UK - Just For One Day – The Live Aid Musical opened in May at London’s Shaftesbury Theatre, and Unusual Rigging played a key role in preparing the venue for a high-impact production that celebrates the event that marks its 40th anniversary this weekend.

With just 10 days between the final performance of Mrs. Doubtfire and the load-in for Just For One Day, Unusual was brought in to deliver a complete rigging transformation - supporting a technically ambitious and visually bold show.

Written by John O’Farrell and directed by Luke Sheppard, Just For One Day tells the behind-the-scenes story of the 1985 Live Aid concert and how music united a global audience for one extraordinary day. Featuring songs from Queen, U2

USA/Europe - To provide Janet Jackson’s Together Again tour with immersive and impactful visuals, lighting designer Eric Wade implemented a versatile and adaptable rig featuring the Martin MAC One fixture, produced by PRG and Crossfade.

As one of the most successful artists of all time, Janet Jackson has sold over 100m records in her multi-decade career and defined the MTV era with her impactful choreography and multifaceted sound. Beginning in April 2023 through October 2024, the Together Again tour marked Jackson’s first return to the road in four years and promised audiences across the world a prolific set featuring both decade-defining hits and fan favourites.

With a discography that pulls from a wide array of genres and influences, from new jack swing to hip-hop to pop, Jackson required a lighting rig that could adapt to an

Serbia - The first Avolites D7-330 and D7-215 consoles have arrived in the Balkans region – received by Belgrade-based Avolites distributor, Light & Sound Design (LSD) – where they will be in action with the team led by Milan Scepanovic.

LSD proactively distributes the full range of Robe Group brands – Anolis, Artistic Licence, LSC, and of Avo – across all the Balkans countries (Serbia, Bosnia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania) and the Robe brand itself in Serbia, Bosnia, North Macedonia and Montenegro.

LSD’s CEO Milan Scepanovic says, “It is great to have the first D7 models – to my knowledge – in the whole of southeast Europe. The consoles are powerful, flexible and portable and they look very cool. Given the general presence of Avolites here in the region, I think there will be plenty of interest in the D7 and we will be

GCC - ES:ME Group has announced a new collaboration with German manufacturer HOF, bringing the MLT Three pre-rig truss system to the GCC market. This strategic partnership enhances regional access to one of the most flexible and efficient rigging solutions available today, enabling faster deployment, improved safety, and reliable scalability for large-scale event production.

As part of the agreement, a selection of HOFKON and MLT Three units will be available through ES:ME’s local hubs in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and the wider region. The system will be integrated into technical planning and rigging strategies across a wide spectrum of events - from exhibitions and conferences to concerts, live broadcasts, and sporting productions.

“We’re excited to make this system more accessible to our regional clients,” said Markus Schmidt, COO of ES:ME G

France - A new Robe moving light rig has been installed in the 800-capacity Liquid Lounge main theatre space aboard the Carnival Sunshine cruise ship, which stages a host of large-scale production shows, themed performances, and other entertainment events. This was undertaken during an extensive refurbishment of the vessel whilst in dry dock at the Chantier Naval de Marseille in Marseilles, France, earlier this year. 

The lighting upgrade included the installation of 84 Robe moving lights – 40 x Painte Spots, 34 x LEDBeam 350s and 10 Fortes – into the venue and was overseen by the Carnival Cruise line fleet supervisor for lighting, Silviu Ardelean, and Carnival’s entertainment manager for lighting Alex Nelson. The project was coordinated for Robe’s Maritime division by global sales director for maritime, Tony Perez.

This combination of light

UK - An impressive collection of ChamSys consoles were deployed at Glastonbury 2025, handling all the demands made by a five-day festival spread across 900 acres, yet powerful, flexible and intuitive enough to help LDs conjure up some memorable moments.

At the head of the pack was the MagicQ MQ500M+ Stadium Console, flagship of the ChamSys line that directly supports 400 universes without external processors and offers fully motorized faders and encoders with 42 playbacks.  Its potent features were put to use at the Woodsies Stage where Ed Warren powered shows by Four Tet and Lola Young with consoles supplied by LCR. Joe Beardsmore brought one of his own MagicQ MQ500M+ Stadium consoles to cast an immersive mood for Tom Odell at the stage provided by Siyan and a floor package from Coloursound Experiment.

Over at the Circus Big Top, James Loudon made

Spain - Located in the city’s Raval district, The Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) hosts exhibitions, debates, festivals, concerts, film cycles, courses and lectures around the core themes of the city and urban culture.

The CCCB features a variety of event, hospitality and learning venues including the Hall, a 730sq.m space with a capacity of around 400 people.

A recent public tender for a new sound system in the Hall required that it should be powerful and versatile enough to accommodate all types of performances without the need to hire in supplementary equipment. The contract was awarded to Barcelona-based event technology specialists Imesde who installed a Nexo system.

“The original tender specified a line array system from another manufacturer but, working with Nexo’s NS-1 system configuration and prediction sof

US/UK/Canada - ETC has introduced the talented students that are participating in the 2025 Fred Foster Student Mentorship Programme, hailing from the United States, Canada, and the UK. Through the programme’s online networking events, students will meet a wide range of industry mentors, building connections as they kick off their careers. ETC’s late Founder and CEO Fred Foster started the programme in 1999, recognising the critical role mentorship plays in any lighting professional’s career. Congratulations to the 2025 Fred Foster Student Mentees:

International Students

Aravindh (Aran) Baskar is a student at University College London, entering his final year. He has over 900 hours of experience in lighting theatre and music productions, working on a variety of projects from dance and drama to live

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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) has announced the call for nominations for the Stephen Joseph Award 2025, as an ongoing tribute to Stephen Joseph’s contribution to our theatre culture.

This Award recognises innovative and inclusive theatre excellence in today’s British theatre and celebrates the variety of ways contemporary theatre and its practitioners continue to break new ground in engaging audiences.

Now open for 2025 submissions, a wide variety of practice is eligible including the ongoing work of a theatre company, a specific production, an individual theatre artist or director, or an innovative theatre building design or performance space.

Submissions are welcome from theatres, practitioners, or the general public as long as nominations are accompanied by suitable evidence.

In 2024, the Stephen Jo

Europe - Pharos Architectural Controls has announced the appointment of Teodora Marian as regional sales manager - Central and Southern Europe.

With her master’s degree in Nuclear Power Engineering and over 20 years of experience designing complex systems in both the UK and Romania – including more recently eight years specialising in lighting and control solutions – Teodora offers a combination of technical expertise and industry knowledge.

She has previously worked with respected industry names including Lutron, Enttec and Architectural FX, providing support to designers, integrators, and developers across the UK and Europe.

Teodora shared her enthusiasm about joining the team: “I’m truly excited to become part of Pharos. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some great brands and professionals who have helped sh

USA - Walk through the front doors of Telemundo Centre in Miami, and the sound of JBL is everywhere. Literally. From the glass-walled atrium to the broadcast control rooms, post-production suites, and live event spaces, NBCUniversal’s Spanish-language division has built an expansive audio environment around JBL Professional’s end-to-end loudspeaker ecosystem.

That integration begins in the building’s most acoustically challenging space: the atrium. A visually striking but highly reflective all-glass venue used for premieres, town halls, and client events, the atrium required a solution that could deliver clarity without overwhelming the space.

“When coming into this project, we had to look at minimising energy in the space as it is all glass and very live,” said Robert Acito of Acoutech, the audio contractor for the installation. “We were

UK - Chauvet Professional had a strong presence at this year’s Glastonbury Festival.

A newcomer to the Chauvet Professional family, the Strike V, a high-powered 180° tilting hybrid strobe/wash, was at the centre of one of Glastonbury’s highlights: the headliner performance on the Other Stage by The Prodigy. Fuelling the intensity of their music was a no-holds-barred lighting design by Tim Fawkes that drew heavily on the dual layered pixel effects of his Strike V fixtures, which were supplied by 4Wall Entertainment.

In addition to The Prodigy’s show, Chauvet Professional made its presence felt at the Opening Ceremony Circus Spectacular in the Pyramid Arena, as the Maverick Storm 1 Beam and Ovation Rêve E-3 IP from GLX produced stunning visuals.  For the final act of the festival on the same stage, COLORado PXL Curve 12s added an extra dimensi

Germany - The AStA Summer Festival in Paderborn has been attracting up to 14,000 music fans to the western German city’s university campus every year since 1998.

One of the oldest and largest student-organised festivals in the country, this year’s event which took place on 5 June had something for everybody from German rap, pop and indie to rock and techno, with established headliners including Zartmann, Blond and Ikkimel in the line-up alongside student performers and regional bands.

Paderborn-based event production specialists Sound Linear supplied sound for the event deploying their Nexo STM inventory on the mainstage in a system comprising main left and right hangs of nine STM M46 main modules and six STM M28 down fills, supplemented by adjacent hangs of B112 bass extension modules.

Six cardioid pairs of STM S118 subs were gr

Europe - Highlite has announced the launch of the Infinity Furion FX402 Bar, a new addition to the Infinity Furion series. This fixture merges the capabilities of high-performance moving heads with the creative potential of a fully tiltable, zoomable, pixel-rich LED bar - delivering a bold new format for modern lighting design.

Designed to meet the demands of today’s lighting professionals, the Furion FX402 Bar offers an exceptional combination of motion, flexibility, and performance, all housed in a rugged, tour-ready IP65-rated enclosure. It represents the next evolutionary step in the Furion family – a series known for its strength, precision, and mythical inspiration drawn from the agility and intensity of a dragon.

“Moving bars are a key trend in modern lighting design,” says Peter Buckx, product manager at Highlite. “As the Infinity F

UK - Choosing Glastonbury Festival for their only live performance of the year, Friday headline band The 1975 relied heavily on their long-standing production designer Tobias Rylander and his team, to bring something special out of the Pyramid stage by way of high-octane visual impact.

Rylander, who has worked with the band for the past 15 years, designing “pretty much every live show they’ve ever done”, is noted for his ability to use video as a lighting tool. But for his ‘one-off’ Glastonbury design, thanks to GLP’s next generation JDC2 IP hybrid, he realised he could also convert lighting into powerful striations of video, bathing the band’s loyal fans in rich colour imagery. He was able to do this by deploying 211 of the super-bright fixtures - the biggest single consignment of JDC2 IP ever.

“We more or less framed the whole stage

Europe - DirectOut is used by system designer and engineer Ville Kauhanen to provide fail-safe stability for all his complex stadium-touring audio system designs.

Kauhanen has worked non-stop in the industry for nearly 30 years and with some of the highest profile artists on the planet. His recent work includes Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras tour, which concluded in December 2024. The tour visited 54 cities across five continents playing 149 shows and was the highest grossing tour of all time.

Kauhanen was the system engineer for the tour and provided the system infrastructure for each location. His method of working today is very different to when he first started, but, as he explains, his huge industry overview enables him to plan for the future, as well as succeed in the present.

“I’m old enough to have seen the transit

USA - ACT Entertainment has announced the appointment of two members of the lighting sales team to newly designated sales territories. Jonathan Schneider and Asha Washington have been named as regional outside sales reps – lighting for the South-Central U.S. and Southeast U.S., respectively.

“We are thrilled to continue growing the lighting sales team within ACT Entertainment,” says director of sales, Doug Mekanik. “Both Jonathan and Asha bring unique experiences to the overall team ranging in expertise from touring to prior sales territory management. Adding these two team members enables us to provide our growing customer base with the personal, tailored relationship and resources they need and deserve.”

Based in Dallas, Jonathan Schneider was a media server engineer, lighting tech and crew chief with Upstaging for the last 11 years. He w

USA - Thunderous sounds of the crowd greet every eventgoer at Portland’s fabled Providence Park. Completed in 1926, Providence Park is the oldest facility configured as a soccer-specific stadium for use by an MLS team and is one of the most historic grounds used by any United States professional soccer team.

Two professional soccer teams, the Portland Timbers of MLS and Portland Thorns FC of NWSL, use the facility as their home pitch, and both clubs rank among the top ten in attendance among professional soccer teams (men's or women's) in the United States and Canada.

The facility has undergone several recent renovations to expand its seating capacity to over 25,000, with associated infrastructure and AV upgrades. As expected with any MLS stadium, cameras abound around the stadium to catch the action from several simultaneous angles. The AV feeds a

UK - TMB has confirmed its partnership with Backup Tech, the charity dedicated to supporting technical professionals, production personnel, and crew working across the live events, music touring, theatre, and broadcast industries.

As part of this initiative, 10% of all UK sales of TMB’s award-winning ProPlex CodeClock will be donated directly to Backup Tech. These funds will aid in providing crucial financial aid, wellness support and mental health resources to those working behind the scenes in the industry.

The ProPlex CodeClock is a compact, rugged timecode display and distribution unit, winner of the Gear Product of the Year Award. Its large RGB LED matrix changes colour to show status, and it receives timecode via LTC (XLR3), MIDI (DIN), or USB MIDI - or can generate LTC itself. It redistributes timecode through three transformer is

Faroe Islands - Relocating to a refurbished commercial bakery in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, Burn Fitness wanted to raise its audio game with a proven solution for its Spinning Room. With sound quality essential, the fitness centre owners selected AV integrator, AVLux. The brief was to deliver an audio solution with a simple user experience for the spinning instructors, in addition to energy and atmosphere in the room. AVLux chose the Optimal Audio ecosystem for its balance of quality, ease of control, and cost-effectiveness.

Adopting the old bakery’s original layout, the fitness machines dominate what was the storage room, the hand equipment occupies the old oven room whilst the spinning room utilises an adjoining space. The compact room features a low roof at the front – where the instructors' platform and the video screen are positioned – that slopes

Germany - The Adam Hall Group is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025. With a piece of music history right in front of the entrance and over 800 guests on campus, the event technology manufacturer celebrated with a big staff party in the Experience Centre at its headquarters in Neu-Anspach, Hesse, on 4 July.

Together with its employees and their families, the Adam Hall Group looked back on 50 years of event technology history. One particular highlight was parked right outside the door: the restored 1972 Wings Over Europe tour bus which now serves as an exhibit in the company’s own Rock‘n’Roll Library.

Other highlights of the evening included the company’s own band, spontaneous jam sessions and a surprise performance by the Berlin fusion pop band Il Civetto. In addition, a raffle raised €3,200.00 for the Live Music Now Frankfurt am Main

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