USA - Matthieu Larivée with Lüz Studio in Montréal serves as production and lighting designer on the current tour of American rock band The Raconteurs and uses Upstaging-supplied Elation DARTZ 360 LED moving heads to complement the group’s guitar-driven sound. Formed in 2006 by Jack White of The White Stripes and Brendan Benson, The Raconteurs recently emerged from a 10-year hiatus with launch of a new album Help Us Stranger. White, known as a dedicated yet somewhat unconventional artist, is widely credited as one of the key players in the garage rock revival of the 2000s. “He is completely focused on the music and performance and wants to keep the audience very focused as well,” explains Larivée, who also worked on Jack White’s most recent solo tour. “He wants to make sure the audience is getting a good experience so there are no cell phones allowed dur
USA - In the two short years since he released his debut album, This One’s for You, Luke Combs has soared in popularity. Recently honoured as the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry, the North Carolina native is now taking a breather between the first and second North American legs of his Beer Never Broke My Heart Tour, which is being reinforced via Special Event Services’ (SES) L-Acoustics K1/K2 loudspeaker rig. The first stretch of Combs’ arena headlining trek initially ran from March through July and quickly sold out every venue, prompting the musician to add a 29-date fall leg running from late September through early December. “When putting together my production budgets for the 2019 tour, Michael Brammer from SES and I discussed the PA options in their inventory,” notes production manager Jerry Slone. “When I found out that K1/K2 would fit wit
USA - Passaic County Technical Institute is a large vocational, public high school that serves over 3,300 students in northern New Jersey. Its sizable campus is well-appointed, and its programmes are well-supported. Two full-time professional sound technicians number among its staff and oversee operations in its performing arts department and at its sporting events. Until recently however, the PCTI Bulldogs football team played for 1,500-plus crowds using only a portable sound reinforcement system that was underpowered and frequently unintelligible. JD Sound and Video of Voorhees, New Jersey, remedied that for the Bulldogs’ most recent season with the installation of Danley OS80 loudspeakers and OS115 subwoofers. Because they’re designed and built to be fully weatherised, the Danley OS-Series boxes will serve PCTI for a long time. “The Passaic football stadium ha
Lithuania - The Sakiai Culture House is an institution dedicated to preserving the rich and unique heritage of Lithuania. Located in the southwestern region of the country, Sakiai Culture House pays homage to the revolving tapestry of Lithuanian music and theatrical productions, which have helped earn the country recognition by UNESCO as an “Intangible Heritage of Humanity”. Bringing this tradition to life is a new lighting system designed and installed by Scenos Techninis Servisas (STS) of Vilnius, Lithuania, that features a collection of Chauvet Professional LED fixtures. Installed as part of a comprehensive renovation of the 60 year-old building, the new system features six Ovation E-260WW ellipsoidal fixtures, four Ovation B-195FC batten units, 10 Maverick MK2 Spots and 15 Maverick MK2 Washes. In addition to delivering even key lighting, the new system opens u
USA - When Treasure Island casino on Las Vegas Strip decided a renovation would include a new sports bar, The Golden Circle, the casino knew it couldn’t be subtle if it wanted to stand out. To shake things up and create a space for watching the city’s new, popular NHL team the Golden Knights, NanoLumens was contracted to design and deliver an ultra-wide 24ft by 5ft, 1.8mm pixel pitch LED videowall that is now the centrepiece of the all-new sports bar. According to Shane Snell of National Technology Associates (NTA), the firm that installed the bar’s technology infrastructure, the NanoLumens fine pitch LED display was the best choice for a number of reasons. “One of the most important factors of any casino technology installation is longevity,” Snell says. “For the most part, owners try to keep infrastructure relevant for as long as possible, only re
UK - Hey Tracey! is a new quiz show for ITV2, hosted by Joel Dommett, where celebrities play to win cash for members of the public with some unpredictable consequences. The show needed vibrant lighting covering the full colour spectrum to “really emphasize the changing mood”, and lighting designer Roger Williams chose LEDJ Pixel Storm 12 Quad MKII battens for the job. The Pixel Storm 12 battens from LEDJ have a 3000Hz refresh rate, valuable for studios and TV applications where flicker-free operation is essential. The fixtures are also versatile with end and central brackets for multiple rigging or floor standing applications. They also come supplied with an eyebrow to reduce glare and hide the LEDs when uplighting. Roger Williams, lighting designer for the show, says: “I was asked to light a new ITV2 show called Hey Tracey!, filmed at BT sport stu
South Africa - Joburg Theatre’s longstanding technical crew, headed by Enos Ramoroko, have taken delivery of new equipment to complement their busy theatre situated on Braamfontein Hill. DWR Distribution delivered 20 Vari-Lite VL2600 Spots and four Robert Juliat Cyrano followspots to be used in the Mandela Theatre, while the audio in the Lesedi Theatre has been upgraded to an L-Acoustics ARCS Wide and Focus (WiFo) system. “The Vari-Lite VL 2600 Spots met our needs for an LED spot,” says Enos Ramoroko, head of technical at Joburg Theatre. “The full blade shutters will be very useful for theatre applications.” The crew are planning to use the new fixtures on productions like Sarafina, and this year’s annual pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk. “The Mandela Theatre’s followspots, which have probably stood the test of time for aro
Italy - Prase Media Technologies is one of the leading Italian AV distributors for audio, video, digital signal processing and professional control systems. Davide Buonasorte, Prase’s sales manager of the rental, retail and broadcast division, has overseen progress at the company, which has recently been rewarded for its hard work with the recruitment of two fast-growing companies, Franz AVL Rent and Tecnostruttura; both now utilise Clair Brothers products at their high-level events. For more than 10 years, Franz AVL Rent, based in Senigallia, has been dedicated to servicing the touring industry, concentrating its scope on the central and northern areas of the country. The need to reach ever higher led them directly to a new monitor system from Clair Brothers - the road-tested 1AM stage monitors. Sixteen C12-M enclosures with 90º horizontal dispersion and 12 CS218-M subwo
Denmark - No-frills Norwegian-owned supermarket chain Rema 1000 celebrated its 25th anniversary of trading in Denmark with a massive conference and party for nearly 9,000 staff, staged at the Jyske Bank Boxen arena in Herning. The challenge of lighting this was down to Sune Verdier, well-known for his creative flare in concert touring and theatre. He utilised 124 Robe moving lights at the core of his production design, which had to cover a full seated conference session in the afternoon followed by a full-on dance party and concert in the evening. A star-studded line-up featured some of Denmark’s most popular artists - rockers Nephew, dance-pop band Infernal, post-punk phenomenon Minds of 99, rap group Benal and DJs Martin Jensen and house guru Kato. The evening’s action kicked off with a hi-energy DJ set by Rema 1000 CEO Ole Robert Reitan and after a brief
Australia - Titan Fitness is an independently owned fitness studio in Coogee, a coastal suburb of NSW, Australia. The fully-equipped four-floor facility has been open since 2009, and its Spin Studio has recently seen the installation of 24 Astera AX1 Pixel Tubes in a new LED lighting installation. These were supplied to installers Aeromic by Astera’s Australian distributor, ULA Group. Aeromic has been supplying and manufacturing audio and AV products to the fitness and professional health industries since 1994, and Titan Fitness has been a client for some time, explained Andrew Zarounas, Aeromic’s director and co-owner. He and Titan Fitness CEO Mets Analin share a passion for the industry and a flair for being innovative, different and pushing the envelope. Mets approached Andrew about the potential lighting installation, wanting to ensure that Titan Fi
USA - With five floors and four stages, Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk and Rock ’n’ Roll Steakhouse is the largest and most advanced entertainment venue on Nashville’s always-crowded Broadway. Thanks to a comprehensive audio installation from QSC, the sound from multiple live acts on different floors is audiophile-grade. “The entire venue holds about 2,000 guests, with up to 600 in the main room and mezzanine,” says lead sound engineer Josh Hastick. “During busy seasons, all four stages are going at once, and we host as many as 16 bands, each with a four-hour set, in a business day.” That kind of turnover requires equal measures of flexibility and predictability from a P.A. system, which Hastick says that “QSC delivers in spades”. The stage in their main room is flanked by three KLA12 active line array cabinets per side, complemented by four KW181 ac
UK - Lighting designer Matt Tyler used Prolights LED fixtures to provide lighting for space-age performances by Orbital, Public Service Broadcasting and The Radiophonic Workshop at Apollo 50, a one-off event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Moon Landing. Held at Cornwall’s Goonhilly Earth Station to celebrate the technological accomplishment of the Arthur satellite dish, which in 1969 beamed the moon landing footage live to 200m people in Europe, the anniversary was marked with a day of music, science, art and culture. For the evening’s triple-bill concert, Matt drew upon the technological advancements of Prolights’ LED fixtures to deliver spectacular lighting to bring the artists’ space-age themes and sampled astronaut voice recordings to life. Matt utilised his own stock of Prolights Luma700, Diamond19 and Studiocobfc PARs to create the dynamic
Europe - With his Lederhosen and accordion, Austria’s Andreas Gabalier sold out all eight stadiums on his summer tour of Germany celebrating 10 years of his Volks-Rock’n’Roll music. While the audience energy was high, actual energy consumption was lower, due to the High End Systems LED fixtures. Lighting design team Michael Mayler and Andreas Fink collaborated to create a design that fits the requirements for a huge stadium tour, but simplified for the tight time schedule for building and setup. Part of the plan was to reduce their power needs without sacrificing powerful production looks. The two turned to High End Systems’ product line and chose 38 SolaHyBeam 2000s, 36 SolaFrame 1500s and 32 Shapeshifters to fit their lighting needs. “When the LED fixtures are off, they are off, not like with discharge lamps which are still drawing power,” Mayler notes.
UK - LED lighting specialists, LED Creative supported lighting director Stuart Pring with an array of low energy illumination solutions used to create the MelodyVR ‘backstage experience’ at Wireless 2019. Working with Wireless 2019, the virtual reality streaming service gave fans the world over the opportunity to get up-close to the action with hip-hop royalty including J-Hus, Stefflon Don, Rae Sremmurd via the MelodyVR smartphone app. Alongside the front of house live broadcast, Stuart and the team worked on creating the custom-built backstage VR area. Housed in twin interconnected domed structures, the LD used a selection of LED Creative products to light the spaces with artistic effect. For Dome One, LC Sigma Neon was applied across the interior skeleton of the dome to form a futuristic, neon-web effect. Tracing the structure’s entire framework, the LED
The Netherlands - Luxor Live is a music and performance venue in central Arnhem, the Netherlands with a colourful history that started in 1915 when it was opened as a film theatre. Architect Willem Diehl was responsible for its art deco look and features, which has also earned it ‘listed’ status. It was purchased by the Municipality of Arnhem in 2002, fully renovated and re-opened in its current format in 2008. Last year a serious investment in Robe moving lights saw 12 Spiiders, 12 DL4X Spots, eight LEDBeam 150s and four DL4F Fresnels join the lighting rig to help ensure that the 300-plus shows staged there every year can benefit from top quality LED moving lights, explained head of lighting Fon Sanders. The main hall capacity is a cosy 700 including the balcony, and the stage is scalloped out of an elegantly curved auditorium which features an individually pixel
UK - For the fourth year running, The Pride Pleasure Gardens on Brighton’s Old Steine recreated its own experience during Brighton & Hove Pride Festival Weekend. The Old Steine Gardens were transformed around two 1,000-capacity big tops for three days, with entertainment ranging from camp bingo and cheesy pop to cabaret, vibrant live performances, DJs and hot clubbing. Working for Ian Baird’s production company, Whiskey Bravo Productions, were Brighton based sound and light company Penguin Media Hire, enjoying their first year at the festival. Headed by technical project manager Dylan Thompson, the company was tasked with creating a technical infrastructure, including sound (in the shape of Martin Audio PAs), lighting and temporary power for the site; and although this provided a real challenge, it was one they came through with flying colours. “We narrowly m
Austria - It is one of the major cultural highlights of the city of Vienna: the Summer Night Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic. Since 2004, the Klassik-Open-Air has attracted tens of thousands of music lovers each year to the Schönbrunn Palace Gardens. This year's concert, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, took place on 20 June in front of around 85,000 people. In addition, the concert was broadcast by public service broadcaster ORF. For the second time, Jerry Appelt, was responsible for the lighting design. "The Vienna Philharmonic itself suggested the somewhat contemporary implementation of the concert,” he states. “I think that's very brave and I'm glad that concept suited both them and us.” In 2019, the large, arched-roof platform was again positioned directly in front of the castle, while the audience in the garden spread out between the ornamental flo
Taiwan - When you are giving an acceptance speech at a major awards ceremony, there are two things you want to be sure of - that everyone can see you and that everyone can hear what you have to say. Achieving both these aims was key to the sound team at the recent Golden Melody Awards in Taipei, and the reason why they chose DPA’s d:sign 4098 Supercardoid Gooseneck microphones as their speech microphones. Andy Chen, president of Winly Production Services International Corp and production manager for this event, says: “DPA’s 4098 Supercardioid microphones offer much clearer and more transparent sound than the microphones we were previously using, plus the miniature capsule is so slim and so amazingly small that is doesn’t block the faces of the speakers. This is really important, especially for the female artists.” The Golden Melody Awards (GMA) take p
Costa Rica - Colegio Humboldt is an international school in San José, Costa Rica, that serves preschool through secondary students. The school was founded in 1912 by Germans and emphasises a German-based education, Humboldt is also known for its profusion of extra-curricular activities. The school recently built a new performing arts space to further its programme, Auditorio Humboldt, a multi-purpose auditorium outfitted with Elation Professional luminaires. Auditorio Humboldt is a modern, 238-capacity space where students conduct recitals and perform all manner of dance, music, theatre and debate. It houses top-of-the-line AV equipment with specialised technical personnel to provide support. Elation dealer and distributor for Costa Rica, Darko Lighting of San José, completed the lighting project. They supplied, designed and installed new stage and architectural lig
UK - The Warehouse Sound Services provided an advanced audio solution for Edinburgh International Festival’s spectacular opening event. Aberdeen Standard Investments Opening Event: LA Phil at Tynecastle celebrated the start of the 2019 International Festival and was attended by a capacity crowd of 15,000 people. The 2019 International Festival opened in style with a spectacular concert from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conductor Gustavo Dudamel, celebrating Hollywood film music. A stage replicating the Hollywood Bowl, where the LA Phil famously perform every summer, was recreated in Tynecastle Park, the home of Hearts football club. The LA Phil brought authentic gleam and glamour to the grandeur of Hollywood film scores in this year’s Opening Event, featuring classic movie music from the Golden Age of Hollywood by Korngold, Herrmann, Waxman and a
USA - On his current tour, Grammy-nominated Chris Young is being supported by a light and video show that is pointed emphatically toward the future. “We do have moments for sure when everything settles and there’s a nice solid traditional look, but overall we pushed things the other way toward pretty advanced technology,” said Chris Lisle of CLLD, who designed the forward-looking show for Young’s Raised On Country tour, using a rig supplied by Bandit Lites. A key contributor to Lisle’s fluid and dynamic design for the 28-city summer tour, which runs through 14 September, are the 60 Chauvet Professional Maverick MK Pyxis fixtures in his rig. Positioned 10-apiece in six square automated truss pods that move throughout the show, the RGBW fixtures provide a steady stream of multi-faceted looks, thanks to their continuous 360° pan and tilt movement and outer rim of 15
Canada - Christian Life Assembly (CLA) in Langley City, 25 miles from downtown Vancouver, has grown in leaps and bounds since its humble beginning in 1937 as a sidewalk Sunday School, first moving into a tiny hall, then a succession of larger buildings as the church has attracted more congregants. The worship centre at the Langley Campus, built in 1978, was expanded to hold 2,000 churchgoers in 2008 during renovations that also readied CLA for multimedia technology. Most recently, the church has taken its audio technology to the next level with a new DiGiCo SD12 digital mixing console at front-of-house and a KLANG immersive IEM mixing system, all specified and integrated by Ellis Pro Media of Tacoma, Washington. “The SD12 has been super-flexible for anything we have wanted to do,” says CLA assistant technical director Will Lee. “I haven’t had a situation where
UK - Tower 42 in the City of London is home to Jason Atherton’s Michelin star restaurant, City Social. Situated on the 24th floor, the venue commands spectacular views across the metropolis. As well as serving an extensive range of drinks, Social 24, the venue’s bar, also hosts popular and busy DJ nights. The City Social management team faced a number of issues relating to its audio provision and consulted with integrators Excite AV and the application team at Audiologic to help determine a practical way to overcome some tricky problems. The basic brief was to deliver a new background music system that could be used as a main system for DJ events. The existing ceiling speaker system suffered from uneven sound and coverage, with 100V line speakers dotted only near the windows and above the bar. On busy nights as customers gathered on the dance floor, any lift in vo
USA - Singer-songwriter Keelan Donovan, originally from Maine and now based in Nashville and Austin, knows the road. “After I graduated Belmont University, I knew I wanted to tour. So, from 2015-16 I was playing around 200 shows a year out on the road. Anywhere, for anyone, any time - I would book the shows myself and just play, play, play. I was trying to get my name out there, but I was also learning more about my music and performing every day.” The things he learned during those intensely busy years helped him focus in on his performance style and learn to recognise the tools that make performers sound their best – and now a key piece of his successful performing regimen is the L1 Model II portable line array system from Bose that he travels with and uses at many of his gigs, including house concerts and smaller venues. “At this point, I almost think of t
