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

Business

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UAE - The focal point of The Irish Village pub in Dubai is its recently expanded, 3,500-capacity scenic outdoor terrace. To improve the sound quality for daytime ambience music and live entertainment in the evenings and weekends, the pub has installed a Meyer Sound system based around UPJunior-XP 48 V VariO loudspeakers.

Impressed by the power and clarity of the Meyer Sound systems they had previously encountered, Dave Cattanach, The Irish Village's general manager, and Jason Smith, manager, had long wanted Meyer Sound loudspeakers in their venue. When it came time for an upgrade to optimize the newly extended terrace area, they enlisted Abu Dhabi-based Systech Middle East to specify, install, and commission the new system.

"The UPJunior-XPs were our first choice because they set a new standard for power and clarity in systems suitable for outdoor applications," says

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USA - Appealing to large-scale event and production professionals, Paul Braile, BlackTrax expert at CAST BlackTrax Ltd and Michael Wells, executive director of operations at Trinity Fellowship Church, Texas will present the Lights. Camera. Tracking! seminar at PLASA Focus: Nashville 2014 at room Mezzanine 27 at The Nashville Municipal Auditorium, TN from 12:00 to 13:00 on Tuesday, 18 and Wednesday, 19 February.

Trinity Fellowship Church in Amarillo, Texas utilized BlackTrax motion tracking system in its 3,750 seat auditorium integrated with live performers, lighting, sound, multi-media and video for its 2013 Christmas Program and beyond.

"Visitors will walk away from the seminar with an in-depth understanding of how our production has deployed BlackTrax bringing significant ROI as well as lighting, logistical and creative benefits," explained Michael Wells, ex

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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Europe - Le Maitre is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its renowned G300 Smoke Machine - an industry standard around the globe which has been widely adopted by theme parks, theatres, cruise ships and the emergency services for breathing apparatus training.

The G300 was Le Maitre's second generation high powered smoke machine, following on from the Smoke Processor 3 series, and at the time of its launch was commented on by competitors as setting the standard by which all other machines would be judged. Le Maitre's goal at the time was quite simply to make a machine that was better than anything else on the market. This has clearly proved to be the case with sales still going strong and many of the unique features still not being able to be emulated by other manufacturers.

Le Maitre came up with and patented its 'Layered Block System' called Genesis - hence the 'G' of G300. T

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India - Located in Delhi's Ashok Hotel, Pangaea is the latest addition to the numerous world-famous exclusive clubs owned by Michael Ault, a pre-eminent club operator with almost 25 successful years in the nightlife industry and more than thirty nightclubs operating in key markets such as New York, Miami Beach, Los Angeles, Bermuda, Sao Paulo and Marbella.

Delhi, which has India's biggest luxury market in the country, was reportedly chosen by Ault after noting that many of the clients in his Singapore club were Indian billionaires, who asked him to bring the brand to India. One of them (Spice Group's owner BK Modi) entered partnership with Ault to establish Pangaea on the Indian nightlife scene.

Although only having a capacity of about 450 patrons, for Pangaea ("All lands" - a super-continent that existed approximately 300 million years ago and consisted in the prese

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South Africa - When 4U Rage Festival hits KwaZulu Natal at the end of each year, an event aimed at students who have finally completed school, its party, party, party for the next two and a half weeks. If you have young children of your own, there's still time to save up and entice them to go on a family holiday to Europe instead.... now that's a mother's thinking for you! If not, it's likely they will be asking to go to Balito, where an estimated 80 000 kids visited the area in December 2013.

The festival provides students with access card to various venues and clubs, all kitted out with top sound and lighting, and entertainment by great artists. While daytime is usually reserved for beach volleyball, soccer, surfing and tanning, this year saw revellers in gumboots and rain would not stop the fun!

Hirezone supplied the technical for the main dance floor at the Sound Factory i

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USA - The world of Gospel music convened in Nashville under the illumination of Bandit Lites' gear for the 29th Annual Stellar Awards, the premier Gospel event that recognizes and honours African American artists. Daytime Emmy Award-winner Sherri Shepherd and Ricky Smiley hosted the event at the Metro Nashville Municipal Auditorium on 18 January.

With the awards being broadcasted to millions on the UP Network, lighting designer Mark Carver created a look for the show that would translate well both on television and for the live audience, in addition to relaying the emotion of the performing artists.

"Gospel Music has a very emotional and spiritual quality," Carver explained. "The lighting needs to try to help convey this emotion and engage both artist and audience."

In order to accomplish such a seamless, expressive design, Carver turned to Bandit who pro

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The Netherlands - After attracting more than 50,000 registered attendees for the first time in its history from 4-6 February, Integrated Systems Europe has further cemented its reputation as a leading event for professional AV and electronic systems integration. The final total attendance of 51,003 surpassed even the organisers' own most optimistic expectations, with Europe's recovering economies and a record 952 exhibitors helping to fuel attendee growth of 15% over last year's figure of 44,151.

Also acting as key draws to the event were an enlarged Professional Development programme including off-floor training sessions hosted by ISE's co-owners CEDIA and InfoComm International, with both associations also contributing seminars to the event's new on-floor Theatres dedicated to Residential and Commercial Solutions. Between them these sessions attracted over 2,400 people, with I

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UK - Monthly magazine 'The Fly' celebrated their 15th birthday last week by hosting their first Awards ceremony at the Kentish Town Forum. Started back in 1997 by the team behind The Barfly, Camden - the Awards nights celebrates the best innovators, risk takers and true originals of modern music.

Sponsored by its official partners XFM, the night was hosted by Keith Murray and Chris Cain from band We Are Scientists. It included performances from acts such as Bombay Bicycle Club and Wild Beasts.

Richard Martin Lighting (RML) were approached by LD Matt Button and HDO Productions to provide lights for The Horrors performance. Closing the show, they wanted to do something extra special in support of their accolade for 'Outstanding Artistry' which was presented to them that night.

Matt chose Sharpys and strobes to create maximum effect. This look was in keeping with their festival

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Italy - Lighting and show designer Francesco de Cave has a penchant for sculpting fluid, imaginative and stylish shows and this very much underpins his lighting and visual design for the current Greatest Hits world tour by singer and international superstar Laura Pausini which is no exception.

The tour has just completed its latest European leg, and Francesco included 50 x Robe Robin LEDWash 300 moving lights as a core element of the lighting rig.

Grammy award winning multi-lingual Pausini is one of the most successful Italian artists of all time and has sold over 70m albums worldwide.

Francesco is one of Italy's best known and most prolific designers in the live and concert touring sectors and for music-based television shows. His lighting career started aged 14 and has continued on a massive upward trajectory. Lighting is something that he's absolutely passionate ab

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UK - PLASA has announced the launch of a major new industry survey designed to help guide the Association's future development of technical qualifications for the industry.

PLASA is carrying out a survey of employers and technicians across both theatre and live events in the UK in relation to the further development of qualifications and are calling for participation from employers and technicians in the live events and theatre sector. It is hoped data will emerge on how many technicians are working, both employed and freelance, and in which areas of specialism - and it will assess the appetite of the industry for further vocational qualifications beyond the National Rigging Certificate.

Matthew Griffiths, CEO of PLASA said: "This is an essential piece of research for the entertainment technology sector that will be vital in setting PLASA's skills planning over the coming

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UK - PRG (Production Resource Group) - a leading supplier of entertainment and event technology - has selected Prolyte truss for its European trussing inventory.

PRG provides integrated services and equipment, including audio, video, lighting, rigging, staging, and scenery and automation systems, and has chosen Prolyte to supply a structured platform of complementary truss products. The core offering will include a range of trussing from the compact H30V series through to more heavy-duty systems such as S36V and S52V trusses, encompassing some items powder-coated in black.

The initial investment exceeds a staggering 10,000 metres of trussing; creating a considerable modular stock which PRG plans to expand on in the future.

The wide and versatile range of trussing systems that Prolyte offers ties in seamlessly with the variety of markets that PRG serves, enabling single disci

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China - The Chinese Ministry of Culture recently invited the Viva Vox Choir from Serbia to perform in China's most prestigious venue The Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.

Opened in 1959 the complex was built within 10 months entirely by volunteers for the political meetings and events of the Chinese government. The Viva Vox Choir are one of the very few international acts ever invited to perform at the venue since it opened its doors to western music culture less than five years ago.

Serbian lighting designer, Pero Trifuljesku has toured with the choir internationally for a number of years along with his Clarity software and VX20 Wing. Pero explains, "It's always challenging when touring throughout Asia, with both language and equipment specifications. We don't always get what we've requested and spend many hours trying to make the best of what we get

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Australia - Sydney's legendary Trackdown recording and post studios have done and seen it all, from recording INXS in the 1980s to orchestral recording for award-winning feature films like Happy Feet. Across two sites, Trackdown offers the best in audio recording and post for both music and film, and operates Australia's largest purpose built orchestral scoring stage at its Moore Park facility.

Moore Park's capabilities were recently expanded with the addition of Theatre One, a 20-seat theatrette with grading, audio post, mixing and 3D screening capabilities. A partnership with Definition Films, the new room packs serious technical capabilities into a small space, which has seen it working solidly since its opening in February. Hoyts were commissioned to install a Christie Projector, Harkness Microperf Screen, Xpand 3D System and Doremi Showvault 4K DCP Server.

"We

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UK - Show technology, control and integration specialist the FIX8 Group is "absolutely delighted" with its latest purchase of flight cases from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire based manufacturer 5 Star Cases, and this brings their total now to over 60 x 5 Star built cases.

Specially modified shock mounted 19" rack systems have been customized to fit FIX8's individually spec'd media server systems. The media server's racks are uniform in width and depth, but vary in height from between 12 and 30 units.

In addition to the actual media server computers, the racks also house all the required peripherals needed for a complete media server video processing system, including PPUs, support racks and cameral channel control racks.

FIX8 also has more cases which are designed to house four 24 inch monitors, complete with DVI cables and stands - so the contents in the two differe

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UK - The Guardian reported in early 2014 that Doncaster's new 'cultural living room' was a bustling, buzzing success story. Funded for the most part by Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council this £22m theatre and arts centre was recently held up by The Stage as ' a triumph of municipal good sense' .

Opened in September 2013, Cast replaces the town's old Civic Theatre, which closed in March 2013, with a 620 seat main space, adaptable smaller second space and further dance, drama and meeting spaces. The development of the theatre is part of a wider £300m scheme to regenerate the urban centre of Doncaster and if the early evidence of its popularity is anything to go by, it stands every chance of vindicating the Authority's bold move to pursue such a project in tough economic times.

Cast's vision was to play host to the widest possible remit of the arts.

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USA - Viewers of the 56th Annual Grammy Awards got to see glittering recording stars, plus one of the most remarkable TV commercials in memory, both accompanied by some dazzling light from the Nexus 4x4. Aside from sizzling on the main stage during the award ceremonies with the likes of Beyoncé and Jay-Z, the high output LED panel from Chauvet Professional shined brightly during the Pepsi Grammy Half Time Show, a two-and-a-half minute commercial that may have rewritten the book on big event TV advertising.

Filmed at the LA Sports Arena, the commercial featured pro football legends Terry Bradshaw, Mike Ditka, Deion Sanders and Shannon Sharpe. The tongue-in-cheek spot was based on the simple premise that since music stars entertain fans during football game halftime shows, it's only right that football stars return the favour by entertaining the TV audience during th

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Malaysia - Malaysia has a long tradition of male and female vocalists who become superstars across eastern Asia. Playing in their home country guarantees sold-out stadiums, with DiGiCo consoles bringing their ballads to thousands of fans.

Selangor-based Clef Productions Sdn Bhd is one of the leading companies in Malaysia's live production industry. Clef's owner Alvin Koh was a fan of DiGiCo's original D5 consoles before he started working with the SD Series and has specified DiGiCo on shows by some of Malaysia's biggest artists this year.

One of the company's most recent projects is Anuar Zain's Three Decades of, Music, Love and Passion, where the singer (famously also a steward for Malaysian Airlines) celebrated 30 years in the music industry and enjoyed the benefits of three DiGiCo SD10s as he sold out the 8000-capacity Stadium Melawati earlier in the year.

With one

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UK - Manchester based lighting and rigging specialist dbn has designed, supplied and installed a highly effective production lighting rig for the Albert Hall in Manchester - a new 2000 capacity venue in a former Methodist meeting hall dating back to 1910 in the heart of the city.

The space - original features including double height windows with stained glass detail and a magnificent organ fully renovated with pipes left exposed - has been lovingly restored to its former splendour and opened as Manchester's live music and event space by independent owners Trof.

Trof have a penchant for discovering found spaces and turning them into buzzing entertainment hubs, and the Albert Hall is no exception as it gears up for full operation with promoters and private clients clamouring to book it for bands, comedy and cabaret shows, club nights, parties and corporate events.

dbn's Stephe

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USA - Alcons Audio has recently hired AVA, Audio Video Associates, independent rep firm. AVA covers the mid-western plain states regions including Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and southern Illinois. Headed up by Ben Shipman, AVA is one of the premier rep firms in its region representing other well-respected brands such as DiGiCo consoles.

"We are thrilled to have AVA join our rep force," says David Rahn, Alcons North American sales director. "They are a well-established firm with a deep history in the region. I have known the AVA team for some time and they are one of the best in the business. They excel at product demonstrations, and their customer base respects the work they do and the services they provide.

"We are fortunate to find ourselves in a great position these days. Having laid a good foundation of top-level dealers, and now with the consulta

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Estonia - Swedish lighting designer Palle Palmé returned to the Big House at the Vanemuine Theatre in Tartu, Estonia - one of the country's most important producing and receiving houses - to light their current production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical Evita which plays until May and is directed by Georg Malvius.

Last year, Palmé was the first person to take full advantage of the new in-house Robe lighting rigs that were installed across all three of Vanemuine's venues, when he lit a very successful production of Grease, also in the Big House.

This year with Evita, he again utilized Robe's products to upgrade and revitalize the production's lighting which was originally staged in Turku, Finland in 2008.

The Big House lighting system includes over 100 Robe moving lights including 56 x Robin LEDWash 1200s, 20 x Robin MMX Spots, 24 x Rob

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UK - With less than three weeks to go until the ISCE (Institute of Sound and Communications Engineers) ISCEx2014 Exhibition and Networking Dinner in Birmingham, interest is running high.

According to the Institute's Secretariat Manager, Ros Wigmore, members have sensed the "enormous networking value of the occasion as well as the opportunity to both see and exhibit next-generation communications systems in the era of EN54 compliance."

"We have had an amazing response to our networking dinner bookings," Ros confirms. "It seems that everyone prefers to meet up in a more informal setting before the serious business gets started."

The two-day event itself takes place on March 4-5 at the Holiday Inn?in Birmingham City Centre, kicking off with the dinner on the opening night.

Accompanying a full programme of technical seminars will be the exhibition

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Shipping Bulletin - Sting's musical about shipbuilding in the North East of England has found a home on Broadway. The Last Ship, which is inspired by the singer's own childhood, will open at the Neil Simon Theatre on 30 September. The cast will include New York stage star Michael Esper and Irish singer and actress Rachel Tucker. It will also star fellow North East star Jimmy Nail, who Sting has previously said "gave me the courage to carry on" with the project. "He said 'this is very important, you have to do this, this story needs to be told,'" the musician told BBC News.

Sting has already released an album called The Last Ship, with music that will feature in the show. The musical will be directed by Joe Mantello, who has won two Tony Awards, for musical Assassins and stage play Take Me Out.

Welsh Boost - Film com

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USA - The roots of the North American International Auto Show, which is held annually in Detroit, Michigan, go back to 1907 when it was strictly a regional venue for America's nascent auto manufacturers to parade their latest inventions. Flash forward over a century and the event has become one of the largest auto shows in the world, attracting press and enthusiasts from around the globe to the North American auto-making capital, and bringing an approximate $500m annual boost to the local economy.

As attendance numbers continue to grow, Cobo Centre, which hosts the event, recently renovated the underused 12,000-seat Cobo Arena to convert it into a ballroom better suited to the show. Danley Sound Labs SM-60F full-range loudspeakers, supported by Danley TH-115 subwoofers, fire down from the new ballroom's fifty-foot ceilings to support high-energy auto show productions, along with

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Brazil - When Brazilian Latin Grammy Award-winner Ivete Sangalo recently celebrated her 20th anniversary in the business, she did so by recording a DVD called IS20. This took place at the large Arena Fonte Nova stadium in Brazil's first capital of Salvador, which with its capacity of 52,048 will also be hosting some of the FIFA World Cup matches later this year.

Spectrun Design e Iluminacao was in charge of the design concept and execution, and to fulfil the task of illuminating the grand stadium, they selected a large-scale package of SGM lighting equipment, including 200 X-5 white LED strobes, 66 P-5 RGB wash lights, 40 SixPack blinders and 24 Giotto Synthesis 700 Wash.

Accommodating Ms Sangalo's audience of 40,000 people, while at the same time illuminating the stadium, was the challenge facing Marcos Olivio from Spectrun Design e Iluminacao when developing his desig

  1. MilTec's Mini-Map screen now in rental stock
  2. Robert Juliat Tibo LED fixtures at KTMD-TV
  3. Win a Nomad lighting control kit from ETC
  4. Audica for first McDonalds in Vietnam
  5. Hippotizer at Super Bowl XLVIII Halftime Show
  6. Bosch secures new 5 star hotel in Sochi
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Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
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