Gallery & Press Releases
Posts tagged Martin
HSL Supplies Il Divo Tour
3 weeks ago
in 2013
Blackburn based lighting and visuals specialist HSL supplied lighting, LED screen, a Kinesys automation system and crew to the UK and European arena legs of international vocal group Il Divo’s ‘Greatest hits’ tour, following on from their highly successful collaboration last year.
For the first time, Il Divo performed with Welsh soprano Katherine Jenkins on the tour, which featured lighting designed by Dave Davey one of the UK’s most successful television lighting designers. Davey’s work includes high profile shows like The X Factor, which is where he originally met Il Divo’s Creative Director, Brian Burke.
The tour visuals featured some spectacular crossover lighting styles from both TV and live disciplines.
Davey has worked with HSL on a number of projects. For the tour, he brought in Tom Sutherland as Touring Lighting Director, and together they visualised the show at Elstree Studios for a week, followed by a week of full technical rehearsals at LS Live and then four pre-show days in ahead of the first gig in the Ergo Arena, Gdansk, Poland.
Burke’s brief for this tour was a complete departure from 2012’s ‘Wicked Game’, which featured large and very prominent moving curved More >
HSL Supplies Lighting for Popular Googoosh Music Academy TV Series
3 months ago
in 2013
Leading UK lighting and visuals rental company HSL is supplying all lighting equipment to the current series of the Googoosh Music Academy, which features a spectacular lighting design by Steffan Jones.
The show, produced by Manoto TV is recorded in Capital Studios, Wandsworth, south London and broadcast on primetime via the Marjan Television Network. It is a massively popular voice competition – Up to 1.3 million public votes have been cast per show – inspired by Iranian pop superstar Googoosh, who is also one of the three judges. The judges act as mentors for the ten finalists appearing in the TV series, all aspiring Iranian singers selected from hundreds of hopefuls.
Simon Stuart and Sean McGlone are Project Managing for HSL. Simon comments, “We are really happy to be working with Steff again who is one of the rising young talents of our industry. His designs are always fresh and inventive”.
Jones’ brief for the lighting design was to make it vibrant, versatile, exciting and dramatically different to a conventional LE reality show and talent competition.
In addition to the contestant performances there is usually at least one guest artist appearance per show, so flexibility is More >
HSL Nominated for Two TPi Awards
6 months ago
in 2012
Blackburn, UK based lighting and visuals rental company, HSL has been nominated for two 2013 Total Production International (TPi) Awards – for Favourite Lighting Rental Company (sponsored by Robe lighting) and Favourite Video Services Company.
HSL is one of the most proactive UK rental companies and has been nominated several times for the TPi Award for Favourite Lighting Rental Company, winning in 2008.
Being nominated for Video Services as well reflects the continuing convergence between lighting and certain elements of live video under the ‘visuals’ banner, and with it, a serious investment by HSL into LED screens and media server technology.
This took a major leap forward last year with the purchase of Martin LED screen and the full complement of Green Hippo Media Servers, Catalyst and AI.
This generally growing trend enables HSL to offer competitive lighting and LED screens/playback control packages coupled with video projectors and bespoke Video Systems, all from the same source.
HSL’s MD Simon Stuart states, “It is an amazing achievement to receive not one but two TPi nominations, especially coming from our peers in the industry, which adds proper value and credibility. More >
HSL Supplies Cheryl Cole A Million Lights Tour
7 months ago
in 2012
Well … in reality …. It wasn’t quite that many ….. BUT leading Blackburn, UK based lighting and visuals rental specialists HSL did indeed supply lighting equipment and crew to Cheryl Cole’s first solo ‘A Million Lights’ arena tour, once again working for technical producers Production North.
The lighting design by Peter Barnes, directed / operated out on the road by Neil Trenell of Fix8, proved that imaginative and intelligent use of lighting and effects can bring serious layers of magic to a high-impact show.
The tour was project managed for HSL by Mike Oates who comments, “Production North under the technical direction of Iain Whitehead co-ordinated another superb looking and highly entertaining show, and we were really pleased to be involved”.
Barnes and Trenell worked closely with creative directors Fatima Robinson and Beth Honan, who commissioned the set design from Bruce Rogers. They also initiated the video and visuals concepts, bringing a lively mix of footage to the picture, played back across an upstage pyramid shaped set clad with LED panels and a set of stairs immediately in front of it.
The lighting which matched and contrasted this as Cheryl’s fast paced, More >
Global Gathering for HSL
10 months ago
in 2012
Leading UK lighting and visuals rental company HSL continued its busy summer supplying lighting equipment, LED screens, trussing and rigging for the Main Stage and five tented arenas at the 2012 Global Gathering event, staged at Long Marston Airfield near Stratford ….. attracting up to 50,000 dance music fans over two days.
HSL’s Tim Fawkes project managed the event and co-ordinated the supply of seven trucks worth of equipment to event production lighting designers Nick Jevons and Phil Windward of Electric Fly, also working closely with their lighting crew chief Mark Callaghan.
The main stage headliners were Tinie Tempah (Friday) and Chase & Status (Saturday). They and a host of other top international DJs and live acts – including Armin van Buren, Skrillex, Dot Rotten, James Zabiela, Ferry Corsten and hundreds more – set the fabulous Warwickshire countryside buzzing with the very best dance vibes,.
Even the sun participated in the fun .. delighting everyone with a fantastic performance over the two days – one of the few UK festivals this summer not to be plagued by erratic weather. The good weather prompted a run on the last remaining tickets the week before.
HSL is also More >
HSL Says Farewell to Westlife
11 months ago
in 2012
Westlife – the world’s favourite ‘boyband’ – played two phenomenal and highly emotional farewell concerts over two nights at Croke Park stadium in Dublin in their very last live performances, capping an amazing 14 year chart-topping, multi-million record selling career.
Lighting for this – and the six week tour preceding the two 85,000 capacity sold out shows at Croke Park – was supplied by leading UK lighting and visuals rental company HSL. It included nearly 200 moving lights.
The lighting design was created by Dave ‘Biccie’ Lee and operated on the tour at Croke Park by Simon Horn. Mike Oates project managed for HSL, who were working for the tour’s technical production co-ordinators Production North, under the auspices of production manager Karen Ringland.
Says Mike Oates, “We were immensely proud to work on this tour and the two landmark Croke Park shows. The show was absolutely stunning and a real tribute to all involved in producing another complete Westlife ‘experience’ with the highest production values that will be remembered for many years to come”.
As well as the hordes of loyal and dedicated fans packing into Croke Park for the final Farewell Concert, this show was More >
HSL in the Passion Pit
1 year ago
in 2010
Blackburn UK based lighting rental company HSL were delighted to get involved in supplying equipment for the latest UK tour by cult US electronic band, Passion Pit.
HSL’s Mike Oates was approached by Passion Pit’s lighting designer, New York based Mike Janowitz, with whom they are working on various other projects. Janowitz asked if HSL could put together a good visuals package for the band’s UK tour. Says HSL’s Mike Oates, “It’s very exciting working with cutting edge new artists, so we looked at Mike’s design and approached XL Video to supply the video elements required. We also co-ordinated a trucking deal with Fly By Nite for the tour”.
The two week UK tour encompassed a variety of venues including students unions and small to medium theatres and town halls including Rock City, Nottingham, Manchester Academy and The Forum in London. Passion Pit’s lighting was looked after on this leg of the tour by lighting director Ryoji Suguro, who was joined by HSL technician Andy “Paris” Hilton.
HSL supplied a dynamic and flexible floor-based system which was integrated with the overhead house lighting rigs available at each venue.
The floor package was based around 7 vertical More >
HSL Supplies Total Lights for Foals UK & European Tour
1 year ago
in 2010
Leading UK lighting rental company HSL is supplying lighting kit and crew for the Foals acclaimed “Total Life Forever” tour – as Oxford’s current finest punky indie rockers take to the road in the UK and Europe.
Lighting designer Davy Sherwin has put together a stunning show based around an inventive design that makes the rig appear vastly bigger than it actually is. He first met the band when they were supporting Snow Patrol, for whom he has worked for several years producing some amazing shows, and they wanted a similar vibe, and something that suited their energy and ballsy music.
The project is being handled by Mike Oates for HSL, who says, “It’s always great working with Davy – he is one of the most talented of the UK’s current new wave of LDs”.
The band gave Sherwin a few basic pointers in terms of what they wanted incorporated in the show, and then left him to it. They are very dynamic to light, with the music veering from moody and dark to percussive and shouty to full sensory absorbing rock out!
They particularly wanted multiple shades of blue, so the show errs towards the colder end of the spectrum in terms of colour, together with some classic and classy white moments, More >
HSL Goes Up Several Gears
1 year ago
in 2011
HSL supplied lighting equipment and crew for the recent Top Gear Live events in the UK’s LG Arena at Birmingham’s NEC and at the ExCel Centre in London, with lighting designed by Steve Sinclair.
It’s the first time that HSL has worked on this hugely popular, high profile automotive extravaganza - a unique, highly entertaining mix of theatre, hair raising stunts, and powerful, hot-rodded, bespoke very special performance cars.
HSL was awarded the contract to supply the lights following a competitive tender process. While Steve had not worked with them before, he had heard that the award winning Blackburn company had “Really upped their game” in the last couple of years, and had also received several recommendations from others.
HSL’s project Manager Thor Andre Saether (Spantax) comments, “With HSL being a company full of “petrol-heads” there was a lot of excitement here when we got the job, and as it progressed we were not let down! Working with Steve and his team has been a great experience. They have been very involved in coming up with the best possible solutions for all the challenges a show like this presents. I went down to see the first show in Birmingham and would highly More >
HSL Acquires Massive New Warehouse Facility
1 year ago
in 2012
Leading UK lighting and visuals rental company HSL has acquired a new 240,000 square foot warehouse and office premises very close to their current HQ in Blackburn, Lancashire. This will quadruple the current space and is currently being prepared to be fully operational by summer 2012.
HSL’s business has expanded exponentially over the last 4 years and the company has completely outgrown the current building in Ribble Business Park and a second adjacent unit that came on stream two years ago.
The move will ensure that HSL’s highly effective service-driven operations will continue at the levels of efficiency which everyone expects. There will also be room for future expansion into the rest of the space once the initial 165,000 square foot ‘phase one’ development is complete.
Features in the new space will include a large technical department, complete with climate controlled test rooms from +85 to minus 20 degrees – including an anechoic chamber (dead room) – to enable the extreme soak testing of all products in HSL’s extensive hire stock. Clean air facilities with full monitoring are installed throughout all the technical areas.
A complete set of Visualisation studios More >
