Norway - Stavanger Concert Hall is a glass and steel architectural building occupying a waterfront location in Norway’s ‘oil capital’, where the hustle of marine-based industries fuse with a passion for culture and live performance. The venue - busy reopening for an action-packed autumn - has not been quiet during the pandemic period, which has seen the delivery of 66 x Robe Esprite moving lights and 24 ParFect 150s, all part of an ongoing technical upgrade overseen by head of lighting, Nils Foss. The new fixtures are rigged in the 1,200 seat Fartein Valen concert hall, named after the Norwegian composer Fartein Valen and featuring a magnificent organ made of 65,000 parts. Fartein Valen is home to the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. They are also in the fully flexible multi-purpose Zetlitz hall which has capacities of 850 seated and 1,900 standing and is u
USA - As the first of its kind, the 1DayLA event saw 20,000 members mobilised between 18 and 24 July to offer communities across the county of Los Angeles help and hope. It culminated in a massive concert named The Freedom Experience, which was hosted at the new SoFi Stadium and subsequently aired on YouTube, where volunteers and contributors from across the Los Angeles region gathered to give one final cheer to this celebration of humanity, and enjoy the experience. The concert featured a star-studded line-up, with performances from headliner Justin Bieber, Tori Kelly, Chandler Moore, Chance the Rapper, Jaden Smith, and Grammy Award-winning artist, Kari Jobe. 4Wall Entertainment provided lighting, video and rigging, including Brompton 4K Tessera SX40 LED processors and ROE Visual LED panels. “That weekend was just unbelievable for the 4Wall team, and we were so thri
South Africa - Idols SA 2021 became the first television show in South Africa to use a fully grandMA3 - software and hardware - lighting control platform, chosen by Joshua Cutts and Andre Siebrits from Visual Frontier to run their lighting design for the final televised segments of the popular and high-profile singing competition. Other ground-breaking aspects for this year’s broadcast shows included a move away from the State Theatre venue in Pretoria after several years, decamping to Studio 10 at the Urban Brew Studios in Johannesburg. With that came the need for a completely different aesthetic approach and treatment. “The objective was to ensure it looked amazing from all camera angles,” explained Josh, adding that his own Idols expertise - this is his 17th series - plus Andre’s fresh eyes as an LD has been “a great combination”. Knowing th
UK - Live music venue, Rock City in Nottingham boosted its house lighting rig for October this year - a busy period including some lively university Freshers Week events - with a rig of 60 Robe moving lights, with extras supplied via rental and production company Zeal. Rock City’s lead project lighting designer Will Brown explained that with the post Covid re-opening of live shows, they wanted to make a big impression, especially to make up for last year when everything had to be cancelled! Will designed lighting to cover an array of events, from popular bands to heaving club nights, as people from all over the city celebrated being able to congregate, have fun together and enjoy live music again. While many bands will bring their own productions and floor packages, historically for crew the venue is famous for band productions loading out while the disco is
USA - When The Fennec, Birmingham’s new music venue opened for business, ownership called upon long time audio engineer Michael Panepento, owner of Alabama Music & Audio Supervision, to create and install “an unrivalled sound experience” at the new Parkside District hot spot. Panepento found the solution The Fennec management was looking for with a PA system featuring various loudspeakers, subwoofers and stage monitors from Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW). The Fennec is a two-story venue, with the main restaurant and event space on the first floor and a dedicated private event space that can be rented out on the second. The design of the building did present some challenges to Panepento that were solved with the combination of products from EAW, including the RSX Series, RS Series, RL Series and VF Series PA components. “We needed to use point source speakers
UK - Video technology rental company and technical creative production specialists, 80six, recently hosted a series of virtual production Discovery Days at its new virtual production studio facility in Slough. The events were staged in response to the growing appetite for information about virtual production technology and techniques, and allowed those in attendance to gain insights into the world of virtual production. Directors of photography, film and TV producers, cinematographers, and representatives of production and post production houses, all took advantage of the opportunity to explore the workflow and real-time technologies required to power both live and on-set productions. 3LR Lighting Ltd, representative for international manufacturers of architectural, film, entertainment and broadcast lighting and control, was an event partner, alongside ROE Visual, Brom
Romania - A Kinesys Apex automation system with new Kinesys Vector control console was used to create kinetic effects created with six 7m diameter motion-controlled trussing circles each rigged with 10 moving lights above the audience of the Galaxy Stage at the 2021 Untold Festival staged in the BT Arena venue at Cluj-Napoca. The Kinesys system and services were supplied by Denmark-based automation specialist Motor Stage Automation to ABT Motion Rigs, with the system design and specification developed by Adrian Visenoiu, rigging manager for six of the seven stages at this years’ event, and Motor Stage Automation’s Blake McNally. The Galaxy Stage presented a strong line-up of techno talent - Charlotte de Witte, Paul Kalkbrenner, Nina Kravitz, Amelie Lens, Tale of Us, Seth Troxler, and many, more over the three days. The initial Galaxy stage design with a big
Austria - Located close to The Graben, one of Vienna’s most famous streets, renowned architect Matteo Thun created the design and atmosphere of Bar Campari, Campari Austria’s flagship location. An Alcons Audio pro-ribbon system delivers the audio. Bar Campari is owned by Peter Friese, of Vienna’s Zum Schwarzen Kameel (The Black Camel), one of the city’s highest profile restaurants. The owners contacted Wolfgang Sauter, founder of Vienna-based systems integrator Pro Performance, with a brief for an audio system that had to deliver quality sound, performance and reliability. It also had to blend in with Bar Campari’s décor, which is based on the lively aesthetics of Italian cafés and the graphics designed by futurist artist Fortunato Depero for Campari in the first half of the 20th century. As well as sound quality, containment was also important, as t
USA - Lighting designer Jeff Croiter and set designer Beowulf Boritt engendered the connection between actors and audience in their work for the current (and fourth) iteration of Freestyle Love Supreme at Broadway’s Booth Theatre by creating an immersive atmosphere that enveloped both the stage and the venue itself. “We want to have a club-like look and feel throughout the theatre as the audience enters,” said Croiter, who was also responsible for lighting the three previous productions of the show. “At times throughout the show, it’s important to be able to have a connection between the audience and stage.” Helping Croiter accomplish this is a collection of Chauvet Professional COLORado 1 Solo and COLORado 2 Solo fixtures supplied by 4Wall Entertainment. The RGBW washes connect to the audience, the moment people begin to enter the theatre. Dra
USA - A Martin Audio MLA Compact loudspeaker array system was chosen by partners, North Carolina-based RMB Audio, when locally based Duke University’s Spring and Fall 2020 graduation was postponed until a time of greater health safety. That time was determined to be 26 September 2021 - when undergraduates, graduates and professional school class members (and their families) were invited to participate in the delayed celebration. The stage was set up with the imposing Duke Chapel - an English Gothic 210ft-tall structure in the centre of campus - as the backdrop. Student seating started downstage and extended back 300 ft. Large trees, with low branches 13ft above the ground, occupied the corners of the audience seating, making it necessary to project sound in a slice to pass beneath the foliage to focus on the audience. “MLA Compact is capable of providing focused sound to
Germany - In September, the International Motor Show (IAA), the world's largest trade show for passenger cars, took place for the first time in Munich as a new concept, IAA Mobility, focused on future-oriented mobility. TLD Planungsgruppe was responsible for the lighting design, among other things, for the Mercedes-Benz presence and chose Elation KL series luminaires as the lighting solution. The Mercedes-Benz stand was an impressively staged space spread across 3,000sq.m with a total of eight vehicle premieres and the auto manufacturer's electromobility portfolio presented to the specialist audience. "With the new IAA mobility concept at the Munich location, the focus was on solutions on the way to climate neutrality, which also included implementing the manufacturer's presence as sustainably as possible," reports project manager and lighting designer Alexander Orkisch from
USA - To complement the immersive video content featured on Porter Robinson’s Nurture Live Tour, Ben Coker designed and programmed a sophisticated lighting rig featuring Martin Professional MAC Ultra Performance and MAC Aura PXL fixtures controlled by a P3-50 system controller, all provided by Christie Lites. Porter Robinson is an electronic musician and DJ who was nominated for the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording, named MTVu’s Artist of the Year in 2015 and listed among DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs for seven consecutive years. After releasing his second album Nurture in April 2021, Robinson embarked on a nationwide tour with stops in 22 states. Featuring multiple video walls and a video floor displaying synchronized visual content ranging from abstract animated sequences to picturesque nature scenes, the Nurture Live Tour required a lighting rig to com
UK - Ministry of Sound Classical (MoS Classical) is a celebration of 30 years of Ministry of Sound’s favourite dance classics performed by the London Concert Orchestra. As this spectacular show prepared to take to the stage for a highly anticipated return to the live arena, its audio team turned their attention to giving the 50-piece orchestra a new and different kind of in-ear monitoring by choosing KLANG’s 3D personal monitor mixing system. KLANG was not unfamiliar to the head of sound and sound designer for the show since 2018, Phil Wright, as he has become increasingly familiar with it in recent months. “I’m involved with the 5G Festival, an R&D project that’s working on finding ways to allow musicians to play together with insignificant latency over the 5G network,” explains Wright. “We’ve been using KLANG on that to great effect, finding that
UK - A month after collaborating on the Team GB Olympics Homecoming, Transition Video was back at London’s SSE Wembley Arena to help deliver another hybrid event, using Green Hippo’s Boreal+ Media Server for The National Lottery's Paralympics GB Homecoming (see more on the homecoming concerts in LSi November 2021). Great Britain’s Paralympic stars claimed a total of 124 podium places and were welcomed home from Tokyo with a line-up of artists that included Jamie Cullum, Birdy and Raymond Antrobus. In the live audience, NHS workers gathered for the spectacular, which ran video highlights of the Paralympians’ performances as part of a Channel 4 broadcast. Transition Video’s Kate Perring wor
UK - Two FLX S24 consoles from Zero 88 have been supplied by Ross-on-Wye, UK based CJP Broadcast for lighting control in two new broadcast studios for virtual production and television at the University of Sunderland’s David Puttnam Media Centre. CJP’s technical manager James Ruddock, who led the virtual studio installation team, chose the consoles for their power, compact size and footprint, and as, “a good value option for educational applications of all levels with its many features and great functionality as found in larger lighting desks.” CJP Broadcast designed and specified lighting, video, and audio technical elements for both spaces, and installed, integrated, and commissioned the virtual production studio, which is a unique resource where students can gain practical experience and learn the latest state-of-the-art techniques. Zero 88’s FLX co
UK - At the end of October London’s Hackney Empire theatre was the setting for the world premiere of Vanara The Musical, a timely tale of environmental disaster and tribal conflict with a message of hope and unity. Sound operator Ollie Dudman mixed Olly Steel’s sound design on a Yamaha Rivage PM3 digital mixing system. Olly Steel first used Yamaha digital mixers in 2008, as sound #2 on the High School Musical UK tour, with a system designed by Rick Clarke. “I used Yamaha digital systems on various productions after that, especially when I was doing sound design in my own right and was able to specify the system,” he says. “When the Rivage PM10 system came out in 2014, I was sold! It had everything I wanted and I knew that, with some extra development and tailoring, it could be a very powerful system for theatre. I said that if it could potentially do m
UAE - Expo 2020 Dubai, the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, is up and running. The event has registered more than three million visits with attendees from 185 nationalities – a figure that almost equals the 192 countries with a dedicated pavilion at the event. As official projection and display partner for the Expo 2020 Dubai, Christie technology is used to display content and provide experiences across the event site. Creative Technology Middle East was the AV integrator for the centrepiece Al Wasl Plaza dome. A worldwide audience of millions tuned into the opening ceremony to be thrilled by some extraordinary and technologically advanced performances from a 1,000-strong cast and crew. The 90-minute immersive spectacular showcased Al Wasl Plaza’s dome – the world’s largest 360-degree projection surface which
Belgium - “This time, I wanted texts that stuck to the ribs,” Koen Wauters told an interviewer when discussing Tweesprong, the 13th Dutch- language LP recorded by Clouseau, the band that he and his brother Kris formed in the 1980s. Luc Peumans and his team at Painting With Light have been lighting shows for Clouseau for 25 years, reflecting their evolving sound on stage with richly textured panoramas. Peumans visually captures the essence of Tweesprong with a design that manages to be both bold (in keeping with the spirit of the songs), and inviting to celebrate Clouseau’s return to touring after the pandemic lockdown. “We have been lighting Clouseau for some time, so there is a connection and understanding between us,” said Peumans. “There is a natural process to the creation of a design. For this show, we drew special inspiration from the t
UK - The fourth GlasGLOW event opened hearts and minds as people engaged with the fun and imaginative light art presented by this illuminated trail concept in Glasgow Botanical Gardens in the city’s West End. Two kilometres of lighting, set pieces and narrative magic energised the dark winter evenings, and lighting designer Grant Anderson chose Robe iPointes and iSpiiders to help ramp up the drama for central installation and finale. Grant had used iPointes for 2020’s GlasGLOW3 event, and was delighted with the results, so he spec’d the fixtures again this year to create impressive searchlight beam effects blasting through the air around the finale lighting composition, a large area involving the main lawns transformed into an ocean of pixel dots which was traversed by guests via a central walkway. The iSpiiders were used in this same area, horizontally beaming
USA - On Friday, 5 November, the Wayne State Warriors officially opened their university’s new basketball arena with an inaugural game against the Michigan Wolverines. The new $25m, 3,000-seat venue is also home to the NBA Detroit Pistons’ G League franchise, the Motor City Cruise, who begin their first season there this fall. All of those teams and the fans who come to see them will experience quality sound, courtesy of a new L-Acoustics A Series PA system designed and specified by consultancy Idibri and installed by AV integrator Ametek. Key to the sonic success of this project was keeping sound on the seats and off of the highly reflective hardwood basketball court and venue walls. To accomplish that, the AV design team at Idibri chose L-Acoustics A Series; specifically, eight main arrays aimed at the seating area, each consisting of four A15i (two A15i Wide plu
USA - The Barclays Centrein Brooklyn and Capital One Arena in Washington reverberated with the sound of merriment during the Fall Back Comedy Jam. Featuring a star-studded ensemble of comics led by Academy Award winner Mo’Nique, Busta Rhymes, Rick Ross, Rip Micheals, 2 Chainz, and other talents, the show served up a nonstop stream of routines. Creating an engaging visual setting for the show, while also strengthening the connection between the performers and the audience was a Marc Wasserman lighting design that featured a collection of Chauvet Professional Rogue, STRIKE and COLORado fixtures supplied by Audio Spectrum of Boston. “Lighting comedy is always a fun challenge,” said Wasserman who also served as technical director of the shows. “People come to see comedy because it’s a great escape from all the concerns that surround us, especially in time
UK - Monarchy on Chalk Farm Road in North London has re-opened its doors with a new name and a complete venue refurbishment including a total upgrade of the audio to a Void Acoustics system. Formerly known as The Monarch, and where Amy Winehouse once DJ’ed, this popular bar/pub is a stone’s throw from The Roundhouse – the noted music venue. And whilst it may have new owner operators (AB-InBev), and a fresh new look, the venue remains committed, and connected to, its music heritage. A full audio upgrade with a high-end Void Acoustics audio system was central to the re-fit. It’s not the first time that Void Acoustics has partnered with London based integrator AT&C Professional Systems to specify and install a fully integrated Void system. Alan Smith, business development manager for AT&C takes up the story. “The brief we were given was to creat
UK - Anna Valley subsidiary, Matrix UK Solutions is providing dynamic LED backdrops and innovative IMAG services for Genesis’ The Last Domino? Tour. Having sold an estimated 100m albums, Genesis is among the biggest selling recording artists of all time and has played to sold-out stadiums and arenas all over the world for decades. The Last Domino Tour marks over 13 years since Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford have performed together and it is expected to be the group’s last live tour. The tour kicked off in September 2021 with 37 shows planned at venues across the UK and North America between 20 September and 16 December 2021. However, the final four performances in the UK were cancelled due to positive COVID-19 tests within the band and are now planned for March 2022. The US leg of the tour will commence on 15 November 2021. With Phil Collins remaini
Egypt - Green Hippo’s Taiga and Karst+ were the media servers of choice for Egyptian artist Mohamed Ramadan, whose recent outdoor performance on Egypt’s North Coast saw 85,000 fans gather for what the singer described as “the largest audience attendance in 2021”. To entertain the masses, the region’s largest ever scaffolding stage was erected, measuring 45m wide and 20m high, for a concert that commanded serious attention to detail, with the visuals quite literally taking centre stage among 800 lighting fixtures, pyrotechnics and special effects. The structure was built by event rental partner Hi-Lights Group, which also supplied the 900sq.m of LED video wall that displayed bespoke graphics on a 4K video display with a total of 230,400 pixels. Hi-Lights Group utilised two Hippotizer V4 Taiga and four Hippotizer V4 Karst+ Media Servers, with an output sp
