USA - American rock band Widespread Panic made its first Mempho appearance at the 2021 edition of the show where versatile Ayrton Domino IP65-rated LED profiles took the stage with the popular festival headliners.
A mix of touring national acts and local favourites, Mempho 2021 was held from 1-3 October at the Memphis Botanic Garden’s Radians Amphitheater. Widespread Panic, which has been together for more than three decades, played two nights of the musicfest. The band has broken attendance records across the country and headlined most of the major US festivals. They’ve sold in excess of 3m albums and 4m million downloads and have been inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
Paul Hoffman, one of the owners and president of Pulse Lighting in Nashville, became the lighting designer for Widespread Panic in 2009 after serving as the band’s crew chief for thre

Serbia - It isn’t surprising that a city on the Danube should mark the occasion of being named one of three European Capitals of Culture for 2022 with a ‘New Bridges’ campaign. The name comes not only from the many majestic spans that cross the river at Novi Sad, but also for the region’s role in bridging different cultures and eras of history.
This theme was everywhere to be seen in the city in the first half of January during Doček, a celebration marking two New Year’s celebrations: (1 January by the Gregorian Calendar and 13 January by the orthodox Julian calendar) in addition to the European Capital of Culture honour.
Helping to set the stage for the month-long festivities has been a series of lightshows and displays from Chameleon Rental that feature over 175 Chauvet Professional fixtures from the company’s own inventory.
Lighting seven differ

UK - Sculpting a fluid and kinetic visual collage aligned with the heartbeat and spirit of rave was a task lighting and environment designer Eran Klein relished for Black Coffee’s recent performance at Drumsheds in north London.
With a rig of Robe moving lights at his fingertips, Eran atmospherically engineered nearly 12 hours of electronic musical experience culminating in a three-hour set by the Grammy Award nominated DJ and music producer. The event was a co-production between Imma.nence by techno visionary Oren Heknin - a long term client of Eran’s - Live Nation Israel, UK promoters Metropolis Music and Shaked Minuskin.
Staged in this newfound space, once part of a gasworks, the gig captured an important moment in time as live in-person events continue enthusiastically following lifting the initial COVID lockdown restrictions in England.
For Eran, the des

UK - A well-known hotel group's first development in the UK has chosen VDC and Van Damme for optimising its AV/IT system. Situated in the heart London, the flagship construction will include a hotel in addition to 28 luxury apartments.
Due to welcome guests later this year, the new building has been designed by British-based architects and will replace the existing 1960s offices at the site. The hotel will cater for both hotel guests and local customers and in addition to guestrooms and spa, the hotel will have shops, bars, restaurants and a ballroom. A grand pedestrian entrance will be accessed from a colonnade linking to an internal ‘Palazzo-style’ courtyard.
Chosen for its sonic fidelity, over 30km of Van Damme cable was installed throughout the site to complement the Meyer Sound systems in each room and ensure that all audio, signal and data in the building was

USA - Baltimore-based Dynamic Sound Level has undertaken numerous projects with the Atlas Restaurant Group over the years - not only in their native city but also Houston, Florida and Washington DC. On each occasion, Martin Audio has been their preferred audio system.
The same has been true of their latest project, right on their own doorstep, in Baltimore's Harbor East neighbourhood. Set in the historic Bagby Furniture Building, Monarque is a new 135-seat French steakhouse, designed to showcase the city’s best performers - ranging from poets, actors and musicians to contortionists and even sword swallowers live on stage.
Dynamic Sound Level director, Mike Denoe, explained that the ideal loudspeaker needed to reflect such performance versatility. “We needed a speaker that would work well, not only for background music, but for live music, singers and spoken word.

Thailand - For Let’s Chill Music & Restaurant, Mahajak Development Co selected and installed Harman audio solutions.
Opened in August 2020, Let’s Chill Music & Restaurant in Nonthaburi is a venue that offers fine dining and live entertainment. It also hosts a 300-seat open-air service and performance area as well as a private karaoke zone. Mahajak Development Co reported that the venue’s management wanted an aesthetically pleasing, sophisticated audio system that could deliver impactful sound with full coverage throughout the space and accommodate a variety of events.
With these requests in mind, the installation team selected JBL Professional, Crown, Soundcraft, and dbx solutions to create a versatile, modern audio system.
The stage primarily features JBL VTX A8 line array loudspeakers with patented Differential Drive woofers, Slip Stream ports a

USA - "Lighting should be fun, especially when you have the chance to keep up with outrageous intensity." So says Ryan Pervola who has lit acts like GWAR in addition to his work as the L2 for Ring of Honor Wrestling.
So, when Pervola got the chance to fill in for a friend to light metal quartet Tetrarch, he jumped at the chance. Fresh off the release of their Unstable album, the Los Angeles based quartet was part of the 29-date Baptize tour, supporting headliners Atreyu. Their regular LD, Killian ‘Redbeard’ Holt had to complete another tour before he could join them and asked Pervola filled in for 11 shows.
"I was happy to light Tetrarch,” says Pervola. “They really give you a chance to stretch your wings as a LD. You get to turn up the intensity, which makes everything more fun. Their blend of '90s nu-metal mixed with modern metal core and insanely mel

USA - Since 1877, the Antioch Baptist Church North has stood in Atlanta as a beacon of hope and a place of refuge. Church officials recently greenlighted a full remodel of the historic house of worship, and AEE Productions was tasked with designing and integrating all the new audio, video and lighting systems. As part of the audio upgrade, AEE President Yergan Jones chose the new KF810P system from Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW).
“With its quality of sound and versatility, we knew EAW would be the perfect solution for the Antioch Baptist Church North project,” says Jones. “We have been using EAW gear for years on all of our projects including our high-profiled touring productions and permanent installations and have complete faith in their products and team.”
The AEE team’s design, headed by vice president of operations Mark Howard, called for the installation

Sweden - From 1 October to 7 November 2021, the small Swedish town of Alingsås transformed itself into a walkable lighting art installation. More than 70,000 visitors strolled along the three-kilometre-long light trail at the Lights in Alingsås outdoor festival, and they were enchanted by the many lighting art installations created by international designers.
As part of the Lights in Alingsås organisation team, German company Irrlicht Veranstaltungstechnik was responsible for the festival’s equipment management. One of the key pieces of equipment the company used was the Zenit P40 LED-PAR outdoor spotlight by Cameo.
For the lighting project Brunnsparken and created by US lighting designer Jessica Krometis – 36 Zzenit P40 IP65 outdoor PAR lights (including an elliptical 60° x 10° diffuser) were used to illuminate trees around a pond with uplights. "We re

France - Anolis Ambiane pure white and RGBW LED lighting fixtures have been installed at the 420-seat Auditorium du Louvre, an oak-panelled performance and presentation space designed by world-famous architect IM Pei within the Musée du Louvre complex in Paris.
The multi-purpose venue is used for a diversity of events like chamber concerts, spoken word performances, lectures, film screenings and numerous others.
A team from Anolis France was led by architectural lighting specialist Bruno Francois who worked closely with Anolis HQ in the Czech Republic, the venue’s technical / stage manager Didier Degros and installers / systems integrators Satelec to find a solution.
The project involved the replacement of accent lighting above the seats with 26 x Ambiane HP111 PW (3000K) fixtures and custom hangers and upgrading of the previous PAR 56 wall lighting fixtures

South Africa - The Market Theatre, set in the heart of Newtown, Johannesburg, has been a voice for the voiceless for 45 years, originally portraying the struggles of apartheid and providing the platform for outstanding, authentic South African performances. The theatre has invested in its first DiGiCo audio console, selecting an SD9 supplied by DWR Distribution, an upgrade to its existing unit which was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain, and also to complement its offering to external companies hiring the venue.
Ntuthuko Mbuyazi, who whilst at school thought he’d become a zoologist and ended up graduating at the Cape Audio College instead, joined The Market Theatre in April 2015, becoming the first permanent resident audio technician to be hired to oversee the John Kani, Barney Simon and Mannie Manim theatres. Initially the sole employee in his department, Mbuyaz

Austria - The experience of Chameleon Event Production’s personnel, combined with the advanced pathogen eradication tools from sister company Entec UVC SafeClean, twice saved the day, and enabled a fashion-based sales meeting from one of their most loyal and long serving clients to go ahead - in spite of COVID lockdown.
Having worked with global sports and fashion headwear specialists, New Era, since 2014, they were booked to stage an interactive sales meeting for their sales force at the Hilton on the Danube in Vienna, and had done 90% of the prep when Austria announced its lockdown on 19 November 2021.
Chameleon production manager, Sam Parkins, explained how the flexibility of his team, coupled with the trust invested by the client, resulted in the production house reconfiguring its studio in Milton Keynes and staging the event virtually, in a simulated COVID-se

UK - Ibiza Classics, the collaboration between DJ superstar Pete Tong and music conductor Jules Buckley leading the Heritage Orchestra in the run up to Christmas returned to the UK arena circuit this year.
“It’s the show that keeps on giving,” says tour director Paddy Hocken. “In terms of production we regularly refresh the design, as do Pete and Jules, with the set list each year. There are nine new songs in the current tour for example, that’s what keeps it fresh and is why people come back time and time again. Because of the gap since 2019 when we completed the last full tour, lighting and video have received special attention, with both providing a big contribution to the show’s energy.”
That enforced 20-month hiatus has impacted the production in other significant ways as Hocken explains: “It’s been a mixed bag putting this together for me and J

The Netherlands - The Theatre of Vista College in Heerlen hosted the eleventh edition of Nieuwe Honden. The student-run production featured a plethora of lighting fixtures, consoles and accessories, and LED Screens from Infinity, Showtec, and DMT.
Nieuwe Honden 2021 was the biggest production of the year for the Arts, Theatre, and Media Department of Vista College. The previous year’s production of Nieuwe Honden was live-streamed as an alternative to hosting a live audience due to coronavirus restrictions. However, this year’s edition, which ran from 9-11 November, returned to welcome sold-out attendances.
An important theme of the Nieuwe Honden production was collaboration, meaning everyone was dependent on one another and had to communicate effectively. This theme was not only limited to the Art, Theatre and Media courses at Vista College, but also

USA - Optocore North America has provided an extensive fibre optic audio network for The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, the San Diego Symphony’s new venue. Situated in San Diego Bay, the 10,000-cap outdoor amphitheatre becomes the first permanent year-round waterfront concert and events space in the US to be operated by a symphony orchestra.
As it took up residence in its new space, one of the orchestra’s imperatives for a venue designed to be one of the most acoustically superior outdoor concert venues in the US, was to have an expanded fibre network that would allow for recording every show and rehearsal for archival purposes. This required modification of Optocore devices to allow for new levels of connectivity with DiGiCo, the house mixing consoles.
The work was undertaken by Solotech, who supplied and integrated all the audio, under the watchful eye of business

UK - “For Mischief’s Magic Goes Wrong, it is the show that is comedy chaos on stage,” opens its lighting designer, David Howe. “It must never be the lights that go wrong!”
Co-written by Mischief and international magicians, Penn and Teller, Magic Goes Wrong, first opened at London’s Vaudeville Theatre in 2019 before touring the UK since July ‘21. A West End version returned to London in October with a relaunch at the Apollo Theatre that will run until February. The comedy play is presented as a fundraiser and features a string of inept magicians doing their best acts to raise money for “disasters in magic”. The result is a fast-paced variety show with high production values and great audience interaction.
David Howe has been involved in the production since 2018. “The show is a deliberate overly theatrical comedy; a colourful, glitzy

USA - To provide the Seattle Space Needle with a versatile and modern outdoor lighting system, installation specialists LVH Entertainment Systems and lighting designer Erik Crowell with Niteo deployed Martin Professional Exterior Projection 500 and 1000 fixtures.
Built in 1962 and inspired by the Space Age, the Space Needle is a staple of the Seattle skyline known for its stunning views from the flying saucer-like observation deck. In 2017, the Space Needle announced an ambitious multi-year renovation project that aimed to modernize the visitor experience while also honouring the tower’s history. As a homage to the original concept art from the 1960s, the Space Needle now features a floor-to-ceiling glass interior and expanded glass panels on the upper-level observation deck, which provide enhanced and uninhibited views of Seattle and the Puget Sound.
However, the

France - The Monumental Tour, a visual and musical performance created by French DJ and music producer Michael Canitrot and visual activists AV-Extended - played a spectacular final location at the end of November at the Chateau de Pierrefonds in the picturesque Oise region of France, northeast of Paris.
Delivered in conjunction with French cooperative bank Credit Mutuel and other sponsors, over 100 Robe moving lights supported the mapped projection show specially devised for the set produced by Michael for this closing show.
It took references from the history of the imposing Castle, originally constructed in the 12th century, and extensively rebuilt in the mid 19th century at the behest of Emperor Napoleon III, and wove these into an all-encompassing, immersive, and beautifully rhythmic electronic musical experience.
The Monumental Tour has has combined stream

UK - The London New Year’s Eve fireworks display has attracted millions to the city every 31 December. Although safety protocols restricted crowds in London on the eve of 2022, the celebration was as popular as ever, garnering its customary huge audience of BBC viewers (see LSi January 2022, coming soon, for more on the London's NYE display).
Developed by Jack Morton, the global brand experience agency, working in partnership with the Mayor of London’s office, the celebration features an impressive 13-minute firework display, kicked off by the ringing of Big Ben’s bell, and a Durham Marenghi lighting design that covered the entire downtown.
Since it spanned such a wide area, the NYE lighting was divided into two sections: Central London and the Old Royal Naval College. Associate designer Paul Cook, ran the lighting in the first section, which included t

UK - A spirited drum and bass performance by BRIT Award winners Rudimental marked the official end of this year’s Sundown Festival, but the buzz created by the three-day event at Norfolk Showground lasted far longer with inventive pictures and ebullient comments flooding social media. The euphoria was easy to understand, given that music fans were starved for live festival experience following the 2020 pandemic lockdown.
Sundown Festival 2021 delivered all they were looking for, serving up three days of ‘colourful costumes, raucous fun and performances by more than 65 different acts, all in a safe environment’. Providing a colourful visual setting for this welcomed experience was a lighting and production design by Bigabox Productions that featured a broad mix of Chauvet Professional fixtures on three of the festival’s four stages.
Selected from Bigabox’s o

USA - Orchestra Hall, home to the Minnesota Orchestra, is a landmark both without and within. Its modernist architectural design and expansive glass façade are intended to symbolically present classical music as more widely accessible. Inside, it’s an acoustical dreamworld: 114 large cubes, forming a symmetrical “falling rock” pattern on the auditorium’s ceiling and the stage’s back wall, act, along with the three balconies above and along the sides of the main floor, as a massive diffusion system. The result is an aural experience for the 2,089 patrons seated inside.
That experience has been enhanced with the installation over last August and September of a suite of DiGiCo systems, creating a renewed audio infrastructure for the venue and its ensemble, who were named the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2021 Orchestra of the Year. This includes a Quantum338 as t

Greece - A 360° d&b Soundscape system was deployed at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus amphitheatre in Greece for the first-ever, joint live performance of producer and artist, Brian Eno and his brother, pianist and composer Roger Eno.
Brian Eno’s reputation as a musician, and producer for the likes of David Bowie, U2 and Talking Heads, precedes him as well as his long career as a pioneering solo artist, especially in the field of ambient music. He recently collaborated with his brother, Roger Eno, a solo recording artist and film and TV music composer and released their first ever joint album Mixing Colours, a project that spawned this live show.
Their first live performance as a duo took place in open-air performance space, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, a renovated stone amphitheatre originally constructed in the year 161 AD.
“Due to the age and s

USA - When East Carolina University stadium experienced debilitating audio issues right in the middle of football season, they turned to PC Sound and LEA Professional to rescue the season and restore the fan experience.
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is the on-campus football facility at East Carolina University for the East Carolina Pirates in Greenville, North Carolina. The stadium has a capacity of 50,000, making it the second largest college stadium in North Carolina.
James Braddy, certified technology specialist (CTS) at PC Sound, a local specialist in pro audio, video and lighting installations, got a call on a Monday in September from the associate athletics director at ECU, Greg Pierce who explained that the previous weekend’s home game had been overshadowed by a series of audio issues.
“At the time, half the sound system didn't sound like it was working,” s

The Netherlands - Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) is one of the leading technical universities in Europe. The school’s auditorium, the heart of the campus where students attend lectures and presentations of all types, recently received a lighting upgrade of Elation luminaires specified and installed by AV company Houben Souren.
Houben Souren was contacted by TU/e after university personnel had heard about a recent LED lighting installation at the Maastricht Exhibition and Convention Centre (MECC), an auditorium lighting system potentially similar to what they required.
“The university was interested in the installation and the types of lights we used there [Elation Fuze Profile and Colour 5 Profile] so we invited them to Maastricht to see the project for themselves,” explains Tijs Verfurth, operations manager at Houben Souren. “It turned out to be a

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