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

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USA - Founded in 2002, Sonos was created to fill every home with music, and the whole home audio system is now sold in more than 60 countries, through thousands of retailers, custom installers and audio/video specialty stores.

With its recent decision to open a retail location of its own in New York City, general manager of Stores Whitney Walker was asked to oversee the creation of a listening experience in which customers could discover Sonos just as they would in the comfort of a friend's home. Needing a finishing accent for the downstairs lounge, Walker called upon Rethink Innovations to help create a warm and engaging 30ft fireplace display, and they did so using FLEXLite 6.9mm LED video technology from Nashville-based PixelFLEX.

"Our objective for the Sonos flagship retail location was to build the best place for someone to discover and fall in love with whole home au

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USA - Singer-songwriter Ben Rector is out on the aptly named The Biggest Tour I've Done So Far, with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites. His sixth studio album and eponymous hit single Brand New has been dominating the airwaves and climbing the charts, and his enthusiastic fans are turning out to celebrate.

Lighting designer Chris Lisle collaborated with Rector to establish what the overall look of the production would be, with emphasis on using 2K fresnels on grip stands in addition to how Martin MAC Vipers would be utilized during the show.

"Ben actually sat with us during rehearsals and gave us some notes on a couple of cues he wanted to see," added Lisle. "He was very good to work with and had a lot of great input and ideas himself."

Utilizing Venue One, Bandit's in-house rehearsal and design studio, Lisle was able to set up the entire rig, allowing

Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

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USA - Cleveland Indians Stadium, aka Progressive Field, recently replaced the original EAW distributed loudspeaker system with clusters made up of new EAW MQX and MK2391i loudspeakers.

Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams (WJHW) designed a system that utilized the existing loudspeaker locations while dramatically improving system performance. Pro Media, recently acquired by Panasonic and now part of the Panasonic Enterprise Solution Company (PESCO), provided installation and tuning of the system.

"One of the goals was to use the existing design but install new loudspeakers that would improve the game day experience," explains Kevin Day, associate principal at WJHW. "EAW's MQX loudspeakers fit in the same space while utilizing new technology that provides much greater output capability. They also go lower in frequency for a more full and contemporary sound with an enclosur

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South Africa - Classics is Groot is a new musical performance extravaganza staged at the 6,500 capacity Moreleta Auditorium in Pretoria, South Africa, produced by the same creative team from Coleske Artists who deliver the massively successful Afrikaans is Groot phenomena each year. Classics is more focussed on crossing over to the English speaking market and the first completely sold-out event saw "an explosion of song and dance" unfold in classics from several eras and genres of music performances by some of SA's finest artists.

The full technical production - lighting, sound, video, staging and rigging - was supplied by leading SA rental company, MGG, project managed for them by Denzil Smith. Lighting was designed by Joshua Cutts of Visual Frontier who specified several types of Robe moving lights including BMFL Blades and WashBeams.

The show featur

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USA - Wenger Corporation of Owatonna, Minn., and SECOA, Inc. of Champlin, Minn have announced that they are in advanced talks to combine the two companies.

Under the proposal, the combined entity would be wholly owned and operated by Wenger. The shared vision of Wenger - including its subsidiary J.R. Clancy - and SECOA is to "provide a superior value proposition featuring the highest quality products and services for all stakeholders in the performing arts industry".

A statement continues, "After conducting exploratory conversations, the leadership teams of both organizations became excited about the synergies that exist, both strategic and tactical, with the combination of the businesses. By aligning the SECOA, Wenger and J.R. Clancy brands, Wenger expects to reinforce its position as a unique global provider of the broadest array of solutions in the industry. This transa

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USA - Calrec has confirmed the appointment of Group One as its distribution partner for the U.S., effective from October 3rd 2016.

This move will enable Calrec to expand its market breadth across the USA and continue to maintain high levels of service as business increases with the expanded portfolio, including the newly launched Brio36 compact broadcast console and Remote production RP products.

This will not affect Calrec's relationship with Studio Consultants Incorporated (SCI), who have worked with Calrec for many years and will continue their dedicated Calrec sales and support work in the East coast regions in conjunction with Calrec and Group One.

Says a statement, "In recent years, Calrec has delivered the highest levels of customer care and service in the USA through the operations of Calrec America. With the new arrangements, it is pleased to announce that the

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UK - It may not have been a particularly 'illuminating' result for the home side as Nottingham Rugby were defeated 7-29 to newly-relegated London Irish. But no one could deny there were highlights of a different kind on the pitch, as Nottingham-based company and team sponsor, McCann, demonstrated its floodlighting expertise at the first night match of the season.

McCann - the company also behind the impressive lights on the tram bridge joining Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre with the University of Nottingham - is a long-term supporter of the 'Green n Whites'. When the team moved last season from its shared Notts County FC ground at Meadow Lane to its new home at Lady Bay, they looked to the leading civil and electrical engineering company for help in building its entire electrical infrastructure - including those all-important floodlights.

Tasked with designing and upg

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UK - The Progress 1000 Awards, in partnership with Citi, is an annual event hosted by the London Evening Standard. It recognises the most influential people in the capital who work across a range of fields, from theatre to film to medicine to architecture. This year's event took place on Wednesday 7 September at the Science Museum and White Light was approached to provide the complete technical solutions.

This is the second year that WL has worked on the event, following last year's celebrations at the Canary Wharf Crossrail Station. Richard Stirzaker, WL's creative producer, comments, "The Progress 1000 is one of the most important dates in the capital's social calendar therefore the expectations of those in attendance are always extremely high. The brief was to make the evening as visually impressive as possible while accentuating the features of the Science Museum an

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France - Puy du Fou is a historical theme park based in France and is home to some of the most extravagant shows in which thousands of actors and animals recreate historical stories.

Now, Puy Du Fou has taken things to the next level once again with their newest production - Le Dernier Panache - probably one of the most daring shows they ever created. The team at Puy Du Fou commissioned ShowTex with the production and installation of all masking drapes, printed fabrics, projection screens, rails and motion control systems that brought Le Dernier Panache to life.

Performed in a completely custom-built and 360° rotating theatre, the 2.400 members of the audience are immersed in the story on a multi-sensory level, smoothly rotating to watch the performance taking place on six different stages.

ShowTex rose to the challenge and installed the most solid an

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UK - Midas will power Weli Creative's Magical Lantern Festival in three cities this winter after the launch event, a riot of colour and creativity at Chiswick House, London in February/March, attracted more than 110,000 people.

The Magical Lantern Festival hits Roundhay Park, Leeds and Birmingham Botanical Gardens from 25 November to 2 January, and Midas generators will provide for 40,000 bulbs at each, illuminating a trail of spectacular handmade lanterns. The displays then combine for a return to the capital ahead of Chinese New Year.

Ian Xiang, the festival's co-founder and Creative Director, said, "Most of the lanterns are actually made in my hometown, so it makes me incredibly proud to see them come all this way across to the UK. This festival will show many people something they've never seen or experienced before. It has the potential to increase understanding of Ch

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Europe - Beyoncé's Formation world tour is one of the highest profile and most talked about of the year so far, with everyone wowed by the massive 'Monolith', a 4-sided LED / video sculpture that moves and rotates and is right at the heart of a spectacularly elegant production fusing expressionist art and innovative stage technology.

The 20m high by 20m wide Monolith is 10m deep and was created by production designer Es Devlin working in close conjunction with Beyoncé herself who is involved in all the major details of her stage presentation. It takes the striking beauty, isolation and simplicity of a Monolith design concept to amazing new levels.

The object opens 7.3m in the middle, tracks - as two sections on sliding grids - and rotates 360 degrees, a feat of engineering enabled by Belgian automation specialist WIcreations who designed the rotation and slid

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Italy - The Colosseum in Rome - world famous heritage site and one of Italy's most popular tourist attractions - was originally constructed in 70 - 80 AD and is the largest amphitheatre ever built. This summer it was reopened after three years of extensive refurbishments - the first in its history.

The momentous occasion involved a high profile gala event. A special classical programme was played by the Accademia Teatro alla Scala conducted by Zubin Mehta, and the Colosseum was lit by lighting designer Giancarlo Toscani who utilized 20 Robe BMFL WashBeams for this special occasion.

Giancarlo was asked to propose a lighting scheme by the show director, Fulvio Michelazzi, working for event producers Studio Exhibita for end client Grupo Tod, one of the co-sponsors of the restoration project along with the Italian government working in a PPP arrangement.

The brief was to l

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UK - Channel-16, specialist providers of license-free communication systems, has recently utilised an array of Green-GO Digital Intercom products for Muse's Drones tour. The tour, which has toured stadiums of the UK and Europe, pushes the limits of what a live production can be.

When a show contains such a level of technical production as Muse's, with it comes the requirement for an equally high standard of communication. For a flexible and reliable system, Channel 16's managing director, Paul English, turned to Green-GO's Digital Intercom system. The dedicated and independent talk back system ran via PoE switches, which formed the fibre-backbone for the configuration.

Show Caller for the performances utilized a 12-channel MCR12 desk unit, as did playback operator/backline manager and monitor engineer for the tour. Lighting designer and content designer both utilised an ei

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USA - Washington University in St. Louis hosted the second debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The school, which has hosted five debates in the past, was buzzing with excitement in the days leading up to the 2016 contest, including a parade through campus by the famous Budweiser Clydesdales and a colourful red, white and blue lighting display anchored by a collection of fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

Chip Self, owner of Logic Systems Sound and Lighting, created the patriotic display on the exterior of Brookings Hall, the sprawling Gothic structure that serves as the symbolic heart of Washington University's Danforth Campus, where the debate took place.

Logic Systems used 40 COLORdash Par-Quad 18 RGBA LED par style fixtures, six COLORado Ridge IP RGBWA LED wash panels and two ellipsoidal units to bathe the iconic building's north side in colorful light.

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UK - The 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London was commemorated in spectacular style last month as Artichoke's London's Burning festival transformed the capital with a week of extraordinary art events and brought Unusual Rigging on board to handle aspects of the technical production.

The festival invited audiences to rediscover the City of London and beyond, past and future, through a series of art installations and performances. Jim Dugan who headed the event management team at Unusual Rigging said, "This event offered an opportunity to understand just how much of an impact the fire had on the architecture, outlook and infrastructure of the City, including some of its most iconic buildings and landmarks, and we worked with Artichoke to demonstrate this through their very unique perspective."

He continued: "Unusual was brought on board just eight weeks before the i

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Sold Out - Glastonbury 2017 sold out in 50 minutes on Sunday morning - with a reported 2m applying for the 135,000 tickets available - and the usual complaints regarding problems in access-ing the ticket website. "We have, once again, been blown away by the incredible number of people from around the planet who hoped to come to the festival, with demand significantly outstripping supply," said the organisers in a statement. Next year's event will take place from 21-25 June, with the line-up not being announced by organisers until early 2017. Daft Punk and Kraftwerk have been tipped as potential headliners.

Old Gold - The first leg of the much-hyped Desert Trip festival took place over the weekend, with The Rolling Stones, The Who, Roger Waters, Paul McCartney and Neil Young taking to the stage in California. Organised by the people behind Coachella - and dubbed #Oldchel

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Australia - GDS has appointed Jands as its exclusive distributor in Australia. With a head-quarters and manufacturing facility in Sydney, a factory in Melbourne and offices in Brisbane and Perth, Jands is an established manufacturer and distributor of lighting and staging products and also distributes top international audio brands. As well as designing and manufacturing its own lighting products, Jands identifies and sources the best lighting products from around the world in order to supply its customers with the most comprehensive choice possible. Established for well over 40 years, Jands enjoys a strong reputation for delivering high quality solutions across every area of the entertainment technology industry in Australia.

Tim Kennard, Lighting Sales Manager at Jands was upbeat: "GDS lighting products complement our extensive lighting offering perfectly. This distribution

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USA - Nestled below the inspiring summit of Pikes Peak and the Rocky Mountain front range in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Family of Christ Lutheran Church has grown tremendously in the two decades since its founding. Indeed, the church recently raised money to build a new 700-seat sanctuary to accommodate its expanding family and to better support its popular contemporary-style services.

FCLC hired local A/V integration firm Sight and Sound Technologies Inc. to design and install the new sound, video, and lighting systems. Repeating a strategy that had succeeded in the past, Sight and Sound Technologies COO Kris Johnson partnered with Danley Sound Labs, whose expert engineers helped design an impactful Danley loudspeaker and subwoofer system with transparent fidelity and even coverage.

"Although Family of Christ still has a classic Lutheran service, its contemporary service

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USA - The Music Engineering Technology programme at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music is regarded as a pioneer in the arena of academically based audio production programs. Since 1975, the programme there has set the standard by which the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) accredits other such programs around the United States.

Alumni of the programme, including Will Lee, Bruce Hornsby, Steve Morse and Jon Secada, have contributed significantly to the music and audio industries. Much of the programme revolves around the L. Austin Weeks Recording Studio, one of the best academic recording studios in the world, where students participate fully in the maintenance, modification, installation, and design of all systems.

After a year-long renovation, the studio's control room now houses three cutting-edge audio consoles: a 48-channel SSL AWS948 with De

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Germany - In front of a unique backdrop in Losheim am See, the second edition of the Lucky Lake Festival took place this year. For the second time, sound reinforcement was provided by a VT20 System and other systems from ProAudio Technology such as SW18, HT16 and MT12.

On two stages, there was a steady flow of stars of the electronic dance music, among them Marek Hemmann, Oliver Koletzki, Format:B, Felix Kroecher and then some more. An interesting fact was that the visitor figures had almost doubled, compared to the previous year, which the organizers sometimes ascribe to the "fat sound".

The feedback from many visitors, the organizers and the on-site techs speaks for itself. Sound engineer and technical manager Jan Leyendecker describes his impressions as follows: "Already on the first job with the VT20 System at the Lucky Lake Festival 2015, we realised that this line ar

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South Africa - DWR Distribution is hosting aRobe LED Theatre Workshop presented by renowned international lighting designer, Andy Webb. The workshop will be hosted at UJ Arts Centre Theatre in Johannesburg on 9 November. There are two sessions and delegates are either welcome to attend from 9am to 12 noon or alternatively from 2pm to 5pm. The workshop is free of charge.

Freelance UK theatre lighting designer, Andy Webb, presents Robe's LED range of fixtures with the context of how to use these fixtures within theatre show designs while incorporating examples of productions he has designed. Andy explains why LED is so useful within his theatre designs, describing key factors such as fan noise (being super quiet), Power consumption (being able to link multiple fixtures together on power runs), colour mixing (having endless colour options and not just a single LEE colour filter o

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Spain - Fluge Audiovisual is one of Spain's most prolific AV rental companies. It also has one of Spain's biggest stocks of DiGiCo consoles, most recently purchasing a further two SD10s.

Fluge first started investing in DiGiCo when the company launched its D5 Live consoles back in 2002.

"When the D5 arrived here, it surprised us," says Fluge's technical director, Raúl Mendez. "It was easier and faster to use than other digital consoles on the market in those days and it had a really good sound that was very close to that of the big analogue consoles."

Raúl is convinced that working with DiGiCo has helped Fluge to become a reference in Spanish live audio, theatre productions and installations. This year alone, the company has worked on an extremely impressive list of projects that includes tours for Alejandro Sanz, Manolo Grazia, Malu, Migue Bosé, musicals such

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Italy - IntelliGent Store is a new Italian retail chain which has recently opened five clothing stores across Italy. A brand of multinational clothes retailer Piazza Italia, IntelliGent shops feature Yamaha audio systems, which are delivering better and more flexible sound than those in the parent company's higher specification outlets!

Piazza Italia has nearly 200 stores across Europe, Asia and Africa. The company has now opened IntelliGent Store outlets in Aprilia (Rome), Afragola (Naples), Crotone (Calabria region), Beinasco (Turin) and Udine (Friuli region), with more scheduled to follow. The stores needed a high impedance audio system to distribute 'disco style' sound, but work seamlessly with a voice evacuation system, be easily controlled by non-technical personnel and fit within the development budget.

"Systems integrator AVL srl agreed that a Yamaha system would b

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