L&SI was launched for the Professional Lighting and Sound Association by publisher John Offord at a time when the Association had only recently changed its name to reflect its broadening scope: the British Association of Discotheque Equipment Manufacturers (BADEM), which emerged from the 70s disco boom, had become PLASA in 1983.
Looking back at that first issue, the first thing that strikes you is facial hair - particularly at the first ABTT North trade show, which the debut issue covered. As someone - let's call him 'John' (what the hell - let's call him 'John Hastie') remarked to me at the ABTT show this summer, this industry no longer has much to offer the committed trade show beard spotter. The November 1985 issue just underlines the point.
We don't miss industry-wide facial hair, but we do miss Tony Gottelier, who remained an integral part of L&SI's reputation right up until recent years, in which time illness has kept him from making his much-talked about contributions. Our very best wishes go to Tony and his family.
In that launch issue 20 years ago, Tony (always one of the industry's innovative thinkers) talked about the parallels between theatre and discotheque environments, and asked why no-one had yet come up with a flexible disco environment based on theatrical principles of stage sets to create new scenes or productions. That's a challenge I don't think we've seen fulfilled, even today.
That first L&SI also covered a television mainstay - Top of the Pops. Eric Wallis, secretary of the STLD at the time, was lighting director; his assistant was Geoff Thonger. The article underlined the difficulty of lighting a television show that was part concert and part disco, and also the show's role as a yardstick for what was new in the world of lighting and effects.
Interestingly, Wallis was asked how he kept up to date with new equipment. At that time, he did so in various ways - including visiting discos, watching pop concerts, and visiting hire companies: those serving TOTP at the time were Playlight Hire, Meteorlites and Richard Martin Lighting - the latter still very much in business today. Lighting control on the show at that time was from "a Strand MMS console in conjunction with a hired Avolite (sic) rock board."
Talking of rock, it was a surprise to delve into the past of such a notoriously male-dominated industry and find that the very first lighting designer interviewed as part of an On Tour feature was female. Jane Spiers had just completed Gary Numan's Fury tour and was about to begin work again with her regular client, Depeche Mode. We believe Jane is still working as a designer in New Zealand (if you're reading this Jane, we'd love to hear from you).
Back then, asked if women have to be twice as good as men to make it in this business, she said: "Women have to work twice as hard in the first place to prove themselves capable. Your designs have to be very good, as people tend to be very critical, but once you've got a foot on the ladder it doesn't matter if you're male or female - you just have to be good."
Even in the launch issue, it was understood that Richard Pilbrow is always worth writing about. In 1985, his Theatre Projects team had just moved under one roof in Covent Garden after some consolidation of the business - already a veteran operation in 1985. Helping to set the 'International' tone, the magazine's main features looked at Theatre Projects consultancy work in two major new venues - the Umno Conference Centre in Kuala Lumpur, and the Calgary Centre for Performing Arts, which graced L&SI's first cover. Theatre Projects also lent their advertising support to the first issue, offering L&SI "Best wishes for a long run": they could still show us a thing or two on that front.
Other features looked
