UK - Clay Paky Sharpys, sporting Union Jack coverings, shone brightly alongside some of the world's most famous pop royalty to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.

The patriotic Sharpys, dressed up in custom made Union Jack jackets, were a welcome sight amongst the pageantry of the day as they delivered a dazzling display of laser-like lighting at the evening celebrations that marked the 60th anniversary of Queen's reign.

Lighting designer Durham Marenghi employed more than 240 Clay Paky fixtures, hired from London based rental house Neg Earth, to deliver a stunning, varied and dynamic lighting design for superstar acts that included Kylie Minogue, Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, Grace Jones plus a host of pop glitterati.

Broadcast worldwide, and locally to a series of video screens rigged along the full length of the Mall and surrounding Royal parks, Marenghi ha

UK - The Queen's Jubilee Concert was a major talking point of the UK's weekend-long Diamond Jubilee celebrations in London, and XL Events played a major part in this highly prestigious event.

Responding to a commission from the show's lighting designer, Durham Marenghi, XL Events' project manager, Steve Greetham, worked for several weeks to specify and supply equipment and crew, both for the stunning projection mapping onto Buckingham Palace, and the onstage wraparound LED screens and IMAG cameras for the concert stage. This was cleverly built around the Queen Victoria Monument in front of the Palace.

For the much-talked-about Buckingham Palace projections, XL Events supplied a total of 36 Barco FLM HD 20K projectors arranged in six stacks of six, 12 Barco Image Pros and two Lightware DVI matrices, all under the watchful eye of Master Projectionist, Andy Joyes and his team.

UK - The annual Theatres Trust Conference takes place on 12 June at London's Stratford Circus venue. Four years after the Trust first addressed how theatres could become 'greener', this conference will explore which steps theatres are taking to achieve the triple bottom line amid rising energy costs, tougher building regulations, and even more difficult economic times. Conference discussions will also look at the challenges of theatres to provide a catalyst for social and economic recovery in the communities they serve as well as addressing the sustainability agenda.

ShowTex is a corporate supporter of the Theatres Trust and will sponsor the conference this year for the second time. According to ShowTex marketing manager Jessica Ballenger, "Our focus is shifting more and more towards products that take environmental impact into account as well as durable investments vs. sho

UK - With throngs of people travelling to London to see the Diamond Jubilee celebratory events taking place, Creative Technology (CT) was asked by event organisers Innovision to provide huge modular displays in Trafalgar Square and St James Park and to supply signal distribution and supporting engineering services to the various mobile screens installed in the Mall and the Palace Forecourt.

CT provided an 87m² Lighthouse R7 screen in Trafalgar Square and a 39m² Lighthouse R7 screen in St James' Park South, enabling the tens of thousands of visitors and residents of the capital to view the long weekend's festivities in all its regal glory.

CT also controlled the content across a total of 13 screens in central London, combining the main broadcast feed, locally generated live images and an advert roll with both ticker and emergency messaging options. Signals were distributed ov

UK - The team at Thorns Group has completed a complex challenge of erecting a fabric lining inside one of the substantial exhibition halls at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire.

The assignment has seen a 240m length of wall, extending to a height of more than seven metres, clad in black wool serge. It means the highly popular exhibition venue is able to mask the original brickwork, which was in a variety of colours, in addition to assorted electrical trunking, cables and piping.

As well as tackling the work in the venue's 3,100sq.m Hall 1, Thorns' team is also due to clean and repair similar fabric that has been in place for a number of years in neighbouring Hall 2, which measures 4,500sq.m.

The latest project has been tackled by the group's Classic Technical Services division, which is a leading supplier of lighting, electrics, theming, set design, audio visuals and sound syst

UK - LS-Live, Backstage Academy and STS Touring Productions supported emerging talent both on and off stage at Manchester's Raw Fest on Sunday 27 May.

Kris Sparrow, a young entrepreneur from Manchester, is one of 500 finalists in a BBC competition and decided to stage a festival as part of the next challenge. He turned to LS-Live Backstage Academy and STS Touring Productions to provide advice, training and production support for the event, which showcased the city's finest unsigned artists and talent.

Said Sparrow, "I love music but I had never organised a festival before and I wanted to do something out of my comfort zone because you have to challenge yourself.

"I'm so grateful to all the sponsors that offered to support me in my mission. The festival production would not have come together without them and their guidance has been invaluable."

LS-Live suppl

South Africa - The 13th Cape Town International Jazz Festival was held at the ICC on 3-4 April 2012. The event kicked off with a Free Community Concert held a few days prior to the event. Various South African rental companies worked on the festival days.

The Free Community Concert was hosted at Green Market Square on the 28 March and boasted the largest crowd to date. The concert is part of the build-up to the CTIJF and features some of the top headliners that also perform at the Jazz Festival. C&S Audio provided the full technical, where the biggest challenge, due to the event taking place in the centre of town, was to close off the streets to set up. In a mere 24 hours, C & S transformed the Green Market Square into a complete concert venue including stage, roof, screens, PA etc. They had six hours to return it back to its former state after the concert!

Around 15 000 peopl

Berlin - The last Friday in May saw the third part of the Digital Workflow seminar take place in Berlin. This workshop is the result of cooperation between Sennheiser/Neumann and Lawo/ Innovason. Whereas the first two sessions were held at Sennheiser and Lawo HQ respectively, (Wedemark and Rastatt, Germany) part three stepped out of pure theory and brought the equipment to a live stage with the British-Nigerian soul, jazz and funk singer-songwriter, Ola Onabule. The aim was to highlight the benefits of working with digital microphones and state-of-the-art digital consoles on a live stage.

The 35 participants were able to follow each step of the planning, setup, sound check and performance phase in a hands-on environment. In the morning they received a general introduction into the technology of digital microphones by Martin Liermann (SVS) and an explanation of the feature

UK - Sherman Cymru recently reopened to the public following a £6.5m transformation. The redevelopment of the building has not only created a new iconic creative venue for Cardiff, but has also vastly improved the experience that thousands of people have when visiting the theatre. The redevelopment marks another milestone in the short history of Sherman Cymru which was formed in 2007 through the merger of Sherman Theatre Limited and Sgript Cymru Limited. Since this time Sherman Cymru has consistently produced critically acclaimed and award winning work in both Welsh and English.

As part of the redevelopment, a new sound system was installed into the main house, which is a 468 seat auditorium. The installation of the system was by Marquee installation and Duran Audio UK supplied with two AXYS Scope T2115, two AXYS Scope T2112 (Both three-way full range loudspeakers) and two

UK - Liverpool -based Adlib's audio division has designed and installed a an Adlib FD sound system into the city's iconic live music venue Eric's - which is open again for business.

The basement space in Mathew Street, downtown Liverpool, opposite the Cavern, flourished from 1976 to 1980 as a must-play venue for the best and most innovative punk, post punk, alternative and indie bands. Raw, underground (literally) and edgy, it launched a slew of meteoric, critically acclaimed careers from Echo & The Bunnymen to Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, made history with incendiary performances and was a seriously credible hang out for the cool and creative.

More bands graced the stage at Eric's than any other club in Liverpool ... until it was unceremoniously shut in 1980, and closed again in 1981 after a brief afterlife as Brady's.

The room then lay forgotten, derelict and abused

Romania - Linkin Park performed on 6 June in Bucharest where the concert was staged under the impressive LT Roof system from Prolyte Group.

Just weeks before, Bucharest based Standard Vision SRL, decided that the solution for a series of concerts they are organising, would be a Prolyte LT Roof system.

Standard Vion is a communication agency that covers a complete spectrum, supporting their customers from concept to creation with promotional material to organising live events, like outdoor concerts.

Once they had decided to buy a Prolyte Roof system, the appointed head rigger flew in to Leek, to discuss the rigging and above all, loading capacity needs with Ivo Mulder, senior brand engineer Prolyte Structures.

Knowing the set of Linkin Park would be one of the largest and heaviest to accommodate, this was a benchmark case for the LT roof. After calulations proved that this,

South Africa -The newly built Soweto Theatre, designed by Afritects, is the first professional performing arts venue developed in a former township. Since opening it has been grabbing headlines worldwide for its eye-catching, colourful exterior. Nevertheless for project theatre consultant Denis Hutchinson it's the innovation inside, including Philips Strand Lighting dimming and Selecon luminaires, that he hopes will have an equally dramatic impact on artists, theatre staff, audiences and community residents.

After the inevitable tender process with city funds, Hutchinson recommended Philips Selecon luminaires and Philips Strand WallRack for all three of the groundbreaking Soweto Theatre's venues. The theatre, which will be used by professional and amateur companies, national and international alike, called out to be technically equipped with kit that can be commonly found in pro

UK - Engineers from Orbital Sound have completed an intensive training course at Shure Distribution UK, covering all aspects of the Axient Wireless Management Network and resulting in Orbital being recognised as an Axient Partner.

Technical support engineers Richard Carter, Jason Fernandes and Tom Oakes undertook Shure's two-day in-depth training course. Orbital's engineers are among the first in the UK to pass Shure's Axient Certification Program, qualifying Orbital to offer Axient wireless systems as an integral part of its hire stock and sales portfolio.

Peter James, MD of Shure Distribution UK, commented, "We require the highest standards of product knowledge and operational expertise from companies that wish to include the Shure Axient Wireless Management Network as part of their rental inventory. Axient is a ground-breaking product and in order to become an Axient P

Live Statistics - Southbank Centre in London is the leading music venue in the UK , according to new figures released by PRS for Music. During 2011, Southbank Centre, which consists of the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery, held 422 musical events - attended by over a million people.

Robert Ashcroft, Chief Executive, PRS for Music said, "I am thrilled to see so many cultural centres featured in the analysis, from the newly opened Kings Place in London and The Sage in Gateshead to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester . These venues have very diverse and exciting programmes that appeal to many different audiences. It is an enormous accomplishment to run a successful live music space and in spite of economic challenges, the British live music scene is still strong."

PRS for Music, the organisation that collects

UK - With so much state-of-the-art sound reinforcement equipment deployed on Diamond Jubilees the length and breadth of Britain, this picture harks back to a bygone age, and is one for the many fans of vintage Martin Audio culture (and founder Dave Martin's unique designs).

Alex Czechowski of Ace Vintage Systems has a veritable museum of working iconic pieces, some of which he fielded at Glastonbury last year (when the Orange Chill 'n' Charge tent was turned into a retrospective space).

This time Ace provided more high quality vintage sound at a Jubilee event in Greatworth, Northampton, which ran totally in analogue from the microphone to the loudspeaker.

The stacks would have done credit to any band playing 25 years ago, since the bass bins were the legendary Martin Audio 215 Mk3, complemented by Martin Audio MH112 mids (also known as 'Ladyshaves') and some tops.

"It

Ukraine - Donetsk-based company CORTMI Ltd., PR Lighting's Ukrainian distributor, has carried out an interesting lighting installation at a war memorial in their native city.

Under contract from the city administration they have created a dramatic and haunting lightscape, using PR Lighting LED fixtures, for the restored Victims of Fascism monument, located in the park at the Centre for Slavic Culture. This monument is one of the most important places to pay homage to the horrors of the Second World War in the region.

CORTMI turned to three of PR Lighting's new ARC LED 3216, using them with other narrowly focused white light illuminators. This fixture is a newly-automated and highly-flexible flexible 'double-headed' RGBWA fixture, containing 216 x 3W high quality LEDs, and inheriting its bright output from the PR-8802.

The three LED spotlights have been placed on specially in

UK - Since its release earlier this year, the VR-3 'all in one' audio and video mixer from Roland Systems Group (RSG) has proved to be a popular choice for companies looking for a compact and portable, streaming ready device for producing live events online. One of those companies, UK based broadcasting specialists IwashTV, have recently purchased two VR-3's to do just that- and were using one of them to stream DJ sets live from Liverpool Sound City (LSC), the three-day international music, media and technology conference and live arts and music festival which took place 17-19 May at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.

Working at the event on behalf of live DJ streaming site, DJTVLive.com, IwashTV set up the VR-3 with two cameras to capture the live DJ sets from the festival stage, which were then streamed directly to a computer source, reaching around 4000 viewers over two days. The i

UK - XL Events helped celebrate some of the very best and most creative hairdressing talent in the UK, supplying LED screens and scenic video, an HD PPU, Catalyst playback and 4 HD cameras for the high profile 2012 L'Oréal Professional Colour Trophy Grand Final.

The event was staged in the Great Room at London's Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane. Over 1000 dinner guests enjoyed two high energy catwalk shows - funky 'Rebel London' by Peter Gray and the RUSH Artistic Team's amazingly colourful, animated 'Tryptych', and the presentation of the Finalists Awards.

XL Events' project manager Paul Wood was working for Kate Wright and Lisa Shenton from technical production company Papilo, alongside show designer Bruce French.

XL Events has worked on the L'Oréal Colour Trophy for the last six years. This was its third consecutive year at the prestigious central London l

UK - Green Hippo made an appearance at PSco's open day, hosted in Birmingham on 21 May, showcasing how the Hippotizers could benefit customers working within new markets.

Green Hippo was joined by manufacturers such as Panasonic, with their 152" plasma screen and Orion with their Infinite video wall tiles. PSco is looking to expand their market presents in the north of the UK and it was an opportunity for Green Hippo to target the installation market. Those who got to see the Hippotizer's in action were impressed at the possibilities available when using the product, saying that the Hippotizer has about half a lorry loads worth of equipment, crammed into one small rack mount box.

Psco continued their tour, taking them to Manchester, where Green Hippo's Nick Charalampidis continued to excite people with the mass array of features available on the Hippotizer systems.

Tom

USA - FocusTrack, the show lighting documentation system, congratulates lighting designers Jeff Croiter and Natasha Katz, winners of the lighting categories at this year's Tony Awards presented this Sunday, June 10th, in New York. Congratulations, too, to the other winners and nominees.

Jeff Croiter took the Best Lighting Design of a Play Tony for Peter and the Starcatcher, which also won Tonys for its set designer, Donyale Werle, its costume designer, Paloma Young, and its sound designer, Darron L. West. Croiter's co-nominees in the category were Peter Kaczorowski for The Road To Mecca, Brian MacDevitt for Death of a Salesman and Kenneth Posner for Other Desert Cities.

Natasha Katz collected the Best Lighting Design of a Musical Tony for Once, one of the eight wins from 11 nominations the show received. Set designer Bob Crowley, sound design

Canada - Home to Canadian Football League team BC Lions and Major League Soccer team Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Vancouver's BC Place stadium is a premier venue. It has hosted appearances from such iconic figures as Pope John Paul II, Madonna, Michael Jackson and, of course, Winter Olympic athletes.

Following a major upgrade, BC Place has become a new landmark of Vancouver's skyline and a place of pride for all British Columbians, due in no small part to the new lighting effects system, which not only adds to the stadium architecturally but also allows BC Place to 'come alive' both inside and out.

Controlling this new and sophisticated integrated lighting system, which utilises energy-efficient LED fixtures from Lumenpulse, is a Pharos LPC 60 programmed with the Pharos Designer software, enabling displays of a vast array of static or moving colour designs on the exterior and inter

Australia - The latest step in projectiondesign's global growth strategy is the appointment of Hills Sound, Vision & Lighting Group as a new distribution partner for Australia and New Zealand.

The appointment means that projectiondesign products and technical support will be available in every major Australian and New Zealand city which will greatly benefit integration customers and partners, says the company.

"Hills SVL Group already distributes a high-calibre range of products which is backed up with highly specialised technical know-how and educational support," says Stuart Craig, group general manager at Hills SVL Group. "The addition of projectiondesign to our product portfolio will enable us to gain increased traction in the advanced imaging markets which projectiondesign has an already strong presence. The addition of projectiondesign is the perfect match

Azerbaijan - To broadcast the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, Azerbaijan German Broadcast production company Brainpool TV on behalf of Ictimai TV, used an extensive installation from Riedel Communications. Riedel, one of the leading manufacturers and providers of real-time networks for video, audio, communications and data, installed a comprehensive network infrastructure consisting of MediorNet, Artist, RockNet, professional radios and wireless video links.

At the heart of the installation was Riedel MediorNet. The fibre-based real-time network transported the majority of the event's signals. Forty HD and SD video signals were distributed within the arena - amongst them the broadcast feed and the signals for the on-site video walls and monitors. Since MediorNet allows the transport of different signal types over a single infrastructure, it significantly reduced the amount

Singapore - American progressive metal band Dream Theater has used Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1500s and Clay Paky Sharpys, supplied by Singapore's Showtec Communication Pte, to deliver a dramatic light show at the iconic 1700-seater Kallang Theatre in Singapore.

The venue, which has recently been refurbished to become an Asian Arts and Culture Hub, is an important stop in the band's demanding 2012 world tour. Dream Theater is extremely popular in the region and even more so since its album, A Dramatic Turn of Events became one of the group's most successful yet, reaching number 8 on the US Billboard 200 and number one in ten different countries.

"Dream Theater's live shows have become bigger and more diverse since they formed back in 1985," reports band lighting designer Steve Baird. "They demand a sense of drama and high impact lighting has always been a c

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