Germany - The Bluetone festival 2016 opted for the new stands from Gravity, an Adam Hall Group brand. The Sportfreunde Stiller, Seiler und Speer, Anastacia were among the artists that attracted over 18,000 visitors to Straubing,

On all six days of the festival, which was founded in 1987, the stands provided solid stability for the artists' performances - and additionally added stylish highlights to the stage. Tobias Lange, Bluetone production manager and managing director of PM Systemhaus, says, "We had already opted for Gravity stands for the Gregory Porter tour as well as the Jazz Baltica festival. They immediately convinced us with their handling and stability."

The PM Systemhaus team was responsible for the production of the Bluetone festival together with local rental company StereoMike. "The musicians' feedback regarding the stands was excellent," says StereoMike hea

China - Hong Kong's leading recording facility for many years; Avon Recording Studios, was taken over by popular singing star Hins Cheung when the original owners called it a day. Hins is a well-known and successful artist who is intensely passionate about vintage analogue recording equipment. Under his management the studio has been refitted by Mode Engineering's Peter Higgs with classic analogue equipment supplied by Funky Junk and using cabling and wiring assemblies from London based VDC Trading.

Higgs explains, "I was initially introduced to Hins in 2010 via Funky Junk who have supplied equipment, provided advice and support and been instrumental in the successful outcome of Avon Studios' refit. In 2015 Hins asked me to decommission the two studio recording rooms at Avon to clear the way in preparation for a completely new installation comprising an exciting and eclectic r

USA - A Kinesys automation system is adding depth and dynamics to the stage for country singer / songwriter Miranda Lambert's current Keeper of the Flame tour in the US.

The automation was specified by production designer Paul 'Arlo' Guthrie, who wanted the additional dynamics of being able to change the architecture and form of the performance space. Having used Kinesys successfully on other tours including Lady Antebellum and Sheryl Crow, Arlo again added it to his stage plot.

"I love the smooth movement - it really suits this show," he explained. The brief for the stage, lighting and visual design was to keep the look clean and direct, with all the attention focussed on Lambert and her powerful music and stage presence which has earned her the title 'Queen of Country'.

The automation is being supplied by Upstaging who are also the lighting contractor, and comprises

UK - At this year's PLASA Show, igus will be demonstrating its innovative bearings, linear slides and cable management systems for the live entertainment technology industry. Returning to the heart of West London at Olympia the show, which runs from 18-20 September, is a significant date in the calendar for professionals working with pro audio, lighting, broadcast, AV, rigging and stage technologies.

On the igus stand (Stand C20) there will be two main demonstrations; the first is the drylin W curved rail system. These rails offer an innovative way of mounting sound and lighting rigs, or displays and control panels - anything that needs to be adjusted regularly. As the aluminium rails can be modified by precision bending, the profile of the curve can be tailored to customer requirements. The use of spherical tribopolymer bearings enables the guide rail system to be self-adjust

Germany - For its Musikladen (music shop) event programme, Stuttgart's Club Zwoelfzehn now relies on stands from Gravity, an Adam Hall Group brand.

"Top equipment for our young music talents in the Club Zwoelfzehn is very important for us," says Kay Swoboda from the organiser Popb

UK - Penn Elcom completed the design and installation of a wiring infrastructure for a new recording studio in Hastings, housed in an old Methodist Church building in the heart of the town. The studio is owned by Paul Godfrey, songwriter / producer and well known as creator of the popular trip hop trio, Morcheeba.

The installation entailed delivering all the multicores, cables, stage boxes, patch bays, wall racks plus associated metalwork, and was overseen by Penn's Leon Whipp who heads the company's specialist wiring division.

Every centimetre of space in the characterful building has been utilised meaningfully in the conversion to serve as a busy and proactive recording environment offering a large control room, main space and mezzanine floor chamber.

Cat 5 connectors have been used throughout. A 48-way line system from the control room connects the recording spaces

UK - Rigging industry experts from across the UK joined forces at Birmingham's' Barclaycard Arena to trial the Trailblazer Live Event Rigging Apprenticeship assessment on 29 June.

The Live Event Rigging Apprenticeship, part of the government's Trailblazer scheme encouraging three million new apprentices by 2020, has been developed by the National Rigging Advisory Group (NRAG) to provide formal training to new recruits, supporting them beyond the National Rigging Certificate Level 2, and plug the gap in trainee numbers to fill increasing demand throughout the entertainment rigging industry.

Key rigging leaders from Blackout, UK Rigging, RTM Rigging, PSI Production Ireland and NEC Group attended the trial run of the newly-created Live Event Rigging Apprenticeship, to scrupulously test the assessment format and marking system before it is formally launched to the industry in

Spain - The summer season is in full swing and this is when live entertainment can be enjoyed in the open air on terraces, in parks and town squares all over the northern hemisphere. Some of the most popular and exclusive holiday destinations put their trust in the quality products from the Spanish manufacturer GUIL to ensure their events are a success. Stage platforms, aluminium barriers, trussing and lifting towers, all manufactured in Spain, are not only chosen for their stylish and innovative designs but also because they meet the strictest safety regulations.

For example, the prestigious Ushuaia Club in Ibiza not only use GUIL aluminium crowd barriers to restrict access to the main stage where the best DJs in the world perform (David Getta, Bob Sinclair, Dj Luciano, etc.), but also to separate the private and VIP areas from the rest of the club.

Various GUIL products

UK - HSL supplied lighting, rigging and a Kinesys automation system for the recent European leg of Chris Brown's "One Hell of a Nite tour, working for production designer and manager Tom E. Marzullo from Out Of Our Minds Creative Services, LLC.

HSL project managers John Slevin and Jordan Hanson co-ordinated everything for the Blackburn- based rental company and ensured that the production design - created collectively by Tom E with input from Christie Lites' Robert Roth and Robert Achlimbari from All Access - was supplied with all the lighting, rigging and automation elements it needed.

The tour's technical director Brian Spett who ran video content for the show and lighting director Charles Ford (also the lighting programmer / operator) additionally had their input, while HSL supplied a top crew chiefed by Simon 'Piggy' Lynch, to ensure that everything ran as smoothly and

Germany - In their high-quality Epilogue series Sommer Cable has integrated both audiophile and technical qualities. The outcome is a reference cable for uptown tastes. The Baden-Wurttemberg specialist for professional cable and connection technology recommends the Epilogue series for linking pre and power amplifiers, CD and SACD players, turntables and also for professional studio technology.

"The cables of the Epilogue series excel by a neutral, pure and at the same time spatial sound image which is due to a highly sophisticated workmanship and up-market wiring. And all that with a convincing price-performance ratio," explains Pascal Miguet, product & sales manager at Sommer Cable.

Technically the Epilogue series relies on a quad-wire design with crossover capability. A tight copper braid with semiconductor provides 100 % shielding against interferences. Together with th

Germany - From 1-3 July, the city of Neu-Isenburg again became the music capital of the state of Hesse. Spanning three festival days, approximately 60 bands performed across 16 stages in the Huguenot city - and were cheered on by 35,000+ visitors.

Also on stage were Adam Hall Group's newest brand of stands - Gravity. Exclusively deployed across the festival's three main stages, Gravity stands have won the internationally-recognized Red Dot and IF Design awards, while being recently nominated for the German Design Award.

"For such a festival, it's important that the equipment meets the expectations right from the start. The Gravity stands have even exceeded these. Whether it's about stability or an attractive price-performance ratio with design to boot, Gravity convinced us in every aspect," said Michael Kercher, managing director of 12 L

USA - Pennington Entertainment, led by industry veteran Shawn Pennington, has announced a partnership with stage design and production company 44 Designs, headed by concert and event production expert Jeff 'Lava' Lavallee.

"Having worked with Jeff and the 44 Designs team extensively in recent years, I can tell you that there is not a more creative brain trust of individuals in the stage creative space in Nashville," says Pennington. "Every production that I have seen them produce, or been involved with has blown my mind every time! We could not be more excited about this partnership and the ability to deliver amazing production and event services in an affordable manner to the Nashville music community, and beyond."

Nashville-based 44 Designs enters the partnership with over 25 years of experience in lighting, touring and production. As a 360

UK - Performance and visual arts venue, The Lowry, in Greater Manchester's Salford Quays launched its first festival of arts, Week 53, earlier this year.

The 11-day festival, which brought together contemporary dance, visual arts, music and theatre in interactive installations, exhibitions and performances, featured more than 200 international artists, and will be held annually for the next three years with a view to extend into the future. The occasion was marked by the procurement of a new ATMe haze generator to complement The Lowry's 15-year-old MDG Atmosphere.

MDG's ATMe is an evolution of the Atmosphere which is a long-term industry standard. ATMe has an added degree of controllability which attracted the attention of The Lowry's head of technical services, Dave Woodward, and was supplied by MDG UK complete with a portability kit.

The ATMe was brought into use for

UK - This evening marks the world premiere of EXPOSURE The Musical at St James Theatre, London. The new British musical has been written by Mike Dyer and Quentin Russell and stars Michael Greco and Natalie Anderson. Alongside providing the lighting to The Stripper which is currently running in the venue's studio space, White Light has also supplied the equipment for this new production.

EXPOSURE The Musical tells the story of young photographer Jimmy Tucker who faces the biggest challenge of his life when a stranger commissions him to find and shoot the seven deadly sins within modern-day London. Yet, throughout the night, a series of encounters with girlfriends, family history and the world of celebrity reveals there is more at stake than just money.

The lighting designer on the show is Ben Cracknell. He comments, "Projection plays a huge role in E

Australia - The Adelaide Convention Centre has expanded its already impressive fleet of High End Systems consoles with the purchase of two Full Boar 4's and six Road Hog 4's, bringing their inventory to four Full Boar 4's and 10 Road Hog 4's in total.

The purchase is part of the plan for the anticipated mid-2017 opening of their new Plenary Building, a multi-purpose venue built on the site of the original 1987 Convention Centre, with a capacity of up to 3,500 seats. Local production and installation company AJS were selected to fulfil this government tender, and have developed a close working relationship with the ACC.

"This was all part of the Convention Centre's tender process for stock replenishment and the new Plenary Building," relates AJS's Luke Hattam. "We contacted Australian High End Systems distributor Lexair Entertainment for guidance. We were successful in our

Europe - From 1 July - 30 September, MILOS will be focusing on its range of Mobiltechlifts and offering a free transportation wheel kit with every Mobiltechlift purchase.

During its three-month promotion, MILOS will be releasing a product range video and expert instructional video by Marc Hendriks that will be available on the Milos website.

Mobiltechlift features include: Tested in accordance with draft of DIN 56950-3; Integrated wheels with brakes; Easy setup with a round spirit level; Rubber feet on the outriggers to protect sensitive floors; Practical design for ease handling; TUV Baumuster-approved and constructed to the design criteria of BGV-C1 and BGG/GUV-G 912.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Tomcat, the largest truss and support structure manufacturer in the Americas, has established a new office in Miami, Florida responsible for Central and South America - Tomcat / James Thomas Engineering Latin America. The office will be led by 27- year entertainment industry veteran Jose Luis Rosche, president / owner of Roc-Off Productions.

Tomcat is now able to offer its old and new Latin American customers convenient access to high quality Tomcat products with industry-leading durability and working strength. Through its education and training programs, customers will fully benefit from Tomcat's deep well of experience and acquire valuable information on how to work safely and effectively with its high quality products.

Says the company, Tomcat looks forward to creating a strong partnership with its Central and South American customers, and providing them with inn

USA - Milos was chosen as support structure supplier for the largest Ninja Warrior course in the United States. Located in Peachtree Corners (a metro area of Atlanta, Georgia), the 12,000 m2 course is part of the Slingshot facility and was designed by American Ninja Warrior contestant, Jason Huewe.

The course uses Milos QTL/QTV truss to support 24 challenging obstacles for different ability levels. Areas of the course include a peg board, slack bridge, gecko wall, disk slide, ropes and ramps.

Asked about Slingshot's decision to use Milos, Jason replied, "Some of the main deciding factors which made us go with them instead of some of the other brands out there was the strength of their product, the quickness that it could actually be assembled together by a limited number of people, and the price point."

Milos truss has given Slingshot the ability to strike a winning co

UK - If you own an sE Reflexion Filter Pro, you can now purchase a hardware upgrade to simplify its ease of use, increase stability, and provide better overall performance and durability.

In 2006, sE Electronics released the original Reflexion Filter Pro and created a whole new market of portable acoustic treatment devices. Ten years and six different sE Reflexion Filter products later, the company has sold over 120,000 units worldwide. In May of this year, sE introduced a special 10th Anniversary Reflexion Filter Pro, limited to 1000 pieces worldwide. This commemorative RF Pro included completely redesigned mounting hardware, which has now been made commercially available due to popular demand.

The new Reflexion Filter Pro Mounting Bracket Upgrade Kit is now available for purchase through authorized sE distributors worldwide. Customers who have purchased a Reflexion Filte

USA - Kinesys automation customers have a new choice in chain hoists for their systems. After successful testing of several models, Total Structures is has announced that Pointman Electric Chain Hoists have been approved for use with the Elevation drive system.

Currently hoists are available in

USA - Computer-based testing for the new Portable Power Distribution Technician examination is now available. ETCP needs as many candidates as possible to test by 23 August 2016 to obtain cut-score information on the new examination.

The first 25 candidates to apply will receive a free t-shirt with the new PPDT logo and their name if they receive a passing score. Because this is a new examination, score reports will be delayed during this time.

The ETCP PPDT certification is focused on the large population of industry workers in the roles of technicians, stagehands, portable power set/strike technicians, as well as facility maintenance personnel for a wide variety of venues. This certification targets the top two-thirds of people working with this technology at various types of facilities in the corporate, trade show, outdoor event, theatrical, and motion picture/televisio

Germany - The Lower Bavarian city of Straubing recently had every reason to celebrate: its picturesque tower - the town's visual flagship - celebrated its 700th anniversary. The round birthday was honoured with a large festival.

Joining the celebrations was Adam Hall Group's newest brand of stands, Gravity. Exclusively deployed on two of the four stages, Gravity stands have won the internationally-recognized Red Dot and IF Design awards, while being recently nominated for the German Design Award.

Michael Wittenzellner, head of rental company StereoMike and responsible for the production, comments, "The event in Straubing was my Gravity premiere. And I must say the optically outstanding stands also fully convinced me in terms of handling and stability. They did a great job - which is why I also relied on them for the Bluetone festival."

The StereoMike team was responsib

UK - ModTruss has been used for the first time in the UK as a structural piece of scenery at Sheffield's Crucible theatre.

At the end of June, a team from Triple E travelled up to The Crucible to support the installation of ModTruss for the Sheffield People's Theatre production of A Dream, described as a 'modern-day mash up of Shakespearan romance'. The structure was a 37' x 19' (11.27m x 5.7m) platform on 8' (2.4m) uprights made up of the three available sizes of aluminium ModTruss - 3", 6" and 12".

"The front span is 5.5m and had to be supported between two pillars. Achieving this with standard scaffold is do-able but would mean that we'd end up with a massive frontage to the set which wasn't desirable for the designer," Stuart West, technical manager for Sheffield Theatres, explains.

"However, a 12" box of ModTruss could do the span with no problems at all; w

UK - On behalf of Festival Republic, Dick Tee of 'enteetainment Ltd', was asked to look after the technical production management of the recent EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival) show in Milton Keynes Bowl, working alongside his counterpart, production manager Jake Berry, who was representing Los Angeles-based Festival producer, Insomniac.

Electric Daisy Carnival UK returned to Milton Keynes Bowl for a one-day electronic dance music party. The main stage built by Serious Stages was some 70m wide and incorporated a huge Owl, a Dragon and two 'Guardians' as well as a massive 400m2 LED screen and a fully functioning 'waterfall'.

"It was a great challenge to be able to combine such a huge stage based construction with so much creativity and artistic design," said Tee. "Unlike conventional stages which offer complete weather protection to the performance area, the only 'on stage roo

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