USA - Perched 27 floors above Manhattan in the heart of Hell’s Kitchen, Starchild Rooftop is the latest addition to New York’s premium nightlife scene and a standout example of what happens when high-concept design meets world-class audio.

Operated by Carver Road Hospitality, the venue crowns the Civilian Hotel with a retractable glass rooftop, luxurious indoor lounge and sweeping views of Midtown and the Hudson River. To complete the sensory experience, Carver Road Hospitality partnered with long-time collaborators Sound Investment to design and install a Funktion-One sound system tailored to the venue’s versatility.

With a capacity of approximately 150 guests, Starchild Rooftop offers an intimate, high-energy setting that transitions effortlessly between relaxed early evenings and vibrant late nights. Its upscale, modern aesthetic blends velv

UK - Christie 1DLP laser projectors are delivering vivid, immersive visuals at Ghostly Manor, a new dark ride at Paultons Park in Hampshire, UK. Designed and installed by Lagotronics Projects, the £3.5m attraction combines physical sets, projection mapping, and interactive gameplay to create a thrilling ghost-themed adventure. Six Christie DWU1100-GS and two DWU1400-GS laser projectors bring the haunted scenes to life with precision and brightness.

Ghostly Manor uses a new ride format, Gameplay Theatre, created by Mack Rides and Lagotronics Projects. Continuously rotating vehicles, each seating eight passengers back-to-back, reveal new environments with each turn. Guests are equipped with Phantom Phasers, onboard interactive ‘blasters’ that allow them to capture ghosts across eight different scenes. The format allows for high guest throughput in a small

UK - Based in Clapham, South London, Seven Lion Yard is a holistic health and well-being centre providing comprehensive psychological and wellbeing services to address both mind and body under one roof. The four-storey facility which opened in 2024 includes consulting and treatment rooms, and a large top floor studio.

The interior design, focused on calm, restoration, and relaxation, characterises the building, although following the centre’s opening, its team became aware of the need to combat the reverberant effects of its high ceilings and reflective surfaces. The acoustic properties of the centre’s spaces were detrimental to discreet one-on-one therapies and group activities. Determined to improve the environment, founder Madeline Jago contacted Polar to discuss a solution for the centre with the aim of significantly calming its lively acoustics. Pol

Australia - Tucked into North Lakes on Australia’s Sunshine Coast, Jungle Adventure Play Centre (JAPC) is one of Queensland’s most energetic spaces for kids to run wild – safely. For its second location the team turned once again to Brisbane Sound Group, who jumped into the challenge with the nimble yet powerful Optimal Audio ecosystem, supplied by distributor, Audio Brands.

Brisbane Sound Group had already experienced the acoustic challenges of Jungle Adventure, having previously fitted out JAPC’s first venue in Tingalpa. The centre’s team needed an audio system to support every moment – from playful chaos to peaceful cuppas. Simple to control and manage day to day, delivering great audio coverage, Optimal Audio’s ecosystem was the right choice for the noisy play environment.

As is so often the case, the AV installation was not the fir

USA - Pixel Palace Arcade and Bar, located in Round Rock, Texas, is a lively blend of nostalgia, gaming, and social interaction. Opened in October 2024, the venue features a retro-inspired atmosphere with classic arcade games, pinball machines, and a full-service bar offering 20 beers on tap, with a focus on local breweries.

Guests can enjoy a nostalgic gaming experience with favourites from the '70s to the '90s, including Skee-Ball, pinball, claw machines, and basketball hoops. Pixel Palace promotes a strong sense of community through regular tournaments, themed nights, and fundraising events. Additionally, the venue includes a basement game room showcasing timeless classics like Pong and Pitfall, providing a cosy space for gamers to unwind and connect.

Multiple video walls and individual displays feature prominently in Pixel Palace, showcasing a va

UK - Video company Universal Pixels (UP) has been right behind Oasis’ reunion since it kicked off at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium. Two dates set the template for Oasis Live ’25, 41 performances in 13 countries across five months. 

Production manager Tony Gittins tasked UP with colouring Paul Normandale’s show design in the shape of a complete video package. Commissioned 12 months ago, UP invested in the image quality of Absen’s Venus 4.8mm LED, developing and delivering a huge upstage wall – 1,100sqm in Heaton Park - with IMAG screens 10 degrees back on either side.

Universal Pixels brought in Brompton Technology to manage the ambitious video setup, deploying 16 4K Tessera SX40 LED video processors and 34 Tessera XD 10G data distribution units, chosen for their ability to provide full redundancy, superb image quality, and colo

UK - Lighting designer Sam Tozer of Vision Factory wanted to make a big impact for singer-songwriter Sam Fender’s four UK stadium shows – collectively attended by nearly a quarter of a million fans – and for such a large undertaking, he specified 189 x Robe iForte LTX moving lights and four iBolts. The performances were part of Sam Fender’s ongoing People Watching album campaign.

The production equipment for these four shows – three at Fender’s hometown stadium of St. James’ Park, Newcastle, and one in London – was supplied by Liverpool-based Adlib (lighting, video, rigging, PA system) and Plymouth-based Nubsound (audio control).

To align with Fender’s raw and distinctively original aesthetic, Sam Tozer’s primary lighting requirement was “sheer firepower”, but applied simply in order to complement the epic cinematic a

USA - Basketball fans in Washington, D.C. get to enjoy an even more spectacular visual experience during each Washington Mystics game this season. The team’s in-game video content now features eye-catching effects generated by X-Laser projectors.

Shown on video boards at CareFirst Arena during pregame player introductions and at key moments throughout each game, the clips showcase individual Mystics players surrounded by dynamic laser beams. And to enhance the viewing experience for all fans, whether attending in person or watching at home, the team also intersperses the clips during its TV broadcasts.

“With the growth of this league and how each team has stepped up its gameday production, we wanted to have lasers add something really special to the Mystics’ visuals,” said Tayler Durantini, director of show production for Monumental Sports &a

USA - As Coachella and Stagecoach 2025 brought hundreds of thousands of fans to the California desert for three weekends, Clear-Com was behind the scenes ensuring production crews across 12 stages stayed connected. The deployment, led by Azuolas Sinkevicius of Media Stream Wave, featured Clear-Com’s latest configuration software, EHX v14, as well as FreeSpeak II beltpacks and an Eclipse Omega HX matrix frame, creating a robust communication backbone for both festival production and livestream broadcasts.

“Festivals like Coachella and Stagecoach require precise coordination between dozens of departments,” said Sinkevicius. “With so many stages, artists, and live broadcast elements in motion at once, communication is necessary to create the fun and carefree environment attendees crave. Clear-Com gave us the freedom and autonomy to keep every cue on tim

Germany - The 33rd edition of the CEV Euro Beach Volley Championships came to an end on Sunday 3 August, capping off a week of beach volleyball played at the Rochusclub Düsseldorfer Tennisclub in Düsseldorf.

On the men’s side, winners Anders Mol and Christian Sørum are already the most successful team in European beach volleyball history, consolidating Norway as the country with the most EuroBeachVolley gold medals. For the women, Maryna Hladun and Tetiana Lazarenko’s victory came as somewhat of a surprise but reflects Ukraine’s rise in the sport over the last few years.

As usual, an exciting atmosphere surrounded the games and supplementary events, with a Nexo sound system deployed by Paderborn-based event production specialists Sound Linear playing an important role in creating a festival vibe.

“We used 12 of our Nexo P12 point s

Austria - Audio-Technica provided the entire ambience microphone system for the 2025 Alpine World Ski Championships in Saalbach Hinterglemm. Mainz-based TV Skyline was commissioned by ORF (the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation) to produce the international television sound, with the company selecting a wide variety of Audio-Technica microphone solutions for locations including the Starter’s House, the piste itself and stadium. Lavalier, shotgun and boundary microphone models were employed as necessary to capture the race atmosphere and put viewers at the heart of the action.

Chosen for their discreet design and sonic performance, BP899 subminiature omnidirectional condenser lavaliers and U851R boundary microphones were placed in the starter house to pick up highly detailed sound whilst remaining invisible. Customised wind baskets were used for the U851R to

USA - About 30 years ago, a group of students at Randolph-Macon College in Richmond VA formed a band dedicated to performing an Americana blend of folk and Celtic music. Much has happened to Carbon Leaf since then. They had some hits, including A Life Less Ordinary, which reached No. 5 on the Billboard charts. Their songs have been used in a soundtrack (Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey) and they’ve toured relentlessly at major festivals and venues.

Eventually, some members of the quintet resettled, moving thousands of miles away to the West Coast. But on Sunday 3 August, the band returned to their roots when they headlined Music at Maymont, a live performance series that takes place in an idyllic 100-acre greenspace in the middle of the Virginia Capital’s downtown, 15 miles from the college campus where their music

China - Yue Opera is a popular Chinese opera genre that features women in all roles. For Hangzhou Butterfly Theatre’s successful premiere of My Grand View Garden the audio team chose to invest in a DiGiCo Quantum 225, supplied by Rightway Audio Consultant (RAC) to deliver the required clarity and immersive experience.

The Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Theatre have enjoyed extraordinary success over the last decade, engaging new and younger audiences in the classic Yue Opera genre. Founded in 1984, the troupe is dedicated to modernising, innovating and raising awareness of the art-form. A key feature of the genre is articulation and pronunciation, the predominate dialect is the traditional Wu, rather than modern Mandarin, so the choice of audio equipment is very important.

The theatre utilises the Quantum 225 and an L-Acoustics L-ISA system

Singapore - When Hope Church wanted to add to its lighting stock, the church returned once again to Ayrton products, purchasing a consignment of Ayrton Eurus and Huracán Profiles to increase its existing inventory of Eurus Profile and Ghibli fixtures. 

Purchased through Ayrton’s exclusive distributor for Singapore, Total Solution Marketing (TSM), Hope Church’s lights team explains why the Ayrton fixtures were their go-to choice: “We already have a great relationship with both Ayrton and TSM who have always offered excellent post-sales service and technical support, and we find Ayrton fixtures to be both highly versatile and very reliable,” they say.

“Ayrton fixtures offer precise and reliable positioning across the models we use in our church, and their fast, smooth movement, especially when triggered through position palettes, has signif

UK - The second edition of the Yungblud-curated Bludfest took place this year at Milton Keynes Bowl. With an emphasis on inclusivity and diversity both on and off the stage, the occasion proved to be another success.

Once again, Production Futures was invited to the event and enjoyed engaging with more than a thousand young people interested to find out more about potential roles in the production industries. True to the organisation’s ethos, and keen to showcase the talents of the next generation, the Production Futures brand activation area was designed, constructed, and run by two students from the Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies, part of Nottingham Trent University.

Abigail Skelton and Ant Ioannou are both in their second year at Confetti, and having first crossed paths with Hannah Eakins of Production Futures at an On Tour

China - On 16 and 17 May, Mariah Carey returned to Shanghai’s HongKou Football Stadium for two nights. As part of The Celebration of Mimi tour, which was an extension of her Las Vegas residency and an anniversary of her tenth album, The Emancipation of Mimi, Carey dazzled sold-out crowds with a storied setlist. These milestone shows marked the Chinese debut for a full-scale Cohesion audio system that supported both nights in Shanghai.

Jiangsu RenTian relied on local vendor Shanghai AKUS Co to provide the audio for the momentous evenings, and Shanghai AKUS partnered with AirFusion Global to secure a robust Cohesion audio system that would provide the necessary coverage, clarity, and output for the tour de force performances from the six-time Grammy Award winner.

“I always talk about how the throw of Cohesion, its density, it feel

France - At the Atlantic coastal resort of Royan, Un Violon sur le Sable (A Violin on the Sand) is a free, three-day orchestral music festival on the beach that has attracted up to 50,000 classical music lovers each day since it started in 1987.

The combined challenges of a large, particularly wide audience area and a repertoire that demands exceptional clarity and dynamic range places very specific demands on the sound reinforcement. So, production services company Atlantic Sono called as usual on Black Line Event from nearby La Couronne to deploy a Nexo STM system, which has been the main PA at the event for the previous eight years.

“STM gives us the power, headroom and articulation we need for these symphonic concerts that culminate in spectacular firework displays, and also the directivity to cover a 100m deep audience that i

USA - For Alex Warren, it was a dream come true when Luke Combs had him come out on stage at Lollapalooza to join him in a cover of the young, rapidly-rising star’s No. 1 Billboard hit Ordinary. Warren, in turn, made another dream come true at Grant Park when David Summers served as the LD and board operator at his show at the festival.

Although Summers has toured the world with hit makers like Sum 41, this was the first time he was part of a show at the festival. “I’m a kid from Indiana, and my first shows were in Chicago,” noted Summers. “I fell in love with live music here. I never attended the festival as a fan without hopes I’d get to work with an artist who was playing one day. It took more than 15 years, but it happened! It was a truly amazing moment for me.”

As the LD and board op, Summers worked with a rig des

The Netherlands - Immediately after receiving the first production batch of the new KL CYC light at Elation’s European headquarters in Kerkrade, Bert Schmeits, Elation’s key account manager Benelux, and Dutch distributor Rolight decided to find a suitable venue to test the new fixture. The Wilminktheater in Enschede, conveniently located in the same city as Rolight, provided the ideal stage to put the KL CYC through its paces.

“We were given access to the stage at the Wilminktheater to experiment with the new cyc light,” Schmeits explained. “In order to properly assess how the fixtures behave when multiple units are placed next to each other, I brought four of them with me.”

The theatre’s 11m-high backdrop was illuminated from above using four KL CYC L units placed 2m away, side by side at 1m intervals, and operating at 50% intensity. T

Spain - When Dutch singer Yves Berendse took to the stage at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome in June for two sold-out concerts, he did so beneath a colossal Y-shaped LED screen that became the instant visual signature of the shows. Measuring 14m tall and 4m wide, the centrepiece was built to order by Dutch visual integration specialist MHB AV using AR3.9 panels from INFiLED’s AR Series of high-performance LED displays.

For Berendse, who shot to fame after his single Terug in de tijd (Back in Time) went viral on TikTok and topped the Dutch top 40 for six weeks, performing at the Amsterdam arena was a boyhood dream come true. To mark the milestone, his booking agency, Agents After All, conceived an ambitious stage design with a massive Y-shaped structure as its centrepiece – a challenge that required both the engineering and creative expertise o

The Netherlands - The 13th edition of ParkCity Live took place over the final weekend of June in the Bekkerveld park in Heerlen, the Netherlands. Lighting products from Infinity and Showtec played a prominent role this year, bringing both the Main Stage and Dance Tent to life.

This two-day festival has become known for its diverse line-up, laid-back atmosphere, and high production values. With performances ranging from rock and pop to dance and comedy, the event once again drew thousands of visitors from across the South Limburg region and beyond.

The technical production was in the hands of SLF Group Rental + Sales B.V., which has been closely involved with ParkCity Live for over 12 years. CEO Danny Juretzko has personally overseen the festival’s full production throughout their collaboration. He has also been responsible for the lighting on the M

USA - Pendleton, Indiana-based Dodd Technologies utilised an array of Ayrton lighting fixtures, grandMA3 consoles and MDG hazers for the 2025 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of the Ayrton, MA Lighting and MDG brands in North America.

Dodd Technologies acted as the production partner with Pacer Sports & Entertainment for the All-Star Weekend events at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Friday night 18 July featured the WNBA Skills Challenge, which was broadcast on ESPN. The game was played on Saturday and aired live on ABC, Disney+ and ESPN+. Dodd Technologies was not only responsible for the game’s halftime show, headlined by GloRilla, but also for the musical team introductions and other performances that added entertainment value to the weekend telecasts. The company had previously worked on the 202

Belgium - De Roma – originally Kinema Roma – is one of Antwerp’s best-known and loved music venues and has recently added new Robe moving lights to its house rig, comprising 12 x LEDBeam 150s, 12 x LEDBeam 350s and 24 x TX1 PosiProfiles, all specified by lighting technicians Hans Lodewijckx and Roy Nonneman, and supplied by Controllux, Robe’s Benelux distributor.

The venue’s art deco building in the lively Borgerhout area of the city was designed by Alphonse Pauwels and originally constructed in 1927, opening as a 2,000-seat cinema, then the largest in Antwerp. The main entrance was remodelled in 1958 by architect Rie Haan and it became a popular music venue on the European touring scene in the 1970s before closing in 1982. 20 years later, the building was heritage classified and reopened as a vibrant cultural centre and performance space in May 20

Spain - At the end of May, Valencia became a time machine: at the Love the 90s festival, the open-air area in front of the Museu de les Ciències was transformed into a vibrant 90s party with acts such as Snow, 2 Unlimited, La Bouche, and DJ Sashe! The artists were accompanied by a spectacular light show by Spanish creative studio Experiencias Visuales, for which the lighting designer responsible, Edu Valverde, relied on more than 200 Cameo lights.

Edu Valverde, who has been responsible for the visual concept of the festival since 2017, once again focused on an impressive, geometrically clear stage design with large-scale set elements: “The stage should look like a monolithic structure and also serve as a projection surface for the LED videos.” A key design challenge was the seamless transition from bright daylight to darkness in the evening –

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