UK - Since 2013, an array of country music’s biggest stars have been visiting the UK and Ireland as part of C2C: Country to Country, a festival of country music devised by AEG (The O2) and SJM Concerts in collaboration with the Country Music Association. The show began at The O2 in London, and has since added shows in Glasgow and Dublin, as well as visiting Scandinavia in 2015 and 2016. Show and lighting designer, Mike Oates and his partner Ryan Hopkins have worked with the festival since it began. For the 2017 festival at The O2 they created a sophisticated design featuring shaped video screens, curved trusses, and a bright versatile lighting package. Mike comments: “The design comes together after a series of meetings with Ross Hanley from SJM Concerts. Ross has ideas of what they would like to include in the design and look of the event, and we then go away and
UK - Bigger, bolder and brighter than ever, Series 9 of the cult classic Robot Warsbrought together 40 teams of amateur robot enthusiasts all ready to battle it out on the arena floor. Supporting lighting designer Gurdip Mahal and gaffer James Tinsley, Aurora once again deployed an eclectic range of equipment to help illuminate some of the show’s most intensely fought battles to date. Filmed in front of a live studio audience at the production’s custom built Glasgow home, the lighting rig featured over 200 automated heads, including Martin MAC Aura, GLP X4 XL plus Clay Paky Mythos, synched to deliver the intense colour and movement, highlighting the action taking place in the ring whilst also providing vibrant washes throughout the arena. Aurora also supplied a healthy number of products from their growing inventory of LED solutions, in particular, a c
Europe - The Weeknd embarked on the first phase of his Starboy Legend of the Fall world tour in February. The Canadian musician kicked off the 46 date tour in Sweden and will stop off in some of Europe's biggest cities. The tour supports his latest studio album Starboy which sees the singer collaborate with the likes of Daft Punk, Lana Del Rey and Kendrick Lamar. The tour's production manager Robert DeCeglio brought rigging company THiNC Worldwide on board to handle the rigging elements of the tour. Head rigger Chris Wilson specified the BroadWeigh system which consists of 46 active BW-S325 load cells. He explained: “A significant portion of the Starboy tour system is suspended over the audience with a dynamic load. We knew very early that having the load cells and monitoring the loads daily was going to be very important to maintain the safety of the audience, band
Denmark - Ronja Rövardotter (Ronia the Robber’s Daughter) is a classic Swedish children’s tale by Astrid Lindgren. A recent touring musical version in Denmark by Heltemus Productions featured a new and fresh lighting design by Sune Verdier of b-ql.dk who specified 14 of Robe’s DL7S Profiles, 24 x LEDWash 600+ fixtures and 12 x CycFX 8. Sune’s work encompasses music, festivals, concert touring and theatre. One of the reasons his creativity was sought for this show was his experience in crossing over and blending techniques from lighting these different genres and performance disciplines. The tour started with a three-month run at Lyngby Kulturhus Theatre in Copenhagen, then took a seven-month break before embarking on the next leg playing two weeks at the Docken venue, also in Copenhagen, followed by the three week national tour. The touring segmen
UK - After 14 years, Strictly Come Dancing has become something of a British institution, with millions tuning in every Saturday evening to watch celebrities compete in a televised ballroom dance competition to the backdrop of big band and Latin music. For the latest series of the long-running television show, the show’s lighting designer was once again tasked with creating rejuvenated looks in the studio on a tight budget. To this end, Mark Kenyon added 80 Chauvet Professional COLORdash Accent Quad and eight Rogue R1 FX-B fixtures with spectacular results. “For the latest series of Strictly, the challenge was to create a completely fresh look on set with barely any budget,” commented Kenyon. “The introduction of the Chauvet Professional COLORdash Accent Quad and Rogue R1 FX-B fixtures allowed me to introduce entirely new spatial dimensions and looks to
UK - Lighting designer Jeff Maker (Pierce The Veil, The Dresden Dolls) used Elation Professional’s ACL 360 Bar moving head batten on American pop punk band All Time Low’s successful 2016 UK tour and this year added Elation’s Protron 3K Color LED strobe to the rig for the band’s Last Young Renegade tour. All Time Low enjoys a growing fan base in the UK, where they played dates through March with additional shows on mainland Europe in April. Zig Zag Lighting, based in Leeds, UK, supplied the Elation fixtures for the tour. “I was going for a versatile design that would be able to convey both bright, fast-paced, vibrate visuals as well as a darker, colour saturated, visceral mood for the new songs,” commented Maker, who has worked with the band for the past eight years. “The last time I was with All Time Low in the UK/Ireland was in February of 2016. We did
UK - CUK Audio has been appointed as the exclusive UK and Eire distributor for the range of Arthur Holm upmarket boardroom technologies. Based in Barcelona with offices in Madrid and Paris, Arthur Holm combines Scandinavian design traditions with Mediterranean flair to produce a range of elegant, highly engineered meeting space solutions including motorized retractable screens and microphones, customizable motorized housings to conceal video conference cameras, signal sharing solutions and more. CUK Audio MD, Stuart Thomson comments, “Arthur Holm solutions bring unparalleled elegance and simplicity to the boardroom or indeed any interactive meeting space. They are a well-established company who have earned themselves an enviable reputation as the market leader in technology-driven meeting experiences.” Arthur Holm’s Montse Romero who is responsible for inte
Israel - Sincopa lightvision is to represent BlackTrax real-time motion tracking system for large-scale theatrical, dance, music projects in Israel. The company will provide support to projects, technical advice, and consultancy. Amos Bokobza, general manager at Sincopa comments: “We’ve been looking at tracking for a long time now as we need a system that can calibrate and track lights, performers, and stage elements as fast as possible. We’re so excited to be the first to bring BlackTrax to Israel. We’ve been using wysiwyg lighting design and previsualization software for projects for a number of years so it’s a natural progression to take on BlackTrax. “With BlackTrax, Sincopa lightvision will turn our client’s ambitions into reality in the most mind blowing, amazing way possible.” Sincopa’s recent projects included Justin Timberlake and the R
UK - The latest edition of Shure Audio Institute’s Audio Networking Mastered seminar, held at London’s ExCel Centre, proved its most popular yet, with a record number of leading integrators, consultants, and engineers attending the free one-day event. Audio Networking Mastered covered all aspects of networking, from a history of digital audio networks to the future interoperability offered by standards such as AES67, ensuring attendees left with a comprehensive understanding of the standards commonly used in today’s audio transport protocols. Delegates were also able to get hands-on with a range of products, including Q-Sys from QSC and Shure Microflex networked microphone solutions. Audio Networking Mastered is the latest in a series of industry-leading educational events from Shure Audio Institute held across the UK and Ireland, and the sessions continue to gro
World Fringe Day - Edinburgh Festival Fringe is uniting with other international arts festivals to launch World Fringe Day in July. The event, which will take place on 11 July, is supported by £100,000 from the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo70 fund. It will bring together more 200 different fringe festivals from around the world, according to its organisers. The aim is to reflect on the collective power and worldwide reach of the fringe movement. Participants and audiences are invited to take part on the day "by sharing their love for all things fringe" on social media. Shona McCarthy, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: "This is an incredible opportunity for fringe organisers, venues, participants and audiences to take part in a truly international celebration of creativity that will transcend national boundaries, demons
UK - Between the 15th - 19th August 2017, four very brave employees from Crewsaders will attempt to swim the English Channel to raise funds for Backup. Kieren Stephens, Matt Tector, Jon Selwyn and Will Nutbeen will swim in a relay with each one of them taking one hour long stints in the water. The 21 mile wide channel is the busiest shipping lane in the world, but the team will also have to contend with very cold water, shoals of jellyfish and diesel fumes from the pilot vessel that will accompany them. The team have collectively worked in the events industry for close to 40 years, and decided that it was time to give something back to the industry they love. They are currently undergoing a rigorous training regime to build strength, endurance, long distance swimming techniques and tolerance to the cold. To find out more and to sponsor the team,
UK - An Adamson S10 line array system supplied by pro audio specialists, The Warehouse Sound Services, hit all the right notes during a sell-out run of the 1980s musical, Chess, at Edinburgh's Festival Theatre last month. Students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) achieved critical acclaim after staging the West End and Broadway hit show in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. The Warehouse, alongside the RCS’s sound designer, Calum Paterson and lecturer in sound, Gavin Jenkinson, developed a complex sound design for the show. The Edinburgh run was the first time the musical theatre show had transferred from the Conservatoire’s New Athenaeum Theatre to the professional stage. It also allowed music and production students to transfer their skills to the professional stage for the first time. Professor Andrew Panton, artistic director of musica
UK Event design and technical production company Maestra Group has made some substantial new investments at its London branch for lighting, audio and video ahead of a busy summer season. This follows a round of recent purchases by Maestra Dubai. Keeping true to its core values to work with only premium brands in both Europe and the Middle East, the new kit includes; Robe, ETC, Avolites, Prolyte, ChamSys control, d&b audio, Christie, Sony and Analog Way. Maestra London’s MD Justin Hammond expressed, “After an exceptional first year of trading, it was time for new equipment in all departments, particularly lighting due to the demands of both UK based projects as well as lots of international work.” All the new kit has been specified and selected to ensure that Maestra London clients continue to benefit from the latest and most appropriate technologies for
USA - For the past 20 years, Verona, Wisconsin-based Intellasound Productions has been providing comprehensive live event production services for countless artists and corporate clients throughout the Midwest and beyond. Following an expansion project that grew its shop by 50 percent last year, the company has also now grown its audio equipment inventory and stepped up its production levels with a new loudspeaker package from L-Acoustics. Intellasound’s initial investment as a new L-Acoustics rental network member comprises 24 K2 and 12 Kara enclosures, 18 KS28 subs, five LA-RAK II racks loaded with a collective total of 16 LA12X AVB-ready amplified controllers, and an assortment of rigging hardware to allow the systems to be flown and stacked in a variety of setups. Kerry Miller at Clearwing Productions in Milwaukee facilitated the sale of the package. For Intellaso
Korea - API has announced its partnership with Seoul-based distributor Music Metro. Music Metro has been a leading company in the Korean pro audio market since 2005, and specializes in providing hardware and software solutions for pro audio, live sound, recording studios, and broadcasting. The company will now be able to supply API products, including the BOX console, which Music Metro has just purchased. Music Metro will be at the KOBA Show from 16-19 May, held at the InterContinental Seoul Coex (Convention & Exhibition Centre). The KOBA Show brings together key players in Korea's image, sound, lighting, and broadcasting industries. Music Metro will have API gear on display at their booth, A610. API managing director Gordon Smart and director of sales Dan Zimbelman will be attending the show in support of Music Metro; this will mark API's first time at KOBA. "API
Mexico - Robe has announced a new Mexican distributor - Showco - a well-established and connected company headquartered in Mexico City and with sales offices in Monterrey, Guadalajara and Cancun. Guillermo Traverso, regional sales manager for Robe in Latin America comments, “It is my absolute pleasure to be working with these bad hombres!!! I am certain they will have great success in building our brand and taking it forward in this vital and highly strategic market.” Harry von den Stemmen, sales director of Robe s.r.o. adds, “Mexico is a key market both as a gateway between the U.S. and Latin America, and due to its vibrant live music and entertainment scene. It is also highly competitive, and we are confident that Showco will offer us a strong and stable sales and marketing platform to further establish Robe as a primary choice for rental companies and lighting
USA - The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson, Texas has entered a new era of colour rendering with the addition of almost 40 Chauvet Professional LED fixtures. “Our church had a very beautiful video created for its traditional and contemporary services,” said Bobby Dennis, the technical director at the well-known house of worship. “The video featured a father and son talking about the colours they encounter on a daily basis and how they relate to the message of Easter, with red for the cross and white for the resurrection and things of that nature.” With colour playing such a key role in the church’s Easter services, Dennis believed that the time had come to upgrade his lighting rig. “We had a good system in place with fixtures like the Rogue RH1 Hybrid that we used to create a wide variety of looks,” he said. “However, with Easter approaching, we fel
UK - PRG XL Video recently supported lighting designer Richard Howell and production manager Stuart Tucker, for the opening show at the newly renamed and renovated London theatre, The Other Palace. PRG XL Video account manager John Pauls worked closely with Richard, Stuart and production electrician Neil Foster to supply the lighting for The Wild Party during a seven-week run in central London, between February and April. The Wild Party is a musical theatre production adapted from a book by Michael John LaChiusa and George C Wolfe, with music and lyrics by LaChiusa, based on Joseph Moncure March’s 1928 narrative poem of the same name. The show premiered off-Broadway in 2000, before this 2017 revival at London’s newest producing theatre. Richard Howell discussed the initial brief of how to light the show: “It was great to be teamed up with director/c
Poland - Polish heavy metal giant, Hunter, has been touring the country carrying a dLive S Class digital mixing system by Allen & Heath. Formed more than 30 years ago, Hunter is still writing and producing music, and regularly touring. The band’s sound engineer, Marcin ‘Marcel’ Płoński, first tried out dLive last summer, and one of the earliest outings with the system was at the Jarocin rock festival. When the band embarked on a new tour, Marcel decided to carry a Dante-enabled S3000 Surface with DM32 MixRack, supplied by Konsbud Audio. The system has completed over 30 dates since touring commenced last November. “dLive is very easy to manage, and the surface is very clear and logical, allowing you to arrange functions for quick access to suit the individual. The most important feature of the system for me is undoubtedly the parallel compression, of which
USA - Based in Houston, drummer Danny Patterson plays a lot of gigs. Whether he’s playing in a local bar, out on tour, or in church, he depends on his Sensaphonics 3D AARO in-ears with Active Ambient technology. “I just moved up to the 3D recently,” he notes. “In January, I made my first trip to the NAMM Show and stopped by the Sensaphonics booth. They gave me a demo of the 3D AARO, and I could tell immediately how many problems it could solve for me in the different bands I play in. The key for me was the Full Ambient switch, which completely eliminates having to take the in-ears out. I ordered them on the spot.” Like countless other professional musicians, Patterson regularly works on several projects. “Last year, I played drums and percussion in 17 different bands, some regular, some one-offs, and the occasional tour,” he notes. “It forces me to adju
USA - Eataly is a forward-thinking Italian food mega store, where the full lifecycle of food is scrutinized and cherished. It has two locations in New York City, and the Flatiron locations rooftop restaurant recently underwent a sound system rework to replace a failed DSP. New Jersey-based Essential Communications did the work replaced the old DSP with a new Ashly Audio ne24.24M Protea digital matrix network processor, with its modular I/O configured to 4x8 to fit La Birreria’s specific needs, together with three neWR-5 customizable network remote controls for zone source selection and volume control. “They already had amplifiers and loudspeakers that were in great shape, but their DSP simply died,” explained David Schwartz, founder and president of Essential Communications. “It was a mess. When we came to inspect the system, the staff had managed to hook up their iP
USA - Guitarist and mandolinist Andy Wood recently wrapped a special performance at the historic Bijou Theatre with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites. The special, one night only show was recorded and featured guest performances by fiddler Brian Arrowood, singer-songwriter Kendra Chantelle, bassist Todd Parks, musician Travis Toy and Ben Lacy. While Wood had been playing mandolin since the age of five, winning the World Championship Mandolin championship at the age of 16, Wood picked up an electric guitar as a teenager, only to find himself beating 3400 guitarists at the Guitar Center Guitarmageddon contest at 22. Over a decade later, Wood has performed with Rascal Flatts, Sebastian Bach, and formed his own band, in addition to releasing a double album in 2015, Caught Between the Truth & a Lie. Using Bandit supplied VL 2500s, Martin Atomic Strobes, Bandit
UK - Production design and creative direction firm, Rockart Design celebrated its birthday last week after six successful years in operation. Founded by Nicoline Refsing, previously of Stufish, the company’s impressive client list includes One Direction, Duke of Edinburgh and Eurovision Song Contest. Nicoline’s foundations as part of Stufish, saw her work with Mark Fisher on some of the world’s biggest shows, including The Rolling Stones, U2, Take That, The Brits, Cirque Du Soliel and the Pink Fun House tour. Founded in 2011, Rockart Design has worked worldwide. In 2014, Rockart was responsible for the creative direction and content design for all 37 participating nations for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has continued to develop artists every year since. Last year, Rockart collaborated with Australian contestant Dami Im, whose striking performance saw her fin
Australia - Canberra’s Elite Event Technology has just taken delivery of a pallet of TMB ProCable multicores, adding just under 700 metres to their inventory. So how much TMB cable do they own now? “Around 10 kilometres worth,” said Darren Russell, Elite Event Technology’s managing director. “We’ve invested in a mixture of TMB ProPlex DMX and Ethernet cabling, ProCable multicable assemblies with Socapex connectors, and headers, patch panels, and tails.” Elite Event Technology (formerly Elite Sound and Lighting) is a production juggernaut in the ACT, servicing clients on tour nationally. Like most production houses their size, they’d previously manufactured most cabling in-house. “In the past, we've made all our own Ethernet cabling; EtherCon to EtherCon with Neutrik connectors and Eurocable cable. The TMB purchases were the first time we’d bought Et
