SACRAMENTO, CA — Céline Dion’s Taking Chances tour has been a complex undertaking, with variations in the set and song list for English-speaking and French-speaking audiences, and a third variation for smaller venues. The 360-degree set also has 20 LED screens, one of which orbits the stage, plus conveyor belts and lifts. And the yearlong tour visits five continents, 24 countries and 84 cities, with a total of 120 performances.
UNCASVILLE, CT — A dynamic set, moving light rig and LED screen visuals combine to punch up three decades of hits for Janet Jackson’s Rock Witchu tour. The light rig, created by LD Vince Foster, has a total of 150 PixelLine 1044s.
SAN FRANCISCO — The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco offers a planetarium, natural history museum and aquarium under one roof, and has embarked on a multi-year project to revamp its facilities in strict compliance with environmentally-friendly LEED standards. Located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the Academy is using F10, F20 and F30 projectors from Norway’s projectiondesign for reopened exhibit areas, including the Morrison Planetarium, Hohfeld Hall pre-show area, the Water Planet exhibit and the Visualization Studio used for creating visual and audio content.
BEIJING — Lighting designer Durham Marenghi specified individual i-Pix BB4 LED cells to up-light the performers onboard the special double decker London bus in the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics Handover sections of the 2008 Beijing Olympics & Paralympics Closing Ceremonies. The two Handover events took place three weeks apart in the Birds Nest stadium, and were integral elements of both Games’ Closing Ceremonies.
JERSEY CITY, NJ — Rumors about a “Coachella East” festival staged in 2008 might have seemed proved false, but only nominally so. The festival, held for three days in August at Liberty State Park, just behind the Statue of Liberty, was called All Points West. The event, organized by Coachella host Goldenvoice and AEG Live, included Radiohead, Jack Johnson and about 40 other well-known indie bands. The festival’s name refers to an old Jersey rail yard, and the three stages were train names from the golden age of rail travel: Blue Comet, Bullet and Queen of the Valley.
ROTTERDAM — Extending a tour attended by close to a million fans, Queen and Paul Rodgers are supporting the recent album The Cosmos Rocks this fall with a four-month, 14-nation European tour. An LED screen measuring 17 meters wide and five meters high is traveling with the tour, flashing images of Freddie Mercury.
LAKE FOREST, CA — Saddleback Church recently purchased two For-A HVS-500HS switchers through CCI Solutions for an HD video system used for The Refinery Project, an auxiliary facility used for youth programs and worship services. The new gear will give the church the ability to switch an HD/SDI 1080 signal on a budget.
AARHUS, Denmark — Martin Professional announced the addition of the MAC III Profile to its line of MAC moving lights. The 1500-watt luminaire is the first product in Martin’s third generation of MAC moving heads, with improvement in optical efficiency and color mixing.
LONDON — Its 2.2 million members in 150 countries and regions have a joint mission of exposing and documenting human rights abuses. But if its mission is deadly serious, Amnesty International also relies on live comedy and music for part of its fundraising activities. A case in point is the 14th incarnation of its Secret Policemans Ball, recently staged at London’s Royal Albert Hall and broadcast the following day on U.K.’s Channel Four.
MAINZ, Germany — Robe’s international road show, titled “The Future is Digital,” had a two-day stop recently at SKY Europe's Mainz-based TV Studio, in the same neighborhood as ZDF Television’s headquarters complex. The two-day event included hands-on product demos, and was attended by visual designers, operators, programmers, technicians and other industry professionals from across Germany and Austria.
PENDLETON, IN — Tyler Truss Systems, Inc. announced that its True Fold Truss (TFT), designed to save space and money on trucking as well as labor, is now available on a custom order basis. Spigoted for easy assembly and field-tested in 2007 and 2008, TFT comes in sizes ranging from 20.5 inches by 20.5 inches to 36 inches by 42 inches, in lengths of five, eight or 10 feet. All sizes fold to a nine-inch width. With folding internal braces, TFT provides a load capacity of 10,160 pounds for a 36-inch by 42-inch by 80-foot span with double diagonals and snap braces. A total of 400 linear feet of 36-inch-by-42-inch truss fits into a single 22-foot long box truck.
SANTA MONICA, CA — Using a fashion-show runway built into a private airplane hangar, Ferrari revealed its California model at a charity event with an assortment of AV elements supplied by AV Concepts. Arnold Schwarzenegger and about 1,000 other guests attended the event, followed by a charity auction for one of the cars.