UK - With over 3000 registrations, this year’s ABTT Theatre Show at Alexandra Palace was busier than ever. The event drew a broad range of attendees at all stages of their careers alongside an ever-increasing list of exhibitors from all areas of the industry, say the organisers.
Running once again over two days, the ABTT Theatre Show gave the industry an opportunity to meet face-to-face in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. With an increase of 15% of exhibitors on the show floor, this year’s event featured over 150 brands.
The ABTT reports an 82% growth in overall visits among which was a 53% increase in students attending. The new ABTT Skills Workshops were particularly popular, tutoring over 150 attendees over the two days in a broad variety of topics. Responses from those who attended have been ‘overwhelmingly positive’.
This year, ABTT focused on you

Japan - TST Entertainment, a joint venture between Tokyo Corporation and Sony Entertainment, has taken four years to deliver a live music and club experience in the Kabukicho Tower, in Tokyo’s Kabukicho district, featuring Adamson loudspeakers across three levels.
Zepp Shinjuku operates the venue for daytime live music events. At night the multi-floor venue operates as the nightclub Zerotokyo. The design called for a lighting and sound experience that was seamless between the floors, but still respected the various needs of a live music and club environment.
Ryoichi Ishii, sales director for Adamson’s Japanese distributor Rewire, said: “It is no exaggeration to say that Zerotokyo is one of the largest nightclubs in Japan. The fact the venue services live music and a nightclub, there were many audio distribution challenges to solve.”
Adamson’s IS7Px and

Cambodia - The Olympic Indoor Stadium in Phnom Penh, a multi-purpose indoor stadium located next to the main outdoor Olympic Stadium, has recently undergone an audio installation made up entirely of Proel brands.
With a capacity of 50,000, the Indoor Stadium hosts primarily basketball and volleyball games. This year, for the South East Asian Games, also known as the S.E.A Games, the Indoor Stadium was made the official volleyball stadium for the event, which took place between last month.
Local system integrator, Kilat Events, was chosen as the venue’s partner to fit out the stadium. It was managing director of Kilat Events, Osman Omar, who decided to fit out the stadium with Proel products. The main speakers are driven by the Axioms, alongside Proel amplifiers and Proel mixers. Eikon wireless mics, from the Aether series were used for the project. Cables, connectors

Europe - Metallica launched their M72 World Tour on 27 April in Amsterdam with Rob Koenig again at the helm as lighting designer, an outing that has the thrash rockers playing a two-night, no-repeat schedule in cities across Europe and North America. Koenig crafts customised lighting looks using 600+ automated lights, a rig that includes Proteus Excalibur sky beams from Elation Professional. Lighting supply is by Premier Global Production.
Koenig has been part of the Metallica family since 2008. He started as lighting director under John Broderick, eventually moved into the lighting designer role and is now on his fourth record cycle with the band.
Metallica is touring in support of its eleventh studio album, 72 Seasons, which released in April. The number 72, which refers to the number of seasons in a person’s formative first 18 years of life, is a th

India - Driven by the sales success of Sun Infonet’s launch of the Panther large-format linear line array loudspeaker to the Indian market, Meyer Sound and Sun Infonet signed a new multi-year exclusive distribution agreement at InfoComm 2023.
“Since the 2022 introduction of Panther, Sun Infonet has shown their commitment for selling and supporting Meyer Sound systems,” says international sales director Scott Gledhill. “Sun Infonet is the most respected distributor in the country and has well-established relationships with India’s most important and influential sound engineers, sound designers and consultants. I am thrilled with the passion that Sun Infonet has for bringing Meyer Sound systems to the most qualified rental production and system integration companies in India.”
Sun Infonet and Meyer Sound are collaborating closely to host product demonstration

Egypt - Robe has appointed a new Egyptian distributor - Impact Egypte Solutions - which is headed by Jean William, a prolific lighting and show designer in his own right. The company is based in Cairo and is one of the longer established entertainment technology enterprises in the country.
Jean founded Impact Egypte 33 years ago initially as a rental and a sales business. Sales were then halted for a while as they focussed on installation projects and rentals, but recently sales have restarted to capitalise on a strong and developing market with a demand for quality equipment.
Impact Egypte Solutions also engages in a wide selection of lighting, visual and multimedia projects taking on multiple aspects including show design, installation, and operation, keeping its 40 or so full-time staff busy.
Jean has always had an eye for Robe products and has wanted to work

USA - By calling their facility The Venue, the United Auburn Indian Community and Thunder Valley Casino Resort left no doubt about the goal they set for this 4,500-seat indoor theatre located outside Sacramento. Their new attraction was designed to stand-out from the pack and define its own category.
Featuring shows by artists like The Eagles, Bruno Mars, Santana with Bryan Adams, The Black Crowes, and Ringo Starr, The Venue, which was built to replace the casino’s outdoor amphitheatre, offers top-flight entertainment in an engaging and supportive setting.
Contributing to the fan experience at the facility are three massive video walls made with over 550 Chauvet Professional F3X LED tiles supplied and installed by CTM Sound of Sacramento, which has worked with the casino since 2010.
CTM used 255 of the 3.9mm high-res panels to create an impressive 50ft wide cen

Denmark - Theatre and musical producers Lion Entertainment turned to automation specialist Motor Stage Automation (MSA) to provide specialist knowledge and equipment for three major moving elements and control for its production of musical Pretty Woman.
The system included Kinesys motors and control, Litec trussing and EXE trolleys in MSA custom touring dollies, and an ALFA Systems double revolve, all of which helped bring a fantastic set design by Benjamin la Cour to life, enhancing the narrative set to music and lyrics by Bryan Adams and Jim Valance.
The automation system was specified and designed by MSA’s Christian Vigsø in conjunction with the requirements of Lion Entertainment’s automation supervisor, Thomas Sunesen, who also operated the Kinesys Vector console running everything on the road.
The show featured three specific aspects that needed

USA - To provide a wide range of events with a quality live sound mixing experience, Norwood Theatre recently collaborated with Pro Sound Service and Harman Professional Solutions to upgrade its front-of-house audio mixer with a Soundcraft Vi3000 digital live sound console.
Built in 1927 and fully renovated in 2012, the Norwood Theatre is a performance venue that hosts concerts, plays, musicals, and comedy in Norwood, a southwestern suburb of Boston.
As part of the 2012 renovation, Norwood Theatre turned to provider Pro Sound Services to install a complete HarmanProfessional live sound reinforcement solution, consisting of JBL VT4886 and VRX Series loudspeakers, Crown amplifiers, BSS signal processors and a Soundcraft Vi1 console at front-of-house.
Norwood Theatre’s production staff were pleased with the workflow and sound quality of the Vi1, but they wanted t

Turkey - Home to the Metropol Istanbul Tower, Turkey’s highest skyscraper, the Ataşehir district on the Anatolian side of the city is a residential, business and trading centre which has developed a popular social scene.
Its many busy eateries cater for a wide range of tastes, and Della Fame is the latest Italian restaurant to open in Ateşhir. Located in a section of the Metropol Shopping Mall, Della Fame is a stylish and spacious venue which offers indoor and alfresco dining courtesy of its street-facing aspect.
Background music and DJ sets complement the guest experience at Della Fame, meaning that quality audio was an essential component of the restaurant’s ambience. The Della Fame team engaged Istanbul-based professional audio integrator, Pulsarpro, to supply and install a discreet, high quality system that would meet the needs of the venue’s different spac

South Korea - The National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) is a government-operated organisation in South Korea that aims to promote and develop the country's IT industry. Recently, the organisation collaborated with South Korean XR, virtual production consulting and environment construction specialist, Ark Ventures, to create an innovative LED stage using technology, including ROE Visual panels powered by Brompton 4K Tessera SX40 LED processors.
NIPA collaborates with partners worldwide to create business opportunities and conducts research. This informs IT policy decisions and focuses on cultivating a skilled workforce and fostering international exchange to advance South Korean IT companies.
According to David Oh, general manager at Ark Ventures, the new LED stage has equipped NIPA to facilitate more innovative content development in the local market. “We wer

UK - The beginning of June marked four months since the launch of The Power of Events. The prime focus has been on the platform itself, providing a single destination dedicated to showcasing all seven core sectors of the UK events industry, as well as profiling the essential industry community, says the latest report from the not-for-profit company established in 2022.
From a standing start, over 25K unique visitors have to date visited the platform since launch, with positive feedback. It has seen consistent engagement with the podcast listings and the events calendar.
Helping do all of this are the range of industry community partners representing all seven core sectors - 25 leading Trade Associations, 21 media publications, 30 supporting organisations focused on DEI, sustainability, welfare/skills and 10 university partners.
Over 500 organisations have also al

UK - Polar, an established supplier to the install, MI retail and pro audio markets, has announced the creation of a dedicated pro audio division to provide a more focused service to its customers specialising in live sound and large venue audio systems.
Headed up by sales manager Andy Plunkett, and supported by business development managers Nick Bellis and Stuart Russell, the establishment of the division reflects Polar’s expanded portfolio of brands in this sector, including Midas, Lab.Gruppen, Turbosound, Tannoy and Lake. According to Polar managing director, John Midgley, the creation of a specialised team in this area of business was essential:
“Taking into account our expanded range of pro audio brands and setting them into context alongside our existing stable of live sound brands like beyerdynamic, Radial, HK Audio, MC2, XTA and Mackie, having a dedicated

USA - Lorna Shore doesn’t hesitate to bend or break rules in order to expand their musical horizons, readily adding techno and symphonic elements to their signature metalcore sound. But when it comes to lighting, the band and their LD, Nate Haber, do have one edict that they’re pretty strict about: limit the use of front light.
“The band and I have come up with a few guidelines regarding front light,” said Haber. “In no particular order it goes something like this: the default is that they have no front light. Also, we try to keep Austin and his drum set as lit as possible. When Adam has a guitar solo he always needs light; and when Will is talking to the crowd, he needs light too. There are a few other parts in songs where I light the band because it feels right. In those cases, typically, if you can see one member of the band you can see them all, but at this poi

UK - Named after the Celtic warrior queen, and located in the heart of London’s Battersea, recently-opened restaurant Boudica offers brunch, lunch, dinner and drinks. Transitioning through the day from a quiet chilled space to a lively cocktail bar with top DJs, Boudica is focused on delivering ‘classic comfort food with international and contemporary twists in an immersive, luxurious setting’.
Music will play a key role in precisely establishing the right ambience for Boudica’s changing moods, and with audio reinforcement in mind, co-founder Ed Allingham sought advice from Mark Damon, director at installers Cosmic Electronics.
Damon recommended an Optimal Audio solution for Boudica, having been impressed with its commercial audio offering since attending the company’s launch in 2021:
“The Optimal Audio package caught my attention from the off - its

UK - Creative Technology UK supported the technical delivery of National Geographic Explorers Festival in London, a flagship event that takes place all over the globe, with previous locations including Mexico, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Washington, D.C.
National Geographic’s long-time partner e2k Events x Entertainment have a long-standing global relationship with Creative Technology and the UK team were very happy to support by providing video solutions to the event this time around.
2023 brought the festival to the Royal Institution of Great Britain, in London, attracting both leading and upcoming explorers ‘back to base camp’ for an experience of knowledge sharing and ‘science telling’.
The historic operating theatre style of the venue allowed for a unique viewing platform for all the attendees, creating an intimate and immersive space that brought th

UK - A 500 drone show was experienced nightly by 50,000 music lovers at the Isle of Wight Festival last weekend.
US-based Skyworx Drone Shows, producer for The Global Drone Network (GDN), presented a 12-minute show at the close of each night for revellers to enjoy. References to Jimi Hendrix, the island’s heritage and the world-famous festival filled the sky on all four nights with an attention-grabbing animated display.
Skyworx and GDN were supported by UK company AeroAVA, who handled all UK regulatory permissions and flight crew for the project.
Skyworx founder and CEO, Taylor Woodall, comments: "It has been a great pleasure to create and deliver our first UK drone show at the iconic Isle of Wight Festival. We believe this is the largest drone show presented at any UK festival to date."
Reflecting on the sustainability aspects of the project, Tom Rees,

India - Fenix Stage has appointed Stagemix Technologies as its exclusive distributor in India.
The Mumbai-based company, which currently distributes brands like DAS Audio, Adamson, and Adam Hall, will expand its product catalogue to include Fenix products. Among them are lifting towers, ground support towers, and solutions for elevating and stacking LED screens, such as the new FLES (Fenix LED Support).
"We are delighted to continue advancing in our international expansion strategy with a company like Stagemix, a reference for us in the Indian market,” says Alex Bryan, sales director at Fenix Stage. “Our team is excited about the future of this market and we can't think of a better partner than Stagemix to grow our presence in the country."

USA - Behind the Scenes has announced the launch of its new affinity fundraising initiative, Ghostlight Groups. The programme, created in effort to raise awareness and funds to benefit the charity, seeks to honour the importance of community and volunteerism in our industry.
Ghostlight Groups are volunteer led groups that gather to raise money for Behind the Scenes through an event or activity of shared interest. Groups may choose an activity like skiing, golfing, or quilting. They might hold a regular meeting of a book club, or monthly movie nights. Ghostlight Group’s events or activities can be anything people do in their precious spare time. The decision of what is left to those organizing the group, but more important is that those volunteers have a why; an affinity for the BTS mission, and a desire to create community.
The Rocky Mountain Ghostlight Riders (RMGR)

Europe - K-array has announced the strengthening of its EMEA distribution channels through new partnerships with distributors Medialantic in Germany and Senia in Romania. These distribution partnerships will reinforce K-array's global reach, providing its range of installed and live solutions to customers in new markets.
"We are excited to partner with K-array and bring their innovative audio solutions to the German market,” confirms Veit Wegmann-Kamecke, CEO at Medialantic. “K-array's commitment to quality and innovation aligns with our values at Medialantic, and we look forward to working together to provide our customers with the best audio products and support."
Based in Romania, Senia is the largest distributor and retailer of equipment and instruments for the music industry at a national level. They are also the exclusive representative for several leading a

UK - The widely respected PLASA Awards for Innovation are now open for entries, for any product released since PLASA Show 2022. The awards are open to all, including PLASA Show 2023 exhibitors, PLASA members, and non-member non-exhibitors. And this year, early bird entries can save 20% off the entry fee if they submit their application by midnight on Monday 7 August.

Organised in association with LSi, PLASA’s market-leading magazine, the awards celebrate innovative products from across the live entertainment technology industry that demonstrate a new style of thinking, improve technical practice or safety, introduce new materials or techniques, or offer a new commercial advantage.

Each successfully entered product will be judged by an independent panel of industry experts who have the authority to present up to eight awards of equal standing, one of whi

Renewable Energy - Glastonbury Festival will be run entirely by renewable energy this year. All production areas will either be powered by electricity from "fossil fuel-free sources" or will run on solar panels and battery hybrid systems. Generators will run on fuel made from waste cooking oil and Arcadia's giant fire-breathing spider will also run entirely off recycled biofuels.
Organisers said "sustainability has always been at the heart" of the festival. In 2010, the festival's cowsheds were covered with enough solar panels to power 40 homes, making it the largest privately owned solar power station in the UK at the time. The site has also welcomed a temporary new wind turbine in Williams Green to provide clean power to some market stalls, and solar energy is used to power the Farm and Festival offices.
Organisers said: "Our Green Fields have run on solar, wind and

USA - Headed by their flagship WPL line array, Martin Audio systems have been specified throughout the vast 250,000sq.ft Armory complex in St. Louis, MO.
Originally constructed in 1938 as an armoury for the Missouri National Guard - part of the New Deal after the Great Recession - it later became a US tennis HQ before transforming into a concert venue in the 1960s and 1970s (featuring Ike & Tina Turner and the Grateful Dead, among others).
More recently it has had a chequered life, before falling into disrepair. Several times it went back to the drawing board before Jake Miller and Chris Honstain of hospitality specialists Brick + Bev, an affiliate of local developers Green Street Real Estate Ventures, took it over. Honstain and Green Street’s Phil Hulse put their heads together and the project then went into overdrive.
The operators’ principal focus was

Turkey - Show architects Black Skull Creative and Balich Wonder Studios collaborated to present Pepsi’s 2023 UEFA Champions League Final Kick Off Show on 10 June in Istanbul.
Brazilian pop sensation Anitta and Grammy award-winning Nigerian superstar Burna Boy and special guest multi-platinum DJ and producer Alesso featured in the show.
Black Skull’s Jay Revell comments: "With The 2023 UEFA Champions League Final Kick Off Show by Pepsi, we wanted to showcase the immense power of football to unite diverse fans and cultures. Istanbul, a symbol of global cultures, serves as the perfect backdrop for this unforgettable TV spectacle.
“By enlisting artists from three different continents - Africa, South America, and Europe - we wanted to highlight the global reach and influence of football. This show is a testament to the unifying force that brings powerful, disti

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