PRG's newest "jewel in the crown," Midnight Design, supplied pyro for a concert by reggae artist Eddie Grant in Tobago on New Year's Eve. A 60'-wide outdoor stage and roof supplied by Edwin Shirley Staging had special tanks of water fitted across the PA wings; at midnight, a wall of fire was triggered by propane-fueled flame bars. Other Midnight Design projects on New Year's included a 5m-high (approximately 15') flame beacon at Guildford Cathedral, and a long-term Millennial project involving a special beacon which will burn all year. In other PRG news, Light & Sound Design's Martin Nicholas worked on not one but two New Year's events: an eight-act concert for the BBC Greenwich, featuring Brian Ferry, Leslie Garret, and others, and a "mega" rave at the Don Valley Stadium outside Sheffield. For the BBC concert, Nicholas plundered LSD's vaults, using Icons, Studio Colors, City Colors, Panoramas, and PARs, "all in huge quantities." Mark Cunniffe was programmer. At the rave, Nicholas was assisted by Alistair Brammell Watson and Frank Shields, who programmed and operated two Icon boards, while Simon Barrington from Gatecrasher (sponsor of the rave) ran the Avo Diamond III. Icons, Washlights, Cyberlights, and Deathstars rained down effects onto the dance floor. Another rave is scheduled for next year; a 90-minute special of the Greenwich event was screened on the BBC in late January....The Barbra Streisand Millennial concert, a glitzy, $2,500 per seat affair held on New Year's Eve at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, featured over 100 channels of Millennia HV-3 mic preamplifiers. The three audio engineers-Ed Greene (TV truck), David Hewitt (remote recording services truck), and FOH engineer Bruce Jackson-agreed to share use of the Millennia microphone preamp, and Hewitt employed additional channels during the show, along with a number of Millennia Mixing Suites, for the live CD recording....Laser Fantasy International, the Bellevue, WA-based company, lit up various New Year's Eve celebrations around the world, including the Takashimaya department store event in Tokyo, a water screen color laser/multimedia production in Manila, Sao Paulo festivities, 240W of green light laser power over Acapulco Bay in Mexico, and US-based parties in Phoenix, Louisville, Las Vegas, Reno, Washington, and Hawaii....Meanwhile in the UK, VLPS (Vari-Lite Production Services) London supplied "a large quantity" of Vari*Lite automated luminaires for the Millennium Dome festivities, including the Millennium Show, a 360-degree, 28-minute aerial, theatrical, and musical extravaganza at the heart of the Dome (see story on page 38). Lit by Patrick Woodroffe (assisted by Steve Nolan) and conceived by Mark Fisher and rock star/multimedia artist Peter Gabriel, the show will run up to five times a day during 2000. Artistic direction was by Micha Bergese; programming was by Dave Hill and VLPS London's Andy Voller via a combination of Artisan(r), Whole Hog, and WYSIWYG control systems. Another large VLPS London project was "the biggest single lighting event ever seen in London," a lighting of all the Thames bridges between Tower Bridge and Vauxhall to accompany a River of Fire pyro display. Twenty 4,000W Sky-Art single-head xenon searchlights and eight four-headed (4 x 2,000W) Sky-Tracker searchlights were placed on the bridges, providing moving beams and aerial lighting effects....And then there's Cleveland. The main Millennial attraction there was a seven-story-tall light bulb donated by GE Lighting, called First Light 2000, displayed on Cleveland's historic Terminal Tower. Event producer Joel Solloway of Eventworks contracted Vincent Lighting Systems (VLS) to provide 120 fixtures to light the main stage on Public Square for the night's events leading up to the illumination of the big light bulb. VLS also provided 24 Vari*Lite VL7s(tm) and 19 Space Cannon searchlights to light up the rest of the square and buildings. Control of the show was via three different Strand Lighting consoles: a 520, 520i, and a 430. Dennison Electric of Cleveland managed the electrical tie-in, and IATSE Local #27 installed the show...