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Clay Paky Mythos illuminate the Leiva tour

Leiva at Madrid's Barclaycard Centre (photo: Algo Suena)

Details: 14 March 2016

Spain - Last 4 July, Barclaycard Centre witnessed the last concert of the Leiva's tour: Polvora On Tour before the very eyes of his fans.

Light and art merged together at the scene. Provided by the lighting designer Diego García, Madrid enjoyed the music of the Spanish artist. A mixture of light and colour turned into an incredible performance on the Spanish night.

Once again, Clay Paky took care of the lights. Supplied by Spanish rental company Algo Suena, the impressive Mythos shone at the Barclaycard Centre, where its power and versatility were demonstrated.

(Jim Evans)

Throughout the season, Penn & Teller search for the best up and coming magicians (photo: Jacob Kepler/The CW)

Pete's Big TVs makes magic for Penn & Teller

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - Aspiring magicians are invited onstage to show their tricks and fool the magician-comedian duo Penn & Teller in a new series on the CW Network, Penn & Teller: Fool Us. Video equipment rental company Pete's Big TVs played a part in the magic, providing LED video panels, projectors and crew.

The 13-episode season, taped in the Penn & Teller Theatre at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, airs Monday nights at 8/7 Central Time. Throughout the season, Penn & Teller search for the best up and coming magicians in this competition. If Penn & Teller can't explain how the trick was done, they are officially "fooled" and those tricksters will open for the duo's ongoing stage show in Las Vegas.

Production designer is Anton Goss, creative director at Consortium Studios in Los Angeles, whose projects range from game show, awards show and talk show sets to studio desi

Musical artists included Sam Smith, My Morning Jacket, Widespread Panic, Modest Mouse, Cage the Elephant and The War on Drugs

Bandit illuminates Louisville's Forecastle Festival

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - Bandit Lites continued its summer of festivals with The Forecastle Music Festival, an event produced by Hadden Hipsley of Lambda Productions that drew 60,000 music and arts fans to Louisville's stunning waterfront 17-19 July. Musical artists included Sam Smith, My Morning Jacket, Widespread Panic, Modest Mouse, Cage the Elephant and The War on Drugs.

Utilizing the gear around the needs of the headliners, Bandit Lites' Dizzy Gosnell created a design that would provide striking looks both during the day and in the evening. "Sam and Widespread bought a couple of things with them to hang, but My Morning Jackets touring system was so close to this system that they were fine with what we sent along," said Dizzy.

"The almost obligatory BMFL's and GRN moving wash units did the heavy lifting with Sharpys, Atomics and Matrix 5x5's adding spice and effects."

Case Study: Hans Zimmer Live

When award winning film composer Hans Zimmer brought his smash-hit tour Hans Zimmer Live to North America fall 2024, the show's audio team sought out to bring infrafrequency bass to the show to add new depth to the show's audio experience. The team chose Danley Sound Labs.

Blackpool's famous tower was built in 1894 and is still one of the most iconic buildings in the UK

Blackpool Illuminations head for new heights

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - London based creative projection specialist, The Projection Studio, led by Ross Ashton and collaborating with Edinburgh based War Productions, has won a competitive bid to create a spectacular mapped video projection to be projected onto the facade of Blackpool's famous tower ... as part of the city's 2015 Illuminations

Projection Studio will be producing all the creative content for the LightPool project, while Alistair Young and War Productions will design the projection system and hardware set up. The two companies have previously worked together on Ross and artist Maria Ruud's AniMotion live painting / projection performances in Scotland.

LightPool will be the first semi-permanent projection mapping project in the UK and also the first time that the large red brick building concealing the base of the 158m tower - built in 1894 and still one of the most iconic building

Work starts on first phase of Lighthouse refurbishment

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - After months of planning, the first phase of work to secure the future of Lighthouse, Poole as a world class arts organisation and venue is underway.

Poole-based construction specialist Stepnell is undertaking a £116,000 programme of works this summer at Lighthouse, the UK's largest regional arts centre, as the first phase of a £5.3m project to improve, update and make the venue more energy efficient.

The initial works, due for completion in September, will see improved sound insulation for the Cinema with the creation of a new lobby between the Cinema and Studio theatre, a new staff room and duty manager's office on the ground floor and improved security to the first-floor bar.

"Lighthouse is delighted to have appointed a local company, Stepnell, to undertake the first phase of building works this summer. This is the start of a series of improvements w

Yamaha technical sales engineer Wayne Powell ran several sessions in Assembly's Roxy venue

Yamaha training brings fringe benefits to Edinburgh

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - In the run up to this year's International Festival and Festival Fringe, currently the city of Edinburgh is a hive of activity. With hundreds of venues housing literally thousands of performances, the Fringe is traditionally seen as an important step on the career ladder of any aspiring production technician. Yamaha Commercial Audio delivered three days of training for one of the Fringe's best-known venue operators.

Walking around Edinburgh in July, there is a palpable feeling of expectation in the air as found spaces are transformed into venues, banners are unfurled and the horde of camera-clutching tourists that perennially stalks the streets is infiltrated by a small army of production staff - the trademark outfit of black hoodie and shorts giving away their purpose.

With the Edinburgh Festival Fringe running from 5-31 August, in late July Yamaha technical sales engine

The main attraction this year was Cavalleria Rusticana directed by Alberto Paloscia (photo: Manu Liotto)

Clay Paky illuminates the Tones on the Stones Festival

Details: 14 March 2016

Italy - Tones on the Stones has renewed its partnership with Clay Paky for the third year running. The Festival was held in the Cava Bianco Montorfano (White Montorfano Quarry), near Verbania. The main attraction this year was Cavalleria Rusticana, directed by Alberto Paloscia. Sergio Licursi was theatrical director and lighting designer. The leading actors were Maddalena Calderoni, who was also the festival's artistic director, and Hamadi Lagha as Turiddu.

Lorenzo Pagella, who stood out in last year's lighting designer contest organized as part of the Festival by Clay Paky, worked with Sergio Licursi. We spoke to him about the difficulties he encountered and how they were solved: "There were problems with the power supply, so we had to give up on using high positions. Our first choice was therefore to put all the lights on the ground and leave the backdrop completel

BikeFest Spain 2025 - Join the ride!

BikeFest Spain is set to return for its fourth consecutive year, inviting cyclists from across the industry to join the 360km ride towards ISE in Barcelona. From 31 January to 2 February 2025, riders will again rally in Valencia, cycling along the Mediterranean coast in support of industry causes.
For more information and to sign up, visit: www.joinbikefest.com

The Grateful Dead celebrated their 50th anniversary with three final Fare Thee Well shows (photo: Brian Glass, Concert Captures)

Grateful Dead farewell features Robe BMFLs

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - A milestone in music history took place at Soldier Field in Chicago as legendary band The Grateful Dead celebrated their 50th anniversary with the three final Fare Thee Well shows, produced by Paul Shapiro over the 4th of July holiday weekend, playing to record crowds of 70,000 each night. This followed two gigs the previous weekend, each pulling capacity audiences of 65,000, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Lighting was designed and directed by the band's long term LD Candace Brightman, who started with them in 1972. Paul Hoffman of Pulse Lighting LLC provided programming, equipment selection and moral support. The pair have collaborated on the Grateful Dead since 2004. Central to the large lighting rig were 50 x Robe BMFL Spots and 32 x Pointes supplied by lighting vendors Felix Lighting in Santa Clara and Bandit Lites in Chicago respectively.

Candace and

Being shown for the first time are the Pro Stage 150LED 19LT/D and Pro Stage 150 LED 26LT/D

PR Lighting gears up for PALM Expo 2015

Details: 14 March 2016

China - PR Lighting will again present a dynamic display at the 24th annual PALM Expo in Beijing (19-22 August).

A number of new effects - some of which are being previewed or the first time - will dominate the China International Exhibition Centre (CIEC), where they line up alongside more than 1,000 other exhibitors.

The only products that will previously have been seen by visitors are the XR 330 Framing and XR 470 Beam - both previewed at the Chinese GET Show back in April.

The XR 330 Framing is the latest in the XR 330 family. This high output (12,300 lumens) moving head has adopted PR patented technology, combining advanced 330 watts lamp technology with superb optical system. The framing system consists of four framing blades that can all individually adjusted +30° while the entire system can rotate 90°. Lightweight (at just 22.5kg) it also has an impressively f

PRO Theme Day provides a chance to gain hands-on knowledge of Elation products

Elation Europe to hold PRO Theme Day in Kerkrade

Details: 14 March 2016

The Netherlands - Elation Europe invites lighting professionals to a new PRO Theme Day to be held 26 August at its European headquarter office in Kerkrade, The Netherlands. PRO Theme Day will be filled with insightful seminars and discussion with participants learning about some of the industry's latest technology developments. It is an excellent chance to gain hands-on knowledge of Elation products and lighting professionals are encouraged to register while there is still space.

The 26 August PRO Theme Day will cover four main topics: The Future of Entertainment Lighting Technology by Ad van den Brandt from Philips; HedgeHog 4E - New software 3.0 innovations make programming easier; Capture Argo - Virtual stage design has never been easier, and Shoot-Out - Test us! Tell us what fixture you want to compare with our products and we'll arrange a shoot-out.

Registration is requir

The annual K-LOVE Fan Awards (photo: Kristen Parker)

PixelFLEX gives advantage to Go Live Productions

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - Go Live Productions is a complete turnkey concert and event production company that enjoys the challenge of creating a unique live experience for each of their clients. As the longtime production company behind the annual K-LOVE Fan Awards, their desire to make each show different is often put to the test. When preparing for the 2015 awards ceremony, production manager Scott Moore created a custom LED video display that needed a special solution, which he found by using 175 PixelFLEX FLEXCurve LED video screens.

"At the 2015 K-LOVE Fan Awards we really expanded our video components and actually used the LED screens to create a series of presenting and performances spaces," began Moore. "Going into pre-production we knew that the artists would be excited about this therefore we requested they send us their custom content ahead of time. With only two exception

Chas Rowden has a wide-ranging knowledge of broadcast and media production industries

Chas Rowden to undertake strategic sales at Lawo

Details: 14 March 2016

Germany - Lawo has appointed Chas Rowden to head up strategic sales within Lawo's global team. Prior to this move, Rowden was employed by Calrec Audio to develop business in Europe, Middle East and African territories.

With 30 years' experience in senior sales roles within television live-to-air broadcast, film/video post-production, music production and radio, Rowden has a wide-ranging knowledge of broadcast and media production industries.

Rowden commented on his new position, "My fundamental ideas on where the industry and technology are moving match perfectly with Lawo's. This synergy was the impetus behind my decision to join the company. It's great to be part of a team that has the commitment, the passion, the right people, and crucially leading edge audio, video and networking technologies to meet the rapidly evolving demands of our clients."

Rainer Kunzi, d

The aim is to make the technology and information about the AES67 interoperability standard as accessible as possible

ALC NetworX launches new website for Ravenna

Details: 14 March 2016

Germany - ALC NetworX, developers of the Ravenna Audio-over-IP technology, have announced the launch of a new website dedicated to Ravenna and AES67: ravenna-network.com

The new website, whilst retaining Ravenna's trademark green identity, has been built using modern web development techniques to deliver a new look and feel with plenty of dynamic content. The aim is to make the technology and information about the recent AES67 interoperability standard as accessible as possible.

"Digital audio networking, and especially Audio-over-IP networking, is an extremely complex subject and knowledge levels vary enormously," noted ALC NetworX's Andreas Hildebrand. "Our aim with the new website was to present the key elements as clearly as possible with plenty of visual content in order to keep the message as uncluttered as possible."

(Jim Evans)

The annual Almeida Theatre fundraiser (© David Jensen)

White Light backs Almeida Theatre fundraiser

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - The Almeida Theatre is a charity, it actively seeks ways in which it can fundraise the £1.5m required (one third of its total income) to deliver its programming each year. Amongst various other initiatives, the Almeida Theatre holds a regular fundraising gala which has played a key role in its fundraising strategy for more than 10 years. This year was no exception and White Light was asked to provide the lighting equipment as a show of its support for such an important occasion.

This year's gala took place on 11 June and was entitled A Feast with the Gods. It was held at the opulent private home Bridgewater House in St James, London. Sally Noonan, development director at the Almeida Theatre, comments, "Although the purpose of the evening was to raise vital funds for the theatre, we wanted it to reflect the spirit of the Almeida and be as playful as possibl

Onyx discovers Ayrton gems at Ambersphere

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - Onyx Presentations deliver a premier bespoke package of AV, sound and lighting to a wide range of events, be they corporate clients, elite private functions, trade shows, gala dinners or sporting events. The company has recently become a customer of Ambersphere Solutions and has invested significantly in a variety of the newest lighting fixtures from one of the Ambersphere family of brands: Ayrton.

In addition to the purchase of the MagicBlade-Rs, Onyx became the first UK rental company to buy the NandoBeam S3s and to have the MagicDotTM-R available to rent. Lighting hire manager, Phil Joyce explains the background, "I first saw the MagicBlades on a BBC 6Music Festival and was instantly blown away by the versatility and stunning looks the lanterns added to the show. It required a bit of investigation to put a name to the units but LD Neil Johnson had already used them

The Miss Kansas event is widely regarding as one of America's leading beauty pageants

Beauty Pageant goes LED with Chauvet

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - When the Miss Kansas 2015 pageant ended, the crew from Douglas Production Group received an unexpected surprise. The crew from The Texas Tenors, who performed at the event, left a note praising the show's lighting director. For Kirk Longhofer, general manager of DPG, it was not only flattering, it also represented validation of their decision to go with an LED rig made up primarily of Chauvet fixtures.

"This was the first time we had nearly 100 percent LED lighting," said Longhofer. "We knew an LED rig would offer a lot of practical advantages, particularly in terms of generating less heat, which is important in a Kansas summer. We also were confident in the performance of the Chauvet fixtures from previous experience with them. Still you're always a little apprehensive when you do something for the first time. But when we saw the brightness and even coverag

Lady Antebellum can now comfortably fill 20,000-seat amphitheatres (photo: Bree Kristel Clarke)

Concert debut for GLP X4 with Lady Antebellum

Details: 14 March 2016

Germany - One of the leading country music crossover acts in recent years has been Nashville-based Lady Antebellum, whose rising popularity means they can now comfortably fill 20,000-seat amphitheatres.

This year's Wheels Up tour, presently on its North American leg, has seen experienced LD Paul 'Arlo' Guthrie (of Minneapolis based Toss Film & Design) providing an inspired and sensitive concept - one of two tours he has designed for the trio. Significantly, in so doing, he has become the first LD to take out GLP's new impression X4 Bar 20 high performance battens - the latest addition to the popular X4 family.

Having been heavily in demand this past two years, with work ranging from Fleetwood Mac tours to the Red Bull Crashed Ice North America Events and an Emmy award winning TV show, Guthrie returned to work with the band he first engaged with on 2013's Take Me Downtown tour.

The new Leopard linear sound reinforcement system led a line-up of more than 200 Meyer Sound loudspeakers

Roskilde Festival taps Meyer Sound Leopard

Details: 14 March 2016

Denmark - At Denmark's Roskilde Festival - the largest music festival in northern Europe -the new Leopard linear sound reinforcement system led a line-up of more than 200 Meyer Sound loudspeakers to deliver pristine sonic detail and immersion to crowds at four different stages.

"Leopard was amazing - I could hear every instrument clearly and distinctly more than 50m from the stage," says Lars Liliengren, production manager for Roskilde. "We strive for perfection here at Roskilde, because we have only one chance each year to get it right."

Roskilde technical manager Paul Jensen adds, "The sound was very open and very dynamic. I could close my eyes and hear every detail of the instruments from the bands that were playing."

Supporting the Rising Stage, the Leopard system was provided by Glostrup-based Comtech and included main arrays of 12-each Leo

A recent major upgrade of the venue's audio system saw a Yamaha CL5 console installed after an in-depth evaluation

Yamaha CL5 system courts Royalty

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - Liverpool's Royal Court Theatre has been an art deco pillar of the community since 1938, with entertainment taking place on the site as far back as 1826. The theatre has enjoyed a long relationship with Yamaha, with its much-loved DM2000 digital mixing console recently being replaced by a brand new CL5.

The theatre presents eight major productions each year and draws heavily on local talent including cast, crew and technical support. A recent major upgrade of the venue's audio system saw a Yamaha CL5 console installed after an in-depth evaluation.

Bradford-based Pro Audio Systems (PAS) supplied three different consoles for the evaluation, with the CL5 the clear winner, thanks to its state of the art processing power and control, ease of use and onboard Dante networking. Also supplied were a pair of Yamaha Rio3224-D i/o units, one Ri8 input and two Ro8 output units, plus f

The Manor Complex features Rogue and ÉPIX Series fixtures

Chauvet awes and engages at Florida nightclub

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - The Manor Complex is located about 32 miles north of South Beach, but the crowds that jam pack this spacious 20,000sq.ft venue don't feel a compelling need to journey south on I-95. Why should they? There isn't much that can't be found at this very well-appointed superlative nightclub that features a jolt of eye-popping new energy, courtesy of Rogue and ÉPIX Series fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

Owners Paul Hugo and Brett Tannenbaum added the Chauvet fixtures to the already powerful lightshow in the bi-level nightclub, because they believe it's important to keep their establishment ahead of the entertainment curve.

"Being in Fort Lauderdale, we draw visitors from all over the world, so we hold ourselves to the highest international standards" said Paul Hugo. "There are a lot of good clubs that are always pushing ahead with new technology, so we

Awan represents numerous high-end brands including Sennheiser, Televic, Apart Audio and Bose

Awan appointed Symetrix distributor for India

Details: 14 March 2016

India - With the latest figures indicating that India has now surpassed China as the world's fastest-growing large economy, the country's diverse industrial and business communities have never been more dynamic. India's professional AV installation sector is no exception, and now its proponents are set to have even greater access to high-quality DSP technology thanks to a new country-wide distribution agreement between Symetrix and Awan.

A highly respected systems integrator as well as long-serving AV distributor, Awan represents numerous high-end brands including Sennheiser, Televic, Apart Audio and Bose. The addition of Symetrix to its portfolio will now give customers throughout the AV space the opportunity to access a diverse range of robust DSP solutions.

"We see great potential for Symetrix products throughout India," says Awan India director Prasad E.S. "