It was clear this year that Rimini’s SIB exhibition has moved away from its past in more ways than one. Most obviously, it has moved from its usual home - the relatively tatty old Fiera - to the gleaming, air-conditioned, marble-clad new Fiera. But behind the simple fact of location, there seems also to have been an effort to make this a more ‘professional’ exhibition, i.e. to cut out much of the nonsense for which SIB has been known and loved for years.
The ‘old’ SIB epitomised the unique Italian discotheque culture, and the show floor was a vibrant mix of promoters, performers, punters and posers, squeezed alongside the lights, lasers, smoke and sound - all generously applied. The show still retains elements of its past: a separate hall contained a vestige of the former, while the latter - the unrestrained use of smoke and SPLs - was still in evidence in places. However, that special buzz seemed all but gone, and with the apparent abundance of space at the new venue, SIB looked for the most part like it was making a brave effort to grow into a big pair of sensible shoes.
That said, this was not a bad show: business was pretty good according to most exhibitors and the post-show report stated visitors were up almost 2% on the 2000 event. At the end of the day, it’s the business that matters, but SIB always used to show that business and fun are not mutually exclusive . . .
PLASA took a group of UK exhibitors under the DTI’s SESA (Support for Exhibitions & Seminars Abroad) scheme, and all seemed pleased with the result. The group included DHA Lighting, Vivid Innovation, Lee Filters, Avolites, The Smoke Company, Shipley Dial, Pulsar, Harkness Hall, Martin Audio, Cadac and Celestion. Members of the group received a visit from Richard Northern, the British Consul-General based in Milan, lending his support to UK companies doing business in Italy.
AC Lighting introduced the first items in their new TourMate range of innovative, tour-friendly connectors. The robust Multilock 19-pin connector range offers a number of improvements over models currently available. A unique spider clamp provides individual clamping for six-circuit cable assemblies and is IP67-rated. Other features include six-circuit identification, first mate/last break earth contacts and an integral insulation sleeve in the backshell. All connectors are compatible with Socapex and Veam ranges.
Also new is the TourMate Splitline power adapter, a cost-effective alternative to commonly-used 16A cable splitters, available in two versions: the 230V version is a 1-in x 3-out mains adapter; the 110V version has one pair of the output sockets wired in series to 110V sockets, while retaining a single 230V through connector.
ADB’s Dirk van Nieuwenhuysen showed the company’s touring dimmer rack systems, available in six versions and based on ADB’s Memorack 30 dimmers. Despite its traditional market being in film and television, ADB has found its dimming systems making considerable inroads on the European touring market, with several leading rental houses choosing their product. ADB was exhibiting on the stand of its Italian distributor Spotlight, who also showed product from Compulite, Dynalite, Pani, Tomcat and Lite Structures, among others.
Audio Link is a leading Italian distributor of sound equipment and, under the auspices of its Lite Link subsidiary, of lighting and associated equipment, representing brands such as Avolites, PCM, James Thomas and Vari-Lite (for whom AudioLink is a new sales dealer). Avolites’ Koy Neminathan was busy demonstrating the new off-line editor for the Pearl console. The PC-based Avolites Pearl Simulator allows off-line creation and editing of shows, which can then be transferred to the console via disk. Used in conjunction with the Visualiser, the Pearl Simulator is designed to be used as an offline editor or as a training t
