit www.elationlighting.com

Lighting and Production Designer, Mark Cunniffe, has chosen to light Ed Sheeran’s current Mathematics world tour, with a lighting rig composed almost entirely of Ayrton IP65-rated fixtures.
The design incorporates 138 Ayrton Domino LT, 48 Perseo Profile and 22 of the new Ayrton Cobra laser-sourced fixture. This is Cunniffe’s first specified use of Ayrton fixtures, and the first tour for Ayrton’s new Cobra.

The show design is a huge, in-the-round, stadium setup with an unprecedented open design, with no roof, a large circular video screen over the revolving stage and 6 mammoth masts held in place by a cable net system. This major feat of production design was the brain-child of Cunniffe and engineered by Jeremy Lloyd of Wonderworks and Rasti Bartek of Cundall.

“This kind of set up has never been toured before on such a scale,” says Cunniffe. “With such an open design it is important not to create a barrier between the artist and audience with the show infrastructure. I therefore wanted to maintain the clean lines, with no visible crew on stage, and most importantly, no ugly waterproofing in view, so IP65 rating was imperative for all the fixtures we chose.” Cunniffe’s fixture requirements were also very precise and put out to tender with plenty of lead time.

“My wish list was clear and detailed,” he says. “I wanted a long throw LED unit that was IP rated, with a specific zoom, beam quality and flat field, and really crisp and subtle colours with full range of CTO, CTB, minus green, etc.”

It was at this point, in 2019, that Glyn O’Donoghue at Ambersphere Solutions, Ayrton’s exclusive distributor for the UK, took Cunniffe to meet Chris Ferrante, CEO at Ayrton, and the team at Ayrton HQ. “Ayrton jumped at the challenge and designed a product based on Huracán LT but IP-rated and with a great long throw capability,” says Cunniffe. “That product became Domino LT which answered all my wishes. It has been a fantastic success on the show.”

Cunniffe has 138 Domino LT fixtures rigged on the 6 masts where they are used as the main source of illumination. Six of them are used as Sheeran’s followspots: “The Ayrton products work really well with the FollowMe system so there are no visible crew members on or over the stage, which helps maintain the clean lines,” says Cunniffe.
“It all works in quite a surreal fashion!” The remainder of the Domino LT units provide the creative lighting background: “With no back wall or back trusses in-the-round, the masts become the key and back lighting and side fill, plus all the creative elements – it’s a complete 360° treat!

“The show is designed to appear different from every angle it is viewed from, but brilliant from any angle. I’m really pleased with the way it turned out. And that clean design means there are no seat losses at all – the promoters are over the moon!

“Domino LT is a complete game changer from my point of view as a designer,” confirms Cunniffe. “IP rated, (so no waterproofing to disrupt the aesthetics), a very bright LED engine, great graphics, lovely clean, flat optics and excellent rendering and colour quality.
I can get really great skin tones out of it – it’s a really great creative tool, not just a powerful light. It’s basically given me a rig of 140 followspots! And it works very well with the overall, largely video-driven design. I’m incredibly pleased with it”

Cunniffe chose 48 Perseo Profile fixtures for over stage positions. “I wanted a smaller unit overhead, something a little more subtle that I could hide and build into the chandeliers, and around the circumference of the halo (the central circular video wall). They worked really well in conjunction with the Domino.”

Le Cobra.

To complete the trio of Ayrton IP65 fixture types, Cunniffe embedded 22 of the new Ayrton Cobra laser-sourced fixtures around the outer perimeter of the stage. “We tend to use these in the latter part of the show after twilight following the video-heavy first half of the show when the atmosphere ramps up!

“We gave ourselves plenty of time to programme because we have a very energetic artist on stage, but I’m very impressed with how well the Perseo, Domino and Cobra complement each other.

“The Cobra was the icing on the cake! I knew nothing about this fixture but Chris showed it to me when I went to Ayrton HQ to test the Domino. We tried it outside the warehouse and I couldn’t believe how far its throw was. I knew it would look great around the edge of the stage. The product was still on the R&D bench at that stage but Ayrton pulled out all the stops and got me the number of units I needed in time. I don’t think I’ve ever met a lighting company that literally delivers everything it says it would.

“Our brief for these three fixtures was exactly the same to all the lighting manufacturers invited to tender, but Ayrton was the only one who delivered everything I asked for in each product. It’s the first time I have used Ayrton and I am completely sold on the company’s work ethic. They were really happy to collaborate. I have a working relationship with them now that I didn’t have four years ago, and they will be my first point of call for future shows.”

All the Ayrton fixtures were supplied for the tour by LCR with Ryan Hopkins and Mike Oates as account handlers, working in close conjunction with Glyn O’Donoghue at Ambersphere Solutions. “It is always great working with Mark, his creativity knows no bounds,” says Hopkins.
“He knows exactly what he wants to achieve out of a fixture, and it has been a pleasure working alongside Ayrton and Ambersphere to realise this for him. Having a support network in place like Ambersphere and Ayrton on a show of this scale is equally as vital as the amazing products they produce and why we have, and will continue, to work with them for many years to come.

“Once we had nailed down the fixture choices for the Tour, we actually decided to increase our order of them to make the same products available in large quantities for other shows. We have ended up with 3 great units which I’m happy to say are proving very popular!”

Ed Sheeran’s much-anticipated Mathematics tour is selling out around the world and will visit mainland Europe this summer and Australasia at the start of 2023. Regardless of weather, these lights are destined to travel!

More information on Ayrton Domino LT, Perseo Profile and Cobra, and Ayrton’s full range of LED lighting can be found at www.ayrton.eu

With more than 16,000 small to large street parties, the people of Great Britain celebrated the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s throne during the first weekend of June. But by far the biggest show took place on this day in front of Buckingham Palace in London.

22,000 spectators gathered in front of the three stages, where Queen & Adam Lambert, Rod Stewart, Alicia Keys and Ed Sheeran played, among many others, and another 13.4 million watched the BBC’s mega-event live on TV.

OTOS H5

For the lighting of the main stages, Buckingham Palace and the Tree of Trees sculpture designed by Heatherwick Studio, Version 2 Lights supplied more than 600 cameo spotlights, including over 60 of the new hybrid outdoor all-rounder Otos H5.
In total, the forecourt of the world-famous Buckingham Palace as well as the palace itself was staged by 62 Otos H5, 156 Zenit W600, 392 Flat Pro 7 G2 and 72 Flat Pro 12 G2.

The lighting design was done by Nigel Catmur. Nigel used the Cameo spotlights for the numerous live performances of the biggest British pop stars as well as for the moving speeches of heir to the throne Prince Charles and his son Prince William.

In particular, the new superstars in the Cameo portfolio – the Otos H5 Beam-Spot-Wash Hybrid Moving Heads – played a central role in the visual staging of the globally broadcast anniversary party.

Prominently placed on high truss platforms, the Otos H5 framed the action wonderfully and sent impressive beams into the royal evening sky. The Zenit W600 Led Outdoor Wash Lights also played an important role in the lighting design of the platinum party. With their massive luminous flux of 21,000 lm, the wash lights ensured a strong and uniform illumination of the stage in daylight and in the evening.

In addition, the Cameo Flat Pro 12 G2 RGBWA Led outdoor spotlights have been integrated into the set base via circular cut-outs. The even more compact Flat Pro 7 G2 also set coloured highlights at various positions in the set.

For more information:

v2lights.co.uk
ncld.net
cameolight.com
adamhall.com
blog.adamhall.com

Bristol-based, Enlightened, one of the largest event suppliers in the south west of the UK, has recently invested in a stock of Ayrton Perseo Profile IP65-rated fixtures to service its busy events schedule.

Enlightened specialises in full production services, supported dry hire, design, and delivery of permanent installations, as well as sales, skilled repairs and maintenance to a diverse range of clients and venues.

“Corporate and private parties and events, large outdoor events in winter, festivals in the summer, installation, sales – basically, we do everything for everyone!” says Head of Hire and Production, Dave Thorpe. “Bristol is a good hub for small to medium companies to which, along with many small companies and theatres all over the country, we cross hire equipment. We therefore make a point of only investing in the very latest in top quality entertainment technology.”

photo Steve Tanner

Enlightened’s diverse fields of operation demanded a fixture that could also do ‘everything for everyone’. “When we make new investments we look for a product that will fit into at least two markets,” explains Thorpe, “and that is exactly what happened with Perseo.

On the one hand, it is a waterproof fixture but equally capable of working in a theatre environment; I also know that it will fit into any rock and roll or festival stage that we will do in the summer, and will happily sit outside at one of the large scale events we supply for the winter. We have a regular client in Scotland who will have a consignment of Perseo in operation from mid-October to January and I know the fixture will be fine. The lights are brilliant!”

Photo Steve Tanner

Thorpe was not an immediate convert to Perseo when it first arrived on the market in 2019. “We had a gap in our stock for a decent size workhorse profile, especially since we had a lot of outdoor work, so it was on our radar, but at first we weren’t confident they would also be suitable for indoor work.

“However, as we saw them specified more and more on events, and saw other companies buying them in serious quantities – including those to whom we cross hire – we decided to reconsider. On closer inspection we discovered just how good a fixture Perseo Profile is: the optics are great, the effects all work properly, it does everything, and it does it really well. A final winter of waterproofing our existing non-waterproof stock finally swung the decision for us. We invested in Perseo this March to get ourselves prepped and ready for the mass onslaught of outdoor work we have lined up for this summer.”

Photo Steve Tanner

On receiving the new Perseo Profiles, Enlightened immediately sent eight units to Bristol Old Vic for a 5-week stint on Wonderboy, lit by lighting designer Aideen Malone who was the first to use the new units. “Wonderboy needed both subtle and supersaturated colours which the Perseo units did brilliantly,” says Malone. “And rather than having to specify a choice of light or heavy frost, the Perseos have the flexibility of both. The Ayrton optics helped us achieve many precise awkward framing angles easily.”

Photo Steve Tanner

“They did a storming job,” says Thorpe. “Despite Aideen’s initial request for Ghibli, the specs matched the Perseo Profile in almost all but IP-rating, so they were totally interchangeable, which was perfect from both our perspective as a rental company and the lighting designer’s as an artist.”

photo Steve Tanner

Enlightened purchased the Perseo Profiles from Ayrton’s exclusive UK distributor, Ambersphere Solutions. “We have had a great relationship with Ambersphere for years and they always provide an excellent, reliable and honest service,” says Thorpe.
“Perseo may be slightly more expensive, but for a little bit extra you get a whole lot more. The pricing of them is sensible across the country and that, combined with their popularity, means we will have a swift return on our investment.

“We kept coming back to the fact that all the alternative options had their failings and were not suitable for that cross over into indoor applications, but Perseo ticked all the boxes. That’s what pushed us. It really is that light that works in all situations.”

More information on Ayrton Perseo and Ayrton’s full range of LED lighting can be found at www.ayrton.eu

More information on Enlightened can be found at www.enlx.co.uk

Twenty of Robe’s new Forte moving lights are a key feature of a new lighting design by Maxime Chotard for “Mousquetaire de Richelieu” (Richelieu’s Musketeer), one of the flagship shows at Puy du Fou, a historical theme park in Les Epesses in the Pays de la Loire region of Western France. These have now been joined by 22 x Robe Esprites which were chosen as a perfect complement to Robe’s highest-powered LED moving light.

The show, staged in “Le Grand Carrousel” Hall, a 6000 square metre equestrian theatre with seating for 3000, combines sword fights, poetic tirades, equestrian prowess, costumes, moving sets and spectacular special effects that immerse visitors in a crazy swashbuckling mid-17th century tale that unfolds on a massive purpose-built stage.
The 74-metre wide by 45 metres deep performance space is equipped with – among other things – the world’s largest stage curtain!

Maxime, who is site-wide head of lighting responsible for the whole park, recently oversaw a substantial lighting upgrade designed to bring a new “visual coherence” to the performance and to enable transition to more energy efficient light sources over the next three years, simultaneously reducing the show’s long-term operating costs and maintenance.

On the creative side, two major issues had become apparent since the last show season ran from June to November 2021 (delayed from the usual April to November season due to Covid) and these needed fixing. The first was that some of the lighting cues lacked impact, and secondly, the huge black stage floor sometimes became an over-dominant big black mass that swallowed up the cast and sets without helping to define the different stage areas and assist in the narrative.

Maxime’s first criteria for adding any new lighting fixtures was that they must be high powered as well as an LED luminaire. Robe’s Forte was launched in 2021 and came onstream at just the right time to become a major part of the new lighting scheme, together with the Esprites which had been launched in 2019.

Since the first performance of “Mousquetaire de Richelieu ” in 2006, the show has undergone numerous technical changes and lighting alterations, without ever being completely redesigned. “With this in mind, and with much more versatile and efficient LED luminaires coming to market, the task of updating the rig became all the more urgent,” explains Maxime. He and his team looked at several options, before choosing Forte and Esprite which were demonstrated on site by Vincent Bouquet from Robe France.

Robe Forte

Le Robe Esprite.

The Forte was chosen for its brightness and intensity, and for its excellent and refined colour mixing system which offers a fantastic full spectrum of hues from the richest saturates to the most finessed pastels plus an authentic range of CT whites, ideal for accentuating natural flesh tones.
The zoom and the accurate shuttering were other factors making the fixture ideal to illuminate the expansive stage. The fully sealed dust-proof optical chamber and effects modules also impressed everyone as this significantly reduces the general maintenance needed on the lights, a fact very much appreciated by Puy du Fou where the daily show schedule is relentless!

Products like Forte and Esprite also utilise Robe’s unique and patented Tansferable Engine (TE) LED technology, a hugely flexible concept offering the option of different and interchangeable LED engines – high powered, high CRI, ‘tungsten’, etc., – in the same fixture hardware, which can be quickly changed / ‘transferred’ in 5 to 7 minutes.

All the new fixtures are deployed high up in the sides of the set and along the back to allow the floor to be textured and fully covered with “checkerboard” effects and other impressive gobo treatments. As well as the new Fortes and Esprites, some Robe BMFL Blades installed in a lighting refit in 2017 are still working hard on the show – which continues to be one of the most popular in the park.

Once the 2022 season starts in April, “Mousquetaire de Richelieu” will play five times a day, seven days a week.

For more info about Robe Lighting, you can visit www.robe.cz

Photo Matt Bishop

British indie rockers alt-J recently unveiled their new tour in support of their latest studio album, The Dream. Creative collective FragmentNine, which has been designing their shows since 2014, was again tasked with the show’s scenography abandoning the ‘volumetric video’ ingenuity of 2017’s Relaxer, which won them a Knight of Illumination award.

Photos : Matt Bishop

This time they adopted a completely different direction, in cooperation with the band’s long-time manager Stephen Taverner, according to FragmentNine (F9) co-founder Jackson Gallagher. What both tours have in common is heavy use of GLP’s own award-winning X4 Bar 20s – this time accompanied by quantities of JDC1 hybrid strobes – but this time in an entirely different application. “X4 Bars are real workhorses these and the JDCs are regular gotos for us,” confirms Gallagher.

Photos : Matt Bishop

However, Taverner had imagined a more delicate and airy performance than the 2017 confection.
And so wrapped in over 1,500 square feet of holographic projection fabric, the band performs inside a box that transports them through many different worlds throughout the evening.

This has been implemented by F9’s Gallagher and co-founder Jeremy Lechterman, along with F9 vice-principal Michael Hankowsky, in response to Stephen Taverner’s brief. From a video perspective, once they had sourced the most suitable fabric – Hologauze-50 – they opted for front and rear projection in preference to LED to create the holograms proposed by Taverner.

Photo Matt Bishop

Instead, the role of LED was relegated to a conventional videowall behind the cube, following projection tests at Upstaging, the lighting and video vendors for the tour.

Gallagher notes that since the band is fairly static on stage, containing them within a box creates a slightly edgy sensation. “We endeavoured to create little vignettes through light and video to support the subject matter without being too ‘on the nose’.”

Although there are little over 100 GLP X4 Bar 20 and JDC1 taking on most of the workload, their importance cannot be overstated. Other than a few effects contained within the box, the GLP pieces are entrusted with holding their own to complement the main holographic box. “Although there is a lot less lighting than on the previous tour, the show still has a sizable package capable of high impact,” says Gallagher.

Photo Matt Bishop

In terms of structures, there are two horseshoe-shaped goalposts – one upstage, one downstage – all lined with X4 Bar 20s, run in single-pixel (88-channel) mode – with JDCs on the sides of both goalposts. There is a further grid of JDC1 situated behind the LED wall. “And these really punch through,” comments Jackson Gallagher.

Michael Hankowsky adds that everything is run in single-pixel mode and notes the versatility and additional functionality offered by activating the different plate sections of the JDC1. These are also used as eye candy and as a twinkly effect from the LED wall at the rear.
As for the X4 battens, in addition to simply edging the cube, they are being put to more creative use. “In a couple of songs, we take a section and put them into diagonals and use them as FX, whereas for the song ‘Matilda’, we use the Bars for backlight instead of eye candy,” he explains.

Photo Matt Bishop

The core of the control package is again provided by regular collaborators Liteup Events, with co-founder Mark Callaghan repeating his duties as crew chief. The touring lighting operator is Dave Singleton.

And more information on the GLP website

Cameo is expanding its product portfolio of IP65-certified LED outdoor wash lights with the release of the new Zenit W600 SMD in RGBW and Daylight versions. Lighting designers, event technicians and rental companies will benefit from their suitability for outdoor applications, as well as their particularly high light output and maximum flexibility.

These new additions to the Zenit Series are designed for use at medium-sized to large indoor and outdoor events, as well as for lighting TV shows. The new outdoor SMD LED wash lights are available in two versions: the Zenit W600 D SMD Daylight, and the Zenit W600 SMD RGBW.

The Zenit W600 SMD RGBW delivers a rich luminous flux of up to 41,000 lm. A total of 504 SMD 4-in-1 LEDs deliver precise, high-resolution colours and colour blends across the entire RGBW spectrum. With its CRI index of 85, the Zenit W600 SMD also ensures natural colour reproduction. When it comes to colour temperature, lighting technicians have an adjustable bandwidth of between 2,700 and 6,500 K at their fingertips.
The 12 independently controllable LED segments facilitate the creation of colourful effect images and running lights.

The Daylight model is equipped with 576 SMD white light LEDs, which provide an enormous output of up to 90,000 lm. For this purpose, the boost mode increases light output significantly for short periods. A total of 48 segments can be controlled separately via Pixel Control, which provides lighting designers with enormous potential for creative effects. Based on high-resolution 16-bit technology, four dimmer curves are also available, which allow the dimming characteristics of classic halogen lamps to be simulated if required.

With its robust and design-optimised cast aluminium housing, the Zenit W600 SMD is also recommended for use in fixed installations. The carefully designed cooling concept is based on three temperature-controlled fans.
Light operators can use three preset modes dictated by the noise sensitivity of the event, including automated fan control and noiseless convection cooling. The integrated OLED display, which features touch-sensitive control buttons, enables intuitive configuration directly on the device. In addition to wired DMX and RDM control, the ZENIT W600 SMD can also be controlled wirelessly via the integrated 2.4 GHz W-DMX transceiver.

Further information:

cameolight.com
adamhall.com
blog.adamhall.com

Chilean production services company Real Audio Sistemas combines an experienced team with state-of-the-art equipment and personalised service and support to provide organisers with a highly capable and trusted partner for a wide range of events.

16 « systèmes » composés de la tête principale M46 et du module d’extension des basses B112 complétés par 3 modules M28 comme downfills. Du SPL, et pas qu’un peu.

Central to the Santiago-based company’s mission to provide comprehensive, innovative, and professional solutions to enhance its clients’ projects is an investment in NEXO STM, a modular sound system which has equipped Real Audio Sistemas to cover events of all sizes, up to and including large festivals like La Cumbre Del Rock and Lollapalooza.

Most recently, the STM system was deployed at Festival Maleza which took place on April 22nd at The Hippodrome in Santiago, where Spanish ska-punk legends Ska-P headlined in front of a 37,000-strong crowd.

12 subs S118, disons, un tiers de ce qui a été déployé au pied de la scène principale. On aperçoit aussi des stacks de trois M28, la version musclée du front fill chez Nexo.

Drawing on a single inventory of just four compact, powerful and proportionately-sized STM modules, the team at Real Audio designed a system for the main festival stage comprising left and right FOH hangs of 16 each STM M46 main and B112 Bass Extension Modules deployed side by side, and further supplemented by 3 STM M28 Omni Modules as downfills.

A total of 36 STM S118 Subs were used in a 12-each LCR format in front of the stage, and additional arrays of M28 and B112 cabinets were used for delays, supplemented by further S118 subs. Amplification and processing came from NEXO NXAMP powered controllers, fitted with AES network cards.

Meanwhile it was all NEXO on stage also, with the company’s revolutionary 45N12 arrayable monitors delivering precision directivity and consistency of coverage, along with high SPL before feedback.

“STM gives us the power and flexibility to deliver world class sound at many different events, including large festivals” reports Real Audio Director Claudio Valencia.

“We work in partnership with the sound engineering community here in Chile, providing NEXO-approved training on the system along with high levels of technical and operational support.
We always get great feedback on STM from FOH engineers, and artists love the 45N12 monitors.”

More information on the Real Audio Sistemas website and on the Nexo website