Sweden - For the 15th consecutive year, Swedish LD Palle Palmé has provided spectacular lighting for the Diggiloo outdoor summertime tour, with 80 X4 Bar 20’s from GLP dominating the ever-changing stage set. Having worked on the event since its inception in 2003 (when it appeared only in Båstad), Palmé says that despite the number of famous artists appearing all receive equal billing - “and that is the success of Diggiloo”. Heading the roster this year has been Robin Bengtsson, winner of the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest, performing alongside Tommy Nilsson, David Lindgren, Wiktoria, Charlotte Perelli, Jessica Andersson, Bruno Mitsogiannis, Andreas Johnson and Özz Nujen throughout the 22 gigs. Palle Palmé has again turned to GLP’s super-versatile X4 Bar battens - an effect he has used on at least five occasions since November 2015. “I was original
Italy - Powersoft continues its successful series of Webinars, with a new programme that commences on 4-5 October at 3.00pm GMT. Following on from the successful training forum presentations by Dave Rat and Steven Kemland, the next sessions will highlight all aspects of designing an audio system for TV programmes such as X Factor Italy, where live music and broadcast audio are the key fundamentals, and how to overcome them. It will also look at how Powersoft can invigorate the PA on the live touring circuit. Both Webinars will follow the same format as previously, with each host explaining the use of the technology followed by a live Q/A session where attendees can ask questions. How to reinvigorate the PA with X Series amplifier platform in live tour of Australian Pink Floyd. Wednesday 4 October from 3.00-4.00pm GMT; conducted by Robin Conway, Ca
Australia - Canberra Theatre Centre is Canberra’s premier performing arts venue comprising of the 1,240 seat Canberra Theatre, The Playhouse seating 614 and The Courtyard Studio, an intimate rehearsal and performance space that seats up to 92 patrons. The Canberra Theatre and The Playhouse were in need of new house lighting systems and so a tender was released that was won by local Sound and Lighting Specialists Sound Advice, who have extensive experience in architectural and theatrical lighting projects. “The Canberra Theatre’s existing system had really, really old Strand dimmers dimming PAR38 lamps flown in what were arguably acoustic panels at one point,” said Norman Korte, managing director at Sound Advice. “They were similar to a fiberglass rectangular cloud hanging above the seating and due to access issues, the lights in them were difficult to reach.
The Netherlands - With the return of the Welcome to the Future festival on 22 July, the scenic parklands of Wet Twiske, just north of Amsterdam, once again became a green heart pumping to the beat of visionary house and techno. The annual festival, now in its 11th year, prides itself on providing an intimate atmosphere filled with colourful decorations and the highest quality sounds, so it was no surprise that organisers opted for a Vero sound system on the main stage. For event director, Carina Kornfeind, the success of the system’s debut at last year’s festival made it first choice for this 2017 outing. "For the second year in a row, we introduced Funktion-One’s vertical array sound system, Vero, at Welcome to the Future, bringing us a new dimension of frequencies and depth and making the experience on the dancefloor more immersive than ever before," she commented.
UK - This year, the PLASA Rigging Conference will move away from its traditional format of a series of presentations to a new structure that encourages conversation, allowing opinions to be voiced and the most current of topics to be discussed. Following the opening speech from the legendary Morris Lyda - who has worked with artists ranging from Traffic, David Bowie, Genesis, Pink Floyd, The 3 Tenors, and Phil Collins and on special events such as the Barcelona and Sydney Olympics, specialising in building and motivating people to produce extraordinary outcomes - Alan Jacobi, LVO, Unusual Rigging (Platinum Sponsor) will chair the morning panel session, with Mark Surtees, MD, Outback (Gold Sponsor) chairing the afternoon session. “We want to make the Rigging Conference an event that’s highly topical and relevant to the wider industry, to reach an audience who are no
UK - The 2012 collapse of an integral steel frame structure during the building of City Gates Church in Ilford, Essex, made the regional news headlines. The dramatic incident – which fortunately resulted in no injuries despite twenty construction workers having left the site only minutes before the collapse – was inevitably a major setback in the development of the new church, requiring the 1,200 strong congregation to relocate to a nearby cinema for services. But Pastor Rev. Stephen Derbyshire and his team were resolutely unbowed by the episode, ultimately raising £9m for a new church to stand on the same site. After several years of work the five-storey building – which includes a large auditorium, office space, children’s facilities and coffee shop – finally opened its doors last summer. At the heart of the new church is a 1,000 capacity auditorium that w
Dominican Republic - When Justin Bieber’s Purpose world tour played the Hard Rock Hotel in the Dominican Republic earlier in the year, Dominican-based rental company and Elation dealer BM Eventos was there to supply Elation’s Platinum Beam 5R beam light’s for some classic beam looks. D Cory FitzGerald had 120 of the pioneering beam fixtures at his disposal to provide eye-catching barrages of thick beams from positions in the overhead rig, stage front, right and left, and from the walkway. “It’s been a very important lighting fixture in the industry for many years with excellent, proven performance,” stated general manager Edwin Belliard of BM Eventos, the rental company responsible for assembly of the lighting and lighting control system for the show. “The Platinum Beam 5R gives a lot of quality at a low cost. On the Justin Bieber show here in the
Canada - BlackTrax realtime motion tracking system kept the spotlight in focus for the Starboy: Legend of The Fall worldwide tour for Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer, The Weeknd. Solotech, Montreal supplied BlackTrax for the tour. Production manager, Rob DeCeglio, takes up the story: “BlackTrax was the first tracking system that I have used that is worth the setup time. Other systems in the past either were not accurate enough or still require human operators of some kind. This certainly opens the doors for other tracking applications and diversification, everything from artists to set pieces.” “For the Weeknd, it’s always about art. Designers and production alike are charged with creating something that’s unique, something that compliments and enhances the music, and something that brings the focus without being a distracti
UK - Glastonbury is well-known for being a festival with quirky elements and the bravado to push technological and creative boundaries; and it’s one that PRG XL Video continues to be involved with. Nick Diacre, technical director of ddld, partnered with PRG XL to bring an innovative 360˚ video installation to the Gas Tower area in Shangri-La. Nick described the concept of the installation at Glastonbury this year: “We’ve created a 360˚ immersive projection environment in an outdoor arena with a capacity of 1200. The structure itself is inescapable to the audience, being almost 12m tall in places, and completely encompassing the arena. Over the period of four days, we welcomed over 50 guest artists, as well as VJs and AV artists to the arena to contribute content across our 360˚ screen.” Shangri-La’s Willy Brothwood was responsible for the design and build
Hungary - Martin Audio PA systems were once again all over the massive seven-day Sziget Festival in Hungary - the final leg of a three-event tour of the country, which included Volt and Balaton Festivals. Capital supplied two trucks of equipment, including the bulk of the MLA, MLD, MLX and MLA Compact enclosures, while Martin Audio’s Polish partners, Musnicki, provided the remainder of Martin Audio’s flagship PA for the 25th edition of this landmark event. Featuring daily capacity crowds of 90,000, the event is dubbed the Island of Freedom (due to its picturesque location on the Danube). In addition to main stage, Martin Audio premier PA systems once again featured on the Colosseum and Europe stages, courtesy of the manufacturer’s Hungarian partner, BG Event. Capital Sound has worked the event almost continuously for 12 years and MLA has featured for the
UK - Star Events supplied a roofed Vista Royal box, complete with a passenger lift, VIP seating, a 17m Orbit stage and more to Unique Events for the formal opening of the £1.35bn Queensferry Crossing on Monday. Star provided media structures at the south side of the crossing, where 53 years after performing a similar duty at the neighbouring Forth Road Bridge, the Queen, who was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, cut a ceremonial ribbon. The Queen then travelled the 2,700m to the north side by car to make a speech from the 12.5m Vista, where she described the Crossing as an “extraordinary achievement”. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also spoke, paying tribute to the people who built the bridge. “On this day, 100 years from now, as a future generation gathers to mark its centenary, they will gaze at the towers and they will still marvel
Antarctica - When Nerio Gutierrez, co-owner of Madrid-based production company, Playground Estudio, was given the challenge of producing a documentary about Antarctica's view of the world, he knew he was going to be up against some of the most extreme weather conditions. In order to capture the unique sounds and ambience of this harsh, frozen land, he turned to a selection of microphones from DPA Microphones for the documentary titled Antarctica, A Message from the Other Planet. "The most important thing in a project like this is to be sure that your tools will respond in any condition without any worries," says Gutierrez. "We faced extreme cold, extreme moisture and extreme winds, but our DPA d:dicate 4017B Shotgun, d:dicate 4011C Cardioid and d:screet 4061 Necklace Microphones worked incredibly well and gave us the best sound we could possibly get from a place
Denmark - Working with the Danish award-winning band Carpark North since 2014, renowned lighting designer Johnny Thinggaard Lydiksen raised the bar on this year’s festival tour, creating a 16m wide LED screen as fuse to mind blowing visuals. The 5,8m long LB-100 LED ball strings complimented the 5 4,5x2m video screens, while creating a flexible stage screen suitable for for different stage sizes on tour. Combining Denmark’s top band within electro rock with one of the most influential lighting designers in the country was a perfect match for spoiling festival audiences with a creative and first-class show. Recently, at Denmark’s second biggest festival Smukfest 2017, Johnny and Carpark North performed in front of 25,000 music fans. “I wanted to create a large background behind our video system, adding an extra dimension. At first, I worked with traditional vide
Belgium - The largest summer beach festival in Belgium and one of the most popular in Northern Europe, 2 Meisjes op het Strand, is known for more than just music. Also drawing thousands of fans and attracting a large national TV audience on Flemish network VTM are the breathtaking harbour vistas at the festival site. At this year’s event, Michiel Milbou and his team at Never Fear Shadows did justice to the festival’s music and its surroundings with a stunning stage and lighting design that featured 410 Chauvet Professional ÉPIX Strip IP fixtures, supplied by Phlippo Productions. Never Fear Shadows’ design concept for the festival was built around a 60m x 20m translucent stage structure built exclusively from the ÉPIX Strip IP fixtures. The structure provided sizzling visual support for the music of K3, Niels Destadsbader, Gers Pardoel and other stars. At
UK - When Bat Out of Hell-The Musical co-producer Michael Cohl stood on a make-shift stage outside the London Coliseum at the press launch in November, he declared his latest project, along with fellow producers David Sonenberg, Randy Lennox and Tony Smith, and production manager, Simon Marlow, to be the biggest rock musical to premiere in London since We Will Rock You. Peter Marshall, director of theatre for PRG XL, oversaw the provision of kit to the musical: “The show initially opened for a 12-week run in Manchester at the start of the year, before transferring to the Coliseum for the summer season from June to August. It was brilliant to continue our relationship with producer Michael Cohl and general manager Julian Stoneman again - after supporting them on Rock of Ages, and very exciting to work with Patrick and Finn, providing some of the latest
Australia - IKONIX, the Australian audio-visual production expert, has supplied an Avolites Ai RX8 media server and two Avolites Miami Dongles, to run 960 gigabytes of content for Queensland's largest youth performing arts event, Creative Generation (CGEN) - State Schools on Stage 2017. The event, now in its 13th year, was held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in Queensland. GCEN aims to mentor the next generation of performers, providing opportunities for them to work with professional artists. More than 1800 students aged between four and seventeen took part in this year's event. Zachary Burton, co-founder of IKONIX alongside business partner Richard Saunders, worked with the CGEN team to manage and coordinate the production's entire lighting and video aspect. "IKONIX has been working with CGEN since 2014," says Burton. "This year we decided
Spain - Multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy Award winning Spanish singer / songwriter and musician Alejandro Sanz performed a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ show at the Vicente Calderón Stadium in Madrid to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his best-selling and landmark fifth studio album, Más, released in 1997. The production team wanted some spectacular visual moments to make what was already going to be an outstanding show even more memorable, so the show’s production manager Borja Gonzales contacted stage automation and engineering specialists WIcreations. WI’s Geert Stockmans headed their team after the introduction, which initially came six months ahead of the gig via Frank Janssens, a Belgian lighting specialist living and working in Spain. Geert and Frank have worked together many times, including on Malu’s 2016 tour. Containing a diverse collectio
UK - Dr. Marten’s Boot Room is the aptly named live venue at the rear of the legendary industrial boot manufacturer’s prominent new store in London’s Camden Market. Promoting a regular programme of gigs since its Easter opening, the DM Boot Room has enabled emerging talent, bands and DJs to perform through a Martin Audio CDD PA, installed by Leicestershire-based NoiseBoys Technologies Ltd. NoiseBoys director, Phill Beynon, knew that the store’s aim was to become a cultural hub, upholding the musical heritage of Camden Town by providing a complete experience. As a freelance engineer, he had been familiar with Martin Audio’s high premium technology and was happy to extend the relationship after NoiseBoys was set up nine years ago. Therefore, when his company was approached by the store’s shopfitters, the retail design company Closed Sundays, to equip t
UK - Retford-based Rope Assemblies has been bought by the Unusual group of companies following the decision by its owners to take early retirement. Rope Assemblies has been supplying bespoke wire and fibre rope assemblies, plus a wide range of lifting equipment, to its customer base worldwide since 1986 and this will continue to be the case. Alan Jacobi, managing director at Unusual, explained: "We recognise Rope Assemblies as a good fit to our business, it is managed well and served by an experienced and long standing workforce. Our intention is to allow Rope Assemblies to continue doing what it has been doing extremely well for the last 30 years. We will bring the brand under the Unusual umbrella but everything else will remain the same. We intend using the acquisition as a way of improving our market offer to existing clients and to cultivate the wider industrial sector.
Pop-Up Shakespeare - City of York Council has given its approval to plans for a pop-up Shakespearean theatre in the city centre. The council’s executive gave its backing to the plans put forward by Lunchbox Theatrical Productions. The plans are for a 12-sided pop-up theatre, which will be Europe’s first full-scale, pop-up replica of a traditional Shakespearean theatre. If the plans go ahead, the pop-up, which will be modelled on the 16th-century Rose Theatre, will run between May and September next year. The council has negotiated a package with Lunchbox Theatrical Productions that will include educational opportunities, an area to showcase local food and drink, and tickets from £12.50. Under the educational offer, schools in York will be offered material for lessons, discounted tickets and pre-show talks with cast and crew. No Hope - The company beh
Argentina - Since its debut in Saint Petersburg in 1892, The Nutcracker has warmed hearts on cold winter nights, even when that “winter” is in the Southern Hemisphere and comes between June and August. Such was the case recently in San Juan, a cosmopolitan provincial capital in western Argentina, where a lavish rendition of Tchaikovsky’s fanciful ballet was performed at the new Teatro del Bicentenario. Supporting the performance was an appropriately dazzling Ruben Conde lighting design that featured a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures. Installed by NASH Ingeniería, the, Maverick MK2 Washes, Maverick MK1 Hybrids, Ovation C-640FC cycloramas, STRIKE 4 multi formatted fixtures and COLORdash Par-Quad 18s are key components in a permanent lighting upgrade at the cubic and ultra-modern 195,903 square foot theatre and entertainment centre. “Ther
UK - tube uk was involved in supplying audio for Manchester Street Poem, an innovative installation piece created by Karl Hyde and Rick Smith from well-known electronic duo Underworld, as part of the 2017 Manchester International Festival (MIF17). Staged in a disused shop in the Northern Quarter, the artwork shone a spotlight on the stories of individuals who have found themselves homeless in the city. It was an intricate visual and sonic medley involving live performance art as Karl Hyde painted narrative excerpts from around 35 interviews he conducted with people from the homeless community - telling their stories – on the card-boarded walls of the shop. All the cardboard utilized for this installation was recycled from other shows in the Festival. The dynamic work-in-progress was supported by a soundtrack combining the spoken word interviews that Karl
The Netherlands - Twenty-four of the latest Robe VIVA CMY moving lights – launched at Prolight+Sound in April – were delivered to Dutch rental company Hoevenaars based in Nuenen, together with 24 x Spiider LED wash beams. Owner Patrick Hoevenaars explained that they have a long association with Robe which started when they were installing lighting rigs in clubs and discos back in the days of the XT series and in fact even before then, when Robe was still an OEM manufacturer. So they have always been aware that the kit is robust, reliable and well-built. After this, the company worked with a competitor brand for a while, before investing in some LEDWash 300s in 2014. Around this time there was a noticeable rise in Robe being requested as the moving light of choice by the lighting designers and directors with whom they were working. This latest purchase puts th
South Africa - An extraordinary Sci-Fi Portal on the DWR Distribution stand caused more than a stir at the 2017 Mediatech Africa expo held at the Ticket Pro Dome in Johannesburg, where DWR also received a platinum award for its stand. The project was a giant leap and learning curve for DWR’s Dylan Jones who mapped content, supplied by Provisual Media, onto the portal using Hippotizer Media Servers. Hippotizer was also used in DWR’s newly renovated spaceship themed demo room, which formed part of the Mediatech attraction. DWR’s initial concept was to create a small bus station at the expo where show goers could hop on board a bus and be transported to the DWR offices some six minutes away. As ideas darted back and forth around the boardroom table, it was DWR’s Gareth Chamber who announced, “Let’s have a Stargate portal,” the articulated words turning all former
