As part of our ongoing commitment to giving back, Neg Earth will be donating a truck through the Donation scheme to support the valuable work of this charity.
The donated vehicle is a Renault 16T rigid truck, the first of its kind to be contributed through this scheme
Our trucks journey so far has been an adventurous one. Designed and built to our spec from new in 2015, it has travelled over one hundred thousand miles across most of Europe carrying its precious cargo to prestigious live events such as Rammstein, Iron Maiden, The Eurovision Song Contest, The Rolling Stones, ACDC and closer to home to the Glastonbury Festival every year since.
In full working order, this vehicle will be instrumental in delivering essential humanitarian aid to those in need.
On 7-10th of March 2023, the world’s most well-known dog show, Crufts, kicked off in the NEC Birmingham for a 4-day spectacular, with over 18,000 contestants and hundreds of thousands of visitors. Organised and hosted by The Kennel Club, Crufts features a wide array of prestigious awards to celebrate the world of dogs.
Neg Earth Lights were thrilled to be the supplier once again of the lighting for the 2023 show, and proudly supported Crufts for their monumental 150th anniversary! Moreover, it was a pleasure to have worked on such a unique project, giving the Neg team further experience working in a range of different events.
28 Ayrton Perseo-S fixtures were provided for the show. These luminaires highlighted the dogs taking centre stage with their moving-head and precise beams.
52 Chroma-Q Color One 100 X IP65 were supplied by Neg Earth for the event. These powerful LED beams have an extensive range of features including theatrical grade dimming, making this the perfect feature for drawing attention to the dogs taking to the floor.
24 Martin Mac Aura PXL were also provided for the show. These multi-lens wash lights, which feature high intensity yet tight beams, helped to produce a dramatic showbiz effect for the stage.
These high-performance fixtures contributed to an entertaining and theatrical visual display spotlighting the performing pups. Neg Earth Lights are proud to have supplied the lighting equipment for a 4-day showcase at Crufts 2023, helping to perfectly execute a striking visual display, providing world-class lighting for a world-class event.
Credits
Lighting Designer/Operator: Paul Cook
Project Team: Martin Garnish and Rachel Condon
Heavy metal band Bullet for My Valentine, travelled across Europe and the UK for their 2023 tour, after releasing a deluxe edition of their self-titled debut album in August 2022. Neg Earth supplied high performance lighting for the 2023 tour, helping to develop a powerful rock spectacular for the Welsh band.
The shows featured Ukrainian band Jinjer and Californian band Atreyu as special guests at all the concerts, treating devoted fans to an unforgettable night of metal-core music.
The first show kicked off in Cologne, with further performances across Europe’s major cities including Paris and Brussels. The band then travelled to the UK, performing in the nation’s biggest cities including an incredible final show at the Roundhouse in London to draw the tour to a close.
Neg Earth supplied lighting fixtures and equipment for the tour, which helped bring Lighting Designer, Richard Larkum’s creative vision to life. The Ayrton Diablo created radiant beams and produced an extensive range of bold and bright colours, making it the perfect fixture to compliment the hardcore punk performance.
The rig also featured the Chorus Line 16, which was positioned around a raised section of the stage. This 16-pixel bar wash luminaire dynamically projected intense beams of colour throughout each venue, matching the emotions of each song performed by the Welsh band.
It was a pleasure to once again work with Richard Larkum on another incredible tour and help turn his vision into a metal-rock reality for Bullet for My Valentine.
Credits
Lighting Designer: Richard Larkum
Project Manager: Martin Garnish
Photo Credits:
Scott Findlay/ © S.W.F Productions
© Pacific Curd Photography for Metal Hammer
To celebrate the galaxy far, far away, the world’s biggest Star Wars event, Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023, took place over a 4-day weekender full of storm troopers, dark droids and luminous lightsabres from the 7th to the 10th April.
For the LucasFilm Studio showcase, Neg Earth Lights are thrilled to have provided lighting fixtures and equipment which created a striking and out-of-this-world visual display. The Neg Earth team worked closely with Lighting Designer Matt Bialek, to develop his creative vision for the celebration into a futuristic space spectacle.
‘Warsies’ and ‘Star Warriors’ headed to the ExCeL in London in a community of Cosplay costumes for a celebration of the fifth highest grossing movie franchise of all time. The event included immersive exhibits, exclusive merchandise and celebrity guests. The sell-out event celebrated all things Star Wars, even releasing a major announcement for the return of old Star Wars legends onscreen.
One of the fixtures supplied by Neg Earth for the showcase was the Martin Mac Aura PXL. This multi-lens wash light features high intensity beams, providing the exhibition with bold and vibrant beams of colours which projected through the rooms. Additionally, the Ayrton Domino Profile helped to produce a space-age atmosphere from its dynamic lines of saturated light. The high-performance fixture was a great contribution to the lighting display, creating a broad colour spectrum for the Sci-Fi Celebration.
Neg Earth are proud to be the lighting supplier for the Star Wars Celebration 2023. We hope to work with the Star Wars Celebration team on future initiatives to develop more striking shows.
Credits
Lighting Designer: Matt Bialek
Project Manager: Martin Garnish
Photography credit: @geek.pride
Video credit: Star Wars Celebration via Instagram
For the first time since 1998, the United Kingdom hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 on 13th May, held on behalf of Ukraine. All 37 participants from across the globe performed live from Liverpool Arena, televised for millions of viewers to watch worldwide. Neg Earth Lights are incredibly proud to be the supplier of the lighting, rigging and power for the internationally renowned contest, working closely with talented Lighting Designer, Tim Routledge, to develop his creative vision for the show into an unforgettable lighting spectacular.
The slogan for the 67th Eurovision Contest was ‘United by Music’ highlighting the unique partnership between United Kingdom and Ukraine, but also expressing how music unites everyone and how the power of music can bring communities closer together. With Ukraine unable to host the show due to the war, this meaningful partnership reflects the origins of the contest, uniting countries in solidarity through a shared television experience. The BBC worked closely with European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to organise the contest, in discussion with UA: PBC, Ukraine’s public broadcaster, as well as Kalush Orchestra, last year’s winner of the contest.
In a message to Ukraine, Liverpool’s Mayor, Joanne Anderson expressed prior to the big final, “Ukraine- you have my promise we will do you proud”.
The team at Neg Earth had been preparing for many months leading up to the 3 shows. New equipment had been supplied especially for the occasion, including Robe’s latest innovations such as the Robe Tetra X.
Preparation at Neg Earth:
The Controls Team at Neg Earth Lights
Tim Routledge explained in an interview with IBC the lighting specification for the show, “To create depth we’ve added 190 Robe Tetra X on the rear of the video doors to deliver a spinning, kinetic pixel-driven lighting wall. Behind that we have a wall of Robe Painte and Q8 strobes to add even more depth as the doors revolve.”
He continued, “Around the oval stage, which is effectively in the round, I wanted a way to make new architectures of floor lighting so I designed 22 lifting columns into the lighting shelf that can rise and fall the Robe Spiiders on the edge. We have new fixtures in the form of the Clay Paky Sharpy on the four large set arms that frame the whole show.”
Preparation for the big final at M&S Arena in Liverpool, UK
Eurovision lighting rehearsals prior to the show
The great result of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was down to the hard work of our lighting team, our warehouse team and the entire Neg Earth crew. The lighting design was exceptionally executed by the lighting team, and in addition the extensive range of fixtures which Neg Earth Lights supplied truly wowed the millions of viewers from across the World.
Take a look at some of the key statistics from the show!
“That was the happiest, most joyous show I have ever worked on – it was fun from day 1 to the end and I cannot thank you enough for all the support Negs gave us. From the bottom of my heart – thankyou. This was as a special one, and Negs went for it. From an amazing new network to Joao’s tea break emergency kit and everything in between. Negs is one truly special company and everything we have done in the past has culminated in last week – thanks, it was truly world class.”
Tim Routledge, Lighting Designer for Eurovision
Click here to watch more behind the scenes at The Eurovision Song Contest 2023!
Credits
Lighting Designer: Tim Routledge
Project Manager: Damien Jackson
Technical Solutions: Ambersphere & MA Lighting
To celebrate their monumental 60-year anniversary, The Rolling Stones announced their tour titled ‘Stones Sixty 2022’. Rock icons, Mick, Keith and Ronnie, played several concerts throughout June and July 2022 across Europe. Neg Earth have provided lighting, rigging and control for various Rolling Stones’ shows for numerous years, and we were proud to continue supporting the band for this incredible tour.
Woodroffe Basset Design collaborated with lead designers Patrick Woodroffe and Terry Cook, providing a new stage design to mark this anniversary tour. Forming a major part of the design was the striking and memorable fascia. Working closely with WBD and TAIT the talented team at Neg Earth strategically identified the most effective way fixture could be mounted on top of the fascia. The Chauvet Strike Array 2 was chosen due to its innovative, compact and high-performing properties. The fixture was a rich and bright tungsten colour, whilst also being lightweight in nature. It was important for the fixture to be IP65 rated, due to its exposure and position in the plot. This made the Chauvet Strike Array 2 a great addition to the lighting display.
Behind the newly designed fascia, sat the overhead lighting rig. This was made up of 9 fingers of its truss populated with Martin MAC Viper Air FX, and Ayrton Perseos. These fingers were used to light the performance area and create stunning mid-air effects. However, the shape of the fascia, that contrasted with the straight lighting trusses created a design problem that needed solving.
The team at Wonder Works, led by Jeremy Lloyd are a company dedicated to delivering high-end solutions to just these types of problems. They designed a custom outrigger system to allow the Ayrton Perseos to follow the shape of the fascia.
During conversations in pre-production, it was agreed Neg Earth would take on the task of fabricating the outriggers. Working from drawings produced by Wonder Works, our fabrication team were proud to provide a solution for an integral part of the design. The flexibility of the final product allowed them to be used in different orientations and positions across the rig, as well as being compact enough to travel within the lighting trusses. This was a key consideration as it increased the flow during load in and saved our team on the road time.
Jeremy Lloyd, co-director, Wonder Works says, “Since their formation in 1962, The Rolling Stones have become known for their super sharp, integrated staging and the challenge with this tour was to maintain this high level look without using a custom roof. It was an honour to work with such a brilliant and trusted team again to deliver another stand-out tour for the Stones.”
Tour Credits:
Patrick Woodroffe – Creative Director / Lighting Designer (WBD)
Ethan Weber – Lighting Director
Keith Johnson – Crew Chief (Neg Earth)
Grant Hickey – Follow-me / FOH tech
Terry Cook – Associate Lighting Designer
Roland Greil – Video Director
Production Designers- Stufish
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