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“The Boardwalk”, a new development in a 90-acre multi-use commercial complex in Granite Park, Plano, Texas, adds 8839 square metres of restaurant, patio, and office space, with dramatic decorative lighting featuring nearly 305 metres of FloppyFlex LED neon.

FloppyFlex is a winner in our book; it’s extremely bright, versatile, and reliable,” says Jeff Mabray of Hossley Lighting. “We’re using the large dome, 4000 Kelvin white, with four distinct programs on an automated time clock. The looks include centre-out sweeps and streams, black-on-white effects, and more, all auto-selected randomly. The FloppyFlex was easy to install and is performing well.

Mabray continues, This project was new construction with the lighting designed from the outset, making installation a little easier than with most retrofits. The terrific design is by Erin Moody of Studio e Lighting Design. We provided the electrical contractor with five reels of FloppyFlex, which was easily cut and mounted. They terminated the segments and then we programmed. We chose FloppyFlex not only for its performance and ease of use but also because of TMB’s service and their understanding of DMX and the vagaries which often accompany a major installation. In short, they made our job easier.

Hossley Lighting Associates is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, specializing in lighting and control solutions for 40 years. Studio e Lighting Design is also located in Dallas.

WrestleMania 33 set a record last month as the most-watched WrestleMania ever. Dubbed an “ultimate thrill ride for the ages,” WWE’s signature event at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida featured 13 matches, including two world championships. A larger-than-life ring atop the massive truss centrepiece was designed and installed by All Access Staging & Productions. Resembling something out of Gulliver’s Travels, the giant ring was a befitting symbol for the wrestling giants competing in this epic showdown. Around the perimeter of the giant ring were oversized red, white, and blue ultra-bright ring “ropes” illuminated by 609 metres of Firefly FloppyFlex LED neon.

The glowing ropes around the 24 x 24 metre ‘ring’ crowning the real ring were dramatic eye-catchers,” says Erik Eastland of All Access. Using the structure’s rooftop as the ‘mat’, we built the giant ‘ropes’ out of 30cm frosted PVC ducting hose, each illuminated with double-runs of FloppyFlex RGB. The FloppyFlex is easy to cut and install and, most important, it’s much brighter than conventional LED tapes. The vivid colours could be clearly seen from the farthest seat in the stadium, even against a fireworks backdrop!

Production Designer for WrestleMania is Jason Robinson and Production Manager is Jeremy Shand.

A memorial to World War II submariners is the centre-piece of the 300-metre Submariners’ Walk Heritage Trail on the Brisbane River boardwalk in Tenerrife, Queensland, Australia. The walk features a series of plaques and submarine-shaped seats commemorating the sailors and their service. The memorial itself comprises a landmark sign illuminated by Firefly’s Digital FloppyFlex RGBW LED neon.

The hollow steel sign, by Street + Garden, is painted navy grey with letters perforated in the steel, spelling out “Submariners’ Heritage Trail” in classic naval stencil font. Pixel-controlled Digital FloppyFlex inside the sign illuminates the letters, giving a stunning, colour-changing glow effect that seems to move inside the monument.

The installation was up and running in time for the Teneriffe / New Farm Anzac Day dawn service, the memorial’s unofficial opening day. In the pre-dawn darkness, all the nearby street lights were turned off, with the memorial’s lettering and the sub-seats along the trail glowing a deep red, simulating the interior of a submerged sub. Once the service started, the sign glowed and gently scrolled through the Australian flag colours of blue, red, and white.

My father was a submariner and involved with the Submarine Association before he passed, and had actually worked on the project at its outset with OAM medal recipient Don Currell, commented Heath Williamson, Firefly’s Managing Director, a descendant of the Greatest Generation. I hope the Captain’s looking down and likes it! This one is for you Dad.

Every night the sign and the submarine seats along the Heritage Trail will light up red or blue and they will also be adapted to mark special occasions. For example, on Australia Day the sign will light up in green and gold; it will scroll through red, white, and blue on July Fourth; or red and green at Christmas, and so forth.

Firefly FloppyFlex LED Neon is the perfect and professional replacement for glass neon: Super-bright, easy to use, long-lasting, durable, and at 24VDC, safe. Perfect for use indoors and outdoors, FloppyFlex is available in a large dome (270° view angle), small dome (160° view angle), and flat versions, including the new ultra-slim SkinnyFlex.

FloppyFlex comes in various colour options including RGB, Digital RGBWW (pixel controlled), standard single-colours including Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Orange, and a wide selection of single-colour whites ranging from 2100 to 5700 Kelvin. The Firefly range of decorative, outdoor-rated lighting systems also includes Festoon with shatterproof, outdoor-rated LED lamps, Fairy Lights long-life, heavy-duty LED Strings and Icicles, and new Bud Lights thimble LED strings

Find out more about Submariners’ Walk Heritage Trail at www.communityheritage.net.au/submariners-walk-heritage-trail-teneriffe.

This summer Muse continued their Simulation Theory world tour through the UK and Europe. The extremely successful North American leg of the visually rich stadium tour put crew and equipment to the test in 23 cities!

Flares

Jesse Lee Stout, the creative director for the tour, wanted the entire lighting rig and stage to feel like a spaceship straight out of the ‘80s/’90s sci-fi movies we all know and love,” explains Tour Lighting Designer and Programmer, Sooner Routhier. “Making that all-encompassing vision brighter are 176 Solaris Flare® LR and 51 Solaris Flare Q+ fixtures. First, neon outlines, comprised of Upstaging Sabers, outline the sides of the truss to help turn the rig into a giant space invader. The Flare LRs provide a thicker, brighter line of light to accentuate the lines of trusses. At the tips of each truss, the structure flips up 45 degrees with three LRs sitting side by side. They represent the thrusters of the spaceship. The Flare Q+ fixtures sit inside ramps inside the stage, functioning as metal gratings/vents in the spaceship floors. The Flare Q+ light them as if they are glowing with futuristic energy.

Sooner adds, “Brightness is the biggest factor in specifying Flares. We are competing with a very large video wall upstage. It was important for the lines of the structure to stand out when needed. We also really love the clean, smooth surface of the lights.”

Lighting Director, Aaron Luke adds, “From my side of things, I find both the Q+ and the LRs to be performing quite well. The fixtures serve a few different purposes on this tour, acting as crowd blinders, eye candy, in addition to lighting the set and the band. Their brightness and consistency are definitely major assets, especially in a stadium situation.

I cannot speak highly enough of the crew from Upstaging, led by Crew Chief, Seth Conlin. Given the rigours of outdoor shows in a European summer, the crew do an incredible job of keeping the system going despite often getting drenched.

FloppyFlex

An audience-pleasing highlight of the show is the song “Dig Down”, for which the band’s three members cluster closely together downstage, at an upright piano. The piano is tastefully outlined on all four sides with bright, glowing, rounded oblongs of FloppyFlex RGB LED Neon by Firefly. Designed and installed by Upstaging, the bright, flexible FloppyFlex accents turn the instrument into an elegant set piece, perfect for the intimate number, night after night.

For me the key is reliable equipment in all conditions, says Muse Production Manager, George Reeves, and we’ve had no issues since receiving the piano prop from Upstaging. What I care about most is consistency in shows that the band demands and rightly expects. Everything we have from TMB just works and that’s what we need.