World - For Dua Lipa’s current Future Nostalgia world tour, Britannia Row Productions supplied DiGiCo Quantum consoles to deliver on power and functionality. Future Nostalgia was originally scheduled to start in late 2019 but, like so many others, was repeatedly postponed until finally heading out in February 2022. It will finish in Perth, Australia in November, having visited North America, Europe, Latin America and Oceania. Both the FOH sound and on-stage mixes are being created on DiGiCo Quantum digital mixing systems, by Will Nicholson and Alex Cerutti respectively. Nicholson is in his seventh year with Dua Lipa and specified a Quantum 7 console for this tour. “The Q7 offers so much. It’s the only desk currently on the market with a dual brain, which negates the need for us to carry a spare board but gives us redundancy. That is very comforting,” he s
USA - Lightware Visual Engineering is supporting Esports Trade Associations’ (ESTA) inaugural EsportsNext 2022 event, as a gold sponsor. The event takes place in Chicago, USA on 22 – 23 August 2022. The company’s presence will include demonstrating its AV signal management solutions to the global esports community, and also an opportunity for Lightware to explore and learn more about the ongoing needs of this fast-paced industry. Lightware joins a list of advocates supporting EsportsNext 2022, including AVI-SPL, Morgan Stanley, Ultimate Gaming Championship (UGC) and more. Megan Van Petten, ESTA founder and managing director, said: “ESTA is thrilled to have Lightware as part of our community both as a Corporate Member and a Gold sponsor of EsportsNext 2022 as the company’s solutions fulfill a definite need for our esports industry.” Jason Tira
France - Visitors to the Palais de la Bourse in Lyon can’t help but admire the white marble statue, near the stairs leading up to this Renaissance revival structure. Graceful and flowing, the sculpture represents the Rivers Saône and Rhône, their arms joining together as they point confidently towards the future. Since it opened on August 25, 1860, it has brought together the forces of commerce, industry, education and art for the betterment of its community. This heritage made the Palais de la Bourse the ideal setting for a recent event hosted by Vinci, SA, a company that specialises in energy production, concessions and construction. Lighting designer Romain Plantier, working with lighting technician Loïc Pollet, drew on the stunning architectural features of the building to endow the Vinci dinner gala with added elegance and style, while still conveying a welco
USA - A mecca for jam band devotees, the Peach Music Festival at Montage Mountain in Scranton, Pennsylvania is known for presenting a diverse, multi-genre array of artists most known for their free-flowing improvisation and danceable rhythms. Headliners for 2022 included Billy Strings, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Trey Anastasio Band, and The Black Crowes, with more than 70 bands total on the bill. From an audio standpoint, the 2022 Peach Music Festival was notable as the North American major festival debut of Meyer Sound’s new Panther large-format linear line array loudspeaker. This year’s Peach Music Festival was also the first for Coatesville, Pennsylvania-based DBS Audio Systems as the principal audio provider. Company president Dave Brotman noted, “Amphitheatres with tent roofs can generate a vast amount of reflections,” notes Brotman, who served as s
UK - Scandinavian flat-pack super chain IKEA’s flagship store in Wembley, North London, is immersing potential buyers into an interactive, projection mapped environment this summer, thanks to an inspired project by Motion Mapping using Hippotizer Karst+ Media Servers. The popular furniture and houseware brand’s team approached Ipswich-based Motion Mapping, which specialises in video mapping, to realise the project. The initial brief focused on a furniture section of the IKEA store, constructed from an L-shaped wall with large desk, hung cabinets and a series of 12 differing-sized empty photo frames, each one video mapped to synchronise with the back wall projections across all of the cabinets, hung in a portrait and landscape formation to create a wide display canvas. The team wanted to turn this into the immersive environment, using projections and interactive elements.
USA - With its roots going all the way back to 1847, the LCMS (The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod) is a traditional, confessional Lutheran denomination with 1.8m members, making it the second-largest Lutheran body in the United States. Their triennial Youth Gathering is a five-day meeting which has been staged since 1980, providing an opportunity for thousands of young adults to come together as a community of God’s people to learn about the Christian faith and their Lutheran identity. The 2022 event was held in Houston (Texas) across a number of venues, the largest being Minute Maid Park, a baseball stadium which is normally home to the Houston Astros. Special Event Services (SES) of Mocksville, NC were contracted to supply a major sound system capable of delivering live music and, most importantly, perfectly intelligible speech to a very large area contai
Japan - Founded in 1946, Ikegami Tsushinki Co is a manufacturer of high quality professional broadcast equipment, particularly known for their television cameras. Indeed, Ikegami introduced the world’s first portable hand-held TV camera which debuted in the US in 1962 when CBS used it to document the launch of NASA’s Aurora 7 crewed space flight. In 2022 the company, which is actively working on next-generation broadcasting standards with IP workflows, is celebrating its 75th anniversary – a milestone that has been marked by a comprehensive renovation of its office buildings in Tokyo, including a sophisticated new seminar room equipped with Smart IP loudspeakers from Genelec. Today the world of broadcasting is in the midst of dramatic change with the advent of Internet broadcasting with IP transmission. Ikegami is actively pursuing its development along these lin
Thailand - For the eighth season of The Voice of Thailand, the show’s lighting designers used Cameo spotlights for the first time. More than 180 moving lights, spotlights and LED bars were used in the studio and live shows in Bangkok. The lighting solutions were supplied by Cameo’s Thai distributor, L&E Lighting & Equipment PCL. “Cameo is a relative newcomer to the Thai event technology market,” explains Arocha Kittivittayakul, product manager at L&E. “We are therefore all the more pleased that those responsible – Pat Jareeyatana, managing director of EXIT365 Company Limited, the owner of The Voice All Stars Thailand licence, and the lighting designers Arthorn Luempetch and Junchay Baomaroeng – showed great interest in the spotlights and ultimately decided on Cameo as a brand.” For lighting in the TV studio, the lighting designers use
USA - Bandit Lites partnered with 46 Entertainment to provide the lighting package for the American sports and comedy group Dude Perfect 2022 summer tour. The group boasts more than 58m subscribers and 14.6bn views. Production manager/designer Mason Felps of 46 Entertainment crafted a new design based around the core fixtures from the last tour, working with creative producer Lauren Charboneau and Bandit lighting director Chris Noll. “We knew we needed a ton of key light to cover all of the playable area,” said Felps. “I started there and worked my way backwards. “With Dude Perfect being social media based, it's really important to keep everything to brand: be it tour branding or artist branding,” said Noll. “This tends to influence colour selection or overall feel of a given segment.” Noll worked with Gordon Droictcour of Cour Designs (cont
Canada Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre Theatre (HCT) is the jewel in the crown that is the city’s famed waterfront park. Seating only 350 patrons in its normal configuration, the theatre has impressively hosted intimate performances by A-list musical artists like Celine Dion and Julio Iglesias, top theatrical performances including the musical STOMP, and its own 2001 World Leaders: A Festival of Creative Genius which featured appearances by Quincy Jones, Frank Gehry, and Stephen Sondheim. Music, dance, theatre, or spoken word, the HCT hosts it all, and now it has a sound system that can cover every base - a new L-Acoustics A15 system designed by Toronto-based Engineering Harmonics and installed in late-2021 by Solotech. The venue’s new PA typically comprises 19 L-Acoustics A Series enclosures arranged in a flown LCR configuration - seven A15 Focus for the l
Denmark - Roskilde, Denmark’s largest and highest profile international music festival, celebrated 50 years this year with a fantastic line-up across multiple stages, with Robe moving lights playing a major role on the famous Orange Stage and in the expansive Arena Stage venue. The 50th anniversary had been due to take place in 2020 but was delayed two years due to the pandemic, and while a small version of the festival took place in 2021 in one of the barns on its site just south of Copenhagen, this edition had an extra special resonance in addition to guests being able to enjoy the dynamics of live music and real human interaction again.
Arena Stage Lighting designer Sune Verdier and his team once again ran production lighting for this stage, ensuring that all visiting lighting designers, directors, and operators were well accommodated and that al
UK - To facilitate students with a space for drama production and rehearsals, the Wimbledon campus of University of the Arts London has dedicated two large studio spaces to acting and performance. Currently undergoing a major site re-development, the Wimbledon college has high-end rehearsal spaces now fitted with quality audio-visual equipment, thanks to Flipside AV. Previously built for a Print and Time-Based Media programme, the Wimbledon studio spaces are spread across two floors. The downstairs space, being more enclosed, can split itself into two rooms for workshops and independent rehearsals, while the upstairs room provides an ideal performance hub the with sky light installations to let the room bring in natural light and air and church-like wood panels on the ceiling for acoustical balance. Being simple, flexible enclosures; the acting and performance students
Saudi Arabia - The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, referred to colloquially as KAUST, is a science and technology. It takes its name from the former King of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who decreed its foundation, intending it to “serve the people of the Kingdom and benefit all the peoples of the world The Museum of Science & Technology in Islam (MOSTI) was created later, on campus. MOSTI seeks to highlight the plethora of contributions made by Muslim scholars to science and technology during the first Golden Age of Islam (650-1650) and demonstrate how these contributions shaped the world as we know it, laying the groundwork for modern civilisation. Interactive technology leads people through the exhibits, forming an immersive exploration of the various artefacts and relics. formula D_, an experienced design company that specialises i
Canada - The lighting rig that George Gorton designed for Dallas Smith’s Somethings Never Change tour took on a life of its own over the course of the early summer, seeming to expand, contract and morph in new directions with every show. After a 19-month pandemic-caused hiatus, the Juno Award winning multi-platinum country star (12 of his songs have reach the top of the charts in Canada), took off to play some live music on 24 May, and invited some friends to join him. A total of seven different acts have supported Smith on his 24-show, five-week tour. This diversity made it essential that Gorton devise a rig with an organic-like quality to grow and change. “There was a constant dialogue with the band,” recalled Gorton. “We had multiple guests joining Dallas, so we were constantly building and updating the show as the tour progressed and got new songs in the m
USA - Rock band Halestorm is back on the road with Bandit Lites and screaming they’re ‘Back from the Dead’, which is both the name and title track of their latest album released in May. Years ago, when lighting designer Craig Richter first started touring with Halestorm, he found himself at a state fair armed with an array of lighting carts. Staring at a house system comprised of an out-of-date 180K PAR 64 system, Richter naturally wished for a rig full of movers that would better suit the overall look of the show. During the hours before the evening’s show, Richter took the opportunity to make some chases and “program” the par system into the programmed show. “Once the sun went down and the band went on, I was blown away by the fact that the par can system looked awesome and played very well the vibe and style music of the band,” said Richter. “Ever
Israel - Reality TV singing competition, Rising Star, has upgraded its audio system to a flagship DiGiCo Quantum console, to take advantage of the range’s capacity and flexible architecture. The console is required to manage a challenging run of live shows featuring multiple performances, and servicing FOH and monitors demands from one surface. Between season 2 and 7, the winner was given the opportunity to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest. Due to its success, the programme became a global phenomenon in the reality TV sphere with many international television stations buying the rights to produce the programme. DiGiCo is the brand of choice for the show's head of sound, Yossi Edri, who has used DiGiCo consoles in all of his recent projects, including the major live TV productions, the Israeli-hosted 2019 Eurovision Song Contest, and the annual
USA - 2022 was one of Louisiana State University’s (LSU) most successful beach volleyball seasons in programme history. With 27 regular season wins and 32 overall wins, both school records, LSU had five pairs earn AVCA honours and one player – Melia Lindner, became LSU’s first beach Elite 90 Award winner. These winning ways weren’t just on the court – they include the courts. Over the past few years, LSU has completed major upgrades unveiling a new beach volleyball venue in the heart of campus in 2019. The new stadium, formerly a tennis facility, features six competition courts with 24-inch-deep sand. The facility also features energy efficient LED lighting, seating capacity for 450 spectators, new scoreboard, and a brand new Danley Sound Labs system. “Over the years, many of our facilities have received upgrades or we’ve needed to replace systems,
UK - An old cowshed with flagstone floors has been transformed into a home dance studio fit for a competitive dancer, thanks to Le Mark Group. Caroline de Grey, who competes in ballroom as well as a social Argentine tango and Latin dancing, needed a home rehearsal studio for the hours of practice she puts in each day. Work on the barn conversion began at the end of 2021 and was completed in June 2022, with Caroline now boasting a space that allows her to glide seamlessly through her routines on a new vinyl floor laid by Le Mark. “The project started in October. I got in touch with a production manager for Holland Park Opera who creates temporary dance floors. He created a frame which sat over the flagstones, before installing a wooden floor on top. He then recommended Le Mark Group for a vinyl to lay over the ply,” explained Caroline. Caroline did her researc
USA - There is no denying the immense popularity of esports and video gaming around the world. Entire sports arenas sell out for fans to watch their favourite gaming stars compete. But what if this gaming technology could be used as a purposefully constructive educational tool for the local community? What if the technology and creativity that goes into creating a video game could be transitioned into targeted curriculum disguised as entertainment? This is the vision of the team behind Whitaker Center in in Harrisburg, PA and Ted Black, president, and CEO of Whitaker Center, for the newly created, 7,000sq.ft PNC Innovation Zone. Says Black, “We saw an opportunity within gaming for a perfect vehicle into learning.” The PNC Innovation Zone is a first in its category – a venue dedicated to experiential learning in disciplines such as science, technology, engineering
UK - First announced in 2019 and opening its doors fully later this year, Sky Studios Elstree is a joint project between Sky and NBCUniversal. The 27.5-acre, complex located just north of London houses 13 sound stages, with media operations provider Xytech Systems offering total operational and financial control by streamlining the new film and TV studio’s internal processes across quoting, resource scheduling, cost management and reporting. “Not long after Sky Studios Elstree was given the go-ahead in 2019, we started searching for a media operations solution that would meet the strict demands of our cutting-edge studios catering for high-end TV shows and films,” said Tom Avison, director of operations at Sky Studios Elstree. “Sky already had an excellent, long-standing relationship with Xytech Systems through its Transmission solutions installed at the Sky facilit
USA - Summer festivals are always full of surprises for anyone working in production, and not all of them have to do with unpredictable weather. Set to light Rolling Loud’s high-profile Snipes Stage where Money Man, Big30, Sleazyworld Go, and Curren$y (who helped start the hip-hop bash back in 2015) would be performing, Abbas Ritscher expected to have spotlights for front lights, but that was not an option. Undeterred, Ritscher and his team at The Design Oasis, grabbed 12 extra Chauvet Professional Maverick Storm 1 Wash fixtures from their inventory and hung them “as far down the stage as we could” to create a clean front wash. “We wanted to have a consistent wash throughout the stage, given who was performing here and because we need a camera friendly setting,” said Ritscher. “The Storm I was our work horse.” Flown on eight rows of overhead truss,
USA - Jack White –one half of The White Stripes – is back on the road with the topically named “Supply Chain Issues” world tour, currently playing its first US leg. The artist is presenting two critically new albums Fear of the Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive. Matching this creative excellence on the visual design side is Matthieu Larivee from Montreal-based LUZ Studio. Matthieu specified over 100 Robe moving lights to help him achieve numerous aesthetic goals, with 63 x BMFL WashBeams, 18 x Spiiders, 36 x MegaPointes and three BMFL Follow Spots running on one RoboSpot system, all supplied by Solotech. Challenges have included creating a workable and scalable design to deal with both arenas and the smaller more intimate theatre spaces that Jack White loves to play. Also, there is a different setlist each night drawn from a vast catalogue of
UK - Void Acoustics embraced the energy and vibe of their first major presence at Glastonbury on the 50th Anniversary edition of the festival. Glastonbury’s long-awaited return to this year’s summer calendar saw the addition of two new stages in the popular Silver Hayes area of the festival. One of these new stages was the Lonely Hearts Club – an arresting addition to this club-goers paradise. It was from the art deco styled Lonely Hearts Club stage that Void Acoustics made an impressive visual and sonic impact in this part of Glastonbury throughout the long festival weekend. NSL Productions (long-standing rental and integration partner of Void Acoustics) installed this festival stage for Team Love who were the festival production team behind Silver Hayes this year. “Although we have worked at Glastonbury previously, this was our first year workin
UK - Absen’s versatile Polaris series of rental LED displays supplied visual flair for the recent NWG Innovation Festival, which returned to Newcastle Racecourse (UK) after a two-year hiatus. Organised by Northumbrian Water Group (NWG), the 2022 NWG Innovation Festival featured live music, comedy, tech demos and wellbeing events, as well as design sprints, hacks, workshops and activities aimed at solving difficult problems around topics such as climate change, cyber-security and water scarcity. The theme for this year’s festival, which took place from 12 to 15 July, was ‘Untapped Potential’ and focused on bringing together untapped talent from different sectors, backgrounds and locations. For NWG Innovation Festival 2022, Sam Gordon, director of Big Purple Group (Big Purple Productions/Big Purple Events), specified the Polaris LED panels in two configurations:
