In The Money - Country star Taylor Swift has beaten Adele and Lady Gaga to be named the highest-earning pop artist of 2011 by trade publication Billboard. The 22-year-old earned $35,719,902 (£22.7m) in 2011 from a combination of music sales, royalties and touring. U2 took second place with $32m (£20m) thanks to their 360 tour, seen by more than seven million people. Kenny Chesney came third, followed by last year's highest earner, Lady Gaga, while Adele came 10th. The British singer had the biggest-selling album of the year, but her earnings were affected by the cancellation of her North American tour for throat surgery.
Olympic Countdown - The London Olympics and Paralympics could boost West End box offices, according to a survey of theatre-goers. In the Whatsonstage.com poll of more than 32,000 theatre-goers, 70% said they would attend as much
Iceland - Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre in Reykjavik is a keystone element in Iceland's bid to become a first-tier destination for both business meetings and arts events. Harpa expects to attract increased bookings with its striking architecture and cutting-edge AV systems - notably incorporating more than 160 Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers.
Harpa's crown jewel is the Eldborg hall, a resplendent new home for the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Icelandic Opera with a capacity of up to 1,800 seats. Designed by Artec Consultants of New York, the hall features an elaborate system of adaptable physical acoustics, which adjusts hall reverberation using moveable soft goods, overhead canopies, and doors to hidden reverberation chambers.
For amplified concerts, the hall relies on an equally adaptable Meyer Sound reinforcement system. Based on an initial design from
UK - RGB Communications is holding a two day new product showcase (21-22 March) to "demonstrate to its channel partners the full potential of the leading edge products its has recently added to its solution portfolio".
"We have always understood the importance of providing our channel partners with the highest levels of technical expertise and advice around which of our products best fit the individual requirements of their end user customers," explained Gordon Innocent, chairman, RGB Communications. "In today's tough economic climate this has become even more of a crucial tool in helping them to win more business."
Using RGB's demonstration suites the product showcase will highlight RGB's latest additions to its portfolio of which two, the Barco Image PRO-II an advanced all-in-one video processor and the Premier Mounts Ceiling Tile Projector Moun
UK - High House Production Park in Purfleet has been created to provide state-of-the-art facilities for practitioners in the creative and technical theatre industries. The Production Park is home to organisations including the Royal Opera House and the National Skills Academy for Creative and Cultural.
Recently, the Production Park launched their display of a series of sculptures across the 14-acre site. The sculptures on show have been supplied by the Cass Sculpture Foundation, a charitable organisation which aims to commission and display the very best contemporary outdoor sculptures. The pieces on show have been created by five international artists: Antony Gormley, Steven Gregory, Marcus Kleinfeld, Tim Morgan and Jilly Sutton.
For the launch event of the exhibition, the sculptures were lit by entertainment lighting specialist White Light. The project was delivered by White
UK - The extraordinary story of Susan Boyle is brought to life in I Dreamed A Dream, a new touring musical which boasts Susan's personal endorsement.
Stage Electrics is supplying a full video production for the tour, featuring a 6 x 5m high definition 6mm pixel pitch LED video screen that forms an upstage backdrop, as well as full video production.
The rig includes two Hothead cameras controlled by a Catalyst V4 media server, a Grand MA2 Lite console for programming, and the latest Grand MA 2 on PC command wing for show operation.
The tour is the second on which Stage Electrics has provided live video production for producer Michael Harrison Entertainment, along with video designer Jack James, the same creative team behind the highly-successful musical Chess, and lighting designer Ben Cracknell. Mark Sherwood is production manager for the tour, which opens at N
UK - Saville Audio Visual has recently taken delivery of two Roland VR-5 AV mixer & recorders, supplied by Cheshire based Visual Impact Northern. Gareth Lloyd, digital events services manager from Saville had seen the VR-5 in action at Broadcast Video Expo in 2011 and had recognised that the feature set would provide a solution not only for their own webcasting requirement, but also for one of the branches of Saville who needed a compact unit for live action camera relay work at smaller conferences.
The webcast VR-5 is being used primarily to feed the Mediasite webcasting platform from Sonic Foundry but Lloyd explained that they also use the USB out to PC function of the mixer regularly. Connecting a PC to the RGB connector of the VR-5 for various applications such as PowerPoint presentations, slide shows and movie playback enables them to be recorded directly to the VR-5.
UK - PRG has announced the opening of a new office in the heart of London's Covent Garden.
Serving clients in the theatre, television, concert touring, corporate and special event markets, this new location provides space for meetings, pre-production and even WYSIWYG, within a stone's throw from many of London's studios, theatres and venues.
The new office is open from this week and located at Sussex House, 143 Long Acre, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9AD.
USA - PLASA Focus: Nashville 2012 has launched with a new website and free online registration. The event will take place 11-12 July 2012 at the Municipal Auditorium, in Nashville, TN.
Nashville is the latest event to be launched under the PLASA Focus banner, and follows the hugely successful PLASA Focus: Austin, held in February of this year. The current series of North American regional events are modelled after PLASA Focus: Leeds (UK), which, in its third year, topped 2500 attendees.
PLASA Focus: Nashville 2012 will bring regional entertainment technology communities together to do business and network in a relaxed and friendly setting. While regional exhibitors and visitors are set to benefit from the new event, PLASA Focus: Nashville will also give those involved the opportunity to mix with a wider audience than has ever been possible before as PLASA Focus: Nashville will
The Netherlands - In response to higher-than-expected demand from its exhibitor community, Integrated Systems Events has announced the addition of further space to the footprint of ISE 2013. Following a rebooking process that has resulted in more space than ever being reserved for the next Integrated Systems Europe, the show's organisers have decided to make a part of Hall 8 of the Amsterdam RAI available to both new and existing exhibitors.
"This is not a decision we have taken lightly," comments Mike Blackman, managing director, Integrated Systems Events. "However, the response from exhibitors to our 2012 show has been overwhelmingly positive and, in the end, we felt we had no option but to expand our footprint for 2013.
"This extra space will allow us to accommodate those 2012 exhibitors who have not yet rebooked for next year, as well as new companies w
Australia - The Performance Centre at Matthew Flinders Anglican College in Buderim on the Sunshine Coast opened in November 2011 with a series of College events staged to celebrate completion of the new facility at the College.
Designed by Dimond Architects, built by Integral Constructions and project managed by MFAC project manager Ken Sutherland, the new Performance Centre building links to an existing Music and Drama centre to provide a truly flexible theatre that can operate in several modes to suit a variety of College requirements.
To achieve the configurations required by the College, theatre consultant Richard Stuart used a flexible flat floor model for the theatre design with the ability to have auditorium and stage at the one level with an orchestra lift that can be also used at auditorium level and with retractable seating units that store on the rear wall of the au
USA - W-DMX by Wireless Solution Sweden played a key role at Super Bowl XLVI, where Indianapolis transformed the heart of downtown into Super Bowl Village, a ten-day, three-block interactive festival of football. The Village entertained hundreds of thousands of visitors with live concerts, food and beverages, an ESPN Broadcast Studio, and even ziplines running down the main street.
Dodd Technologies of Pendleton, Indiana created a dazzling lighting design for the Village, using W-DMX by Wireless Solution to send a flawless signal to 134 Elation Platinum Beams with W-DMX cards built in. Nine W-DMX Pro Box F2500 sent signals with directional antennas.
Ninety-six of the Platinum Beams were spread out across three city blocks. At the beginning and end of each block there was a W-DMX transmitter, six in total. Each transmitter broadcast to half a block worth of lights and was fed w
UAE - PALME Middle East will demonstrate just how far production lighting has come in the Middle East when the three-day show gets underway at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre (DICEC) on 1 May, say the organisers.
The GCC region's longest-running trade convention for sound, lighting and AV professionals is expected to pack a serious visual punch as industry heavyweights, including Clay Paky, Robe and Martin Professional host dynamic theatres in an attempt to consolidate market share in the region.
Rudolph Anand, sales manager for the Informa exhibition, emphasises the significant upturn in the lighting sector this year, with TechnoPro (the PR Lighting distributors) taking a massive stand measuring around 1000sq.m. "PALME is experiencing an enormous amount of interest from lighting companies, and of course we also have LOBO once again presenting their
The Netherlands - In response to higher-than-expected demand from its exhibitor community, Integrated Systems Events has announced the addition of further space to the footprint of ISE 2013. Following a rebooking process that has resulted in more space than ever being reserved for the next Integrated Systems Europe, the show's organisers have decided to make a part of Hall 8 of the Amsterdam RAI available to both new and existing exhibitors.
"This is not a decision we have taken lightly," comments Mike Blackman, managing director, Integrated Systems Events. "However, the response from exhibitors to our 2012 show has been overwhelmingly positive and, in the end, we felt we had no option but to expand our footprint for 2013.
"This extra space will allow us to accommodate those 2012 exhibitors who have not yet rebooked for next year, as well as new companies w
The Netherlands - Dutch supply, hire and installation company Lichtpunt Theatertechniek recently completed an impressive installation with Visual Productions' CueCore at the Drents Museum in North East of Netherlands. For a number of years Lichtpunt have provided lighting to the museum, so when Drents Museum approached them for a new project that would evolve around the world famous Yde Girl they were delighted with the opportunity.
Yde Girl died between 54 BC and 128 AD at an approximate age of 16 years and her body was remarkably well preserved in the peat bogs near Yde in the Netherlands. Drents Museum's new Yde Girl drama is an interactive exhibit with sound, lights & projections used to illustrate the story of this girls life all those years ago. The museum needed the installation to run automatically and be low maintenance and energy efficient. The Project Manager from Lic
UK - The University of Leicester has completely redeveloped one of its primary conference facilities in the Oadby Student Village, transforming Gilbert Murray Hall into a state-of-the-art conference venue. This comprises a large central space, four seminar and break out rooms and a hospitality area.
Tasked with designing a versatile AV infrastructure that would broaden its appeal to external companies, Quadrant Visual Solutions turned to a Harman Professional solution after winning the contract, supported by UK distributor Sound Technology.
With Ben Todd of Sound Technology's project team providing EASE modelling of the space, a system design was proposed to provide highly efficient coverage and to fulfil the technical requirement for the room to be used in two orientations (landscape and portrait format) for audio and visual projection.
Bahrain - With Path of Pearls, a musical production that wove Bahrain's heritage with its modern underpinnings Manama, Capital of Arab Culture 2012 was officially launched.
The event was held at the sea front of the Bahrain National Museum. Lighting designer Luc Peumans from Painting with Light, Belgium, specified one grandMA2 full-size, one grandMA2 light along with two MA NPU (Network Processing Unit) for the show.
For the musical, a large orchestra, 100 dancers plus nine aerial artists performed on a multilevel stage. The show used the largest low-res LED screen (300sqm) ever used in the region.
Eclipse Staging Services from Dubai supplied all the lighting and video equipment.
The Netherlands - The issue of what to do with industrial buildings once they are no longer needed for their original purpose is a familiar one to urban planners. But in Rotterdam, a 106 year old grain silo has found a new lease of life as a music and corporate event venue. Historic the building may be, but its new Yamaha audio specification is anything but.
Originally, Maassilo was the largest grain silo in Europe. It fell out of use a decade ago and its sheer size could have meant that demolition was the only realistic course of action. However, the city of Rotterdam authorities have used its size to their advantage, transforming it into an entertainment and exhibition venue. De Nieuwe Oogst, a centre for urban culture, has recently opened at Maassilo and includes two concert stages, a recording-studio, lounge bar, dance and exhibition facilities.
USA - Upstaging, Inc has purchased six Robert Juliat Victor followspots for its rental equipment inventory, which supplies some of the biggest names in entertainment coast to coast. The Sycamore, Illinois-based company has been known for theatrical lighting and equipment trucking since 1972; its additional capabilities include production services, mobile marketing and event coordination. Five Lakes Marketing, which represents architectural and theatrical lighting manufacturers from its base in White Lake, Michigan, closed the deal with Upstaging.
"We've been looking for an excuse to buy Victors for a couple of years," says Chuck Spector, Upstaging's purchasing and rentals manager. "We had some experience with them on Batman Live in Europe, and our crew chiefs have had positive experiences. Victors were specified for Reba McEntire's tour, and that gave us th
Asia - This month, Green Hippo is embarking on a tour of Asia, with the aim of introducing newly appointed technical sales manager for Asia, Justin Fitzpatrick, to their existing distributors. Samantha Bailey and Fitzpatrick will be carrying out visits to Shanghai, HongKong, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
Following this, Green Hippo will be attending Infocomm Beijing where they will be exhibiting with Kupo, exclusive distributor for China and showing new features such as 3.1 SP1 with highlights such as key stoning on every layer and new input card options.
For the final phase of their tour, Green Hippo will be at the Koba trade show in Korea from 29 May - 1June, where they can be found on exclusive Korean distributor C&C's booth.
Samantha Bailey, head of sales comments, "The trip to Asia is part of plans to further increase Green Hippo's market share in a technologic
Germany - Wladimir Klitschko retained his world heavyweight titles and celebrated the 50th knockout of his professional career. In his 60th professional bout, the 35-year old defended his WBA, WBO, IBO, and IBF titles against Jean-Marc Mormeck, who he knocked out in the fourth round.
Prior to the bout, the 50,000 spectators in Düsseldorf's Esprit-Arena, along with the around 12m television viewers, experienced an awe-inspiring staging of music, light, and laser effects.
Eight, full-colour, RYGCB-laser systems from tarm, each putting out 25 Watts, for projecting the laser presentations, plus another laser system for projecting the specially designed 'tunnel' accompanying the champion's and contender's entrances, were installed in the arena.
Full-colour laser graphics, adapted to suit the television broadcast produced by RTL, were projected onto a 144-sq.m. gauze screen.
UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) enjoyed a busy turnout to its recent Video and Lighting Convergence UK open days, which showcased the latest products and innovations available from Green Hippo and PixelRange.
Staged at both AC-ET's southern HQ in High Wycombe and northern office in Leeds, a good mix of people from many different industry sectors took up the opportunity to visit - including schools and educational establishments, theatres, venues, individuals working in broadcast and a cross-section of freelancers.
In a fast-moving industry constantly demanding quicker and more flexible control of multiple video sources and playback surfaces, the events emphasised the on-going creative and technical fusion between lighting, LED sources, 'pixels' and video technologies as a complete visual environment.
Attendees were able to delve deeper into the award-winn
Columbia - Begun in the mid-1980s and brought online a decade later, the Metro de Medellín is the circulatory system of Medellín, Colombia, the country's second-largest metropolitan area. Serving a population of over 3 million, the system averages more than 400,000 riders each day across 20 miles of lines - two light rail and three aerial tramways - that have a combined 34 stations. The multi-modal system also incorporates a new Metro Plus system of bus lines that feature dedicated roadways and a planned total of 21 elevated-platform stations.
For paging and platform music at all stations, Metro de Medellín has created the world's largest integrated NetMax networked matrix system, with 57 Electro-Voice N8000 matrix controllers. The system-wide installation also includes more than 250 Electro-Voice EVID series ceiling loudspeakers powered by more than 150 channels of Electro-V
UK - As The O2 opened its doors to the BRIT Awards for the second year, Sennheiser UK celebrated its 10th anniversary of providing support to this most iconic of British music events.
"Sennheiser has had the pleasure of assisting on the BRITs since being invited by sound designer Derrick Zieba and Britannia Row back in 2002," says Sennheiser UK artist relations manager, Mark Saunders. "Initially, this was to support the large amount of Sennheiser equipment that was being used on the show. Since then, both Andy Lillywhite [Sennheiser UK's chief engineer] and I have been on-site throughout the rehearsals and shows, providing technical back up to the Brit Row crews, supplementing odd bits of extra kit and, where required, providing some extra not-quite-off-the-shelf type solutions for specific performances on the show."
South Africa - Bloemfontein, 443km from Johannesburg and popularly known as 'The City of Roses' due to the abundance of these flowers and the annual rose festival held there, is also the home town of Stefan van Biljon, owner of rental company Creative Kilowatt.
Creative Kilowatt provided the technology for a banquet dinner celebrating the 25th anniversary of OFM, the regional radio station in Bloemfontein. The event took place at the Woodlands Function Venue with a performance by opera singer Jannie Moolman and the music of Joseph Clark.
Creative Kilowatt provided the full technical including sound, lighting and AV for the event, where washes of yellow and red were used to emphasise the OFM brand colours.
Lighting equipment was hung from trussing on the roof and the client was delighted with the end result.
"Creative Kilowatt also did the crowing of the prettiest girl