Portugal - World Youth Day is a celebrating event that Pope John Paul II initiated in 1985, every edition of which has been held in a different country; after repeated rescheduling due to Covid pandemic, 2023's finally happened last August in Lisbon, Portugal, before a 1.5m pilgrim audience. Ensuring live audio coverage to a gathering of such magnitude isn't a small technical achievement, in terms of event technology, over an area of 3-by-1km, pilgrims prayed and sang and danced at the sound of 109 PA towers hosting a total of 1,100 loudspeaker systems driven by 327 amplifiers, whose signal reached through 103km of optical fibre, across 300 network switches. In order to safeguard the signal being matrixed and transported to this plethora of audio systems, two Outline Newton FPGA-based signal processors had been specifically custom-modified by their very Italian manufac
Hungary - The Sziget Festival celebrated 30 years in 2023, earning its place as one of Europe’s largest, most popular and diverse music and cultural festivals which is staged annually in August on Óbudai-sziget (Old Buda Island), a leafy green 108-hectare island on the Danube just a stone’s throw from central Budapest. Robe moving lights had a big presence this year across three major performance areas - the Main Stage, the massive FreeDome Tent and the dropYard rap stage - as well as on some of the other venues around the site that hosted over 1,000 performances on the ‘Island of Freedom’ as it’s known for the duration. Headlining the Main Stage this year were a host of internationally acclaimed artists like Imagine Dragons, David Guetta, Billy Eilish, Florence + The Machine, Lorde and Macklemore, plus a plethora of other top level artists, together with ev
Germany - The Rockharz Festival, originally started under the name Rock gegen Rechts (Rock against the Right), has constantly evolved and adopted new, important values: sustainability, environmental awareness, regionality, and inclusion. At the beginning of July 2023, almost 24,000 music fans descended on the grounds of the Ballenstedt airfield for four days to enjoy the performances of Blind Guardian, In Flames, Arch Enemy, and many more for the festival’s 30th anniversary edition. To make this year’s Rochharz a great experience for all visitors, the organisers decided to use cable protectors from the Defender Midi 5 2D modular system. "When it comes to accessibility, most people only think of wheelchair users," says Marco Spiller, chairman of Lebenshilfe Braunschweig and organiser of Rock in Rautheim, a metal festival that was awarded the Lower Saxony Inclusion
Georgia - A wide range of Claypaky lighting fixtures dominated the rig at the recent Imagine Dragons concert at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi. 62 Claypaky Arolla HP, 32 Sharpy Plus, 12 Mini B Aqua and six Sharpy Plus Aqua were provided by Black Sea Arena for the event. Grammy Award-winning Imagine Dragons are currently on their fifth world tour. Their appearance in Tbilisi was part of Starring Georgia, a two-year campaign promoting the country as a venue for entertainment events. It showcases diverse visiting artists who demonstrate the ability of music to unite people of different generations. Bruno Mars is the next to appear in the Starring Georgia series. Imagine Dragons performed before an audience of more than 30,000 at the stadium. The new stage, also from Black Sea Arena, was transported to the venue on 35 trucks for the show. “Imagine Dragons wa
UK - Gary Numan, celebrated reaching an impressive 1,000th gig milestone by performing three consecutive shows at London's Electric Ballroom. To mark this remarkable journey, lighting designer David Howard was enlisted to create an immersive backdrop that encapsulated every essence of Numan's career. Independent lighting designer David Howard boasts a diverse portfolio spanning music tours, special events, and more. From working with artists like Jo Quail and The Hoosiers to contributing his expertise to prestigious events like Glastonbury and MCM Comic Con, Howard's creative flair knows no bounds. First introduced to wysiwyg whilst studying at university in 2013, David Howard instantly recognised its transformative potential. The lighting design software opened doors to unprecedented creative possibilities, enabling him to turn abstract design concepts into tangible
USA - Hip hop artist Nate Feuerstein, known as NF, is out on the Hope Tour, his first headlining arena trek in support of his new album of the same name. Visiting 47 venues across North America, Europe, and UK this year, the recent US leg of the trek featured special guest Cordae. But there’s another pair of talent that’s critical to the tour’s success: FOH engineer Travis Stoker and monitor engineer Murphy Johnson, both of whom are piloting DiGiCo SD5 consoles provided by tour vendor PRG. The desks were reportedly chosen for a number of factors: sound quality, as well as programmability and flexibility - critical capabilities for a tour so heavily dependent upon tracks and a thunderous drum kit that takes up as much as half of the production’s 60-plus inputs. “The biggest thing for me with the SD5 is that the amount of programming you can do on these
Australia - Prolights' Astra Wash37Pix lights illuminated DJ Golden Features tour, a project curated by lighting designers Nicholas Bechen and Ben Kocsis. This collaboration was made possible thanks to the contribution of Ei Productions, the supplier of lighting equipment for the tour. "Golden Features, his manager, and I spoke a lot over probably two years about ideas and thoughts and what his intentions were for this tour," commented Nick. "We had a fair idea we would have to scale it back from the get-go, so we didn't go big and made it work pretty well in the end. I'm really happy with it. We seem to have walked away from the tour with a pretty decent show; the quality of the music being delivered helps make big lighting look and feel easy." Ei Productions provided the gear for Sydney's Hordern show, giving Nick a chance to use Prolights Astra Wash37Pix with 11 uni
Australia - Sydney-based TDC is at the forefront of the virtual production market. The Australian company, established since 1981, owns and operates purpose-built VP facilities in Sydney, supported by a team of experts. The team can partner with a production from concept to completion, while providing a deep knowledge of the processes and technology needed for video display, real-time rendering platforms, server hardware, playback platforms, camera tracking, remote connectivity, and content delivery. It has delivered large scale virtual production facilities for TV, commercials, corporate films and blockbuster movies including Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder and hit psychological thriller Mercy Road, which was Australia’s first fully virtual production shoot. Mercy Road was released in Australia and the US in August, 2023. VFX supervisor Andrew
Danish lighting designer Johnny Thinggaard was asked to create a production design for popular Danish pop / soul artist Lukas Graham’s The Pink Tour, for which Johnny presented a clean, modern, and stylish environmental concept, with three striking perspective related scenic walls covered in fabric and with integral LED pixels along the tops, enhancing the depth and dimensions of the performance space. Johnny’s original idea was based on his love of side angled photography and images that reveal details and spatial elements of the background. He also wanted something that was architecturally bold, but essentially simple in expression. For the first part of the tour, he used Robe T1 Profiles as front follow spots, running on a RoboSpot system, which worked brilliantly. When it came to the festival section of the ongoing tour, Johhny wanted to add some more po
UK - Electric Bay is an open-air dance music festival that takes place over two days in the Torre Abbey meadows on the Torquay seafront. Following a completely sold-out first edition last year, the 2023 event promised to be ‘bigger and better’ at every level, with a bigger production, a larger stage, an even more powerful sound system and increased facilities and food and drink options. The 2023 line-up featured some of the biggest names in electronic music, including Hedex, Pendulum LIVE, Dave Rodigan, Andy C, Gardna Live, Sub Focus, and many more. Festival organisers and electronic music promoters, Louder Events, once again turned to local AV rental experts, Future Technical Solutions (FTS) who supplied a KV2 sound system. “FTS has a working relationship with Louder in other venues for both live and DJ sets, so it was natural that they asked us to quote for la
Italy - The RCF Arena hosted a series of major concerts in the summer of 2023, featuring some of the biggest names in international and Italian music. Supporting each event as both the main PA system and/or delay lines, the new premium GTX line array from TT+ Audio delivered impressive sound quality for every performance. The summer concert season kicked off with the Italian bluesman Zucchero holding two concerts for 40,000 seated people. A few days later, the Italia Loves Romagna special benefit concert raised 3m euros for victims of the devastating floods that impacted the Emilia-Romagna region earlier that month. With main sponsorship provided by RCF and other brands, 100% of ticket sales were donated to the cause. The line-up featured some of the biggest names in Italian music including Laura Pausini, Salmo, Elodie, Gianni Morandi, Blanco, Elisa, Emma, Giorg
USA - CP Communications recently wrapped a series of live production projects with HRP-Live culminating with the recent 2023 Nobull CrossFit Games at Alliant Energy Centre in Madison, Wisconsin. HRP-Live, a production company that works primarily in the fitness space, hired CP Communications to handle all RF content acquisition for the second straight year following a successful production partnership for last year’s annual athletic competition. CP Communications brought its flagship HD-21 53-foot expando truck to the Alliant Energy Centre, CP Communications provided frequency coordination services for six RF cameras, four robotic PTZ cameras, and audio systems, including microphones, IFBs and intercom. The four-day event was streamed online over multiple platforms including ESPN+, Facebook, YouTube and the CrossFit website, with select hours the final three days bro
Spain - El Brunch Nuestro De Cada Dia (Our daily brunch) is an event that took place in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the island of Tenerife on the 6 May 2023. The sound system and lighting fixtures were provided by Musicanarias Audiovisuales. The event took place on the Plaza Alisios, an area at the back of the Auditorio Adán Martín that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. Starting at 1pm and finishing at 10pm, the event saw performances by Andee, We Are Trash, Bobby Bob and La Maldita. The Plaza Alisios is often used for events and presents unique challenges when it comes to putting together the perfect sound setup. For this event, Musicanarias Audiovisuales relied on an active line-array system by DAP's Odin Audio Systems. The eventual setup was the result of careful analysis of the area to ensure that the Odin setup chosen made optimal use of the system’s excellent soun
UK - First performed to critical acclaim in 2007, That Face is a hard-hitting, explosive play that explores the secret lives of the rich with anarchic humour. It’s now making a revival at the Orange Tree Theatre in a production directed by Josh Seymour and starring Niamh Cusack. It also features a lighting design by Jamie Platt who approached White Light (WL) to supply his lighting equipment. That Face tells the story of Mia who is on the verge of being expelled from boarding school and returns home to her alcoholic, disinterested mother Martha as well as her increasingly unstable brother Henry. The imminent return of her father Hugh from Hong Kong, who’s promised to sort everything out, serves to push the family beyond its limits. On his approach to the show, Jamie explains: “I’d worked with director Josh Seymour and designer Eleanor Bull earlier
Mexico - Martin Audio’s Mexican rental partner, Audio Teck Pro, recently deployed a large WPL line array for the performance of veteran singer José María Napoleón to provide comprehensive coverage throughout the 10,500-capacity multipurpose venue. Audio Teck Pro systems engineer Raúl Román, explained how the supreme multi-cellular control of Martin Audio once again helped overcome the challenges -particularly in this case of heat and humidity - to deliver a consummate audio performance. "In our experience it is a great advantage to have Martin Audio equipment in our inventory as the brand is frequently requested on artists’ riders, and the systems always respond well. Other brands we have used do not achieve the same results, especially in the treble; this is very important because with other equipment, the treble starts to fall away at a distance of about 50
Europe - Kicking off in Istanbul at the beginning of August 2022, taking in a series of festivals in South America, on to Australia and the Far East, travelling through Europe, then a UK stadium tour, and finishing in Dublin in October, Arctic Monkeys’ The Car tour has been delighting fans with its blend of new material and classic favourites. The band’s long-time engineers, Will Doyle and Matthew Kettle, have relied on DiGiCo consoles, provided by Solotech, to deliver premium sound at both the monitor and front of house positions for many years. Continuing their ethos of providing ‘an exceptional audio experience’, this time they have opted for the latest DiGiCo Quantum consoles along with a DMI-KLANG for immersive in-ear monitoring. Racking up a remarkable combined tenure of 31 years with the band, with Doyle taking on the role of monitor engineer in
USA - Entertainment market contractors BCT Builders, part of AV production company BCT Entertainment, recently upgraded an outdated lighting system at Royal Oak Middle School Theatre in Covina, California, with a rig of Elation Professional LED luminaires. The lighting renovation has created a safer working environment for students and enhanced the overall educational and artistic experience for students and the community. BCT upgraded the theatre’s outdated incandescent system with an Elation lighting package made up of 42 WW Profile HP warm-white ellipsoidal spots, 22 Colour 5 Profile full-spectrum ellipsoidal spots, 28 KL Fresnel Series LED Fresnel lights, seven Seven Batten 72 bar lights, and DTW Bar 1000 white light battens. A pair of Magma Prime water-based hazers are used to provide atmospherics and the mid-air projection canopy. The school’s 250-seat theat
UK - Since its opening in 1929, Rhodes House has been an Oxford landmark, a historic Grade II listed country house in the heart of the city. Known for high profile events and visitors, the need for modernisation was recognised and the venue embarked on a comprehensive £38m refurbishment journey, which culminated in creating a technologically advanced modern conference and convening centre, that fosters connectivity and collaboration. Darren Gatenby, senior consultant at Hewshott Consultancy, has been lead technology consultant on the project since its inception five years ago. The goal was to establish the premier events and conferencing venue in Oxford, catering to educational events, weddings, and corporate functions. Darren closely collaborated with the client and stakeholders to meticulously craft a design that fulfilled all requirements. Incorporating a number of
USA - Brazil-based designer Erich Bertti created the lightshow for Grammy-winning Swedish hard rockers Ghost on their 27-date USA tour, which ended with an 11 September show at LA’s Kia Forum. “The main characteristic that caught my attention about Ghost is their versatility,” said Bertti. “I love their interaction of rock and theatrical. The way they go from real heavy ballads to up-beat tempo rock tunes is great – and it demands the same level of versatility from a lightshow in terms of colour and look changes.” Working with a set design by Ghost frontman Tobais Forge and Sooner Routhier, Bertti had plenty of opportunities to spread his creative wings in multiple directions. “The truss configuration on this tour made it easy to create symmetrical, yet aggressive, looks that interacted really well with the intense changes between songs,” he observed.
Australia - Once a bustling facility that produced lashings of dairy in the early 1900s, Kingston Butter Factory has endured as a historical fixture of Queensland’s City of Logan. Now a thriving cultural precinct, the old factory’s red brick building and ample grounds have been renovated and repurposed to become the creative centre of Logan’s community. Recently outfitted with a high-performance Nexo Geo M12 line array system, the reimagined venue has advanced far from its humble bread-and-butter beginnings. Nestled between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, the arts and entertainment hub is home to many community festivals, markets, concerts, and installations. Central to hosting events and live performances is Kingston Butter Factory’s versatile outdoor space, boasting an expansive stage looking out over a fan-shaped audience area of over 5,200 m². The new
Belgium - For nearly a century, Van Marcke, the Belgian family business and international wholesaler of industry-leading brands for sanitary, heating, and renewable energy solutions, has been providing products and services that offer sustainable comfort to its customers. Earlier this year, it unveiled an entirely digital showroom at its Van Marcke Lab in Antwerp. Despite its compact size of just 80 m², this concept and experience store uses Leyard Europe VEM-series screen walls to empower visitors to create their personalised bathroom. The LED displays, provided and installed by Ocular, a technology company specialising in immersive and interactive installations, enables visitors to digitally assemble their dream bathroom, visualise it in life-size scale, and bring it to life in 3D within their own bathroom space with the guidance of an interior consultant. Charlott
USA - Grammy nominated electronic artist and music producer Duke Dumont played a six-hour extended set All Night Long at The Brooklyn Mirage on 25 August where 16 Claypaky Volero Wave LED bars, each with eight independent moving heads, teamed with Panify to light up the night. Panify is Claypaky’s solution that turns static, non-moving fixtures into dynamic effects. Lighting and rigging vendor Gateway Productions supplied the products to lighting and production designer Chris Thoms of Dumont’s Studio Blasé. Thoms is believed to be among the first designers to pair Volero Waves and Panify as the centrepiece of a show in the US. “We wanted to try something new and innovative which had not been seen in this iconic venue before,” says Thoms. “We also had to cater for a six-hour performance and ensure that we had the tools to create multiple dynamic looks through
UK - As 90s reunions go, there’s few as pronounced as Pulp’s reimagined take on their classic, coming of age anthems. Yorkshire-twanged frontman, Jarvis Cocker, and fellow indie stars - keyboardist Candida Doyle, drummer Nick Banks and guitarist Mark Webber - are leading audiences on an engaging and cleverly arranged orchestral audio journey set to a backdrop of cinematic-esque visuals. For their summer reunion shows across the UK and Ireland, Pulp took a Skan-supplied control package for performances at Latitude Festival, London’s Finsbury Park, Isle of Wight Festival, Dublin’s St Anne's Park plus many more, while Sheffield’s Utilita Arena hosted the band for two nights with a Skan d&b PA rig in tow. “I quickly recognised the need for attention to detail, quality equipment and a great crew, so Skan were my first and only choice for this tour,” produc
USA - The Mega-Monsters Tour is a spring and summer co-headliner that is blistering across North America with Grammy Award-winning heavy rockers Mastodon joining forces with French heavy metal act, Gojira. The tour also unleashes the talents of two equally creative and distinctive lighting designers – Eric Price (Mastodon) and Pete Cary of Summit Production Design (Gojira), who share an overhead rig of primarily Robe moving lights specified by both, to which they added some individual floor elements and SFX. Gojira’s set features a single circular riser with extensive video elements while Mastodon has two risers and lots of lasers. Apart from that, around 95% of the lighting is shared and – a tribute to the massive versatility offered – used to produce two totally contrasting yet equally as exhilarating hi-energy light shows. Lighting equipment was supp