South Africa - Robe moving lights took centre stage for the New Age Friendship Celebration Concert in Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban,, a Bollywood spectacular following the Standard Bank International Pro20 international cricket tournament between India and South Africa.

This visual extravaganza was the first ever such post cricket match entertainment event, and also celebrated the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Indians in Africa. Over 40,000 cricket fans saw India narrowly beat the Proteas (South Africa), simultaneously making history as the biggest live crowd ever to watch a cricket match on the African continent. The concert was televised live worldwide on ESPN, opening up the potential audience to several million.

Lighting, stage set and visuals were designed by Tim Dunn and full technical production for the concert was supplied by Gearhouse South Africa, working for p

South Africa / UK - Two South African Roadies Association (SARA) senior trainers - Naledi Makhetha from Orlando East, Soweto, and Bernard Sebothoma from Orange Farm, Vaal, will join SARA president, Freddie Nyathela in attending The National Skills Academy Creative & Cultural (NSA) Annual Industry Conference 2011 which takes place at the newly opened Pavilion Dance in Bournemouth (UK)on 1-2 March 2011.

Conference speakers will include John Hayes, Minister for Business Innovation and Skills, Paul Latham, COO- Live Nation UK and Chair of NSA Board and other key figures from the technical and production sectors. There will also be a series of masterclasses.

The purpose of SARA'S visit is to attend the industry training and educational seminars, network and engage with industry players regarding knowledge and skills development issues, and also understand the qualification standard

UK- Cooper Controls reports that their entertainment specialists Zero 88 will be hosting a number of ORB Series events across Europe, starting with three events in north of the UK.

With a combination of theatrical control philosophy and an adaptable hardware platform, the ORB Series provide intuitive control of both generic dimmers and moving lights. The ORB Series consoles support 2048 control channels, multiple playback stacks and are fitted with custom designed encoder wheels for dimmer and fixture control.

The road show events are free of charge and open to anyone considering a new lighting control solution for their venue or wishing to learn more about the ORB and ORB XF consoles. ORB specialist Jon Hole will be on hand to undertake training overviews or answer any specific programming or operating questions whilst our sales team can advise why the ORB range is right for

UK - 2011 got off to a 'slamming' start for Solihull-based Urban Audio, with the company providing the audio system for the UK leg of the Total Nonstop Action (TNA) wrestling Maximum Impact European tour. It was a great opportunity for Yamaha's StageMix app to flex its muscles.

Taking place in late January at three of the UK's premier arena venues - Glasgow Braehead, Manchester's MEN and Wembley - the 'in the round' shows needed a system with plenty of power to ensure that master of ceremonies Jeremy Borash and playback music were heard above the roaring, sell-out crowds.

Urban Audio technical director Dan Lewis specified an L-Acoustics V-DOSC / DV-DOSC system, mixed wirelessly on a Yamaha M7CL console from an iPad running StageMix.

"The show was essentially quite simple, being playback and some radio mics. However the required aesthetic for the show was that there coul

UK - Unusual Rigging has supplied a range of rigging and stage machinery to support the tour of We Will Rock You, which is just about to make its second move, this time from Glasgow's Kings Theatre. Working closely with producer Phil McIntyre Entertainments' head of production, Andy Gibbs, Unusual developed a number of time saving solutions for this new touring version.

Project manager for Unusual Rigging, Richard McIlhiney says, "Unusual supplied all the hanging points and trussing, as well as tracks for floor moving winches.

"Various pieces of scenery move up and down stage throughout the show, including a throne for one of the main characters, The Killer Queen, to sit on. An Unusual-designed nylon block under the show deck is pulled by a chain track and Kinesys-controlled motor, which in turn moves the set pieces.

"There are four LED video screens wh

Belgium - When Flemish CD&V minister Joke Schauvliege pleaded recently for clear legislation regarding Belgian pop festival sound thresholds, following the proposal of a 100dB LAeq (15) and 116dB (C) maximum for the loudest norm in public areas, it couldn't have come at a better time for Karel de Piere and his team from technology specialists, FACE.

With the new festival season fast approaching, in a country noted for its outdoor events, if the new proposals become law it will have a major impact on festival promoters and production companies. Thus FACE decided it was time to act.

By chance the Belgian distributors had carried out measurement tests of Martin Audio's new Multi-Cellular Loudspeaker Array (MLA) nine months earlier - during an Amnesty International concert in Antwerp's Groenplaats - followed by a demo at the large Antwerp Sportpaleis arena. And they knew the syste

UK - HK Audio, distributed in the UK & Eire by John Hornby Skewes & Co will provide the sound reinforcement for this year's Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival.

Held between 23 and 27 February, and featuring 42 concerts, 15 workshops and 150 songwriters, top names performing this year include Billy Bragg, Cerys Matthews and Ricky Warwick.

Festival organisers invited applications from interested parties to provide PA systems for the various concert locations, which include a variety of venues including a city centre church hall. It was decided to use EMS Audio's HK Audio Elements system.

EMS Audio's director, Les Hume, comments, "The festival is a great opportunity to show off the technical wonder that is Elements. It will be used to deliver a mighty sound in a discrete fashion for artists such as Brian Kennedy, Cerys Matthews and Nanci Griffith."

(Jim Evans)

Qatar - Qatar celebrated its National Day on 18 December 2010 in a spectacular party atmosphere. The all-day event began with a military parade at the Doha Corniche in the presence of HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani and HH the Heir Apparent Sheikh Thameem bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. The Corniche area was dressed for the festivities with illuminated palm trees, LED screen displays and lightshows.

Colourful and fun-filled events were held at different locations across the city and Christie high-powered projection was at the centre of the action. Auditoire was awarded the project for the Doha Corniche, which featured illumination, audio and large scale PA equipment, video projection and LED screens, distributed along the Corniche area. TechnoPro (Qatar) was awarded the execution and supply of the technical production.

As a part of the celebrations, a giant 36m x

Czech Republic - Architect Karel Jan?a decided on a fresh and vibrant approach when he was asked to design a completely new interior scheme for the Duel Sports Bar in the town of Zubri, Czech Republic.

An Anolis LED lighting scheme is an integral part of the new look and feel for the popular bar and eatery, owned by local entrepreneur Rene Doricak and frequented by sports enthusiasts and a lively young crowd from the local area.

Duel is adjacent to a busy sports hall run by the city of Zubri, located in-between two bustling Moravian towns - the historically significant and beautiful Rožnov pod Radhošt?m and the buzzing commercial centre of Valašské Mezi?í?í.

Jan?a approached Anolis's Czech & Slovak Republic sales manager Petr Kolma?ka, and together they discussed the best possible LED lighting solution.

Jan?a wanted to use power-efficient 'green' lighting to ad

Sweden / USA - Wireless Solution Sweden AB has signed an agreement to now offer Wireless RDM for sales in the United States, making them the first company outside of the US to do so. W-DMX G4 is covered by US Patent #7,432,803, which covers Wireless Solution and its distributors as well as W-DMX OEM Clients.

The license applies to W-DMX G4 BlackBox F-1, BlackBox F-2, WhiteBox F-1, WhiteBox F-2, Micro F-1 and ProBox F-2500. All units are standard with RDM. The license also covers the Micro OEM PCB and PRO OEM PCB for W-DMX OEM manufacturers. OEM partners are "very happy" with the new license agreement, say Wireless Solution.

Wireless Solution is the only company to offer dual band 2.4 and 5.8GHz with RDM and adaptive frequency hopping in both OEM single PCB or Standard Transceivers with FLEX function to change a unit to be both transmitter and receiver. All F-Models a

USA - The Miss America pageant celebrated its 90th anniversary on 15 January at the Theatre for the Performing Arts at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

Employed as the primary source of back lighting for the beauty contestants were 16 Martin MAC III Profile moving heads, specified by lighting designer Allen Branton. Chosen for their lumens output, gobo selection and big aperture for a hard-edged fixture, the 1500W MAC IIIs provided full coverage from up-, mid-, and downstage positions, says Felix Peralta, who served as lighting director on the show.

"We were really impressed by their compact size and their output, and they looked fantastic on camera," Peralta stated. "They were consistent in colour, output, and overall performance - we were extremely pleased."

The MAC III Profiles featured in the opening performance number involving all of

Germany - Innovason says that its customers can now rely on the high-quality support of an experienced crew in two locations - qualified service engineers in France and Germany can be contacted directly during business hours and also, in urgent cases, until late at night or at the weekend, thus guaranteeing rapid and efficient support, says the company.

The service has been strengthened by the proven Lawo Service Team who, after thorough training, is now ready to support Innovason clients. With an associated increase of staff, Innovason service in France and Germany is well positioned to provide the best possible customer support with mutual backup between the two locations. Support can be requested by calling +33 (0) 546 28 94 49 or +49 (0) 7222 1002-4900.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Dirty Rigger Gloves & Accessories report that Suffolk- based, Independent Studio Services (ISS) are the latest, specialist company to join the Dirty Rigger distribution team.

Simon Caldwell, ISS director says: "At Independent Studio Services, we believe that how we do business, is key to our success. Offering the Dirty Rigger range is a great addition to our service and is a key alliance we are proud to be a part of. The team will now be stocking the gloves on all our installs and inspections throughout the UK."

Le Mark & Dirty Rigger director Stuart Gibbons comments: "ISS are a brilliant company, their work ethic and quality of service is second to none, I'm pleased to work with them and have no doubt they will be a great addition to the Dirty Rigger location distribution team."

(Jim Evans)

UK - In just its second year of full-service operation, PixelBright is setting about duplicating its first PA rental system, in order to meet the needs of two busy showband clients. The hire company has just placed an order with authorised reseller A.C. Entertainment Technologies 's Audio Division for additional inventory of Roland's M-400 48-channel digital consoles and Roland M-48 personal monitor mixers.

Headquartered near Portsmouth, but with more than half its contracts in the London area, PixelBright has swiftly built up a wide client-base by "providing a service rather than hiring out equipment", according to director Chris Sayce. "From the beginning, we saw demand for all areas of show production, so we diversified from lighting into sound, staging, draping, etc, but stuck to the same principle of being service-led rather than obsessing about technology.&q

Olympic Countdown - Creative director Kim Gavin, who was behind Take That's Circus shows, has been appointed artistic director for the closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Gavin, who is currently working on Take That's forthcoming 2011 European tour, directed both the Concert for Diana and the Help for Heroes Concert. He will work closely with Danny Boyle, the artistic director of the Olympics' opening ceremony and the director of the Paralympics' opener, who is yet to be announced.

Gavin said he wants to put a "UK stamp" on the proceedings. Speaking to The Stage, Gavin said: "I think first and foremost [on my mind] is what would you like to see in the stadium and how do you want to feel. We have a time constraint, in that the last thing that happens in the stadium is 16 hours before we have to perform so that has to be considered

Brazil - Optocore has appointed Sterling do Brasil as its strategic partner in Brazil. The company, founded by Nestor Almeida in 1987, relocated from its São Paolo base two years later, and has since been developing its brand portfolio from its current HQ in Rio de Janeiro.

However, the company is no longer merely a representative of equipment but, an integrator of solutions and related products for audio, video, signal transmission / receiving, satellite, fibre optics, CATV, DTH, HDTV, IPTV and digital signage.

"We only handle top line products," said Mr. Almeida who was a member of the original engineering department at the large Rio-based network, TV Globo, when it was founded back in 1965. "With sales and support partners covering all of Brazil - and some countries in South America - we look forward to building the Optocore brand profile.

"We had bee

UK - 20 February saw the winners of the 2011 Whatsonstage.com Awards announced at a star-studded ceremony at London's Prince of Wales Theatre. These awards, run by theatre news website WhatsOnStage, represent the voice of theatregoers: all of the categories have entries nominated and then voted for by the public, from all of the shows that have opened in the West End over the last year.

Entertainment lighting specialist White Light sponsored the Best Lighting Designer award once again; this year it was presented to James Farncombe for his design for Ghost Stories at the Lyric Hammersmith and then at the Duke of York's theatre, where the show continues to surprise and scare audiences nightly. His fellow nominees in the category were Neil Austin for The Prince of Homburg and Women Beware Women, Paul Keogan for Novecento, Paule Constable for Bl

UK - A Midas XL8 Live Performance System has once again been used at front of house for the UK music industry's annual awards ceremony, the Brit Awards. This year's ceremony was broadcast live from London's 02 Arena with an XL8 spec'd by sound designer and live sound coordinator Derrick Zieba, who has been working on the awards ceremony since 1994, supplied by Britannia Row Productions.

"The XL8 once again proved its flexibility and user-friendliness, as well as allowing the sound crew to set up and access everything very quickly," says Zieba. "For me, the sound of the XL8 has always been almost indistinguishable from the best analogue performance I have heard, and this was equally true in the new setting of the 02 Arena."

Among the quick-changing succession of artists to perform at this year's event were Rihanna, Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons, Plan B, Adele

Germany - The Aalto-Musiktheater Essen, one of the most renowned music theatres in Western Europe, has exchanged its old communications gear for a Riedel Artist digital matrix intercom system. Systemhaus Giebel Electronic- & Kommunikations handled the installation on behalf of Gemeinnützige Theaterbaugesellschaft Essen.

At the heart of the system is a Riedel Artist 64 mainframe. Due to its modular approach Artist systems can easily be expanded up to to 1,024 x 1,024 non-blocking ports.

Twenty control panels from Riedel Artist 1000, 2000 and 5000 series are used at the Aalto Opera. To provide for maximum of flexibility, two stage manager booths were set up - one on each side of the stage - with the ability to switch between the two booths. Both include an Artist 1000 series control panel plus three expansion panels providing a total of 76 talk keys, which can be doubled using

UK - Wireless equipment owners who have submitted claims under the 800MHz Funding Scheme are being urged to ensure that claims are all complete, and accompanied by the relevant proof of ownership information, before 2 April 2011, the final deadline for all submissions.

So far around 50% of claimants have submitted the necessary documentation. But another 570 claims that have been submitted are still waiting on proof of ownership to be provided in order that claims may be fully verified and approved. Ofcom, supported by BEIRG (British Entertainment Industry Radio Group) is urging users to get in touch and provide the necessary information as soon as possible.

Ian Wainwright, PMSE Implementation Project Manager at Ofcom, said: "We realise the difficulty that some people may have in providing all of the required proof of ownership details, but we would urge them to come forw

The Netherlands - Alcons Audio reports that it enjoyed a most successful ISE, with the event's 3D Theatre demonstrating to many the kind of performance that the company's pro-ribbon systems produce.

In addition to the company's own stand, Alcons provided an audio system for ISE's 3D Theatre, a co-operative venture by a number of 3D technology manufacturers, including screens, projectors, media-servers, audio systems and acoustic panels. Featuring hourly presentations from the different equipment suppliers about 3D related topics, visitors were informed about the latest technology and it gave company co-founder Tom Back and his team the opportunity to demonstrate how their systems enhance the 3D experience.

Back conducted a daily Alcons presentation, explaining the specific challenges for audio systems in 3D cinema applications. These range from the effects of long speaker cabl

USA - Luxury Swiss watchmaker Breitling hosted a VIP event for the grand opening of its flagship store. The event, organised by global Marketing and PR agency Centigrade, saw a host of celebrities and Breitling enthusiasts come together to celebrate the launch of its New York boutique. The 4500sq.ft store is located a stone's throw from 5th Avenue and showcases over 900 timepieces.

Three hundred guests, including brand ambassadors John Travolta and Wayne Gretzky as well as hockey player, Mark Streit and NFL star and broadcaster Boomer Esiason attended the event in Manhattan on 15 January.

The sidewalk outside of the boutique was transformed in to a VIP reception area. Truss structure provided by PRG was erected housing a red-carpet area for staff to meet and greet VIP guests and the media. GDS LiteWare UL wireless battery uplighters were incorporated in to the design of the st

USA -TMB and LumenRadio have announced the immediate availability across North America of the entire range of CRMX wireless lighting control products.

LumenRadio's proprietary CRMX products are available in a variety of form factors and feature levels to meet the requirements of the entertainment and architectural lighting markets alike. All products provide Lumen's proprietary automated cognitive coexistence; error correction; synchronization; encryption; deterministic latency of 5ms; and outstanding range and reliability.

Protocol support includes DMX, RDM, DALI, Art-Net, sACN, ETCNet2, ETC Net3, Strand ShowNet, and Pathport. Two consecutive PLASA Awards for Innovation and accolades from industry experts and the industry at large, as well as a very impressive reference list of high profile installations and events, have firmly established LumenRadio as the undisputed wireles

USA / Germany - Riedel Communications is now a promoting member of the AVnu Alliance, the industry forum dedicated to the advancement of professional-quality audio/video networking by promoting the adoption of the IEEE 802.1 Audio/Video Bridging (AVB) standards over various networking link-layers.

"We have always understood our products as open platforms for integrating standard protocols such as AES, MADI, SIP and now, AVB. Especially MediorNet as an open platform backbone technology with bandwidth capacities suitable for numerous 3G video signals, will be helping to expand AVB network installations beyond their current possibilities," saysHenning Kaltheuner, product manager at Riedel Communications. "We are looking forward to actively participating in the AVnu Alliance for providing an in-depth integration of AVB systems into our MediorNet backbone product."

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