Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

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Ireland - "This is a state of the art sound system for people who are serious about what they do," said Dave McDonnell of Dublin based pro-audio company McDonnell Systems. He was referring to the d&b audiotechnik PA system his company had recently installed in one of the latest venues on the Dublin nightlife scene, Radio City at the Isaac Butt Bar.

The recently renovated bar is a Mecca for music lovers and clubbers in the city. It has a variety of bars spread over three floors with 'Radio City' situated in the basement where the d&b system is installed. This is a venue for late night gigs where up and coming bands are showcased.

The system, comprising d&b Qi7s and Qi subwoofers with Ci80s providing delays and E0s serving a number of blind spots, was specified and designed by the Butt Bar's resident sound engineer Andy Colbert in co-operation with Kevin McGing, sound

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Singapore - Singapore's highly-respected arts centre Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay has become the first customer in Asia to purchase the new Soundcraft Vi6 digital console. Esplanade's head of sound Robin Shuttleworth says: "The features we get on the Vi6 made it worthwhile for us to pioneer this console."

The first use of the Soundcraft Vi6 console was at Baybeats, Singapore's own local annual indie music festival at Esplanade, a free festival of live indie music which attracts bands from countries such as Malaysia, Norway, UK, USA, Australia and of course, Singapore itself. At Baybeats, the console was used as a monitor desk for the Powerhouse stage: soon after, at another festival to commemorate Singapore's National Day, the Soundcraft Vi6 was used for front-of-house control.

"We operate two outdoor venues, and frequently run shows which feature five or six

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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UK - Madonna, one of the biggest names in the music industry, played a one-night show at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Sunday 30 July to an audience of 60,000 during her Confessions Tour.

Star Events Group Ltd has recently been appointed as the technical management company for the Stadium. Part of its remit is to enable the production to fully utilise the capacity of the retractable roof. After consultations with the engineering company, the stated capacity of the roof was increased considerably: over 50 tonnes can now be flown above the arena stage positions and, for the first time, shows using the whole stadium can fly delays from the retractable roof as well. This enabled Star Events Group and Madonna's production team to replace the proposed ground support solutions for the delay PA, spotlight platform and mother-grid needed to support the protruding mirror ball truss with

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UK - Robe moving lights took centre stage at the Sundial Theatre at Cirencester College for an ambitious production of Homer's Odyssey, with an innovative lighting and set design by Sundial's technical manager, Andy Webb.

The performance was the end of year production by the Sundial Youth Theatre, and featured a cast of 28 students attending various different courses at the college. It was directed by Adam Fotheringham.

Homer's intense story of the Journey Of Odysseus saw the Sundial Theatre configured into a minimalist stage design. A floor level thrust came out from the centre of the main stage with seats encircling it at 270 degrees, creating an extremely intimate performance area with the performers right in the audience.

The theatre's permanent stage, a set of steps built onto the front of it and the floor level thrust area were all painted in cream. The clearly

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UK - A life-sized carousel is operated by a mechanical revolve supplied by Stage Technologies and sets the scene for love, romance and sometimes violence between two lovers in a nineteenth century New England fishing community. The Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein musical Carousel is being staged at the Chichester Festival Theatre for a three month run, finishing on the 1 September.

The sets were built by All Scene All Props and the revival uses a Stage Technologies' simple Saxis control unit and hand held controller to operate the revolve which at various times also moves props and people.

Stage Technologies worked with Piers Ross from All Scene All Props to bring the Carousel to life. Piers required a rental system that they could install for this single element of the show. Stage Technologies have been providing rental systems to automate shows for over 10 years

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UK - This year sees the 22nd Reproduced Sound conference and the agenda, as ever, will be packed with the latest in audio technology, acoustics and real world applications and the presentations by the international line-up of industry-leading experts never disappoints. Organised by the Electroacoustics Group of the Institute of Acoustics, in collaboration with AES, ABTT, APRS and ISCE, this year's conference will be held on Friday 3 and Saturday 4 November at the Oxford Hotel, Oxford.

Over the two days, papers and discussions will cover a range of topics including Loudspeakers, Speech Intelligibility, Distribution/Networking, Digital Audio Networks, Lossy Compression and Bitrate Reduction, Ultrasonic Audio, Sound System Applications and Virtual Acoustics.

The Reproduced Sound conferences will feature presentations from some of the industry's leading academics, consultants, sup

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USA / Canada - After kicking things off in Detroit on 21 July, the Dixie Chicks' Accidents & Accusations tour is in full swing. As with their last world tour, Upstaging is providing a variety of Tomcat equipment to show the three country stars in the best possible light. "We are always pleased to offer Tomcat products," says John Huddleston, director of lighting services for Upstaging, "We have never had a problem with Tomcat trussing, it's safe and dependable."

Over 200' of black powder coated Tomcat LD truss is on the set. In addition to that, there are two sections of 10'6" Swing Wing truss, two 8' sections of Swing Wing truss, six 10' sections of 30" x 20.5" truss, two 30" x 20.5" hinges (all powder coated black) as well as ten 20.5" pick up bars.

The tour runs through until early November with stops in cities throug

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UK - Sound Leisure Retail (SLR) has completed another high-profile installation at the innovative Xscape mixed-use retail and leisure destination, this time in Braehead. This follows the successful installation of various bubble screens at the Castleford Xscape centre last year. All the Xscape venues in Braehead, Castleford and Milton Keynes feature a 200m real snow slope and extreme sports facilities, as well as cinemas, bowling alleys, restaurants, bars and shops.

Given the unusual layout and leisure offering, Xscape required a creative screen solution and in both Castleford and Braehead, they invested in large 32in 'Bubble' screens from SLR. The Bubbles look particularly eye-catching as they glow brightly in an array of neon colours. Xscape has used the Bubbles to show footage of extreme sports interspersed with in-house Xscape offers, promotions and adverts.

SLR's touch-sc

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UK - PRG Europe worked with various other PLASA members to provide equipment for Vibes from the Vines, a music festival held in East Sussex in aid of Cancer Research UK on 12 August.

Lighting&Sound International's technical editor James Eade was asked to take care of lighting, and contacted his friends at PRG Europe. Project manager Sarah Cox organised for a truck-load of equipment to be sent from their facilities, and load in started at 9pm Friday finishing at 3am Saturday. Sarah says: "James and I worked till 5.30am on Saturday programming the lighting - but on the day it didn't do it for us, and in the end we lit on the fly! After all, there are no second chances, so we had to get it just right. We had a fantastic time, and were proud to be able to provide the equipment for such a good cause."

Headlining was guitarist Gary Moore, who performed with "a host of

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UK - British Turntable has helped a North West theatre company add an extra dimension to their productions by designing, building and installing a 6m diameter revolving stage at the Theatre Royal in Ramsbottom. The stage, which was supplied with a timber deck and AC drive, was built to a standard design to meet the theatre's needs in as cost-effective way as possible. The installation coincides with the design and installation of telescopic stage extensions for Bury Grammar School, demonstrating the company's ability to provide practical solutions in areas as diverse as educational establishments, commercial and amateur theatres and the events, TV and film industries.

The Theatre Royal, home to Summerseat Players, has an excellent reputation for the quality of its productions. This year's production of Witness for the Prosecution, a courtroom drama that requires scenes to

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UK - No, we're not talking about standards of excellence (well, not in the usual sense) and not a length of metal to attach lights to, either. We're talking about a large bar where industry people can meet to socialise and have a drink or two.

Socialising and networking will be very much to the fore at PLASA06: the large Central Bar's opening hours are being extended, for the first time, as it becomes the official PLASA06 After Show Bar, which will remain open until 8pm each night, following the 'soft close' of the show at 6pm.

Sponsoring the PLASA06 After Show Bar will be some of the entertainment industry's major players, including Aviom, Avolites, DiGiCo, Lab:Gruppen, Mobil-Tech, Stardraw and XTA Electronics. Those who visit the sponsors' stands will get complimentary drinks, entry into a free prize draw and the chance to win £1,000.00.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - For Pearl Jam's 2006 Tour, lighting designer Kille Knobel is using PRG's Virtuoso control console with recently upgraded 5.5 software, which PRG says provides unprecedented capabilities, speed and flexibility.

Although she was new to the Virtuoso system, Knobel says she recognised that it supports playback needs that few - if any - other consoles can handle. "Pearl Jam concerts are not like other touring shows with the same song set every night or a core set with just a few changes. My show is drastically different every time - in the course of 10 days on the tour we might do 80 different songs." With the Virtuoso system though, it's not a problem. "The Virtuoso desk has the ease of use, the quantity of faders and the very flexible playback I need."

With its dedicated palette, the Virtuoso console makes it easy to make a change when playing cue to cue,

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UK - After a major restoration project by Glasgow City Council, Glasgow's City Halls has re-emerged as a state-of-the-art music complex. Managed and operated by Glasgow Cultural Enterprises (GCE), it is the new permanent base of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Wave Integrated Systems - a division of the Eastlake Group - were chosen by GCE and BBC Scotland to supply and install audio visual solutions to a specific design built around enhancing visitors and audience experience of the Halls' new music and education facilities. Ewen Grimes, Head of Wave Integrated Systems explains the issues that posed a challenge: "The installation requirements were complex, with 16 different areas within City Hall each having its own communication objectives. For example, there are pavement facing areas, which capture the attention of the public passing the building. Then there are recep

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USA - Clear-Com, a Vitec Group brand and the global leader of trusted intercom solutions, today announced that Canada's Cirque du Soleil has purchased additional components from its integrated portfolio of live audio communications technology. This is the third order for Clear-Com from one of the world's best known performance arts companies, and will be used to support production wide communications at Love, the latest production by Cirque du Soleil at The Mirage in Las Vegas.

Cirque du Soleil's order includes main and redundant power supply modules, 6/RU frames with 72- in/out port capabilities, user-friendly programming panels and system interfaces for interoperable point-to-point, party-line, portable camera intercoms, and 2-way radios.

The Compact-72 Matrix frame along with ICS digital matrix, IMF interface frame and CCI and RTS Party-Line products are all designed

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USA - The queen of hip-hop soul is currently touring America with her glam-but-street summer tour, the Breakthrough Experience. The two hour show is full of impassioned singing, dancing and testimonies about old demons and new revelations. It reflects a superstar performance with five costume changes and a lightshow to match.

Lighting designer Daunte Kenner, has created a rig that appears to be huge. It is carefully designed to give that illusion. The PixelLines are instrumental in the scheme, as they are attached to each of the curved pieces accentuating the radial effect. In total there are 12 PixelLine 1044s and 24 PixelArc Rs.

He explains: "The PixelLines are the eye-candy of the rig. They produce all the delicate effects, for example during one song - stars in the sky. But don't under estimate the fixture, I also use them for punchy sequences during the more p

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France - This year marks the 15th anniversary of the annual four-day Festival Des Vieilles Charrues. It was held in the city of Carhaix located in the heart of Brittany. This festival, which began in 1992 as a volunteer-led community project, with an audience of 500, has grown to become the largest music festival in France. It attracts over 200,000 festival-goers each year, making it one of the four largest festivals in Europe alongside Rock Werchter, Roskilde and Glastonbury. The festival has taken place at the Kerampuilh venue, in the outskirts of Carhaix since 1998 when it outgrew its previous location, in the village of Landeleu.

This year's show was held from 20 July to 23 July. The choice of performers for Les Vieilles Charrues Festival has always been uniquely diverse, which has set this festival apart from many of its rivals. Performing at this years festival were Numero

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Worldwide - Longtime Sennheiser endorsee, Madonna, again has the hottest concert ticket of the season in the theatrically spectacular Confessions Tour 2006. The show abounds with channel upon channel of Sennheiser wireless vocal, instrument and personal wireless systems, including Madonna's much-favoured SKM 3072 super-cardioid handheld transmitter. Sennheiser RF systems are also being used by the backing and guest vocalists and on many of the guitar systems, while all of the musicians on stage are outfitted with Evolution G2 wireless monitor set-ups.

For this globetrotting tour, Madonna's four SKM 3072 handhelds are run through a passive switcher to quickly reassign them to both front of house and monitors simultaneously. Additionally, six Sennheiser evolution 500 G2 series handheld RF microphones equipped with supercardioid 865 condenser capsules are available for the t

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UK - HSL is supplying a variety of lighting equipment to four separate performance spaces and the bar in the main C venue at the heart of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. C is the largest of four different sites containing a total of 11 venues being run by C venues at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Across the three week Festival period, they will host over 180 different shows representing approximately 10% of the Festival's creative output - a vibrant mix of all types of performance genres including dance, drama, comedy, physical theatre, musicals, film, cabaret, events and workshops.

C stages the biggest of the C venues productions across four floors of its Chambers Street building, which is normally used as an examination hall for Edinburgh University. C +3 on the third floor and C -1 in the basement are used for most of the larger shows and musicals on C venue's busy sched

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UK - Allen & Heath consoles were used to manage sound on two stages at therecent Acoustic Festival of Britain, held in Nantwich, Cheshire. The two-day festival is in its inaugural year, and boasted an impressive line up of legendary names and a variety of styles from The Stranglers to The Cheshire Chord Company.

Local PA company, VME, was appointed to manage all the technical requirements, selecting a 48-channel Allen & Heath ML5000 VCA console at FOH position and an ML4000 on monitors in the Cheese Tent, which hosted acts including Eric Faulkener (Bay City Rollers), Elkie Brooks, Hayseed Dixie, Del McCoury Band, and Ed Tudor Pole (Sex Pistols).

The Octagon Tent showcased a diversity of international artists - some well established and others approaching the musical forefront - including Damian Etherington, Blue C, October, Jason Soudah, Red Dirt, Guy Maile, Virginia Haze, Ros

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Worldwide - The current sell-out Rolling Stones tour, A Bigger Bang, reached the shores of the UK in August 2006, with a spectacular production incorporating 350m of Mojo aluminium barriers.

Mojo Barriers' MD Patrick Jordon explained: "In May 2005 Jake Berry (production director) approached us to supply the Rolling Stones with our barriers for their US dates starting in August 2005. Having worked with the Stones before, we were delighted to be awarded the contract to supply barriers for the whole Bigger Bang World Tour. Due to commitments with U2, Jake passed the role of the tour production manager to Dale 'Opie' Skjerseth to look after the daily business on the road."

Mojo Barriers supplied 220m of black aluminium Mojo Barriers for the US stadium shows. This allowed Opie to create a specially shaped barrier in front of the stage that extended around the thrus

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UK - Loudspeaker manufacturers, don't always get enquiries they expect - as was the case when TV production house Objective Productions contacted Surrey loudspeaker manufacturer EM Acoustics with a rather unusual request.

Objective Productions, known for producing shows such as Derren Brown, were working on the first show for a series called Fear Of . . ., with the first programme dealing with Flying. The show features 'thought therapist' Lawrence Leyton, who throughout the course of the programme splits people's fear of flying into core elements, such as heights and claustrophobia. The participants are put through a series of tests to illustrate their fears, and then return to the same tests after therapy, and finally get on a plane for a real flight. To bring out the effects of claustrophobia, Objective Productions approached EM Acoustics for the use of their anechoic c

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Peru - More than 25,000 people gathered in the esplanade of Lima's Estadio Monumental recently to bask in the music of Carlos Santana. The Mexican guitarist, on tour to promote his latest album, All That I Am, had not appeared in Lima since his first visit in 1995, and a capacity crowd was on hand to welcome him back.

Sound providers Carlinho Hermes Landa and Iluminación Artistica RTA opted for a system based on Meyer Sound's MILO high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker system. Freelance system engineer Andres Cuadros commented: "For me, it was necessary to have the very best equipment," he says. "With MILO, we got excellent response from the system. As a result, the public reacted very well, because both the show and the technical production were at the highest level."

The main system was made up of 12 MILO cabinets on each side, with four UPJ-1P

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UK - On 31 August and 1 September, the Association of Lighting Designers is holding its first Forum, in collaboration with Rose Bruford College. A two-day event, the Forum is comprised of "Pick and Mix" workshops and discussions based around a central theme, relevant to modern theatre practice to help educate members and share ideas.

The "Pick and Mix" format has been designed to make the event as flexible as possible to those with work commitments. The event is free and food and drink will be provided. This year the theme is Digital Scenography. With the use of video projection and other digital media becoming more widespread in Theatre, the worlds of video and lighting are converging. The aim of the Forum is to raise awareness of this equipment and it's use, and discus how it is going to affect designers in the future.

Workshops throughout both days will

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USA - Gear-Source Inc has launched a new website specifically marketing Martin Professional pre-owned inventory. The site (www.MartinCheckMarked.com) is now online and features a 'Check Marked' program, developed in cooperation with Martin - a sliding scale system in which five Checks designates an item as almost new, with one 'Check' indicating a product that has extensive usage hours. New value-added services are under development to add further value to the program, say GearSource.

The site is the first of its kind, and although designed exclusively to move Martin pre-owned inventory, it is managed and operated through GearSource.com's complex backend site administration system.

As part of this agreement, all existing Martin dealers will have full access to the dealer level of the system, and can also gain access to GearSource dealer prices on other brands, which will appea

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  6. Multisell makes Saudi Arabian appointment
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