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PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

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UK - PLASA’s Member AGM returns to the Victory Services Club in London on 22 November. The friendly members-only event is a great way to meet like-minded industry professionals and learn more about the association’s activities.
Plus, the AGM features special guest speakers and updates from PLASA members. This year’s keynote speaker is record-breaking mountaineer Kenton Cool, who has climbed Mount Everest an astonishing 17 times.
As well as soaking up inspiration from Cool, attendees can learn from renowned behavioural economist Roger Martin-Fagg, who will deliver a virtual financial forecast.
PLASA members will also report on the most pertinent industry issues, including SIC codes, carbon reduction and Europe activities.
The AGM begins at 2.30pm, open

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Full-Blown Crisis - The UK's small music venues are experiencing a "full-blown crisis" - with many forced to close over the last year, a music charity has said. The Music Venue Trust says the future of "world-beating" artists is under threat and has asked the chancellor for an extension of the 75% business rates relief introduced in April this year. It is due to come to an end in March 2024.
In an open letter to Jeremy Hunt, the charity said: "The grassroots music sector is in the middle of a full-blown crisis. One hundred and twenty-five venues have shut their doors for live music in the last 12 months, 15.7% of all such spaces in the UK. It represents the loss of 4,000 jobs, 14,250 events, 193,230 performance opportunities, £9m of income for musicians, and £59m in lost direct economic activity."
Calling the closures "an immediate economic, social, and cultural blow

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World - Stage lighting rental house Christie Lites has announced a major strengthening of its global reps, welcoming five new team members to its UK, Germany, USA and Canada shops.
The addition of these new team members reflects the company’s growth aspirations in multiple sectors, including TV, special events and theatre.
London-based rental rep Alex Griffiths brings a decade of experience at the heart of the lighting industry. “I've had the privilege of collaborating with exceptional individuals and building a robust network of industry professionals,” he says. “I’m excited to harness my network and expertise in my new role at Christie Lites, contributing to the continued success of our lighting projects.” One of Griffiths’ key objectives is to expand Christie Lites' presence in the TV and special events sector.
In Germany, where Christie Lites o
Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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South Korea - An Electro-Voice and Dynacord system is setting a new standard for house of worship sound in Korea at Grace Kwangsung Church in Gangdong-gu, Seoul.
The newly-constructed house of worship features a modern multi-purpose design and needed an equally versatile sound system to accommodate the services, worship meetings, church events and concerts that take place there. And the top priority was to ensure the utmost clarity and uniform coverage for the congregation during church services.
Won Young Kim, Kim Jin Keuk and Kim Ho Jun of Bosch (Electro-Voice and Dynacord’s parent company) worked with regional dealer and integrator dB Sound Interactive and the church leaders to specify a solution to precisely address their performance and budget requirements, all with the highest level of technical support.
After running a simulation with Preview Loudspeak

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UK - Cheshire-based dBS Solutions is a full-service provider, delivering bespoke audio, lighting and production services across a broad range of clients and industries. Their diverse portfolio of work encompasses live performance, seasonal events, touring UK and international theatre, visual artists and numerous festivals.
Their recent growth, especially post-pandemic, has seen them investing heavily in new sound equipment and they are principally a Martin Audio house. Managing director Chris Bogg takes up the story:
“Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a major increase in demand for our audio services, in particular for larger projects and that’s led to a significant expansion in our sound equipment inventory. We had been looking for some time for a device that we could use for system alignment and overall EQ, when one of our freelance engineers brought h
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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

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UK - During what has proved to be a non-stop summer of activity for SWG Events, the production company has relied on its Martin Audio PA rig.
By the time they arrived at Blur bass guitarist Alex James’ farm near Kingham in Oxfordshire, where each year the three-day Big Feastival takes place, they were able to offer visiting sound engineers - who accompanied most of the acts - a deluxe set-up at front-of-house.
With a combination of food and music spread over some 10 fringe stages, SWG Events supply audio, lighting, video and staging solutions alongside artist services, whilst deploying their class-leading audio inventory on the extraordinary width of the main stage.
According to Simon Purse, SWG Events head of audio, special care had been needed to ensure the VIP area, set off axis, was still within the coverage area of the out-fills. Fully satisfied with the c

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USA - Singer/songwriter Becky G’s long list of achievements thus far includes four Latin Grammy Award nominations, four number-one hits on Billboard’s Latin Airplay Charts, and her debut album Mala Santa was certified eight times platinum.
Her first solo headlining tour, Mi Casa, Tu Casa, covered 16 cities, starting in Boston on 14 September and hit Orlando, San Antonio, El Paso, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and more. It was a big show, with a band, a DJ, and numerous guest artists. Monitoring on the 64-input stage would be a challenge, one that the KLANG:fabrik immersive in-ear monitoring solution handled night after night.
The tour’s visual production set its complex tone. Monitor engineer Lucas Pinzón describes it as “a theatre tour, but easily adaptable to arenas, that travels with a lot of scenery. In each show, Becky's childhood ‘house’ is rec
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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal

Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.

With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

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Australia - Cannon Hill Anglican College in Brisbane has upgraded its auditorium with an all-LED lighting rig, including the Prolights EclFresnel 2K and EcLFresnel Jr. Thanks to these fixtures, the college now has access to a broad palette of thousands of colours, providing many creative possibilities for their performances. All lighting fixtures were supplied by Show Technology, the official Prolights distributor in Australia.
The Prolights EclFresnel 2K were installed in the auditorium. To maintain the same level of quality in the foyer, which features a small stage, the EclFresnel Jr were strategically placed.
Josiah Kerridge, Brisbane Sound Group's installation & projects department manager, expressed his confidence in the Prolights EclFresnel 2K fixtures for this important project. Having previously installed numerous Prolights fixtures in various Queensland

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Germany - The Pirate Kindergarten in the city of Bergisch Gladbach places a strong emphasis on the part played by music in children’s development. Music is a constant theme during activities at the day care centre and when the Kindergarten’s team agreed that its ageing sound system could no longer meet their ambitions, they engaged audio experts Starpoint to supply a replacement. As well as delivering high quality audio throughout the Kindergarten, the new system needed to be easy to install and operate.
Bastian Sauer of Starpoint recommended an Optimal Audio solution: “We listened to all the requirements and quickly concluded that Optimal Audio offered the best solution for this application. Working with the customer we specified the system and assisted them with programming the Zone unit, leaving them to carry out the installation work themselves without any problem

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Mexico - Scores of luminaires from Elation Professional’s Proteus, Artiste, KL and other lines were used by lighting designer Miguel ‘Miki’ Molina on the latest season of La Casa de Los Famosos Mexico which airs on Televisa Univision. Its season four grand finale took place 13 August, reaching more than 195m viewers.
The Elation package was used throughout the season across six different sets, including the grand finale, with the main stage alone boasting some 400 Elation lights. Other Elation lines used on the programme included Pixel Bar, SixBar, Chorus Line, and DTW Blinders, along with Therma Tour 600 haze effect generators from Magmatic effects.
Additionally, EN12 nodes and RDM10 splitters from Obsidian Control’s Netron line were used for signal distribution. The supply of the Elation fixtures and the lighting technical production for the project w

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Estonia - The grand opening of phase one of the third floor in the redeveloped T1 Mall in Tallinn saw invited guests enjoy drinks and snacks before being treated to a series of presentations and demonstrations. Global Productions organised the event with funTIME Showservice supplying equipment for the occasion.
Following new ownership and management, the T1 mall is undergoing renovations designed to broaden its appeal. The building is already home to many shops and offices and now adds a number of sports clubs too. The new sports clubs have all been housed on the third floor, making it the place to go for sports enthusiasts. In addition to climbing facilities, there’s a boxing and wrestling club, a fencing club, a dance school and even a capoeira school.
The opening event included demonstrations from all of these sports with the equipment supplied by funTIME Showser

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UK - Long-standing event lighting hire company, Storm Lighting, has substantially grown its inventory of Martin fixtures over the past year - particularly with its IP-rated products.
According to rental manager James Price, since April they have boosted their fleet by almost 100 pieces - comprising Martin’s ELP PAR powerful wash lights and the new IP65-rated version (ELP PAR IP), as well as the MAC Aura XIP (IP54), with the aura filament effect and full pixel control. These have been supplied and supported by Martin’s UK distributors, Sound Technology.
The MAC Aura XIP is the first fixture in its class to feature innovative smart outdoor-proofing technology, Martin’s ‘XIP Smart Weather Protection’ feature helping it win a PLASA Award for Innovation. As for the ELP PAR IP, this is also suitable for fast installation, due to its quick-focus system and bright an

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The Netherlands - The Tivoli music venue at Vredenburg, one of the most well-known music venues in The Netherlands, recently installed 64 Ayrton Eurus S Profiles within two of its halls - Ronda and De Grote Zaal - via Ayrton’s exclusive distributor in The Netherlands, Ampco Flashlight Sales.
This large venue built in 2014 has six halls with a total capacity for 7,500 people. De Grote Zaal, the original building from 1979, was built as a symphony hall with a seating capacity of 1,717, or standing room of 2,000.
“Being a symphony hall, many orchestras perform here,” says Jolijn van Iersel, lighting technician for the venue, “but the stage also hosts pop and rock shows including, in 2003, the Rolling Stones. More recently the likes of Iggy Pop, The Four Tops, Wadruna, Phillip Glass, King Crimson, Nils Frahm, Steve Hackett, The Temptations, Paul Carrack have also

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UK - Located in St Asaph, North-East Wales, St Asaph’s Cathedral is recognised as the smallest cathedral in Britain, and one of the oldest in Wales.
The cathedral, whose present structure dates back to the 15th century, has recently received a comprehensive audio system upgrade combining Harman’s JBL Professional loudspeakers, Crown amplifiers, BSS processing and AKG microphones.
When it came to seeking an upgrade to the installed audio system, the cathedral’s team turned to Richard Hughes, manager of Richard King Systems. Canon for communications at St Asaph’s Cathedral, Canon John Lister, commented: “We started a long time before the final spec was agreed, Richard was prepared to come down here and look at our needs to get to know the cathedral better and he made it very straightforward.”
“The initial part of this process was in-depth consultati

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USA - This autumn, Holoplot partner, Creative Technology US, used the attributes of the X1 Matrix Array for orchestral performances of musical scores of The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario at this year’s Nintendo Live experience at PAX West, the destination event celebrating gaming and gaming culture, in Seattle.
Nintendo Live is billed as ‘an all-ages celebration of Nintendo fun’. An in-person event, it debuted in Kyoto, Japan in 2018, with the 2023 edition being the first Nintendo Live event in North America. Across a large-scale themed area, guests were invited to play Nintendo Switch games together at the Variety Stage and Experience Zones, watch NintendoVS championship tournaments, and enjoy live entertainment on the Live Performance Stage, equipped with a Holoplot X1 sound system operated by Creative Technology US.
The challenge was to provide

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USA - Grammy winning American rapper LL Cool J has been rocking cities across the US over the summer with a star-studded celebration of hip-hop formed as The F.O.R.C.E Tour - with pre-made and live visuals fired by a team of tvONE's Green Hippo Hippotizers.
With a line-up of special guests including DJ Jazzy Jeff, The Roots, and Ice-T, the tour was LL Cool J’s first headliner live shows in three decades and, in the run up said he wanted to ensure “everything is done right”. VUE Show Design Group was brought into the LL Cool J Camp through production designer Gary Westcott, with a brief of programming visuals “from top to bottom”.
“We were tasked with re-creating the show visuals to elevate what existed before,” says VUE Show Design Group’s design associate/screens producer, Bransen Black. “This show wasn’t like your typical concert tour - it

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USA - Chauvet has opened its new headquarters in Davie, Florida. The 175,000sq.ft complex houses dedicated centres for its product development, quality control, customer service, and global supply chain teams.
Company founder and CEO, Albert Chauvet is quick to point out that the move to a new, expanded, green-thinking facility is about much more than having the size to handle a rapidly growing business that designs products for productions in over 100 nations globally.
Purpose designed by the Chauvet team and its architect partners, the new facility was built around the vision of enhancing the company’s delivery of service and customer engagement at every level and supporting R&D efforts behind its growing family of brands: Chauvet Professional, Chauvet DJ, Kino Flo, ChamSys, LynTec, Iluminarc and Trusst.
The new facility serves as the global HQ for Chauv

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USA - OSA International has made a substantial investment in robotic line source technology from PK Sound, spearheading a significant long-term partnership between the two companies.
“Meeting the broad range of our clients’ needs drives everything we do, and we pride ourselves on being early adopters of innovative technologies that help us do it at the highest level,” comments Mario Educate, president of OSA International. “From blockbuster tours and events to high-profile installations, we see unlimited potential in how PK Sound’s multi-axis robotics will exceed expectations in the growing range of applications we cover. Between the cutting-edge technology, amazing acoustic performance, and unmatched support, we’re very excited about this partnership.”
The company’s initial investment comprises 128 of PK Sound’s medium-format T10 line source modules

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USA - Mary Lou Figley is retiring from Stageco US at the end of this year. Mary Lou has successfully led Stageco US for over 31 years. During her 31+ years of service with the company, Mary Lou was instrumental in the success and establishment of Stageco US in Colorado Springs, Colorado and the satellite office in Manheim, Pennsylvania.
“It was essential for Mary Lou to find a replacement whom she felt could take over the reins and help grow the US marketplace,” says Stageco. “During that search, the leadership team and Mary Lou selected Micah Catterson.
Micah is an experienced executive leader focused on revenue growth, operational performance, and delivery excellence on a global scale. Micah will provide strategic leadership for Stageco US by working with the executive leadership team to establish long- range goals, strategies, and growth plans.
“Stag

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UK - Vivitek has announced the DU7000 series of large venue projectors. The series comprises the DU7099Z, DU7199Z and DU7299Z, each offering varying levels of brightness. The DU7000 Series is capable of maintenance-free operation for up to 30,000 hours with stable and constant brightness and has an IP6X sealed engine design. This makes the series suited to large venues - such as auditoriums, lecture halls and sports arenas - as well as the rental and staging markets.
Through the deployment of Vivitek’s latest laser technology, the DU7000 Series provides high brightness of up to 9,600lm, high 3,000,000:1 contrast ratio and features great colour uniformity with vivid colour technology. The new projectors also mark a shift away from manual lenses, with support for up to nine motorised lenses, including a new short throw lens 0.47-0.50 up to 5.3-8.20 for tight installation sp

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USA - Rock band Paramore are engaged in a world tour supporting their sixth studio album, This is Why, which was released in February. The live show features an eye-catching and interesting stage and lighting production design crafted by Sooner Routhier of Sooner Rae Creative and Trevor Ahlstrand of Ahlstrand Productions.
The lighting rig includes 67 Robe Esprite moving lights, three Robe BMFL FollowSpots and six BMFL FollowSpot LTs working on a three-way RoboSpot system, plus six iFortes.
Approached in the fall of 2022 by tour manager Andrew Weiss, it is Sooner’s first work with the band. Trevor and Sooner were keen to collaborate on a project for some time, and for this one, all the stars aligned for it to happen. They also worked closely with creative director and video content designer Mike Kluge of Cour Content.
Mike’s history with Paramore dates
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Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
Sennheiser - MPU - June 2025

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