Denmark - Hip hop band, Suspekt, appeared in a one-off date at Copenhagen's 47,000 capacity National Parken Stadium in September. Suspekt is renowned for playing with cool lighting effects and Ayrton was delighted that its Zonda 9 fixtures were chosen for the dramatic lighting system that included 168 Zonda 9 Wash and Zonda 9 FX fixtures.
Zonda 9 Wash is the first luminaire in a new family of Ayrton products devised for stage lighting, equipped with a high-performance 40W LED source with RGB+W additive colour synthesis. The lighting was supplied by VIGSØ, Denmark, and the striking lighting and stage design was provided by Johnny Thinggaard of CMY.
Thinggaard elaborated on his choice of lighting: “The concert was a one-day event and the band's biggest show to date. I chose to use the Zonda 9 Wash because of its large light surface - I really like the way that the la

UK - Following successful spoken word tours in 2019 and 2021 to promote his autobiography, in 2023 Status Quo’s Francis Rossi set out to do something a little different. Bringing anecdotes and acoustic versions of well-known songs to intimate venues throughout the UK, Francis Rossi Tunes & Chat has been the perfect task for the Yamaha DM3 digital mixing console.
Featuring Rossi with studio collaborator/guitar tech Andy Brook and a pair of electro-acoustic guitars, the two-part, 101-date tour visited 400-600 capacity theatres in many of the UK’s provincial towns and cities.
Long-term Status Quo Front of House engineer Andy May was asked to mix the shows, but his Yamaha PM5D - a veteran of many Quo tours - was obviously over-specced for this one. Instead he chose a Yamaha DM3, which packs a lot of technical punch into a tiny footprint, just right for mixing on ho

Switzerland - The Zurich Open Air Festival, held over three days in suburban Glattbrugg, features artists from an array of genres, from ballads to electronic beats, and hard rock anthems to indie tunes. Jazz, blues, and folk join the diverse mix for good measure. The artists on stage at this year’s (10th annual) rendition of the festival, included Robbie Williams, Zara Larsson, Bastian Baker, The Killers, The Chainsmokers and Paul Kalkbrenner.
The production design on the 2023 festival’s substantial main stage also embodied a very diverse range of creative inputs. Defined by two high towers, each with a large vertically-oriented video wall at its base, the towers were connected by horizontal rows of lights. Other rows of lights extended from each wall and sloped down to smaller stage left and stage right columns.
Contributing to the rich visual panorama was a colle

India - Gujarat’s Premier Navratri Celebrations organised by the Rotary Club of Bhuj reaches new heights, as Phoenix Networks deployed their Meyer Sound Panther line-array system for the first time for a public event.
The vibrant tapestry of Hindu culture is woven with a myriad of festivals, each celebrating different facets of life and spirituality. Among these, Navratri stands out as a radiant and joyous occasion, marking the triumph of good over evil; with the festival spanning nine nights dedicated to the divine feminine in various forms - each representing strength, wisdom, and prosperity.
This year, the Rotary Club of Bhuj in Gujarat orchestrated a 10-day cultural extravaganza at the Sandalwood Villa & Clubhouse Grounds in Mirjapar. Nestled in the heart of Gujarat, this sprawling venue, measures 550ft in length and 260ft in breadth, setting the stage for a

USA - Masque Sound has once again teamed up with sound designer Joshua D. Reid to bring the travelling productions of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical to life with a custom audio equipment package, for both its East and West Coast tour.
Featuring the hit songs You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch and Welcome Christmas, The Grinch discovers there’s more to Christmas than he bargained for in this heartwarming holiday classic. Max the Dog narrates as the mean and scheming Grinch, whose heart is “two sizes too small,” as he decides to steal Christmas away from the holiday-loving Whos.
In designing the sound for this year’s Grinch tour, Reid's goal was to create a flexible and efficient touring sound system that could capture the magic of Dr. Seuss' classic holiday narrative while providing the highest level of clarity for aud

Austria - For its global premiere on the stage of Vienna's Ronacher Theater, the musical Rock me Amadeus - The Falco Musicalwas illuminated using Prolights' Astra Wash.
This musical, with evocative scenes, intricate choreography, and dazzling costumes, demanded an extraordinary lighting setup to properly showcase the spectacle and celebrate the life of the musician Falco.
The design, crafted by the lighting designer Howard Harrison and musical lighting supervisor Lucas Berger, featured various mobile wash lights from Prolights' Astra Wash series - specifically, the Astra Wash19Pix and Astra Wash7Pix.
Harrison's choice to incorporate the Astra Wash19Pix into the lighting rig on both the ceiling and side walls was not only for their versatile light effects but also for their decorative potential, thanks to the integrated pixel ring.
Meanwhile, the Ast

UK - This week, Celestial’s epic drone light show, Evolution, was showcased for the first time ever at Gloucestershire County Cricket Club in Bristol to a select audience in preparation for launching the show to the general public in December. Drone light technology is being used to tell ‘the greatest story of all time’ - The story of our evolution.
The story, narrated by Tara Fitzgerald, starts with the Big Bang, the explosive inception of the universe and journeys into the emergence of the sun, our solar system and the planets that inhabit it.
The cosmic voyage accompanied by a cinematic soundtrack, guides viewers through the origins of conscious life on Earth, from the humble beginnings of single-cell organisms to the awe-inspiring reign of the dinosaurs and culminates in a celebration of the diverse tapestry of life on Earth today.
Evolution

USA - Front-of-house engineer Stanley Soares (known for his work with Sepultura, Devin Townsend, Motörhead, and Meshuggah) and producer/monitor engineer Chris Rakestraw (who produced/engineered the last two Megadeth albums) have chosen to mix Megadeth’s recent stadium tour with Waves plugins via the Waves SuperRack plugin host, seamlessly integrated in their DiGiCo Quantum 338 and Avid Venue S6L consoles.
Soares’ current setup when mixing Megadeth includes a DiGiCo Quantum 338 in conjunction with Waves SuperRack, Waves’ Mercury, the Studio Classics Collection and Abbey Road Collection bundles, all powered by two Waves Extreme SoundGrid Servers.
His setup involves three dedicated computers: the first hosts Waves SuperRack, the second manages recordings and virtual soundcheck through a DiGiGrid MGB interface, and the third handles Smaart and walk-in music duties.

Italy - Siena’s Concerto per l'Italia is an annual classical music event that takes place in the city’s Piazza del Campo each July. With its 102m-tall bell tower, and 2,500 seat-capacity, Piazza del Campo hosts various events, from seasonal initiatives to music festivals, throughout the year.
The Piazza is an essential cultural hub in Siena and the wider Tuscan region, attracting visitors from all over the world who come to enjoy the square’s historical and architectural beauty, and to experience the vibrant energy of the city's public life.
Over the course of three consecutive summers, the square has been the chosen outdoor setting for the Concerto per l'Italia, featuring classical orchestras and soloists from around the world. In 2023, the concert was directed by Daniele Gatti, and featured renowned musicians such as pianist Lilya Zilberstein, and the Orchest

Europe - Rock-pop-punk band Engst is continuing along its successful upward trajectory. The new album Irgendwas ist immer (There is always something) is selling fast and the current tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland, is already largely sold out.
The production design for the tour is the work of Jonas König of Koeniglicht, who, in addition to deploying many empty beer crates within the set, is using exclusively GLP fixtures.
This is the epitome of stretching a tight production budget for a young, up-and-coming band. “A beer crate costs practically nothing and fits the theme quite well,” says Jonas. He uses a matrix made of GLP impression X5 Compact behind a central wall constructed of beer crates. On the floor in front of the wall he has placed impression X5 Bar 1000. Other crates, stationed in the rows between, house a line of Fusion X-PA

USA - “The ability to work fast and sometimes furiously is imperative,” explains lighting designer Tom Kenny referring to the 2023 iHeartRadio Fiesta Latina event staged at the Kaseya Arena in Miami, Florida, in conjunction with LPS Production.
This year, Tom worked his creative magic with the help of a large rig of over 200 Robe moving lights supplied by rental specialist LPS Production, also based in Miami. This included 62 MegaPointes, 77 Tetra2s, 10 Tetra1s, 58 Spiiders, 16 BMFL Blades and an eight-way RoboSpot system with five BMFL Blade and three BMFL FollowSpots.
Maximising the features and multifunctionality of these powerful Robe products, Tom ensured that the line-up of Latin stars - Ricardo Montaner, Fonseca, Servando y Florentino, Luis Figueroa, GALE, Menudo, Chayanne and others - all looked good onstage as they lit up with the vibrance and dynamics of

UK - Fatboy Slim appeared in the one of the world’s biggest holographic performances at London’s Alexandra Palace where 12 Claypaky Skylos searchlights scanned the sky and drew much attention.
As part of EE’s rebranding, Fatboy Slim’s performance in October was projected outside Alexandra Palace onto a 50m high holographic screen - as tall as the Leaning Tower of Pisa - as fans danced to the DJ’s hit track, Praise You. The event, produced by Saatchi and Really Creative Media, was livestreamed on EE’s Instagram.
Mobile phone network EE has been the UK’s biggest and fastest mobile network for more than a decade. Now the company is broadening its horizons from traditional telecommunications.
“For the headline-making event, we needed to draw focus from far and wide across London,” says Benjamin Cash, lighting designer with Flare Lighting.

South Africa - Aaron King from Crotchet Music is an audio engineer renowned for his work in gospel music. He is now the owner of a DiGiCo Quantum 225 Digital Console, complete with a Waves upgrade purchased from DWR Distribution, with more upgrades in the pipeline.
"We've been discussing this investment for quite some time," says Kyle Robson from DWR Distribution. "When it comes to emerging technology, it's truly remarkable to witness Aaron enthusiastically embrace it. He's always on the lookout for the latest advancements, such as being the first in South Africa to purchase a KLANG:konductor earlier this year.”
Achieving success has been a slow but consistent journey. "My interest in audio dates back to high school," Aaron reflects, mentioning his upbringing in a church environment where he gained insights into the technical aspects. Despite studying accounting, he

UK - Martin Audio partners, Sussex Events, recently fielded their Torus 8 constant curvature hybrid PA for the launch of this year’s Turner Prize.
The event took place at the Towner Eastbourne, as part of the art gallery’s centenary celebrations (Towner 100) and Turner Prize's four shortlisted artists were introduced. This was followed by a party, with local DJs pumping music out until well into the night.
This may not have chimed with local residents, nor with the organisers of the world’s leading prize for contemporary art, had it not been for the tight focus of the Torus 8, paired with the cardioid properties of the SXC118 subwoofers, and the expertise of Sussex Events, led by partners Bob Watson and Adam Briggs.
Set up in 2012, the production company supported Martin Audio solutions virtually from the get-go, working through successive generations of pr

USA - “Colour has always been a huge part of our design process,” says Dayne deHaven of the work that he and his collaborator at the District 5 design studio, Tyler Shapard, have been doing for rock-pop trio The Band Camino.
Ironically, on the band’s recently concluded 25-date tour, the show begins in virtual darkness, as eerie electronic sounds resonate over a blacked-out stage. That’s only fitting, since the tour was called Screaming in the Dark, a nod to the group’s latest hit album The Dark.
However, once the band breaks into Afraid of the Dark the first tune in their 30-song set, colour reigns again in all of its powerful mood-making glory; this time, with help from some distinctive UV flourishes. Starting off slowly, with no front lighting, deHaven and Shapard, along with touring LD Alec Molinaro and light tech Sean Mines, build a

The Netherlands - Ryan Schaminee is a Netherlands-based freelance gaffer and lighting board operator who also works internationally on a wide variety of commercial, television and some film projects, utilising various Astera products almost every day.
He finds the Astera ranges reliable, highly flexible and appreciates the great quality of light, all attributes that assist him in thinking quickly and laterally to come up with inventive and cool looking lighting solutions that are spot on.
For a recent commercial shoot for Versuni - home to some of the world best known and domestic appliance brands - Astera HydraPanels enabled Ryan to do just this.
He needed to back-light a large 2m-high by 4m-wide cabinet structure which was built in Westerpark Studio, Amsterdam to showcase an impressive array of awards that have been won by various Versuni brands. The cabinet wa

Denmark - Arvid Müller's Charles Tante, the perennial favourite classic Danish comedy film based on the 1892 play Charley’s Aunt by Brandon Thomas, has been reborn as a new stage musical by Mads Æbeløe Nielsen, Nikolaj Tarp, Claus Reenberg and Rob Hartmann.
Set in the year 1900 and performed in the classic environs of Denmark’s Fredericia Musicalteater, the production ran from 15 September to 15 October 2023, under Per Toft Lehmann’s skilfully designed lighting, which blended the subject matter and its location perfectly.
Incorporated into Lehmann’s rig were 20 Ayrton Diablo S profiles chosen for their versatility and compact dimensions.
“The Fredericia Musicalteater is a classic, old-school venue with fly bars, red curtains and traditional seating and facilities, so we had to be careful in our choice of fixtures,” he explains. “We

Spain - The Medusa festival offers a DJ line up from all around the world embracing a lively mix of dance genres in a seaside location at Cullera beach in Valencia by the mouth of the Jucar River. The 2023 event was enjoyed by over 250,000 people across six days of sun, smiles and superlative music.
This year’s main stage production and lighting design by Eduardo Valverde and a team from his design studio Experiencias Visuales (EV) included 72 MegaPointes and 12 BMFL WashBeams. These lights were at the heart of a spectacular visual environment created for this key area of the festival, which featured five stages of entertainment action.
It was EV’s first time designing the Main Stage for the event organisers, Andreu Piqueras and Javier Crecente, and the setting was evolved working closely with Brok Décor who co-ordinated the construction and setup of the impressi

UK - A zactrack PRO system is integrated with the lighting and sound control for Nicholas Hytner’s acclaimed stage production of Guys and Dolls, currently running at the Bridge Theatre in London.
Bunny Christie’s innovative staging concept and Paule Constable’s provocative lighting has transformed the theatre’s auditorium into a promenade environment, complete with 14 stage lifts which are utilised throughout for the show to denote different locations - bars, clubs, lounges, street corners, etc. - as the cast conveys the serious 1950s New York hustle.
The audience is positioned in different positions surrounding all the action and Paule’s associate Rob Casey explained that to key light all these characters effectively in this created space, they needed around eight follow spots that could reach multiple positions. Given these circumstances and the exce

UK – Berkshire-based Full Production provided the design and installation of the latest Treetop Golf destination. Sited at Metrocentre shopping centre in Gateshead, the new themed attraction includes over 400 luminaires and an immersive audio system with 140 loudspeakers.
The regular service supplier to Treetop since 2020, Full Production has lived up to its name by carrying out the design and installation of the audio, lighting, show control and visual infrastructure. Following Full Production’s work at its most recent site, in Birmingham, where its critically acclaimed design and installation significantly raised production values, Treetop was fully convinced to enhance the new Metrocentre site even further. As well as being able to run standalone for 14 hours a day, seven days a week – the multi-faceted system would also set a new bar for visitor experiences, employ

France - Nikki Beach Saint Tropez is a restaurant and beach club located on the Pampelonne beach on France’s Côte d'Azur. Part of an international group, Nikki Beach Saint Tropez ‘attracts a celebrity crowd with laid-back poolside sets from leading international DJs’.
Local AV technology specialists Colorsonic have a long-established relationship with Nikki Beach and know the venue well. To achieve powerful, full-range sound for guests without disturbing neighbours, president and CEO Gérard Giraudon and technical director Christophe Orlando proposed a Nexo ID84 system to sound designer and acoustician Claudio Fabiani.
A total of 18 of Nexo’s ID84 column speakers are discreetly positioned around the venue, with bass extension provided by four ELS400 1x12-inch subs, in a design that achieves excellent coverage of the club, without bleeding into the surrounding

UK - The recent Channel 4 reality show Don't Look Down brought together nine celebrities for a thrilling six-week adventure in support of Stand Up to Cancer. The show, hosted by Paddy McGuinness, followed these stars on a journey to conquer their fear of heights through vertigo-inducing high wire training.
The grand finale took place at the iLondon Stadium, where the contestants faced a heart-pounding tightrope relay challenge, 100ft high and 650ft across. Limelite Lighting installed a large number of Showtec Helix S5000 Q4 LED washers to provide light throughout the stadium’s grandstands and around the pitch.
The cast included soap actress Beverley Callard, footballer Anton Ferdinand, presenter and Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt, sports presenter and Love Island finalist Chris Hughes, French footballer David Ginola, motoring expert Charley Boorman, TikT

Canada - Metal music fans who packed venues in 33-cities for Motionless in White’s just-concluded Touring The End Of The World tour of North America enjoyed galactic themes. Channelling his fascination with all things galactic, Alex Mungal opened a window to an array of looks in support of the band’s 18-song set by drawing inspiration from Star Trek’s Romulan and Klingon warships.
“I grew up watching a lot of Star Trek and Doctor Who, so it’s no surprise that I draw on the architecture and set design from those stories,” said Mungal, owner of Alien Lites. “For this tour, we based our overhead truss configuration on the wing-shaped warships. This gave us a lot of different angles to direct light from. We had glowing light coming in from the sides of the giant wings. Also, the control centre of the ‘space craft’ in this configurati

UAE - Italian luxury fashion house Bulgari recently relied on the power, brightness and reliability of Digital Projection’s Titan and M-Vision range to give Dubai’s Gate Building a serpentine makeover in celebration of the 75th anniversary of its Serpenti collection.
Founded in 1884, Bulgari is famous for its luxury jewellery, watches and accessories. This year, the brand celebrates the 75th anniversary of Serpenti, a snake emblem that has exalted almost every Bulgari watch and piece of jewellery, with a worldwide tour.
Between 15 and 24 September, Dubai played host to Serpenti: 75 Years of Infinite Tales, a celebration of the grandeur of Serpenti’s heritage. At the heart of the milestone event held at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) gate, was an immersive projection mapping show, implemented by Dubai-based projection mapping expert company Artabe

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