Italy - When Spazio Bizzarro, a red and white big top circus tent in Casatenovo, Milan, launched its latest project In The Air, it turned to BroadWeigh for its load monitoring requirements. The project, which was conceived in 2012, is a cultural sports and social centre, offering annual courses and workshops in contemporary circus and performative arts, including street art, music, theatre and dance. Nicola Bruni, director of Spazio Bizzarro explains: “We knew we would need a reputable partner for this venture and selected Monkey Rigging to help us devise a rigging structure for our new indoor space, Il Delado. Working with Monkey Rigging’s Andrea Mammolenti, we came up with a solution that would give us a safe system for both the big top and Il Delado - the training spaces for this project.” Andrea adds: “The challenge was to design a structure for th
UK - Grammy award-winning musician, singer, songwriter, actress and producer St Vincent is renowned for her visual performances, an invigorating mix of grittiness, conceptual art and superlative music - a great match with lighting designer Paul Normandale, who also has a penchant for imaginative risk taking. Normandale designed the set and lighting for St Vincent’s most recent Daddy’s Home tour following the launch of the album of the same name. He worked closely with the artist who had numerous ideas about the style she wanted onstage, and after some creative brainstorming, Paul evolved a dynamic set and lighting scheme to bring flexibility, texture, depth, and dimension to the stage that was also practical and tourable. At the core of the touring lighting system were 19 Astera Titan Tubes. These were fully maximised as scenic, practical and effects light
UK - Ollie Wilkinson put together the lighting rig for the Panto performance of Snow White and Seven Dwarfs at Blackpool’s Grand Theatre. “I took on many hats with this project,” said Wilkinson. “One of the first was to prep the equipment at Arranpaul's warehouse for the show, and coordinate with the venue regarding the rigging and weight of the equipment that was being flown on their mother grid. My next role was to manage the load in team to ensure the equipment was placed, rigged and cabled ready for the first day of technical rehearsals. I also specified the Chauvet Professional Net-X, one main and one back up, to provide key ArtNet control.” Given the long Covid layoff, Wilkinson didn’t mind all the activity, especially when he saw the final production, a wonderfully joyful retelling of the classic tale filled with exuberant singing, dancing, co
USA - With Pearl Jam currently in the process of rescheduling its four-month North American Gigaton tour, which was postponed amid coronavirus concerns two years ago, frontman Eddie Vedder recently tested the touring waters with a brief road trip to support his new solo release, Earthling. Backed by a band including Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Glen Hansard (The Frames), Chris Chaney (Jane's Addiction), Josh Klinghoffer (touring Pearl Jam/RHCP member), and Andrew Watt (producer of Earthling) Vedder’s tour spanned nine shows across six US cities throughout February. The shows marked the first time that Pearl Jam’s long-time front-of-house engineer, Greg Nelson, manned his mix from behind a new DiGiCo Quantum338 mixing console supplied by touring sound company RAT Sound. Meanwhile, on monitors, Karrie Keyes, who has been with Pearl Jam from the s
USA - Lighting designer Matt Mills is currently on tour in USA with the Californian Nu Metal, Rock band KoRn. Due to international travel restrictions the booked LD for KoRn was unable to join the tour in USA. Stepping in, Matt saw this as an opportunity to tour with his Follow-Me 3D SIX remote follow-spot system. Having been Introduced to Follow Me-2D in 2017 on a Europe run with Avenged Sevenfold and Disturbed, Matt immediately saw what this could add to his shows: “Since then I have bought several Follow-Me 2D licenses and early January 2019 our design firm, Touch Light & Media, invested in the new Follow-Me 3D systems. We have rented our systems to several international tours, Shinedown, The Killers, many corporate events, and several high-profile political events.” On previous shows, the band was bothered by the traditional follow-spots being at lower angl
USA - Both performance stages at this year’s Black Joy Parade celebration in California were illuminated primarily by ADJ fixtures, alongside a handful of additional units from sister company Elation Professional. IP65-rated fixtures were chosen by production company Islay Events for this outdoor event, which took place in the heart of downtown Oakland, CA. 18P HEX IP LED pars illuminated the performers on stage, while Hydro Beam X2 moving heads created piercing beam effects that shot out from the stage over the heads of the huge crowd. The mainstage rig was controlled from an ADJ LINK, while the PA system for the second stage utilised the Imperio mini line array system from ADJ’s Avante Audio brand. The Black Joy Parade is a celebration of the black community’s influence on cultures past, present and future. This year it involved a parade that started at 13th St
Australia - Canberra-based Elite Event Technology has made a new investment in 16 x Robe MegaPointe moving lights for general stock, which join the 16 that they already owned, purchased when the product was launched in 2018. “MegaPointe is a go-to lighting fixture for so many entertainment and corporate event scenarios,” commented EET’s Darren Russell. “It is highly versatile, so we knew it was a solid investment with a good ROI, and that the kit will be busy all the time,” he stated, adding “it’s a great all-purpose fixture with an amazing output for the size and weight.” EET has several other Robe products in its rental inventory, including Spiiders, Pointes, BMFL Spots and BMFL WashBeams, Spikies, LEDBeam 100s, LEDWash 600s and LEDWash 300+s, MiniMe’s, MMX Spots, DLX Spots and 600E Spots. Darren was an early adopter and started purchasing Robe prod
USA - With five Primetime Emmy nominations and four CAS awards for sound mixing, Darryl L. Frank is a household name in production sound mixing in New Mexico - a state Breaking Bad elevated as a filming location. In fact, he worked on the blockbuster AMC show. Lately, Frank has been chasing actors on horseback in the acclaimed western series 1883 and miking up Tom Hanks in the sci-fi drama Finch, which explores human-robot relations on a post-apocalyptic Earth. Instead of six-guns or lasers on his hip, Lectrosonics Digital Hybrid Wireless keeps the peace by ensuring flawless sound even under harsh production conditions. Frank’s rig includes Venue2 receivers, wideband SMWB transmitters and their dual-battery SMDWB siblings, SMV and SMQV high-output transmitters, and up to 30 R1-series IFB receivers depending on production needs. All frequencies are coor
UK - Production designer Owen Pritchard-Smith used multiples of GLP’s impression X4 Bar 20 battens and JDC1 hybrid strobes for several rescheduled UK shows on Dermot Kennedy’s recent Better Days tour. These included dates at Alexandra Palace in London before the Irish singer headed off to the States. “Two of the Ally Pally shows were rescheduled from last year, and then a third date was added,” he explains. “We also did shows in Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast, and a couple of festivals.” Returning to the same winning combination he had taken out with the artist when they first started working together three years ago, the GLP fixtures again formed the “absolute core” of a rig that was embellished for Ally Pally, Pritchard-Smith says. Working alongside creative director Richard Sloan and producer Peter Abbott, he adds that he set out to design a show th
USA - This year’s Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles area was an inflection point for the event’s signature halftime spectacular. It was to be the first time that all of the music performers were hip-hop artists, reflecting a shift what has taken place over the last decade that has seen the genre come to dominate popular music sales, charts, and culture. One thing that has remained a constant, though, was the event’s reliance on DiGiCo as ATK Audiotek, now a Clair Global company, once again deployed four SD5 mixing consoles to handle the complex and high-profile production. The headliners - Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, and surprise guest 50 Cent - were intended to constitute what halftime sponsor Pepsi called “the greatest 12 minutes in music entertainment the world has ever seen”. As with previous years’
South Korea - JYP Entertainment, one of the biggest record labels and music production businesses in South Korea, has discovered and produced some of the most popular and successful K-pop artists such as Stray Kids, ITZY, TWICE and NiziU. It was founded in 1997 by South Korean singer-songwriter Park Jin-Young (named after his stage name, J. Y. Park). JYP’s first girl group, Wonder Girls, became a commercial success and was the first South Korean group to enter the Billboard Hot 100 in 2009 when their song Nobody charted at No. 76. Over the last couple of years, JYP Entertainment has grown rapidly. This meant that it needed to find a new, bigger studio, with larger music production rooms to accommodate the increasing numbers of artists it now works with. The project took two years to complete and was finished just before the global pandemic started in 2
New Zealand - The winner of multiple architectural awards, The Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington helps to define the Wellington skyline with its tri-level glass façade and towering concrete columns, which are often adorned in colourful light. Recently, the 2,200-capacity venue, which is the home of the New Zealand Symphony and Orchestra Wellington, reflected another core value of its hometown: a commitment to protecting the environment, when it received a lighting upgrade that replaced tungsten fixtures with a collection of 268 Chauvet Professional Ovation LED units supplied by MDR Sound & Lighting. The three-year process began in 2019, when the Wellington City Council, the building’s owner, approached preferred technical supplier NW Group to source a lighting solution for the heat and light related issues experienced on stage by performers. After evaluating d
Japan - Recognised as one of Japanese capital’s leading theatre venues, the Tokyo Garden Theatre is located in the city’s waterfront area within a major new development that also includes a retail mall, hotel, spa facility and housing complex. In a country where most theatres and halls operate on weekends only, the Tokyo Garden Theatre is designed to stage events every day of the week, where shows can load in out quickly, with easy access to a versatile, world-class, and permanently installed sound system. “At my previous job, I was in charge of establishing Sendai PIT, a small live club in the city of Sendai,” explains Katsushi Kamuki from the theatre’s operation department. “We used Nexo speakers there, and I felt that their bold and powerful sound would be well-suited for the sound at Tokyo Garden Theatre. So, I took everyone involved in making the decision to
USA - For Moshe Baskin, lighting pro of the @Eagleproducionco team. music is something that can shape the movement of light. This was obvious for the audience at the historic Ritz Theatre to see (and feel!) recently when the designer set the light from his 48 Chauvet Professional fixtures in motion for Winterlude, a collective performance by some of the leading stars in Jewish pop music. Treating his lighting rig as if it were an orchestra, Baskin created a dynamic flow of effects that moved in harmony with the music of the various artists note-for-note throughout the concert. He worked closely with the creative team: Shaya Adler of Eagle Production Co.; Shlome Steinmetz, the show’s director and Mendy Herkowitz of Mendy H Band and Visual Live. He designed chase sequences that moved across the width of the stage like the fingers of a maestro on a keyboard. At other m
UK - Boisdale has live music restaurants in Belgravia, Bishopsgate and Canary Wharf, combining ‘fantastic dining with world-class entertainment’. The sound system at Boisdale’s largest property in Canary Wharf has recently been replaced by a new, all-Nexo installation comprising of speakers from the Geo M6, ID Series and ePS ranges, with amplification from 11 Dante-networked Nexo NXAMP4X2MK2 powered processors. “We strive to offer our customers the best of everything, from the moment they walk through the door,” explains Boisdale commercial and marketing director Adam Priestly. “Alongside a premium food, drink and entertainment offering, it’s also important to curate the right atmosphere, and sound is a big part of this. “Most importantly of course, we want performers and audience alike to experience the very best live sound, and that’s exactly
USA - The eight-time Grammy Award-winner and R&B superstar Usher Raymond IV recently headlined a Las Vegas residency. Opened at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in July 2021, Usher delivered 12 shows in total – eight in July, three in December, and a final event on 1 January, 2022. BrainHub and LMG Touring & Entertainment, both part of Entertainment Technology Partners (ETP), worked closely together and with the singer’s crew to design a larger-than-life experience featuring more than 500 moving lights, creative LED, and video solutions. “When the pandemic first hit we did some work with Usher in our studio out in Vegas. That wasn’t based on LED setup, but we were very good at bringing team’s vision to life and serving it with a solution that directly corresponded their requirements,” says David Luchsinger, director of LED services at ETP BrainHub.
USA - TV Network NBC recently ran a star-studded, live broadcast of the hit musical Annie. Annie Live was broadcast to a TV audience of over 5m with 350 watching in the NBC studio. Award-winning lighting designer Bob Barnhart lit the production, evoking mood, atmosphere, and a vivid sense of time and place. Having previously worked on NBC’s live broadcast of The Sound of Music, Barnhart knew that he required a lighting fixture with maximum technical and creative potential. To that end he selected the VL2600 Profile from Vari-Lite. “I wanted a ‘Swiss Army Knife’ luminaire. A fixture that can perform multiple tasks, without compromising on creativity,” he explains. “Live television specials can be like uncaged animals. Even with the most basic shows, we can face multiple challenges. We’re often short on time and in this case we only had
Portugal - Martin Audio’s Portuguese partner LVT Audio recently supported a landmark 40th anniversary performance by rock band, Xutos & Pontapés and the Portuguese Philharmonic Orchestra with a Martin Audio MLA Compact rig. The band itself was founded in Lisbon by the late Zé Pedro, Zé Leonel, Kalú and Tim, and the Porto-based rental company were determined to cut no corners at Porto’s 8,500-capacity Super Bock Arena. With audio direction by LVT principal, and technical director, Miguel Lindo and support from Martin Audio’s North American technical specialist Joe Lima, LVT provided Xutos’ FOH engineer, Carlos Vales (Cajó) and system tech, Antonio (Touché) Costa with a powerful system. This comprised hangs of 18 elements of MLA Compact per side, with a further 12 MLA Mini and three MSX subs on each flank performing out-fill duties. LF reinforcem
USA - To provide the Oak Ridge Boys with dynamic and reliable lighting for their recent 2022 tour, lighting designer David Boots selected the lightweight but powerful Martin Professional ERA 300 Profiles supplied by Entertainment Rental Group. Starting life as the Oak Ridge Quartet in 1947, the Oak Ridge Boys are one of the longest-running groups in American country music. The quartet’s current line-up -lead singer Duane Allen, tenor Joe Bonsall, baritone William Lee Golden, and bass Richard Sterban - was responsible for the band’s most well-known hits including Elvira, American Made and Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight. After touring with the now-discontinued Martin MAC 250 Entour fixtures for 15 years, the group needed new, durable and long-lasting fixtures for the recent 2022 tour capable of providing an immersive and riveting exper
UK - Released in 2019, the movie Joker quickly became one of the top-rated films of the year. The flick’s pop culture relevance made it a perfect fit for London-based concert promotion and production company Senbla Live Events’ ‘film in concert’ series. As pioneers of this production model, the team at Senbla knew that translating the film into a live show would require an audio solution with a pristine level of clarity. With 25 years’ experience using DPA Microphones, Phil Wright, sound designer and front of house engineer for Joker Live in Concert, trusted the brand to deliver. Working with AV production supplier SFL, Wright chose to make it a fully DPA spec. “I’ve always had DPA on strings, but it has been my dream to do a solely DPA show,” says Wright. “Some people were hesitant about whether it would truly make a difference, but no
Sweden - Club After Dark is a new supper club / cabaret concept, created by Swedish drag artist and performer Christer Lindarw, a colourful extravaganza of music and dance directed and choreographed by Hans Marklund, with music directed by Kent Olsson who is also a co-creator of the show together with Christer and Hans. Staged at the Vasateatern (Vasa Theatre) in Stockholm, the show is lit by Mikael Kratt, who was asked onboard by Hans and producers My Blomgren and Mikael Jernberg, to craft an appropriately spectacular and dynamic lightshow for the evening, which unfolds over three acts embracing multiple musical genres. Mikael immediately thought of Robe’s MegaPointe for this task and specified 14 of these multi-purpose luminaires to be at the heart of the show’s lighting supported by nine Robe Spiider LED washes. Two Robe BMFL WashBeams together wit
Poland - Wise Clubs is an AV consultancy and integration firm based in Kraków. The company was recently called upon to design and integrate systems into two of Katowice’s leading nightspots – the P23 club located in a former porcelain factory, and its little brother, the recently opened CEL club in the centre of Katowice. Both venues have been equipped with comprehensive KV2 sound systems - the first KV2 systems to go into clubs in Poland - designed and installed by Wise Clubs and supplied by KV2’s polish distributor, Arcade Audio. P23 has a true post-industrial feel with its natural brick walls, steel girders and lofty ceilings. One of the city’s premier live music venues, P23 plays host to a variety of events, from acoustic concerts through to rock music and – perhaps the genre for which it is best known – techno. The biggest names in techno and electron
USA - Joe Bonamassa is touring this year in support of his 2021 LP, Time Clocks. The 23-date US spring tour leg kicked off in February in Orlando, Florida and concludes in Washington, DC this week. Out on the road with him are a new pair of DiGiCo Quantum5 mixing consoles manned by front-of-house engineer Mike Lavielle and monitor engineer John Kaylor. Also on the trek are a DiGiCo SD-Rack, with 32-bit microphone inputs feeding both consoles, and a SD-Nano Rack used for ancillary duties at front of house, all on an Optocore loop. The two desks also recently accompanied Bonamassa and crew aboard the Norwegian Pearl for his sold-out Keeping The Blues Alive at Sea VII cruise from 21-25 February, where they proved seaworthy on their maiden voyage. All of these early-2022 shows mark the inaugural deployment of the new desks by the tour’s systems provider, Special
UK - The Albany, a multi-disciplinary arts centre in the heart of Lewisham in south-east London, has been serving its community for over 100 years. The original Albany Institute opened in 1899 with the aim of improving the lives of local people. It became the Albany Empire in the 1970s and gained a reputation for its pioneering work in radical community arts. The building was destroyed by fire in 1978 but was rebuilt, and today the Albany is a theatre in the round that hosts a diverse range of disciplines, from music of all types to theatre, children’s shows, workshops, lectures and more. The venue has recently replaced its ageing PA with a new Reference Series system from EM Acoustics supplied by Stage Electrics. Head of production at the Albany, Ben Stephen, explains that the prime requirement when specifying their new system was flexibility and ease of use. “We
