Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Claypaky - Banner - Apr 2025

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UK - Paolo Nutini recently played a concert at Millennium Square in Leeds, UK, right in the city centre, for which the production (flown) lighting rig of Robe BMFLs, Pointes and LEDWash 600s was supplied by locally based Zig Zag Lighting for event promoter Futuresound Events.

Paolo's lighting designer Jason Hyne brought his touring specials package in 'underneath' this, and combined the two lighting rigs to create another stunning and dramatic show that thrilled the 7000 enthusiastic fans at the sold out show.

Zig Zag works regularly with the promoter and is familiar with the 14m square and 10m high stage / roof system which is owned by the council. It has only limited weight loading, and Nutini's production with its strong video elements required the accommodation of their larg

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UK - Blackout's sewing department manufactured a bespoke drape for Take That's 2015 tour, used as the projection surface for a magical shadow puppetry scene, April 2015 - October 2015.

Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald are making their way across Europe on a 51 date tour; their first as a three-piece band. Renowned for their impressive production - think Progress Tour's OM Robot - the 2015 tour is no different, with a myriad of standout moments to make the crowd go 'wow'.

One of these is the moment when the 'under-the-sea' scene is revealed to the audience, complete with psychedelic jellyfish.

Looking for a way to keep the scene change hidden from the audience, Take That's production team - led by Chris Vaughan - contacted Blackout. The company's in-house fabrications department manufactured two 38m wide by 17m drop white poly-lined drapes.

On a curved truss, the dr

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Weather Report - The final day of Lollapalooza music festival ended early after a second severe storm threatened Chicago. Florence & the Machine finished their set with Dog Days before running off stage on the final day. Earlier tens of thousands of festival-goers had to leave the city's Grant Park as lightning threatened the area. Fans were told to evacuate and go to one of three underground parking garages designated as emergency evacuation shelters.

Windy City - Edinburgh Fringe's first dedicated circus venue has been forced to delay the opening of its larger auditorium due to bad weather. Underbelly's Circus Hub on the Meadows has announced that shows running in the 750-seat Lafayette tent will no longer open on Friday 7 August after strong winds prevented organisers from putting the cover over the tent's structure. Shows will now begin on Monday 10 August. Six

HOF - Banner Apr 2025
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ETC Halcyon Silent

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UK - UK - Jands Vista v2 has been specified to provide control for all lighting aspects of Lego Friends to the Rescue, an all-new live show spectacular which recently opened at the Legoland Windsor Resort.

Lego Friends to the Rescue is set in the resort's new land, Heartlake City, which recreates the fun and colourful world of the popular Lego Friends toy range.

During the show, guests join Heartlake City's five female characters on an action packed adventure which is full of music, dance and special effects. Dominating the effects is the harbour's lighthouse, which is pixel mapped with over 700 RGB LED emitters using a Traxon Dot media string wrapped around the structure.

Lighting contractor, A.C. Special Projects Ltd. (ACSP) specified the Jands Vista S1 console to control the lighthouse LEDs in addition to the stage lighting. ACSP Director, Lance Bromhead, co

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New Touring Series by Gravity – Every Scratch Has A Story

When the stage heats up, you need equipment that can keep up without compromise. The Gravity Touring Series has been specifically designed to meet the highest demands – for rental companies, professional musicians, concert organizers, and large event venues. Premium materials, exceptional durability, and impressive longevity make these products stand out. Whether on tour, in constant use, or under the toughest conditions: the Touring Series delivers maximum reliability and performance – every day, on every stage.
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Italy - At the beginning of the summer, Rome's San Giovanni (St John Lateran) Square hosted a reported crowd of a million people of all ages from all over Italy, gathered in support of the family, in favour of children's rights to have a mother and a father, and making an apolitical and non-denominational protest against the introduction of "gender ideology" in schools.

The company with the task of ensuring that such a large crowd managed to follow every word of the speakers alternating on stage was Cipiesse (Centro di Programmazione Spettacoli) Srl, founded in 1979 and headquartered in Rezzato (Brescia).

Cipiesse partner Marco Riva, responsible for meeting the event's demanding requirements as far as sonic quality and intelligibility were concerned, explains, "As well as the event's sound reinforcement, our company also supplied the stage and backdrop, support

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France - Over 16,000 people attended the 40th anniversary concert of the Orchestre Nationale de Lille (ONL) in July. It was the first time the orchestra had performed in the impressive Pierre-Mauroy stadium just outside Lille, usually reserved for premiership football matches. However, the stadium's extraordinary design in which the northern half of the pitch lifts up and slides over the southern half to reveal a 'showcase' arena for concerts and indoor sporting competitions complete with terraced seating below pitch level, provided the perfect venue for this momentous occasion. Indeed, the event ticked off a number of 'firsts'; the first time for the ONL in the venue which is the first of its kind in Europe, and the first time that a full RAVENNA digital network has been deployed on a live event of this scale.

"It was an impressive setup," recalled digital audio speci

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UK - Studiomaster has had its best consecutive sales months in more than three years, in June and July. Record sales, in particular for its latest PA speaker and compact mixing desk series - DRIVE, Venture and ClubXS - are on course to give the brand its record third quarter in recent times. The run of successful new products marks a return to form for Studiomaster, in conjunction with the re-establishment of its European self-distribution, its joint HQ, distribution and logistics centre with partner brand Carlsbro.

General manager Patrick Almond emphasizes it is the conjunction of both of these developments that has created the perfect storm. "Precisely when the benefits of re-establishing our own European distribution and logistics are coming to fruition, we have introduced a number of new products, at the most competitive end of the market, which have really hit the spot

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USA - Community has added R Series to its growing library of manufacturer-authorized EASE Focus 2 GLL data files, allowing system designers to quickly create accurate 3D models of complex R Series arrays using the EASE Focus 2 software application from AFMG.

Dave Howden, Community's director of technical services, commented, "Because EASE Focus 2 makes it easy to see the direct-field coverage of a loudspeaker array, it's a great prototyping tool. Community is pleased to support system designers by providing manufacturer-authorized EASE Focus 2 GLL files for a wide range of our products."

EASE Focus 2 is a free application available directly from AFMG. Manufacturer-authorized EASE and EASE Focus 2 GLL files for Community loudspeakers may be downloaded from Community's website.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Revolution Hall in southeast Portland, Oregon is the reincarnation of the auditorium of former George Washington High School. The high school closed in 1981 due to low enrolment, and the 113,500sq.ft brick building has been unoccupied since that time.

Investors purchased the former school in 2013 and quickly began remodelling it as a mixed-use space. Old classrooms are now inspired offices, the roof is now a deck suitable for weddings and other events, and the old auditorium at the heart of the building is now Revolution Hall, capable of accommodating 800-plus music fans. Rose City Sound, a local audio rental, engineering, and installation firm, designed and installed Revolution Hall's sound reinforcement system using a Meyer Sound FOH rig and an Ashly/Fulcrum monitoring system, both of which are tied together by a FOH Midas console.

"They've got 12 Fulcrum loudspea

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Azerbaijan - The first ever European Games took place in Baku, Azerbaijan 12-28 June. During 17 days of sporting and organizational excellence, more than 6000 participants from the 50 European countries competed in 20 sports in 18 venues, winning more than 800 medals.

The Opening Ceremony for the games was held in the newly built Olympic Stadium on 12 June. During a two-hour spectacular event, produced by Dimitris Papaioannou, the Olympic Stadium was transformed into a magical stage of artistry and performance, enchanting the audience, as well as viewers around the world with Azerbaijani's history and culture. There were highlights from poems by Poet Nizami, pomegranate symbolism, traditional mugham chant and rotating and emerging sceneries featured by 300 performers.

Green Hippo played a part in this historic event. At the beginning of the opening ceremony, showing the dry cr

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USA - The Ranch Concert Hall and Saloon is Fort Myers' newest and largest event centre and live concert venue featuring many of the country's leading performers. In recent months, the venue - more commonly known as The Ranch - was host to country music artists Josh Turner, Joe Nichols, and Tanya Tucker. The venue is a leading attraction in the area and, to ensure both the performers and the customers are happy, management wanted a sound system that was best in class. This is why they selected components drawn from the Aero Series 2 catalogue of Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio.

Ft. Meyers, FL-based Tech-Tronics Sound, Lighting, and Staging was contracted to provide sound for The Ranch. In addition to being a design / build firm for the AV installation market, Tech-Tronics is also a full service production company that provides turnkey concert and events solutions including sou

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UK - In 1995, British electronic musician Goldie released the album Timeless, which made an impact on the UK bass music scene. The Heritage Orchestra and Goldie were commissioned for the James Lavelle Meltdown Season to recreate the album in full as part of a live performance at the Royal Festival Hall, London. Both Goldie and the Heritage Orchestra have since expanded and reworked the album for a full orchestra, band, choir electronics and guest vocals.

On 22-23 July, they returned to the Royal Festival Hall to once again perform the album for its twentieth anniversary. Lighting designer Richard Godin was tasked with devising an impressive spectacle that would help celebrate such an album. Following his long working relationship with White Light, which included the Glastonbury Festival earlier this year, he once again approached the complete production solution specialis

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USA - The stars were out in Harlem this summer as the legendary Apollo Theatre celebrated its 10th annual Spring Gala. Hosted by A. J. Calloway, the former 106 & Park co-host, the A-list benefit featured electrifying performances by the likes of Nile Rodgers and his band Chic, Ne-Yo, Luke James and Kimberly Nichole. Adding to the get-on-your feet excitement was a dazzling lightshow created by KM Productions that featured 20 Legend 330SR Spots from Chauvet Professional.

"We positioned the Legend fixtures throughout the venue for maximum coverage with their textured gobos," said designer Kevin Mignone, president of KM Productions. "The fixtures' rotating and continuous scroll gobo wheels gave us a lot of opportunities to create some great looks to reflect different moods at this important event and warm up different areas. Plus its output ensured that we'd cover a l

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UK - Seven years after the grandeur of Harrogate's iconic Royal Hall was restored following an £8m grant-assisted investment, the theatre has installed a digitally steerable RCF column PA system.

With its spectacular décor, the Grade II*-listed 1000 seat multipurpose theatre not only forms part of the large Harrogate International Conference Centre (HIC) but significantly is one of the few surviving Frank Matcham designed theatres from the Edwardian era. Among its many technological breakthroughs, it remains the last surviving Kursaal, a genre which was particularly popular in spa towns, offering a 360° ambulatory for visitors.

Originally designed 115 years ago, the venue is focused on a wide range of performance, from the three-week International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival to a myriad of community activities. Therefore, the new sound system needed to be vers

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USA - At North Carolina's Elon University, a steerable Meyer Sound CAL column array loudspeaker system provides clear speech and music in the Great Hall, a large common room with acoustically reflective architectural elements typically found in centuries-old European institutions.

"The plan was to use the room for everything from video game tournaments and movies to graduation-related ceremonies, and CAL has proven ideal on all counts," says Joe Davis, assistant director of campus technology support and solutions architect for Elon University. "The vast expanse of windows on three sides, plus one largely flat, sheetrock wall create a highly reverberant space that could be over-excited by amplified sound. And any permanent system had to be practically invisible while still providing high-level, full bandwidth sound. The CALs disappear into the décor and real

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Germany - Astera has partnered with Kaiser Showtechnik GmbH as a stocking dealer for Astera's wireless event lights in Germany. Kaiser is based in Augsburg, Bavaria, but will operate nationally. From September 2015, Kaiser will keep stock of Astera's core product line of Lightdrop (AX3) units, and SpotLite (AX7) /SpotMax (AX10) fixtures for its rental and sales stock (including accessories).

Commenting on the partnership, Sebastian Bückle, sales and marketing Director at Astera, said: "We look forward to the opportunity to partner with Kaiser Showtechnik, which provides a high-end platform for customers to appreciate our products. We are very pleased to have Kaiser as the third wholesaler of Astera products in Germany. Our wireless event fixtures are already available from Art Evolution, based in Frankfurt, and direct from Astera, based in Munich."

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Stage Audio Service is a long established L-Acoustics user, having taken delivery of its first system some 20 years ago. Its most recent acquisition is an L-Acoustics K2 system, purchased via SSE Sales, which is proving as successful as its existing 300 plus cabinets.

Investing in the L-Acoustics brand has, says owner Kevin Mobberley, been very good for the company. "We were the first company in the country to buy L-Acoustics. We were very small back then and it was a good decision. It's a product that people want, we were lucky to get on board early and we've done well from it. Now we have pretty much every cabinet they've ever made, plus 50 or 60 of their new LA8 amps," he says.

"We bought the K2 system because it's a natural progression from V-DOSC and DV-DOSC, and we wanted to be at the forefront of the new technology. It's a great 'polite' sounding sys

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Germany - The German Broadcast Archive (Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv, DRA) has carried out extensive technical upgrades to three copy and production facilities at its Potsdam-Babelsberg location using Lawo technology. Integration of the Lawo equipment into the company's production environment was carried out by Swiss systems integrator, SLG Broadcast.

Now completed, the centrepiece of each copy suite is a 12-fader Lawo sapphire console, comprising one central unit and three fader modules. All audio sources (inputs and outputs) are connected to a DALLIS mainframe fitted with a GPIO board that allows control of tape decks, CD players and DAT machines from the sapphire console surface.

Technically, the Potsdam Broadcast Archive comprises three copy and production suites with sapphire consoles - two of the suites were built in 2014, also by SLG Broadcast - which are connected to a Law

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UK - Rob Baldock, owner of Re:live Recordings zips around the UK recording live performances and interviews by acts such as One Direction, Foo Fighters, Kasabian and Labrinth for video production company, LiveFi. He has been perfecting his gear set-up, and is currently testing out six ASP880s, the eight channel mic pre from Audient.

He describes his recording kit: "It's based around two RME FireFace UFX and a MacBook Pro running Reaper for recording. The Audients fit in great - D-SUB out of the first one to analogue in on the FireFace and then ADAT out for the other two - repeat for the second rack/FireFace.

"I did a live EP with The Shires at The Green Note in Camden, this was the first time I decided to go out with just the Audients and the RME," he continues. "The brilliant thing for me was that it ended up being such a portable rack that I could take th

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USA - Currently touring the US with a Martin Audio MLA loudspeaker system provided by SES (Special Event Services) of Winston Salem, NC and Nashville, TN, the Avett Brothers recently sold out three nights at the challenging Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado.

An eclectic mix of bluegrass, country, punk, pop melodies, folk, rock, honky-tonk and ragtime, the Avett Brothers are generally defined as 'Americana', their music encompassing an unusually wide dynamic range.

As SES system engineer Andrew Steelman points out, "They're not a highly compressed band that lives in a pocket during the show. They go from very loud, aggressive, in your face rock, to acoustic guitars, banjos, a cello, violin and small high fidelity stringed ensembles. In terms of dynamics, it's a constant rise and a fall."

Because MLA has smaller format compression drivers, the system offer

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UK - Minerva Hearing, the specialist British manufacturer of in-ear hearing protection technology, has appointed Sue Harris to the position of business development manager.

With over 20 years experience in healthcare services and associated industries, Sue Harris will now be working on further expanding the UK client-base of Minerva which was founded in 1930.

The company provides custom-made In-Ear Monitors (IEMs) for musicians and broadcast presenters, as well as hearing protection used throughout industry and sport, including Formula 1 racing, motorcycling, gun clubs, swimming and surfing. The company also provides sleep plugs for people kept awake by their partner's snoring or neighbourhood noise.

Minerva Hearing is also one of the leading suppliers of earmolds for hearing aids to NHS hearing clinics.

Kevin Davies, operations director of Minerva Hearing said, "Sue

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PLASA Leeds 2025 - Large MPU - April 2025
GLP - MPU - Feb, Apr 2025

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