Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

Business

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Russia - In the 30 years since Russian theatre director designer Oleg Tabakov and set designer David Borovsky established an 'alternative' theatre in a small, damp Moscow basement, the name Tabakerka has become legendary to the city's theatre lovers.

Despite often challenging times under the Soviet regime, the company thrived and Tabakov has just opened a brand new, 400-capacity venue. Located in Moscow's Sukharevskaya Street, The Stage at Sukharevskaya features an L-Acoustics loudspeaker system.

Operating in tandem with the original basement venue (now named The Stage at Chistye Prudy), a key aim of the new venue was to continue the sense of intimacy so familiar in the original venue, yet to allow it the flexibility to stage any kind of performance.

To achieve this, certified provider and distributor of L-Acoustics products, Sonoruss, supplied the L-Acoustics elements

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Germany - For the 20th anniversary of the biggest north German indoor festival of electronic music, Pioneer DJ alpha, over 50 national and international DJs such as Westbam, DJ Quicksilver, Charly Lownoise & Menthal Theo, Pulsedriver and Woody van Eyden and many more took part.

The sound of the Mainfloor including the VIPStage was realised with a VT20 system. Two arrays with two 12 VT20 and a cardioid bass array with 36x VS18 formed the main PA. The whole main PA was powered by only six Delta 20.4-DP system amps effortless hanging on only one 32 A / 400 V three-phase connection.

For the nearfield, eight MT12 were used, which were driven four-ways. The sound engineers at the venue spoke of remarkably detailed and homogenous sound, which impressed very much. Pioneer DJ alpha's André Neuhaus (FOH) comments: "A system in this size had to meet not only the client's expec

Renkus-Heinz - Banner - May 2025

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USA - Warren Haynes' Christmas Jam marked another successful evening of legendary musicians coming together for a great cause. The annual Christmas benefit began 28 years ago, as Haynes sought to give back to his hometown's Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity, which has raised more than 2m dollars to date.

Bandit Lites donated lighting for this year's sold out concert which featured an impressive line-up of artists including Haynes and his band, Gov't Mule, Bob Weir, Michael McDonald, Jamey Johnson and Alison Krauss among others. Due to lighting designer Chris Ragan's extensive history working with both Warren Haynes and Dead & Company, he was confident in creating a big rock show that would last from the 6pm doors to the 3am encore.

Bandit provided VL 3000 Spots, Robe Pointes, Robe BMFLs, Clay Paky Sharpys, and Bandit's exclusive GRNLite 8 Lites, GRNLite Par 64s and GRNLi

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Germany - From 20-22 June 2017 Stage|Set|Scenery will open its doors for the second time. Over 75 % of the available floor space is already booked up. Based on current booking levels exhibitor numbers are expected to be high, the organisers report.

Dr. Christian G

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USA - The 1,200-plus teenagers in and around Van Buren, Arkansas attend Van Buren High School, and a huge part of their high school experience involves the school's Clair Bates Arena, a 2,000-seat arena built in 2009.

Unfortunately, budget constraints left its original sound reinforcement system underpowered and lacking critical intelligibility. Local A/V integration firm Commercial Audio Systems recently remedied that frustrating situation by installing a distributed Danley Sound Labs system comprised of eight Danley OS-80 full-range outdoor loudspeakers and eight Danley OS-115 subwoofers, citing their fidelity and pattern control for delivering musical impact and intelligibility in an overly-live room.

"The arena is beautiful; it's really stunning," said Jim Crews, co-owner of Commercial Audio Systems. "They did a great job getting all of its permanent architectural aspe

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World - On the heels of his highly acclaimed second album release Skin, Flume is taking his electronic genre on a world tour. The Australian producer has had a successful year of festival performances alongside an extensive headline tour of North America, Europe, and Australia.

"The current leg of the tour uses 26 Solaris Flares," says tour LD Stu Dingley. "We use eight on the floor upstage to push color through the stage, and 18 overhead to melt the audience at key moments throughout the set"

Dingley adds, "Flume is an electronic music producer, but the music isn't EDM. We needed fixtures to reflect this, and the Flares offer the power needed for the big drops, yet still provide subtlety and warmth for the softer, intimate moments. We also use glitchy pixel effects as a great way of highlighting the abstract sounds in the music.

"Controlled by an MA2 console, w

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Puerto Rico - After 35 years, eight Grammy Awards and 110m records sold worldwide, heavy metal trailblazers Metallica have nothing left to prove. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, who are 61st on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Artists Of All Time, aren't resting on their laurels, though. This month the band is slated to release its tenth studio album, Hardwired... to Self-Destruct.

In advance of this release, Metallica kicked off a Latin American tour, opening with a 26 October concert at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, followed three days later by a Saturday night concert at the Parque Bicentenario in Quito, Ecuador. Chauvet Professional fixtures added to the excitement at both venues.

At the 18,500-capacity Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot, the Metallica rig included 49 Q-Wash 560Z-LED moving heads and

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Australia - Elite Event Technology in Canberra provided a full turnkey design and technical production solution for Canberra's 2016 Fashfest extravaganza, staged at the National Convention Centre.

The lighting rig for the main showspace was designed by Darren Russell who needed a flexible and versatile range of fixtures to help deliver the high expectations of everyone involved, so he based this around Robe moving lights - BMFLs, Pointes and LEDWashes - plus a selection of conventional lights.

Darren says that with this many Robes on the rig this year, they could be properly creative with lighting over and above the traditional requirements for fashion events. "The brief was actually to make it more theatrical and edgy this year, so lighting played a much bigger role than previously," he explained.

Fashfest was the vision of founders Clint and Andrea Hutchinson in 2013

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Italy - With Showlight 2017 only six months away, plans and preparations are well underway for the next instalment of this industry-favourite lighting quadrennial which takes place from 20-23 May in Florence, Italy.

The first tranche of speakers was announced at PLASA London with Jeff Ravitz, Mikki Kunttu, Al Gurdon and Luc Peumans named as just some of the illustrious designers who will present papers. A list of speakers to date can be found on the Showlight 2017 website and will grow as others are confirmed. The next selection of speakers will be announced early in the New Year. For the first time this year, all papers will benefit from simultaneous Italian translation.

Always quick to go, exhibitor spaces for Showlight 2017 are now almost sold out. The latest companies to join the fun and take up residence around the Palazzo dei Congressi are Altman Lighting, Ayrton, Ci

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UK - Based on the movie starring Tom Hanks, Michael Rose and Idili Theatricals Limited in association with the Bord Gais Energy Theatre Dublin, is presenting a Theatre Royal Plymouth production of Big The Musical.

The show opened at the Theatre Royal Plymouth in November 2016 to excellent reviews, with shows at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre Dublin running across December and into New Year 2017. The production is directed and choreographed by Morgan Young.

Having worked with the team on a highly successful production of Elf The Musical in 2015, PRG XL Video's theatre account director, Peter Marshall was contacted by Michael Rose to provide lighting and video technology for the new production of Big The Musical.

Preparing for the new show, production manager, Hugh Borthwick visited PRG XL Video's facility at Longbridge, Birmingham. He explains: "Simon

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Germany - The AIDAprima, the latest addition to the AIDA Cruises fleet, was christened in Hamburg on 7 May 2016. The ship's many attractions include the Beach Club with Caribbean feel for 365 days a year, and the Four Elements area with water slides and climbing walls, not to mention first class entertainment.

Marcel Dias Vieira, AIDA Cruises entertainment technology supervisor, explained the basic reasoning behind the lighting choices and why they chose Claypaky moving heads. The lighting rig includes Claypaky Alpha Profile 800 STs, as well as many other MALighting products - a grandMA2 full-size desk, two grandMA2 light consoles, two grandMA2 replay units, and one MA Network Processing Unit (NPU).

However, the AIDAprima also boasts professional level technology in all other areas, such as the moving stage elements, LED screens, sound system and ship's TV studio. The effo

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Canada - Known as the birthplace of Manitoba, Upper Fort Garry in Winnipeg is a significant site in Canadian history. Although the original fort was largely demolished in the 1880s, its remaining Governor's Gate and an area of surrounding land was gifted to the city by the Hudson Bay Company "as a public park forever".

Overshadowed by surrounding buildings and nearly forgotten, recent development pressures rekindled interest in the site and led to the inspired vision of a $19m heritage park and interpretive centre for Upper Fort Garry.

A 400ft commemorative wall of naturally rusting Corten steel has been built, with integrated LED lighting by Daktronics and sound by Inland Audio Visual. Marking the height, depth and location of Upper Fort Garry's original west wall, its sculptured layers scribe three continuous lines tracing the history of Western Canada and of Upper Fort

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USA - For many in the Chicago area, an annual trip to see Ilumination: Tree Lights at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle has become a wintertime tradition. Now in its fourth year, the magical mile-long walk in the woods with its dramatic lighting and colour-changing illumination is a whole new way to experience the Arboretum in winter.

John Featherstone, principal at design group Lightswitch, is the lighting director and creative director for Illumination, and often uses Elation Professional fixtures in his designs. This year, he had the opportunity to be the first anywhere to use Elation's new weatherproof Proteus Beam moving head and incorporated several of them into the show as a harsh outdoor winter test for the recent LDI award-winning product.

"We've had a great working relationship with the Elation team and have relied on Elation fixtures as part of our 'secret sa

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UK - Raynes Park High School, London, is a mixed comprehensive school for 12-16-year-old pupils able to accommodates up to 1400 pupils. Currently employing 120 members of staff Raynes Park High School offers pupils access to an on-site Autism Centre, SEND Department, Sixth Form and Sports Centre.

The paging systems implemented by Clarity in Sound, Light & Vision allows staff at the school to page zones individually or call-all zones. Pre-recorded or live announcements can be made in all the separate buildings which includes a newly built the Sixth Form block, a sports hall and the D&T building, in addition to sports fields and playground areas.

Clarity in Sound Light & Vision Ltd installed a Cloud DCM-1 Digital Zone Mixer alongside several Cloud 100V multichannel amplifiers across eight zones. In addition to two Cloud PM-8SA paging microphones, a Sennheiser wireless radio

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UK - VME used its flagship Martin Audio MLA System to the full at the Manchester Arena recently, for Anthony Joshua's latest IBF World Heavyweight Championship defence live on Sky Sports Box Office.

From their 48-box MLA inventory the Manchester-based service providers can rig differently configured systems to suit venue size and technical requirement, with the EQ tailored accordingly. According to VME head of sound, Mark Cleator, the challenges of reinforcing a live Sky Sports broadcast, in-the-round production for promoters Matchroom Boxing, are entirely different to a conventional rock show.

"Each venue is completely unique," says Mark, "and the rig has to be up in the air within three hours. We share a couple of cable bridges with lighting but all our hangs are double motored to reduce the need for having to tie off arrays, which really helps the rig time."

Manches

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UK - Drapes, LED, video and special effects specialist S+H Technical celebrated its tenth season supporting the BBC's popular hit series Strictly Come Dancing with drapes, starcloth and a variety of other 'soft goods' and effects.

S+H was again working with BAFTA Award winning set and scenic designer Patrick Doherty - who is a regular client - helping realise his vision for a spectacular magical environment which he creates for the series, featuring some well-known-and-loved classic 'ballroom' visual elements peppered with a touch of the contemporary.

This season, Ilfracombe, Devon based S+H supplied around 2000 Pea-Lights for the regular weekly Strictly episodes which were broadcast from Entree Studios.

These Pea-Light strings were integrated into the set walls of Patrick's design, together with around 1000sq.m of sumptuous red velvet starcloth from S+H's stock

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USA/Europe - Netherlands based Martin Garrix is among the hottest DJ/musician/music producers of the moment, currently playing events and festivals worldwide, sharing his sounds and building a vast international fanbase.

He premiered a large part of his debut album this year during a main stage set at ULTRA Miami which was also the first show to feature a new production design by Michael Fullman, creative director of LA-based design and interactive technology specialist, VT Pro Design.

The lighting specification for this design is based on Robe moving lights, with 28 x BMFL Spots and 68 Pointes topping the rider. Currently, the tour is working as an 'advanced' design, with all kit provided worldwide by local vendors.

The BMFL Spots make up the bulk of the overhead fixtures while the Pointes are mainly located on the multi-tiered deck. Between them, the two sets of lumi

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USA - It was a once in a life time performance as. Bandit Lites provided the lighting for the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum 2016 induction ceremony. The evening, which featured performances from Peter Frampton, Kenny G, Bruce Hornsby, Steve Warnier, Melinda Doolittle along with the inductees at the Municipal Auditorium 24 October, saw Garth Brooks and his band, The G-Men, inducted as Hall of Fame Performers.

Bandit Lites is not only Garth's lighting vendor of choice since he began touring, but counts him as a cherished member of the Bandit Family. Utilising Mark Carver's design from previous inductions, lighting director David 'Gig' Butlzer was able to craft an evening fit for the musical icons being honoured.

Bandit supplied VL 3500 Spots, VL 3000 Spots, VL 3500 Washes, GLP X4S and a Grand MA 1 full console for control. Additional inductees included the late musician

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USA - Stevie Nicks has gone solo for the 24 Karat Gold Tour playing more than two dozen arena dates in North America before the end of the year. Production designer Paul Guthrie of Toss Film & Design Inc in Minneapolis chose 88 Claypaky Mythos fixtures for the lighting rig. He previously deployed Mythos on tours for Miranda Lambert and Macklemore.

Nicks's latest tour, in support of her album, 24 Karat Gold - Songs from the Vault, launched in Phoenix and will wrap in Los Angeles. While the singer/songwriter appears as a solo artist, she tapped the Pretenders to open for her - delivering a powerhouse show for ticketholders.

A veteran of Nicks's tours, Guthrie endeavoured to "create something new and a bit more modern" for her new show. "Stevie enjoys using video content so the tour features a lot of video on an LED videowall backdrop and L-shaped scenic pieces," he ex

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UK - London's Southbank Centre has been transformed into a wintry Nordic landscape this festive season, complete with a giant Norwegian tree, Scandinavian decorations, and an installation of more than 50 floating Christmas trees, rigged by Unusual Rigging.

Ailve McCormack, site design project manager for Winter Festival, explained: "The balcony installation is one part of the overall site design which was done by Hemingway Designs. It's not something we have done before so we needed to know that the companies we worked with were some of the best in the business. Unusual Rigging was recommended to me by a colleague. They got involved after the initial idea had been formed, but before we had figured out how exactly we wanted to hang the trees from the balcony. Their knowledge and know-how was just what we needed at this stage."

The brief supplied by Hemingway Designs was tha

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UK - The contents of the internationally-renowned Fountain Studios in Wembley, north London, will come under the hammer after the recent final of the 2016 X Factor brought the curtain down on 90 years of film and broadcasting history.

The studio has been sold to property developers, and sound and vision equipment, lighting, scenery and memorabilia are all being offered in an online sale between 30 January and 7 February. The sale is being organised by auctioneers Charterfields (www.charterfields.com) and a viewing day is being held on 1 February.

Among the broadcast equipment for sale are Sony HDC cameras, pedestals along with various control units and pan and tilt heads; vision mixers; sound desks and microphones; lighting desks and a large quantity of hoists and pantographs.

In addition, there is also a selection of scenery and drapes, dressing room furniture,

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China - KLANG:technologies has announced the appointment of Beijing Huahui Audio Technology Co Ltd (Huahui) as its distributor in China. Established in 2003, Beijing-based Huahui is a professional audio company that provides a comprehensive range of services, including consultation, design, installation, technical support, training and sales.

The company has an impressive portfolio of high-end brands, including L-Acoustics, Midas, Milab, Klark Teknik, t.c.electronic, Point Source, Focal, Adam, Canare and Sennheiser. Operating across the broadcast, studio, fixed installation and live markets, Huahui is focused on its technical ability and customer support and is ISO9001 certified.

KLANG:technologies aim is to create the perfect in-ear monitor sound for musicians, enabling them to work with greater ease and focus on their performance. Its KLANG:fabrik and KLANG:vier 3D perso

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Second-hand Probe - Websites that sell second-hand tickets are to be investigated by the competition regulator in the UK. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) probe follows an initial review of the four main secondary ticketing websites - Get Me In, Seatwave, StubHub and Viagogo - that aimed to ensure they improved the information they provided about tickets on their site.

There are concerns that if information is not clear, people are at risk of being turned away at the doors because of restrictions placed on some resold tickets. The CMA said one website was not fully complying with their undertaking and it was "actively pursuing" it to ensure its obligations are met "in full".

The watchdog said its wider investigation would result in enforcement action if providers fall foul of consumer protection laws in areas such as clear seller information. It was also checkin

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Belgium - Apart Audio has announced the release of its CM Design Series speakers, which the Belgian brand has created to offer simple, elegant integration into all interior environments.

A thin edge grille and integrated neodymium grille fixing magnets ensure that the new series is both unobtrusive and easy to install, with Apart's Quick Fix connectors used for speaker connections - avoiding the need for junction boxes and reducing installation time and costs. Clear power tap labelling on the speakers' transformers also aids quick and easy set-up.

The two-way CM Design speakers are available in both 6.5" and 8" sizes, delivering power outputs of 60W and 100W respectively.

(Jim Evans)

  1. WildPitch Music Hall selects D.A.S. Audio
  2. PixelFLEX, S&L Integrated and JR Clancy team up
  3. Moscow's Nobel Hall gets Martin makeover
  4. Simon Boccanegra in Moscow lit by Claypaky
  5. Rogues make debut in The Nutcracker
  6. Real Music expands Adamson network in China
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Astera - June 2025
GLP - MPU - Feb, Apr 2025

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