Lighting ‘Bee Week’ – also for the first time – was John Viesta, invited by executive producer Michael Davies, who wanted to ramp up the intellectualism and intensity of the event, transforming it from a spelling competition to prime time TV edutainment, complete with more tension, suspense, and theatrical drama.

John has recently become a fan of Robe products, especially iFORTES for key lighting. Having used them on last year’s BravoCon Live with Andy Cohen show in Las Vegas, delighted with the results, he again specified iFORTES, adding 90 to the lighting plot for this show, together with 75 Robe iSpiiders, plus some other fixtures, all delivered by rental vendor Main Light.

This more gameshow style of Bee Week presentation was directed by Michael Dempsey and inspired by bringing a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? vibe to the grand finale. The event and production have been getting increasingly sophisticated and refined in recent years, and in 2025, it celebrated its centenary.

John worked closely with the creative team, including set designer Bruce Ryan, and the scenic fabrication crew from Legacy Scenic, as the production staging was installed in the venue’s presentation hall space.

John’s two favourite key phrases for this project were ‘prime time vibe’ and ‘specificity’ and all his lighting concepts were based around these.

The iFORTES and iSpiiders were used to light the contestants, set and audience, with the iFORTES delivering all the key lighting and specials.

“After using iFORTES in Las Vegas, I really felt that we had unlocked a new formula for TV – they are simply GREAT lights,” he enthused, adding that throughout the whole Bee Week, the iFORTES functioned faultlessly.

It was a very large room and once the lights were rigged on the overhead trusses, they were not easy to access, so reliability was an asset.

John had not used iSpiiders before, but for this show, he needed quantities of good-quality wash lights, and Main Light had these available.

Their primary job was to light the audience, which contained lots of parents, relatives and friends of the contestants, all of whom were very invested in the action unfolding onstage as the young spellers demonstrated their impressive brainpower.

“I was pleasantly surprised at the power of the iSpiiders,” admitted John, adding that he only had to run them at 20% to get the required nice even audience and set washes in different shades.

He also appreciated that the iSpiiders can be pixel mapped, and are “great for commercial bumpers” as well as for some slow, very subtle undulating texturing and movement.

An absolute key to finding the right aesthetic for Bee Week was unleashing that bit of prime-time razzamatazz, but without making it distracting – effectively a perfect balance, so the viewers got excited, but the spellers also remained fully focused on their task in hand.

The constant interaction between the spellers and the judges also needed to be captured for TV, and here John explained that the high CRI and the shutters of the iFORTE were ideal for repeatability, enabling the framing of people with attractive soft pools of controlled light.

John hugely enjoyed being part of the process of transforming the Spelling Bee final into this more dynamic and invigorating environment, commenting that he, Michael Davies and Michael Dempsey were all very much aligned in the vision and storytelling of the project.

“I absolutely loved the experience,” John declared, “In fact it’s become my favorite show of the year to light so far!” Furthermore, he appreciated the educational aspect, learning some cool words that he didn’t realize existed!

John worked alongside lighting director Tyler M. Perry, lighting programmer Bob Going, supervising gaffer John Salzmann, gaffers Tom Thayer, Eric Kasprisin and Nkosi Mason, head production rigger Shawn Robinson and production rigger Nick Fedeli.

The 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee was won by 14-year-old Shrey Parikh from San Bernardino, California, following the third Spell-off in Bee history. He correctly spelled 32 words, a new record for the Spell-off. His winning word was “bromocriptine,” a polypeptidealkaloid derivative of ergot that mimics the activity of dopamine!

Photo credit: E. M. Pio Roda for Scripps National Spelling Bee.

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Adding to the dynamism of Bruno’s energetic, high-octane 30-song show are 212 Ayrton Rivale Profiles and 40 Ayrton Veloce Profile fixtures, chosen by lighting designer Whitney Hoversten in a very stringent selection process: “A tremendous amount of thought went into the fixture choices,” he explains. “It’s all about having the right products to do the job the artist wants, and Bruno is very clear about how he wants the show to look and feel.”

Whitney knows better than most about the wishes of Bruno as he has worked with him for over 10 years, and it is a collaboration that shines through in his lighting design. Whitney’s intimate knowledge of Bruno’s music forms a powerful synergy, with every beat and nuance highlighted in light until it manifests as an extension of Bruno’s voice and dance moves, becoming an additional instrument and another dancer as active as the adept artist himself. Dynamic and fast moving and rarely still until the softer numbers, the lighting rig had to be as adaptable as the performer and the music.

“We had the tricky task of devising a completely new rig that would be ready for anything, capable of expanding on old looks for the back catalogue and creating fresh new ones for the new numbers, many of which were created during rehearsals,” explains Whitney. “It was a fast and organic process and we needed a Swiss Army Knife of a fixture to be sure we had all the tools to deliver everything that would serve Bruno needs.” 

Working closely with production manager, Joel Foreman, and the lighting team, Whitney developed and streamlined the lighting elements, integrating them into the set design.

The Romantic set is a highly mobile configuration comprising ten rotating truss pillars each rigged with 14 Rivale Profiles, six of which track on and off stage behind Bruno, and four non-tracking rotators that flank him either side of the stage. Two mini ladders – half size copies of the rotators – are located in downstage positions and rigged with 7 Rivale Profiles. The set is constantly on the move, reshaping the performance space, continually keeping Bruno in the best light and following his movements like another performer in the troop.

Overhead, a circular video screen – named the Puck – is outlined with 10 Rivale Profiles and 4 circular dynamic pods carry 12 Rivale Profiles on each. These change the shape of the performance space, provide dramatic surround lighting for drum solos, a multiplicity of aerial beam looks and an additional layer of texture and depth. Upstage of the video wall are 40 Veloce Profiles on ladders, spaced to mimic the rotators in front of them. These do everything the Rivales do, but with the added punch to get through the screen and augment the video content without revealing the lights behind or washing out the content.

The result completely surrounds and backs Bruno within the proscenium area with active Ayrton fixtures integrated into the moving set. Whitney’s lighting determines the shifting ambience, keeping pace with Bruno as his music transitions from ballads and soulful grooves to retro-funk and rock.

“The Ayrton fixtures are a very dynamic part of our design,” states Whitney. “We are using the majority of the feature sets: a lot of songs use gobos and animation wheels and we love all the gobos in them. You need big bold looks for stadiums, so we often use them open with narrow or wide beams, plus there’s a lot of dimmer effects and strobing. We even introduce the prisms at times – I doubt there is a feature in them that we are not using!”

Expanding on his criteria for choosing Rivale and Veloce Profiles, Whitney says: “I’ve used Ayrton many time before but this is the first time I’ve used Rivale and Veloce. All our lighting choices were grounded in what was the best for the show, and gave us the most options. Weight and size were a huge consideration because of the size of the set, wind rating at the outdoor venues, and the dynamic load from the number of moving elements. One of the most difficult engineering projects was the Puck that tracks up and down stage, and lowers to a vertical position with the weight hanging on just a couple of points. Rivale’s light weight at 30.8kg and compact size fitted the bill as well as the set, and were a major factor in our decision.

“One of the main feature sets that I love most is the continuous pan and tilt that comes in so many of the Ayrton fixtures, including both Rivale and Veloce. That whittled down a lot of the options and fitted exactly with the kind of visuals we were aiming for.

“We needed lights that have enough horsepower for stadiums, and I was very particular about the aperture size and the front of the fixture: Rivale’s large lens is signature to the look and functionality of the pillars and the lighting pods. One show in Toronto had virtually no haze because of the strength of the wind, yet the show still looked fantastic because you could still see the effect of the light when it was doing its dimmer chases, hits etc. I attribute that to that big source on the front of Rivale and the intensity it brings for stadiums.

“Rivale has so many features and options which really impressed me, but it’s also a really good quality light for lighting the performers! It is so versatile: I can switch from beams to graphics to spinning movements in a moment, then instantly transform it into a lightsource for the artist or band members with all the subtlety and colour mixing that entails. It’s a very flattering lightsource for the human body. It’s a great tool and the Swiss Army Knife we were looking for.”

Whitney also liked the fact Ayrton has a large, medium and small option in each fixture range – Veloce, Rivale and Stradale in this case. “It gives you the ultimate flexibility and uniformity of choice,” he says. “The reason we have the 40 Veloces behind the video wall is they have the exact same features at Rivale. It was a great opportunity to combine the extra foot candles of Veloce with the exact same feature set as Rivale, giving us more punch to get through the video wall when needed.

“We’ve ended up with a show that looks and feels massive and I’m super-happy,” he concludes. “Bruno was intensely involved in the whole creative process, sitting for 14 hours a day for 2.5 weeks with the programmers, articulating just how things look like in his mind as he wrote the music, what he wants it to feel like when he is performing on stage and translate across to the audience. He was so thrilled with the tools we had in the tool box and what they could do. It was such a fun process to help him put this show together and he is very happy with how things turned out. I really love the show that we have and are delivering to the world.”

The Ayrton fixtures were supplied by the tour’s lighting vendor and long-time collaborator with the Bruno Mars camp, Fuse Technical Group. “The team at Fuse has supplied Bruno’s lighting for as long as they have existed as a company,” says Whitney. “The support we receive from them is so important – they are always there to jump in to solve any problems that might arise. We’ve had virtually the same, exceptionally dedicated, lighting crew for ten years who are so committed to delivering a perfect show every night.  We’ve all been working together for a long time now and it’s a well-oiled machine!”

“Providing the lighting for a Bruno Mars tour is about much more than putting fixtures in the air—it’s about creating an unforgettable experience that matches Bruno’s incredible musicianship and stage presence,” says senior account handler, Kevin Forster, who also gives a special shout out to Angelo Viacava for putting the tour together. “At Fuse Technical Group, we’re proud to deliver world-class lighting systems and crews that help bring one of the world’s biggest live productions to life, night after night. When you’re supporting a tour of this scale and success, there’s no room for compromise.”

Ayrton is distributed in the United Kingdom and North America by its network of exclusive distributors.

Credits
Lighting Designer: Whitney Hoversten
Lighting Programmer: Brian Jenkins
Lighting Programmer: Eric Marchwinski
Lighting Crew Chief: Jorge “Soline” Velazquez
FOH Tech: Dominic “Dom” Hickman
Network Tech / Spot Tech: Thomas “Poje” Poje
SR Dimmer Tech: Ryan Lecomte
SL Dimmer Tech: Andrew Romoff
LX Stage Tech: Bryson Williams
LX Stage Tech: Paul Mundrick
LX Stage Tech: Juan “Tony” Velasquez
LX Stage Tech: Michael “Mikey” Kitts
LX Stage Tech: Jeremy Dehn
LX Delay Tech: Christopher Lanning
LX Delay Tech: Christopher “Feo” Oliva
LX Delay Tech: Timothy Moore
LX Delay Tech: Jose Martinez
Production Manager: Joel Forman
Stage Manager: Brian Bassham
Head Rigger: James Harrelson
Video Director: Steve Fatone
Media Server Programmer: Gabrielle Martineau
Tour Media Server Operator: Xavier Bégin-Leblanc
Laser Programmer / Operator: Eric Taylor
Pyro Shooter: Gregg Pearson
Automation Operator: Joel Grover
Lighting Company: FUSE Technical Group
Sound: Clair Global
Pyro/FX Company: Pyrotek
Staging & Automation : TAIT
Video: Nighthawk
Media Servers : VYV
Rigging: Five Points Productions
Trucking: Upstaging
Design Support and Previz: Early Bird Visual
Photography: Daniel Ramos.

The post Whitney Hoversten dials up the dynamism of Bruno Mars’ The Romantic Tour with Ayrton Rivale and Veloce Profiles appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.

The festival, which started in 2024 and is growing and developing each year, was staged in the gardens of the majestic and beautiful 11^th-century Château de Grillemont at La Chapelle-Blanche, south of Tours in France’s Indre-et-Loire region – a perfect summer environment for hosting the “Island of DJs”.

Loic worked closely with Corentin Poirier, the festival’s creative & executive director and founder, who designed the Maatea Stage’s dramatic scenography, based on a tall LED screen setup, which, together with the lighting, was based on the imaginative thematic concept of fire and rock, with the goal of creating a striking contrast between day and night atmospherics.

During the day, the need was for subtle lighting to highlight the depth and overall scenic texture created by the careful blending of stage and lighting designs, allowing the stage geography to stand out.

At night, the stage was transformed into a completely different space by the GigaPointe beams and their powerful and spectacular effects. The fixtures were installed in six vertical columns of eight fixtures, equidistantly spanning the stage and delivering a hugely impactful look and atmosphere, with video content featuring erupting volcanoes “reinforcing the visual universe,” explained Loic.

Loic stated that the organisers sought something unique and different in this design: “The main challenge was to create this new and different world, one that broke from a typical EDM festival stage design, looked distinctive and individual while still following a defined theme.”

This is the second time Loic – a lighting professional with 10 years’ experience – has lit this event, and the second time he had used Robe’s amazing, new, highly dynamic GigaPointe fixture, officially launched in February at the ISE 2026 Expo.

Tours-based rental company Multi Scéni – the lighting, audio and video equipment supplier to this event – has recently made this investment in GigaPointes, which were delivered by Robe France.

Loic has been an enthusiastic long-time user of Robe’s MegaPointe fixtures in his designs – choosing the fixtures for their versatility and scope. So, when he knew the GigaPointe would be available for this event, “it naturally stood out as the ideal choice!”

He comments on the GigaPointe’s “extremely powerful” laser source output, which “ensured that we could make a strong visual impact even over long distances.” He also appreciates its speed of movement, as well as the excellent array of new gobo and prism effects, which can be used to imagine a myriad of cool looks and scenes onstage.

One of the most important things for designing and programming EDM shows is to have a vast choice of distinctive looks – so the audience does not start seeing repeated scenes throughout the event… and this is exactly what GigaPointe offers.

The layout of the six columns of GigaPointes was instrumental to utilising the entirety of the stage dimensions – both horizontally and vertically – a geometric harmony that provided a balanced visual presence of all elements, with the fixtures a natural integrator/interpreter between the scenic fabrics and video surfaces.

Loic enjoyed many features of the GigaPointe, commenting that “the integrated rotating bar is particularly interesting, as it offers so many highly dynamic effects possibilities,” together with all the other features making it a potent, contemporary multi-purpose fixture ideal for all types of shows and events.

The festival’s logo, installed at the top of the structure, was also highlighted with two Robe iFORTES – rigged on the Layher structure – and another two iFORTES were used to front light the artists. iFORTE was chosen for this because it is a powerful fixture with excellent framing shutters and therefore perfect to pick out the detail of the 12-metre-wide logo, which was positioned 14 metres up on the structure.

Two Maatea Stage artists – Timmy Trumpet and Trym – brought their own lighting operators this year, who also appreciated the GigaPointes, and the rest were all lit by Loic and his team, including colleague lighting operator Lucas Bussy. They worked closely with video operator Bastien Sierakowski and SFX operator Paul Dubertrand under the project management of Charlène Rodrigues.

Loic regularly notes that Robe’s product range covers multiple applications – live shows, events and concerts or architectural lighting. “I always find a suitable solution using Robe,” he states, adding that the fixtures are reliable, high-performance, and versatile tools “consistently meeting the demands of our projects.”

Photo credit: Your Wolf Agency.

The post Moorea Festival Goes Giga with Robe appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.

Lighting designer, Ben Sassoon, has lit many of them, but this is his first time using Ayrton Diablo fixtures, which he specified after seeing lighting designer, David Howe’s, use of them on the West End production of A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong. This is also his first time working with Sparks Theatrical Hire which supplied nine of the compact Ayrton units as the show’s workhorse fixtures. “Sparks’ customer service is outstanding,” says Ben. “They have an incredible passion for theatre, and Paul Anderson is amazing. They have been true collaborators for us. As a non-profit organisation we don’t operate the same way as other productions but they were so helpful – they literally made miracles happen!”

Sister Act is set in the 1970s, and focuses on Dolores, a club singer who goes into police hiding in a failing nunnery, disguised as a nun, which she saves by the power of music, reinvigorating its choir to sing her style of soul disco music, and thus saving the church from financial ruin. This gives the lighting designer plenty of scope to play with the juxtaposition between dingy environments within a penniless nunnery and the colourful fantasy world of disco.

“I needed a fixture that was versatile enough to do all these things, but I didn’t have a lot of space or weight available to me,” says Ben. “The show has a lot of flying pieces, and the weight allowance on the bars was really quite tight, so I needed something that was small, lightweight, but still punchy.

“The theatre’s trim height is relatively low at 6.5m, so the fixture needed to have a really big zoom too. So, when you need something small, lightweight, bright and punchy with a big zoom, I think there’s really only one choice, which is Diablo. These things are amazing. You can literally carry them with one hand!”

Ben rigged seven Diablo over stage for back and high side light, keeping them close together to counter the lack of space, and two front of house for specials and general washes, and for ‘pulling out bits of scenery’.

“The show needed to move between many locations – the street, a club, the church – and moods, so I wanted to have the ability to go from really dingy moments when we first see the impoverished church, to really bright, poppy looks full of saturated colour for the disco fantasy moments,” he says. “To be able to show that big disparity was definitely key to the look I was trying to achieve.

“For the church, we kept to cools and gentle warms, and used the framing shutters on the over-stage Diablos to set the scene. We wanted to make it feel like you were in different locations without it looking repetitive, so being able to use the framing shutters to close in on different areas, make interior rooms and corridors, and really hone into specific areas was quite crucial.

“We also had a custom gobo of a gorgeous rose window made, through Sparks, to enhance the big stained glass rose window located at the back of the set. We put this in the upstage Diablo, which was rigged in a very tight space between two pieces of set, in a super wide focus and it filled the whole stage to give a nice shadowy, atmospheric effect. It was the only fixture that would fit in that space.”

For the disco fantasy moments Ben moved into ‘supersaturated mode’ to transform the vibe into true ‘70s vividness in the most dramatic way. “Diablo’s colours are great and still really bright, even when they’re saturated, which was extremely helpful,” says Ben. “We also used the front-of-house Diablos to project saturated colours onto a mirror ball, enhancing the effect on stage by using the prisms and dot gobos in the on-stage Diablo fixtures. The result was a massive area of light with all those little dots and cool beams across the set and auditorium, taking the mirrorball effect right out into the audience.”

Diablo’s speed was also essential part of Sasoon’s design: “With such a limited rig, the fixtures had to be able to jump between locations at great speed,” he explains. “For one song, Raise Your Voice, the action jumps between a series of quick-change locations in a montage as the nuns learn to sing – the hallway, the choir room, even in the shower – so it was crucial to be able to jump around all those places really quickly. With only nine fixtures, I didn’t have the luxury of a separate light for each location – just the same lights multi-tasking – so Diablo’s ability to make super-fast movements during the dark moments and come up in the right place was paramount.”

Diablo’s quiet operation, despite this being a musical, proved equally important for the quieter moments. “There’s a moment near the end of Act II where, in one of the fantasy dream sequences, the band suddenly stops and the whole stage goes silent, with Dolores in a solo, hard-edge spot from the Diablos. The audience is in close proximity to the fixtures, but you just can’t hear the Diablos at all: no loud fans, just silence, which is exactly what you want in those scenarios.

“The Diablos were definitely my workhorse, and I was very impressed with them. Many of the theatres I work in don’t have the best weight limits or space availability, so being able to pack loads on a bar is very helpful and not something you can do with many other fixtures. Diablo is definitely going to be the fixture I ask for in future.”

Paul Anderson, managing director of Sparks Theatrical Hire, comments: “We invested in Ayrton’s Diablos about four years ago, just as we were emerging from COVID, and they have proved to be very popular ever since. Their compact size is a big factor in their appeal with many of our clients, and what they pack into such a compact unit is staggering.”

Despite their small footprint, the Diablo fixtures deliver an extensive feature set including CMY colour mixing, a colour wheel, iris, shutters, seven rotating gobos, animation wheel, plus an exceptionally impressive zoom range. “I don’t know how they fit everything into such a small unit,” added Anderson “We are always topping up our Diablo stock levels, as we never quite seem to have enough.

“I was thrilled to be able to help Ben Sasoon with ‘Sister Act’ at the John McIntosh Arts Centre, supplying quite a large supplementary rig to complement what the theatre already owned. The lighting states Ben created were absolutely stunning, and I was very proud to play a small part in that.

“For me, it’s all about the relationship with designers, and I hope this is the start of a very fruitful one. The continued expansion of our Diablo inventory reflects growing customer demand for versatile, high-output fixtures capable of delivering premium performance in space-conscious applications.”

Ben was aided by associate lighting designer, Paul Evans, and production electrician, Robbie Bradshaw. “Paul and Robbie were essential to getting the show up and running in the limited amount of time we had available to us,” Sassoon says. “Their incredible support helped us achieve the impossible.”

Photo credit: © Ben Sassoon.

The post Ayrton Diablo takes to the nunnery for Centre Stage London’s Sister Act appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.

The contemporary glazed architectural masterpiece sits on the footprint of the previous 1976 theatre building (which replaced the original one built in 1934), providing a high-production-value performance environment and a cool 21^st-century counterpoint to the city’s historical Cathedral of St. John.

The new venue is a radiant modern entertainment and meeting hub, buzzing with energy and creativity in the heart of this picturesque city.

The Robe moving lights are divided between Theater aan de Parade’s two multi-purpose halls, the 920-seater Casino Hall and the Plein Hall, which accommodates 400 people.

The Robe product count breaks down to 23 T2 Profiles, 83 T1 Profiles, 11 T1 PC, 80 LEDBeam 350s, 3 TX1s, 12 CUETE Spots, 14 Tetra2s, which are used as cyc lighting, and 4 RoboSpot BaseStations with MotionCameras.

All of this was supplied via Robe’s Benelux distributor, Controllux, together with a number of other lights that completed the specification, plus control and networking infrastructure. Controllux’s project and sales lead Kuno van Velzen started work on this installation in 2022.

Theater aan de Parade stages over 300 performances annually from numerous visiting companies, plus an array of festival and business events, explained head of technical, Alphons Verhallen, who oversees a tech crew of 16.

The T1 and T2 Profiles were selected as the “best multispectral profile moving heads on the market,” commented Alphons.

Having a multispectral LED fixture at the core of the house lighting systems – as opposed to a white LED source – was a cornerstone of the lighting tender.

It is a frequent consideration for theatres and performance venues where perfect colour rendition and skin tones are vital. Robe’s additive colour mixing techniques ensure that these fixtures deliver the richest of saturated colours and the most delicate pastel shades, all with theatrical finesse and quality.

Highly flexible CCT control provides another layer of premium-quality whites that are key in lighting theatre, drama and dance pieces.

The T1 and T2 Profiles are located on the lighting bridges and over-stage bars in both halls. Seven of the T1 PCs are rigged on the Casino Hall portal bars and four on LX2 in the Plein Hall, where they are providing good wash capabilities, with the TX1s also used overhead in this space.

The LEDBeam 350s are multi-use fixtures and, among other things, replace six-bar moving PAR light effects in both halls. The Tetra2s are proving to be handy for cyc and effects lighting in the Plein Hall, especially for bands, concerts and music shows, together with the CUETE Spots, which are in this same location.

The RoboSpot systems are usually used with the T1 Profiles in either hall. They bring all the flexibility of a quicker setup, being able to position the operators backstage or offstage and enable the LD to choose which lights are used for spotting.

Alphons is very happy with the scenario and confident that the venue can offer its clients great value with this combination of technology.

He notes that some of the incoming companies are making full use of the lighting setup now on offer, while for some older touring shows still on the road with performances based on static and dimmed lightsources, the adaptation may take longer, but the process is definitely underway.

Technical planning for the new theatre originally started in 2018, and between then and now, the specs were modified slightly as new and more appropriate product choices came to the market. When the old building closed, Theater aan de Parade continued producing shows in a temporary venue – again with Robe products in the rig – while the construction was completed.

Alphons, who took up the technical management position for the new theatre to open its doors at the end of 2024, is delighted with the results so far. Apart from all the obvious advantages, the all-LED stage lighting is saving considerably on the previous operational power requirements.

Robe is a brand Alphons has been more familiar with since visiting the 2019 Prague Quadrennial, where Robe lit one of the main centrepieces, “Blue Hour” by Romain Tardy.

Key members of the tech crew have also visited the Robe factory in Valašské Meziříčí, and Alphons highlights the importance of a strong working relationship both with the brand and the local distributor.

Controllux also coordinated the installation of the lighting systems and their related control network.

Photo credit: Kuno van Velzen.

The post Theater aan de Parade reenergises with Robe appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.

The 70^th edition of the world’s best-known international pop extravaganza was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), together with the host broadcaster, which this year was Austria’s Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF).

A stunning production lighting design, featuring nearly 550 Robe luminaires, was created by Tim Routledge and his team, working on their third ESC event, and collaborating closely with set, video and production designer Florian Wieder to present a vibrant, flexible and visually impactful environment.

This had to work for the needs and imagination of all 35 delegations, for audiences catching the excitement first-hand right there in the Stadthalle, and for the millions from around the world tuning in on various live streamed and broadcasted channels to experience the event unfolding.

Prominent on the lighting rig were 190 of Robe’s just-launched GigaPointe laser-source multifunctional moving light, 98 WTF!s – IP rated LED strobe-wash-blinder fixtures – and 25 Robe HolyPATT vintage-style LED ‘scenic’ luminaires.

In addition to these, Tim’s general lighting rig included 182 Robe SVB1 multisource LED wash beams, which he also used on last year’s event in Basel, Switzerland, and have since become a firm favourite.

He also chose 64 Robe iFORTES and iFORTE LTXs – fitted with the HCF (High Colour Fidelity) engines – for all the key lighting and specials on the main stage and in the Green Room, this year located in the arena opposite the stage along the other ‘short-end’ side of the venue.

The impressive architecture of the performance space was based on curves, spheres and understated elegance juxtaposed with elements of fun and quirkiness – in the true spirit of Eurovision. It offered a technically smart universe of possibilities for all performing there.

A large, sweeping ‘signature’ passerelle feature with video floor started at ground level stage left and looped around the middle of the room in front of the stage, curving upwards at stage right in a giant rollercoaster-style loop, snaking around to finish high up in the roof stage left.

A portrait-oriented central LED screen curved seamlessly from above into the stage floor below and extended into a central thrust that traversed the arena floor, splitting into a double staircase at the other side, ascending to the Green Room.

All of this brought a beautiful flow and harmony to the scene for lighting and playback video, which seamlessly combined with the other technical disciplines and worked brilliantly as a piece of televisual art.

The central screen was framed either side by seven columns of moving lights, bringing an epic and breathtaking cinematic feel to the entire space and giving clear sight lines from all around the arena.

Tim’s highly talented team included his associate lighting designers Morgan Evans and James Scott; moving light programmers Alex Mildenhall and Martin Higgins; key light programmer Marc Nicholson; overnight programmers Olly Martin and Manfred Nikitzer; follow spot caller Louisa Smurthwaite and playback video producer Sam Lisher and team. His gaffer and crew chief was Keith Duncan.

All lighting equipment for the event was supplied by rental company Neg Earth out of the UK, with whom Tim also worked on last year’s event and on his first ESC as lighting designer in Liverpool, UK, in 2023.

Tim was delighted to be able to use GigaPointes on this show and they became “headline fixtures” of the show.

The product was just launched at ISE in February and powered by a 350W white phosphor laser source engine, it is a hugely anticipated multifunctional effects fixture, and it was a real moment to have so many of them used on such a high-profile event, following a demo at the end of 2025.

In Vienna, they were positioned all around the space.

They were prominent along the top of the front sections of the passerelle and underslung below its elevated sections upstage. They were rigged around the central semi-circular trusses in the roof, right at the heart of the rig, and were on all four sides of the main stage at floor level.

GigaPointes were used extensively throughout all performances, especially for gobo and beam looks, with the SpectraBeam effect utilised a couple of times to create unique high-impact effects, most notably for San Marino, which comprised rainbow focused looks.

They also featured prominently in the flourishing ‘stage-ready’ sequence that cut in just after the postcard video sequence – in the upcoming country’s flag colours – for each contestant’s intro, accompanied by an orchestral stinger.

Morgan Evans commented, “They were excellent workhorses – we all loved them! Nice and bright, they worked hard, reliably and extremely well throughout the event in these multiple different positions. A highly versatile multi-use product.”

Tim echoed these comments, adding, “GigaPointes provided us with an aesthetic backbone,” revealing that he was so pleased with their performance that he’s specified them for Take That’s summer 2026 “Circus” stadium tour.

The 98 Robe WTF!s were the main strobe unit on the lighting design, deployed on the roof trusses running the length of the room either side, and on the large central ‘crown’ semi-circular trusses – the innermost ring – above the stage, alternated with GigaPointes and other fixtures.

Tim already had some experience of using a much smaller quantity of WTF!s on popular UK rapper Dave’s most recent tour, so he knew their potential and was very happy to have them on ESC.

“I love their directionality, and we fully used all the sets of LED chips and the zoning for various effects,” he explained, adding that they appreciated being able to pan and tilt the fixtures, which, together with the zoom, proved extremely handy at times for reducing glare into the cameras.

Conversely, they utilised zoom and LED zoning to create cool colour temperature effects, and the ones along the audience trusses helped with washing the arena.

“Lots of options for TV with these,” noted Tim, who has also spec’d these for another upcoming tour.

Eurovision is one of the most-watched/highest-rated live music broadcast shows in the world, and as always with any camera-based show, key lighting is paramount!

Robe’s iFORTE with its high CRI and excellent quality of light has been a white light go-to for Tim since the product was launched, and here they were rigged strategically in all the main key lighting positions for the main stage and Green Room.

iFORTES were positioned all around the arena on the periphery trusses and the two outer ring trusses above the stage – their power was ideal for the long throws from these positions.

Twelve of the 64 x iFORTES were paired with different remote follow systems, including three Robe RoboSpots.

These iFORTES were used for all the main stage key lighting and were critical to every shot, “They are one of the best – I absolutely would not be without iFORTES on a show like this,” he confirmed.

Eurovision is all about making a diverse range of stars from many cultures shimmer with luminance and magic as they deliver their songs, and he used Robe’s SVB1 fixture on the 2025 ESC event in Basel, Switzerland, and really loved them.

So much so that they were included on the main rig for this year – and in the meantime, Neg Earth had also made a substantial investment in SVB1 luminaires that was delivered by Robe UK.

The fixtures were spread out around three of the four large circular roof trusses and helped emphasise the structure. They created the base looks for a host of versatile twinkling kinetic effects, which could be bold or subtle depending on the artist.

The Green Room design stood out this year for its retro, cosy, classic Viennese-style coffee house concept, and the 25 x HolyPATTS were beyond the perfect movie prop for framing this, providing a highly stylised spherical ‘tungsten’ glow, visible in every wide and medium-wide shot.

The Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra was positioned in the Green Room for the grand finale, and they were also dressed with HolyPATTS behind their risers.

Tim and the team applied the highly accurate tungsten emulation with style and panache to bring a highly theatrical feel to the space.

One of the major technical and creative challenges this year was the decision by ORF to shoot the shows – which also included two televised semi-finals to narrow down the field to the 25 finalists – on large chip film cameras, an ESC event first.

For Tim and the lighting department, this meant that more depth, definition and detail was visible, so they had considerably more latitude to play with lighting adjustments and fine-tuning affecting how elements like strobes and pyro would look on camera – harder, softer, etc. “It enabled us to add more texture and finesse to every performance,” he stated, and this really showed on the final broadcast.

Linked to this, the LiveEdit camera software used to cut the broadcast mix could also pre-select different colour LUTs that would run on all cameras for the different artists, so more stylised lighting looks and treatments could be developed and optimised.

Tim described this process as “very satisfying, as it effectively gave us more chance to paint with light,” which also made perfect key lighting – and the role of those iFORTES – even more critical!

Eurovision 2026 was presented by Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski, plus Green Room host Emily Busvine and the winner was Bulgaria, whose DARA gave a stonking performance of her catchy Balkans banger “Bangaranga”, heading off Israel’s Noam Bettan, who came second with “Michelle” and Romania’s third-placed Alexandra Căpitănescu with her song, “Choke Me”.

Photo by ORF Cloud.

The post Robe helps epic Eurovision glow up appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.

On Luz’s lighting rig were some core Robe products, including WTF! IP rated LED strobe-wash-blinder fixtures, Tarrantula wash beams and four RoboSpot systems running with 18 BMFL FollowSpots, all supplied by Christie Lites, co-ordinated via their UK office.

Luz Studio was brought on board to produce a completely fresh live performance environment for the band, which involved delivering a full visual package, including a stage set and some very striking video content. Embracing all the visual elements collectively ensured great optical harmony and balance, a creative treatment noticed and very much appreciated by fans.

A starting point for the stage aesthetic was a massive 110 ft wide by 40 ft high upstage LED screen, with a triangular-shaped double-layered set of risers in front, flanked by two diagonal staircases and two ground-level raked diagonal trusses per side.

The band made their entrance via the venue’s large stage lift, and the show started with them ascending to stage level and initially being framed by an automated ‘hero’ triangular-shaped truss that flew out during the first number, completing the last segment of a Union Jack-shaped truss facing the audience. This was a nod to their British roots, hailing from Sheffield in the late 1970s.

As the design started to evolve, creative director Matt Larivee knew early on that they wanted to use WTF!s and RoboSpots.

He had seen the WTF!s during a visit to the Robe factory in the Czech Republic at the end of 2025. “They looked fantastic, so I thought they would be ideal for this residency, especially to cut through the massive video wall. I really needed fixtures with plenty of power and options.”

The four floor-level angled trusses traversed the stage set at around eight ft heigh, two each side, and the 18 WTF!s were deployed on these trusses.

The set was a combination of Def Leppard classic anthems, moments and greatest hits from their nearly five decades of popularity and success, together with edgy new material, so Matt needed plenty of latitude and dynamics in the lighting to cover all eras of the music.

He loves the WTF!’s zoom feature, as well as the pan and strobing options, but it was actually the warm white LED zone of the fixture that was a dealmaker for him.

This was because he knew he could get that classic retro blinder look that would help define a range of classic ‘big rock’ looks – which, together with the associated video content, were juxtaposed so elegantly.

The 24 Tarrantula wash beams were split into two batches of 12. One set was positioned on the downstage truss, used for general band and mid-stage wash, and picked for its intensity and relatively directional beam, so he could contain the field-of-light without it spilling onto the diagonal-shaped set piece upstage of the band.

The other 12 were on the floor, either side of stage, washing across the band from a lower level, again using the contained beam path to avoid messy encroachment onto the side walls.

A total of 18 x BMFL FollowSpots were utilised, running on four RoboSpot systems, each following the four mobile band members with three BMFLs from the front, plus either one of two from the back. The operators were all positioned offstage. Matt would have ideally liked to use FORTES on the system, but he was happy to go with BMFLs. They are reliable and a known fixture that have graced many of his previous designs.

Apart from the enormous flexibility that RoboSpot brings to any performance area, Matt specifically likes this remote follow system because of its straightforward application and abundance of good operators.

The fluidity and consistency unlocked by being able to imagine lighting and video worlds together with the 3D set parameters simultaneously for a high-profile show like this was visibly present, and, as with any Vegas residency, production values were high and there were many expectations.

“We – us, the band, management – all wanted the show to have an arc, so songs and timings were carefully selected where we could build those moments, and create big, bold, memorable looks that were not overcomplicated, so they really spoke out to the audience,” noted Matt.

These reinforced the songs and narrative while providing an additional tempo, framework and drama for the show with lighting and video combined. Notables included a giant leopard, which looked about to pounce off the screen and onto the stage at any moment, but these kept rolling through the nearly two hours of rock-tastic energy.

Many of the video environments also included virtual lighting, diligently calculated to riff and contrast with the real lighting onstage, evoking an eye-catching synergy of optical trickery that also helped move everything along.

The Luz Studio team worked closely with Def Leppard’s longtime lighting director, Cole MacDonald, who flew out to Montreal and pre-vizzed with them, as well as being on-site at the Colosseum and running lighting for the shows.

Luz Studio’s Pierre-Luc Bedard led the lighting programming with Philippe Marquis and Cole MacDonald.

The new-look stage presentation was a huge hit with everyone, especially the fans.

Def Leppard is a band with almost a cult following and many fans from different generations catching multiple concerts during a touring or performance cycle. Impressions from numerous comments suggest that for them, this – the band’s third Vegas residency – was a next-level, “best ever” live show phenomenon!

Photo credit: Luz Studio.

The post Def Leppard Hysteria in Las Vegas with some Robe influence appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.

Signify’s professional sports lighting solution, Philips ArenaVision Gen3.5, is approved by FIBA’s Equipment & Venue Centre, which supports venue owners to deliver high-quality, broadcast-ready basketball environments that meet FIBA’s technical standards.

Signify’s ArenaVision LED professional sports lighting systems and intelligent lighting controls are designed for elite indoor and outdoor sports environments, these solutions deliver exceptional light quality, uniformity and visual comfort, while meeting international broadcast standards. Integrated controls enable remote management, scheduling and operational efficiencies, helping venues host elite competition, enhance the live fan experience, and operate more sustainably.

“Basketball demands absolute precision from lighting. Visual comfort, uniformity and glare control are critical for both player performance and officiating, while ultra-high-definition broadcasting requires consistent light quality to capture the speed and intensity of the game. For spectators, lighting plays an increasingly important role in shaping the live arena experience,” says Niels Geven, International Director, Sports & Arenas at Signify.

“Joining FIBA Equipment & Venue Centre Approval Programme allows us to be part of their mission in raising the bar for basketball lighting globally, delivering consistent, world-class performance under the fastest and most intense conditions. Aligned with FIBA’s forward-thinking approach, we’re combining light quality, energy efficiency and intelligent controls to help venues meet elite performance demands while supporting sustainability, innovation and global broadcast ambitions.

Bart Prinssen, Head of Equipment & Venue Centre, said: “We are pleased to welcome Signify to the FIBA Equipment & Venue Centre Approval Programme in the lighting category. Their expertise aligns well with our commitment to ensuring high-quality, consistent lighting conditions in the arenas that support player performance, officiating and broadcast across our competitions. FIBA Equipment & Venue Centre defines key performance parameters, including illuminance, colour temperature, colour rendering and flicker factor, ensuring optimal lighting conditions across the playing field”.

Signify’s sports lighting is already used in basketball venues including Roig Arena in Valencia, Gran Canaria Arena in Las Palmas, and the Barclay Arena in Hamburg reflecting how advanced lighting both supports elite competition and enhances the experience for players, broadcasters and fans.

Receiving the FIBA Equipment & Venue Centre approval builds Signify’s growing momentum in global sport, reinforcing its leadership in elite sports lighting.

The post Signify’s lighting solution, ArenaVision Gen 3.5 approved by International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Equipment & Venue Centre appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.

Now in its second decade, TheStadiumBusiness Summit is recognised as one of the leading global gatherings for stadium, arena and venue professionals, bringing together senior decision-makers from across sport, entertainment and venue operations to explore the future of the industry.

At this year’s event, Thorn Lighting will showcase its latest sports lighting solutions, including the Altis White LED and RGBW Colour LED ranges. Demonstrations will highlight how lighting quality, control and flexibility can support modern venue requirements, from broadcast performance to enhanced fan experience.

Thorn will also contribute to the conference programme, with Josh Egginton, Head of Sports at Thorn Lighting, delivering a session titled “The Future of Sports Lighting Technology,” exploring how the latest lighting technology and innovative solutions can help to increase engagement, put fans first and create memorable experiences.  Demonstrating how Thorn Lighting can support global complex projects from a foundation of Circular Design Rules and sustainable business and manufacturing practices.

The company’s involvement follows its recent shortlisting in TheStadiumBusiness Awards 2026, where it is a finalist in the Venue Technology category for its work at Sunderland AFC’s Stadium of Light. The project demonstrates how advanced lighting systems can combine broadcast-quality illumination, energy efficiency and dynamic control to create new fan engagement opportunities, including the club’s pre-match “Lighthouse” lighting experience.

TheStadiumBusiness Summit 2026 will bring together a global audience of venue owners, operators and suppliers, including CEOs, COOs, CTOs and commercial leaders, providing a platform to explore innovation, technology and transformation across the sector.

Visitors attending TheStadiumBusiness Summit 2026 can meet the Thorn Lighting team at stand 149 to explore its latest sports lighting solutions and discuss how lighting can support performance, sustainability and fan experience in modern venues.

The post Thorn Lighting confirmed as headline sponsor of TheStadiumBusiness Summit 2026 appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.

The late-night style event comes complete with panel discussions, games, special – and surprise – performances, and collabs, as well as awards that recognize Bravospheric talents and achievements throughout the year. The November 2025 event was presented by Embassy Row Productions in conjunction with NBCUniversal at PH Live in – where else? – Las Vegas!

This was lit and production designed by John Viesta – president and principal designer of design studio Infinite Designs Inc. – who has been working his own creative magic on WWHL since 2010. To keep all that energy pumping, he included a serious amount of Robe moving lights among other fixtures on his lighting rig, in the form of 48 iFORTES, 134 iFORTE LTXs, 3 iFORTE LTX Follow Spots and 22 Tetra1s.

The design and lighting needed to capture the excitement and thrill of pacey live televisual moments, combined with the drama and spectacle of large-scale theater, as BravoCon 2025 featured 29 panels streamed on Peacock – available the day after the live presentations in Las Vegas – while separately, Andy Cohen recorded 5 episodes of BravoCon Live with Andy Cohen.

It was a truly full-tilt environment where all involved in the production needed to be constantly on their toes.

A version of the set had been used before, appearing in the 2023 BravoCon Live with Andy Cohen event. The design concept for the Vegas show captured the spirit of Andy Cohen’s late-night show WWHL by combining a NYC mid-century modern aesthetic and the styling of Las Vegas of the same time period, including a striking and elegant 80-foot-wide proscenium arch encrusted with incandescent lamps. John also used a number of lighting treatments to transform the set, including built-in fixtures that added a contemporary edge.

With PH Live generally being a much larger venue than the previous Paris Theater in Las Vegas, everything was upscaled. During planning, John realized that he would need much higher-powered profile fixtures than had previously been available to handle the 150-200 ft throws at PH Live.

That is where he got talking to Marty Postma, sales director at Robe North America. The two had attended college together and were already in touch, so they started talking and John began looking at Robe.

He needed a luminaire that looked great on camera and was bright enough to cover the throw and ideally a moving light that could also frame small and precise shapes and areas.

“I tested pretty much every moving light in that league that was available,” explained John, “and the iFORTE LTX was the only one that had the real firepower that I needed.”

It was the first time that John had used Robe’s powerful iFORTE fixtures, and a testament to the confidence he had in the products that he was prepared to do so on such a prominent and high-profile live televised show environment.

“Using these modern big-lensed fixtures really assisted with the general aesthetics; the abundance of fixtures enabled us to fill the airspace meaningfully,” he observed.

As it happened, PH Live had also just taken delivery of nearly 75 iFORTES and 9 iFORTE LTXs equipped with LightMaster rigs to be part of their house rig, so John had access to these, in addition to all the other Robe elements that were supplied to the event by lighting and rigging vendors Main Light.

The iFORTE LTXs were all rigged in the FOH area and used for key lighting. They were needed to cover the whole stage, which was at times completely filled with people. The iFORTES were positioned on a downstage bar just above the show portal.

The follow spots comprised 3 iFORTE LTXs running on 3 RoboSpot BaseStations, and it was also the first time that John had used iFORTES for this task, for which he was super impressed:

“The brightness is fantastic. They have decent CRI for camera … they look great on people and have great repeatability – so they return to exactly where we placed them – and color consistency was also very important over these distances. I’ll definitely be using them again!”

Various gobo iFORTE looks were additionally used to wash and texture the venue, creating some cool ambience.

John created a frame of fixtures outside of the show portal, alternating Tetra1s with tiny LED wash fixtures. He notes this effect made a gorgeous “Pearl Necklace, framing the stage.”

The main challenge in delivering BravoCon is the very short rehearsal window, which requires the whole creative team to be fluid, dynamic, and adaptable during production and filming, as ideas can and do change … and they need to be accommodated quickly and efficiently.

The pressure of the live broadcast is also something John loves, as well as it being a big pressure. “This is my favorite project to work on,” he enthuses, adding that Andy is a kind and generous individual with whom to work and who loves to push the boundaries of what is technically possible. “Good leadership comes from the top.”

John’s background is in theater, and Broadway in particular is where he carved out his professional niche. He has used Robe BMFLs in that world as follow spots and T2s on Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, so he knew the brand already, but this was his first big televisual extravaganza using Robe in such a mission-critical way.

“iFORTES are fabulous fixtures and I look forward to using them more frequently,” he notes, adding that when he met Robe CEO Josef Valchar – who is at the heart of the product development – he thought he was very inspirational, and also likes the fact that the company is independent and that the products are manufactured locally in Czechia.

Working alongside John on BravoCon 2025 was an incredibly talented team, including his Infinite Designs colleagues, Tyler M. Perry, who looked after the scenic design and Ben Travis, who was the technical supervisor. The lighting director was Greg Goff; Josh Selander was lighting director/programmer, John Salzmann was the gaffer, with Tom Thayler as associate gaffer, and the best boy was Eric Kaspersin.

Scenery was by PRG and Daedalus, with additional scenic elements from Kihl Studios.

Photo credit: Charlie Sykes.

The post Robe gets fired up for BravoCon Live event appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.