UK - Flightcase manufacturer 5 Star's penchant for imagination and style came to the forefront again in a project delivered to UK speaker manufacturer Flare Audio, who are supplying the sound system (PA and monitors) for popular drum 'n' bass duo Nero's current UK tour.

Flare's owner and MD Davies Roberts encouraged project manager Arron Smith to approach 5 Star - initially on their booth at the PLASA exhibition in London in September - as he had memories of the name and reputation for quality dating back to when he worked on film sets with his father.

Smith and 5 Star's Keith Sykes chatted through some thoughts and options based on the need for an innovative casing system to house multiples of Flare's Triwave i10 loudspeakers. They wanted to be able to deploy these quickly and efficiently when flown as main left and right PA arrays once inside a venue.

The resulting case co

Russia - The rebirth of Russia's Bolshoi Theatre this month will serve as the premiere for the world's largest installation of Oeko-Tex 100 certified stage drapes from ShowTex.

After six years of work by a cast of thousands, the Bolshoi Theatre is just days away from reopening night, with President Dmitry Medvedev concert on 28 October.

The black velvet velour fabric used for all acoustic panels, stage borders, legs, and backdrops was selected by the project's main contractor Rexroth in a blind test.

There were several requirements for the Bolshoi's new drapes, from fabric weight and colour, to density of weave and flame retardant certification level. In the end, the Molière cotton velvet developed by ShowTex stood out as the truest black that can be achieved in a staging environment. In fact, all three of the Ultrablack velvet velour fabrics from ShowTex absorb more than 9

Ireland - Production Services Ireland (PSI) energised its Northern and Southern Irish facilities in a massive operation to provide lighting, rigging and technical services for the 2011 Arthur Guinness Day celebrations.

This featured multiple events worldwide and in Ireland, incorporating major live stages in Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Limerick - plus a myriad of organically flowing pub-based live music gigs and celebrations in all those towns and throughout the entire country.

The main venue for the whole event was the Guinness Hop Store at the St James's Gate Brewery, where PSI supplied a new eight-legged Litec ground support and trussing system that was purchased for this event. They also supplied all lighting, trussing and over 60 points of rigging.

The performance line up of the Stereophonics, Paolo Nutini, The Saturdays, Yasmin and more was recorded and the highlights br

UK - Backstage Academy is developing a network of professionals from the live events industry who are keen to get involved in delivering training.

There are various opportunities available, from tutoring modules on the FdA in Live Events Production (a 15-month degree starting this November), or running short courses, to taking students out into a real working environment to gain industry practice, or simply dropping in to spend an hour with the students on the FdA to pass on some of your knowledge and tell them what it's really like in the working world.

So if you'd like to get off the road or do something meaningful with your spare time, get in touch with the Academy at:enquiries@backstage-academy.co.uk.

The Academy is continuing to grow and develop new courses, and is always interested in hearing your ideas for how it can help raise standards in the live events sector.

T

USA - Stage Technologies has confirmed its major sponsorship of the North American Theatre Engineering & Architecture Conference (NATEAC). The next two day conference will be held in New York on 22-23 July 2012 and Stage Technologies is once again the first company to commit its support as Platinum Sponsor of this key industry event, having been one of the main sponsors of the inaugural event in 2008.

The NATEAC conference provides a forum for consultants, architects, engineers, technicians and technical managers to discuss planning, design, construction, installation and commissioning entertainment venues, conference and international sporting event spaces, and houses of worship.

Mark Ager, CEO of the global Stage Technologies group said, "We are pleased to once again offer our support to the 2012 NATEAC conference. This industry thrives on the opportunity to exchange id

UK - Jason Bruges Studio, in conjunction with Prolyte Group, have designed the world's first digital water feature for the new Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, east London. The design of Westfield Stratford City ensures that the scheme is much more than just a shopping mall and demonstrates a real commitment to public space and a connection to the Olympic Park.

Installation artists, Jason Bruges Studio, were commissioned to create a 'public art' design to be a key feature in Chestnut Plaza, the central public square leading to the Stadium. And they turned to Prolyte Group's creative brand division, Litestructures, to help them realise their vision.

The brief was to create a design that would be "both engaging and sensorial" and was shaped by Westfield's collaboration with the Discover children's charity, which took children around London and asked them what th

UK - After seven gruelling stages in England, Scotland and Wales, September's 2011 Tour of Britain came to a high-speed conclusion in London in front of huge crowds. For the third year in a row, AP Security was entrusted with ensuring that the fans enjoyed the event and that the required road closures caused as little disruption as possible.

Starting in Whitehall, the cyclists rode up to Trafalgar Square, down Northumberland Avenue and then along the north bank of the Thames to the Tower of London, returning by the same route to pass beneath Hungerford Bridge, a quick dash past the Houses of Parliament and then back to the starting point via Parliament Street.

"As usual, several weeks before the event we liaised with Westminster Council, Transport For London and independent traffic consultants, planning the road closures and how to move staff to different areas as the eve

UK - 5 Star Cases has delivered the latest purchase by lighting rental company Static Light of 75 new road trunks.

The cases were ordered in two different colour schemes and comprise 5 Star's Super Tour type road trunks, based on its popular Eurotrucker series.

Sixty of the cases were made in light grey with navy blue lids, and the remaining 15 in dark green with light grey lids. This helps to easily identify different contents and also the cases themselves.

Internally, the trunks are all lined with a generous layer of 12mm of polyethylene foam which gives excellent hard-wearing protection and aids a snug fit. 5 Star's in-house screen printing facility was utilised to display the Static Light logo prominently on the tops and sides of the cases.

Static Lighting, headquartered in Waltham Abbey, Essex, is a regular 5 Star client and specialises in supplying daylight lightsour

USA - PLASA has announced the winners of the 2011 Members' Choice Awards presented on Saturday, October 27th at the LDI and PLASA awards ceremony. The awards recognised newly released, outstanding entertainment technology products. Voting on these awards was open to all employees of PLASA member companies who attended the LDI show. The 2011 winners are:

Gadget Category

Apollo Design Technology's Wrenchmate 2:

An adjustable wrench with a closed-end wrench built into the handle with three different sizes to provide easy access to the common sizes found on lighting fixture clamps.

Equipment Category

LightConverse 3D Show Platform Version 52:

Integrates and visualizes multiple show-related disciplines including lighting, video, laser, pyrotechnics, and moving objects. New features include 3D Object Tracking capabilities and the ability to realistically visual

USA - A new International Green Theatre Alliance (IGTA) has been launched at this year's LDI show in Orlando, Florida. The IGTA formalises the growing partnership between Julie's Bicycle (UK), which works on environmental sustainability across the creative industries in the UK, and the Broadway Green Alliance (USA), which works with the US theatre community and its patrons to adopt environmentally preferable practices.

The Alliance's first project is a new website www.igtalliance.com which will go live in December 2011 and provide an entry point for international practitioners seeking information and resources on environmentally sustainable best practice in the arts. The website will introduce the extensive sustainability programmes of alliance members and direct users to international resources and support networks.

Alliance members will be working together on a range of proj

UK - After nearly 40 years as a live venue, the landmark white building that dominates Birmingham's Dale End was recently facing an uncertain future. Happily, following a thorough refurbishment, the beginning of October saw live music return to what is now called the Birmingham Ballroom. Also returning is AP Security, as the revamped venue's crowd management and safety provider.

The building has had an illustrious, albeit sometimes chequered, career as a live venue. Opened as the Top Rank, later becoming the Hummingbird and the Carling (then O2) Academy, it has hosted many of the most famous rock, pop, punk and urban acts over the years. The O2 Academy moved to a new site two years ago, but new owners have now restored the building to its former glory - including returning the iconic, tile-hung exterior to a spotless finish - opening its doors in early October.

AP Security had

UK - SES Entertainment Services has announced the appointment of Ben Stearn as their national sales manager. Stearn, who has been with SES since leaving school, has moved through the company and now heads up the sales team based in their Datchet head office.

Stearn will be tasked with the introduction of further sales staff and the management of the whole team, along with promotion of the company's extensive range of power distro products, introduction of new product lines and exhibition promotion.

" I am very pleased to be given this appointment and really look forward to the challenges of this demanding role, and relish the opportunity of leading the new sales team into the future," says Stearn.

(Jim Evans)

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET's rigging division, the exclusive UK distributor of Litec truss has announced the latest evolution of their most popular truss range QX30S.

The new version, named QX30AC, has been developed directly for A.C. Rigging in answer to requests from some of its most prolific customers and is a direct evolution of the most widely used truss from the manufacturer.

The primary feature of the new QX30AC is a change to the main chords of the truss, which now feature a 48.3mm outer dimension tube with a wall thickness of 3mm. Additionally, the diagonals have been changed to a 16mm x 2mm tube to keep weight down while maintaining maximum strength of the structure.

This change makes the truss even more useful as a key rental product. The thicker wall makes the truss more robust to knocks and bumps and the 48mm O.D. means the truss can be used wit

UK - Continuing a nine-year tradition, Stage Electrics recently staged a pair of successful regional exhibits showcasing its key distribution brands, at Newcastle Upon Tyne and Cardiff.

The one-day events were held at the Peter Sarah Theatre in the Performance Academy of Newcastle College, Newcastle Upon Tyne and the newly opened Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in the grounds of Cardiff Castle, where Stage Electrics also recently completed a major sound, production lighting and communications installation in the concert hall and theatre.

Brands on show were Arri, Avolites, Chauvet, Clay Paky, DiGiCo, ETC, Highlite, MA Lighting, L-Acoustics, Lee Filters Le Maitre, Martin Professional, Panasonic, Philips Strand, Selecon and Vari-Lite, Pulsar, RCF, Rosco, Roland, Sennheiser, Shure, Yamaha and Zero 88.

Some 230 people attended on the day, with students from each venue for

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET)'s rigging division recently supplied a BroadWeigh wireless load monitoring system to Production Services Ireland for use on the main stage of the Tennent's Vital music festival in Bangor Northern Ireland.

Production Services Ireland were awarded the full contract to supply all lighting and rigging for the festival, which returns for the first time since 2007 and featured top headline acts Eminem and The Script.

The BroadWeigh wireless load monitoring system is manufactured in the UK by Mantracourt Electronics. It offers a quick, easy-fit solution allowing riggers to instantly see forces being exerted on the suspended structure, avoiding potentially dangerous overloads.

Sean Pagel, Production Services Ireland's director comments, "It was great to use the BroadWeigh at Vital. Seeing the real-time load data in a proper live envi

UK - Abbey Road Studios' new Studio 52 is "wired for perfect sound", boasting all-Van Damme cables and connectors, supplied by VDC Trading. The install follows hard on the heels of an all-Van Damme cabling refit at Abbey Road's Studio 2.

The former production room has been transformed into a studio and is home to Abbey Road's newly purchased SSL Duality SE console. The studio has been created in line with all of the studio spaces at Abbey Road to fully accommodate the recently launched Abbey Road Online Mixing service.

Along with the Duality, Studio 52 is equipped with a Pro Tools 10 Native HD system with extensive plug-ins, a selection of classic analogue outboard gear and B&W and ADAM monitoring. The studio selected Van Damme cables and connectors, distributed exclusively by VDC Trading, to provide reliable connectivity and high quality signal transmission.

Van D

UK - Recent developments and expansion at LS-Live have seen the company invest in a new website.

Over the past year, LS-Live has grown to become a one-stop-shop resource for the staging and rehearsal needs of any event, with the largest stock of staging equipment in the UK and an expanded rehearsal facility.

"The re-design of our online portal reflects the various services and capabilities that our company offers to the world of live event production and entertainment," said general manager Ben Brooks.

The website, www.ls-live.com, allows visitors to easily navigate between the four main areas of the business: Studio; Staging Structures; Set Construction; and Equipment Rental.

"Following the sale of aluminium truss manufacturing brand Litestructures to Dutch company Prolyte last year, and the subsequent re-branding of our studio and staging rental business f

USA - PLASA Focus: Austin welcomes a raft of new exhibitors as the two-day event expands its floor plan yet again. The new style of regional event, to be held 22-23 February 22-23, 2012 at the Renaissance Austin, Texas, has doubled its footprint in the past week, with over 25 companies committed to taking part and as many applications being processed.

Joining confirmed exhibitors ETC, Barbizon, Philips Color Kinetics, Doug Fleenor Design, Strong Entertainment Lighting, Chauvet, A.C.T Lighting, Global Design Solutions, CommuniLux Productions, GLP German Light Products, Daktronics Rigging, Total Structures, Arri, Rosco, Rose Brand, Robe, High End Systems, Secoa and Clay Paky, amongst others, are new exhibitors; Elation, White Light, LSC, James Thomas Engineering, Creative Stage Lighting, Inlight Gobos, Mainstage Theatrical Supply, Martin Professional and TMB.

PLASA Focus' much t

UK - Trans-Sport Ltd, based in Retford, Nottinghamshire, has been providing custom solutions for customers since they were established in 1990. Now 21 years on and despite the recession they are looking to the future of the business and have been investing heavily in the future of the company.

What started out as an agricultural & mining engineering company, soon became established as a player in the entertainment market when Bill Morris (now of CTV - Outside Broadcasts) asked the MD Shaun Cope if they could manufacture some in-pocket cameras for the World Snooker Championships. The custom cameras were made, and Trans-Sport was born. Roll forward to today and now they work in all aspects of live TV transmissions and televised sports including Darts, Poker and Snooker for both BSkyB and The BBC.

Now working globally in the TV and live media events industries, the decision was m

UK - Blackout provided rigging and draping for the spectacular 2011 MTV EMA held in Belfast on 6 November.

MTV EMA's spectacular set (designed by Es Devlin), transformed Belfast's Odyssey Arena with a complex combination of curved scenery at both ends and technical production equipment. Every inch of the venue was utilised to achieve the combined requirements of the live show and television producers for the broadcast to over 600m MTV homes around the world.

Blackout director Kevin Monks has worked with the MTV EMA producers all over Europe since 1998. And comments, "The MTV EMA is always a spectacular show and a technically complicated one to achieve. This year we were working to a very tight build schedule, which the brilliant MTV EMA event manager Maggie Mouzakitis delivered with calm assurance - and there were a lot of (crazy) creative ideas for us to accommodate with

UK - Harting's's Han Modular series connector inserts allow event installers to create high-density connectivity and cabling solutions with total signal-handling flexibility - including audio, video, communications, data and power - through different rugged IP 65/67 hoods and housings suitable for harsh handling conditions.

Multiple contact style modules can be mixed to suit particular needs. Multi-pin modules can support analogue and digital audio transfer, while multi-way coaxial modules can handle CCTV, SDI, HD-SDI and 3G-SDI video. A full range of power modules allows current handling from a few amperes to 200 A.

RJ45 data modules allow Ca.5 10/100 Mbit/s, Cat 6e 1 Gbit/s or Cat 6E 10 Gbit/s Ethernet transfer via Harting patch leads. Signal security between power and data lines can be ensured where necessary through EMC screening options or by the use of SC fibre-optic mod

Spain - Stageco supplied a bespoke stage for a special one off performance in Madrid by Coldplay to promote their fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto.

The British band performed at the famous Spanish bull ring, Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas in Madrid on 26 October 2011. The performance was filmed by Anton Corbijn and streamed live on You Tube, where it was viewed by millions worldwide.

The band performed on a specially crafted circular 25m by 17m Stageco stage which was adjoined to an 'X' shaped catwalk to imitate the 'X' symbol from the new album - giving a special touch to the design.

Stageco also provided four single PA/Spot towers and a custom designed, transparent bandroof, which complimented the stunning backdrop of the venue and protected the artists from unpredictable weather conditions.

Stageco director Hedwig De Meyer started the 12 day project on 18 October an

UK - Showsec provided a 15 strong management consultancy team to oversee all elements of the complex security operations surrounding the 2011 MTV EMA in Belfast.

A who's who of pop music came to Belfast to celebrate the best of the past year in a glittering awards show that will be seen by more than 600m MTV homes around the world through the global TV network. Eleven live performances and a host of international stars took pride of place in Belfast's Odyssey Arena, as EMA gongs were scooped by performers including Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and Justin Bieber. Across town, Irish favourites Snow Patrol and US singer songwriter Jason Derulo played to 15,000 fans on an outdoor stage at Belfast's City Hall, while - the Red Hot Chili Peppers rocked a third stage at Ulster Hall.

Showsec Director Simon Battersby was the 2011 MTV EMA director of security. He says, "We have

Australia - Following the recent appointment of John Reid as general manager, ESS Australia is rebranding the staging component of its business to Tribal Staging.

With over 30 years' experience worldwide and boasting a client list that includes leading players in the music and entertainment industry, Tribal Staging will continue to be one of Australia's

premier supplier of Outdoor Stages, PA Towers, Screen Supports, FOH Towers, Signage Towers, and Decking Systems to the music and entertainment industry.

Providing safe stages is Tribal Staging's priority and every structure with no discrimination on size or height has a design certification and site signoff by an independent certified structural engineer and certified to Australian standards, says the company.

With regular scheduling of maintenance conducted, Tribal Staging consistently supplies structures that are tested a

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