Germany -Andreas Bourani is currently out on an arena tour of Germany in support of his latest album HEY, with a slick and stylish lighting design by Nik Evers using Clay Paky Mythos and A.leda B-EYE K20 fixtures.

Evers - who also designed the staging and video content alongside Timo Marten and Philip Hillers - has specified the highly advanced hybrid light Mythos and the LED wash and effects light B-EYE from Black Box Music.

Positioned on the floor of the B-stage surrounding Bourani and the band, Evers is employing the sharp and precise beams of the Mythos to create a range of beat-perfect looks.

"The Mythos are really powerful which is ideal for this show," he explains. "as their power means their beams stay incredibly bright even when using colour," he explains.

Evers' design is based on the Andreas Bourani logo and sees the main stage at a 45° angle

UK - Technical event production expert Hawthorn has seen significant expansion in its supply to the touring theatre sector, with an impressive 90% increase in business over the last six months.

Seven productions are currently out on the road, all using lighting or video kit supplied by the technical production expert's hire service. These include supporting renowned lighting designer, Philip Gladwell on a number of touring theatre productions; the National Theatre of Scotland's highly acclaimed The James Plays, Hairspray and Jackie the Musical.

Other productions currently using Hawthorn's lighting kit include The Ladyboys of Bangkok, Laila the Musical, Clybourne Park and English Touring Theatre's Brideshead Revisited.

David Slater, head of hire at Hawthorn, said, "The last six months have seen fantastic growth in our sup

Ireland - Rental and production specialist Just Lite delivered full technical production, including lighting equipment and design, for BAMMA 24 working for production manager Sven Knight and his team from KRS.

The mixed martial arts tournament was staged in 3 Arena, Dublin, and broadcast live on Spike (UK) Channel 5 in the UK and Ireland, ESPN 3 in the US plus numerous others worldwide as well as streamed live via main sponsor Lonsdale's Facebook.

The Just Lite team, led by John McGuinness and working closely with LD Andrew Harris had to light the action for camera as well as the charged large live audience packed into 3 Arena, which they did with the help of over 70 Robe moving lights - a combination of BMFL Spots, Pointes, ColorWash 1200E ATs and LEDBeam 100s.

The lighting design for this BAMMA event was developed by John and Andrew - the lighting operator for the la

World - Iron Maiden is relying on a Meyer Sound Leo Family loudspeaker system to power its successful Book of Souls World Tour. The band's high-octane performances have been filling arenas around the world since the six-month, 35-country tour began in February. FOH engineer Martin Walker chose the Leo Family to ensure maximum power and clarity for Iron Maiden after mixing Judas Priest's 2014-2015 world tour on the system.

"Leo's clarity and headroom help out a great deal when it comes to balancing the mix," reports Walker. "Iron Maiden has three guitars, vocals, and occasional keyboards all vying for the same frequency bands in the mix. With LEO, the clarity cuts right through. That also allows me to mix louder than before."

Walker notes that the band has been pleased with audience reactions to the sound, and appreciates the directed sound of the 1100-LFC low-frequency con

UK - PRS for Music Foundation, in association with Wigwam Acoustics and the Musicians' Union has announced the four winners in the latest Flash Funding opportunity which offers them each bespoke monitoring and touring support to advance their live career.

The four artists being supported are: April Towers (Nottingham - to support European and UK dates in May, June and July), False Advertising (Manchester - to support upcoming UK dates in April and May), Flight Brigade (London - to support tours and festivals across the UK) and John Joseph Brill (Liverpool - to help with upcoming UK dates)'

PRS for Music Foundation, Wigwam Acoustics and Musicians' Union have teamed up for this second edition of Flash Funding to pool resources and knowledge, and give these four artists access to bespoke monitoring packages (such as in-ear monitoring, microphones, control systems) worth up to

UK - As part of its overall European route-to-market consolidation process, Pioneer DJ has chosen Leisuretec as its sole distributor in the UK. The process seeks to focus attention and support on a tighter network of high-end professional specialists with direct accounts or indirect specialists through distribution partners such as Leisuretec.

The role of Pioneer DJ trade distributors across Europe is to focus on the installation, hire and production market places for its DJ range and new XPRS active PA speaker range. Leisuretec are also authorised to supply smaller specialist retailers who meet Pioneer DJ's criteria but do not qualify for a direct account through being unable to meet its minimum turnover requirement.

Additionally, their large stockholding means they can comfortably maintain supply to all sectors when demand spikes. In stocking a variety of complementary p

USA - Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-based Anderson Audio recently added an Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) Anna Adaptive System to their inventory.

"This is a flagship system for us," explains owner Chris Anderson. "The new Anna PA won't replace our KF740 arrays, instead it will give us the opportunity to build a new client base and get work that we haven't won before."

Anderson checked out EAW's Anya system - the first Adaptive System - when it first debuted. "I was so impressed with the technology," he adds. "I was hoping they were going to come out with something more compact, a PA that would fit in with the services we provide. When I saw Anna at AES, it all fell into place."

Anna provides Adaptive Performance for a wide range of applications that require exceptional sound quality, high output and precise coverage. In addition, Anna can adapt coverage to any venue geometry

UK - Canadian singer-songwriter Claire Boucher, who performs under the moniker of Grimes, recently made several appearances in the UK as part of her Ac!d Reigns tour.

The production, in support of her 2015 album Art Angels, used a versatile floor lighting and console package from PRG XL Video in Germany as they played venues across continental Europe before shows in Manchester, Dublin, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Nottingham and Glasgow. For the sell-out extravaganza at London's Brixton Academy, lighting designer Sarah Landau called on PRG XL Video's UK senior account manager Roy Hunt to help add a little additional razzmatazz to an already impressive light show with an overhead lighting rig.

Roy said, "Sarah's artistic and creative reputation is exceptional and the opportunity of working with her on any project is exciting, especially something like this."

With

Spain - The Sama-Sama Live interactive park in Madrid is a revolutionary new concept in the entertainment industry. The park offers the audience an opportunity to participate and feel how it is to be a performer.

Roy Ofer, founder and CEO of Sama-Sama, had the vision to create a fun and loose way to reach out to the visitors inner artist and connect them with their own creativity to the core of this new experience. Skip Sherman, chief creative officer of Sama-Sama describes it as "the evolution of entertainment. This journey takes you from your passive seat and lets you jump into the story."

The park hosts 10 different attractions called sections. Each one invites the visitor to try different aspects of creativity through music, rhythm, movement sound and lights

Cochavi&Klein light architects worked closely with artistic director Amir Schorr, designer Keith Greco and v

USA - The new SyncroMITE Beam that was introduced at LDI last November is now in full production and available for immediate rental and sale. During the first week of April the SyncroMITE Beam debuted in its first production in record setting form.

On 3 April 3, 2016, 40 SyncroMITE Beams were used alongside the reveal stage at WrestleMania 32, where the WWE set a new attendance record of 102,000 fans packed into AT&T Stadium. The SyncroMITE's were part of a larger Syncrolite package that included MX4's, SXL's and XL's, which combined was also the largest number of automated Syncrolite fixtures ever used in a single event.

TJ Benton served as crew chief for Syncrolite and worked alongside Jason Robinson, the WWE production manager and Jason Shaw, the senior manager of lighting, to pull off this bigger than life production.

Later that same week, SyncroMITE Beams were inc

USA - American jam band moe. wrapped its winter tour with a rig featuring Clay Paky fixtures.

A lighting designer with Nashville-based Pulse Lighting, Justin Casey has been working with the band since last July. Moe. tours year-round; their winter tour recently concluded in Manhattan. "The band celebrated its 25th anniversary year in 2015, and the winter tour wrapped in New York City on St. Patrick's Day," says Casey. "I'll be redesigning the winter rig for Moe.'s summer festival tour." Main Light Industries supplied the lights and consoles for the winter tour.

Casey chose 12 Clay Paky A.leda B-EYE K20s and four Stormy CC RGBW LED Strobes for the rig. The B-EYEs were the "workhorses of the rig" delivering the primary lighting for the band as well as "eye candy in their pixel-mapping mode," he explains. "I liked having full control of the lights to create my own very colour

USA - Superstar DJ Eric Prydz premiered his EPIC 4.0 shows in America this spring, backed up by his 'dream team' of long-time entertainment technology collaborators, RES, to create a colossal visual show driven by Avolites Ai S4 servers.

Playing a total of seven shows spread across New York's Terminal 5, LA's Hollywood Palladium and the San Francisco Armory, EPIC 4.0 was the fourth incarnation of Prydz's assault on the senses.

The behind the scenes team is comprised of Mark Calvert of RES as production director, Liam Tomaszewski as creative director and VJ, Ross Chapple as lighting designer, Ian Gotts as tour production manager, Dave Green as Ai programmer, PRG, PRG Nocturne USA and Lightware USA.

The core element of the ambitious show was another magical-looking hologram, which seemed to float centre stage in front of Prydz as he performs.

"The visual effect for t

UK - Singer songwriter Hozier has taken his self-titled debut album on tour with a carefully crafted lighting design by Matthew Kilmurry who specified Clay Paky Mythos to play "one of the most versatile roles in the show".

Kilmurry specified the award-winning Clay Paky fixtures from Adlib Audio, employing them for fast-paced punchy beam looks, spot work, atmospheric washes and seamless colour changing.

"The Mythos are incredibly versatile," continues Kilmurry. "They have a huge zoom range meaning they can perform as a spot or wash, which is pretty incredible for one moving light. And on top of all that they are extremely bright."

The Mythos units were flown in the rig, with seven positioned on Kilmurry's upstage/back truss, one on the centre truss and six on the mid stage truss. From here he used the fixtures to complement Hozier's raw sound with aerial looks that swun

UK - When the O2 Arena, London, and its smaller, 2800-capacity sibling, indigo at The O2, were first opened back in June 2007, leaseholders AEG rubber-stamped an all Harman Professional technical infrastructure. This included two of Soundcraft's then flagship Vi6 digital consoles in indigo at The O2's FOH and monitor positions.

Nearly a decade later, the venue's technical manager Rob Burrows was becoming increasingly aware that technology had moved on considerably, with capacities and processing power greatly increased. After a six-month process during which they reviewed options, they decided to replace both desks with Soundcraft's new generation Vi7000, supplied by Soundcraft Vi select dealer, SSE Audio Group.

"We had done very well with the Vi6's but they were showing their age," noted Burrows. "We had the original first generation desks and they had gigged extremely ha

Germany - Production Resource Group, L.L.C., (PRG) recently marked the two-year anniversary of its global partner network programme with the second PRG Alliance Summit. Under the theme Gearing Up To Success, the Summit took place during the Prolight + Sound 2016 trade fair at the Festhalle Messe Frankfurt.

Since its inception, the PRG Alliance has grown in both size and reputation, and now offers technology, services and support to event producers in a total of 25 countries.

There are now 15 member companies which make-up the PRG Alliance. The newest addition is DB Schenker - the first member supplying services other than audiovisual. DB Schenker supports the Alliance members with specialized logistics for events with a large worldwide presence and multi-modal transportation requirements.

The PRG Alliance Summit is already a key date on the calendar for members, allowi

Mexico - Multi-brand distributors, Hermes Music México, have carried out a major architectural lighting project in the Santa Fe district of México City.

They have illuminated the 151m high Paragon Tower (dominated by the Hotel Presidente Intercontinental Santa Fe) with LED colour washes from one of their principal suppliers, PR Lighting.

"The client wanted to enhance the building itself on a permanent basis," explained Hermes lighting specialist, Ricardo R Segura de la Cruz.

Hermes had been approached by locally-based audio and technology company Subsuelo, who were also involved in the project and Ricardo himself was tasked with coming up with the lighting design. "I was asked to cover the whole building fa

USA - The new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas recently opened with an all-star gala event featuring Las Vegas natives The Killers, Wayne Newton, Shamir, Blue Man Group and Cirque du Soleil. Delicate Productions of Los Angeles and San Francisco deployed a Martin Audio MLA system to ensure consistent coverage throughout the spectacular new venue.

A two-year project representing an investment of $375m, the 20,000-seat Arena will host over 100 events a year including sports ranging from UFC, boxing, hockey and basketball to concerts and awards shows. A special concert featuring Nicki Minaj with special guest Ariana Grande followed the opening night with an upcoming schedule of shows that includes the Guns N' Roses reunion tour, George Strait, Garth Brooks, Billy Joel and more.

The MLA system, supplied by the Arena's preferred audio provider and MLA partner 3G Productions, was used

South Africa - Cape Town nightlife recently received a boost with new club The Bank opening just before Christmas, operating three days a week out of the art deco QV54 (54 Queen Victoria Street) building in downtown Cape Town. The lounge style environment - with comfortable, sociable seating areas and strategically placed dancing surfaces rather than a central dancefloor is attracting an enthusiastic hip, young crowd playing a mix of hip hop Caribbean, Miami and deep house.

Lighting and effects are provided by a combination of Robe MiniMes and miniPointe fixtures.

These were specified by G?nter Boisits, operations and financial manager for owners The Nava Group headed by Giorgio Nava, a local celebrity chef and nightlife entrepreneur who also owns five restaurants in the area.

The Nava Group's previously successful club venture, Rhodes House, was legendary on the club

USA - Three teams presented their projects for the 2016 ASTC-USITT Renovation Challenge on 18 March at the USITT Conference in Salt Lake City. The Renovation Challenge has been designed to engage undergraduate and graduate students in real world theatre renovation problem solving. Students work under the guidance of a faculty advisor and a mentor from the American Society of Theatre Consultants. Each team selected an existing venue, developed a scope of work for improvements and presented their ideas to a live audience and Jury of ASTC members at a USITT Conference Session.

The $750 Honor Award was given to KelseyLiz Habla and Charles Canfield, undergraduate architecture students from University at Buffalo for their adaptive-reuse project in which they proposed to renovate the historic Cyclorama Building in Buffalo, which currently houses an accounting firm, into a new indoor

USA - When global medical equipment giant Smith & Nephew was looking for images to dress up its booth at the Arthroscopy Association of North America convention, the company didn't have to search any further than the event's host city. Over 17m people visit Boston every year, easily placing the city among the top ten tourist destinations in the United States. Many are no doubt drawn by the picturesque and historic structures that help give this city its compelling character. Darren Lussier and Brian McNamara of Image Production Services drew on these local images to create a 'Boston-Scape' wall at the Smith & Nephew booth, using the PVP X3 LED video panel from Chauvet Professional.

For the doctors and other medical specialists from around the world who attended the convention, images of Fenway Park, Faneuil Hall and the like provided a welcome respite between lectures on weigh

UK - UK - London live music venue KOKO has invested in an Avolites Arena console to offer more live lighting control than ever before for its impressive roster of bands.

Since the club's restoration and reopening in 2004, transforming it from the Camden Palace into KOKO, some of the music world's biggest names have performed in the space, including Madonna, Amy Winehouse and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. The venue continues to attract a diverse mix of emerging musicians and global superstars.

KOKO's head of lighting, Hannu Finnila, has been using Avolites consoles for more than 15 years and is now using the new Arena console on a nightly basis.

"The Arena console is the best desk for what we need to do at KOKO, because we have different bands in every night, meaning I have to do a lot of busking," he says. "As every gig is different, the Arena is already making my life much

The Netherlands - ETC dealer Ampco Flashlight has installed 30 custom-painted Selador Desire D60XTI Studio HD LED fixtures, alongside seven full colour D60XTI Vivid and ten D22 Lustr+ fixtures, in the stunning new entrance building for Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum - controlled by an ETC Unison Mosaic system.

The museum, which opened in 1973, houses the world's largest collection of the painter's works. The new 800sq.m glass building between the original museum and the temporary exhibition wing accommodates the cloakroom, shops and a central atrium. The 650sq,m of glass with which the building is constructed means that it is flooded with light during the day; so Ampco Flashlight was asked to design a lighting system which would not only be easy to operate with touchscreen panels, but would also respond to external light levels.

The tender also called for the system to interf

UK - After the success of ISCEx2016, the Institute of Sound and Communications Engineers will return to the picturesque location of Coombe Abbey on March 7-8, 2017 for ISCEx2017.

The Institute certainly raised the bar at ISCEx2016 once again. "It was unquestionably our most successful exhibition yet," said Ros Wigmore, manager, secretariat at the ISCE. "Of our 28 exhibitors, four were first timers - Leisuretec Distribution, Monacor (UK) Ltd, Nexo SA and Yamaha Commercial Audio. And away from the exhibition, I am delighted to say that all the seminars were packed throughout."

Monacor (UK)'s UK field sales manager, Leighton Castle, said, ''The event provided us with a great opportunity to network with industry peers and to reach out to those who may not have been overly familiar with the Monacor brand and service. We very much look forward to ISCEx2017, and to many years exh

USA - Major Lazer unleashed their new live show - which will be touring throughout 2016 - at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, California - playing two Coachella (main) Stage sets, one on each weekend of the 125,000 capacity festival.

The show featured a complete new set, lighting and visuals design by Kyle Kegan of Voyage Productions and utilized Robe BMFL Spots, BMFL WashBeams and ColorStrobes - amongst other lights. All the Robes were newly purchased by Rainbow Production Services (RPS).

"Those strobes are simply mind-blowing," declares Kyle, using them for the first time after receiving a demo and swapping the originally specified product for the new ColorStrobes.

Major Lazer's new stage set includes eight three-sided Periactoi-style 13ft high towers which are about 7ft wide (six were used at Coachella). The first facade is a scenic speaker cabin

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