In The Money - Madonna has beaten Bruce Springsteen and Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters to be named the highest-paid musician in 2012 by trade publication Billboard. The 54-year-old singer has topped the annual rundown of the top money-makers for the second time in five years. Her 88-date MDNA world tour, 2012's most successful, helped her take home $34.6m (£26.1m), Billboard said.
Concerts account for 68.9% of the total revenues for the 40 artists on the list, which estimates annual earnings. According to the figures, compiled using Boxscore concert data and Nielsen SoundScan sales information, Bruce Springsteen came a close second. He earned $33.4m (£25.3m) after touring to sold-out stadiums and arenas on the back of his number one album Wrecking Ball.<
USA - Free registration is now open for the PLASA Focus: Orlando 2013 Professional Development Programme, a two-day programme of free educational seminars and workshops, running alongside PLASA Focus: Orlando, at the Wyndham Orlando Resort, Florida on 15-16 May, 2013.
Still in the early stages of development, the programme provides visitors with access to the latest trends, technologies and techniques, and is a unique opportunity for visitors to further develop their specialist knowledge.
The programme will kick-off on the Wednesday morning with Tony Hansen delivering a session entitled LED: State Of The Technology Address. LED technology is advancing at breakneck speed and Hansen will discuss how far it has come in the last year, where it's headed, and where it still needs to improve. Hansen has been a freelance designer and programmer and now works for Techni-Lux. He
UK / USA - Are you a student looking to get a jump on your career and make connections in the industry? Then the ETC LDI Student Sponsorship colud be the solution you are looking for.
You can apply now for ETC's LDI Student Sponsorship, which awards deserving students an all expenses paid trip to the LDI 2013 tradeshow, to be held in November 2013, in Las Vegas.
Entrants must be master's or PhD candidates, or in their final year of university (or equivalent) study, and studying lighting design, theatre technology or a related field. The application - available at www.etcconnect.com/LDISponsorship - takes about 15 minutes to complete. All applications must be received by 10 May 2013.
ETC will choose six finalists: five from North America and one internationally. Recipients each get round trip airfare, hotel accommodations, meals, a full LDI conference pass and exclusive swag,
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LD Systems ICOA PRO series – high-performance coaxial PA speakers for professional demands
The popular ICOA PA systems have been further developed to include two active full-range coaxial speakers – ICOA PRO 12 A and ICOA PRO 15 A – as well as the active 21″ bass-reflex PA subwoofer ICOA PRO SUB 21 A. With its professional features and high output power, the ICOA PRO series is aimed at ambitious bands, musicians and DJs as well as hire companies and commercial customers looking for a compact, robust and powerful PA sound system. The ICOA PRO series is rounded off with modern connection and control options via Bluetooth 5.1 and the specially developed ICOA PRO app, for use on smartphones and tablets.
USA - The first Cadac LIVE1 sold in the US has been installed in a recording facility. Newly appointed US distributor LIFT Distribution has sold Cadac's new LIVE1 compact analogue console to Chet Delcampo as an upgrade for his private recording studio.
A songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist and self-recording artist of renown, Delcampo chose the desk as a replacement for a classic but aging Siemans console. Recording, producing and releasing records as both Chet Delcampo and Hong Kong Stingray, his career has taken him from coast to coast and across the pond and back, collaborating along the way with the likes of Kid Congo (ex Cramps, The Gun Club and Nick Cave), Parthenon Huxley (The Eels) and David Lovering (the Pixies).
Finally settling in Philadelphia, he has produced two critically lauded albums, The Fountain and Apartment Songs as Chet Delcampo, and two further LP's
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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.
UK - The Guildhall is Portsmouth's premier entertainment venue, playing host to everything from orchestral concerts, comedy, rock concerts, dance and exhibitions. In addition it houses the city's Council chamber, as well as being home to numerous local groups and services. The original Guildhall was completed in 1890 having been designed by Leeds architect William Hill but during the Second World War it was extensively damaged and had to be rebuilt. Portsmouth Guildhall was re-opened in 1959 by HM the Queen.
Drama by Design were engaged by Portsmouth City Council to design and specify a new house lighting system for the Guildhall, which was supplied by Hawthorn Theatrical Ltd and installed by local contractor ICE Electrical.
The management of the venue wished to expand its range of use, particularly during the day, to include conferencing and similar events. Previous complaint
China - Hong Kong-based Max Production Ltd, one of the first adopters of Martin Audio's MLA and MLA Compact systems in the Far East, recently underwent full technical training.
Following the recent purchase of an MLA Compact 24, both Martin Audio regional application support engineer, Chris Pyne, and technical training manager, Martyn (Ferrit) Rowe arrived at Max Production's HQ in Sha Tin district, to carry out the intensive three day training course afforded all Martin Audio MLA network partners.
The course was conducted by Ferrit and attended by 10 of Max Production's senior and junior staff as well as technicians and an interpreter from Budee, the MLA territorial distributor (in the form of Mr Jin Lei).
Chris Pyne, who conducted the introduction and initiation course, explained the content of the workshop. "The formal class room audio theory and system functions plu
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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.
Romania - Combining a mixture of bowling, billiards and darts within a full nightclub ambience in Bucharest's Sun Plaza Mall, the popular Oxygen Club has recently invested in eight of PR Lighting's XR 200 Beams.
With the new Philips Platinum 5R beam moving head at the heart of this new automated stage light, the fixture has a highly developed optical path, and offers enormous brightness in a compact form factor. It was the impressive output to size ratio that attracted club owner Ion Tanasescu, after the venue had been supplied other beam effects from the Chinese manufacturer when it first opened.
The venue itself is different in that it opens at 10am and offers entertainment for all the ages. On weekends the nightclub trades through until 5am.
Activities on offer include 20 top class billiards tables and eight bowling lanes, mechanical and electronic darts, PlayStation/Wii
UK - Described as "an oasis of Latin colour in east London", entrepreneur Ferdie Ahmed has lit up Shoreditch with the opening of Barrio East on the site of the former Avalon club.
The third in the Barrio series (following Barrio North in Islington and Barrio Central in Soho), Ahmed's team has invested heavily, bringing in Dtwo Design to ignite the interior with a series of stand-alone themes from across Latin America, and Middlesex Sound & Light (MSL) to complement this by installing a premium Martin Audio system in the 300 capacity venue.
This was at the request of the owner himself - a seasoned DJ - who also has Martin Audio sound reinforcement in his other venues.
MSL's project manager Darrel Olivier, confirmed, "From my initial meeting with Ferdie we decided Martin Audio was the right solution for the venue. We will always promote the brand and specified a
UK - The Who, will soon be embarking on the European leg of their tour Quadrophenia and More after completing their 37-date North American stretch. The band's first tour in four years will see them playing at the O2 arena 15 and 16 June armed with two Trace Acoustic TA-300 amplifiers.
Founder members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend are once again joined by long-time supporting musicians Zak Starkey, Pino Palladino, and Simon Townshend, though this tour sees the group perform the entirety of their 1973 album-cum-rock opera, Quadrophenia, for the first time since 1997.
Simon Townshend, who has been the band's second guitarist since 1996, has been a fan of the TA-300 for some time, and refers to it quite simply as "the best amp ever". For this tour, Daltrey is also using one.
"Everything about the TA-300 is spectacular, from the compression going i
Italy - Spanish manufacturer Equipson and Italian distributor Kenell Audio have announced a new agreement for the distribution of WORK audio products in Italy.
"Kenell Audio is a dynamic company with a great experience in the industry of entertainment and audio installation. They have perfectly understood our strategy for the development of integral solutions and they strongly trust in WORK audio products for the italian market." says José Luis Vila, CEO of Equipson.
UK - Three of the lighting industry's brightest sparks have joined the Knight of Illumination panel as judges in the Concert Tour and Events category, previously the Rock Category.
Ryan Hopkins of UK lighting Rental Company HSL will be stepping up to the challenge, along with event technology supplier PRG's senior account manager Scottie Sanderson and Julian Lavender, project director for Neg Earth.
All have strong connections with live events through their work. Ryan as technical director with HSL, Scottie who has been involved in the lighting industry since 1989 working with many high profile artists, and Julian who has worked as a highly valued project and freelance production manager with a number of respected acts. The trio will be tasked with reviewing a wide range of lighting designs by LDs nominated for a Knight of Illumination Award (KOI). All judges say they are thri
Patchwork London, an audio hire and production company, have invested in a Midas PRO1 console, supplied by LMC Audio.
Steve White, co-director of Patchwork explains, "We wanted a state of the art digital mixing desk, which was compact enough to use in small venues and powerful enough to use on big shows."
So far, the desk has been out with artists such as Paloma Faith, Paolo Nutini, Beverley Knight, Katherine Jenkins and, most recently, ran monitors for the European leg of the Joan Armatrading tour. White explains that even in cases where the desk has not been specified on the rider, he's had no problem convincing engineers to embrace the PRO1 and they have all come away singing its praises, having had great shows with the console.
White continues, "We love the console. It has performed very well mixing at both FOH and monitors on all of the live music events, awards
UK - MilTec (UK) Ltd reports a busy time at the ISE exhibition in Amsterdam. Partially funded by Intellect, the UK association for the ICT and electronics industries in the UK, it was an opportunity for the company to increase exports of their professional lighting and audio products into Europe and the rest of the world.
Attracting great interest was the new MT3D LED tube system. This consists of a matrix of vertically hung LED tubes, allowing the user to generate spectacular three-dimensional lighting effects using controllers such as ShowCad. The system is easy to install with low maintenance costs. The tubes are available in four lengths from 0.5m up to 2m. Visibility is 360 degrees with a standard linear density of 16 pixels per m. 32 ppm is also available.
"We had a large number of sales and inquiries from UK and overseas distributors," commented sales director
Germany - SGM has announced that it has been overwhelmed with advanced orders for its IP65-rated LED G-Spot - even though it won't be seen publically until Frankfurt Prolight+Sound in April.
SGM CEO Peter Johansen said: "We had planned to keep the unique features of this world-beating Profile Spot firmly under wraps until Frankfurt - but word got out and it quickly went viral. Of all the years I have been in the industry since setting up Martin Professional, I have never been associated with a product that has caused such a buzz of anticipation."
Ever since the evolution of LED technology enabled a genuine colour mixing moving head spot to be produced, the market has been screaming for an all-weather IP-65 rated version.
SGM's highly accomplished R&D team - boasting more than 100 years of accumulated moving head design experience - rationalised that moving heads ar
UAE - Just two weeks out from the second Dynamic Events Conference, the organisers have announced the addition of some more world-class speakers at the event including David Atkins, DAE Global, and Mik Auckland, Red Thread Solutions.
Dynamic Events is an international conference for those involved in the production, delivery and broadcast of global one-off events. The conference is taking place on Sunday 10 and Monday 11 March at the Jumeirah Emirates Tower Hotel in Dubai, UAE and includes a glittering gala dinner on the middle evening.
Recently joining the prestigious line up of speakers from across the globe is Mik Auckland. A production visionary from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Ceremonies, he has been involved in the past 4 summer Olympic Games and is already committed to Sochi 2014 Paralympics and Rio 2016. Mik is privileged to have been a part of the growing p
Czech Republic - Showlight has always been highly regarded as one of the best networking events in the international lighting calendar, with plenty of time allowed for the social aspects of the event. This year's visit programme, featuring eight different tours each with a different itinerary, is definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity, with an afternoon of visits arranged in and around the host town of Cesky Krumlov which offer a mix of strictly business and the not-so-serious.
The visits programme is included in the delegate fee and takes place on the afternoon of Monday 20 May, with a choice of eight tours, each with a different selection of visits. One of the most popular visits will undoubtedly be the Baroque Theatre inside Cesky Krumlov's castle, where Showlight is being held. Dating back to 1760, the theatre is one of the oldest fully operational Baroque Theatres stil
China -The first phase of China's 20 billion yuan ($3.16 billion) Changbai Mountain International Tourism Resort opened in 2012, featuring five-star hotels and Asia's largest ski resort. A centrepiece of the development is a performing arts theatre, where Apex audio processors and DiGiCo mixing consoles help to ensure that audiences enjoy the evenings as much as their time on the piste.
Changbai Mountain is located on the border with North Korea, with the Chinese side a 494,000 acre nature reserve that is already a popular international tourist destination. The new resort's 26 miles of ski runs will draw many more visitors and the Changbaishan Grand Theatre has been built as part of the comprehensive accommodation and entertainment facilities.
Built by the Beijing Aotewei Development Company, the theatre features a cutting edge audio specification, supplied and installed by Ri
UK - Stage Electrics has appointed Alex Cann to the newly created role of technical project manager for professional theatre. Due to increased demand and a substantial order book for 2013, the company has taken the decision to create a role to oversee this work. Recent shows include the re-release of Hairspray (UK tour), the Dolly Parton themed musical 9-5, New Jersey Nights (UK tour), Brendan Cole's Licence to Thrill UK tour, Imperial Ice Stars international tour and the recent two month residency of Fuerzabruta Argentine Carnival extravaganza at The Roundhouse.
Cann previously worked in Stage Electrics' hire operations department working on a broad cross-section of hire and event work. Prior to joining Stage Electrics, he spent seven years working within the theatre industry, graduating from University of Essex- East 15 Acting School with a BA Hons
Columbia - With a career spanning more than three decades, Carlos Vives, is a Latin American entertainment icon. The five time Grammy award winner recently took to the stage in Sincelejo, Colombia for Fiestas del 20 de Enero. The outdoor event was held at Estadio Mochila, and put on by the City Of Sincelejo. 12,000 wildly excited fans filled the grounds to catch a thrilling Vallenato style performance by Vives and other Latin American hit makers - KVRASS, Maluma and Alfredo Gutierrez. C. Vilar Amplificacion Professional provided the complete sound, staging and lighting for the event.
Mauricio Vilar, FOH Engineer for Carlos Vives for the past four years, wanted to use the Adamson E15's for the performance. "Initially we had a production company proposing another brand of P.A. I had requested the E15's on the rider and insisted that they were used for the event."
UK - DiGiCo has added another member to its team, with the appointment of Fernando Delgado to the role of sales application specialist.
Delgado joins from Rental Multimedia Systems S.L. in Spain, where he spent eight years, and will be working alongside Dan Page to provide technical support to the DiGiCo sales team, as well as offering new ideas. With Spanish as his native language, Delgado will also focus on DiGiCo's Latin America market, where the ability to work with customers in their own language will prove extremely valuable.
"This is a dream come true for me," says Delgado. "Working with such an amazing team is just great. The creativity and innovation you can feel in the company really is from another world. I have always had huge respect for the philosophy of the brand. This is not only a team of geniuses, but a very tight family and I feel like I am pa
UK - Nestled at the foot of the Cairngorms national park, Pitlochry Festival Theatre is a delightfully spacious, airy venue that is responsible for a veritable list of productions as well as a range of workshops, tours, concerts and even a wine club.
Each winter it opens its doors for the Federation of Scottish Theatre's (FST) winter school, a sizeable programme of technical training and professional development courses aimed at those working in dance, music and theatre north of the border. The FST has over 120 members and strives to secure the creative future of Scottish Theatre at a national level while also helping its members share resources and expertise; one of the key aims of the winter school program. As in previous years, the Winter School has been heavily supported by Edinburgh based Black Light.
Courses included working and rigging at height, ETC product training, m