USA - American rock band Chevelle, comprised of Dean Bernardini and brothers Pete and Sam Loeffler, have been making music and touring for more than two decades, but they aren't kicking back and looking towards slowing down. Rather than rest on their laurels, the band released their eighth studio album The North Corridor this July and have been touring the country with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites.

Lighting designer Craig Richter shared the band was looking to change up their look this year, with more set pieces and lighting fixtures, a challenge he was certainly up to accomplishing. "Nothing on the main set piece is symmetrical, so it makes it harder to make your generic positions," he said. "I really had to switch my way of thinking come programming time."

GLP X4s are placed on top of the set pieces to provide the main source of lighting and eye cat

UK - Sector-6 was a substantial new stage and performance area at the 2016 Boomtown Festival in the UK. A brainchild of Dan Borg, the crazy set design was created from several tonnes of reconditioned scrap metal and much ingenuity as a living, moving, breathing industrial sculpture inspired by structural components from steel works, power stations, nuclear reactors, etc. all united in "a post-apocalyptic masterpiece of madness".

Dan and Boomtown's production manager Robin Collins asked Dave Whiteoak of Video Illusions to be visual production manager and video designer and to co-ordinate the visual production elements including lighting and video content creation. Dave commissioned lighting designer Sam Tozer from Vision Factory - a regular LD on Video Illusions projects - to add some original lighting magic to Sector 6.

Video Illusions, who work closely with leading UK lig

Chile - A new world record was set for the Guinness Book of Records at the La Florida stadium in Santiago, Chile, on Sunday 22 May. A total of 2,357 players took part in a 120-hour soccer match and broke the previous record held by England, where a non-stop 105-hour game was played.

The match, which was organized by Entel and Huaweii, deserved an equally great closing show, and Clay Paky lights were used under the supervision of local producer Real Audio Sistemas.

At around 7 pm the cup was raised to celebrate the new record, and the show started, which lit up the sky over La Florida. Twenty-four Sharpy Wash 330s were more than enough to colour the entire stage. Despite this, the power of six Alpha Spot HPE 1500s was also added, each with their own visual effects that harmonized with the colours of singer Américo's show. The lighting was handled by Chilean li

UK - In a crowded festival season, trying to establish a new concept within a relatively untested site in central London can prove hazardous.

But in initiating the new Sunfall Festival at Brockwell Park, promoters NVS called on the tried and trusted triumvirate of sound engineering specialists RG Jones Sound Engineering, their premium Martin Audio MLA Multi-cellular Loudspeaker PA system and experienced production company, Whole Nine Yards.

It is a team that for the past five years has serviced the two other events in the NVS Promotions portfolio - the back-to-back Dimensions Festival and Outlook Festival in Pula, Croatia. And once again, the result was an outright success.

According to RG Jones' crew chief and project manager, Steve Carr, the underlying idea at Brockwell Park was to run the festival until 9pm (the "Sun" element) and then decant the crowds into surroun

UK - Singer/songwriter Gladys Knight recently toured the UK and Blackburn based HSL delighted lighting equipment and crew to the production which was co-ordinated on the road for HSL by Lester Cobrin and designed by UK and Nashville based LD, Neil Scrivener.

Neil has been working for the artist for about two years. Knight tours the U.S. extensively, having previously had a five-year residency in Las Vegas and usually visits the UK and Europe each summer. This year, a high profile appearance at London's Royal Albert Hall was one of the highlights on the itinerary for the seven times Grammy and multi award winning artist.

The PAR can rig used by Knight in the U.S. provided a starting point for Neil's design this year. Taking into account the 13 people who needed to be lit, Neil decided that PAR cans were once again a good base option for the rig as well as adding a touch of

UK - The M Series developed by console manufacturer Midas, is experiencing a flood in popularity amongst audio professionals in the UK. As a result, Midas has revealed plans to rocket availability of the series by appointing Electrovision as an additional UK dealer.

Based in Merseyside, Electrovision has a long-standing relationship with Midas' parent company Music and now adds to an already impressive line-up of products from Turbosound, TC Electronic, TC Helicon, Behringer and Bugera.

"Midas' expertise in making affordable, rock-solid and reliable consoles is unrivalled, so having the M Series is very important to us and will allow our customers to enjoy the ultimate mixing console experience," commented Kevin Roche of Electrovision.

"Midas' success is in its award-winning PRO Series preamplifiers, advanced digital technology and industry-leading ADC and DAC converte

USA - Bandit Lites is once again supplying the lighting for The Band Perry as they tour the nation. The country music super group recently released The Comeback Kid, the latest single off their upcoming album Heart + Beat.

Lighting designer Jay Waddell based the design around an LED neon outlined heart shape, which had originally been a piece of artwork the band had used for branding. LED neon was also placed into stair treads that run the length of the risers for the band, with three steps high and eight sections across of neon in the stairs for 24 controllable steps.

"I love the looks of all the neon; there are really cool FX to run through the heart and stairs," said Waddell of the design. "I also love the backlit looks from the Nitro Strobes; I have two lines of nine units: one at the top of the cart and one at the bottom. The bottom line hits the band ri

UK - Entertainment engineering specialist WIcreations was asked to create an innovative solution for the current Massive Attack tour.

The video design, created by United Visual Artists (UVA) - needed a full horizontal section in the middle of a 14.4m wide by 6m high flown Roe MC7 LED screen - to protrude from the rest of the surface by half a metre.

This was to make specific text statements, facts and figures being displayed really stand out.

Massive Attack are known for their political conviction, raw, visceral lyrics, provocative subject matter and dedication to producing cerebral and thought-provoking shows exposing official lies, twists and economies of the truth ... wrapping it up in an entertaining and emotive live experience.

Their specific text-orientated video content has become a unique aesthetic signature for their performances, and making the lines of t

UK - For Biffy Clyro's headlining appearances at Leeds and Reading this Bank Holiday weekend, set designer Misty Buckley established a new benchmark to what is possible with transformative stage sets on festival stages.

"The stage is a square walled tunnel, a series of four portals of LED that enclose the full stage, each smaller than the next as you move upstage, and with a large landscape LED screen across the back," was how video director Jack Banks described it.

"Looking at what Misty has come up with you can't just put flat pictures behind the band. This is something entirely different to work with, it was great to get away from the classic 'big slab of telly' look. The portal screens introduce an amazing perspective to the video element and it was a chance to really think about how I could make content travel in and out of the set."

The portals, rear screen, d3 s

Spain - Sonobalance dealt with lighting the all-nighter that Nikki Beach Marbella threw to celebrate the arrival of the summer season. They used 12 Clay Paky Mythos units and an MA Lighting grandMA2 ultra-light desk.

David Calero Vioque was in charge of managing the event lighting and accompanying the festive atmosphere the party-goers enjoyed. He used 12 Clay Paky Mythos units as spotlights and beam lights in his design. The Mythos is the first 470W light with this option in a single device: it produces a well-defined light beam with a 4°-50° zoom. Its optical unit allows you to switch from spotlight to beam light mode with a beam angle of only 0.5°.

All the equipment was supplied by rental company Sonobalance, which provided the Clay Paky Mythos units and the MA Lighting GrandMA2 Ultra-light desk, distributed in Spain by Stonex.

(Jim Evans)

UK - In what is being regarded as one of the biggest productions in West End history, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child recently opened at the Palace Theatre to rave reviews. The play is the eighth story set in the Harry Potter universe and takes place 19 years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

White Light was approached to provide the lighting for this hugely-anticipated production and this included premium products from GLP.

Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a new play by Jack Thorne and follows Harry Potter, now a Ministry of Magic employee, and his younger son Albus Severus Potter. The lighting designer for the show is Tony Award and Olivier Award-winner Neil Austin.

He comments, "My main aim for the show was to create something magical. With Ha

UK - A huge display featuring Christie award-winning Boxer 4K30 projectors was the impressive visual centre-piece of the Co-op's AGM in Manchester. Spanning a full 55m in width and 8m in height delivering stunning HD images and video during the event, the curved display was designed and installed by AtoV, an integration company specialising in live events.

The 2016 Co-op AGM was a particularly special occasion as it saw the launch of their brand identity including a revamp for its traditional logo as they go 'Back to being Co-op'. The event bought together 700 members from across the organisation's various business areas, and was held in Manchester's vast Central Station conference centre (MCR Central).

AtoV has a long-standing relationship with the Co-op, and Jim Hadfield, one of the company's engineers, has been working on the Co-op's AGMs for 18 years. As he relates, fo

Australia - Midnight Oil front man Peter Garrett has just finished a solo tour of the country in support of his new album A Version of Now. On the East Coast, JPJ Audio supplied a FOH control and monitor set up as well as some extra wedges for a couple of gigs.

FOH engineer Colin Ellis mixed for Midnight Oil in the nineties, returning to mix for them at a couple of large charity events. With the band expected to reform and tour in 2017, this tour could be described as a bit of a warm up.

"I believe that Peter Garrett wanted me to do the tour," commented Colin. "We had production rehearsals in Sydney including a small show for friends and family. For the tour, we decided to use in house PA's which worked alright. However, none of the systems were amazing and it was the first time in many years that I used non line array systems!"

At Canberra Theatre, Peter's home

UK - DL7S LED Profile luminaires from Robe made their UK debut at the Coliseum in London's Covent Garden, as part of the lighting rig for the highly acclaimed English National Opera (ENO) production of Wagner's Tristan & Isolde directed by Daniel Kramer.

Lighting was designed by Paul Anderson, set and scenic elements were created by influential sculptor Anish Kapoor and the video was designed by Frieder Weiss.

The DL7Ss were chosen because an LED source was required to complement the video images that did not interfere with the infra-red light source illuminating the stage for a series of IR video cameras, also used onstage.

It was felt that the particular qualities of LED light would work best in this context.

The DL7Ss were supplied by technical production specialist White Light, who purchased them specifically for this production.

The six DL7S Profile

UK - Lock N Load Events' annual South West Four (SW4) Bank Holiday Weekend festival on Clapham Common this year reached new sound thresholds set by Lambeth Council, as Capital Sound again set to work with their award-winning Martin Audio MLA multi-cellular system.

Working for the third consecutive year with promoter Andrew Mattle, the remit for MLA has slowly extended from main stage, where drum & bass kings Rudimental and veteran techno specialists Chemical Brothers headlined, into the three support tents.

Capital account manager Martin Connolly confirmed that while the MLA family was again featured in all areas, the MLX subs were deployed in two different formats, namely a broadside cardioid array on the main stage whilst stages 2 and 3 had cardioid stacks under the hangs. On Stage 4, four WS218X subs were set each side on stage in an end-fire configuration - all of whic

Canada - British loudspeaker manufacturer PMC Speakers has appointed Systemes Guinois as its distributor in Canada, with exclusive responsibility for representing PMC's entire pro audio loudspeaker range.

Based in Montreal, Systemes Guinois is one of Canada's premier professional pro audio outlets, catering for all broadcast, post production, educational and pro audio needs.

With demo facilities on site, Systemes Guinois is well placed to showcase PMC's products and currently holds an extensive demo stock of twotwo nearfield speakers and IB1S-A and IB2S-A active full range monitors.

"PMC could not be happier to be partnering with Francois and the Systemes Guinois team to support the growing demand for PMC professional speakers around the world," says PMC's export sales manager Chris Allen. "The effort and investment they put into the brands they represent is unequalled

UK - As soon as the Starlit Dance Floor Systems landed at Prolight Concepts' HQ, many were instantly shipped out to the company's customers including 'Light The Way', who have already used the system for two events, with many more pencilled in over the coming weeks. One of the installations was for a wedding organised by Kudos Music, a leading Asian Wedding and Events company.

Light The Way, a leading dry hire company, has expanded into wet hire with the purchase of a 20ft x 20ft White Starlit Dance Floor System. The LEDJ portable, Starlit systems have been designed to offer rental companies, installers and users alike the flexibility to create different sized dance floors.

John Edwards of Light The Way comments: "With the immediate success of the dance floor system we will be looking to purchase another four in the next six months".

With interlocking panels and cool w

South Africa - Professional audio distributor Wild & Marr has acquired the rights to distribute the Avid portfolio of pro-audio products in Southern Africa. The official hand over was completed at an Avid event in Johannesburg last week.

The product portfolio includes the highly popular Pro Tools suite as well as the S6 and S6L integrated digital mixing systems for live performance production and recording.

Joe Copans, MD of Wild & Marr says, "We certainly feel proud to be entrusted with the great brands in the Avid pro-audio stable. We see the two companies as having many synergies, and we're looking forward to investing resources and capacity into growing the Avid footprint in Southern Africa."

Part of those resources is to provide product support for the brand. Ian Holden has been employed as an Avid technical support specialist. Ian has extensive experience with Av

UK - The 2016 Festival drew to a close after three weeks of action in and around the city, offering over 50,000 performances in over 300 venues showcasing thousands of shows.

Zero 88 lighting control was once again right at the hub of this vibrant experience.

Over 280 technicians were trained during the 2016 Festival Fringe, from around 130 performance spaces all running Zero 88 consoles. Products included the new FLX, Solution, Jester and even the Fat Frogs which have been running Festival Fringe venues since the turn of the millennium.

Eaton provided advice during the early planning stages for several larger venues, and Zero 88 product specialist Paul McEwan and product manager Jon Hole were onsite for the build and throughout the festival period to provide venue training and to support companies with more complex plotting requirements.

While performers returned

Through The Past Darkly - The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is hoping to replicate the success of its David Bowie exhibition with a major retrospective of Pink Floyd. The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains, marking 50 years since the release of the band's first single, will include a laser light show and previously unseen concert footage. The "immersive" show will feature 350 objects and artefacts, including instruments and original artworks. It will run from May to October 2017.

The V&A promised "an immersive, multi-sensory and theatrical journey through Pink Floyd's extraordinary world" which will "chronicle the music, iconic visuals and staging of the band, from the underground psychedelic scene in 1960s London to the present day". The exhibition will also include items from stage performances, as well as instruments, handwritten lyrics, architectural drawings a

USA - All four ETCP examinations, including the new Portable Power Distribution Technician Certification (PPDT), will be offered at LDI in Las Vegas, NV on the morning of Saturday, 22 October, 2016. Interested applicants must submit their application and fee to the ETCP office no later than 26 September, 2016.

Candidate information, including eligibility requirements and applications, is available on the ETCP website at http://etcp.esta.org/ldi2016.html. Questions can be answered by Meredith Moseley-Bennett, ETCP Certification Manager, at 212-244-1505 or etcp@esta.org.

The new ETCP PPDT certification is focused on the large population of industry workers in the roles of technicians, stagehands, portable power set/strike technicians, as well as facility maintenance personnel for a wide variety of venues. This certification targets the top two-thirds of people working with t

UK - David Boswell, managing director of TSG, will address the Future of Policing Summit and Exhibition at the Wesley Hotel in London on 13 October.

Boswell joins a number of high-profile speakers at the event, put together by the University of Salford to look at the challenges facing the UK police force in 2016, the impact of cuts since 2010 and reforms to pay schemes and working practises in the wake of the Winsor Review among them.

Conference producer, Julia Main, sought David Boswell's input after reading about TSG's commitment to modern, multi-agency security solutions at event sites. His session will focus on TSG's cost-efficient, specialist services that support the conventional security effort, detailing the company's proven capacity to fulfil a policing role.

Julia Main comments, "I'm very pleased that TSG is taking part. It's built around former police office

USA - Christmas concerts are a highlight on the calendars of many churches. However, although they're exciting, these events often involve elaborate stage productions and appearances by guest artists, both of which can create new sets of challenges for a church's tech team.

Chauvet Professional is addressing this issue at an upcoming WFX Conference panel session that looks at Christmas concert lighting from two different perspectives: the lighting designer's and the technical director's. Taking place at demo room SWC102 at the Kentucky Exposition Centre from 4:30 to 5:30 pm on Wednesday 21 September, the session will feature lighting designers Andy Rushing and Craig Rutherford, along with Bobby Dennis, technical director of The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson, Texas, outside Dallas.

Rushing is the fulltime lighting designer for two Grammy Award winning Christian music

Australia - Every year for the past seven years, Sydney's streets and skyline have come alight with the beautiful, inspiring, interactive festival that is Vivid Sydney. The lights and installations of Vivid Sydney illuminate some of Sydney's most iconic landmarks, including the Sydney Opera House, Customs House, Maritime Museum and The Star casino.

For Vivid Sydney 2015, The Star temporarily installed 44 Clay Paky Sharpys and 10 Mythos fixtures onto their roof as part of an installation entitled Mission Control. The resulting light display was so stunning and popular, the venue realized there was potential beyond Vivid Sydney.

To celebrate Vivid 2016 a total of 36 Clay Paky Supersharpys were chosen for their enhanced optical design. Famous for its powerful beam, the Supersharpy produces clearly defined mid-air effects even at long distances. The Supersharpy's beam a

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