Winter 2009

In October and November, Martin Dudley was again the lighting designer for The Specials, for the second leg of their 30th anniversary reunion UK tour. This trip took in nineteen sold-out shows, from clubs to arenas, and culminated in three nights at the famous Hammersmith Apollo theatre in London. Neg Earth supplied a lighting system for the tour based on front, mid and back trusses, and floor lighting, leaning heavily on Par 64s, profiles and blinders appropriate to the band’s vintage, with Martin MAC700 spot moving lights and Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12 LED fixtures as a nod to modern lighting technology. Other elements included a kabuki drop to start the show, a one metre diameter mirror ball for the song "Nite Klub" and a 13m x 9m backdrop of the band’s iconic black-and-white logo. Paul Howling and Richard Armstrong were the lighting technicians. The tour was captured on DVD for release in January 2010 and there are some photos of the shows on the gallery page.

In December, Martin’s Lights illuminated the British Association of Landscape Industries Awards for Livewire AVS Ltd, at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. Another annual event for Martin’s Lights, this year we added Eurolite LED Par 64 fixtures, Look Solutions Unique 2 hazers and an Avolites Pearl 2008 to the venue’s Vari*lite lighting system.

Another Martin’s Lights client celebrating an historic milestone is Steeleye Span, who undertook their 40th anniversary tour in November and December. Martin’s Lights was asked to illuminate two shows on this tour, again for a live DVD shoot, and the show at the London Barbican featured special guests including former band members (and English folk music legends in their own right) John Kirkpatrick and Martin Carthy, and Rose Kemp, the daughter of the band’s Maddy Prior & Rick Kemp. Martin’s Lights provided Avolites control for the Barbican’s extensive moving lights system with Martin Dudley LDing the shows.

Martin’s Lights provided a complete lighting system to Anagram Production Services for the live band stage at the Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, for the Commissioning Ball of their winter Sovereign Parade. The system consisted of Mobiltech medium-duty truss, Anytronics dimmers, 6x Par 64 six-lamp bars, 8x Robe Colorspot 575AT moving lights and 8x AC Tourwash 575 moving lights, controlled from an Avolites Pearl 2008 console. Martin Dudley was the lighting designer, and Sam Campbell was the technician.

Finally for this bulletin, amongst the annual snowstorm of Christmas dry hires, Martin’s Lights swung into action at less than 24 hours’ notice to supply power distro and cabling, Coemar Prospot 250LX moving lights, Eurolite and Showtec LED Par 64s, and a Unique 2 hazer, to Gas Light & Power, for a homecoming show for Reading’s X-Factor semi-finalist Danyl Johnson. Bob Kiddle was the lighting designer and Martin Dudley was the programmer and technician.

Martin’s Lights continues to offer for sale (or even sometimes for free!) lighting equipment, and other associated items, on the Big Tidy Up website. This website is designed to enable us to dispose of working items that are surplus to requirements, freeing up valuable storage space, whilst offering these items at bargain prices to customers to whom they might be of use, thus also keeping these items from being un-necessarily scrapped, with the environmental advantages this brings.

Martin’s Lights wishes all its friends, clients, customers and suppliers a happy, prosperous and successful 2010.

November 2009

In September, Martin’s Lights supplied lighting design, technician and lighting programming services to Anagram Production Services for "Rhythm Force", the Royal Army’s Corps of Music’s annual concert at Kneller Hall in Twickenham featuring, amongst others, Jools Holland. Martin’s Lights supplied Robe Colorspot 575AT and Colorspot 700E AT moving lights for the event.

Martin Dudley LD’ed Newton Faulkner’s appearance at the Cois Fharraige Festival in Kilkee, Ireland, and at an HMV show at the Jazz Cafe in London. In October, Martin’s Light’s serviced Newton Faulkner’s sold-out UK tour in support of his second album "Rebuilt By Humans". The lighting system featured six Robe Colorspot 700E AT and ten Colorspot 575AT moving lights, two Thomas 4-cell DWE blinders, two ETC Source Four profiles, five Ikea paper lampshades with 100W bulbs (!) and three fifty-year-old Major WF10 floods on stands, with control from an Avolites Pearl 2008 console. Martin was the lighting designer, Gareth Dean was the technician for the tour and there are some pictures of the tour on the gallery page. Gareth Dean also LD’ed Newton’s short European tour in November, with a reduced version of the lighting package featuring six Coemar Prospot 250LX moving lights and the paper lampshades, controlled from an Avolites Pearl 2008.

In October, Martin’s Lights also supplied LD Ken Mednick with Diversitronics DMX3000 strobes, power distro and control for The Cult’s "Love Live" European tour where the band played the classic "Love" album in full.

September 2009

A busy summer continued for Martin's Lights, working with both regular and new clients and with the emphasis firmly on festival shows.

Martin Dudley was the lighting designer for Newton Faulkner's headline appearance at the iTunes Festival at the Roundhouse in Camden, London- see some pictures here- and at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk where he again drew one of the biggest crowds of the weekend to the stage. Martin has also been designing for the acclaimed and recently reformed band Magazine. In June, the band played a warm-up show in Sheffield and festival appearances at Benicassim in Spain and Latitude in Suffolk. For these shows, Martin's Lights provided an extras package of four-cell DWE blinders and Diversitronics strobes. In August and September, the band played "The Soap Show: Episode 2009" in Manchester, Edinburgh and at the Royal Festival Hall in London where they performed the entire "The Correct Use Of Soap" album as well as a handful of other classic songs, and the band also played at the Electric Picnic festival in Eire. There are some pictures of "The Soap Show" on the gallery page.

Martin lit The Specials’ shows on the main stages at the T In The Park and Oxegen Festivals in Scotland and Ireland, and the V Festivals at Chelmsford and Stafford, and also undertook an eight show tour of Australia, New Zealand and Japan with the band, a mixture of headline indoor and festival appearances. For three Australian headline shows, Phaseshift Productions supplied a lighting system of Martin MAC700 moving lights, Par 64s, ETC Source Four profiles, Thomas 4-cell DWE blinders, a 36" mirrorball, a kabuki drop to start the show, and control from an Avolites Sapphire 2000, with technician Michael Corbett looking after the rig. There are some pictures of one of the Australian shows on the gallery page.

Martin also lit a Fun-Da-Mental show in Oslo, Norway, which featured the band in collaboration with Rizwam-Muazzam Qawaal, as part of the city’s Mela Festival.

June 2009

In May and June, Martin’s Lights worked on several more of its regular engagements. The Crystal Palace Dancesport Cup was moved from Crystal Palace sports centre to a large hotel ballroom due to ongoing renovations at the centre. Martin Dudley, Bob Kiddle and Sam Campbell worked overnight to rig a system based on a 10’ A-type truss tower in each corner of the dancefloor, with a mixture of automated, LED and conventional lighting fixtures mounted on these trusses, onstage and on the floor. We also supplied a complete lighting system to Anagram Production Services for another annual event, the live music stage at the St John’s College Ball in Cambridge. This year’s headline act was Calvin Harris and the Martin’s Lights team consisted of Bob Kiddle and Gareth Dean.

Martin’s Lights supplied lighting designer Jack Linaker with moving lights, conventional lights & followspots for a production of "Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire, as part of the Dorchester Festival. Martin’s Lights also supplied Robe Colorspot 700E AT and 575AT moving lights, Diversitronics DMX3000 strobes and Unique hazers to promoters Kilimanjaro for a show by popular folk musician Seth Lakeman at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading.

Martin Dudley undertook his fourth full tour with Newton Faulkner, LDing the fourteen show trip to some of Britain’s less frequently visited towns, cities and venues that was postponed from the early new year due to Newton’s wrist injury. The solo acoustic tour featured a mix of old and new songs, and was lit with a package of six Robe Colorspot 575AT moving lights, twelve Eurolite LED Par 64s, several strings of red and blue ropelight, four paper lampshades containing 100W bulbs, a 50cm mirrorball, an 11 metre white cyc and a Cirro Micromist hazer, with control from an Avolites Pearl 2008 console. Martin’s Lights also supplied conventional lighting systems in three of the venues on the tour- Reading, Bath and Cheltenham- where additional lighting was needed. The technician on these shows was Bob Kiddle.

At the Glastonbury Festival, Martin Dudley LDed The Specials’ Pyramid Stage Friday night performance. Lighting suppliers Neg Earth provided the band with an additional fourteen nine-cell DWE blinders, ten 20-lite Par 16 blinders, six Martin Atomic strobes, a 1kW Beam Lite, a one metre mirror ball, and an Avolites 48-channel ART2000 dimmer rack, all controlled from an Avolites Pearl 2004 console and looked after by technicians Dave Watson and Paul Howling. He also lit Newton Faulkner’s show on the acoustic stage on Saturday, which drew the biggest crowd of the day to the stage. Martin also LDed Gilbert O’Sullivan, with shows at the Du Maurier Festival in Fowey, Cornwall, two shows in Israel, and at the Live At The Marquee Festival in Cork, Eire.

Spring 2009

Martin’s Lights has seen in the spring with a number of regular clients. Martin Dudley LD’ed The Dhol Foundation with headline shows at the Oxford Folk Festival and in Bristol, and at a support slot to bhangra superstar Malkit Singh at the Indigo2 in London. For the band’s own shows, Martin’s Lights supplied a floor package of eight LED Par 64s with control, and at the Indigo2, took control of the in-house lighting system on an Avolites Pearl 2008 console. Fast-rising metal band Malefice celebrated the release of their second album "Dawn Of Reprisal" with their largest hometown headline show to date at the Reading University Students’ Union main venue, 360. Martin Dudley matched the band’s aural assault, adding Thomas 4-cell DWE blinders, Diversitronics DMX3000 strobes and Par 64 floorcans to the venue’s intelligent & LED lighting system, controlling all lighting from an Avolites Pearl 2008. Rachel Stamp played their first show in four years to promote their new "best-of" album "Now I’m Nailed To Your Bedroom Wall... I’ve Only Got Myself To Blame" and Martin Dudley LD’ed the show at the O2 Islington Academy. Finally, Reading-based music community website Josaka celebrated its tenth birthday with a show featuring four up’n’coming local bands at the 21 South Street venue. Martin’s Lights added Robe Colorspot 700E AT moving heads, LED Par 64s, Par 64 ACLs and Optikinetics Terrastrobes to the venue’s conventional lighting rig. Again an Avolites Pearl 2008 controlled the show, with LD Martin Dudley ably assisted by technician Bob Kiddle.

Martin’s Lights also continues to move forward with new clients, and in March, we illuminated singer-songwriter Karima Francis at her biggest London headline show to date. Six Coemar Prospot 250LX moving lights, eight LED Par 64s and a Unique 2 hazer provided a simple and elegant solution to restricted power availability at the Bush Hall.

In April, Martin Dudley toured with legendary reunited two-tone band The Specials, acting as lighting director for production rehearsals and the first four shows of their 30th anniversary UK tour while the band’s lighting designer "Luton" Pete Hosier was unavailable.

Finally for this update, Martin’s Lights director Martin Dudley, and regular freelancer Joe Nallon, undertook two days of technical training with Robe moving lights at the company’s UK headquarters in Northampton, with the result that Martin’s Lights is now a Robe accredited service agent, as well as being a Robe dealer for the sale of their range of intelligent, digital and LED lighting fixtures.

Early 2009

Martin’s Lights has kicked off the new year with crew services and equipment being supplied to a variety of clients including Coloursound Experiment, JL Lighting, Anagram Production Services, Blinding Light and the "African Soul Rebels" tour. Martin’s Lights also supplied Robe Colorspot 700E AT moving heads, Eurolite Par 64s and Diversitronics DMX3000 strobes, as well as crew services, to L.D. "Luton" Pete Hosier for a London show by Secret Machines. Martin Dudley provided lighting design to Unearth’s set at the Brixton Academy show of the "Defenders Of The Faith 2" tour, and to Malefice for their headline show at the Hellfire Festival in London.

In the equipment department, Martin’s Lights has increased stocks of Par 64 six-lamp bars and eight-cell DWE blinders.

Martin’s Lights’ New Year’s Eve engagement in Belfast with Supergrass is featured on the Robe website. We have also set up a website where items surplus to Martin’s Lights’ requirements are offered for very cheap sale, and even occasionally for free- have a look at The Big Tidy Up.

Winter 2008

In December, amongst the large number of seasonal dry hires, Martin’s Lights illuminated a wide variety of events, including an awards ceremony and dinner-dance at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London for the British Association of Landscape Industries (for Talk Events) and a TV show by Fun-Da-Mental in Warsaw, Poland, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Martin’s Lights lit three shows by Supergrass including a Christmas show at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London and a headlining show at Belfast’s "Rock The Hall" New Year’s Eve celebrations (lighting director Martin Dudley). For the London show, Martin’s Lights supplied twenty LED Par 64s to light the band’s backdrop and also supplied- at less than twenty-four hours’ notice- rigging, truss and a 36’ white cyc for a kabuki drop.

In equipment news, Martin’s Lights has upgraded its Avolites Pearl console to the 2008 software and hardware, and has added more Eurolite Ultrabright LED Par 64s to the hire stock.

Some pictures of the Supergrass shows and some other recent events have been added to the gallery page.

Autumn/Winter 2008

In October, Martin’s Lights undertook a UK and Irish tour with Gilbert O’Sullivan which included six consecutive sold-out nights at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin. LD Martin Dudley added a package of eight Eurolite LED Par 64 floor lamps, with control, to in-house lighting systems.

In November, Martin Dudley also LD’ed the Guillemots "Fishbone For A Drink" sixteen-show UK tour that visited a variety of unusual venues including a working library, an underground cavern and a church, as well as some more conventional concert halls. With power supplies being as variable as the venues, once again LED lighting was the way forward, with eight Eurolite LED Par 64s as well as the in-house lighting systems being controlled on an Avolites Pearl 2004 console via a Swisson DMX buffer/splitter. Martin’s Lights also supplied an "in-house" lighting system of 36 (conventional) Par 64s, six Robe Colorspot 575AT moving heads and two Thomas four-cell DWE blinders, with Anytronics dimmers and a Look Solutions Unique 2 hazer, to the Bath Pavilion show of the tour (technician Bob Kiddle). There are some photos of the Guillemots tour on the gallery page.

Martin’s Lights supplied Robe Colorspot 575AT moving lights, Diversitronics DMX3000 strobes, Thomas eight-cell DWE blinders and ACLs, with dimmers, hazers, and an Avolites Pearl 2004 console, to The Stranglers’ LD Roger Butler at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading (technician Bob Kiddle). We also illuminated Martha Wainwright’s show at Oxford Town Hall with a system of conventional and LED Pars (technician/operator Chris Dinsey). A hometown Reading show by metallers Malefice was lit with Coemar Prospot 250LX moving lights and Showtec LED Pars (LD Martin Dudley) and Martin’s Lights congratulates the band on their recent signing to the Metal Blade Records label.

Late Summer 2008

In August, Martin’s Lights supplied a complete lighting system to the BBC "Introducing" new band stage at the Reading Festival, as well as lighting equipment to the Lockup/Dance stage, the Rivermead Club NME stage, the Silent Disco and several other bars and areas at the festival. This equipment, and crew services, was supplied via Coloursound Experiment. Martin Dudley also LD’ed The Dhol Foundation’s headline show at the Trutnov Open Air Festival in the Czech Republic.

In September, Martin's Lights did a seven show tour of Australia and New Zealand with Newton Faulkner, who has reached platinum status in Australia for both album and single releases. Production was supplied locally, with in-house conventional lighting systems in the venues of up to 2000 capacity supplemented with moving light fixtures by Martin, Robe and High End Systems. L.D. Martin Dudley specified Avolites control consoles, variously using Pearl 2000s and 2004s, a Sapphire 2000 and a Diamond 4 at the shows.

Summer festivals 2008

Summer is, of course, festival season, and Martin’s Lights has found itself in a wide variety of fields- some dry, some muddy- across Europe, in the last few weeks. We’ve illuminated Newton Faulkner at the St Gallen Open Air festival, near Zurich in Switzerland, at the Edinburgh Edge Festival and at the V Festivals. We also lit Gilbert O’Sullivan’s headline appearance on the acoustic stage at Glastonbury, Supergrass’ headline show at Wakestock in Oxfordshire, longtime clients Fun-Da-Mental at two shows in Spain, Recycler at the Colours Of Ostrava festival in the Czech Republic, and Guillemots at the iTunes festival at Koko in London, and at the Latitude festival.

Summer 2008

In May and June, Martin’s Lights serviced Guillemots’ UK tour in support of their new album "Red." The fourteen-show trek featured a lighting system consisting of six Robe Colorspot 700E AT moving lights hung on in-house back trusses, four upstage 10’ vertical pipes each with four Showtec LED Par 64s, eight Eurolite Ultrabright LED Par 64s upstage behind the band’s backline, four Vision Tourwash 575 moving lights onstage, two Diversitronics DMX3000 strobes, two Thomas 8-cell DWE blinders, eight Par 16 birdies to light the band from below, and 60m of red ropelight in keeping with the theme of the album and the tour. Control was from an Avolites Pearl 2004 console, along with Anytronics dimmers and a Cirro hazer. The lighting designer was Martin Dudley and Gareth Dean was the technician for the tour, and they were joined by Dan Robinson for the London show. The Guillemots tour is featured on the Robe website.

At the same time, Martin’s Lights also illuminated several more of its regular clients. The National Dancesport Cup at the Ibis Hotel in London’s Earl’s Court featured generic lighting, Robe Colorspot 575AT and Coemar Prospot 250LX moving lights, and several dozen LED Par 56 and Par 64 fixtures. The Reading University Students’ Union Summer Ball saw headliners Ash and Get Cape.Wear Cape.Fly perform under a rig of Par 64s, ACLs, blinders, strobes and moving heads. Bob Kiddle was the lighting programmer and operator for both these events. Martin’s Lights also serviced the St. John’s College May Ball in Cambridge for the fifth year in succession (for Anagram Production Services), which featured headliner Dizzee Rascal as well as an array of other acts.

Finally in this bulletin, Martin’s Lights supplied lighting to The Subways (LD Steve Brown) and to LD Michael Brenkley for a production of the hugely popular "High School Musical" at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading.

Martin’s Lights continues to add intelligent, LED and generic lighting fixtures to its hire stock, and some pictures of recent events have been added to the gallery page.

Spring 2008

In Spring 2008, Martin’s Lights continued to be busy illuminating a wide variety of events, including a London show by acclaimed jazz pianist Neil Cowley and an acoustic Guillemots show. We supplied lighting equipment to shows by prog rockers Arena, and Blood Red Shoes (LD David Trounce). Martin’s Lights also supplied lighting technician services to LD "Luton" Pete Hosier for the Kooks European and UK tour. The tour received several technical reviews- from Avolites (here and here), and from Robe and GLP.

Winter/spring 2008

Martin’s Lights has again in 2008 been lucky enough to have a early start to the working year.

In January, we supplied extra trussing to James Blunt’s show at the Rivermead Centre in Reading, and also lit Malefice’s DVD shoot gig at the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth, and February saw us at Alton Towers illuminating a Renault Trucks presentation for Talk Events.

In February, Newton Faulkner headed out on his first full production tour and Martin’s Lights again illuminated his performance. The lighting system consisted of 6x Robe Colorspot 700E AT moving head profiles, 12x Robe Colorspot 575AT moving head profiles, 4x Par 64 lamps with Chroma-Q colour scrollers, 4x Thomas DWE 4-cell blinders, 4x ETC Source Four profiles, 4x strings of festoon lights, 4x Showtec Ultrabright LED Par 64s, 8x Showtec LED Par 64s and a 36’ white cyc. This lighting system was supported on two upright and two horizontal 10’ sections of A-type truss and the in-house trusses, and was controlled on an Avolites Pearl 2004 console, with Anytronics dimming, Swisson DMX splitters and a Cirro hazer. This system was augmented for two larger shows (and a DVD shoot) at the legendary Roundhouse in Camden, London, with a further 8x 10’ A-type truss towers, 6x Vision Tourwash 575 moving heads, and 8x Showtec LED Par 64s, as well as the in-house system of 12x Martin MAC 2000 profiles and 6x Vari*Lite VL5s. Martin Dudley was the lighting designer, with lighting techs Gareth Dean (UK leg) and Chris "Dogboy" Davey (Irish leg), and extra help from Geoff Blindt and Sam Campbell in London, and there are some pictures of the tour on the newly-updated gallery page.

At the same time, Martin’s Lights supplied The Cult’s LD Ken Mednick with a package of Diversitronics DMX3000 strobes and Par 64 floorlamps, with distro, control and cables, for the band’s UK and European tour in support of their new album "Born Into This." In March, Guillemots also played their first shows of the year and lighting operator Gareth Dean used a compact system of 8x Showtec LED Par 64s and lots of red ropelight to add to venue’s in-house lighting. Martin’s Lights also serviced Supergrass (LD Matt Arthur) with trussing, Par 64s, dimmers and an Avolites Pearl 2000 for tour rehearsals and a short run of shows. Martin Dudley also lit a Waterboys show in Porto, Portugal, standing in for the band’s regular lighting designer Ali Pike.

Autumn/Winter 2007

Martin’s Lights busy schedule continued into the autumn with the emphasis firmly on live music. Bands illuminated include indie popsters Cajun Dance Party, fast-rising metal band Malefice, Guillemots at Keane’s Brixton Academy Warchild show (L.D. for these bands Martin Dudley) and Iona (L.D. Matt Norman). Touring activities included a UK and Irish tour by singer/songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan, and the sold out, debut full-band tour by Newton Faulkner in support of his number one album "Handbuilt By Robots." This tour featured an extras package of Coemar Prospot 250LX and Robe Colorspot 575AT moving lights, and Martin’s Lights newly-purchased Robe Colorspot 700E AT fixtures, as well as LED Par 64s, Source Four profiles with scrollers, distro, dimming, haze, and control from an Avolites Pearl 2004 console. Martin Dudley was also the L.D. on both these outings and the Newton Faulkner tour is featured on the Robe website. Martin’s Lights also supplied Queens Of The Stone Age (L.D. Dan Hadley) with a good old-fashioned rock’n’roll lighting rig for their sold-out show at the Rivermead centre in Reading, featuring 75kW of generic lighting and absolutely no moving lights at all!

The Martin’s Lights extended family would like to send its love and sympathy to Yvonne Howard, Susie and Debbie on the passing of Pete "Skan" Howard who died on 28th November. Pete was a greatly loved, respected and admired member of our community and the sadness at his passing is tempered with the memories of many good times shared at work and at play.

Late summer 2007

A hectic summer schedule continued for Martin’s Lights with a whole range of shows, festivals and corporate events.

Helen And Douglas House celebrated its 25th anniversary with a gala dinner, dance and charity auction at Henley-On-Thames in Oxfordshire. Celebrity guests ate, drank, danced and donated under two 48’ lighting trusses installed into a circus big top in beautiful countryside next to the River Thames. Martin’s Lights team was Chris "Dogboy" Davey (rigger/technician), Bob Kiddle, Matt Norman and Sam Campbell (technicians), and Martin Dudley (designer/technician). Martin’s Lights was pleased to be asked to light the event by organisers Complete Events, and the evening raised over £155,000 for the very worthy cause.

At the same time, Martin’s Lights also supplied event management company Planet Gold with a lighting system to illuminate their "enchanted forest" décor for a private summer ball in deepest rural Oxfordshire. In the tent, two upright trusses supported moving heads and generic lighting, and LD Bob Kiddle also used Martin’s Lights newly-purchased stock of weatherproof Par 64s to light the outside of the structure.

In the rock’n’roll department, Martin’s Lights supplied an all-LED lighting system to LD "Luton" Pete Hosier for an exclusive and intimate (ie hot and sweaty) competition-winner gig by The Kooks in the 200-capacity Buffalo Bar in Islington, London. Martin Dudley also LD’ed shows for Guillemots at the Big Chill and Edinburgh T On The Fringe festivals, for The Dhol Foundation at the Trutnov (Czech Republic) and Electric Picnic (Eire) festivals, and for Fun-Da-Mental at the Sziget festival in Hungary.

Pictures of some of these events can be seen in the newly-updated gallery page.

Summer 2007

Martin’s Lights continued an extremely busy summer season with a round of university and college summer balls at Reading Uni., St. John’s College, Cambridge (for Anagram Production Services), Farnborough Sixth Form College and Shuttleworth College.

Guillemots’ ongoing schedule saw Martin Dudley programming and operating shows for them at Koko in London (for The Wilderness Foundation), a spectacular gig at Somerset House in London, and at The Big Chill Festival. Other shows LD’ed by Martin included up’n’coming metal band Malefice and The Dhol Foundation’s headline slot at the W.O.M.A.D. festival, where Martin’s Lights also provided a large lighting system, co-designed by Geoff Blindt (of Mystic Lights) and Martin, to the Club WOMAD stage for the sixth (we think?!?) year running. This was WOMAD’s first year at the new Charlton Park site where appalling weather conditions made the work of Chris "Dogboy" Davey (rigger) and Jennie Caldwell, Gareth Dean, Bob Kiddle and Joe Beardsmore (technicians/operators) extremely difficult. We were also excited to provide a lighting system for an exclusive and intimate London club show by iconic rock band The Cult (LD Ken Mednick).

In between all this work, and countless other jobs and hires, Martin’s Lights found time to add more equipment to its stock. A rather spectacular one metre diameter mirrorball is now available to hire, as are a first batch of Showtec Ultrabright LED Par 64s. We now also have available a two way comms/talkback system compatible with all major brands. Please see the equipment page for further details of this equipment.

May 2007

Martin’s Lights illuminated newly-signed youthful up’n’coming popsters Cajun Dance Party at their biggest show to date at Kings College in London. Other bands lit recently include Boot Led Zeppelin at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading and hardcore Indian drummers The Dhol Foundation in Brighton. Guillemots headed out on a short tour including a headline spot at the Smirnoff-sponsored Electric Cabaret in Glasgow, for which Martin’s Lights provided lighting extras including moving lights, LED fixtures, audience blinders and festoons.

The Waterboys tour continued with an extensive UK leg. Martin’s Lights supplied lighting designer Ali Pike with an "extras" package to add to in-house lighting systems, consisting of six Robe Colorspot 575AT fixtures, four AC Tourwash 575 fixtures, five Source Four profiles, six Par 64 floorcans, one Diversitronics DMX3000 strobe and several hazers (!) with distro, Anytronics dimmers and an Avolites Pearl 2004 control desk.

Martin’s Lights also added another feather to its "world music" cap by supplying AC Tourwash moving lights and Showtec LED Pars to the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards Poll Winners’ Concert at The Barbican in London. Lighting designer "Luton" Pete Hosier used a Diamond 4 control console from Avolites hire stock and the technician was Martin Dudley.

In addition to these engagements, May saw Martin’s Lights at the annual National Dancesports Championships at Crystal Palace, the first college ball of the year at University College Chichester (for LightCAW) and crew services were supplied to Anagram Production Services, Talk Events and the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, amongst others.

March 2007

Martin’s Lights has been investing in equipment and has added more moving lights and strobes to the hire stock. Please see the equipment page for full details.

LD Stevie Powles is using an Avolites Pearl 2004 console supplied by Martin’s Lights for The Waterboys’ current European tour in support of their new album "Book Of Lightning." Martin’s Lights has also been using LED technology to provide elegant and spectacular illumination for events where lack of power or other factors make more traditional light sources ineffective or impractical. A Regina Spektor show at Oxford Town Hall was lit with Showtec LED Pars to enhance the beauty of the venue, and Josaka’s eighth birthday party/gig was lit with an upstage 4 x 4 "matrix" of Showtec LED Par 64s, giving an almost unlimited variety of big looks. Pictures of these events and others can be seen on the updated gallery page, and some pictures of the 2006 Macmillan charity Christmas carol concert at the Guard’s Chapel in London have also been added.

2007

After a short break for Christmas and New Year, Martin’s Lights kicked off 2007 supplying lighting equipment and technician services at events for Symantec in Reading (for Gas Light and Power), Deutsche Bank in Lisbon, Portugal, featuring Madness (for Anagram Production Services), and a charity event at the Dorchester Hotel in London featuring Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet (for Republic Productions).

Guillemots set out on their first full production tour with a new show designed, programmed and operated by LD Martin Dudley with technician Gareth Dean. The set is based around four asymmetrical and angled 10’ truss towers (with custom cover scrims made by Rockdrops) and lighting fixtures include twelve Robe Colorspot 575AT and six Vision Tourwash 575, with fourteen Showtec LED Par 64s and four 4-light DWE blinders, controlled on an Avolites Pearl 2004. Pictures of the Guillemots tour and some of the other events can be seen in the gallery.

		Winter 2009
		In October and November, Martin Dudley was again the lighting designer for The Specials, for the second leg of their 30th anniversary reunion UK tour. This trip took in nineteen sold-out shows, from clubs to arenas, and culminated in three nights at the famous Hammersmith Apollo theatre in London. Neg Earth supplied a lighting system for the tour based on front, mid and back trusses, and floor lighting, leaning heavily on Par 64s, profiles and blinders appropriate to the band’s vintage, with Martin MAC700 spot moving lights and Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12 LED fixtures as a nod to modern lighting technology. Other elements included a kabuki drop to start the show, a one metre diameter mirror ball for the song "Nite Klub" and a 13m x 9m backdrop of the band’s iconic black-and-white logo. Paul Howling and Richard Armstrong were the lighting technicians. The tour was captured on DVD for release in January 2010 and there are some photos of the shows on the gallery page. In December, Martin’s Lights illuminated the British Association of Landscape Industries Awards for Livewire AVS Ltd, at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. Another annual event for Martin’s Lights, this year we added Eurolite LED Par 64 fixtures, Look Solutions Unique 2 hazers and an Avolites Pearl 2008 to the venue’s Varilite lighting system. Another Martin’s Lights client celebrating an historic milestone is Steeleye Span, who undertook their 40th anniversary tour in November and December. Martin’s Lights was asked to illuminate two shows on this tour, again for a live DVD shoot, and the show at the London Barbican featured special guests including former band members (and English folk music legends in their own right) John Kirkpatrick and Martin Carthy, and Rose Kemp, the daughter of the band’s Maddy Prior & Rick Kemp. Martin’s Lights provided Avolites control for the Barbican’s extensive moving lights system with Martin Dudley LDing the shows. Martin’s Lights provided a complete lighting system to Anagram Production Services for the live band stage at the Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, for the Commissioning Ball of their winter Sovereign Parade. The system consisted of Mobiltech medium-duty truss, Anytronics dimmers, 6x Par 64 six-lamp bars, 8x Robe Colorspot 575AT moving lights and 8x AC Tourwash 575 moving lights, controlled from an Avolites Pearl 2008 console. Martin Dudley was the lighting designer, and Sam Campbell was the technician. Finally for this bulletin, amongst the annual snowstorm of Christmas dry hires, Martin’s Lights swung into action at less than 24 hours’ notice to supply power distro and cabling, Coemar Prospot 250LX moving lights, Eurolite and Showtec LED Par 64s, and a Unique 2 hazer, to Gas Light & Power, for a homecoming show for Reading’s X-Factor semi-finalist Danyl Johnson. Bob Kiddle was the lighting designer and Martin Dudley was the programmer and technician. Martin’s Lights continues to offer for sale (or even sometimes for free!) lighting equipment, and other associated items, on the Big Tidy Up* website. This website is designed to enable us to dispose of working items that are surplus to requirements, freeing up valuable storage space, whilst offering these items at bargain prices to customers to whom they might be of use, thus also keeping these items from being un-necessarily scrapped, with the environmental advantages this brings. Martin’s Lights wishes all its friends, clients, customers and suppliers a happy, prosperous and successful 2010.

		November 2009
		In September, Martin’s Lights supplied lighting design, technician and lighting programming services to Anagram Production Services for "Rhythm Force", the Royal Army’s Corps of Music’s annual concert at Kneller Hall in Twickenham featuring, amongst others, Jools Holland. Martin’s Lights supplied Robe Colorspot 575AT and Colorspot 700E AT moving lights for the event. Martin Dudley LD’ed Newton Faulkner’s appearance at the Cois Fharraige Festival in Kilkee, Ireland, and at an HMV show at the Jazz Cafe in London. In October, Martin’s Light’s serviced Newton Faulkner’s sold-out UK tour in support of his second album "Rebuilt By Humans". The lighting system featured six Robe Colorspot 700E AT and ten Colorspot 575AT moving lights, two Thomas 4-cell DWE blinders, two ETC Source Four profiles, five Ikea paper lampshades with 100W bulbs (!) and three fifty-year-old Major WF10 floods on stands, with control from an Avolites Pearl 2008 console. Martin was the lighting designer, Gareth Dean was the technician for the tour and there are some pictures of the tour on the gallery page. Gareth Dean also LD’ed Newton’s short European tour in November, with a reduced version of the lighting package featuring six Coemar Prospot 250LX moving lights and the paper lampshades, controlled from an Avolites Pearl 2008. In October, Martin’s Lights also supplied LD Ken Mednick with Diversitronics DMX3000 strobes, power distro and control for The Cult’s "Love Live" European tour where the band played the classic "Love" album in full.

		September 2009
		A busy summer continued for Martin's Lights, working with both regular and new clients and with the emphasis firmly on festival shows. Martin Dudley was the lighting designer for Newton Faulkner's headline appearance at the iTunes Festival at the Roundhouse in Camden, London- see some pictures here- and at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk where he again drew one of the biggest crowds of the weekend to the stage. Martin has also been designing for the acclaimed and recently reformed band Magazine. In June, the band played a warm-up show in Sheffield and festival appearances at Benicassim in Spain and Latitude in Suffolk. For these shows, Martin's Lights provided an extras package of four-cell DWE blinders and Diversitronics strobes. In August and September, the band played "The Soap Show: Episode 2009" in Manchester, Edinburgh and at the Royal Festival Hall in London where they performed the entire "The Correct Use Of Soap" album as well as a handful of other classic songs, and the band also played at the Electric Picnic festival in Eire. There are some pictures of "The Soap Show" on the gallery page. Martin lit The Specials’ shows on the main stages at the T In The Park and Oxegen Festivals in Scotland and Ireland, and the V Festivals at Chelmsford and Stafford, and also undertook an eight show tour of Australia, New Zealand and Japan with the band, a mixture of headline indoor and festival appearances. For three Australian headline shows, Phaseshift Productions supplied a lighting system of Martin MAC700 moving lights, Par 64s, ETC Source Four profiles, Thomas 4-cell DWE blinders, a 36" mirrorball, a kabuki drop to start the show, and control from an Avolites Sapphire 2000, with technician Michael Corbett looking after the rig. There are some pictures of one of the Australian shows on the gallery page. Martin also lit a Fun-Da-Mental show in Oslo, Norway, which featured the band in collaboration with Rizwam-Muazzam Qawaal, as part of the city’s Mela Festival.

		June 2009
		In May and June, Martin’s Lights worked on several more of its regular engagements. The Crystal Palace Dancesport Cup was moved from Crystal Palace sports centre to a large hotel ballroom due to ongoing renovations at the centre. Martin Dudley, Bob Kiddle and Sam Campbell worked overnight to rig a system based on a 10’ A-type truss tower in each corner of the dancefloor, with a mixture of automated, LED and conventional lighting fixtures mounted on these trusses, onstage and on the floor. We also supplied a complete lighting system to Anagram Production Services for another annual event, the live music stage at the St John’s College Ball in Cambridge. This year’s headline act was Calvin Harris and the Martin’s Lights team consisted of Bob Kiddle and Gareth Dean. Martin’s Lights supplied lighting designer Jack Linaker with moving lights, conventional lights & followspots for a production of "Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire, as part of the Dorchester Festival. Martin’s Lights also supplied Robe Colorspot 700E AT and 575AT moving lights, Diversitronics DMX3000 strobes and Unique hazers to promoters Kilimanjaro for a show by popular folk musician Seth Lakeman at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading. Martin Dudley undertook his fourth full tour with Newton Faulkner, LDing the fourteen show trip to some of Britain’s less frequently visited towns, cities and venues that was postponed from the early new year due to Newton’s wrist injury. The solo acoustic tour featured a mix of old and new songs, and was lit with a package of six Robe Colorspot 575AT moving lights, twelve Eurolite LED Par 64s, several strings of red and blue ropelight, four paper lampshades containing 100W bulbs, a 50cm mirrorball, an 11 metre white cyc and a Cirro Micromist hazer, with control from an Avolites Pearl 2008 console. Martin’s Lights also supplied conventional lighting systems in three of the venues on the tour- Reading, Bath and Cheltenham- where additional lighting was needed. The technician on these shows was Bob Kiddle. At the Glastonbury Festival, Martin Dudley LDed The Specials’ Pyramid Stage Friday night performance. Lighting suppliers Neg Earth provided the band with an additional fourteen nine-cell DWE blinders, ten 20-lite Par 16 blinders, six Martin Atomic strobes, a 1kW Beam Lite, a one metre mirror ball, and an Avolites 48-channel ART2000 dimmer rack, all controlled from an Avolites Pearl 2004 console and looked after by technicians Dave Watson and Paul Howling. He also lit Newton Faulkner’s show on the acoustic stage on Saturday, which drew the biggest crowd of the day to the stage. Martin also LDed Gilbert O’Sullivan, with shows at the Du Maurier Festival in Fowey, Cornwall, two shows in Israel, and at the Live At The Marquee Festival in Cork, Eire.

		Spring 2009
		Martin’s Lights has seen in the spring with a number of regular clients. Martin Dudley LD’ed The Dhol Foundation with headline shows at the Oxford Folk Festival and in Bristol, and at a support slot to bhangra superstar Malkit Singh at the Indigo2 in London. For the band’s own shows, Martin’s Lights supplied a floor package of eight LED Par 64s with control, and at the Indigo2, took control of the in-house lighting system on an Avolites Pearl 2008 console. Fast-rising metal band Malefice celebrated the release of their second album "Dawn Of Reprisal" with their largest hometown headline show to date at the Reading University Students’ Union main venue, 360. Martin Dudley matched the band’s aural assault, adding Thomas 4-cell DWE blinders, Diversitronics DMX3000 strobes and Par 64 floorcans to the venue’s intelligent & LED lighting system, controlling all lighting from an Avolites Pearl 2008. Rachel Stamp played their first show in four years to promote their new "best-of" album "Now I’m Nailed To Your Bedroom Wall... I’ve Only Got Myself To Blame" and Martin Dudley LD’ed the show at the O2 Islington Academy. Finally, Reading-based music community website Josaka celebrated its tenth birthday with a show featuring four up’n’coming local bands at the 21 South Street venue. Martin’s Lights added Robe Colorspot 700E AT moving heads, LED Par 64s, Par 64 ACLs and Optikinetics Terrastrobes to the venue’s conventional lighting rig. Again an Avolites Pearl 2008 controlled the show, with LD Martin Dudley ably assisted by technician Bob Kiddle. Martin’s Lights also continues to move forward with new clients, and in March, we illuminated singer-songwriter Karima Francis at her biggest London headline show to date. Six Coemar Prospot 250LX moving lights, eight LED Par 64s and a Unique 2 hazer provided a simple and elegant solution to restricted power availability at the Bush Hall. In April, Martin Dudley toured with legendary reunited two-tone band The Specials, acting as lighting director for production rehearsals and the first four shows of their 30th anniversary UK tour while the band’s lighting designer "Luton" Pete Hosier was unavailable. Finally for this update, Martin’s Lights director Martin Dudley, and regular freelancer Joe Nallon, undertook two days of technical training with Robe moving lights at the company’s UK headquarters in Northampton, with the result that Martin’s Lights is now a Robe accredited service agent, as well as being a Robe dealer for the sale of their range of intelligent, digital and LED lighting fixtures.

		Early 2009
		Martin’s Lights has kicked off the new year with crew services and equipment being supplied to a variety of clients including Coloursound Experiment, JL Lighting, Anagram Production Services, Blinding Light and the "African Soul Rebels" tour. Martin’s Lights also supplied Robe Colorspot 700E AT moving heads, Eurolite Par 64s and Diversitronics DMX3000 strobes, as well as crew services, to L.D. "Luton" Pete Hosier for a London show by Secret Machines. Martin Dudley provided lighting design to Unearth’s set at the Brixton Academy show of the "Defenders Of The Faith 2" tour, and to Malefice for their headline show at the Hellfire Festival in London. In the equipment department, Martin’s Lights has increased stocks of Par 64 six-lamp bars and eight-cell DWE blinders. Martin’s Lights’ New Year’s Eve engagement in Belfast with Supergrass is featured on the Robe website. We have also set up a website where items surplus to Martin’s Lights’ requirements are offered for very cheap sale, and even occasionally for free- have a look at The Big Tidy Up.

		Winter 2008
		In December, amongst the large number of seasonal dry hires, Martin’s Lights illuminated a wide variety of events, including an awards ceremony and dinner-dance at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London for the British Association of Landscape Industries (for Talk Events) and a TV show by Fun-Da-Mental in Warsaw, Poland, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Martin’s Lights lit three shows by Supergrass including a Christmas show at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London and a headlining show at Belfast’s "Rock The Hall" New Year’s Eve celebrations (lighting director Martin Dudley). For the London show, Martin’s Lights supplied twenty LED Par 64s to light the band’s backdrop and also supplied- at less than twenty-four hours’ notice- rigging, truss and a 36’ white cyc for a kabuki drop. In equipment news, Martin’s Lights has upgraded its Avolites Pearl console to the 2008 software and hardware, and has added more Eurolite Ultrabright LED Par 64s to the hire stock. Some pictures of the Supergrass shows and some other recent events have been added to the gallery page.

		Autumn/Winter 2008
		In October, Martin’s Lights undertook a UK and Irish tour with Gilbert O’Sullivan which included six consecutive sold-out nights at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin. LD Martin Dudley added a package of eight Eurolite LED Par 64 floor lamps, with control, to in-house lighting systems. In November, Martin Dudley also LD’ed the Guillemots "Fishbone For A Drink" sixteen-show UK tour that visited a variety of unusual venues including a working library, an underground cavern and a church, as well as some more conventional concert halls. With power supplies being as variable as the venues, once again LED lighting was the way forward, with eight Eurolite LED Par 64s as well as the in-house lighting systems being controlled on an Avolites Pearl 2004 console via a Swisson DMX buffer/splitter. Martin’s Lights also supplied an "in-house" lighting system of 36 (conventional) Par 64s, six Robe Colorspot 575AT moving heads and two Thomas four-cell DWE blinders, with Anytronics dimmers and a Look Solutions Unique 2 hazer, to the Bath Pavilion show of the tour (technician Bob Kiddle). There are some photos of the Guillemots tour on the gallery page. Martin’s Lights supplied Robe Colorspot 575AT moving lights, Diversitronics DMX3000 strobes, Thomas eight-cell DWE blinders and ACLs, with dimmers, hazers, and an Avolites Pearl 2004 console, to The Stranglers’ LD Roger Butler at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading (technician Bob Kiddle). We also illuminated Martha Wainwright’s show at Oxford Town Hall with a system of conventional and LED Pars (technician/operator Chris Dinsey). A hometown Reading show by metallers Malefice was lit with Coemar Prospot 250LX moving lights and Showtec LED Pars (LD Martin Dudley) and Martin’s Lights congratulates the band on their recent signing to the Metal Blade Records label.

		Late Summer 2008
		In August, Martin’s Lights supplied a complete lighting system to the BBC "Introducing" new band stage at the Reading Festival, as well as lighting equipment to the Lockup/Dance stage, the Rivermead Club NME stage, the Silent Disco and several other bars and areas at the festival. This equipment, and crew services, was supplied via Coloursound Experiment. Martin Dudley also LD’ed The Dhol Foundation’s headline show at the Trutnov Open Air Festival in the Czech Republic. In September, Martin's Lights did a seven show tour of Australia and New Zealand with Newton Faulkner, who has reached platinum status in Australia for both album and single releases. Production was supplied locally, with in-house conventional lighting systems in the venues of up to 2000 capacity supplemented with moving light fixtures by Martin, Robe and High End Systems. L.D. Martin Dudley specified Avolites control consoles, variously using Pearl 2000s and 2004s, a Sapphire 2000 and a Diamond 4 at the shows.

		Summer festivals 2008
		Summer is, of course, festival season, and Martin’s Lights has found itself in a wide variety of fields- some dry, some muddy- across Europe, in the last few weeks. We’ve illuminated Newton Faulkner at the St Gallen Open Air festival, near Zurich in Switzerland, at the Edinburgh Edge Festival and at the V Festivals. We also lit Gilbert O’Sullivan’s headline appearance on the acoustic stage at Glastonbury, Supergrass’ headline show at Wakestock in Oxfordshire, longtime clients Fun-Da-Mental at two shows in Spain, Recycler at the Colours Of Ostrava festival in the Czech Republic, and Guillemots at the iTunes festival at Koko in London, and at the Latitude festival.

		Summer 2008
		In May and June, Martin’s Lights serviced Guillemots’ UK tour in support of their new album "Red." The fourteen-show trek featured a lighting system consisting of six Robe Colorspot 700E AT moving lights hung on in-house back trusses, four upstage 10’ vertical pipes each with four Showtec LED Par 64s, eight Eurolite Ultrabright LED Par 64s upstage behind the band’s backline, four Vision Tourwash 575 moving lights onstage, two Diversitronics DMX3000 strobes, two Thomas 8-cell DWE blinders, eight Par 16 birdies to light the band from below, and 60m of red ropelight in keeping with the theme of the album and the tour. Control was from an Avolites Pearl 2004 console, along with Anytronics dimmers and a Cirro hazer. The lighting designer was Martin Dudley and Gareth Dean was the technician for the tour, and they were joined by Dan Robinson for the London show. The Guillemots tour is featured on the Robe website. At the same time, Martin’s Lights also illuminated several more of its regular clients. The National Dancesport Cup at the Ibis Hotel in London’s Earl’s Court featured generic lighting, Robe Colorspot 575AT and Coemar Prospot 250LX moving lights, and several dozen LED Par 56 and Par 64 fixtures. The Reading University Students’ Union Summer Ball saw headliners Ash and Get Cape.Wear Cape.Fly perform under a rig of Par 64s, ACLs, blinders, strobes and moving heads. Bob Kiddle was the lighting programmer and operator for both these events. Martin’s Lights also serviced the St. John’s College May Ball in Cambridge for the fifth year in succession (for Anagram Production Services), which featured headliner Dizzee Rascal as well as an array of other acts. Finally in this bulletin, Martin’s Lights supplied lighting to The Subways (LD Steve Brown) and to LD Michael Brenkley for a production of the hugely popular "High School Musical" at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading. Martin’s Lights continues to add intelligent, LED and generic lighting fixtures to its hire stock, and some pictures of recent events have been added to the gallery page.

		Spring 2008
		In Spring 2008, Martin’s Lights continued to be busy illuminating a wide variety of events, including a London show by acclaimed jazz pianist Neil Cowley and an acoustic Guillemots show. We supplied lighting equipment to shows by prog rockers Arena, and Blood Red Shoes (LD David Trounce). Martin’s Lights also supplied lighting technician services to LD "Luton" Pete Hosier for the Kooks European and UK tour. The tour received several technical reviews- from Avolites (here and here), and from Robe and GLP.

		Winter/spring 2008
		Martin’s Lights has again in 2008 been lucky enough to have a early start to the working year. In January, we supplied extra trussing to James Blunt’s show at the Rivermead Centre in Reading, and also lit Malefice’s DVD shoot gig at the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth, and February saw us at Alton Towers illuminating a Renault Trucks presentation for Talk Events. In February, Newton Faulkner headed out on his first full production tour and Martin’s Lights again illuminated his performance. The lighting system consisted of 6x Robe Colorspot 700E AT moving head profiles, 12x Robe Colorspot 575AT moving head profiles, 4x Par 64 lamps with Chroma-Q colour scrollers, 4x Thomas DWE 4-cell blinders, 4x ETC Source Four profiles, 4x strings of festoon lights, 4x Showtec Ultrabright LED Par 64s, 8x Showtec LED Par 64s and a 36’ white cyc. This lighting system was supported on two upright and two horizontal 10’ sections of A-type truss and the in-house trusses, and was controlled on an Avolites Pearl 2004 console, with Anytronics dimming, Swisson DMX splitters and a Cirro hazer. This system was augmented for two larger shows (and a DVD shoot) at the legendary Roundhouse in Camden, London, with a further 8x 10’ A-type truss towers, 6x Vision Tourwash 575 moving heads, and 8x Showtec LED Par 64s, as well as the in-house system of 12x Martin MAC 2000 profiles and 6x VariLite VL5s. Martin Dudley was the lighting designer, with lighting techs Gareth Dean (UK leg) and Chris "Dogboy" Davey (Irish leg), and extra help from Geoff Blindt and Sam Campbell in London, and there are some pictures of the tour on the newly-updated gallery* page. At the same time, Martin’s Lights supplied The Cult’s LD Ken Mednick with a package of Diversitronics DMX3000 strobes and Par 64 floorlamps, with distro, control and cables, for the band’s UK and European tour in support of their new album "Born Into This." In March, Guillemots also played their first shows of the year and lighting operator Gareth Dean used a compact system of 8x Showtec LED Par 64s and lots of red ropelight to add to venue’s in-house lighting. Martin’s Lights also serviced Supergrass (LD Matt Arthur) with trussing, Par 64s, dimmers and an Avolites Pearl 2000 for tour rehearsals and a short run of shows. Martin Dudley also lit a Waterboys show in Porto, Portugal, standing in for the band’s regular lighting designer Ali Pike.

		Autumn/Winter 2007
		Martin’s Lights busy schedule continued into the autumn with the emphasis firmly on live music. Bands illuminated include indie popsters Cajun Dance Party, fast-rising metal band Malefice, Guillemots at Keane’s Brixton Academy Warchild show (L.D. for these bands Martin Dudley) and Iona (L.D. Matt Norman). Touring activities included a UK and Irish tour by singer/songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan, and the sold out, debut full-band tour by Newton Faulkner in support of his number one album "Handbuilt By Robots." This tour featured an extras package of Coemar Prospot 250LX and Robe Colorspot 575AT moving lights, and Martin’s Lights newly-purchased Robe Colorspot 700E AT fixtures, as well as LED Par 64s, Source Four profiles with scrollers, distro, dimming, haze, and control from an Avolites Pearl 2004 console. Martin Dudley was also the L.D. on both these outings and the Newton Faulkner tour is featured on the Robe website. Martin’s Lights also supplied Queens Of The Stone Age (L.D. Dan Hadley) with a good old-fashioned rock’n’roll lighting rig for their sold-out show at the Rivermead centre in Reading, featuring 75kW of generic lighting and absolutely no moving lights at all! The Martin’s Lights extended family would like to send its love and sympathy to Yvonne Howard, Susie and Debbie on the passing of Pete "Skan" Howard who died on 28th November. Pete was a greatly loved, respected and admired member of our community and the sadness at his passing is tempered with the memories of many good times shared at work and at play.

		Late summer 2007
		A hectic summer schedule continued for Martin’s Lights with a whole range of shows, festivals and corporate events. Helen And Douglas House celebrated its 25th anniversary with a gala dinner, dance and charity auction at Henley-On-Thames in Oxfordshire. Celebrity guests ate, drank, danced and donated under two 48’ lighting trusses installed into a circus big top in beautiful countryside next to the River Thames. Martin’s Lights team was Chris "Dogboy" Davey (rigger/technician), Bob Kiddle, Matt Norman and Sam Campbell (technicians), and Martin Dudley (designer/technician). Martin’s Lights was pleased to be asked to light the event by organisers Complete Events, and the evening raised over £155,000 for the very worthy cause. At the same time, Martin’s Lights also supplied event management company Planet Gold with a lighting system to illuminate their "enchanted forest" décor for a private summer ball in deepest rural Oxfordshire. In the tent, two upright trusses supported moving heads and generic lighting, and LD Bob Kiddle also used Martin’s Lights newly-purchased stock of weatherproof Par 64s to light the outside of the structure. In the rock’n’roll department, Martin’s Lights supplied an all-LED lighting system to LD "Luton" Pete Hosier for an exclusive and intimate (ie hot and sweaty) competition-winner gig by The Kooks in the 200-capacity Buffalo Bar in Islington, London. Martin Dudley also LD’ed shows for Guillemots at the Big Chill and Edinburgh T On The Fringe festivals, for The Dhol Foundation at the Trutnov (Czech Republic) and Electric Picnic (Eire) festivals, and for Fun-Da-Mental at the Sziget festival in Hungary. Pictures of some of these events can be seen in the newly-updated gallery page.

		Summer 2007
		Martin’s Lights continued an extremely busy summer season with a round of university and college summer balls at Reading Uni., St. John’s College, Cambridge (for Anagram Production Services), Farnborough Sixth Form College and Shuttleworth College. Guillemots’ ongoing schedule saw Martin Dudley programming and operating shows for them at Koko in London (for The Wilderness Foundation), a spectacular gig at Somerset House in London, and at The Big Chill Festival. Other shows LD’ed by Martin included up’n’coming metal band Malefice and The Dhol Foundation’s headline slot at the W.O.M.A.D. festival, where Martin’s Lights also provided a large lighting system, co-designed by Geoff Blindt (of Mystic Lights) and Martin, to the Club WOMAD stage for the sixth (we think?!?) year running. This was WOMAD’s first year at the new Charlton Park site where appalling weather conditions made the work of Chris "Dogboy" Davey (rigger) and Jennie Caldwell, Gareth Dean, Bob Kiddle and Joe Beardsmore (technicians/operators) extremely difficult. We were also excited to provide a lighting system for an exclusive and intimate London club show by iconic rock band The Cult (LD Ken Mednick). In between all this work, and countless other jobs and hires, Martin’s Lights found time to add more equipment to its stock. A rather spectacular one metre diameter mirrorball is now available to hire, as are a first batch of Showtec Ultrabright LED Par 64s. We now also have available a two way comms/talkback system compatible with all major brands. Please see the equipment page for further details of this equipment.

		May 2007
		Martin’s Lights illuminated newly-signed youthful up’n’coming popsters Cajun Dance Party at their biggest show to date at Kings College in London. Other bands lit recently include Boot Led Zeppelin at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading and hardcore Indian drummers The Dhol Foundation in Brighton. Guillemots headed out on a short tour including a headline spot at the Smirnoff-sponsored Electric Cabaret in Glasgow, for which Martin’s Lights provided lighting extras including moving lights, LED fixtures, audience blinders and festoons. The Waterboys tour continued with an extensive UK leg. Martin’s Lights supplied lighting designer Ali Pike with an "extras" package to add to in-house lighting systems, consisting of six Robe Colorspot 575AT fixtures, four AC Tourwash 575 fixtures, five Source Four profiles, six Par 64 floorcans, one Diversitronics DMX3000 strobe and several hazers (!) with distro, Anytronics dimmers and an Avolites Pearl 2004 control desk. Martin’s Lights also added another feather to its "world music" cap by supplying AC Tourwash moving lights and Showtec LED Pars to the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards Poll Winners’ Concert at The Barbican in London. Lighting designer "Luton" Pete Hosier used a Diamond 4 control console from Avolites hire stock and the technician was Martin Dudley. In addition to these engagements, May saw Martin’s Lights at the annual National Dancesports Championships at Crystal Palace, the first college ball of the year at University College Chichester (for LightCAW) and crew services were supplied to Anagram Production Services, Talk Events and the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, amongst others.

		March 2007
		Martin’s Lights has been investing in equipment and has added more moving lights and strobes to the hire stock. Please see the equipment page for full details. LD Stevie Powles is using an Avolites Pearl 2004 console supplied by Martin’s Lights for The Waterboys’ current European tour in support of their new album "Book Of Lightning." Martin’s Lights has also been using LED technology to provide elegant and spectacular illumination for events where lack of power or other factors make more traditional light sources ineffective or impractical. A Regina Spektor show at Oxford Town Hall was lit with Showtec LED Pars to enhance the beauty of the venue, and Josaka’s eighth birthday party/gig was lit with an upstage 4 x 4 "matrix" of Showtec LED Par 64s, giving an almost unlimited variety of big looks. Pictures of these events and others can be seen on the updated gallery page, and some pictures of the 2006 Macmillan charity Christmas carol concert at the Guard’s Chapel in London have also been added.

		2007
		After a short break for Christmas and New Year, Martin’s Lights kicked off 2007 supplying lighting equipment and technician services at events for Symantec in Reading (for Gas Light and Power), Deutsche Bank in Lisbon, Portugal, featuring Madness (for Anagram Production Services), and a charity event at the Dorchester Hotel in London featuring Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet (for Republic Productions). Guillemots set out on their first full production tour with a new show designed, programmed and operated by LD Martin Dudley with technician Gareth Dean. The set is based around four asymmetrical and angled 10’ truss towers (with custom cover scrims made by Rockdrops) and lighting fixtures include twelve Robe Colorspot 575AT and six Vision Tourwash 575, with fourteen Showtec LED Par 64s and four 4-light DWE blinders, controlled on an Avolites Pearl 2004. Pictures of the Guillemots tour and some of the other events can be seen in the gallery.