USA - Located in the geographical heart of Minnesota, Central Lakes College embodies the state’s long-standing tradition of supporting community involvement in the arts. This spirit is very evident in the college’s two theatres, which not only showcase the work of its own drama department, but also host community theatrical productions, as well as recitals, rock concerts and a wide range of other performances. To support this diversified schedule, the theatre’s lighting designer Ben Kent recently upgraded its rig by adding flexible Chauvet Professional LED fixtures, supplied by Monkey Wrench Productions. “Our theatre production programme began 48 years ago, and it’s always embraced a variety of shows,” said theatre director Patrick Spradlin. “The college produces five or six theatrical productions a year, which are performed in either our proscenium space
USA - The mandate for a clean design drives all production decisions of the OneRepublic 2017 Honda Civic 2017 tour. VER is providing a turnkey solution by providing audio, video, lighting, and tying it together with automated rigging on OneRepublic’s North American run with Fitz & The Tantrums and acoustic artist James Arthur this summer. Deploying VER’s automated rigging “came out of sheer necessity,” says production manager Zito. Show designer Raj Kapoor and co-production designer/lighting designer Mark Butts of Preset Productions discussed their design dilemma with VER’s rigging project managers David Martin and Richard Cano. The solution: an automated rigging system of eight Kinesys Elevation +1 systems to safely and precisely move trusses with 70,000 pounds of lighting, audio and LED video panels. “Safety is paramount, and this system gives
USA - Multi-platinum, Grammy-Award winning artists Zac Brown Band (ZBB) is on the road again with a new album Welcome Home and a brand-new production lighting and visuals design created by James Scott and Louis Oliver from UK-based creative design practice, Okulus. James and Louis have included 32 x Robe Spiiders on the lighting rig, which are integral to creating the look, feel and lighting ambience of the show. James has been working with Zac Brown Band since 2014 and since 2015 this has been in conjunction with Louis and Okulus - adding the dynamic and strategic advantage of now being able to offer two design ‘heads’ for each project. While the previous two tours featured prominent structures and multi-layered set pieces, the aesthetic brief for Welcome Home was to strip things back, bring the band physically closer together and make the whol
USA - Founded in 1885, Second Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri has moved, built, and rebuilt numerous sanctuaries in the 130-plus years of service to the Springfield community. It completed its current 1,000-seat sanctuary in the mid-1990s. When recent failures further exposed the shortcomings of what had been an unsatisfying sound reinforcement system from the start, Second Baptist turned to A/V integration firm Sandor Sound Services (Reeds Spring, Missouri). Sandor designed and installed a new complement of Danley Sound Labs SH-96 and SH-95 loudspeakers, whose precision pattern control and high fidelity (even at high SPLs) give the church everything it had been hoping for. Moreover, the Danley boxes’ small footprint and optional white finish effectively let them disappear visually. “Second Baptist Church’s existing system was underpowered and left a lot
The Netherlands - An Avolites Arena console was recently used as part of an extensive Avolites lighting control network for Dutch rock giants Kensington, at Pinkpop, the world's longest-running pop festival, in Landgraaf, Netherlands. The Arena console was supplied by Belgium-based rental company, Phlippo, to the band's lighting designer Jop Kuipers. Fairlight supplied two Titan Network Processors (TNP) and an Optical Titan Network Switch (TNS), whilst Kuipers brought in his personal Titan Mobile console as backup. "I have been using Avolites for over a decade," says Kuipers. "The Arena desk is great for large set-ups like Pinkpop, because it has a lot of on-board connection options such as fibre and SMPTE Timecode." Kensington's Pinkpop set came in the middle of the band's 2017 summer festival tour. For the show, Kuipers designed a high-impact floor package co
UK - In keeping with Galileo’s lifetime preoccupation with circles, ellipses and their spatial movement, the Young Vic’s recent interpretation of Bertolt Brecht’s Life of Galileo was also staged in-the-round. Central to the sound design by Tom Gibbons and associate sound designer Dan Balfour was a TiMax SoundHub processor, which provided a powerful platform for rendering immersive three-dimensional spatialisation of multi-layered sound effects and high-energy music beds, the latter specially-commissioned from one half of The Chemical Brothers, Tom Rowlands. Balfour states, “TiMax is easy to get to grips with.” To illustrate the simplicity, he continues, “In tech we were able to add movement complementary to the action, responding to the important theme of circular movement. It liberated the sound design from simply playback and speakers.” The
The Netherlands - Superstar DJ Armin van Buuren played two solo shows at the Amsterdam ArenA and Dutch lighting creative Art of Light relied on a Hippotizer Karst Media Server to control a series of LED setups during the show. Closing his latest Armin Only performance concept at the Amsterdam ArenA, with the biggest show that he has ever done, Armin van Buuren became the first DJ to stage a solo show at the famous venue – also home to AFC Ajax. The Armin Only show debuted in 2005 and the latest edition is bigger than ever, letting the Dutch DJ play longer sets while also exploring his artistic side. So, while Armin Only enables the DJ to deliver a mammoth set, fans get more than just the Dutchman standing behind his decks. Armin was joined by an arsenal of musicians and singers that helped him bring his music to the ‘next level’, creating an
Hungary - A spectacular opening ceremony in downtown Budapest marked the start of the 17th FINA World Aquatic Championships, with 14 days of world class aquatic sports following the elegant, eye-catching event directed by Olivier Feracci from French event production specialist ECA2 and Hungarian film director Csaba Kael, CEO of cultural hub Mupa Budapest. WIcreations was contacted by Guillaume Duflot from EC2A, responsible for delivering full technical production for the event, and asked to provide rigging and structures involving a number of bespoke black-steel elements, together with their extensive expertise and knowledge of working in large scale outdoor environments. The WI project was led by Koen Peeters, and on-site crew chiefed by Stano Kusik. The stunning panoramic setting for the FINA OC show included a massive custom-built floating stage, moored on the Danu
USA - At iWeiss, ProPower means continuity in more ways than one. Their oldest ProPower Rack Power Distribution (RPD) rack has been in continuous service for 17 years, in the most challenging and hostile theatrical conditions. With over 1,500 ProPower racks in service across North America, the story of this reliable workhorse product is worth telling. “After 17 years of continuous use in the construction and renovation of venues, amidst all the associated debris, dust and dirt, our oldest ProPower rack still functions flawlessly,” says Richard Parks, VP of rigging and installation at iWeiss. “I can’t praise this product enough. It always saves us time and money with a single tie that the crew can work without an electrician, and it always passes the OSHA and AHJ inspections.” Parks adds, “This rack has supported dozens of crews, rigging, welding and hoisti
USA - Following last fall’s sold-out headline tour, Sabrina Carpenter’s ongoing The De-Tour is taking the American singer, songwriter, and actress to over 30 venues across the USA and Canada this summer. The tour utilizes venue-provided “racks and stacks” but carries a 32ft video wall and an audio package that includes an Allen & Heath dLive S5000 Surface and DM64 MixRack for FOH. FOH engineer Jason Brandt created his dLive show file prior to rehearsals and made use of dLive’s Virtual Sound Check (VSC) feature and a recording made with Waves Tracks Live. Brandt says, “I continue to track every show because the tour has taken us to a variety of venues which are all very different sounding environments, and the VSC really helps with setups.” He notes that The De-Tour includes two opening acts who use the dLive for both FOH and monitors. Brandt se
Europe - Danish musician and producer Anders Trentemøller will be taking a selection of DPA microphones on tour this summer when he delivers a live set at 20 European festivals. Based in Copenhagen, Trentemøller is internationally acclaimed for his heart-wrenching melodies, exceptional production and a trademark sound somewhere between indie and electronic. His recent work is driven by a passion for experimentation and succeeds in transcending influences and genres to deliver a much more organic version of his signature sound. To help translate this sound to the live stage, Trentemøller’s sound engineer and FOH mixer Sune Snellman Jakobsen has specified a wide range of DPA microphones for this summer’s festival tour. These include 10 d:dicate 2011C Twin Diaphragm Cardioid Compact Microphones, four d:vote 4099D Instrument Microphones, one d:vote 4099CM Instrument
Hungary - The 17th FINA World Aquatic Championships took place in Budapest with 14 days of aquatic sports following a vibrant, colourful, elegant and epic opening ceremony directed by Olivier Feracci from French event production specialist ECA2 and Hungarian film director Csaba Kael, CEO of cultural hub Mupa Budapest. Lighting designer Frédéric “Aldo” Fayard from Concept K in Paris specified over 400 moving lights for the event, 80 per cent of which were Robes. He was brought on-board by French event production company ECA2 who co-ordinated all the technical production. The event included a host of other visual elements like large format projections, mapped buildings, water fountains and fireworks. A cast of several hundred performed during the two-hour show, broadcast live on national TV, on the M4 Sport channel (Directed by Andras Kakatos) and streamed
UK - Romsey Abbey is a magnificent 12th century church – the largest parish church in Hampshire and home to a vibrant congregation. It has also been used as a performance venue by Music in Romsey (MIR) since the early 1970s. MIR hosts an extensive series of concerts there throughout the year. Musicians involved range from local choirs and bands to international soloists and orchestras. However, the group has always struggled to 'raise' their performers due to a lack of any special staging. Bob Smith, stage manager for Music in Romsey said: "In the past we've had to use whatever we had to hand – literally – old beer crates with sheets of hardboard laid over the top come to mind. We then had some wooden platforms made which could be stacked and placed on trolleys and these were used at every concert when staging was needed until about four years ago. They were 1.3m squar
USA - After announcing the Joanne World Tour six months ago, Lady Gaga stayed mum on the details of this major production. As the Rogers Arena doors opened on 1 August, 2017, the hashtag #JOANNEWorldTour interrupted social media threads and trended worldwide as followers raved about Mother Monster’s extravagant set and stage design. The stunning aesthetics of the Joanne World Tour gave many attendees goosebumps as the set and stage, built by TAIT, took over the entire arena. The full layout consisted of a very dynamic and kinetic main stage, three flying bridge platforms which double as projection displays, two satellite stages and an LED integrated b-stage. Lady Gaga opened the Joanne World Tour with a show-stopping performance of Diamond Heart on what looked like a typical TAIT stage platform until the stage went ‘Gaga’ and moved into different configura
USA - Kent State University chose three, side-by-side James Thomas Engineering PRT roof structures for their recent commencement ceremony. PRT systems are James Thomas Engineering Pre-Rig Super Truss roof systems with 38.1mm (15 inch) towers. They measure 12.2 x 12.2m (40 x 40ft), with the centre roof having an additional mid-stage span. The structures are tied together with Pre-Rig SuperTruss, which forms the sound bays. All structures were provided by KO Management. (Jim Evans)
USA - Following the completion of his From Here To Now To You tour in 2013-2014, Jack Johnson has only played a handful of shows over the past three years. However, with his new album, All The Light Above It Too, slated to drop in early September, the former professional surfer-turned-singer/songwriter, actor and activist recently returned to the road with his band - and Rat Sound’s L-Acoustics K1/K2 system - to preview his upcoming material. Johnson has enjoyed a long history with the Camarillo-based sound company, which has reinforced all of his tours since 2000. Although the 2013-2014 trek carried a Kara-based loudspeaker system that was ideal for the more intimate theatres and performing arts venues on that run, this latest tour stopped at much larger spaces -including California’s 17,500-seat Hollywood Bowl and Washington’s 22,000-seat Gorge Amphithe
USA - Australian Pink Floyd has appeared before over four million fans in 35 countries. The band captivates fans by recreating Pink Floyd’s stage shows. This immersive multi-sensory experience is very much on display in Australian Pink Floyd’s current USA tour, thanks in no small part to a nine-universe lightshow that Tom Mumby designed and controls with the ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium console. Mumby, owner of Vivid Lighting Design, is using over 150 fixtures in the show. A 5m ircle that holds 26 moving washes and frames a video wall serves as the centrepiece of his design. His main rig is also made up of six vertical ladders, hung at staggered heights from a 50’ truss. Complementing the lights on the ladder trussing is a collection of 26 washes, strobes and blinders that runs along the downstage edge. An additional eight washes are used as sidelights. Rounding
USA - When Tim Farquhar took his first look at the site of the Beanstalk Music and Arts Festival, he described it as “a lighting designer’s dream”. Not only was the setting breathtakingly beautiful with its panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains and the Upper Colorado River, but at 6,600’ above sea level and miles from the nearest city there was virtually no ambient light, save the stars in the summer sky, to distract from a lightshow. Farquhar, owner of Farquhar Productions in Boulder, CO, recently made the most of this dream opportunity for himself and visiting band LDs by creating a powerful and flexible lighting rig for the four-day Beanstalk event. His flexible rig was anchored by a collection of Chauvet Professional Rogue R1 Spots and Chauvet DJ Intimidator fixtures supplied by Field View Productions. “Every LD wants work in a beautiful setting, and you
USA - The theme at the bar and cocktail lounge Campbell Apartment, located in Grand Central Terminal in New York City, centralized on the history of its landmark status. The space was once the office of American financier John W. Campbell, a member of the New York Central Railroad's board of directors. Later used for office space, as a studio by CBS Radio and as a jail by Metro-North Railroad, the space was restored to its original opulence following renovations totalling nearly $2m in 1999 and 2007. The walls and ceiling were brought back to their former glory, a new bar was constructed using the same quatrefoil mahogany as the balcony and the original steel safe, once hidden behind a wall, now sits in the massive fireplace as a reminder of Campbell's wealth. Temporarily closing its door for a year for leasing issues, Campbell Apartment reopened in June 2017 under the
UK - The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) staged the London premiere of Scuttlers in its city centre GBS Theatre, an intense drama about the struggles and power politics of 19th century Manchester street gangs set against a steaming, grinding industrial revolution backdrop bringing massive social change and great uncertainty. The work was written by Rona Munro in response to the UK’s unsettling spate of urban riots in 2011. Directed by Hannah Eidinow, the production was lit by Declan Randall, a South African theatre lighting specialist living in the UK, who made use of a number of different Robe fixtures available at RADA. Declan was asked to light this production by Matthew Leventhall, RADA’s head of production lighting, working alongside a team of RADA students. The stark, raw industrial set – designed by Postgraduate Theatre Design (Set & Costum
Germany - Video designer Ben Miles has praised the Avolites Ai R6 media servers in their performance for festival opener Coldplay at the star-studded Global Citizen Festival in Hamburg, Germany, ahead of the annual G20 Summit. The Festival calls on governments and the private sector to increase support and funding of issues associated with extreme poverty. This year was the first time the event had been held in Europe - and featured performances by world-renowned superstars including Pharrell Williams, Shakira, Ellie Goulding, German superstars Herbert Gronemeyer and Andreas Bourani - all opened by multi-million selling British band Coldplay. Miles, who has been responsible for Coldplay's stunning visuals throughout the band's A Head Full of Dreams tour, comments, "Coldplay has so many 'big hits' it's difficult for us to know which of them they will play at festivals
UK - Secret Garden Party (SGP) has been staged at Abbot’s Ripton near Huntingdon, UK since 2004 by Fred Felloes. It was hand-crafted as a boutique alternative to the established mainstream music festivals. 2017 marked the last SGP event, finishing on a high note of success and major impact in the world of alt.culture. West London based lighting and visual rental specialist Colour Sound Experiment has been involved with the event for the last decade and this year supplied stage lighting to six main live performance areas and video to one. Additionally, they delivered lighting and special effects to over 40 other venues, bars, lounges and clubs dotted around the beautiful site, all helping revellers enjoy their final chance to catch that special SGP ambience. Colour Sound’s crew of 22, led by Alex McCoy, arrived on site on Monday morning and had to be ready for a Fr
UK - Audio specialist tube uk delivered sound systems to a diverse mix of over 30 shows, site specific installations and one-off performances in a variety of venues across the city throughout the 18-day Manchester International Festival 2017 (MIF17). tube's Melvyn Coote oversaw all the projects, collaborating closely with the festival’s technical director Jack Thompson. The tube project management team of Adam Taylor, John Redfern, Dan Steele and Melvyn ran the numerous jobs from a pre-production and planning aspect – then a top team of seven warehouse and logistics staff, headed up and orchestrated by Jamie Sharman, implemented the equipment preps and the hectic delivery schedules. A further 15 - 20 regular freelance engineers and technicians implemented the installation, rigging and operating of the various shows and gigs. The pace was relentless wi
USA - A pair of grunge rock heavies teamed up for a once in a life one-off at a music hall 150 miles outside Chicago this July, and were support by some punchy looks from an equally powerful duo: The Intimidator Beam 350 LED and Intimidator Spot 255 IRC from Chauvet DJ. Fresh off their appearance on the Make America Rock Again tour, Puddle of Mudd and Saving Abel visited the Boiler Room, in Kewanee, IL for a sold-out show. Jeff Hinton, working for Jonny B. Enterprises, supported their intense non-stop 90-minute performance with a hard-hitting lightshow that featured 16 of the moving fixtures. “These were big name artists for this town and this venue,” said Hinton. “We wanted to create a lightshow that had a full production look, but we had a small stage and limited power. The Intimidators allowed us to create some impressive visuals despite this limitation, not
