Robe ROBIN Pointe moving lights hit new highs in a series of rooftop concerts at the 2014 South by Southwest (SXSW) music conference in Austin, Texas.

The ‘R&B Superstars’ show – which featured En Vogue, Blackstreet2 and Teddy Riley – offered up an evening of soul and smooth tunes in the capital’s 12,500-capacity venue.

The glitz, glamour and red carpet action was out in style at the 2013 Music Industry (MIA) Awards show in Brussels, lit for the first time by Luc Peumans of leading Belgian creative practice, Painting With Light! The show was produced by Flemish national TV channel VRT (Vlaamse Radio en Televisie) in Videohouse Studio 7 in Vilvoorde (Brussels) and broadcast live.

“Standing still is never an option in this game.” So declares veteran lighting designer Peter Barnes whose CV is summed up by his moniker as ‘the UK’s guru of pop lighting’.  “One of the most challenging and daunting aspects of lighting events is the pace of change and how quickly technology in our industry continually develops and evolves.  So the opportunity from Ambersphere to try out the newest toy from Clay Paky was not one I was about to turn down.”

'Striking, stylish and slightly strange' are the words that established lighting designer Rob Sinclair uses to describe his eerie lighting design for musical duo Goldfrapp's latest tour. Similar words could also describe the effects that he gets from the Philips Showline SL NITRO 510 strobe luminaires, which Sinclair has specified to deliver cinematic, crisp, cross stage washes alongside stark, ice white strobe effects.

“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” debuted to rave reviews and top ratings, and Clay Paky fixtures are part of the mix giving a new look to late-night television.

It's that time of the year again - the 7th Knight of Illumination (KOI) Awards has launched and already the entries are flying in for Television and Concert Touring and Events. 2014 will see yet another celebration of talented international lighting and digital content designers that have worked in the UK in the sectors of TV, Theatre and Concert Touring and Events.

Elisa's "L’anima vola" (my soul flies) tour is a three-hour-plus marathon, during which the Italian singer-songwriter entertains her audience with the naturalness she has got us used to. It is a sort of long journey that covers all stages of her career, from her début in English and her victory at the Sanremo Music Festival, right up to her total conversion to the Italian language, which features throughout her latest CD.

As a culmination of two years of touring the world, Icelandic band Sigur Rós completed the last leg with Skan PA using the latest addition to their equipment roster. Always a company that likes to take the empirical approach to new technology, Skan has been running the slide rule over their new D80 amplifiers from d&b audiotechnik.

Belgian based automation and engineering specialists Wicreations supplied specialist flying and movement system for the recent Reverze event staged simultaneously at Antwerp’s famous Sportpalais venue and the adjacent Lotto Arena, accommodating upwards of 20,000  hard dance music fans.

Currently touring North America with a rig of Elation Professional lighting that includes Platinum Beam 5R and Design Spot 1200C moving heads, Brit Floyd’s “Discovery” is a stunning three-hour musical journey that recreates the legendary band’s music and gives audiences a retrospective look at a classic lighting setup.

HSL continued its productive and creative working relationships with award- winning lighting designer Davy Sherwin on tour with alt rockers The Foals, who have just finished the latest UK leg of their ongoing  'Holy Fire' album campaign.

OneRepublic’s headlining “Native Tour” wraps in the UK March 24 after spending last year circling the globe and breaking new ground as the first tour to utilize Clay Paky’s A.leda B-EYE K20 innovative, LED-based moving lights.  A complement of Clay Paky Sharpys was also on hand.

The production values on this year’s X-Factor Live Tour, the UK’s immensely popular talent hunting television show, certainly maintain the look and feel of the original TV show.  Video plays a large part in this with two IMAG screens stage left and right reminding the audience of the journey the performers have completed prior to each acts’ performance.

Popular American punk pop band All Time Low recently took the UK by storm on their latest “A Love Like” tour, and part of the WOW factor for their energy-fuelled performances was the lighting design created by Boston based LD Jeff Maker.