UK - Immersive Spanish party brand, Elrow, has made its Welsh debut with the spectacular Singer Morning dance event in Cardiff - in the grounds of Glamorgan Cricket Club's Sophia Gardens. The picturesque gardens played host to a capacity 6,500 dance fans on the Sunday afternoon.
Reinforcing the sound for headliners Eats Everything and Patrick Topping on May Bank Holiday Sunday was James Jewry from Cheshire-based Soundteks, who brought in Manchester based VME with their award-winning Martin Audio MLA and MLA Compact loudspeaker arrays.
James designed and specified the MLA system on behalf of the dance giant Elrow, purely based on the city centre location of the site. Nine elements of MLA (and an MLD Downfill) were flown on either side of the stage, while 16 MLX subwoofers were set across the front in a broadside cardioid array, 11 front facing and five rear. Six

USA - grandMA2 consoles and switches played a key role in networked lighting and video control for SAP’s Sapphire NOW/ASUG Annual Conference at the Orange County Convention Centre in Orlando. Lighting designer Paul Palazzo and programmer Paul J. Sonnleitner have worked on the event since 1999 and have been using MA consoles for the last 12 years.
The conference has grown to encompass three days of keynotes, workshops and an exhibition floor. America’s SAP Users’ Group (ASUG) helps customers connect with each other, understand SAP products and services better and learn how to get the most from their investment.
“The conference has become exceedingly large attracting some 20,000 participants,” says Sonnleitner, “and spans the entire convention centre. We need solid network technology to handle it, and it’s nice that we can stay within the MA family to do so

UK - Richard Martin Lighting (RML) supported lighting designer David Gibson in lighting the BBC coverage of the General Election, Election Results 2017, aired on BBC One.
Lighting designer David Gibson was called upon to light the BBC coverage that ran from when the polls closed last night all the way through to this morning. The overnight coverage was presented by David Dimbleby, who has anchored the BBC’s coverage of every General Election since 1979. Huw Edwards took over this morning as lead presenter recapping what had gone on through the night and leading the viewers through the day’s events, including the formation of a new government.
A vast rig was employed going into the Elstree Studio D in two parts, and David chose a mixture of strong and stable units including the Claypaky Sharpy, the Martin MAC Aura, James Thomas Engineering Pixel Par 90 and Pu

Croatia - The Spaladium Arena in the Croatian coastal town of Split was the venue for the 2017 Porin Music Awards (AKA 'the Porins'), a glamourous, high profile evening which honours the achievements and talent of Croatian artists across a diverse mix of genres and 30 categories and is broadcast live on the national HRT network.
Lighting designer for this year was HRT's Marko Foretić who chose to work with a moving light rig over 160 Robe fixtures, supplied by one of the leading Croatian rental companies, Promologistika. He worked closely with Promologistika's Miro Hrg who designed the set and video elements.
Marko's ideas for the lighting were developed following in-depth conversations with Miro and the event's director, Danko Volarić.
The set was based on a series of circles – originated from the idea of spinning vinyl records – six round trusses of diffe

USA - After 14 years of prayer and patience, Grace Orlando church recently opened the doors of its first designated worship space. A critical consideration from the outset was pristine and even audio coverage across all 600 seats, and thanks to a carefully researched sound system built around Adamson Systems Engineering S-Series loudspeakers, that’s exactly what they got – and a lot more.
“Full coverage is something we’ve lacked over the past 14 years at our part-time facility,” comments Worship Pastor Chad Wyatt, who boasts a background in production technology. “We wanted everyone to hear the word clearly and feel like the music is totally immersing them in the new space.”
The music ministry is a vital part of the church’s dynamic and spirited services, with a worship band that includes everything from full drums to guitars and keys to a horn section;

USA - An extensive renovation project at Crossgates Baptist Church in Brandon, Mississippi, saw a complete sanctuary AVL refresh over the course of two years. Beginning in 2015, AVL systems integrator Paragon 360 designed and installed all new AVL systems, custom scenic and staging elements, motorized rigging systems, and acoustical treatment.
And the centrepiece of the project, which was completed in January 2017, is a RoomMatch loudspeaker system from Bose Professional. Paragon 360 chose the RoomMatch system because of its track record in attaining high speech intelligibility and touring-level music quality in acoustically challenging spaces.
The sanctuary had a number of challenges, including an odd geometry that saw a traditional balcony design considerably extended with additional seating elevated along the sides of the room. “That meant there were going to be

USA - Karen Zacarias’ Destiny of Desire, An Unapologetic Telenovela in Two Acts is aptly subtitled. The raucous, freewheeling “play within a play” makes absolutely no apologies as it follows the lives of two Mexican woman (one born to wealth, the other to poverty) who are switched at birth.
Parodying the telenovelas commonly seen on TV, the play unabashedly takes audiences on an emotionally charged journey that is at turns, harrowing, hilarious and ultimately thought provoking. Intensifying the myriad of moods that runs through this fast-paced play is a richly textured lighting design by Pablo Santiago that features Chauvet Professional Rogue R2 Wash fixtures.
Santiago is using 16 of the 285W RGBW moving heads to light the show during its current successful run at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. He positions the Rogue R2 Washes over the stage in four differen

The Netherlands - The Aus Berlin techno festival set the night on fire at Spoorzone Tilburg, Holland, enhancing the post-industrial scenarios of the old railway depots with the modernity of the 'blades of light' projected by Katana.
"In our projects, we use a large number of DTS fixtures, with which we are fully satisfied,” - said First Impression, the rental company that installed the lighting infrastructure for Aus Berlin. “Katana's performance was exceptional; nothing compares to its ‘blade of light’.”
Aus Berlin's line-up included the best of the new generation of Berlin DJs, such as Adana Twins, Mandy, Wankelmut, Egbert and Yetti Meissner.
The upgrading and expansion works of the Tilburg railway station in Holland have transformed the vast old buildings into multi-functional structures, suitable for a wide range of spectacular events.
(Jim Ev

USA - Three hi-energy sold out shows at San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium launched the new Martin Garrix live show which will tour around the world for the rest of the year as the young Dutch superstar DJ and music producer continues to wow crowds.
Equally hot in appearance is the lighting and visuals show created by production designer Gabe Fraboni which features 138 Robe moving lights – 90 x Spikies, 20 x Pointes and 28 x BMFL Spots.
The main goal of this design is to take Martin Garrix out of a purely DJ context and take a more rock / pop approach.
Fans at this year’s Coachella festival received a sneak preview of what was to come with the plus-shaped video screen and surrounding grid of 90 x Spikies tight at the heart of the performance environment. Now the power and impact of this and the full new production design has been unleashed to the

UK - After 40 years as the leading British advertising awards, this year the British Arrows combined their Craft and Awards shows into one big ceremony –The British Arrows. Held at Battersea Evolution on 31 May 2017 and hosted by TV comedian Rob Delaney, over 72 Campaign Arrows and 32 Craft Awards were handed out to the cream of the advertising crop. Hawthorn was on hand to deliver the full technical production for the evening.
Hawthorn has delivered the technical production for the British Arrows Awards since 2011, with the design and production values increasing in specification and complexity each year. With this year seeing the two events combine into one special show, the team at Hawthorn worked closely with the British Arrows producers to deliver a stand-out experience for the 1000 guests.
With the concept for the evening following an open room format, guests h

Ireland - KV2 Audio’s large format VHD Point Source system helped provide Good Vibrations for The Beach Boys. Having made their debut over 50 years ago, The Beach Boys continue to tour extensively and their recent Irish stop saw them play to over 2,000 people at the striking Bord Gáis Energy Theatre.
Tasked with providing audio reinforcement for the event were KV2 Audio’s Irish partners Just Lite Productions - who once again turned to their inventory of KV2 products.
The Bord Gáis Energy Theatre is a commanding space with 2,111 seats spread across stalls, first and second circles. Just Lite opted to deploy a flown double VHD System with down-fill and extra low frequency reinforcement courtesy of the VHD 2.21 2x21” subwoofer.
The complete system per side was made up of two VHD 2.0, 1 x VHD 1.0 and one VHD 2.15 flown with two VHD 4.18 and one VHD 2.21 groun

USA - Bandit Lites returned to the ocean for another spectacular weekend at the Hangout Music Festival, where the beach provided a picturesque backdrop for the thousands that made the trek to the sandy shores.
This year’s line-up boasted a wide range of artists, such as Mumford & Sons, Chance the Rapper, Phoenix, Major Lazer, Weezer, MGMT, Sigur Ros, Band of Horses, Franz Ferdinand and Charli XCX.
While the musical acts coupled with a weekend at the beach were reason enough to attend Hangout, festival goers could also experience a host of activities ranging from beach volley ball, an ocean side Ferris wheel, beach club, arcade, puppy kissing booth and even a legitimate wedding chapel.
Bandit Lites provided the lighting for the festival’s main stage, rightfully dubbed the Hangout Stage, Fitz’s Stage, along with the Surf Stage, which flanked the main stag

Poland - Gamers from around the globe gathered recently once again in the International Conference Centre in Katowice, for the world’s biggest annual online gaming event: the Intel Extreme Masters.
With this year’s event seeing gamers compete in various games such as League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and StarCraft II, the task of designing a suitably impactful staging concept fell for the second year in a row to Polish production house, Aram. This year’s secret weapon came in the form of 16 Chauvet Professional STRIKE 1 and 16 STRIKE 882 strobe fixtures, which Aram incorporated within a spectacular visual production including live video gaming and pyrotechnics.
“With the event expanding so dynamically in recent years, the pressure was certainly on to create new looks and breath-taking visuals for 2017,” commented Michal

UK - Now in its 126th year, The Kennel Club’s Crufts Dog Show is world’s largest and most prestigious canine competition. Over its three-day run, the event drew roughly 160,000 people and nearly 22,000 dogs to the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) complex in Birmingham. For the main competitions in NEC’s Genting Arena, it was critical that the sound system deliver both clarity and fidelity without adding any visual distraction.
ARB Events was the primary AV provider, with project manager Steve Boote working with sound system designer Neal Allen of Safe Hands Audio on the audio for the arena. They chose the X2 line-array loudspeaker system from the X-Line Advance family by Electro-Voice as the best and most suitable system for the job.
“This was my fourth year working with ARB Events on the system design for Crufts, and it was the best yet,” says Neal Allen.

Argentina - Allen & Heath’s flagship dLive S Class system was selected for a special gig by Argentinean rock band, Airbag, accompanied by an orchestra and staged at the iconic Usina del Arte venue, a converted electrical plant, in the capital, Buenos Aires.
Provided by rental company, Show Room Live, the dLive system comprised the S7000 Surface and DM64 MixRack fitted with Waves SoundGrid networking cards, and was selected by the band’s FOH engineer, Fernando Parra. The system was required to manage live sound reinforcement in the venue, as well as provide redundant multitrack recording and a broadcast feed. AES inputs on the S7000 Surface were used by Parra to connect his favourite outboard equipment.
“I use 64 channels from the MixRack and 8 analogue channels from the Surface to cater for the live FOH feed and provide 80 channels of multitrack recording at

UK - David Atkinson Lighting Design (DALD) recently completed the lighting design for the Robots exhibition at the Science Museum, London.
This intriguing exhibition features a unique collection of over 100 robots, from a 16th century mechanical monk to robots from science fiction and modern-day research labs. Set in five different times, Robots explores how religious belief, the industrial revolution, popular culture and dreams about the future have all shaped society through the different robots on display.
Recent developments from robotics research are also on show, allowing the visitor to explore how and, more importantly, why roboticists are building robots that resemble us and interact in human-like ways. The exhibition encourages the visitors to imagine what a shared future with robots would be like, with the latest humanoid robots in action.

UK - Last weekend UK d‘n’b duo Sigma became the first drum and bass act – complete with full band - to play London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Creating a very special visuality for this ground-breaking gig in the world-famous venue was show designer Andy Hurst. He used a combination of lighting equipment supplied by Blackburn rental company HSL and the in-house rig, and worked alongside a crew of three from HSL.
Lasers - fast becoming a Hurst show signature – were delivered by ER; LED screens, cameras and projection were from Video Illusions and BPM supplied the pyro.
The pressure was on for Andy to produce something amazing in the short timeframe. The get-in was 7 a.m. on showday, so the rig had to be quick and practical to install as well as looking great! While some elements of a show can be pre-visualised, there is still a lot of programming that can’t b

UK - Big Box Digital Media has lent added colour and sparkle to two of the UK’s most popular tourist attractions. The company has installed powerful colour changing LED fixtures from Chauvet DJ at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in Blackpool and at several Sea Life Centre locations.
At Madame Tussauds, the Intimidator Spot 255 IRC LED moving head positioned at the museum entrance creates a colourful and exciting welcoming atmosphere for guests. With its built-in automated programmes, selectable pan and tilt, dimming, split beam, three-facet prism and gobo effects, the Intimidators provide the museum with an endless variety of engaging looks for its entrance area.
At Sea Life Centre, Big Box installed a variety of fixtures including the Abyss LED 3.0, COREpar 40 USB and Intimidator Spot 255 IRC. The installation comes as part of a wide-ranging visual overhaul to provide re

USA - Located in Palm Desert, California in the Coachella Valley, Indian Wells Tennis Garden boasts 29 regulation tennis courts. At 16,100 seats its largest, Stadium 1, is the second-largest tennis-dedicated stadium in the world. Indian Wells is the host to the annual BNP Paribas Open, a major two-week pro tournament.
Constantly evolving under the ownership of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, the facility recently rebuilt and refurbished Stadium 1, including a complete audio makeover that features premium products from two Bosch brands: RTS and Electro-Voice. Technicomm Industries, an area firm that has handled previous Indian Wells expansions and upgrades, was contracted to handle the upgrade.
“They decided to totally refurbish the main stadium last year. One goal of that change was to modernize the intercom system,” says Steve Burgess, project manager for Technicom

UK - The Great Dorset Steam Fair (GDSF) has commissioned enforcement specialist TSG to patrol and protect its primary areas this summer, working alongside existing security arrangements.
Organisers moved Great Dorset Steam Fair back a week last year, to run across the August Bank Holiday, and it attracts more than 200,000 people over five days, many families among them.
To ensure their safety, operations director Julian Hubbuck has split the site into zones for 2017 and switched from a single security supplier to a number of companies, each playing to its particular strengths.
TSG, which managed a successful deployment at GDSF 2015, returns to the 600-acre site with greater numbers to look after the event’s entertainment areas, including the main music stage, a large fairground and multiple bars.
The agency’s uniformed officers will engage with the pu

USA - Luke Bryan lighting designer Justin Kitchenman of Align Design Group used 100 of Elation Professional’s compact ACL 360i fixtures in a spectacular upstage wall of lighting effects on the artist’s 2016 Kill the Lights tour. For the country music star’s current Huntin’, Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day tour, the designer again turned to the narrow-beam LED lights, deciding to add an additional 80 units in his new design.
“We used the ACL 360i as a feature on last year’s tour so I know what they are capable of,” comments the LD, who is entering his seventh year with Luke Bryan. “I was blown away by them. The beam can punch through, even with the other lights on. They are lightweight and low profile and worked out really well.”
The Kill the Lights tour played a final string of dates in February and March with the newly designed Huntin, Fishin' and

Switzerland - With the investment in no less than three Prolyte roof systems, Swiss rental company Sonoval is making a solid statement. The recently acquired Prolyte MPT system and two ARC systems will be the core of their outdoor activities this summer.
Sonoval Sàrl is a relatively young, Swiss based company, operating from both its Martingy and Fribourg branches. They are active in the field of lighting, sound and stage, in- and outside Switzerland and are driven by fierce ambition. Sonoval Sàrl has taken advantage of its experience to fine-tune its range of services, extending from video, to scenic structures and technically demanding projects.
Based on its broad experience, Sonoval supplies to many Swiss based events and, on top of that, acts as equipment supplier for many other rental and event companies. Being recognised as regional leader, they keep a substant

Italy - Launched last year, the Music Inside Festival ­(MIF) in Rimini this year saw PA and monitoring on all three stages at the Rimini Fiera provided for the first time by Loud Professional and powered by Powersoft X series premium amplifiers.
The two-day event also saw, for the first time, the appearance of the new Loud Professional Formula F221 subwoofer. Based on Loud Pro Push Loop Technology: this double 21in system combines three different technologies: Push Pull, Double Reflex Band Pass, and Horn Loading system.
The winning combination of these two leading Italian manufacturers was selected by Amandla Productions, who had taken over the Festival’s technical production - as they immediately recognised Loud Professional’s expertise in delivering large scale festival sound (and particularly EDM events).
“The synchronization with Powersoft was excellen

Denmark - Popular Danish R&B and pop singer Burhan G is on the road with a new set and lighting design by Theis Wemuth of Aarhus based creative visual practice, Create This, with Robe Spiiders, BMFLs and Pointes right at the core of the aesthetic.
Theis started his lighting design career 12 years ago and is well known in Denmark for his imagination and thinking ‘out-of-the-box’. He was asked by the artist to produce a design for the tour which promotes his latest album Pas på pigerne (Beware of Girls) which features a big band sound and style bringing a new dimension to his diverse repertoire.
This set the tone for the lighting and scenic design proposed by Theis, for which he specified 18 Robe Spiiders and 25 x BMFL Spots, which are being supplied to the tour by rental company Comtech. There's no video on the tour, so it’s down to music and lighting to enha

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