Azerbaijan - A spectacular two hour opening ceremony featuring US pop star Lady Gaga, inspired by Azerbaijani culture and starring more than 6,000 athletes from 50 countries in front of 68,000 enthralled spectators, launched the inaugural European Games in Baku.

The Ceremony, held in Azerbaijan's ancient city Baku, featured the history of the nation, its paintings, poetry and industries represented by images and shape shifting scenes using special effects on the stage set designed as the shores of the Caspian Sea.

The opening ceremony is the latest in a long list of major ceremonies delivered by Creative Technology (CT) which includes the last three summer Games alongside Commonwealth, Asian and Arab Games in India and the Middle East. The opening also represented the culmination of over a years' work for Creative Technology in the negotiation, planning and ultimately delivery

Germany - The Sennheiser Group has presented its annual results for fiscal year 2014, showing a rise of 44.3 million euros to 634.8 million euros over the previous year - an increase of around 7.5 percent. Net earnings also increased by 20.4 million euros to a total of 34.7 million euros. The company, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2015, grew in all regions worldwide - and Sennheiser significantly increased its sales in Asia and Australia in particular, the company reports.

With this further increase in sales revenue in fiscal year 2014, the Sennheiser Group is sustaining the continuous rise in sales seen in recent years. "We are very pleased to see a new record result," said Dr. Frank Heinricht, chairman of the Supervisory Board of Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG. "The positive sales development in all regions has once again confirmed the strate

UK - A.C. Video, a sales division of A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) - and the exclusive UK distributor for the Hippotizer media servers range - will be hosting a Hippotizer V4 UK Open House event on Friday 14 August 2015, in conjunction with the manufacturer at their headquarters in North London.

The occasion will showcase the new V4 range alongside other leading video brands available from AC-ET, including AViary Video Tools, Prolights, Luminex, Philips Signage Solutions and Christie Digital.

The informal event consists of a choice of morning (10:00am - 2:00pm) and afternoon (2:00pm - 6:00pm) classroom-style sessions providing hands-on training with the completely redesigned line of Green Hippo Hippotizer media servers running the new V4 software, which is designed to meet the demands of shows today and tomorrow. The previous Hippotizer V3 range received multiple awa

USA - Over 30,000 of the leading cancer researchers and specialists from around the world journeyed to Chicago's McCormick Place recently for the 51st annual ASCO conference. The official theme of this year's meeting, Illumination and Innovation: Transforming Data into Learning reflected the shared commitment of those in attendance to exchange trending research and insights that can help combat the disease. Among the learning tools used to advance this worthy goal was an impressive 36ft x 6ft LED wall made of 54 Chauvet Professional MVP Ta8 Curve panels.

Supplied by Image Productions Services, which built the videowall, the panels were used at an exhibit by Sirtex Medical Ltd., an award-winning Australian-based global health care research company that is pioneering a targeted radiation therapy for liver cancer called SIR-Spheres Y-90 resin microspheres. (The therapy place

USA - NYC's Marriott Edition Hotel is one of the latest projects created by US entrepreneur Ian Schrager, who originally rose to fame as co-owner and co-founder of Studio 54 in the late 1970s. To take care of the audio solution, Schrager's director of development, Michael Overington, enlisted the services of Ernie Lake's specialist AV firm, EL Media Group.

"We knew exactly what was needed from the start. Working in cooperation with Schrager's designers and the head of branding, Ben Pundole, we were asked to put together a system able to handle a DJ and other general audio duties, which could perform well and at different levels. Quality and even sound dispersion were an absolute must," says Lake. "The client also requested remote access for volume and source."

As a long-time Symetrix system user - "we've been specifying their processors for many years

USA - Prolific multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer Todd Rundgren has just released his new Global album, and is one of the highly innovative artists in the current portfolio of lighting and visuals designer and touring lighting director Martin Thomas.

Martin has been touring regularly with Rundgren for around six years and is now out with a tower and floor specials lighting package comprising just 18 moving lights - 12 Robe Pointes and six Robe MMX Spots - plus LED video panels.

With lighting and visuals absolutely at the essence of the energetic and fast-paced show, Martin was confident he could deliver all the dynamics needed with just these few touring elements, as well as hooking in to a different 'top' rig each night at the various venues on an eclectic itinerary.

Initial phone conversations between Martin and Rundgren revealed the desire to cre

UK - Holo-Gauze, the 3D display solution for hologram effects, is instrumental in realising the video projection effects for Damon Albarn's modern musical reimagining of Lewis Carroll's classic Alice in Wonderland. The show's projections are by 59 Productions, with Lysander Ashton acting as creative director.

Appearing at Manchester's Palace Theatre until 12 July as part of the Manchester International Festival, wonder.land is a co-production between National Theatre artistic director Rufus Norris, scriptwriter Moira Buffini and Albarn, who wrote the score. The musical is set to transfer to London's National Theatre from 27 November.

In wonder.land, Lewis Carroll's fantasy world becomes an online game, to which Aly, who is bullied at school and unhappy at home, escapes. However, some of the people Aly meets online - Dum, Dee, the Cheshire Cat and Red Queen

South Africa - During Mediatech, One of South African's leading lighting designers, Michael Broderick will present a carefully orchestrated performance using one Robe BMFL fixture and a dancer. The 15-minute shows will be held every day from 15 to 17 July at 10:30am, 12:30am, 2:30pm and 4:30pm. Bookings can be made at the DWR Distribution stand (J47).

"We are trying to push the boundaries and wanted to see what we could do with a single fixture," said Michael Broderick. "The act consists of story which paints a picture of the relationship between the light and the graceful dancer, Belinda Henwood."

David Gouldie is the choreographer and director. He worked closely with Michael Broderick, who programmed the show on a grandMA 2. Sound design is by Liam Magner, with final sound mastering by Colin Peddie form Sonic Studio.

(Jim Evans)

Sweden - Electronic dance musicians Join The Riot are recording their debut album for all to see in a glass box in the middle of the Swedish capital, Stockholm, this month, using an Audient ASP4816 analogue mixing console.

The five-piece band have commandeered the display window of a hotel situated on the corner of one of Stockholm's busiest streets, built a studio in it, and are spending the whole of July working on the album, in what they have aptly named A Glass Cage Of Emotions. Throughout the month passers-by can watch what's going on through the many windows and even listen to their sessions via headphones on the street.

"We've been working on the album for a little over a year, and figured that when it came to recording it, collaborating with the Scandic Malmen hotel to promote its music profile at the same time as our new album, would be much better than re

USA - Located 28 miles east of Salt Lake City near Park City, Utah the Olympic Park is a winter sports park built for the 2002 Winter Olympics. The Olympic Park originally hosted the bobsleigh, skeleton, luge, ski jumping and Nordic Combined events for the 2002 games, with more than 2,500 Olympians representing 77 countries attending the games in Utah.

Now under the careful stewardship of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation created to carry on the positive impact of the 2002 Winter Games for Utah and visitors from all over the world, the Olympic Park still serves as a training centre for Olympic and development level athletes to ensure long-term viability and relevance of Utah's Olympic Legacy efforts.

Home to six Nordic Ski Jumps, a 1,335 metre sliding track, freestyle aerials winter training and competition hill and a 2,000,000-US gallon training pool, events are held through

Canada - The FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015, presented by Fox Sports, drew to a close with a total of 26.7m viewers tuning into the month-long tournament, including Telemundo viewers. Kicking off studio coverage in Vancouver, the network selected DPA Microphones' d:fine Headset Microphones to provide the ultimate in sound for broadcasts from the field and remote studios. The tournament began on June 6, with the final match taking place on July 5 at Vancouver's BC Place Stadium where the United States defeated Japan to win the coveted trophy.

A quadrennial international women's football world championship tournament, 2015 marks the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the first time the event was held in Canada and the third time overall in North America. Matches were played in six cities across the country, spanning five time zones. Expanding the tournament this year to include a

Italy - An Allen & Heath iLive digital system recently managed FOH and monitor sound for the Campana & Sonus Percussioni Ketoniche, an Italian musical project utilising synthesizers with traditional and unusual percussion instruments.

Comprising an iLive-T112 surface with iDR-48 MixRack at both FOH and monitor position networked via MADI, the system managed a range of percussion instruments including 20 church bells, 20 cowbells from Sardinia and Lucanian, an Italian sound sculpture, iron and steel drums, disc brakes, shock absorbers, trusses, pans, bells mounted on bicycle wheels, 12 congas, a batà, digeridoo, marimba, five pairs of bongos, and over 30 drums.

Francesco Apolloni, FOH engineer and technical manager, explains, "The technical equipment for Campana & Sonus is quite complex as there are nearly 60 sound sources to manage. Musicians are constantly changing posi

UK - Track systems specialist Triple E has loaned a quantity of ERAIL track and components to Taking Part at London's Young Vic Maria studio theatre for a production called The Remarkable Case of K.

The Young Vic stages a production with Special Educational Needs young people every year. This year, the team is working with 32 local children with autism from age 4 to age 10. The Remarkable Case of K is inspired by the Young Vic's current main house production of The Trial - a 'timeless tale of ordinary terror' by Franz Kafka and adapted by Nick Gill, with Rory Kinnear leading the ensemble cast.

"The creative team is keen to create a fun production line so we follow the journey of a 'box' being made," explains Neil Mickel, production manager at Young Vic Studios. "The box turns out to be the case file and this relates to The Trial. At the star

UK - Forty years on from their seminal hit album Sheet Music, 10cc have been on the road touring throughout the UK, culminating in a show at the Royal Albert Hall. The band's FOH engineer and tour manager for the last three years, Jon Sword, chose to run the musically complex and sonically demanding show on Cadac's flagship digital sound touring console, the CDC eight-32.

Phil McDaniel of rental company ESS suggested Sword try out the new Cadac desk. "The great thing about Cadac products is that they sound amazing; they're known for really great sound quality. 10cc were pioneers of studio production in the 70s and their work still has to stand up in concert halls now; everything has to be heard with this band," says Sword. "I never get feedback with this desk; it just sounds so musical. It gives me the best clarity with the least effort, allowing me to mix,

South Africa - Elation Professional has announced that The Production Warehouse of Johannesburg is a new sales partner for the company in South Africa, now stocking a full complement of Elation products.

Started by brothers Jacques and Marnus Nieuwoudt in 2014, The Production Warehouse specializes in supply and installation of lighting and video equipment affordable and reliable enough to meet international touring standards while stressing a high level of service commitment.

The Production Warehouse's inventory now includes a full range of Elation products including the Platinum SBX hybrid moving head; Satura Spot CMY Pro moving head; award-winning Sniper 2R effect light; powerful Protron 3K LED Strobe; Cuepix Series of blinder/strip lights; Colour 5 Profile ellipsoidal spot; SixPar 200 LED colour changer; Rayzor Q12 LED wash with zoom; and more.

The Production Warehouse wi

USA Despite frontman Dave Grohl's broken leg, - Foo Fighters are now on the 43-date North American leg of their Sonic Highways tour, which "kicked off" - with the singer/guitarist seated on a massive motorized throne - 4 July at Washington, D.C.'s RFK Stadium. Accompanying the band on this latest stretch running through November is an L-Acoustics K1/K2 PA system fielded by Delicate Productions, which has been Foo Fighters' SR vendor for the past five years.

"We have partnered with Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Special Event Services (SES) for the K1 enclosures," says president Jason Alt, noting that Delicate has taken the same approach for tours in the past based on the broad acceptance of L-Acoustics' K1 system. In fact, Alt's success with K1 prompted him to order a K2 system for his own company.

Now, as Foo Fighters head out to play the remainder of

UK - ShowTex, a worldwide leader in inventing, manufacturing, selling, and installing flame retardant curtain fabrics, tracks, and motion control systems is the newest Behind the Scenes Pledge-a-Product Partner. ShowTex has pledged a percentage of the profits from sales of the GiantMirror to support the charity.

GiantMirror is an innovative product that provides an easy to use, excellent quality, and versatile alternative to glass mirrors. The oversized lightweight mirrors with virtually invisible joints offer near perfect clarity and reflection. Use transparent GiantMirror to create hologram special effects and make objects appear and disappear.

Raf Peeters, project manager at ShowTex stated, "ShowTex believes our industry exists by the grace of a lot of hard working and passionate entertainment technology professionals. Without them our business would not be the same, s

USA - New York's Brooklyn Bowl was an appropriate site for an unforgettable concert by Electron, the heavy hitting four-piece band formed by Disco Biscuits bass player Marc Brownstein that is making major waves in the Big Apple and beyond.

Lighting designer Manny Newman drew on the brawny power of Intimidator Spot LED 250 moving fixtures from Chauvet DJ to provide a monster light show for the band's recent performance at the venue. "Looking at the band, the venue, the crowd and the tradition, it's an exciting night," said the LD. "You don't want to bring a meek lightshow to something like this. I wanted to make a power statement without being overpowering or blinding the band."

Manny accomplished this goal in eye-popping fashion using the Intimidators and a collection of other Chauvet DJ fixtures. He positioned three T-bars upstage and flew two Intimidator

Italy - Vasco Rossi is currently engaged in his summer Live Kom 15 stadium tour which is completely sold out, and will see the legendary singer play to nearly 1m fans, with another stunning lighting and show design by his long term LD, Giovanni Pinna.

This year Giovanni has incorporated 34 Robe BMFL Blades and 16 BMFL Spots into the design, which are the work-horse spot fixtures of the tour. He has also deployed 100 of Robe's LEDBeam 100s which are dotted around the back wall of the main set. One of Italy's leading designers, he has been using Robe products in his work for some years, but this is the first full-on project for which he has specified BMFL Spots.

Giovanni worked closely with Claudio Santucci and Florian Boje from set design company Gioforma who produced the imposing industrial stage set constructed from aluminium and fabricated by Rome based rental company BOTW,

UK - HOG Factor, the lighting design and programming competition for HOG4 Consoles, is to enjoy its second UK outing at the PRO Show at the NEC Birmingham on Sunday 13 September.

HOG Factor, an initiative from European Master Distributor AED Distribution in partnership with High End Systems, is coming back to the UK. The competition was first held at PLASA 2014, then most recently toured to Germany for ProLight+Sound Frankfurt.

The competition is open to young students currently enrolled in a full-time UK Entertainment technology related education course, or working at the starting level in a UK lighting rental production house. There will be six teams, each with two members, competing against each other. In advance they will be presented with a lighting rig comprising High End Systems Luminaires along with a set piece of music. Teams have to design a lighting show using the l

UK - The Mentalists opened at the Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End this week. Written by Richard Bean, the award-winning writer of the international hit One Man, Two Guvnors, the play stars The Office co-creator Steven Merchant in his West End debut alongside Steffan Rhodri, best known for his role as Dave Coaches in Gavin and Stacey.

After providing the lighting equipment for the Wyndham's Theatre's previous show American Buffalo, White Light makes an immediate return to the venue to supply the lighting support for the new production.

Rich Mence, production electrician on the show, states, "For The Mentalists, I worked alongside David Plater, the lighting designer, who wanted to create a very naturalistic feel. As the play takes place during different times of the day, we had to reflect this on what was a static set."<

UK - Technical theatre student Bradley Allen has used an Avolites Titan Mobile armed with the new Titan V9 operating system to light a production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at Colchester Institute.

This production saw Extended Diploma Acting students perform Shakespeare's famed romantic comedy, following events surrounding the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta.

Allen, now in his second year of study, chose Avolites from a number of console manufacturers, controlling a lighting rig including 24 dimmers, four Robe Colorwash 575XTs, two Robe Colorspot 575s, and both Chauvet and Visage LED parcans from the Titan Mobile console.

"The brief for the lighting was that it should look timeless," says Allen. "The lighting process needed to be smooth and not cause issues. I felt Titan offered the most useful features for me."

The network conn

UK - The team at Daktronics have been determined to direct their power as a collective towards raising money for charity. The hard-wired crew will represent the company by taking part in the Morrisons Great Newham London Run, at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Sunday, 19 July 2015.

The eleven-strong team is comprised of six Daktronics' UK employees and the support of five family members. The money they raise will be donated to Paul's Place (paulsplace.org.uk), a Bristol-based charity that supports and facilitates physically disabled adults.

The team is closely aligned with the site of the run, as the route takes in all the iconic London 2012 Olympic Games legacy venues, including the Lee Valley VeloPark into which Daktronics has installed four Daktronics LED video displays, each measuring 18.10sq.m , in preparation for the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.

The disp

The Netherlands - Robert Juliat's Aramis and Lancelot long-throw models have been out in full force in the Netherlands for two of the country's most exuberant parties.

Lighting designer Martin Beekhuizen used no less than 16 RJ Aramis 2500W followspots on Amsterdam's biggest party night of the year as huge audiences flooded into the Amsterdam Arena for the 11th Toppers in Concert extravaganza.

Billed as 'the singalong festival of the year', the annual event filled the massive arena - home of Amsterdam's Ajax football team - for five nights at the end of May 2015. Audiences of over 70,000 people per night - dressed in white with 'a colourful touch of summer' - sang along with Dutch superstars, Gerard Joling, Jeroen van der Boom and Rene Froger, and special guest stars Danny de Munk, Edzillia Rombley, Andre and Roxanne Hazes, David Bisbal and Village People, at this bright, bold

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