Merry Christmas!

  Just a quick one to say Merry Christmas to everyone who follows us... the whole team is back in Sydney for Christmas, but we're all jetting off pretty quickly afterwards so we're taking advantage of the time we have to do some planning for 2009 and beyond!

  It's been a big year and we have some really big plans for next year which will see us being more competitive than ever in both Australia and overseas. Thanks to all our clients and best wishes to you and your families, friends and colleagues over the holiday season.

  Oh and stay tuned to see our websites undergo a bit of a transformation in the next fortnight. Expect a heap more content and a few other surprises.

  Until then, cheers!

rich

Off again

  Sitting here very jetlagged in the Hilton at Birmingham in the UK. We've just finished day two of bumping the Good Food Show in and have one day of rehearsals to go before the doors open on Wednesday morning. After 26 shows with Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver and friends we'll be on our way back to Australia on Sunday night... a very quick trip this time!

rich

Around the clock

  I'm back in Sydney after a couple of weeks holiday which concluded with three days at LDI - North America's massive lighting exhibition in Las Vegas. (It was all work, I swear!) Myself and Dan got a chance to check out some very cool new toys - some of which we're already in the process of bringing to Australia for some projects next year. A big thank you to all the Aussie contingent who we wined, dined, danced and wined some more with, as well as our US friends at ESP Vision, Vari*Lite and Martin who we all had a great time catching up with.

  Barely a week later I'm back in Sydney, lighting a series of events at the Sydney Convention Centre - tonight we've transformed an entire exhibition hall with one of our clients into an enormous party under the Australian sun - quite literally - with a huge internally glowing sun hung over the heads of our 1400 guests.

  In the coming weeks we're looking forward to the pre-Christmas rush with events all over Australia (I even get to go to Darwin), the UK and some more work in South Korea. It's going to be a busy time but we're all working on some really rewarding projects which is always a good thing.

  Stop by the website in the next week - we'll be filling it up with a heap of new event photos from our recent jobs. Oh and good luck to everyone in this busy time of year...

rich

PAUSE

Finally the pause button has been hit on the Asian tour of CATS. I am in Busan, Korea, to operate the final two shows of this tour that wraps today. Little did Richard and I know or envisage back in March 2007 what CATS would end up becoming for us. It has at times consumed us. Some of the facts and figures are: -Over 300 performances -Three countries. Korea (twice), Thailand, China -Seventeen cities -Sixty-four weeks of gigs. Shipping time between counties is extra. On top of just doing CATS shows nightly: -We transferred the show from its original HOG2 platform to GrandMA. For 3 weeks we were doing transfer of a day and then operating a show of a night. -We were contracted to light the NEW Korean version of KATS. Again that meant thinking about 2 things at once !! English CATS and Korean KATS. It also meant that we got to meet David Hersey in New York which was awesome (meeting Mr Pilbrow was very cool too!!). In summary its’ been great and bigger than what I or we imagined. And the fact that there’s more must mean we are doing it right !! Until the PLAY button gets hit in April 2009 that’s it for CATS for a while. Meowwwwwwwww I’m off to have a cat nap…. GY ^The end of the night...happy punters leaving.

Happy Birthday

Mandylights turned two over the weekend and what better way to celebrate than by attending the theatre and then going dancing afterwards. Its not really what we did, but we lit a couple of dance party events, Sleaze Ball and Parklife, and had two productions of CATS playing in Korea. There was also a small wedding in there too. Not a bad effort for a weekends work. All the shows went really well and there are lots of happy punters everywhere. Check out the Sleaze Ball story here on the Mandylights site for more info. For all the Korean readers that we have on this site, I was interviewed yesterday about our production of CATS by a Korean entertainment technical magazine "The Staff". I look forward to seeing it, I cant read Korean. Hope there's a few photos. That's it for now. Time to get going with the bigger, better, faster 3rd year of Mandylights. Not that the first two years were slow by any means. Bring it on. CHEERS GY

Parklife Melbourne

^ Air Stage

^ Fire Stage

  After getting back from my month long overseas run, I barely got my washing done in Sydney before coming down to Melbourne for Sunday's Parklife event...

  It's always fun to work with Fuzzy and this year I've designed all the stages for the Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide events. After doing a ridiculous amount of paperwork, it was nice to actually get behind the console for the Melbourne event yesterday. The part sold out, had a really good crowd and now I'm really looking forward to the Sydney version next weekend.

  Was a pleasure to work with Soulwax and their LD who played an awesome set, and while he may not be everyone's favourite, Martin Solveig - who closed my stage - always gets the crowd worked up and singing along like nobody else can. What would a Fuzzy / Solveig party be without a bit of Blur's Song 2 and Lenny Kravitz's Are You Gonna Go My Way?... ! Well done and congrats to Fuzzy and this event can only get bigger and better in future years....

  That's it from me for the moment... time for me to board my flight back to Sydney

cheers

rich

Cats Opening Night

Last night was the opening night of Cats in Seoul. The show went incredibly well, playing to a packed house and finishing with a standing ovation. I've stayed back to see the two shows today and Greg's spending the next week here in Seoul to help hand the production over to our awesome Korean operations team who'll make sure it keeps looking good over the next several months. ^ Greg and I at the theatre with Jo-Anne Robinson, the show's director. This marks the end of a production process that's lasted most of the year and taken us back to Cats productions from the early 80s, seen us fly to New York and Korea and resulted in the creation of a pretty awesome, spectacular new production that has everyone raving. For now, I'm about to enjoy a rare two days off in Tokyo before heading back home for Macquarie Bank, Parklife and Sleaze Ball before venturing back off to the USA in a few short weeks time.... Told you it was the crazy time of year! rich

First Preview

Just had our first preview of Cats here in Seoul and we're really happy with the results Greg and I will spend the next few days polishing the show before Friday's opening night but we're in excellent shape and have a really good looking show in the theatre. Been really good working with the show team again and looking forward to much, much more in the future. The funny thing is that 19 years ago I saw Cats for the first time as a 7 year old kid in London's West End and now I'm sitting here as a designer. Really happy with it all, it's a bit of a personal milestone which I'm pretty stoked about. Pictures coming soon to the official part of the website, but they'll probably be up a few days after I get a couple days rest in Tokyo before returning to Sydney, which in many ways, will be more full-on than Tokyo for a few weeks! cheers rich

Full Throttle

Mandylights lit up some of Australia's most expensive cars tonight to launch the new Australian series of Top Gear. As usual the spectacular Aztech Event was most definitely fast paced and high octane!

KATS Korea Kapers

I am busy in Seoul overseeing the setup of the new Korean production of Cats that myself and Richard are designing. We have come up with a very cool circular trussing design that mimics the set nicely. The truss design is a departure from a few straight trusses and pushed the gear supplier to come up a good way to make it actually happen. They have done a great job of building a custom concentric circle truss. Very nice. I have decided to call it the Spaceship. Check back soon for more updates as Richard and I get into rehearsals next week and actually using the gear. On paper it looked good and the indications from what I am seeing as we set up and focus and bring more gear online is that the show will look very nice. Beer and BBQ very soon once some more work is done... GY ^We have liftoff !!

New York

Greg and I have spent the last few days in New York for a couple of meetings, and we were privileged to enjoy the company of both David Hersey and Richard Pilbrow - two lighting legends - on more than one occasion which were incredibly enjoyable. After seeing more shows than I should have, I'm now sitting in the lounge at JFK airport about to fly to London and then onwards to Barcelona to light a big conference and gala dinner in the Palau de Congressos centre.

Onwards and upwards

This month is all about getting ready and braced for the rest of the year. I've got a bunch of awesome projects coming up that see me off overseas to the USA, Spain, Korea and UK amongst others. Apart from clocking up thousands of frequent flyer points, I also get a few weeks off in the middle which will be great. We've taken on a bunch of visualisation projects in the last few weeks which has lead us to invest in an awesome new computer that will be at least twice as powerful as our previous studio system. The system will be used to program a new production in the coming weeks, where Greg and I will lock ourselves in our studio to program Cats for the new Korean production. We'll also squash in programming a major event in Hawaii - all without actually setting a foot on the island! And these projects are before we even start taking into account the day to day stuff we do for our clients! It's an exciting time. Yesterday I had the privilege of attending a day with MA Lighting whizz Oliver Rump at Show Technology in Sydney. It always amazes me how much everyone can learn and explore on current and new consoles, and we had a chance to preview some very cool new toys. I'll be sure to keep the blog up to date with all the news of the coming months. And if you happen to be in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, Cleveland, Orlando, Barcelona, London, Manchester, Birmingham, Seoul, Hong Kong, Macau, Paris, Rovaniemi, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth or Tokyo at any stage in the next two months - join me for a beer! Cheers rich

Freezing

So I have it on good authority that it actually snowed towards the end of our bump out in Mittagong the other night. Whilst I wasn't freezing there, I was numb with cold standing on a bigger stage at a certain racetrack in Sydney and stopped programming when I couldn't feel my fingers or face! I've spent the weekend thawing out in the office with the heater on max, designing the Cleveland Fabulous Food Show and the English Good Food Show - both places where the temperature will barely rise above freezing. Why is it that as soon as summer starts I have to leave to go to the Northern Hemisphere?! In the meantime, good luck to everyone else who's working on WYD projects :P

World Youth Day Re-Kindled

The Marist Brothers have ignited their World Youth Day celebrations at St Josephs College in Hunters Hill tonight with a prayer vigil. A very solemn and heartfelt ceremony ended todays festivities. Mandylights and Aztech Events created the perfect atmosphere.

Worlds coldest gig!

It might only be mittagong, but the Mandylights boys felt like they were far further south as it started to sleet at the first of our World Youth Day gigs. VL3500 washes look amazing and they aren't bad for keepin the ol hands warm either!

Jellicle Juggles

So this week I've Jumped into the Jellicle Jam and had a great time being involved in one of our bigger theatre projects. I am of course referring to CATS - the Really Useful Company's touring production currently playing at the Charlotte Theatre in Seoul.

I've had a blast! Great show, great crew, fun cast and all round an enjoyable week. 

Back on the Catwalk

I'm sitting in the Big Top at Luna Park in Sydney on the first day of bump in for the Grand Final of Australia's Next Top Model. We're live on Tuesday night on Foxtel - should be a cool show with a bunch of good acts, a fashion parade segment and a heap more. It's 5.30pm and we're just about to lift the trusses up with focus time ahead of us in the next few hours. It's been a peaceful week for Mike and I with Greg and Dan overseas, but the peace is short-lived with everyone returning to Australia for a number of World Youth Day projects. Going to be good to have everyone back in the office after a few months. Rich

How many languages...

Once again team Mandy is doing a bit of travelling. This week sees Greg in Beijing lighting a conference, Dan has ventured to Seoul to spend some time on Cats, and Richard was driving back from Mittagong when I spoke to him yesterday. Some people get to go to the best places.....who can decide which one was the best. The last few weeks have been busy with some challenging projects which is great. Coming up, amongst other things, Richard is lighting Models, Dan is working on World Youth Day events and I am learning how to make Korean beer bombs. This was one of the training sessions for this investment firm's conference. Something else I know about Koreans now. Very informative. Till the next update... GY

Australian Girls Choir Turn Up the Heat at Winter Showcase.

Possibly Australia's best childrens choir in full swing at their concert on Saturday. Mandylights has worked with these girls for many years and they are always fantastic. 

Jetsetting

In the last few weeks the three of us have been jetting all over Asia to discuss some exciting new projects and to meet with some exciting new companies. We've greatly enjoyed spending time in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul and Bangkok and would like to thank everyone we met with for their hospitality and enthusiasm. It's been a great time for Mandylights and we're incredibly excited about working more in Asia in addition to our other projects all over the world. And on that note.... the team are looking forward to more Cats in Korea as well as upcoming events in Spain, the USA, China and the UK in coming months. We've pretty much given up on unpacking the suitcases! While all this overseas travel is proving great for the frequent flyer points, we're also still having a ton of fun on our Australian projects. Next week sees us technically directing and designing the Sydney Childrens' Hospital Gold Dinner at the Sydney Opera House - a very worthy cause that we're proud to support along with Cairellie. It's an exciting time, and we're still having fun! Till next time Rich

MTV

Just spent the last week at the Australian Technology Park as one of three programmers on the MTV Australia Awards. I've had a great time working with Tom Kenny who was the show's LD as well as gaffer Mike Grimes. It's really cool to work with people who have an amazing attention to detail and are really creative and original in what they do. So much Australian television is just boring in comparison to the looks and designs that we see overseas - it's a privilege to learn from the best! We're now heading into a couple of quieter weeks production wise which is great - the whole team not only needs a break but needs to start planning for some major projects that we have coming up later in the year. cheers rich

Revved up

Another blog from an airport as I wait for my flight back to Sydney. The Mandy boys defiantly help with the profits of the airlines. This last week has seen Richard in New Zealand while myself, Dan and Mike (with the help of some locals and Southerners) lit and technical managed a conference for Yamaha Motor Australia on the Gold Coast. Lots of musicians, bikes and jetskis wizzed around and above us at this event which covered five different rooms in 3 days of conference. Very demanding , but very cool. While up here I also had the chance to go see ZINGARA, the show at Jupiters that I programmed lights for last year. A good fun casino variety show- a nice nights entertainment !! The highlight of the show is still the Globe of Death where 5 motor bikes spin around inside a steel cage. They should have done an appearance at the Yamaha event. Back to Sydney now for meetings and planning the future... as well as doing some gigs. Till the next airport...where will it be........

Auckland

While the rest of the guys are enjoying the Gold Coast as they handle the technical production for Yamaha's national conference, I'm in cold and rainy Auckland tech directing and designing a series of massive parties for an Australian financial company. Our first event is tonight in the convention centre - and everyone has their fingers crossed that the miserable weather will turn itself around ready for a big outdoor event on Friday night. The great news is that we all get to take a few steps back and have a break after this week - the end of a two month marathon run of events of all shapes and sizes. till next time rich

I've been everywhere man

I've spent the last few weeks flying and driving all over the place. Playground Weekender was an adventure in cars, ferries and trucks over the Hawkesbury River - very nearly involving boats after hours and hours of torrential rain. More recently, the whole team flew up to the Gold Coast for Macquarie Captial's annual conference which saw us put around 90 moving lights and a couple hundred conventionals into two rooms to create a few spectacular nights of partying, conferences and bands. Following the conference we did get a day off on the coast - after 'investigating' some lighting at various Surfers Paradise bars we headed off for an afternoon at Movie World... After flying back to Sydney on Sunday night I had to jump in the car and head off to Bathurst on Monday to light the Mercedes Benz national Dealer of the Year Awards. This was a huge event to mark the end of a week long dealer conference with some very nice cars ripping their way around Mount Panorama. The dinner and celebrations looked huge, and I had a great time working with all the crew. Here's a taste of what it looked like inside: Of course it's not getting any quieter - this week sees me flying to Port Douglas to light a unique event in the middle of the rainforest, and then after that I'll be spending a week in New Zealand before heading back to Korea as our long-running involvement with the musical Cats sees the show move back to Seoul for its second season in a year. Catch you soon.... don't know where exactly though! Cheers rich

A Weekend in the Playground

Let me start by saying that the Playground Weekender that Mandylights designed and operated over the weekend was a great festival. It definitely is one to keep an eye on for the next few years as it grows because it has a great Homebake meets Woodford Folk Festival feel about it and has secured a remote but very cool site.

Now when I say remote I mean it's around an hour and a half from Sydney which when we're talking about a 3 day festival might not sound so far away but when you add a car ferry that usually services the small population of Wisemans and decides it's all a bit too much at 3am the night of load out you end up with a substantially longer, dirtier and did i mention longer drive ahead of you. 

Despite all the perils of ferries and outdoor festivals it was a great weekend and one I will look forward to doing (from a houseboat) next year. Top work to Mike and Richard for operating the two stages and GY, Claire and the Cairellie boys for making it all happen.

Entech

On top of everything else that filled this busy week, I got a chance to program and put together the ALIA (Australasian Lighting Industry Association) stand at Sydney's Entech Exhibiton. With gear loaned from Jands, Show Technology, Cairellie, Lots of Watts, LSW, Resolution X, Sylvannia Lighting and of course, Mandylights, an impressive stand was built around my wanting to make a wall of VL5s on a ridiculously small stand. Turns out it created a bit of a talking point, and hey, I had fun :P I think this was taken when I programmed my 220th cue for the stand...

9 Lives

Dateline.....Sunday, 10 February 2008 Location......Wuhan, China. How many people who read this go there or even know where Wuhan is. I did not until recently. The reason for the trip here is the on-going prowling around ASIA that CATS is doing. MANDYLIGHTS continues to provide lighting direction and operation services to this touring production which keeps on gaining lives. We are half way through a China tour , and the tour has just been extended again with the confirmation of another return to Korea finishing around October. I think this is about the sixth CATS tour of Korea. Who said cats only had 9 lives. To keep up with the workload we have welcomed on board Sian. She is looking after CATS for the next while. (Maybe forever if CATS keeps extending !!!!) CATS Team Lighting on the set in Wuhan. Ryan Sturgeon(Head Systems), Greg Yates(LX Director), Largent Wilson(Systems), Wing Tsou (Head Spot OP), Sian James Holland(LX op), Hsiu Hui Yang(Spot OP) I am heading back to Sydney and hit the ground Monday morning and head straight into lighting conferences for a major corporation. The next few weeks keep us all busy with corporate events all over the place for a whos-who of companies. Thankfully some of them are on beaches or the Gold Coast so we can have some fun in the sun. Recently I have had fun walking thru Beijing and Wuhan snow. It will be different back on OZ. Bye Bye for now. Greg Yates Hong Kong Airport

Busy again

Hey all, Sitting in Woollongong at the end of a weekend lighting and running visuals for a corporate event. Also sitting at the start of a flat out time for the team. We'll be at Entech in the next few days (check out my overkilled ALIA stand design) and on jobs all over the place, from ballrooms to theatres to old abondoned prison blocks. Greg comes back after a two month long stint on Cats which is still making its way through China. We're really excited to have Sian on board who will remain with the show for the next little while. I've found myself wanting a holiday, but with gigs coming up on the Gold Coast, in Port Douglas and even on a Sydney beach, I think I'm going to get myself more than enough sun at work in the next couple of months. Mardi Gras is coming up in a few weeks too - it's going to look great. The designs are almost done... stay tuned to see how it goes. I'm accepting donations of Red Bull and Starburst snakes for the 'keep richard awake for 24hrs' fund. It's a very worthy cause! cheers rich

Mandy 08

We've taken time in January to strap ourselves in for a big big year. With more large scale projects on the horizon than ever before there is a really cool excitement around the Mandy office. Personally I am looking forward to some theatre and retail projects while the rest of the crew are working on some exciting things also. More blogs on their way.

2008 begins...

... with a bang! Field Day was huge, bright and colourful and the following weeks which were supposed to be spent taking it easy quickly turned into a hugely busy month. With the crew already flying to China and Tonga in addition to the Gold Coast and a few other places locally, 2008 is shaping up to be a huge year for us. We've got a bunch of large scale theatrical projects developing, not to mention some great jobs in Sydney, around Australia and around the world. We welcome Sian James - Holland to our crew as she begins working for us in China, and look forward to working with more people from all parts of the industry in the next year. For now, we're heading off to light up Australia Day in the Shire in Sydney before focusing our attention on jobs including the 2008 Mardi Gras party and a host of other projects.