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24 July 2024

UK - People arrived at the Bethel Convention Centre in Birmingham early for Zimbabwe-born gospel worshipper Eleana Makombe’s Grateful Concert in June.  Coming from across the UK, they waited outside in line for over two hours. For them, patience was a virtue, something that would make the time pass easier.

Blessing Bero, production and lighting designer for the African star’s widely anticipated show, was still sourcing gear just two days before load-in due to circumstances beyond his control.

Bero, who is a Zimbabwean based lighting designer with Events Evolution, responded to this pressure-packed situation with calm. Working his industry contacts, he was hooked up with SJ Grevett of DMX Productions.

“DMX Productions did an amazing job under pressure,” said Bero. “Their people were extremely helpful, as was the crew at the conventi

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24 July 2024

UK - Audio specialist tube uk has supplied a distributed sound system comprising d&b, Outline, Tannoy and Martin Audio speakers with a Yamaha MRX7-D audio matrix router at its heart for the new Chews Yard social, creative and entertainment space in Preston.

Chews Yard has seen the reimagination of a derelict former industrial premises, transforming it into a lively community hub. It is the brainchild of Ben Casey, of Chase Developments in Manchester and Christine Cort of CC&Friends, a founder of Manchester International Festival (MIF).

This first phase of development includes a 150-capacity food hall and bar area with offerings from different traders, an entertainment space, a series of industrial workshops for independent businesses and start-ups plus a large outdoor space, all with plenty of potential for staging a diversity of events.

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23 July 2024

UK - Originally only seen on sets of large-scale Hollywood productions like The Mandalorian and most recently in Barbie and Dune blockbusters, virtual production (VP) is becoming an important element of the modern-day education. Leading institutions like Sunderland University, University for the Creative Arts (UCA) and Solent University Southampton have embraced Brompton LED processing as part of their VP offering, providing their students and teaching staff with the real-world experience, allowing them to creatively utilise this innovative solution in their work.

CJP Broadcast Service Solutions has been offering a wide range of services in the broadcast, corporate, education and sports sectors, leveraging partner technologies like Brompton’s Tessera LED processors to enable organisations, businesses, and community groups to maxi

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23 July 2024

Hungary - Two hundred and sixty Martin Audio loudspeakers were on duty for a series of concerts at the Puskas Arena in Budapest recently. Spread across three weekends, with three sets of artists, BG Event staged one of their biggest productions ever in the 67,000-cap multi-purpose stadium.

The first weekend saw 22-year-old singer songwriter Azahriah, the latest Hungarian sensation, playing three shows, such was the demand for tickets, to a total of 120,000 people. This was followed by long-serving band Hungaria with their 1950s rock and roll style, and the final band was Halott Pénz (Dead Money), celebrating their 20th anniversary with this show.

It was the first time the production company had worked at this venue. Closed from 2002-2019 for a complete rebuild, according to BG Event’s Gábor ‘Mazsi’ Bácskay, “The team of architects failed t

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23 July 2024

UK - Manchester Printworks is a hospitality hub in the heart of the north of the UK. Comprising bars, restaurants, leisure spaces and a cinema, the venue recently received a £27m refurbishment which included the integration of the largest digital ceiling in Europe – measuring a total of 1,000m². The screen utilises augmented reality technology to display CGI content day and night, and a sound system from Renkus-Heinz envelopes guests in a world of entertainment.    

CUK Group supported the project as technical distributor, working alongside integrators PAS Sound Engineering. The new PA system was required to support the video wall content, as well as events held in the centre, which range from yoga classes to festivals and parties. Renkus-Heinz’s beam-steered IC Live Gen5 Series and UBX Series loudspeakers delivered the appropriate audio solution.

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23 July 2024

Ukraine - Popular rock band Karta Svitu launched their new album The Space of Important Things with a high-profile, hi-energy showcase gig at the Bel Etage venue in Kyiv, which was recorded for subsequent broadcast.

The show was directed by Mari Pogrebynska and Pavlo Zakrevskyi and included eye-catching lighting designed by Anton Semeniuk who utilised 32 x Robe Spikie moving lights, six ColorWash 575s and a BMFL Follow Spot controlled via a RoboSpot system among other lights, all supplied by lighting rental company, Alight.

Like everything in Ukraine, the show, production and entertainment industry has adapted to the realities of wartime, and while Alight has moved much of its equipment inventory to Poland for the moment – for obvious reasons – Anton explained that he was still very keen to use whatever Robe kit was available at the time

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23 July 2024

Portugal - Europalco staged the 2024 sales convention for the Super Bock Group, the largest Portuguese beverage company. Agency No More organised this event, bringing together 800 attendees at the Sala Tejo in Lisbon.

The 2024 sales convention sought to celebrate and inspire the Super Bock sales team, and No More chose Europalco to bring this vision to life. The preparation for this event took approximately two months and involved a team of 40 Europalco professionals.

The event’s theme, ‘Explorers’, aimed to transport the audience through various exploration scenarios, such as mountains, oceans, and space. The main challenge was to design a screen capable of immersing the audience in these dynamic environments. The solution was an impressive 180-degree screen design that enveloped more than half of the audience, measuring approximately 60 linea

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22 July 2024

Spain - Estopa is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a tour that is making a mark in every city they visit. One of the highlights of the duo’s celebration is the impressive stage production, featuring lighting designed by Juanjo Beloqui and a team supplied by Fluge Audiovisuales. Stonex, Ayrton’s exclusive distributor for Spain, is also represented during the tour through the presence of Ayrton Eurus and Perseo fixtures.

Having toured the United States and Latin America, they are currently visiting Spanish cities including Valencia, Seville, Madrid, and Bilbao, filling stadiums and creating an unforgettable show with lighting tailored to each of the venues. From Civitas Metropolitano to Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias in Valencia, this 25th-anniversary tour has reached new heights.

Included in the tour’s lighting fixture selection are 60

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22 July 2024

USA - Dave Matthews Band (DMB) brings its fusion of rock, jazz, and folk to sheds and festivals across the US this summer, carrying a Meyer Sound Panther system provided by UltraSound, LLC. The 32-date tour marks nearly three decades of collaboration between DMB, Meyer Sound, and UltraSound, a relationship that began with the band’s first headline tour in 1995.

DMB is out with a Panther system for the third time; the current configuration is anchored by 16 Panther large-format linear array loudspeakers per side, supported by 14 Lyon out-fills per side, eight Leopard front-fills on the downstage edge, and CQ-1 and JM1-P loudspeaker-fills as needed, with 10 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements per side hung behind mains in a gradient array.

Panther offers numerous advantages, says UltraSound senior systems engineer Tom Lyon, who has been working w

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22 July 2024

USA/Europe - Icelandic singer Daði Freyr, has completed three tours using KLANG:vokal immersive technology. Used as a standalone unit, KLANG:vokal integrates into the monitor system to offer the artists an improved in-ear experience, allowing monitor engineer Sigri Hovde, to optimise her workflow and deliver superior results for the whole band.

Representing Iceland in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest catapulted Daði Freyr to international fame, subsequently garnering over 200m streams and global tours. As well as recording and self-producing his debut album, the simply titled I Made an Album, Freyr is now looking forward to a summer of worldwide dates, having just completed a North American tour.

Hovde, has worked with many globally renowned artists over her career and is about to embark on a massive international tour with Norwegian star,

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22 July 2024

UK - When Vine Christian Centre in Bridgend decided to upgrade the audio system in their main venue, they turned to local integrator Spartan AV, who installed a high-quality solution in conjunction with technical distributor, CUK Audio.

The previous audio system had been in use for over 20 years, with recent temporary repairs made to prolong its life. Fundamentally, though, the system did not provide adequate coverage in a venue three times as wide as it is deep. Stand-mounted speakers had been added to improve coverage, at the expense of blocking site lines.

Sean Hales, Spartan AV operations director, reports: “The client was initially fairly set on a flown line-array system; however, after my initial site visit, I deemed that a correctly designed point-source system was the right way to tackle this project. Another consideration was loading on st

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22 July 2024

USA - AY Productions, a specialist in audio and intercoms, provides television networks with a team of communication engineers for the setup and operation of intercoms for a range of major sporting events.

Since AY Productions first started using Pliant Technologies’ CrewCom Wireless Intercom System, the company hasn’t looked back, deploying CrewCom for a range of live productions on major networks, such as the AFC Championships, the Super Bowl and the NFL Combine, among many other large-scale live sporting events.

As these types of productions have become more complex and technical, AY has expanded its CrewCom inventory, now carrying a total of 42 CrewCom CRP-44 Radio Packs (RPs) in addition to several CrewCom Radio Transceivers (RT), Control Units (CU) and SmartBoom headsets from Pliant Technologies.

Long-time Pliant users and AY Produc

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19 July 2024

Europe - AC/DC kicked off their Power Up tour on 17 May in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Patrick Woodroffe and Terry Cook of Woodroffe Bassett Design worked on the production design for this widely anticipated tour.

“We wanted the stage lighting and video to work together and feel as one,” said Cook, who is the lighting designer for the tour, whilst Woodroffe serves as its creative director. “We knew from the start that we would have screens that opened to allow the look of the show to grow. The show concept was to start with a video intro, something the AC/DC fans love and want. We want to make it feel personal to them, so we localize the video at each venue.

“When the show starts, our first camera shots are of the fans, as this tour is all about the music and the fans. As the show continues, we want the stage to grow, which why the video

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19 July 2024

USA - AJR - Adam, Jack & Ryan Met’s current Maybe Man campaign which started at the end of 2023 and continues throughout this year. For the tour, Ezra Donellan of Moon Bolt Designs specified over 200 Robe moving lights, including 83 x Fortes, 88 x Tetra2s, 44 x Tetra1s and 32 x Spiiders, all delivered by Gateway Studios & Production Services (GSPS).

AJR comes with a fully realised visual concept and production design created by Mitchell Schellinger of Station Six, which is a combination of his and the band’s ideas. “It’s a very invigorating way to work,” comments Ezra on the collaborative nature of the design process. “There are challenges, and we all enjoy dealing with these and finding the best solutions.”

On tour, there’s a prominent curved video screen upstage, and a downstage ‘vanish’ screen divided into six sections,

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19 July 2024

UK - Part of the Insignis Academy Trust, Princes Risborough School in Buckinghamshire is a mixed-gender secondary school catering for children from the age of 11 to 18. The performing arts play an important role in the school’s curriculum, offering a route to qualifications, as well as the opportunity to participate in, and gain confidence from, being part of many productions run by the Performing Arts Department.

To support its dance, drama and music programmes, the school recently looked to enhance its audio provision by investing in a portable solution which could be easily operated in different areas of the school. The aim was to provide high quality background music reinforcement for dance classes, as well as a medium for small-scale spoken-word/music presentations and rehearsals. Flexibility was key, as was the need to stay within budget constraints.

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18 July 2024

South Africa - 2024 was the second year that South African lighting designer Renaldo van den Berg has lit the prestigious Metro FM Awards, which is a leading celebration of African musical talent and creativity.

Renaldo specified over 200 Robe moving lights to ensure that the high-energy-high-profile live broadcast on SABC was enjoyed by a massive TV audience as well as several thousand excited music fans catching the action in Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.

This year, 19 awards were presented, with the lifetime achievement award going to Oskido, and multiple live performances followed the awards, with a full-on festival-style concert offering another glittering line up of Africa’s finest.

Johannesburg-based MGG Productions supplied a full technical, structural and set solution and Renaldo collaborated closely with MGG’s technical stylist

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18 July 2024

Spain - The open-air festival series I Love Reggaeton was held in Valencia and Madrid from the end of May to the beginning of June. Acts including Maldy, Nacho, and many more played in front of nearly 30,000 spectators on the impressive main stage, which provided the platform for an equally spectacular lighting design thanks to its sharp, pyramid-shaped truss structures. The star of the lighting rig was the Cameo PIXBAR 400 IP G2 LED bar.

Two hundred and thirty-six PIXBAR 400 IP G2s were required to trace the contours of the stage measuring approximately 50m in width and up to 20m in height.

“The purpose of the festival is to offer a comprehensive audiovisual experience,” explains Efrain Andrade from Spanish rental service provider Fluge Audiovisuales. “This meant the lighting design had to be an absolute eye-catcher. With the PIXBAR 4

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18 July 2024

USA - Hanover’s Live! Casino and Hotel Maryland’s Sports & Social sportsbook and sports bar, the centrepiece of the casino floor The R Bar, and the hotel’s entrance have been equipped with tvONE’s powerful CORIOmaster & CORIOmaster2 video processors, outputting multiple 4K feeds of live sports and graphics 24 hours a day.

The casino’s The R Bar, Sports & Social, and the hotel entrance are each outfitted with screens driven by CORIOmaster and CORIOmaster2 – tvONE’s most powerful video processor, which can display up to 40 4K video windows with no visible latency and up to 56 outputs.

The tvONE team worked closely with Live! Casino and Hotel’s director of AV, Ryan Dewey, to realise a video processing solution that would be robust and reliable to run consistently, processing large amounts of video data 365 days a year. A larg

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18 July 2024

USA - The unveiling of the new Mercedes G-Class all electric wagon – produced by Team X - at Franklin Canyon Park in Beverly Hills featured a performance by Travis Scott. The Grammy-winning, platinum artist was driven out in the new Mercedes on a platform that appeared to be floating in the lake.

Seth Bernstein, who led the lighting team, used 68 Chauvet Professional Color STRIKE M motorized strobe-washes supplied by Volt Lites. He described what went into making this memorable experience a reality: “This was an impressive accomplishment. Scuba divers built an elevated stage in the park’s decommissioned reservoir. This presented immense challenges, as we didn’t want to distract from the beauty of the environment with excessively visible fixtures or positions. 

“Also, the audience walked in during the last hour of daylight, so we wanted to

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18 July 2024

Spain - One of Spain’s most prominent lighting designers, Xavier Costas, a member of the Asociación de Autores de Iluminación (AAI), has been a cornerstone in the AV industry for many years. With a career spanning television, corporate events, architectural, theatre, and musical events, Xavier has made a significant mark both in Spain and internationally and turns to Obsidian’s Onyx lighting control platform to bring his visionary designs to life.

Xavier’s journey with Onyx began over two decades ago and over the years, he has witnessed its evolution. “Onyx has changed over time and has adapted to new technologies and the demands of programmers,” he reflects. “Right now, I really like the intuitive aspect of the desk, how easily you can patch the products or fixtures you use in your designs.

“I also like the labelling and symbols, whi

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18 July 2024

Ireland - The Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) based in Dublin, is a state agency which provides a range of professional services to the local government sector across Ireland. Working collaboratively with all of Ireland’s 31 local authorities, the LGMA supports the co-ordinated and cost-effective delivery of local government services and policy.

In a bid to improve the quality of communications in its boardroom, a multi-function space, LGMA recently set out to improve the audio element of its existing system with a new delegate wireless microphone solution, as well as adding further sound reinforcement to enhance the auditory experience of Teams meeting/conference participants.

An open government tender resulted in IT support and solutions specialists Bytek Office Solutions securing the contract for the work. With more than 35 years' expe

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17 July 2024

UK - The Arcadia stage at Glastonbury Festival, presented annually by a collective of creatives, engineers, programmers and technicians, is one of the most recognised festival stages in the world.

This year, in place of its celebrated flame-throwing, laser-packed Spider, engineered from recycled heavy machinery, Arcadia unveiled The Dragonfly. The sculpture, which was built from a retired military helicopter and scrapped excavators, saw artists including Fat Boy Slim and Eric Prydz perform from its dazzling head. This, in turn, featured a pair of glittering compound eyes moulded from a tangram of video screens.

Video Illusions, as one of the Arcadia team’s long-term collaborators, was invited to design and manufacture a bespoke LED panel featuring a near-invisible structural framework and control. The brief further demanded that the screens be low-

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17 July 2024

Japan - Celebrating 187 years of craft, creativity and the company’s unparalleled diamond legacy, Tiffany Wonder, the latest brand exhibition by Tiffany & Co., takes visitors on a visual journey through hundreds of the House’s creations. Complementing diamond creations, the immersive show is brought to life through LED installations powered by Brompton Technology LED processing.

Held at the Tokyo Node gallery within Toranomon Hills Station Tower, one of Tokyo’s tallest buildings, AV+ICT specialist Takenaka Co. and system integration expert Ark Ventures, both part of the Symunity Group, worked with Tiffany & Co. to create high-end LED walls for three rooms in the ten-room exhibition.

The Breakfast at Tiffany’s Room, Wonder of Celebration room, and Diamond Kings room all feature LED walls composed of ROE Visual LED panels driven by Brom

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17 July 2024

UK - Located in the Cotswolds, Daylesford Organic Farm, founded by Carole Bamford, is home to the flagship Daylesford Organic Farm Shop, Bamford Wellness Spa, The Club by Bamford, Bamford Barn and Daylesford Stays.

Tateside, a London-based AV systems integrator, collaborated on the project through the integration of AV solutions throughout the estate. "We started working with Daylesford Organic around eight years ago, with our initial involvement in supplying and installing background audio in the brand’s London farm shops,” reflects Ben Landi, project manager at Tateside. “Over the years, we’ve gradually expanded our role to cover the technology integration across the entire collection, including the pubs, the Club by Bamford and Heritage House, their new event space."  

The project encompassed the integration of AV solutions into various