UK - As Britain basks in the soaring temperatures of a sizzling two-week heat-wave, draping and rigging specialist Blackout is also on a high following a jam-packed summer of live music events.

Warming things up, Blackout was commissioned to deliver a special show opening for Kasabian's headline slots at Glastonbury festival and homecoming gig Summer Solstice. The company utilised its new 12m roller screens which were specially adapted to allow them to be installed horizontally in the roof of both the 40m Summer Solstice stage and Pyramid stage, with additional screens hung stage right and left. Each screen was precisely automated to track into position, carefully timed with the opening track 'Shiva'. There was just 1m 8s to get the screens into place, creating a solid 'white box' environment for the lighting and screen projections.

Barely 24 hours later and the team were call

Scandinavia - Supporting heavy metal festivals STHLM Fields and Sonisphere not only took tremendous sonic power, but also an intelligently designed loudspeaker rigging system built for mission-critical circumstances. For the festivals' headliners Metallica, Slayer, and Mastodon, Starlight built a massive Meyer Sound Leo linear large-scale sound reinforcement system with close to 200 loudspeakers. Within 24 hours, the system was flown and tuned for action for the two productions located 500 km from each other.

Both produced by Live Nation, the STHLM Fields welcomed a sold-out crowd of 50,000 in Stockholm's vast Gardet Royal Park, while Sonisphere drew 40,000 metal fans to Oslo's Valle Hovin stadium.

"Although the shows were two days apart, Metallica preferred to have the system ready for a 6:00 pm check in Oslo the day after the first show," says Fredrik Arwidson, sys

UK - The Grosvenor House hotel Great Room in London, one of the largest ballrooms in Europe, has hosted so many high-profile events that it's become a familiar sight on BBC news reports. Standing out in such a glitzy venue is no easy task, but that's exactly what a recent awards ceremony did thanks to some inspired pixel mapping by Storm Events using the EPIX 2.0 strip and EPIX 2.0 bar from Chauvet Professional.

"Everyone wants an event at Grosvenor House to be special, because there is such a rich tradition here," said Andy White, production director at Storm Events. "This was a prestigious event hosted by Claudia Winkleman a well-known BBC presenter and journalist and attended by many key publishing people, so our client asked us to do something to make the set stand out."

Creating a stand out design is precisely what Storm Events did using the EPIX 2.0 p

Germany - Robert Juliat's Lancelot followspots have been chosen to illuminate yet another prestigious international venue. The Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany has acquired four of these titans of the Robert Juliat followspot portfolio.

The 20,000-seat Lanxess Arena offers top class facilities as one of Europe's largest and most modern multi-functional indoor arenas and is equipped with the latest technology which now includes the 4000W HTI Lancelot long-throw followspots.

"We chose the RJ Lancelot products because we were not completely satisfied with the American manufacturer we worked with before and therefore preferred to use a European product," says Lanxess Arena's technical manager, Martin Rebiszewski.

Lanxess Arena has played host to a string of top international performers that include Paul McCartney, Sting, Whitney Houston, Eric Clapton and Luciano Pavar

UK - The Entertainment Technician Certification Program (ETCP) will launch a new version of the practice exams for the Rigger - Arena and Rigger - Theatre Certifications this summer. Both new practice exams will be accessible beginning 31 July, 2014.

These versions are an entirely new set of questions and are available in addition to the practice exams that were created in 2009. Riggers preparing to take the ETCP exams have found the practice versions an extremely valuable tool for self-assessment. The web-based practice exams consist of fifty questions each and include score reports that mirror the actual exams. Both versions of each exam are $35 and can be found at http://etcp.plasa.org.practiceexams.

There is no application process with the practice exams; so any interested candidates will be able to take the exams privately at home, at the office, or on the road whenever i

France - Amadeus, based in France, manufacturer of high-end sound reinforcement systems and custom studio speakers, collaborated with Solid State Logic consoles and Sonic Emotion, with their '3D sound' Wave 1 processor, on a special outdoor event 28 - 29 June - Palais en Jazz located at the Imperial Palace Compiegne, a royal residence built for Louis XV and restored by Napoleon located in northern France.

The event featured Amadeus' PMX, Diva and Maestro speaker systems, delivering a Hi-Fi sound to the outdoor audience who enjoyed internationally renowned jazz artists Kelvin Jones, Thomas Dutronc and Michel Legrand. This is the third year for the Palais en Jazz event and the sold out crowd enjoyed every minute of the music performances, responding with enthusiastic applause throughout the evening. The event was co-sponsored by Amadeus, Solid State Logic and Sonic Emotion and pro

USA - Diggerland is a construction-themed adventure park with four locations in the UK and a new Diggerland USA park in West Berlin, New Jersey which opened in June, 2014. Visitors can ride on and operate construction machinery, play arcade games and hold birthday parties at the park.

Diggerland USA's large 14-acre site, with varying ambient noise levels and its combination of outdoor, indoor and covered open-air areas, presented challenges to Spellcaster Productions of Hammonton, New Jersey who designed and installed the park's audio systems. Spellcaster met these challenges with a design based on Community R Series loudspeakers for the outdoor areas and D Series pendant and ceiling loudspeakers for the indoor and open-air areas.

Spellcaster's Mike Shafer says, "Looking at the vast areas I had to cover outdoors, I immediately thought of Community's R Series." He cho

UK - Brilliant Stages continues its long-standing relationship Robbie Williams and the ever-inventive Ray Winkler and Ric Lipson of Stufish by its collaboration on the design and fabrication of the stage set for Williams' Swing Both Ways tour. The dazzling arena tour has seen Williams promote his new album across Europe from April to July, culminating in four dates at London's O2 arena, before it travels to Australia in September.

The Stufish stage is lavish and multi-layered, transforming in appearance from an Art-Deco hotel, to a 20's style club and a luxurious ocean liner, and is surrounded by a massive, curved Austrian drape, all of which set the tone for Williams' sumptuous Swing Era extravaganza and big band sounds.

Brilliant Stages' Tony Bowern and its CAD team were instrumental in bringing Stufish's vision to fruition, providing the multiple staging elements of

Germany - Nexo's new M28 compact line array modules, recently added to the STM Series, have made a debut appearance in Munich with new owner Limelight GmbH.

Limelight joins an existing and busy network of Nexo STM users in Germany with an order for 24x STM M28 modules, together with six STM B112 bass cabinets and six STM S118 subbass cabinets, plus Nexo Universal Amp Racks (NUARs) featuring NXAMP4x4s to power the system.

M28's first public performance was at the annual party for all employees of Munich Airport, an entertainment for 4000 people which featured high production values. On either side of the 12m-wide stage, Limelight set up left and right STM arrays, each with three B112 bass and nine M28 main cabinets, with four S118 subs groundstacked below each array. Additional out-fill was provided by a total of 14x Geo S12 cabinets. Completing the Nexo story was a PS15-R2 sta

UK - Bristol based lighting and visuals rental specialist Fineline supplied lighting, LED side screens complete with new bespoke supporting structures and an IMAG camera package for Warwick Castle's 1100th Anniversary Summer Proms Spectacular - a music, fireworks and pyro extravaganza to celebrate the founding of the Castle.

The Medieval castle standing today was developed from an original built by William the Conqueror in 1068.

The two day Summer Proms event saw 8500 people enjoy Paul Weller rocking the house on the Friday night supported by White Room and The Gramotones, and a programme of popular classics performed by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) on the Saturday, conducted by Jae Alexander, plus special guests.

Fineline's Rob Sangwell comments, "We have been involved in this event for many years and it was a great pleasure to be doing it again thi

Australia - #THEARTHUNTER was an 'offline' temporary art gallery experience from iconic website The Cool Hunter, created and produced by The Artistry.

The Earth Hunter was a collaboration with Jaguar to launch the brand's first AWD concept car, the C-X17. The space was 'found', designed and the creative concept executed, complete with delicate artworks, in less than three weeks.

Showtime Productions were called upon to design and install the gallery lighting, deciding to purchase 36 ETC Source Four Mini fixtures for the project.

"Aesthetically, the client wanted everything to look very neat and minimize anything that could be obstructive," commented Arian Yeganeh, production manager at Showtime. "It's a compact fixture that's bright enough for this type of application. For a 50 watt fixture, they're pretty amazing. We also had 20 ETC Source Four Jnr Zooms for

India - Just steps from Calangute beach, Café Mambo holds one of the top spots on Goa's world-famous club scene. Located on the bustling Tito's Lane, Café Mambo has made a name for itself by playing host to a variety of national and international DJs with a different theme -from hip hop and house to techno and retro- every night of the week.

Café Mambo is one of a clutch of venues owned by brothers David and Ricardo De Sousa, who are no strangers to quality sound: Café Mambo has relied on D.A.S. professional sound systems for over nine years and the owners religiously update the club's sound with new D.A.S. products every three years.

The first D.A.S. products installed at Café Mambo were Rf-15.85 systems paired with Rf-218 subwoofers. Pleased with their performance the owners augmented the system three years after it was installed, investing

USA - Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the unconventional rock musical that recently captured four Tony Awards, may not be your grandma's Broadway show, but its use of grandMA2 lighting consoles keeps the edgy production on track at the Belasco Theatre.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask's gender-bending musical tale of life, love and a botched operation. It won Tonys for its star, Neil Patrick Harris; co-star Lena Hall; and lighting designer Kevin Adams - Adams's fourth win. The play also received top honours as Best Musical Revival.

The lighting and video for Hedwig were programmed on two grandMA2 full-size consoles. During rehearsals Kevin Adams, video designer Ben Pearcy, associate lighting designer Paul Toben and second assistant lighting designer Jimmy Lawlor used grandMA onPC stations to monitor the production. Now, both

South Africa - Clear-Com has announced that Tadco, the South African audio distribution company, will offer the entire range of Clear-Com communications systems to the House of Worship, live entertainment and AV sectors in the Sub-Saharan African region.

Clear-Com's intercom solutions, including partyline, digital matrix, wireless intercoms, and intercom-over-IP conferencing software, will provide the live production industry in the region of Sub-Saharan Africa with the dependable communication solution that it has been missing in the past few years, says the company. Tadco offers quality equipment and support for live production and commercial communications.

Josh Oates, marketing manager at Tadco, said, "Here at Tadco, we pride ourselves on the quality of audio products that we represent, bringing the world's best to our market. Clear-Com's reputation of manufacturing r

Europe - Robbie Williams spent much of April, May and June on tour throughout Europe promoting his latest album, Swings Both Ways, culminating in four nights at London's O2 Arena. Taking care of musical genres from jazz to rock was a comprehensive package of Sennheiser microphones and in-ear monitors.

The tour's audio system was supplied by Britannia Row Productions and included 10 channels of Sennheiser SKM 5200 series handheld microphones with MD 5235 capsules and 22 channels of 2000 series in-ear monitors.

"There were a lot of challenges with the vocal microphones, because on this tour there is a great dynamic in the style of song - from solo ballads, through swing numbers to full on rock mode. This is a challenge for the mic, especially when Robbie is in front of the PA a lot of the time," says Front of House engineer Simon Hodge.

While Simon and monitor

Germany - After winning a thrilling World Cup Final in Rio de Janeiro and the subsequent flight home in the 'Siegerflieger' (the victors' plane), nearly one million fans of the German national team gave them a memorable reception at the 'Fan Mile' in Berlin.

Already in recent weeks up-to 500,000 football fans had celebrated their team's success on the Straße des 17 Juni in front of the Brandenburg Gate and along the Fan Mile. For the light show on the main stage, situated in front of the famous landmark, local company TLT Event AG was responsible for building the 65 square metre LED wall along with a number of GLP impression X4s.

Lighting designer Lars Murasch was more than satisfied with the performance of this compact LED moving head: "The X4 is a very versatile wash light," he said. "It can be combined excellently with Beams due to its tight zoom and the low

The Netherlands - Singer Barbara Straathof is enjoying unexpected success after her exposure in season 3 of the TV show The Voice of Holland. It was the third season of the Dutch reality singing competition, created by media tycoon John de Mol, and the first sophomore season ever of the show's format. After rising demand for her appearances following her participation on the show, Straathof's first professional decision was to choose a microphone system for her rapidly building live schedule.

Barbara explained her choice of microphone, "For my live work, I decided to do a test with three different microphones. I promised my engineer that I would come and check out this system he loved but I told him that I had my mind set on a different brand. Still, I went along with his request and tested the mic system he recommended which was the Lectrosonics HH Digital Hybrid Wi

Austria - Everyone is familiar with the idea of a rock concert, but few events take the word 'rock' as literally as the recent series of outdoor gigs staged in Norway by the Pink Floyd tribute band Puls. Against the dramatic backdrop of the Kilden-Fjaereheia quarry in Grimstad, the band played six sold-out nights to audiences who were wowed not just by the music but by the spectacular projection-mapped backdrop that was created courtesy of AV Stumpfl's Wings AV multi-image control technology.

Event design and production for the Puls concerts was the responsibility of Norwegian company Blank. Tomas Håvik, CEO of AV Stumpfl's Scandinavian distributor Preqbi AB, recalls the project's technical origins:

"Blank were searching for a solution that could deliver edge-blending and warping of multiple projected images, automated according to a timeline and with built-in media serv

France - Pop star Amel Bent first took France by storm as a semi-finalist on the pop idol television show Nouvelle Star in 2004. Ten years later, she's still going strong. Currently in the midst of her Instinct Tour, Bent is performing to enthusiastic audiences across France and Switzerland, where a pair of SSL Live consoles, supplied by SGroup's Alès location, are handling FOH and monitors.

Having previously worked with Christophe Willem, Zazie and 1789 Les amants de la bastille as PA tech, FOH engineer Thibault Maestracci joined Bent in November 2013 at the start of the tour. For this production, he takes approximately 50 channels from the stage and handles FOH mixing with a system that incorporates two Pro Tools HD rigs.

"The first Pro Tools system is used as a 'toolbox,' mainly for effects for 'stem group' processing," he explains. "The second system

Qatar - With just eight years to go until they host the FIFA World Cup in 2022, Qatar was keen to get as involved as possible in this year's biggest international football tournament.

Qatar's Brazil 2014 Fanzone, was a specially built, open-air venue with a three tier retractable roof located in Katara Cultural Village. Using a prototype of one of the systems that Qatar is developing to use in stadiums when it is their turn to host the World Cup, the venue was cooled to ensure the environment, if not the atmosphere, was kept at a regular and comfortable temperature for all fans.

With a total project run from build on 18 June to de-rig on 18July to cover the entire tournament and employing a 10 to 14 man crew, Creative Technology's (CT) Middle East operation provided the latest 8mm SMD lightweight product in the form of a 10.2 x 5.7 16/9 main LED screen with side supporting scr

The Netherlands - Following Elation Europe's popular PRO Service Days in May, Elation Professional is offering Pro Training Days to be held 20 and 21 August at Elation's European Customer Care Center in Kerkrade, The Netherlands.

Day One of the factory-authorized training will focus on Elation's Capture Polar lighting design software and Emulation/Emulation Pro lighting control software. Day Two will cover Elation's Zeus media server including the Arkaos Media Master Pro.

The training will be headed by qualified Elation instructors and costs 30€ per person per day which also covers lunch. Registration is required but there are only 15 spaces available via https://s3.amazonaws.com/Elation/Register_proday_08-2014.pdf

As Elation continues to expand its market presence across Europe, the company has put in place the training and service infrastructure needed to support the high

Scandinavia - Since 2010, Equipson and Yamaha Europe have been cooperating on a range of products under the WORKproCA brand, manufactured by Equipson and exclusively distributed by Yamaha across Europe.

Today both companies have announced that this arrangement has been modified to focus the distribution of WORKproCA products on the Scandinavian markets of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland. From 1 September, the distribution of Equipson products will be managed directly by Equipson in all other European markets.

"We have enjoyed great cooperation for over three years and I believe both companies have mutually benefitted throughout this period", says Juan Jose Vila, VP marketing at Equipson S.A. "In the meantime, Equipson and Yamaha's installation products have positively evolved to a level where Equipson needs to continue developing the international m

World - When it came to lighting superstar Katy Perry's current Prismatic world tour, lighting and show designer to the stars Baz Halpin selected the Clay Paky Sharpy and Sharpy Wash 330 to create a series of surprise special effects.

Engaging in a bit of theatrical trickery Halpin designed a series of 36 bespoke hydraulic flippers onto which are attached 36 individual Sharpy fixtures supplied as part of a lighting package provided by UK Neg Earth and US hire outfit Upstaging. The flippers are built into the sides of show's giant onstage triangular LED screens to provide a range of fast paced special effects.

"As the LED screens move up and down the stage the Sharpys 'flip' up or down allowing the screens to pass by each other," explains Halpin. "At one point in the show the dancers interact with the fixtures by using mirrors attached to their hands. They

Europe - Top Gear Live (TGL) - the show that presents all the adrenaline, excitement, humour, serious motoring stunts and moments of the top TV show in a breath-taking arena extravaganza - has just completed a whistle-stop European tour playing Prague, Budapest, Zagreb and Turin.

Lighting designer Steve Sinclair lit this using nearly 200 Robe moving lights - and for the first time no generics - not even a single PAR can or Molefey in sight!

The show saw TV show hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and The Stig add their irreverent and quirky humour to this extraordinary motoring theatre event, alongside some of the world's most expensive, powerful ... and most absurdly modified cars.

Sinclair has been lighting the popular TGL show worldwide for some years. This tour featured a completely new design, and the decision to go only with moving lights was to he

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