Belgium - The 177th edition of Gentse Feesten drew some 1.6m visitors to the port city of Ghent over 10 days in July. More than 3,000 different acts, both local and global, representing a wide range of music genres, performed at 14 different city squares at Gentse Feesten. Helping Ghent glitter throughout the festival while also supporting the artists on stage was an impressive collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures and video panels, including the new Color STRIKE M. At the main stage on Sint-Baafsplein, the Euro P.A. team put together a power-packed rig that featured eight Color STRIKE M fixtures and eight STRIKE 1 blinders, as well as 24 Maverick MK2 Wash and 16 Maverick MK2 Spot units. Run with a ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M Stadium console, this collection of fixtures delivered searing intense looks with generous servings of audience lighting along with aerial effec
Canada - The Montréal International Jazz Festival roared back to life in 2022, reinforcing its distinction as the largest jazz festival in the world. With 350 concerts scheduled over 10 days - two-thirds of them free - the festival once again drew audiences numbering in the hundreds of thousands to downtown Montréal, where AVL supplier Solotech had equipped eight indoor and outdoor stages - including the Scène TD main stage - with Meyer Sound reinforcement systems. The resounding success of audio at this year’s festival can be credited to the work of festival technical coordinator Dan Meier and his team from L’Equipe Spectra. Meyer Sound and Solotech worked closely with Meier and his team to develop and deploy the sonic experiences at the festival. The enthusiastic response came as no surprise to director of R&D and technological solutions David Brazeau, who
Venezuela - Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Kany García visited Caracas, Venezuela, for the first time where she played two shows in the Ríos Reina Hall of the Teresa Carreño Theater. Production manager Jorge ‘Mosquito’ Redondo of Caracas-based OZ Shows selected Claypaky Sharpy Plus fixtures for the concerts, which were provided by Touch Me Marketing in Caracas. García, whose songs tell the stories of 21st century women through reflective lyrics and expressive performances, is a five-time Latin Grammy winner. She partnered with AGTE Live Entertainment and Conecciones Entertainment to deliver a show that made such a hit with fans that she plans a return visit to Venezuela this fall. The initial design for García’s Caracas show came from the artist, her lighting designer Will Rivera of WRDesigner in San Juan, Puerto Rico and the design and technical teams at OZ
USA - It’s been a busy year for lighting and production designer Chris Lisle and his company CLLD. The production design firm recently wrapped up work on Lollapalooza, their sixth major event back-to-back, and turned to an Elation rig, including Proteus series IP65 luminaires, to light the festival’s popular Perry’s Stage. “Weather is one of the biggest factors we face on a festival and if I can predominately get IP65 fixtures in a rig I have a better guarantee that they’ll be working day after day,” Lisle stated. But, he adds, it’s not all about the IP rating. “I also want something with a feature set that I know LDs will like - solid colours, a good gobo package, nice strobe, fast fixtures - something I know they will be happy with, can clone quickly and then are good to go.” Flanked by a towering skyline and the shores of Lake Michigan, this year
USA - To provide Spring Studios with versatile, high-output lighting for a myriad of events and productions, IMCD Lighting selected and installed Martin MAC Ultra Performance fixtures, provided by Christie Lites. With studios in both New York City and London, Spring is a 360 agency that provides a variety of communications services for fashion, lifestyle and luxury brands. The New York studio is a multi-level space with a comprehensive backend for photoshoots, video productions and live events, attracting a diverse range of clients - including the Wall Street Journal, New York Fashion Week and the WNBA among others. When the studio required new light fixtures with modern features and brightness that could compete with the sunlight from the studio’s massive windows, the Martin MAC Ultra Performance was chosen. “At Spring Studios, we do anything from high-end
Europe - The Rolling Stones Sixty tour is utilising Austrian Audio microphones. On 15 July, The Stones rocked Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium. “It was an unbelievable experience,” says Austrian Audio’s CEO, Martin Seidl. “Of course, I’m probably The Stones’ biggest fan, so just seeing them live again was really cool. But hearing our mics on stage - that was unreal.” That the concert took place in Austrian Audio’s hometown made it an even more unforgettable evening. “It doesn’t get bigger than this,” Seidl says. For Sixty, Dave Natale, the front of house engineer, is working once again with The Stones to make sure their sound is as excellent as their fans expect. Natale is known for his work with Prince, Tina Turner, Stevie Nicks, Yes, Motley Crue, Fleetwood Mac, Van Halen, and many more A-list artists. Natale specifically chose to use the O
UK - The new Matches Sports Bar, located 60 miles south of London, in Elwick Place in Ashford, opened its doors in the summer of 2021, and has been a live sports and entertainment destination hot spot ever since. Critical to the bar's rapid success was a sharp focus on designing and installing a very flexible, high-quality, easy-to-use sound system to deliver audio to Matches' large and small spaces for public and private events. The team developed a comprehensive networked audio system with a set of Dante-connected, multi-channel amplifiers at its core. Matches owner, Jon Shephard, explained that the concept for the 250-capacity venue is to bring together all the best elements of bars he has visited into a single place, and create the ultimate sports bar experience with excellent AV entertainment that appeals to a wide range of sports enthusiasts. With this goal in mind, au
UK – Events solutions provider Encore collaborated with lighting designer Simon Grant in June to elevate a live-streamed corporate event for global pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Together, they specified 100 Vari-Lite VL5LED WASH luminaires from Signify to create on-brand colours and eye-catching effects. The high CRI RGBALC Color System with SmartColor Control built-in to the VL5LED WASH was clear to see as a wide range of vivid colour options were used for the corporate event, which was broadcast live to GSK employees and attended in-person by 800 team members at the company’s London HQ. The video team used a six-camera set-up to capture the seminar with three large LED screens rigged in the space, which were provided by Creative Technology. In the room, the audience sat in the round, with an OB truck standing by to live stream the seminar, supplie
UK - Availing himself of lighting tools that would have been unimaginable in the 1980’s, Ollie Wilkinson, on behalf of Arranpaul Audio, created a continuous flow of evocative and colourful looks reminiscent of the big hair neon era for the recent Music In the Park festival in Leyland. “It was wonderful to be able to evoke ‘80s retro looks with modern LED technology,” he said. “We supported each band visually in a way that reflected the essence of their music.” Helping Wilkinson create these looks were 22 Maverick MK2 Spot, and 16 Rogue R2 Wash fixtures from Chauvet Professional. Using various monochromatic palettes, he was able to award each band with their own distinctive ‘80s shimmer. “Because I knew the music of each band so well, it was very enjoyable to come up with various unique looks for all of them on stage,” commented Wilkinson. “T
Zimbabwe - Celebration Ministries is one of the most powerful and far-reaching Christian organisations in Zimbabwe and across Southern Africa. Founded in 1982 by Pastors Tom and Bonnie Deuschle with just six people in their living room, today Celebration Ministries numbers over 80 churches worldwide. The headquarters of Celebration Church International is a building in Borrowdale, Harare, called Celebration Centre. Finally opened in 2004 after a marathon 14-year build process, Celebration Centre is now a significant Zimbabwean landmark. Stage Audio Works has recently completed a comprehensive audio systems upgrade for the main 3,800-seat auditorium based on a d&b PA system and Yamaha consoles with Dante networking. The decision to upgrade their audio systems was taken in 2019 just before the COVID pandemic. Pastor Bonnie Deuschle, who leads the praise and worship
Belgium - Located close to Antwerp’s historic city centre, Trix hosts a network of artists, music lovers, art and youth organisations, seeking to stimulate creation and discovery for a diverse audience - it also strives to be an ally for artists, helping them to develop their talent from an open-minded culture. The venue presents music from all genres, but the programme mainly consists of rock and metal, hiphop, soul and jazz with little commercial material. It is also a multifunctional facility with spaces for live performance, recording / production, workshops, rehearsals and a 700-capacity club room which has recently been upgraded with the addition of a new DiGiCo Quantum 225 console, complete with MQ-Rack. “Dominik loves to work on an SD console and owns an S21 himself,” comments David Liebens of supplier and integrator Amptec. “When the Q225 came to the m
Italy - Vasco Rossi returned to live performance action this year with his Vasco Live 2022 stadium tour which played 11 venues around Italy all of which were completely sold out. The production was run to strict Covid guidelines with a goal of keeping the environment safe and ensuring that the show could go on, as the latest variants of the virus demonstrated that they are still capable of causing havoc, the consequences of which no large tour wants to deal with. Lighting designer Giovanni Pinna chose nearly 300 Robe moving lights to be the heart, soul, and backbone of the rig, with MegaPointes, Spiiders and LEDBeam 150s. A 71m-wide stage and over 1000sq.m of video in Gio Forma studio’s set concept offered up a fresh new variation of the epic high-impact widescreen aesthetic that Vasco loves for presenting his live work. Giovanni based the structural e
UK - The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games opened in late July, with 4,500 athletes and over a million spectators expected to travel from all over the world to compete in 286 sessions across 11 days of live sport. Sports Technology (ST) the ’official large video screens & audio services provider’ to the Games, is providing a full turnkey technical solution from the design, through to delivery and operation of all LED screens, projection, audio, sport presentation, and the provision of major signal distribution infrastructure across the 15 competition venues supporting 19 sports and eight paralympic sports. ST was established in the UK in 2010 in the run up to the London 2012 Olympics as a specialist business focused on delivering AV and associated technology services to major multi-sport events. The business is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Creative Technol
USA – Like some ancient deity of the underworld, Quintillian Speakers are shrouded in mystery. Even readers engrossed in the Vaxis 2 story, from which they sprang, know little about this ancient race of beings, other than that they are made of energy, and can turn up anywhere - even at this summer’s Coheed and Cambria tour across North America. The band’s frontman Claudio Sanchez conjured up these ‘enigmatic entities’ as part of The Amory Wars, an ongoing series of science fiction comic books and novels he created. His vision is brought to life on the group’s current tour, not just through its thematic music, but also by a commanding 27ft tall inflatable rendition of a Quintillian Speaker. Animating this impressive figure on the tour, and endowing it with a distinct persona, while also reflecting its power to transmit energy, is a bold and colourful
Thailand – As large-scale live shows begin to return to delight fans across Asia Pacific, one of the region’s biggest stars recently wrapped up two sold-out concerts and fan meets at Bangkok’s Impact Arena. California-born Mark Tuan made his mark on the K-Pop genre with superstar boyband Got7 and has since confirmed his place as a multidimensional celebrity recognised internationally as a rapper, singer, songwriter, and model. The multi-purpose Impact Arena - which includes a convention centre that can be used for sporting events, conferences, and concerts - was chosen for Mark Tuan to perform and meet with more than 10,000 fans over two nights. Bangkok-based 4nologue promoted the event. They turned to local audio-visual provider PM Center Co’s team of audio professionals to deploy pristine tour-level sound in the largest concert venue in Thailand. “Our first
USA - When Coldplay performed a sold-out show in Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena last October, lighting designer Sooner Routhier of Sooner Rae Creative used 64 Claypaky Xtylos luminaires that dazzled the audience. The fixtures were the centrepiece of her design for the show that ringed a massive circular truss mounted over the stage. The stand-alone concert, presented by Amazon Music and live streamed worldwide on Amazon, was part of a global promotional tour of single shows in support of the band’s ninth studio album, Music of the Spheres. For the ambitious Seattle show, Routhier and her team “essentially created a full-size arena production for a 20-plus-camera, global live broadcast with three days on site and five days of previs,” she points out. “It really does come down to the team; it’s a massive collaborative effort to get something like that
Ireland - A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ireland (AC-ET Ireland) turned to Doughty Engineering when they were contracted by Dublin Business School (DBS) to deliver a new studio space to enhance its extensive suite of programmes. DBS has evolved over the years, expanding its offerings to meet the demands of various sectors, offering subjects in business, law, finance, computing, media, arts, psychology, and social science. To create a modern studio with the latest technologies, AC-ET Ireland specified and supplied a number of leading technology brands for the project, including Six-Track from Doughty Engineering. “Once we knew that track and drapes were part of the client’s brief, it was a no brainer for us to specify Doughty products,” explained Aaron Cripps, AC-ET Ireland’s managing director. “We know that Doughty kit is consistently reliable and that the t
UK - CPL co-ordinated and delivered staging, sound, video, lighting and other associated BTS (behind the scenes) infrastructure to Tropic Fest, a two-day festival style event staged in the grounds of the historic Chillington Hall in Staffordshire. CPL was working for production company Pandora Events and their end client, Tropic Skincare with a team led by Lee Gruszeckyj. They asked Star Events onboard to supply the 15m orbit stage on which all the performance action took place. The sound, lighting and video production design was based on the requirements of several artist riders from a lively line-up that included acts like Rob da Bank, Our Girl G, Queenz, Mr Motivator, Air Guitar Band, Magic of Marley, Twinnie, the Strictly Come Dancing Band with headliners Gok Wan, Bjorn Again and the Ministry of Sound Disco. This mixed line up meant that flexibility was essential
Europe - After hanging up his bass guitar from his time in bands like Kix and Wrathchild America, Brad Divens has been the Front of House engineer for a range of major artists, including Linkin Park, Cyndi Lauper, Garbage, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band and Mötley Crüe. This summer he mixed major European shows for Enrique Iglesias where, since switching to a Yamaha Rivage PM digital mixing system, he was able to bid a final farewell to years of touring with outboard racks. Like all experienced engineers, Brad cut his teeth on analogue mixers. Since, he has used various digital systems, but it was when friend and fellow engineer Frank Scamalone recommended the Yamaha Rivage PM series that Brad properly took the plunge. “I knew that I wanted to do something different and Frank kept telling me ‘Look Brad, just plug an SM58 into it and listen to your voice, th
Columbia - Reggaeton superstar Maluma sold out Medellin’s Atanasio Girardot stadium for a homecoming show that was as spectacular as it was popular, complete with lightshow created by Alain Corthout using over 200 Robe moving lights. Alain is already working on the artist’s ongoing US & Latin American tour with runs until November 2022, so for this special concert complete with a 22-camera shoot streaming via Amazon Music, he substantially upscaled set and lighting. It was also the first time that Maluma has staged such a big show in his lively and significant hometown. Amplifying the touring set and lighting, Alain specified 125 x Robe MegaPointes, 80 x Spiider wash beams, 32 x Tetra2 LED battens, 28 x ColorStrobes and eight BMFL WashBeams for the in-the-round show. A massive ground supported roof / stage system with 23m of trim height was installed i
UK - The Smile embarked on their first ever UK and European tour with audio support from Britannia Row Productions. The band – comprised of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner – chose a selection of intimate venues for their debut tour, which meant that house PA systems were the order of the day, and the Brit Row control package would take on a lot of the heavy lifting. FOH Engineer Mikko Gordon has worked with The Smile’s frontman, Thom Yorke, for 10 years both live and in the studio, most recently serving as engineer for the band’s debut album, A Light for Attracting Attention. “It felt natural for me to be the one to take this show out into the world,” says Mikko. “We spent some time at Rak Studios for production rehearsals and this allowed me to create my mix in a controlled environment. I used
USA - Franklin Music Hall on Philadelphia’s North 7th Street first opened its doors in 1995 as Electric Factory, the second incarnation of a bygone local ’60s/’70s venue. The new 2,500-capacity venue quickly emerged as one of the city’s prime destinations for artists spanning genres from rock to punk to noise to dance, and its popularity sparked the warehouse-style music-venue trend, becoming the model for clubs across the nation. The venue was eventually acquired by AEG in September 2018 and took on its current moniker, with AEG’s regional partner The Bowery Presents producing shows there by artists like Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Greta Van Fleet, MGMT, and Matt and Kim. Now, Franklin Music Hall has turned yet another corner with its recent installation of an L-Acoustics K2 loudspeaker system, which has pumped up the volume for its most current raft of touring
USA - Built as a hotel in 1865, the Haywood House in Jefferson, Texas, has served as a grand hotel, a local history museum and a personal residence. Today, the historic Haywood House is an upscale Euro-American restaurant and cocktail bar. Owners Teresa and Alan Ponder purchased Haywood House in 2020 and have been updating and renovating the building's infrastructure, including the installation of a new state-of-the-art, facility-wide sound system from AtlasIED, featuring the company's Strategically Hidden Speakers and Atmosphere audio control platform. Michael Chism, account manager at Visual Techniques (VTI-TX), was the point person for the historical Haywood House sound system project. Based in Longview, Texas, VTI-TX is an AV systems integration firm providing a range of products and solutions, including high-quality audio and control systems, visual presentation a
UK - London’s 02 Intercontinental Hotel recently hosted the World Procurement Awards. Organisers of the event, which celebrates the achievements of companies and individuals involved in the procurement supply chain, wanted to endow it with a “rock vibe” to reflect the bold convention-challenging attitude that drives that industry. Helping to convey this mood was a dynamic production and lighting design by Pytch that emulated the look and feel of rock shows throughout the venue. The design team created one of the largest scale of productions the 02 has ever seen. This required a complex rigging system, incorporating a large mother grid and a kinesys based motor system to accommodate unique angled automated diamond LED wall. There were also over 400 panels of LED for the stage set. The size and scope of the production meant that load in and load out were challenging, wit
