Toronto's CN Tower shows off bright new look

TORONTO (Reuters) - The CN Tower, the signature structure on Toronto's skyline, has revealed a glitzy makeover with the launch of a new night-time lighting system after almost ten years of darkness.

The tower, the world's tallest free-standing structure, showed off its high-efficiency LED lighting on Thursday night, giving a brief preview of some of the millions of color combinations that will flow up and down the 553-meter (1,815-foot) tower during holidays and special events.

The default colors, for normal nights, are Canada's red and white, with a special color effect at the top of each hour.

Thousands of onlookers who swarmed the base of the tower were treated to live performances by artists including Broadway legend Colm Wilkinson of Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera during their 10-minute preview of the illumination.

"Every postcard, every book, every picture of Toronto will change," said Jack Robinson, chief operating officer at the CN Tower, which is a major Toronto tourist attraction.

"We've been waiting for the right technology, frankly for 10 years, to be created so that we could allow ourselves to have an incredible visually stunning CN Tower in the night-time sky."

The new system cost the CN Tower C$2.5 million ($2.4 million) for 1,300 shoe-box sized fixtures that will last 10 years. It will use 10 percent less energy than the current lighting effects and 60 percent less than the fully lit tower of the 1990s.

Implemented by Boston-based Color Kinetics, the computer-controlled lights are already used by other world landmarks such as the London Eye.