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Burj Khalifa NYE event lit with Robe
24/02/2026
Technical Elements lights Emory Healthcare’s brand refresh with nearly 800 Elation fixtures
18/02/2026
Olga Lounová concerts lit with Chauvet
17/02/2026
40 Robe iBolts specified for 2025 ATP Finals
27/01/2026
Marfa Lights inszenieren Live-Comeback von Lilas ir Innomine mit Cameo
Fünf Jahre nach seinem Bühnenrückzug kehrte das Hip-Hop-Duo Lilas ir Innomine 2025 mit einem ausverkauften Open-Air-Konzert im Vingis Park in Vilnius zurück. Rund 20.000 Besucher erlebten das bislang größte Konzert der litauischen Rap-Geschichte. Für das Licht- und Videodesign zeichnete Marfa Lights im Auftrag von Baltic Production Service verantwortlich. Zum Einsatz kam ein outdoortaugliches Lichttechnik-Setup von Cameo.
Im Zentrum der Bühne im Vingis Park stand eine halbkreisförmige Konstruktion aus LED-Screens, Treppen und Catwalk. Chor, Tänzer, Spezialeffekte, Licht und Videoelemente wurden zu einem durchgängigen visuellen Konzept verbunden. Ziel war es, die musikalische Dramaturgie der Show um die beiden Protagonisten Konstantinas Kiveris-Lilas und Rolandas Venckis-Innomine auch visuell auf sämtlichen Ebenen zu transportieren.
Das Marfa-Lights-Team um Lichtdesigner Andrius Stasiulis setzte unter anderem Cameos Zenit-W300- und Zenit-W600-Outdoor-LED-Wash-Lights, Otos-B5-IP65-Beam-Moving-Heads und Pixbar-SMD-IP-G2-LED-Bars ein, die jeweils in großer Stückzahl und über das gesamte Bühnenbild verteilt waren.
Die Grundlage des Lichtkonzepts bildeten die Zenit W600. Die IP65-zertifizierten LED-Wash-Lights sorgten für eine gleichmäßige Ausleuchtung über die gesamte Bühnenbreite. Ergänzend nutzte Marfa Lights Zenit W300 als Footlights. Für Akzente, Pixel-Designs und Farbverläufe kamen zusätzlich die Pixbar SMD IP G2 zum Einsatz.
Das Videodesign wurde nahtlos in das Gesamtkonzept integriert. Auf Basis der GrandMA-Lichtpulte sowie der Softwarelösungen Notch und Hippotizer gestaltete Pijus Norusis, Video Designer bei Marfa Lights, visuelle Sequenzen, die wie ein erweitertes Lichtdesign funktionierten. „Weil wir das Video nach denselben Prinzipien programmiert haben wie das Licht, konnten wir eine durchgehend konsistente visuelle Sprache schaffen“, so Norusis.
(Fotos: Adam Hall Group/Marfa Lights)
Alex Mungal evokes fierce imagery on Slaughter to Prevail tour with Chauvet
Russian deathcore band Slaughter to Prevail’s recent “Grizzly Winter” tour of the UK and EU was supported by an Alex Mungal lighting design. The 18-city run concluded February 8, 2026, at Prague’s Forum Karlin.
Mungal and his team’s goal was to create a design that translated the masked band’s power and in-your-face music with a matching level of ferocity. “This show was built to emphasize the monstrosity that Slaughter to Prevail has already built with their individual members”, says Mungal. “There are some killer players with terrifying masks on stage. We wanted to bring the themes of their songs to life while keeping the emotions powerful and energetic.”
Scaling his show up or down, depending on the venue, Mungal and his crew were able to fit their show on every stage, creating a starkly intense look that drew fans into the music. “We scaled up and down over the course of the EU tour with varying sizes of venues, but for the most part the crew and I made this beast fit everywhere we went”, he says. “My crew’s support and flexibility made them the real heroes of the tour.”
Helping Mungal and his team accomplish this were 32 Chauvet Professional Color Strike M fixtures supplied by Victory Event Stage & Tour. They positioned twelve of the Color Strike M units in the air and used them for top washes, snare bombs and big hits at dramatic moments. The other twenty units were called upon to create layered uplighting throughout the grated depth, in addition to serving as cyc washes for some songs.
“We really leaned into uplighting on this one through a combination of top/key light and under riser lighting featuring the Color Strike M and batten fixtures”, says Mungal. “It was an additional challenge to simplify light sources for some of the trade-offs, but also it looked cool.”
The Color Strike M also helped Mungal unfold narratives for individual songs through the use of color changes. “Several of the songs follow Slavic folklore tales, so following themes and moods via color choices and source placement to make the ‘characters’ pop was important”, he explains. “Songs like ‘Babayka’ tell of a creature that comes after children if they misbehave or don’t go to bed - we used cold dark tones to bring this nightmarish feel to life. Another song, ‘Baba Yaga’, tells of the bogeyman, so a lot of the lighting choices throughout the show brought a horror combining effects and the band’s masks to elevate everything.”
Beyond light angles and colors, Mungal relied on atmospherics and distinctive inflatables to capture the essence of the music on stage. “We used both flames and fog throughout the show”, he says. “There is a certain percussiveness that comes with the impact of these moments. We had a couple varying sizes of inflatables we’d use depending on space. Inh the end, everything was built out of the music.”
(Photos: Moonvibes/Petrov Visuals)
Veteran broadcast engineer Daryl Doss opts for Studio Technologies
With more than four decades of experience in radio broadcasting and live sports production, Daryl Doss, owner of Doss Technical Services and a contract engineer for SiriusXM and Westwood One Sports, delivers audio systems for some of the industry’s most demanding broadcast environments.
From NFL games and March Madness to Super Bowl Radio Row and The Masters golf tournament, Doss has come to rely on a selection of Dante-based intercom and announcer solutions from Studio Technologies to meet the fast-paced demands of modern broadcast production. As a freelance engineer supporting national broadcasts, Doss is responsible for specifying, integrating, and deploying the equipment. “My job is to make what we have work great, sound great, and be ultra-reliable”, he explains.
Doss’ Studio Technologies deployment centers around Dante-enabled infrastructure, allowing him to streamline complex signal paths using a single Ethernet connection. “Instead of running multiple discrete audio cables for program, IFB, talkback, and coordination, I can run one cable, power the device via PoE, and be ready to go”, he says.
His primary talent interface is the Studio Technologies Model 204 Announcer’s Console, which he deploys across a wide range of productions from small SiriusXM talk show setups to large-scale sports broadcasts. For producer and crew communications, Doss uses Studio Technologies’ Model 348 Intercom Station, Model 374A Intercom Beltpack, and additional intercom solutions that form the backbone of his fly pack.
For major events such as The Masters, where all connections must be hardwired, Doss deploys fiber-extended Dante networks across multiple course locations, utilizing multiple Model 204 units at each position.
Doss owns an extensive Studio Technologies inventory, including multiple Model 204, Model 205, Model 208 and Model 210 Announcer Consoles, Model 348 Intercom Stations, and various beltpack solutions such as the Model 374A Intercom Beltpacks, Model 381 On-air Beltpacks and the Model 362 Listen-only Beltpacks.
(Photo: Studio Technologies, Inc.)
Burj Khalifa NYE event lit with Robe
As the world welcomed 2026, Dubai, UAE, staged a mixed visual media extravaganza, as lighting, video, lasers and fireworks fired off the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa tower, in an event organised by Emaar and produced by Our Legacy Creations.
Robe was also part of it, with eighty-six iForte LTX fixtures on the lighting rig for a spectacle staged on the Burj lake that led into the fireworks, lit by Dom Smith and Paul Johnson from UK-based design studio NeonBlack. The Burj Khalifa NYE event this year started with this dramatic, full-tilt 20-minute show staged across a 450-metre open performance space on a large section of the Burj lake in front of the 828-metre-high building that dominates the downtown Dubai skyline. Twenty-five custom floats, boats, waterboards and jet-skis were involved - with a cast of 570, including a tightrope walker traversing a high-tension cable strung between points of the adjacent shopping mall - in the performance.
Smith and Johnson met the challenges involved in lighting this show, creatively directed by Tiziana Pagliarulo (OLC), choosing Robe iForte LTX moving lights to provide all key lighting for the entertainment programme. The spectacle then led into the 60-second NYE countdown that cued the firework grand finale on the Burj. This new pre-fireworks segment added an extra visual layer to the annual event at the Burj Khalifa, watched by tens of thousands live, and streamed to billions more.
The main issue for Smith and Johnson’s lighting design was getting enough powerful key lighting rigged in the right places to register properly and illuminate the cast across this vast area, so the 36 broadcast cameras, directed by Marcus Viner, could get the best shots. Additionally, for the tightrope artist, twenty-four iForte LTXs were placed on the roof of the Dubai Mall to light the line. The only available positioning for tracking follow spots was on top of the souk market, around 150 metres away from the location of the wire.
“Robe’s iForte LTX was the only option to light the 150- to 200-metre longest throw distances involved”, says Smith, adding that, for the last two years, the iForte LTX has become a go-to key lighting tool for their work. The eighty-six iForte LTXs were supplied by the event’s technical equipment rental contractor Media Pro, who are based in Dubai, and were among approximately 3,000 other fixtures in total used for the show, including the Burj Khalifa’s permanently installed lights.
Most of these iForte LTXs were positioned all around the lake, mainly on the permanent PA speaker towers, with some on custom truss towers fabricated by Media Pro. The tightrope line itself was illuminated by the twenty-four iForte LTXs on top of the souk, and another two fixtures were positioned on the roof of the souk bazaar, used exclusively for tracking the artist. These were controlled by a Robe RoboSpot control system positioned by the lights on the rooftop to help with accurate targeting.
Most of the sixty iForte LTXs around the lake were also on a remote follow system using multiple fixed cameras to cover the enormous field of view that was the stage. All the show’s key and white lighting was programmed and directed by David Wolstenholme. The effects lighting was programmed by Eliot Jessep and Josh Musgrave in the UK and during pre-viz, and Alex Douglas in Dubai.
In addition to the various water-based performance floats, the event also included a series of large Rio-carnival style parade floats that drove down Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard at the start of the entertainment, which also had to be lit, together with the front of the Burj Khalifa facing onto the lake. The fireworks “conductor” was lifted up to fifteen metres on a hydraulic platform and was also tracked by iForte LTXs.
(Photos: Whatever Live/Katie Bowen)
Nick Jevons and Ross Chapple create imagery for I Hate Models with Chauvet
I Hate Models is the stage name of French techno music producer Guillaume Labadie, whose “Refract: I Hate Models All Night Long” show in January 2026 took place in a 12,000-square meter space at Hall 1, Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. The show kicked off at 10 pm and lasted until the wee hours of the morning.
Enhancing the experience at the spacious venue was a visual production by Nick Jevons and Ross Chapple of Auratecture that flowed with the transcendent music and immersed the room with dynamic lighting displays. Describing the show with its 360 stage and asymmetrical design, Jevons refers to it as a combination of “brutalist asymmetry and Mayan-like scenography”.
“For us, Brutalist asymmetry meant raw mass plus deliberate imbalance”, he details. “It is the look of a structure that is too heavy, too stubborn, or too functional to bother aligning itself perfectly. We wanted to prioritize function over visual comfort. We reference Mayan civilization because of its architecture and how they used sheer size in their structures to show power. The doorways of their temples often represented a cave which were seen as portals to the underworld, while all set in a scene from a movie set.”
A collection of sixty Chauvet Professional Strike Array 4C blinders, placed in the “inner sanctum” of the massive central DJ booth, were instrumental in bringing this vision to life. Visible to the audience only from the booth’s tiered platforms, the fixtures created glowing reflective light of the metal set, which accentuated the brutalist aura around the stage.
“Our vision was to create a chaotic and industrial energy underneath the booth’s walkways”, continues Jevons. “The Strike 4C was the perfect choice for this, as we got the wide, bright throw of a blinder combined with the ability to chase and strobe them at high speeds. The fixtures’ output, combined with their color rendering (RGB + Amber), gave us the ability to apply the overall color palette of the show around the booth through the dense fog and haze. This greatly enhanced the transformative atmosphere in the room.”
Jevons, Chapple and their team, including Jean-Denis Rolland (TD and PM), and rigger S Group Live Event spread strobe lighting throughout the room to accentuate the mood. Their shared vision was to create a “desert-scene, much like you would see in the ‘Dune’ movies, with scorched sunsets, deep reds, sandy CTO’s, and bold open whites”, concludes Jevons.
(Photos: Chauvet Professional)
Christina Rupp lights Army-Navy Gala with Elation Paragon
Christina Rupp used Elation Paragon fixtures to illuminate the Army-Navy Gala in December 2025 at the Baltimore Convention Center. The fixtures were supplied by Elkridge, Maryland-based stage lighting company Afterglow Lighting, an early adopter of Elation’s Paragon LED profile moving head.
The event, held ahead of the 126th Army-Navy football game, one of the oldest rivalries in U.S. college football, featured a transformed ballroom complete with a main stage, dance floor, and a variety of performance elements honoring those who serve. Rupp, a lighting designer and master electrician with a decade of industry experience, has worked on Army-Navy collaborations before, but this marked her first time working on the Army-Navy Gala. She frequently collaborates with Afterglow and was brought onto the project by Afterglow and the client, VPC.
“This was not your standard corporate design with a stage wash and audience wash”, she explains. “We needed lighting to transition from a formal dinner to onstage presentations, to performances by bands, cheerleaders, and dance groups, to a late-night dance party. We needed those clean stage washes and audience lighting, but also pickups, accent lighting, and vibrant effects while supporting other elements like walkthroughs and videos.”
Rupp led the design and operation of 32 Paragon S, along with twelve Seven Batten 72, and other fixtures. On stage, the designer created tailored looks with distinct colors for each service branch as the MC highlighted their accomplishments, then shifted to entirely different looks for other presentations, keeping the visuals fluid and dynamic. A full band also performed on stage, playing throughout dinner and into the late-night dance party. A central walkway ran through the room, used by the MC, performers like the color guard, and arriving guests. “Anyone walking down it, or when the MC moved into the audience or onto the dance floor, was lit by the Paragons”, says Rupp.
The designer created a dynamic walk-in look with slow-moving effects, carrying a red, white, and blue theme from the national anthem into the dinner look. “It provided a calm look for dinner in colors that represented both the Army and Navy”, Rupp explains. “Being able to carefully frame and focus the Paragons to place the blue precisely in the center of the onstage scenic piece added a three-dimensional effect.”
The Seven Batten 72 fixtures, 6-foot full-color batten wash luminaires, were used to enhance the scenic from above and below, adding depth and dimension to the look. Rupp employed the Paragon’s TruTone variable CRI engine, switching between high and low CRI looks to create a more dynamic feel, and accessed the fixture’s animation wheel to create diverse looks throughout the night. At dinner, for example, she applied slow-moving animations to the walls intertwined with custom gobos. Then later, during the dance party, she switched to more animated gobo transitions.
The setup included an upstage truss, downstage truss, and four perpendicular trusses extending into the audience that housed the Paragons used extensively for pickups and accent lighting. “For any audience or band pickup, or any situation that needed some punch, I went straight to the Paragon”, says Rupp.
Afterglow’s lighting crew comprised Production Manager/Show Master Electrician Josh Watson, who drafted the plot with Rupp’s advice and preferences in mind, plus lighting techs Jake Myers, Galen Newell, and Ethan Cooper who pre-rigged, patched, and managed the load-in. The 2025 Army-Navy Gala was managed and designed by Chicken Scratch and executed in collaboration with VPC.
(Photos: Elation)
Technical Elements lights Emory Healthcare’s brand refresh with nearly 800 Elation fixtures
Tasked with illuminating 32 outdoor locations on an accelerated timeline, Atlanta-based event production company Technical Elements (TE) used nearly 800 IP-rated Elation luminaires to deliver Emory Healthcare’s brand refresh across metro Atlanta and Central Georgia.
The large-scale lighting installation, called “City Pulse”, was a one-night, region-wide activation that brought the new brand to life through coordinated architectural illumination. The lighting package consisted of 95-percent Elation lights, including 396 Paladin, 298 SixPar 200 IP, 55 SixPar 200, and 42 Proteus Excalibur.
To mark the launch on January 21, 2026, Emory Healthcare hospitals, clinics, and regional landmarks glowed in “innovative green”, a color representing life, healing, renewal, and hope, creating a unified and highly visible presence across the region. The new shade of green is a key element of the refreshed identity.
“Green is one of the harder colors to reproduce”, says Jake Wright, Lighting Lead at Technical Elements and lighting designer on the project. “The Paladins and SixPars were able to dial in the shade we needed while maintaining a consistent wash across every location, and the Excalibur fixtures added dramatic aerial effects at flagship sites and other locations.”
Also launching January 21 and glowing green from Elation SixPar fixtures were “Aurora Portals”, circular installations placed in high-visibility community locations. Each portal featured a scannable QR code linking to stories of innovation and discovery. Technical Elements served as the lighting provider, coordinating logistics, installation, and execution without disrupting operations at each site. Emory engaged marketing activation firm Ideas United to manage the campaign, which in turn brought on Technical Elements, a frequent collaborator on their projects.
Wright faced an unusually compressed timeline for such a large project, essentially executing architectural lighting on the fly. “The project came in over Christmas, so we had about a two-and-a-half to three-week turnaround, which is extremely short for something this size”, he says.
The fully outdoor project ran continuously for twelve hours overnight, requiring IP-rated luminaires designed to withstand all weather conditions and extended overnight use. Wright leaned on TE’s long-standing relationship with Christie Lites, working closely with account representative Charlie Pike, who recommended Elation for their IP-rated wash fixtures. Much of the gear was sourced from Christie’s Las Vegas and Nashville locations, including Paladins recently used at the Formula 1 race in Las Vegas.
“It was an unconventional approach”, says Wright. “We locked in the gear first and then started designing. Normally, you design first and choose fixtures later, but the schedule demanded the opposite. We had to make some quick decisions.”
Wright selected Paladins as the main architectural wash. “I knew a small PAR wouldn’t cut it for our primary wash light”, he explains. “The Paladins gave us the punch we needed, with diffusion available for my onsite techs to use as an option, which really made the buildings look beautiful.”
SixPar fixtures were used for accents on columns, pillars, pedestrian bridges, and other architectural details, while Proteus Excalibur beam moving heads, another recommendation from Christie Lites, were deployed at flagship locations and “Aurora Portal” sites to create eye-catching, searchlight-type beams in the sky.
TE teams used Excalibur’s Sky Motion system under manual control to create dramatic sky tracker effects. The system allows a single unit - or a group - to operate without a dedicated controller, with adjustable patterns for size, speed, and color. “Sky Motion really came in handy”, says Wright. “The crew enjoyed using it. It really got people’s attention and generated curiosity, encouraging people to see what it was all about.”
With only limited site visits possible, Wright relied on Google Maps, Street View, and photos to measure and plan fixture placement. To simplify logistics, fixtures were deployed at each site in increments of six, matching how Paladins shipped from Christie Lites. “I wanted to make it as easy as possible for the shop and logistics teams. There was definitely some guessing and hoping involved - it’s not how I typically want to design a show, but it worked”, he says, noting that sites continued to be added and cut up until the final day.
The load-in schedule was tight, with a few sites prepared the day prior and the majority handled on the day of the event. Another challenge, explains Wright, was that many sites had existing architectural lighting, which he needed to respect and avoid interfering with. “The fixture side of this project was the easiest”, he reflects. “But the logistics and project management were tough.”
The 32 sites spanned metro Atlanta and into Central Georgia, including hospitals, clinics, pedestrian bridges, and non-Emory landmarks like water towers and the AT&T building in Atlanta, all bathed in “innovation green”. While the portals remained in place for weeks, the Elation lighting activation itself was a one-night-only event.
Flagship locations - including Emory University Hospital Midtown, Emory University campus, and Emory Decatur Hospital - were staffed with dedicated lighting directors, LQs, and project managers. Five mobile crews handled smaller sites, each covering four to five locations in a single night. “It was a fun, challenging, and unique project on a fast, tight timeline”, Wright concludes. “And Christie was fantastic to work with. They worked just as hard on the back end as we did in the field.”
The crew list also comprises Dennis Frazier (Account Manager), Fernando Garcia (Lighting Tech, Midtown Project), Kenneth Wright (Project Manager, EUH Campus), Christopher Mckenna (Lighting Tech, EUH Campus), Zach Sturino (Project Manager, Decatur Campus), Noah Lucas and Jackson Bodie (Lighting Techs, Decatur Campus), as well as the city site teams’ Lighting Techs Jacquie O Rodriguez, Aymar Whistett, Samuel Sanchez, Bryce Anderson, Rashyn Washington, Ethan Mitcham, William “Rocky” Weakley, Courtney Brooks and Brady Henderson.
(Photos: Technical Elements)
Olga Lounová concerts lit with Chauvet
Martin Hruska designed the stage for singer Olga Lounová’s recent tour. Lounová is the first Czech female artist to reach the US Billboard charts. “There has been a great deal of fan interest”, says Hruska. “Our first concert was realized with great success at the O2 Universum Prague hall, which has a capacity of 6,000 people. The next step is to move her shows to venues two and three times that size.”
Hruska used 98 Chauvet Professional fixtures, supplied by Czechoslovakia-based Mastro to create flowing lighting looks for his client. Run by LD Dominik Siska on a ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M Stadium console, the lighting highlighted the many distinctive elements of Hruska’s set design.
“Due to the artist’s pregnancy, I had to simplify many things in the concert, especially her flying and her movement on floating objects”, explains Hruska. “I only kept a tilting cross with stairs and a railing that she could climb onto without fear. The choreographer had to simplify the choreography, basically Olga did not have any major choreographic movements and we transferred all the movement to the dance company.”
Discussing the automated cross set piece, Hruska says: “The cross seemed to me to be the optimal simple solution to scaling the set to accommodate Olga’s pregnancy. It is an interesting shape. We had an LED screen mounted on it, and it moved with four motors. I created stairs with equally high and deep steps, which were attached to the upper part of the cross and allowed a 45-degree tilt in both directions.”
“This allowed me to achieve two different scenes: the cross could be tilted with the screen forward and the artist standing on it, or the cross could be tilted in reverse so that the stairs could be seen from the audience’s perspective as the artist climbed up”, continues Hruska. “There was also a third option with a reduction that would allow the artist to stand on the horizontal position of the cross and float above the stage. I eliminated this during the preparations due to the advanced stage of the artist’s pregnancy. To sum it up, the cross combined with the LED in the background allowed me to create more interesting effects.”
Adding a sense of depth to Hruska’s effects was his fusion of video and lighting. Relying on color matching and carefully coordinated movements and brightness levels, he ensured that video imagery and lighting worked together to provide an immersive backdrop to his client’s performance.
During the song “Dark Water” Hruska and Siska created an “underwater world” on stage by coordinating colorful light with video images of fish swimming and jellyfish rising. “I also used jellyfish as real props in the foreground of the image, and thus a 3D realistic scene of the underwater world materialized”, notes Hruska. “In the middle of this scene was Olga and a tilted cross.”
Providing colors for this vivid panorama were 28 Color Strike M motorized strobe-washes, 22 Colorado PXL Curve battens, twelve Rogue R2X Beams, and twelve Maverick Storm 3 BeamWashes. Adding extra punch to the design at key moments and delivering audience lighting were 24 Strike Array 2 fixtures, flown on the downstage truss.
Siska used many of these fixtures to outline the contours of Hruska’s design. For example, sixteen of the Color Strike M fixtures were positioned on the floor in a semi-circular layout, following and accentuating the outline of the stage decal, while eight of the Colorado PXL Curve 12 motorized battens were mounted on the cross-set piece to accent its shape.
The remaining fixtures were distributed along the sides of the stage and the upstage edge. Siska positioned the Rogue R2X Beams evenly at the rear of the stage, behind the band. “The beams were primarily used to enhance the show’s dynamics, adding energy and visual impact throughout the performance”, says Siska. “The Maverick Storm 3 BeamWash fixtures were used to illuminate the band and dancers, with eight units mounted on the front truss and four units positioned on the floor at the sides of the stage.”
(Photos: Chauvet Professional)
Wharfedale Pro XLA and WLA systems used under extreme alpine conditions at Lauberhorn
This year’s Lauberhorn winter event in Switzerland featured a Wharfedale Pro sound system across key race and hospitality zones, with XLA and WLA series line arrays selected to deliver announcements and music coverage in one of Europe’s most demanding outdoor environments.
The system was supplied and deployed by Stagepro Technical Solutions S.R.L of Studen, Switzerland, working together with Swiss distributor Sacher Music. High altitude, sub-zero temperatures and wind exposure defined the brief. With operating conditions between -15°C and -20°C and wind risk planning up to 150 kph, the audio design prioritised intelligibility, stability and consistent coverage across multiple audience areas.
On the main slope, Wharfedale Pro XLA series arrays formed the core PA system, projecting race commentary and programme audio across exposed open areas. The configuration was designed to maintain vocal clarity and tonal balance despite changing weather and wide listener distribution. In the lower arena, pairs of WLA-112 clusters covered around 1,500 spectators, providing focused coverage for announcements and music while keeping levels controlled and even across the audience zone.
The VIP hospitality tent required a different approach. Here, Stagepro deployed a flown combination of XLA and WLA-112 elements around the main screen structure to achieve smooth, even coverage within the enclosed space. This allowed speech to remain highly intelligible while music added energy and atmosphere without becoming intrusive or tiring for guests.
Amplification across the site was handled by Wharfedale Pro DP-2200N and DP-4100N amplifiers, offering Dante control and monitoring under continuous load. System transport and rigging logistics were also challenging, with subwoofers being removed from the mountain by helicopter after the event build-down.
(Photos: Wharfedale Pro)
UVLD’s David Seitz lights Prestonwood’s “The Gift of Christmas” with Elation Paragon
Each December, Prestonwood Baptist Church transforms its Plano campus in Texas into the setting for one of the largest holiday productions in the United States. This year the presentation was powered by Elation’s Paragon LED profile fixtures.
With over 1,200 cast and crew members, live animals, flying performers, massive scenic elements, and nearly two hours of nonstop music and storytelling, “The Gift of Christmas” is a signature seasonal event for thousands of attendees. For the 2025 production, Lighting Designer David Seitz (UVLD) relied on fifty Paragon M fixtures to help bring the visually complex presentation to life.
UVLD creates lighting designs for corporate events, television, and special events and has been a long-time creative partner of Prestonwood. “This show is always evolving”, says Seitz. “We work on it basically year-round. We’re constantly tweaking and refining it, so having fixtures that give us flexibility is critical.”
Seitz, who has worked on the production for more than a decade, led the lighting design alongside UVLD colleagues Technical Director Greg Norgeot and Production Designer Matt Webb. Webb, who grew up attending the church, has been involved in the production for decades, including serving as a former lighting designer.
Staged in Prestonwood’s 7,000-seat worship center, “The Gift of Christmas” spanned fourteen performances plus rehearsals and incorporated actors, dancers, choir and orchestra, flying drummers, live camels, donkeys, alpacas, peacocks, and immersive large-scale projection and video content.
The production unfolded in two distinct parts. The first embraced a bold, colorful North Pole theme featuring Santa Claus and high-energy musical numbers. The second transitioned into the story of Jesus, culminating in a live nativity scene. “We might go from 1,000 people on stage to a moment where there’s one performer in the middle of the audience singing”, Seitz explains. “It’s powerful in both ways - whether it’s a huge cast and orchestra or a single soloist.”
For this year’s show, UVLD revamped parts of the lighting system and now runs a nearly 100-percent LED rig. Working closely with longtime rental partner Gemini Light Sound and Video of Dallas - part of Live Events Productions - the team evaluated inventory options and selected the Paragon M. The Paragon fixtures, supplied by Gemini, formed the backbone of the overhead rig, appearing across six trusses from downstage to upstage. “They were front and center”, says Seitz. “They basically replaced a traditional profile system and became a do-it-all fixture for us.”
Seitz had early exposure to the Paragon during its development, providing feedback on prototypes before its official release. “Nick Saiki at Elation brought me in early on”, he recalls. “I got to see the iterations, from where it started to where it ended up.” Before committing to the fixtures for the show, Seitz visited Gemini to review the final production units.
One of the Paragon’s standout features for Seitz is its TruTone variable CRI system, which can adjust from CRI 73 to CRI 93. “We’d tune it up to 90 CRI when we wanted beautiful skin tones, then tuned it down when we wanted more punch”, he says. “Having that option was huge.” This flexibility proved essential in a production that ranged from theatrical storytelling to high-energy EDM-style numbers.
For a production built to maintain its technical infrastructure for years to come, adaptability was key. “We’re intentional about how we allocate both budget and programming resources”, notes Seitz. “When we integrate new fixtures into the rig, we expect that investment to serve us reliably for eight to ten years.”
The show’s 160-foot-wide stage featured massive projection panels that stretched its length and were 34 feet high, forming a curtain and canvas for video mapping and scenic visuals. Combined with layered scrims and LED walls, the environment presented significant lighting challenges.
One new number introduced this year involved multiple projection scrims with performers positioned behind them. “It was tricky because we were creating this 3D environment between the LED wall in the back and the scrims that are layered in”, says Seitz. “We needed lights that could go from precise framing cuts to side light and backlight instantly. The Paragon could do that.”
They then used the same lights to illuminate around the scrims for textured gobo looks. The fixtures’ framing shutters, animation wheel, and gobo system allowed for rapid transitions. “We’d go from big gobo moments to narrow cuts on a scrim, then immediately back to lighting people”, Seitz explains.
He explored nearly every feature of the Paragon M throughout close to 5,000 lighting cues. “There isn’t a single element in those fixtures that went untouched”, he says. “They handled everything - beamage, scenic breakup, aerial effects, animation, and performer lighting. With the show in constant motion, the rig needed to be extremely flexible.”
Beyond lighting design, UVLD played a broader role in overseeing the production, working closely with Prestonwood’s staff and volunteer-based technical teams. Seitz also collaborated closely with the show’s composer, Jonathan Walker, integrating original music and lighting at a technical level. “He writes with lighting in mind”, says Seitz. “For our ‘Drummer Boy’ number, which has flying drummers fly over the audience, I take MIDI triggers from the drummers and manipulate lighting in real time. It’s amazing to be part of those creative decisions.”
Apart from Seitz, Webb and Norgeot, the team also included Nick Deel (Production Electrician), Michael Olivarez (Assistant Electrician), Scott Essancy (Assistant Electrician), Bryan Bailey (Prestonwood Baptist Church Director of Media), Rodney Bailey (Prestonwood Baptist Church Lighting Technician), Matthew Hughes (Follow-Me Department Lead), Amber Hess (Follow-Me Operations), Ben Coleman (Follow-Me Technician), and Follow-Me Operators Bill Mantz, Bill Russell, CG Maclin, Erin Priddy, Mark Holloway, Michael Fuhrman, Soma Badugu, Stephen Brown and Tayden Pendleton.
(Photos: Iris Lee)
40 Robe iBolts specified for 2025 ATP Finals
Tennis fans and the citizens of Turin, Italy, were treated to a twice-nightly visual extravaganza created for the 8-day 2025 ATP Finals, the season-ending event of the ATP Tour hosted at the Inalpi Arena. A fan village area was built in the square adjacent to the arena, created by brand experience agency Filmmaster Events and lit by Sergio Cattaneo from Milan-based CUE Design, using forty Robe iBolts.
In addition to being a meeting and information point, a showcase for official ATP merch plus a host of other tennis-related brands and activities, the fan village offered a wide variety of food stalls. The tournament organisers also wanted to offer some pre-match entertainment that could be enjoyed by all who were waiting to filter into the arena to catch the tennis action.
Filmmaster Events, under the creative direction of Giulia Accatino and content designer Romain Sabella from TK2, storyboarded and produced the video content, which was played out on a 100-metre-wide by 8-metre-tall LED screen. They asked Cattaneo - with whom they have worked on previous projects - to design a lightshow to complement and support their visual narratives.
Cattaneo received the brief, and his first thought was that he needed a series of big beams, which needed to fulfil two roles. Firstly, to work with the visual show and create a sense of spectacle and excitement, and secondly, he needed a light source that could be seen from around the city and surrounding countryside. He also needed a lightsource that would combat the amount of ambient luminescence emitted by the video screen and make sure the beams still stood out. He chose the iBolt for the task and used a lot of white, cyan - the ATP’s corporate colour - and yellow, which represented the tennis ball.
Cattaneo pre-programmed the shows - one main show of four minutes long, plus a series of 30- and 50-second interstitials - using Depence3, assisted by Alessandro Scotellaro in CUE Design’s studios. They then had one night on site for focus tweaking and finessing the lighting, which included one laser that was also part of the light show, together with seventeen strategically deployed hazers. Lighting for the fan village show was supplied via ATS Srl, with the iBolts sourced from Lucidiscena.
(Photos: Giorgia Benvenuti/Andrea Padovan)
Denso shapes stage for Annalisa tour with Chauvet’s PXL Curve 12
Italian pop singer Annalisa’s recent “But I Am Fire” tour was enriched by an energetic lighting design created by Denso Studio, featuring forty Chauvet Professional Colorado PXL Curve 12 motorized battens from ZaLight Srl.
The design was in harmony with the emotional crescendo of an extensive setlist that took fans on a musical journey. This transcendent passage was complimented by visuals and choreographies that celebrated the primordial element of fire, articulated in three distinct moments - fire itself, the river, and the tiger.
“At the base of the show there was the union between vortex and fire, stylized in a ‘volcano’ pierced by a circular portal”, says Jacopo Ricci, Creative Director and Production Designer of Denso Studio. “The lighting design echoed the recurring shapes used by the scenography and consisted of two ‘V’ trusses that followed the outline of the triangular stage, pushing the system ‘inside’ the first rows of the audience and creating two front rows that gave maximum visibility for the entire depth of the stage.”
The PXL Curve battens were arranged on the extreme edges of the triangular stage, on feeders lowered so as not to obstruct the view of the audience. “In this way we used them both as effects and as a finish to the edge of the stage”, continues Ricci, who has used the PXL fixtures in the summer for an outdoor production. “Some of the most interesting looks were those that played with the individual tilts of the bars, creating geometries that were not possible before.”
Working with lighting Programmer Vittorio Campagnolo, Ricci created a variety of shapes with the PXL battens. “One of the most interesting aspects to explore in programming together with Vittorio, in addition to the power of the single chip, is the whole control part of individual zoom and tilt”, he details. “This allowed us to build very complex and articulated effects that had that pop language we were looking for in a show of this type.”
Ricci was also supported by set designer Luca Ascioti, visual director of Unolab Studio, as well as laser programmer Matteo D’Addio and lighting crew chief Gabriele d’Agruma. Production was by Friends & Partners, with Mario Zappa being the executive producer and Giovanni Chinnici serving as the production manager. Evento Musica Srl (management) and MOD Srl (service) were also involved in the shows.
(Photos: Chauvet Professional)
Martin Audio WPC helps Bella Live transform Sydney’s events scene
Sydney recently opened its doors to Bella Live, a new live music and events venue set in the City’s Hills district. Following a multi-million-dollar transformation of a 1,029 sqm storage warehouse space, by operators Momento Hospitality, Bella Live aims to become a cultural hub for Sydney’s Northwest region.
The hi-tech infrastructure is based around a Martin Audio Wavefront Compact (WPC) line array, supplied by the manufacturer’s Australian distributor Total Audio Group (TAG) and installed by Vestec Electro, who were responsible for the entire AV integration.
Set within the Bella Vista Hotel precinct, the venue’s technical specification reflects the operators’ desire to redefine the Hills entertainment landscape by hosting major national and international tours, as well as emerging and local talent. The scope of the audio coverage extends from the 10 x 8-metre stage across a 17.5-metre bar, and into VIP booths, while two fully appointed green rooms also meet rider standards.
With 8-metre-high ceilings and a capacity approaching nearly 2,000, the venue has been designed by Archebiosis Architects, to blend sleek, modern style with an industrial warehouse vibe. It can flex between a DJ set, stand-up comedy night, sporting event, or corporate event.
Vestec Electro conducted the site-wide installation under the project management of Mark Vesic and Nev Hanna, while TAG - under the guidance of technical director Anthony Russo - played a significant role in the audio design, with their system solutions and engineering (SSE) team deploying Martin Audio’s Display visualisation software and Ease modelling. Russo, in turn, engaged acousticians Gilfillan Soundwork, whose team conducted on-site measurements and computer modelling to optimise the room acoustics and reduce the long reverberation time, which led to a system of 36 massive bass traps throughout the room.
TAG’s design team then developed a solution based around hangs of twelve Martin Audio WPC line arrays (six per side) combined with eight Martin Audio SX 218 dual 18-inch subwoofers, all powered by Martin Audio iKon iK42 DSP four-channel amplifiers in 2-box resolution. The hangs were flown in custom rigging frames from the trusses, enabling the factory-fit fly frame to be deployed with ease.
Extensive CAD modelling made bass control crucial, notes Russo. Traditional left and right stacked setups would cause the usual power-alley issue, and thus the final solution was a horizontal arrangement of the subs in a continuous line beneath the stage. This enabled the individual steering of each cabinet, leading to better low-frequency summation and overall performance. To minimise energy emission from the subs at the rear, top, and sides, one hundred 30-kilo sandbags were placed on top (and around) the cabinets.
To reinforce the main system and VIP booth areas, a delay system comprising ten Martin X15s and six SX212 subs was installed. And to further meet rider requirements, a foldback system comprising seven Martin Audio LE 200 high-powered wedges and an SX118 subwoofer was supplied with two iKon iK42s, enabling an eight-send monitor mix for the main stage. This is networked and processed over a Dante network with analogue backup to a Q-Sys system backbone and is complemented by an equally high-spec performance lighting and video array.
Vestec installed a comprehensive house and stage data and analogue patching system, including a 48-channel concert splitter and multiple tie lines. This setup enables the space to manage live events and any broadcast or recording needs. The venue has already hosted major global acts, including Snoop Dogg, Will Sparks, Ne-Yo, Lil Jon and Wiz Khalifa.
(Photos: Harpreet Singh)
Ayrton Veloce Profile and Domino LT fixtures from PRG light up Shakira world tour
Lighting designer Dan Norman of Silent House used 72 Ayrton Veloce Profiles and 76 Domino LT luminaires on Shakira’s “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran” world tour. PRG provided lighting, video, camera and touring personnel for the show, which commenced in Rio de Janeiro in February 2025 and is scheduled to conclude on February 27, 2026, in Mexico City.
“Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran” was the seventh concert tour and the first in seven years by the Colombian singer-songwriter. “Shakira broke Taylor Swift’s attendance record in the first of her tour dates in Mexico City and set records throughout the tour”, says Burton Tenenbein, PRG’s Vice President, Music Sales. “We had worked with Dan Norman previously for Post Malone and staged some lighting demos for him early on for Shakira’s tour. We still only had two Veloce demo units at the time, but PRG became the first company in North America to acquire an inventory of Veloce Profiles, which made their first outing on the tour.”
PRG had already acquired a fleet of Ayrton Diablo, Perseo and Domino LT fixtures. “ACT Entertainment (the exclusive North American distributor for Ayrton lighting) and the Ayrton team made sure we would have all the fixtures we needed in time for Shakira’s tour”, Tenenbein adds. “Things are high-pressure on a world tour, so getting support and assurance from Ayrton’s offices around the world gave us confidence that we’d be ready for anything.”
(Photos: Steve Jennings)
Tube UK supports “Brighter Still” in Bradford
As Bradford rounded off a year as UK City of Culture in 2025, the team from Manchester-based audio specialist Tube UK provided audio for an audience of 10,000 at the spectacular closing performance “Brighter Still” in Bingley’s Myrtle Park, plus thousands more watching the event online.
Tube UK collaborated with sound designer Pete Malkin and Bradford Culture Company, the charity delivering this momentous year for the district. “Brighter Still”, presented over two evenings, was a mixed media show including large community choirs, solo singer performance, pre-recorded music, dancing and special effects, created and directed by Dan Canham and Emily Lim, featuring a community cast of over 200 people and nine professional performers. It was commissioned by Bradford 2025’s creative director Shanaz Gulzar.
The project involved the supply of a custom-designed in-the-round d&b PA system, comprising almost fifty channels of RF with personal radio mics, headset mics and handhelds, an extensive fibre network and a large Green-Go comms package covering a 120-metre range. Tube UK’s work was system-designed and project-managed by Melvyn Coote and implemented on site alongside Bradford 2025’s Director of Production Ben Pugh and Production Manager Hannah Blamire.
Coote and his sound crew battled the elements, including torrential rain, howling wind, mud, and freezing temperatures. The performance space was a 60 x 60 metre area with a circular stage in the centre, with four runways emanating from it, each at 90-degree angles to one another, and with a small circular stage or pod at the end. The action unfolded on all of these, with the 5,000 audience per show located in the four quadrants in between the runways completely surrounding the space.
A left and right array of d&b V-series with Y7P front fills and a single KSL-Sub was installed to cover each of the four quadrant areas. The four pods then had their own smaller systems to localise the voices on each pod, comprising six d&b E8 speakers rigged on 6-metre-high single poles for visual as well as sonic continuity. Each pod effectively used the main speaker systems - in the quadrants - as delays to support voices on the other pods that were up to sixty metres away, with the outward facing E8s of all the other pods supporting the localised sound image coming from its respective pod.
The sound emanated from the centre, and the pod speakers supported it, radiating outwards. This complex design was “the result of multiple strategies developed over several years to deliver the best and richest sound for this style of event”, says Coote. For control, Tube UK utilised a large network infrastructure with most of the backbone running via Netgear M4250-26G4F-POE AV Line network switches. The network architects were Adam Taylor and Harry Park.
The majority of the show sound came from a playback source and was composed by Warren “Flamin’ Beatz” Morgan-Humphries and Benji Bower, also the MD, with sound designed and programmed by Pete Malkin. This was all played out via QLab running on a pair of Mac Studio playback machines. The QLab file contained around 120 audio cues for the 45-minute show, with the Mac Studios playing via Dante into a Yamaha DM7-EX console. The console sent the audio stems to a Yamaha DME7 DSP engine, used here as a multi-point delay matrix system.
Noise central - amp rack and radio receiver city - was located underneath the west runway, and here, the incoming fibre audio control on Dante was distributed to three Yamaha Rio3224 stage boxes and three d&b DS10 network bridges with the latter feeding AES3 out to twelve d&b D80 and six d&b D20 amplifiers. The radio mic system included 42 personal mics and belt packs, of which there were a combination of Sennheiser SK6000s and SK5212s, with two SKM5200 handhelds. Each of the personal radio mics was fitted with a corresponding DPA6066 jawline headset mic.
There was up to 46 channels of RF, complete with an additional pair of handhelds. The Green-Go comms system needed to cover ten stage entry/exit points, all accommodating an ASM at each position, so a major challenge was to get these optimised, and in total, the system was running sixteen wireless and eight wired belt packs. It operated over a 120-metre range using six of Green-Go’s new Stride antennas.
Working alongside Coote, Taylor and Park was FOH audio operator John Redfern, who was mixing in an enclosed operating space, weaving in all the rapid-fire cues in a very short timeframe, while Coote provided the “live ears” on site. Matt Waltho was the PA technician, and Stuart McPartland was busy keeping on top of nearly fifty radio mics. The micing up process started at least two hours before each show.
“There were so many elements of this show that were non-standard, different and challenging”, comments Coote in summation. “The layout, the scale, the amount of radio mics involved, the location, the elements - and while our previous experience very much helped our approach and audio treatment in Myrtle Park, we still gained more knowledge in dealing with all aspects.”
(Photos: Bradford 2025/James Glossop/Pete Malkin/Tube UK)
PWS supports Snoop Dogg for NFL Christmas Day broadcast
Professional Wireless Systems (PWS) supplied comprehensive wireless and RF support for “Snoop’s Holiday Halftime Party”, headlined by Snoop Dogg during the Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings game on December 25, 2025. The halftime show, which also featured Lainey Wilson and K-Pop Demon Hunters, as well as Andrea and Matteo Bocelli, was streamed live globally on Netflix from U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
PWS worked in collaboration with ATK/Clair, the event’s audio provider, delivering a fully integrated wireless package and on-site RF coordination to ensure seamless audio performance for the NFL halftime production. The equipment deployment included Shure Axient Digital wireless systems using Quadversity mode, Shure in-ear monitors, Wisycom RF-over-Fiber (RFoF) and a combination of PWS-supplied TS Helical antennas, directional antennas and a newly developed LT Helical antenna, which was evaluated during the event in preparation for implementation at the upcoming Super Bowl in Santa Clara.
“Our role was to make sure the wireless environment was rock solid from rehearsals through the live broadcast”, says Jim Van Winkle, General Manager at Professional Wireless Systems. “With a global audience watching on Netflix and the stakes that come with an NFL Christmas Day game, reliability and RF discipline were absolutely critical.”
PWS supported the production with four RF technicians on site, including Jim Van Winkle, with Cameron Stuckey serving in a lead RF role, alongside senior RF technicians Kasey Gchachu and Kevin Lu. Most of the team has previously supported multiple Super Bowl halftime shows.
“Compared to some of the more complex halftime productions we’ve done, this was a straightforward setup”, adds Van Winkle. “The entertainment was positioned in the middle of the field, so there were no unusual coverage zones. We designed and deployed a clean four-corner RF setup that gave us consistent, predictable performance across the field.”
As part of the deployment, PWS utilized it’s new LT Helical antenna. Positioned on an upper concourse level within U.S. Bank Stadium, the LT Helical provided extended reach and additional spatial coverage alongside the field-level antennas.
(Photos: PWS)
Avolites D9 selected for “Carols by Candlelight” broadcast
Lighting designer Daniel Saveski, the current head of lighting for Australia’s Channel 9 (GTV9), used an Avolites D9 console (with a D7 for backup) to light the broadcaster’s “Carols by Candlelight” Christmas special. The event has been an annual Australian tradition since 1938, staged this time at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne.
Owned and co-ordinated by Vision Australia, a national non-profit organisation providing services for those with blindness and low vision, “Carols by Candlelight” is their largest annual fundraiser and is produced and broadcast by the Nine Network. Saveski has worked on the event for the last nine years in different lighting related roles, and this was the second year he has been the lighting designer.
Saveski had initially rediscovered Avolites and the D9 during the Covid lockdowns, although at that stage there were no D9s available in Australia. After Avolites became a Robe Business in late 2023 and LSC Control Systems became the new official distributor, his interest was renewed and he started actively looking at the brand and its products, especially the D9.
LSC and Avolites business development manager Clare Springett introduced Saveski to the T3 console, and he immediately purchased one. For the 2025 “Carols” event, he used the D9 to control a lighting rig comprising 65 Ayrton Rivale Profile moving lights, three Ayrton Domino LTs running on a remote Ground Control system for follow spots, together with 21 GLP Impression X4s and fifty Impression X4 XL wash lights, 24 ACME Tornados, 46 ACME Pixel Line IPs, fourteen Martin Mac Aura XIPs, twenty ShowPro Fusion Wash 48s and eight Claypaky Scenius Unicos.
On top of that were Creamsource and Creamsource Mini LED soft lights, twelve CK ColorBlast 12 TRs, twelve ETC LED PARs, seventeen sections of Starcloth drape, together with several hundred metres of LED festoon and LED tape around the set. All lighting equipment for the event was supplied by PRG. The set was designed and built several years ago and is stored and maintained by Nine Network’s staging department.
In addition to the lighting, a large upstage LED screen handled a variety of visual content. The set design further enabled Saveski to incorporate ROE Visual CB3 panels into the set of windows on the left and right stage wings and the “rosette” in the centre of the scenic pros arch, as well as the mid stage low fence in front of the house band. These were all supplied by CT Australia. Saveski also included a roof feature in the design, made up of ROE Vanish that was not visible from the front, but added depth and visual interest from the low and upward angled camera shots.
Beyond the technicalities, “Carols by Candlelight” is a special project with enormous meaning for Saveski, and together with all involved, he is hugely proud to be part of delivering it. “It is also a cherished yearly reunion with my crew ‘family’, and the show carries a profound weight as so many Australians are watching with their friends and loved ones, and our work is bringing smiles to children’s faces nationwide”, he states. All the money raised goes towards supporting specialist services for children who are blind or have low vision.
Working closely with Saveski on the 2025 edition were lighting directors Lynden Gare and Hamish Lee and screens director Matt Jones. Saveski adds he has already slated Avolite’s D7-330 and D7-215 consoles to run the 2026 Australian Open broadcast.
(Photos: Clare Springett)
Leverkusener Jazztage 2025 mit neuem Beschallungskonzept von dBTechnologies
Für die 46. Ausgabe der Leverkusener Jazztage setzten die Veranstalter im Forum Leverkusen erstmals ein neu entwickeltes Beschallungskonzept mit Audiotechnik von dBTechnologies um, das den besonderen akustischen Anforderungen dieses Venues Rechnung trägt.
Zum Einsatz kam ein für das Event neu geplantes Vio-System von dBTechnologies. Ziel war es, die komplexen Raumproportionen des Forums mit seiner ausgeprägten Asymmetrie, reflektierenden Oberflächen und unterschiedlichen Tiefenverhältnissen zu berücksichtigen und eine gleichmäßige, transparente Beschallung für alle Publikumsbereiche zu erreichen.
„Ein wesentlicher Vorteil der Vio-Serie ist der durchgängig identische akustische Charakter aller Systeme“, erklärt Jochen Gotzen, Technical Director bei dBTechnologies. „Das ermöglicht es, verschiedene Systeme flexibel zu kombinieren und einfach an die jeweilige Raumsituation anzupassen, ohne klangliche Dysbalancen zu erzeugen. Für das Forum Leverkusen haben wir uns bewusst dazu entschieden, das System über eine Rigginglösung zu fliegen, um die akustische Energie gezielt auf das Publikum zu richten und reflektierende Flächen möglichst wenig anzuregen.“
Die Hauptbeschallung bestand aus geflogenen Vio-L1610-Line-Array-Modulen, die über PA-Tower rechts und links der Bühne platziert wurden. Ergänzt wurden die L1610-Einheiten durch weitere Lautsprecher der Vio-Serie zur Abdeckung von Nahfeldern, Rand- und Sonderbereichen, darunter X206 und X310. Für den Tieftonbereich kamen Vio-S218-Subwoofer in einer cardioiden Anordnung zum Einsatz. Die gesamte Systemsteuerung, Überwachung und Feinabstimmung erfolgte über Aurora Net.
„Das Zusammenspiel aus aktiven Systemen und Aurora Net hat hier perfekt funktioniert“, sagt Gotzen. „Alle Lautsprecher waren netzwerkbasiert angebunden, jeder verfügt über einen eigenen DSP, und die Phasenlage innerhalb der Vio-Familie ist identisch. Dadurch lassen sich Übergänge zwischen Hauptsystem, Nahfeld und Outfills sauber realisieren - für das Publikum entsteht so der Eindruck einer einzigen, homogenen Schallquelle.“
Auch auf der Bühne kam Technik aus der Vio-Familie zum Einsatz. Als Bühnenmonitore wurden koaxiale W12 und W15-Wedges verwendet, ergänzt durch Vio-S118-Subwoofer für ausgewählte Positionen. Für die Sidefill-Abdeckung wurden zusätzlich eng abstrahlende Modelle der C-Serie eingesetzt, um Übersprechen ins Publikum zu minimieren.
(Fotos: dBTechnologies/Sascha Gansen)
All IP65-rated Chauvet rig for Hamilton County Fair
Aside from its colorful attractions and lively entertainment schedule, headlined this year by Diamond Rio, the Hamilton County Fair - a three-day event held at the eastern edge of the Cumberland Plateau - offers visitors spectacular views.
But with those mountain vistas comes some uncertain weather, especially as fall moves toward winter. Therefore, Justin Casey and his team at Helm Projects outfitted their 40 by 40 stage with a 100-percent IP65 rated rig consisting of Chauvet Professional fixtures.
When Diamond Rio took the stage, their lighting designer, Willis Underhill, set the tone sending fast-moving splashes of yellow and purple across the stage. He turned things down for soft songs like “You’re Gone”, bathing the stage in deep monochromatic blue, and picked up the tempo with eye candy effects for songs like “Norma Jean Riley”.
Helping Underhill - as well as the Helm Projects team members who lit the supporting acts - create this variety of looks were 36 Chauvet Professional fixtures including sixteen Maverick Storm 2 Profiles, twelve Maverick Storm 2 BeamWashes, four Strike Array 4 blinders, and four Color Strike M motorized wash-blinders.
(Photos: Chauvet Professional)
ADJ transforms USS Midway into a festive winter wonderland for “Jingle Jets 2025”
Flashback Lighting/Innovative Presentations of San Diego, California, was recently responsible for illuminating one of the city’s USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum, for its third annual “Jingle Jets” holiday event. Utilizing a variety of ADJ luminaires, including Hydro Profile moving heads as well as static Encore LP32 IP and 7PZ IP washes, the ship was completely transformed with swathes of color and moving gobo projections.
Running on select nights from November 28 through December 30, 2025, “Jingle Jets” delivered lighting displays, festive performances, and seasonal cheer for the whole family - all set against the backdrop of a historic aircraft carrier. With guests exploring multiple decks, including the expansive flight deck, the lighting design needed to be both visually impactful and robust enough to withstand the challenges of a large-scale outdoor environment.
“We were tasked with transforming the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum into a full winter wonderland of color”, says Matt Short, Executive Lighting Director at Flashback Lighting/Innovative Presentations. “To bring this vision to life, we deployed more than 140 ADJ and Elation lighting instruments and control components across two decks, including the 4-acre flight deck.”
To bathe the vast exterior spaces in color, the team turned to ADJ’s IP65-rated fixtures. A combination of twenty Encore LP32 IP and twenty 7PZ IP LED-powered wash lights were used to flood the flight deck with vibrant hues. Adding a layer of festive detail, 22 ADJ Hydro Profile automated luminaires were used to project custom snowflake gobos across the deck and onto the ship’s bridge, helping to reinforce the winter theme while highlighting the carrier’s architecture. On the lower deck, where fixtures were sheltered from weather conditions, 22 ADJ Focus Profile automated luminaires were deployed to provide additional color accents and gobo pattern projections.
Control for the entire lighting system was handled by an NX2 console from ADJ’s sister company Obsidian Control Systems. To distribute DMX across the aircraft carrier’s main deck, the team utilized the new Aria X2 wireless control protocol. Seven IP65-rated Aria X2 IPC transceivers were strategically positioned across the deck, ensuring wireless signal distribution to clusters of fixtures spread over the 4-acre space.
Additionally, 37 Elation Arena Par Zoom and ten Elation Satura Spot CMY Pro fixtures, as well as two EN12s, two EN6 IPs and an RDM6 IP from Obsidian Control Systems, were used for the “Jingle Jets” event.
(Photos: ADJ Lighting/USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum)
www.flashbackstagelighting.com
“Christmas for the Cause” supported by Illuminated Productions and Obsidian Control Systems
The sixth annual “Christmas for the Cause” fundraiser, auction, and concert transformed Eric Thompson’s Barn in Carrollton, Georgia, into a festival-style live music experience, powered by Illuminated Productions and driven by Obsidian Control Systems technology.
The sold-out event, which benefits families in the Carroll County community facing hardship during the holiday season, featured five full bands and a national headliner, Lonestar. Illuminated Productions (IP), a Carrollton-based audio, video, and lighting production company, served as the event’s complete AV and stage provider.
“Christmas for the Cause” began six years ago as a grassroots effort among friends and has since grown into a non-profit organization delivering presents, meals, and “Christmas miracles” to local families in need. As the event expanded over the past few years, the need for a professional AV company became clear.
For IP President and CEO Chris Dunson, who has previously worked with “Christmas for the Cause”, the event is special. “There are many children in our county that may not have a Christmas due to no fault of their own”, he says. “I wanted to make sure that we at IP were able to push that goal of helping as many kids as possible with this event.” He adds that they were fortunate to be able to give a third of the production cost back to the community.
IP was tasked with building the production infrastructure, including stage design, logistics, artist advancements, and more, and can call on several lighting directors whenever a show demands something beyond the ordinary. “With this event, it was no question who I wanted to bring in to design and implement the vision we had for the stage”, shares Dunson. “Daniel Boerner has been a great asset with IP for years, designing lighting and running multiple programs over the years. Daniel’s knowledge, vision, and calm demeanor make him a first choice in high-stress situations.”
Boerner served as lighting designer and programmer for the house lighting package, programming and running the show on an Obsidian Control Systems NX4 console, supported by Netron networking hardware - two Netron NS8 IP66-rated outdoor network switches, and a Netron EN6 IP Art-Net/sACN-to-DMX gateway. “The NX4 and Onyx platform was great for this type of event because of the ability to quickly get a punt/busking file going by utilizing Dylos”, says Boerner. “By pre-programming presets like color, position, beam, and intensity, I was able to use Dylos mapping to create unique effects on the fly. It has changed my workflow for the better. In a festival-style event like this, there isn’t a lot of time.”
“Daniel did a fantastic job running lighting for all of the opening bands and assisting Lonestar’s LD with integration with our existing fixtures”, notes Dunson. In addition to his role as LD for the event, Boerner serves as Technical Support and Training Specialist at Obsidian Control Systems.
(Photos: Obsidian Control Systems)
Jack Thomas makes moods with Chauvet on Story of the Year/Senses Fail tour
Senses Fail and Story of the Year’s 19-city coheadline “Scream Team” tour concluded December 13, 2025, at the Riverside Auditorium. Lighting design for the shows was by Jack Thomas, who avoided “typical strobes” and video walls and relied on the use of dark space and changes in brightness levels to convey the mood of the music.
Thomas sometimes angled his light sharply downward, creating pools of monochromatic brightness against a sea of darkness. At other times, he covered the stage with crossing beams of light. Relying on changes like these, he created a flow of varied looks for the two bands. “I’m very grateful that Ross Landis (tour manager) entrusted me with this”, says Thomas. “It gave me the opportunity to stretch my creativity. I designed, programmed, and ran lights for Story of the Year and Senses Fail on the tour, working with Mike Null on putting together the floor package supplied by Allen Deneau at Bandit Lites.”
With limited stage space and fixed lighting in set carts, there was no “wiggle room” for physical changes in the rig from one band to the other. “I just programmed each song with intent to convey its energy visually from dark subtle bridges to exciting choruses with lots of motion and intensity”, continues Thomas. “Since I’ve never been one to use a lot of conventional ‘strobes’, I sprinkled them in here and there tastefully during peak energy moments. Otherwise, I liked to strobe different groups of fixtures throughout the rig creating depth and layers.“
Thomas used twelve Colorado Solo Battens and nine Strike Array 2 fixtures from Chauvet Professional, all of which were used at times to create strobing effects. He also relied on his high output battens to light the band, positioning four units downstage and an equal number mid-stage for side lighting; the two other Solo Battens flanked the 8-foot by 18-foot drum riser.
The Strike Array 2 fixtures in Thomas’ rig served multiple purposes in his design. Arranged in three 8-foot sections behind the drum riser, the fixtures delivered bursts of brightness during explosive moments and contributed to crowd lighting for the show’s many singalongs. Mostly, though, they provided warm backlighting to embrace Senses Fail and Story of the Year on stage.
(Photos: connorlazmedia)
Snow machines and lighting fixtures from ADJ support Paramount tree lighting celebration
For the fourth consecutive year, the Californian city of Paramount’s annual tree lighting celebration was brought to life by the production team at Ambient Pro, LLC. Once again transforming a section of Paramount Boulevard into a festive community gathering space, the event combined live performances, seasonal spectacle, and a dramatic lighting reveal, all supported by ADJ lighting and atmospheric solutions.
Ambient Pro used ADJ luminaires and effects to illuminate the main stage and create a magical moment when the city’s Christmas tree was officially lit. With Ambient Pro principal Victor Nava serving as Project Manager, the production continued to evolve, scaling up both creatively and technically to deliver an immersive experience for the thousands of local residents who attended.
A defining highlight of the celebration came at the moment the tree lights were switched on, as a flurry of artificial snow filled the air above the crowd. ADJ Entour Snow machines were tasked with delivering this effect; sixteen of the snow generators - double the number used the previous year - were mounted to the main stage as well as truss pillars dispersed throughout the audience area along Paramount Boulevard. The increased coverage allowed Ambient Pro to create a more immersive snowfall, enveloping the crowd and ensuring the effect reached every corner of the closed-off thoroughfare.
Among Ambient Pro’s more recent investments are two ADJ Entourage touring-grade haze machines, which made their debut at this year’s tree lighting celebration. Positioned at either side of the stage, these atmospheric generators were used to create a thin, even haze that allowed lighting beams and aerial effects to remain visible in the open-air environment.
Lighting for the event was centered around a moving-light rig designed to deliver everything from bold aerial effects to detailed gobo projections and washes. A floor-standing truss structure enclosed the stage, which was used to rig the lighting fixtures both in front of and behind the performers on stage.
Six ADJ Focus Spot 6Z automated luminaires were installed across the downstage truss, where they were predominantly used to generate dynamic aerial beams shooting out into the audience. Complementing these, six Focus Spot 7Z fixtures were positioned along the upstage truss, tasked with filling the stage with beams, textures, and gobo projections that added visual depth throughout the performances.
Additional visual impact came from four ADJ Jolt Panel FXIP fixtures, which provided punchy strobe hits, color washes, and eye-candy effects on stage. Meanwhile, four Focus Wash 400 automated wash luminaires were used to deliver smooth, even illumination on the performers.
With a large site footprint and multiple lighting and effects zones, wireless DMX played a crucial role in simplifying setup and maintaining reliability. An Aria X2 Bridge connected directly to the lighting console transmitted DMX wirelessly to fixtures on stage that feature integrated Aria X2 transceivers, including the Focus Spot 7Z and Jolt Panel FX units. These fixtures then served as distribution points, feeding hard-wired DMX to other luminaires without built-in wireless capability.
To manage control reliably across such a large area, Victor Nava opted to run the snow machines on a separate DMX system to eliminate any risk of accidental triggering during the show. Three additional Aria X2 Bridges were used exclusively for snow control, with one unit transmitting wirelessly from FOH to receivers positioned within the audience area. From there, hard-wired connections distributed DMX to the Entour Snow machines located both at the front and rear of the crowd space. Nava and his crew arrived on site at 9 a.m. to begin building the event and didn’t leave until 1 a.m. the following morning.
(Photos: April Espinoza)
Austin Zangi reflects span of Seether’s music on tour with ChamSys
South African rock band Seether’s 24-city coheadline tour with Daughtry, which concluded November 15, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, was supported by an Austin Zangi lightshow run on a ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M Stadium console.
“All of the songs have their own feel and vibe”, says Zangi, who programmed his cue stacked show on the MQ250M using Capture as his visualizer. “My initial setlist and design was to build the show up gradually, using more lights as things progressed”, he shares. Zangi immersed the stage with deep shadowy looks. “My artists like dark and moody”, he says. “So, I tried to keep it on the darker side throughout the show only accenting certain parts such as the solos and core interaction moments with the fans.”
When he accented those moments, Zangi held nothing back, unleashing some nuclear backlighting often in intense monochromatic palettes, silhouetting the performers on stage. “I used silhouettes in a lot of the intros, breakdowns and endings as my singer prefers this compared to having front light”, he explains. “It just takes the attention more away from the individual band members and allows the audience to enjoy the music. There is quite a bit of improvised parts in some songs, and the band is just grooving during these. My monochromatic palettes were added in the last few days of programming after getting inspiration from other designers.”
Although most of his 44-universe show was cue stacked, Zangi did busk at points during some songs. “There was no click or tracks, just an authentic rock and roll show”, he concludes.
(Photos: ChamSys)
DPA’s N-Series and D:facto capture Shelby J. performances at The Epicurus
Copenhagen’s jazz gastropub The Epicurus presents exclusive performances curated by jazz pianist and producer Sir Niels Lan Doky. Featuring internationally acclaimed musicians, the project blends original compositions, jazz classics and transformed pop hits.
The venue is equipped with solutions from DPA Microphones, including the new N-Series digital wireless system and the D:facto 4018 V vocal microphone. The Epicurus recently hosted American singer/songwriter Shelby J., best known for her work with Prince, in a 25-show, four-week residency, which represented an ideal stress test for the system.
“Shelby’s voice is exceptionally powerful, dynamic and nuanced”, explains Audio Engineer Frank Goldberg. “Her high energy and movement - including venturing into the audience, directly in front of the Meyer Sound mains - placed certain demands on the microphone system. The combination of the N-Series and D:facto delivered far beyond our expectations.”
Even as the artist wove through tables and leaned into audience members, the DPA N-Series system maintained its stability, according to Goldberg: “The RF signal remained rock-steady across all 25 shows, regardless of how many audience members separated Shelby from the N-Series receiver. Even with Shelby often directly in front of the PA system, feedback was completely managed with only sparse EQ. It was simple: a high-pass filter at 80 Hz and no surgical EQ (cuts or boosts) were required in the critical mid- and high-mid-frequencies to suppress feedback or achieve clarity.”
In a world where wireless systems often require daily tweaks, especially in dense, urban RF environments like Copenhagen City Center, Goldberg was surprised by the consistency of the N-Series: “We set the system once and didn’t touch the settings for the entire four weeks”, he says.
(Photos: DPA Microphones/The Epicurus)
