UK - LS-Live was the facility of choice for both production rehearsals and staging rental for four headline acts at the Glastonbury Festival.

Arctic Monkeys, Dizzee Rascal, HURTS and Chase & Status all performed headline shows with production support from the stage & set, equipment rental and studio complex based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

The rental company welcomed Glastonbury's Friday night headliners Arctic Monkeys to the 17,664 sq.ft rehearsal studio for six days full pre-production in June where the band and crew made use of the 14 en-suite bedrooms on site to work round the clock.

Production manager Ian Calder oversaw the production build, which incorporated two huge letters 'A' and 'M' clad in LED lighting on stage, to represent the band's name, part of a show that frontman Alex Turner later hailed as "one of the best gigs we've ever done".

LS-Live was

USA / UK - TAIT has announced the acquisition of Stage Technologies and Delstar Engineering. A statement from TAIT says: "This acquisition sees the merger of the world's market leaders in the field of automation, staging and engineering for the live entertainment industry. The enhanced capacity of the groups provides the ability to offer unrivalled technology and expertise across the globe from locations on the East and West coasts of America, Belgium, Macau, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, China and Australia.

"The increased breadth and depth of the company will provide clients with an extensive palette of cutting edge technologies, which will include eChameleon, Navigator, F:Light, Sculptor toolkit for 3ds Max, plus a comprehensive range of winches and staging solutions for concert touring, theatre, corporate events, film and television and permanent installations.&qu

UK - When the Barbican Theatre in the Barbican Centre Arts Complex closed its doors for a major 15 week overhaul in May, Unusual Rigging was brought in to put together an access platform to enable the replacement of the entire grid.

Originally a lyric theatre, and long term home to the Royal Shakespeare Company, the theatre is now called upon to host a far greater range of international touring productions as well as its own in-house productions. As such the entire flying grid and system needed replacing to keep up with the growing demands placed upon the theatre's technical team.

Ashley Pickles, theatre technical manager (systems and maintenance) at the Barbican Theatre said, "This is a major project for us, removing not just the existing flying grid and system but also some of the gallery and proscenium bridge structures in order to expand the width of the stage and gen

UK - Voting is now open for the Technical Theatre Awards, with 36 talented theatre workers shortlisted for the 12 'individual' awards, some of whom have been working within their speciality for over 20 years and are already extremely well established within the industry.

Alongside the awards dedicated to extraordinary individuals, four companies and three theatres will go head-to-head for the two company-based awards that are up for grabs: the Hire Company of the Year Award, and the 'Spotlight Accounting' Receiving Venue of the Year Award.

An additional award is dedicated to the theatre that has demonstrated the most effective awareness of venue sustainability and will be chosen and presented by leading industry specialists, :entertaining sustainability.

Voting is open to all members of the theatre industry and organisers are promoting each of the nominee's on the TTA websit

UK - Phil Christodolou and Graham Baker have announced that Alistage Ltd is open for business and currently operating out of Harlow, offering a full range of indoor and outdoor stage systems, dome roof systems, and front of stage barriers; available as both dry hire or with full service options for the event, conference, TV and film industries.

The stock includes the entire range of equipment previously available from Aliscaff Ltd who traded as Alistage.

The new company opened for business at the start of July and will be offering a newer streamlined service, with competitive pricing, as well as an option for full technical production support along with Centre Stage who currently operate within the live sound and lighting hire sectors.

Alistage Ltd can be contacted on 01279 406 270 or by email at sales@alistage.co.uk

(Claire Beeson)

Denmark - Martin Professional has announced its CO2 hazer, producing "outstanding fine-particulate atmospheric effects for large venues".

The Martin Jem Ready 365 Hazer uses advanced water-based fluid, which gives a comparable performance to industry-standard oils, producing the ultimate transparent haze, suitable for concerts, events, TV studios, theaters, clubs, cruise ships, theme parks and more.

The Jem Ready 365 Hazer houses advanced technology, including automatic shutdown with battery backup to prevent clogging and running out of gas by producing limited haze, even if gas pressure is lost. This allows the user to exchange the gas cylinder quickly without loss of effect. The Jem Ready is gas-efficient, sipping small amount of fluid per use and leaves no residue or smell.

The easy-to-use, plug and play system requires minimal setup time, runs nearly silent and

UK - Rigging is an area of the entertainment business where competency is an absolute requirement not just a preference. Load Cell Rental, who offer a fully customised weighing and load monitoring service using a calibrated weighing system, recently joined forces with Lift Turn Move (LTM) to offer opportunities for professional development for those working with motorised hoists. The first two LoadGuard Motor Schools of 2013 were two day courses hosted by Dave Ward (LTM technical manager) at the new training facility of Adlib Solutions in Liverpool at the end of February.

Using the LoadGuard brand of chain hoists, participants had the chance to strip down a machine to its separate component parts before rebuilding it and operating the hoist successfully. Going through that process gave attendees the opportunity to review and build on their technical competencies. From general el

USA - Le Maitre is delighted to be appointing Randy Segeren has been appointed as president of Le Maitre USA.

Segeren, who played a key role previously, when Le Maitre Special Effects was set up as the original distributor for the North American market 20 years ago, before the company began operating directly as Le Maitre USA LLC in 2011.

Having spent the past 12 years working for several top distribution companies in the entertainment industry, selling lighting, sound and fog equipment, most recently at Erikson Pro, Segeren has established himself as a successful industry specialist.

Commenting on his appointment Segeren says, "I am absolutely delighted to be re-joining Le Maitre. It is a world class manufacturing company; a leader in pyrotechnics, fog machines and paper effects. The company has a stellar reputation for innovative products, R&D and superior customer se

Germany - The electrical substation in Alexanderplatz built in 1960 was once East Berlin's principal source of energy. Even after German reunification in 1989, it continued to be used to generate electricity and was only shut down in 2002.

Now the substation has been converted into an events location and provides the setting for a wide variety of event productions with up to 1,600 guests. From meetings, conferences, parties and fashion shows to receptions and car presentations, any number of different types of event can be staged in the new location.

The venue was fitted with media equipment by Movecat partner Ambion, the installation featuring inter alia a total of 16 Movecat Plus-C 250-4 D8 Plus chain hoists with incremental encoders and the new LME load measuring eyelets in dual chainfall operation with safe working loads of 500 kg per drive.

The use of the fully integrat

South Africa - The South African Music Awards (SAMA) could be described as Africa's version of the Grammys. The Sun City Superbowl, situated in the North West Province of South Africa, awakens as the who's who in the music industry and their dedicated supporters witness the unveiling of the best artists and albums of the year.

Dream Sets was the chief technical supplier and an influential creative force on this production, commissioned by VL Productions to supply the full technical for the show, all except for the sound which was taken care by Audio Logic.

"You can create anything you want with the right people," said Robert Hoey from Dream Sets. Dream Sets subcontracted AV Unlimited to supply the video elements of the show including video mapping which played a massive part in this year's awards. MGG supplied additional lighting gear while LaserX worked their magic

UK - With their main theatre building in darkness during a two year, £22m refurbishment project, Chichester Festival Theatre have turned to event production company Entourage Live to oversee the construction and delivery of their temporary theatre-in-a-tent venue for the summer of 2013.

The state-of-the-art 1,400 seat venue has been built to provide an alternative space whilst the main theatre building is redeveloped as part of the Chichester Festival Theatre 'RENEW' project.

The Theatre in the Park venue plays host to Cameron Mackintosh's Barnum. "This is a great project to be involved with" commented Entourage Live managing director Andy Bartlett. "It's key that we work with all parties and stakeholders on a project of this size. We're working with the tent and site designers, production management, company management and the show's producers.&quo

UK - Over the last few months several high profile venues have adopted the National Rigging Certificate as it becomes the clearest way of benchmarking the skills and experience of riggers in the entertainment industry. The importance of this for venues and producers is being recognised and now ACC Liverpool, the NIA, LG Arena, Phones 4U Arena Manchester, Manchester Central and NEC have become full endorsing venues, while ExCeL London has committed to supporting the NRC and is working toward full endorsement.

"The endorsement by venues of qualifications such as this will help to further improve competency and safety standards across the industry. The NRC is another step towards meeting the rigging industry's aspirations of consistently high levels of competence and safety," says Nicky Norman, senior production and technical manager, ACC Liverpool, home to BT Convention

UK - When Tim Carter, technical team leader at the University of Westminster's department of Media, Art and Design, was asked for his input on a new entrance forum at the Harrow campus, he immediately brought Doughty Engineering on board to help make his vision a reality.

Having met Doughty Engineering at the Broadcast Video Expo (BVE) last year, Carter realised that of all the companies he'd considered for this project, Doughty was most evidently able to meet his brief for the new multi million pound space.

The new entrance to the department is just one aspect of the University's major redevelopment to make the Harrow Campus a world-class environment for students, with state-of-the-art facilities, new and improved social and learning spaces and an enhanced sense of community for students and staff. Harrow is also working to become a more sustainable site with reduced environm

Germany - Sommer Cable is releasing a fully reworked and unified MonoCAT cable family. The different hybrid cables all contain network lines complemented by signal or power supply elements. This allows to connect digital sound, light or video control desks using only one cable and, as the case may be, with only one plug-in procedure. This is also suitable for applications on OB vans or in the installation or conference sectors.

Owing to the reworked internal Cat 7 construction in SFTP with a line gauge of 0.22 mm2 even greater transmission paths are now possible. This allows a trouble-free transmission of signals based on gigabit ethernet over distances up to 100 m. The power wires have a cross-sectional area of 2.5 mm2 to avoid problems with longer distances here, too. The highly flexible overall structure with our proven and robust S-PVC jacket (temperature range -20 ... +75&d

UK - Pearce Hire was involved in the recent launch of Princess Cruises' latest addition to their fleet - the Royal Princess.

The cruise ship's naming ceremony and christening took place in June in Southampton, and was the Duchess of Cambridge's last solo official engagement before the birth of Prince George in July.

Pearce Hire was contracted to provide all the production and show power for the event, including a pair of synchronised 300kVA sets for the audio, screen, lighting and requirements for outside broadcast from a significant press contingent.

Pearce Hire also supplied a 40kVA generator for the outside production offices and temporary workshops which were set up on site specifically for the ship's naming ceremony.

Security was of paramount importance given the VIP guest list, and security and late night working were all managed under tower-lights provided by Pearce

UK - One of Europe's leading provider of ladders and low level access equipment is launching a new Training Centre at its UK head office in Milton Keynes.

Since the Work at Height Regulations came into being in 2005, anyone involved in working at height is required to demonstrate a competence to do so. This is most easily shown by passing a training course with a recognised body such as PASMA (for tower scaffolds) or The Ladder Association.

The lead trainer at the new centre will be Zarges (UK) Ltd's product manager Alistair Twigg who comments, "This is an exciting opportunity for us, we are often asked by members of the public, as well as other stakeholders in the industry, for advice on all aspects of ladders and working at height. Now we can offer this advice through a variety of specific training courses."

Twigg, who has been a member of the PASMA Technical Com

UK - Jennifer Lopez headed to London this summer to perform headline shows at two of the capital's landmark events.

Her shows at Chime for Change's Sound Of Change concert at Twickenham Stadium in June and Barclaycard's British Summer Time in Hyde Park in July were both performed from a stage set designed and delivered by LS-Live.

Chime for Change's global concert brought women's and girls' issues into the spotlight through a star-studded charity concert that invited each of the 50,000 guests to donate their ticket money to a project of their choice, which all promoted education, health and justice for females.

J-Lo performed alongside the likes of Beyoncé Ellie Goulding, Florence + The Machine, Haim, Jessie J and Rita Ora to a packed out stadium on 1 June.

The star returned to the capital on 14 July to perform at one of two weekend events in Hyde Park for Barclayca

UK - To coincide with the release of the Stagemaker SR Electric Chain Hoist from Verlinde, Hoist UK are offering free motor school's to all UK based customers.

The course is fully authorised and approved by Verlinde SAS and will take place over one full day at Hoist UK's premises on the Wirral. The course will be presented by Tony Dickson, who is a director of Hoist UK and in his past presented over 90% of the UK motor schools for Tomcat UK and PCM.

The course will give the delegate a basic understanding of the hoist mechanics and electrics as well as demonstrating how to operate the unit safely. There will also be a 'practical session' where you will get a real "hands on" experience with the Stagemaker SR, participate in fault finding tasks and receive guidance on how to identify spare parts.

"We feel that our clients deserve to be given the time to thoroughl

Spain - Mojo Barriers has announced Sensei Producciones, as part of Live Nation Barcelona, as its first exclusive Spanish distributor; building on the company's success providing its patented barrier systems across the country.

Sensei's director Kata has worked in the Spanish production industry for over 30 years on major tours and festivals. An admirer of Mojo Barriers' system since it was first developed by John Mulder in Holland in 1988, Kata was announced as official Spanish distributor earlier this month.

Kata comments, "Mojo Barriers are known for being the very best at what they do. There are many suppliers throughout the world who have tried to copy their crowd barrier equipment but there is only one original. They are the first and most trusted crowd safety experts and I'm confident that that every event I put on will be as safe as it can be now that we have thei

The Netherlands - J&C Joel Limited has announced the opening of its new Benelux office headed up by new appointee Martin van Hekken.

Van Hekken, who lives close to Amsterdam, has been in the theatre and entertainment industry all his working life and has an enviable mix of practical and 'in the field' customer service experience. He will be using his expertise to advise both current and new customers on all aspects of the J&C Joel range including fabric, drapery, flooring, printing, projection screens, tracks and stage engineering.

The opening of the office and the appointment of Martin van Hekken represents a significant commitment to J&C Joel's customer service in the region and we are looking forward to developing existing and new relationships, says the company.

Office Details: J&C Joel Benelux, Kalkoven 16, 9351 NP Leek, Netherlands; T: +31 (0) 5945 14787; F: +31(0) 594

UK - How do you create a bespoke light unit that can multi-skill as a piece of set with real visual impact, be a versatile source of low level light, achieve different tones of light and colour - and become a dynamic silhouette when lit itself - all without breaking the bank?

The answer, according to Paul Normandale, is to commission a work from Specialz Ltd., the production design and manufacturing house that prides itself on tailoring every job with a sympathetic and knowledgeable eye to the specific requirements of each individual customer.

As both set and lighting designer for the Kings of Leon, Normandale went to Specialz with a very definite blueprint of what he wanted to create. "These units are a theatrical version of old fashioned surgery lights; they are deliberately quite retro in design but of course built on a big enough scale to fit accurately in proportion

UK - Surrey-based AV designer and manufacturer Smart-e Limited has launched two new KVM long-range extenders, the FDX-3000S and FDX-3500S, capable of transmitting over very long distances with no signal loss.

The FDX-3000S extends signals over 400m with multi-mode fibre, whilst the FDX-3500S using single-mode fibre, transmits to devices at up to 15km distance from the source.

Consisting of a transmitter and receiver pair, this equipment is capable of distributing DVI-D, stereo audio and USB keyboard and mouse with the option to send RS232 commands to the display. The receiver features 2 USBs, 1 audio, 1 DVI-D video and RS232 inputs.

Featuring high content resolutions up to 1920x1200 at 60Hz, the extenders support USB touch screens, are compatible with KVM switches and have a programmable DDC table. Powered from a single DC supply, the unit can be mounted in a standard 19&quo

UK - Now in their 13th year, the Forestry Commission's Forest Live concerts are an established part of the UK's summer outdoor music season. AP Security supplies crowd management and safety services at all seven sites and, this year, their success at these shows saw them specially asked to work at a new event in Northampton.

Paul Weller, Paloma Faith, Blondie, The Charlatans, James, The Script, Elvis Costello, Olly Murs, Jessie J and Jools Holland headlined a total of 23 Forest Live shows through June and July this year, the majority of which were sold out. The nature - both figurative and literal - of the sites hosting combined audiences of over 125,000 presented different challenges to many venues. AP's experience played a major role in ensuring that the family-friendly events enjoyed such a relaxed atmosphere.

"Each site has its own quirks and variables in terms of acc

UK - Having developed its revolutionary new JT30 and JT40 trusses at the start of 2013, James Thomas Engineering has announced the launch of its complete JT Truss range. The original JT30 and JT40 square configuration has been extended to include triangular and ladder truss options and an ultra-convenient 'out of the box' arched roof system.

JT Truss is a high-capacity, light-weight truss system aimed at the permanent installation market. Unique universal male/female forks allow versatility of connection and are held together by specially designed tapered pins which ensure fast, easy removal and form clean, strong joints.

Off the shelf lengths are available from 0.5m - 5m with a choice of solid corners or gates, 2- to 6-way corner options and a 3-way T-corner connection. Custom lengths are available to order, as are James Thomas Engineeering's (JTE) project consultation servic

Latest Issue. . .