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USA - Lee Rose and the creative team behind the Hollywood Party segment of Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve show begin looking for a suitable soundstage for their production in mid-September. Most years the process is fairly routine, but not in 2020.
“We scouted the Los Angeles Convention Centre as a possible location,” said Rose, who began lighting Dick Clark New Year’s Eve segments back in the ‘par can days’ of December 1984. “Normally we’re on a soundstage for the Hollywood Party, but as it turned out, most of the TV shows that went down for the pandemic left their sets on their stages. Between that and production starting up for some new shows, there were no stages to be had. A venue was finally confirmed in October with producti

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USA - Radiant Church, a thriving multi-site church located in Tampa, Florida, has recently overhauled the AVL system in its dedicated space for elementary-aged children. This included the installation of 37 ADJ lighting fixtures to create a vibrant and versatile rig designed to provide a fun-filled and contemporary backdrop for Sunday services and midweek events hosted by the church’s lively ‘Radiant Kids’ ministry.
Planted by Pastor Aaron Burke and his wife Katie in 2013, with a vision of creating a life-giving church that would transform a community, Radiant Church has quickly grown to spread across five locations in the Tampa Bay area. With an attendance approaching 4,000, it was placed at number 5 in Outreach Magazine’s 2020 list of Fastest-Growing Churches in America. Throughout this growth, the church has continually invested in the AV technology they use to pr

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Europe - BroaMan and Spiritland OB will co-host a Zoom-based webinar on 14 January, at 14.00hr GMT (15.00 CET, 9.00 EST).
BroaMan’s point-to-point fibre transport solution, based on the Repeat48WDM platform, was selected by one of the UK's leading OB trucks - Spiritland One - to provide a multi-format stagebox system to run multiple video, audio and data signals between stage and truck.
Co-hosts, Spiritland co-founder, Antony Shaw, and BroaMan technical sales manager, Maciek Janiszewski, will present a case study on this advanced system design, and how they evolved such a compact custom solution. The session will incorporate an interactive Q/A.
BroaMan itself offers customised fibre solutions as well as standard devices for every application that requires IP/SDI/HD/3G video transport or routing.
Webinar is at
featured content

Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

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Denmark - Lighting designer Johnny Thinggaard Lydiksen counts himself lucky to have had a busy autumn, engaged in working on several different television productions, all of them using Robe moving lights.
This has included music show Here’s Your Hit for DR2, a flagship channel of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, and two major TV Awards shows, one for radio station P3 Guld (Gold) at the Aalborg Musikkens Hus and the high-profile Crown Prince Couples Awards staged at the Værket Randers.
Directed by Dean Strange, Here’s Your Hit is staged in the charismatic Tunnel Fabrikkerne in Copenhagen's north harbour.
This facility was originally built to fabricate and engineer elements utilised in the construction of the Oresund Bridge that connects the Danish capital with the Swedish city of Malmo. It is now in the process of being redeveloped as a mu

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Germany - For more than 100 years, Goldbäckerei Grote has been serving its customers in the Sauerland region. In addition to 17 cafés and bakeries, the fourth generation of the family business has now also opened a gastronomy location directly on the shores of Lake Sorpe (Sundern). For the first time, an all-day concept has been introduced, where customers are provided with hot and cold dishes, cocktails and regional specialities. The upper floor is designed as an event area.
The company Event Active from Schmallenberg was commissioned to equip this space with the appropriate audio-visual technology. Managing director Noel Büchte stated, "Goldbäckerei Grote wanted to offer a high-quality event location with its Heimathafen [events space]. Therefore, we planned the technology so that the products could be perfectly integrated and deliver an excellent performance.”

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The Netherlands – Tasked by a Regional Public Health Service with finding an effective solution for a new COVID-19 testing centre to enable its 18 test bays to signal for technical assistance, Backbone International turned to tried-and-tested event production technology from digital communications specialist Green-GO.
The company, a leading production management and temporary infrastructure specialist with operations worldwide, is well used to delivering the best technical solutions for any number of environments. Faced with this signalling challenge as part of a systems integration project for a testing facility in Eindhoven, they turned to Green-GO, and its Beacon call indicator units. Developed for the event production industry, the Green-GO Beacons have a transparent outer case and light up when receiving a call.
Backbone’s Daniël Zwaan explains, “The testin

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Norway - Bølgen Kulturhus in Larvik is a multi-purpose, multi-use venue that welcomes thousands of patrons annually for concerts, cinema, and theatre presentations, as well as conferences and events of all descriptions. With the recent installation of an Adamson Systems Engineering E-Series PA in its main hall, Storsalen, Bølgen has extended its already substantial capabilities to present the wide variety of programming it offers and the diverse range of events it hosts.
Previously, Norwegian distributor Benum provided Bølgen with Adamson rigs for the venue’s other two, smaller performance/event spaces: eight IS10, four IS119 subs, four PC5, and two D120 amplifiers in ‘Sanden Scene’; and eight S7, two IS119 and two D120 for Blåboksen.
In the Storshalen space, Benum has now installed a system comprised of 20 E12 (flown 10 per side), six E219 subs, and four S7p

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Europe - German networked audio and interconnectivity specialist DirectOut has announced a collaboration with the Italian-based team of Vivivaldy to establish a tailored service for uncompressed audio transmission over public WAN connections.
Driven by the success of the first Lockdown Rock projects which allowed artists and audio professionals to work together remotely in real-time, the experts from both companies decided to join forces and create an ‘out-of-the-box’ solution.
Luca Giaroli, product manager at DirectOut, comments, “Our products deploying Ravenna technology have already proven their worth in remote production and broadcast environments. Since the constraints of the pandemic have forced large parts of the audio industry to shut down their businesses, we were thinking about lowering the entry-level of this technology for the pro audio industry. For

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Europe - Global event production company PSAV has announced that it will begin to operate under the Encore name as part of a planned move to align its portfolio of companies, including Hawthorn and AVC Live, under a master brand.
Announced in March 2020, the move “solidifies the company’s desire to unify its operations and deliver industry leadership through end-to-end creative, production and technology services to its meeting planner customers and hotel partners, taking them far beyond traditional AV services”.
“This is an exciting day for our family of companies,” said Ben Erwin, president and CEO. “In a world changed by the pandemic, the Encore brand and new icon signal a forward focus. It puts our customers at the centre as we offer new platforms and tools to enable them to continue to meet and seamlessly connect in person and virtual audiences. We hav

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Serbia - Ayrton has appointed Sky Corporation as its new, exclusive distributor for Serbia. Established in 1999, Sky Corporation specialises in distribution, retail and systems integration, and is a regional leader in event and production technologies and services.
“At Sky Corporation we believe that high quality products and top performance are paramount in numerous applications and projects, and that's where Ayrton steps in,” says Sky Corporation director, Milan Cvetinovic. “In the entertainment industry, Ayrton products are high-end and we are happy to have the opportunity to introduce the Ayrton quality to our market. We have used all kinds of top-quality products in our production company but Ayrton is way above all of them.
“We firmly believe that Ayrton will help us to build more value into the company and to our clients.”
“We are delighted to

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UK - 2021 sees the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) celebrate the diamond jubilee of its foundation. The Association will be marking this milestone with a year of online activities, and a resumption of the popular face to face in-person events when restrictions allow. It will also take the opportunity to dip into the rich depths of the ABTT Archive in order to share videos and interviews. Plus there will be more seminars, new awards, and events throughout the year.
“It is a privilege to be part of the ABTT in its 60th year and to participate in its diamond jubilee,” says Robin Townley, CEO of the ABTT. “It is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the role it has played throughout its existence in supporting those engaged in the design and construction of places of entertainment as well as those delivering technical and production support to live perform

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UK - PLASA is hosting two free webinars this week on how to apply for the second round of grants from the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF).
Taking place on Wednesday 13 January from 10am-12pm and Friday 15 January from 2pm-4pm, these webinars will be hosted by Caroline Taylor, an independent expert with a proven track record in successfully applying for £15m in Arts Council England funding, including the first round of the CRF and the ACE Emergency Fund.
During each webinar you will explore the main application questions in detail which will help you submit a strong application. You will also learn about Grantium, the new Arts Council application portal which you are encouraged to register for prior to the webinar. Additionally, each webinar will have a dedicated Q&A section to answer any specific questions you may have regarding the application process. Following the

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UK - With SpotTrack, the specialist entertainment software tool for making, modifying and maintaining followspot cue sheets, sold on a per-show basis, it provided an immediate measure of the shut down of the entertainment industry across the world last March: all sales stopped.
But equally, it proved a barometer of an industry flickering back to life later in the year, with SpotTrack put to use on a number of the high-profile productions which re-opened for limited runs from the summer on.
At the Troubadour Theatre in Wembley, lighting designer Ken Billington and associate LD Dale Driscoll put SpotTrack to use on Sleepless In Seattle, which had actually loaded in pre-lockdown and was then one of the first shows to get going again once London’s lockdown was lifted. Based on the movie of the same name, the show played a limited but well-received season, helping

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USA - “New Year’s Eve at Lincoln Theatre has become one of our favourite traditions,” alt rockers BIG Something declared when announcing plans for a two-night NYE stand early in December. But during a pandemic, even traditions continued are traditions changed.
This was true for BIG Something as well as the design team that lit their livestream shows. Rather than playing to a full house, the energetic six-piece band, which typically feeds voraciously off crowds, had to perform their NYE concerts in a virtually empty venue.
Their lighting designer for the evenings, Daniel Thibault of Life Is Art Studios, also had to alter his normal way of doing things. Instead of running with the big beams and sweeping aerial effects that they normally favour, he and his team opted to work with more tightly focused wrap around looks that translated better to video.
“Everyb

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USA - Albert Grossman – music industry guru and manager of Bob Dylan, The Band, Janis Joplin, Odetta, and Peter, Paul, & Mary, among many others – founded the Bearsville creative complex in the 1970s in Woodstock, New York. Sadly, Albert died while the Bearsville Theatre was still under construction, and his widow, Sally Grossman, saw it through to completion in 1989.
The John Storyk-designed theatre remains part of a complex that included restaurants, residences, the Utopia production studio, and a recording studio. The Rolling Stones, Isley Brothers, Ozzy Osbourne, REM, Peter Tosh, Phish, Dave Matthews Band, and many others recorded at the studio. The theatre is set to re-open with a Danley sound system in place.
“Woodstock obviously holds a special place in music history, starting with the ‘Sound-Outs’ of the 1960’s that inspired the much larger Wood

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USA - At short notice, Elizabeth Coco eagerly embraced the opportunity to light three concert videos for the First Baptist Church of Glenarden outside Washington DC.
“Every year the church does spectacular Christmas and New Year’s Eve services, but due to COVID they had to reinvent things,” recalled Coco. “We did a series of filming over the course of seven days that included gospel performances from the church, as well as some partnering houses of worship in the area. From this, we created videos for the holidays as well as one for release later in 2021. I really enjoyed the challenge of taking on this project.”
In the process, Coco not only expanded her creative horizons, she also discovered the capabilities of the Chauvet Professional Maverick series, as her “surprise rig” included six MK3 Spot and 12 MK1 Spot fixtures.
“The performance of thes

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USA - Behind the Scenes has announced a generous year-end donation from MA Lighting International which has been a supporter of the charity for many years, through its partnership with the Lightpower Collection. MA Lighting International is responsible for worldwide sales and marketing of grandMA control systems.
MA Lighting international managing director, Stephan Saremba, commented, “In times like these, when donations from companies have declined sharply due to necessity, MA Lighting would like to set an example with direct financial support and once again emphasise the importance of these foundations.”
The Lightpower Collection is a long-time major supporter of Behind the Scenes. Lightpower, founded in 1978 in Germany as a lighting rental company, has grown to be an internationally established distributor for stage and studio lighting equipment. The Lightpower

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Germany - Nearly 500 Astera AX3 LightDrop wireless battery-powered LED fixtures were utilised for a Weihnachtsshow (Christmas Show) special broadcast by popular German singer, dancer and entertainer, Helene Fischer.
Essential elements of the show broadcast on Christmas Day were recorded at the vast Halle 6 of Dusseldorf Messe, complete production lighting designed by award-winning LD, Tim Routledge.
Due to coronavirus restrictions and the relatively short lead-time in which these segments of the show had to be produced, neither Tim nor camera director Paul Dugdale – also based in the UK – could physically be there in person. So, to ensure that the lighting design was installed and ran smoothly, Tim brought German LD Michael Kuehbandner onboard as lighting director to oversee the project in Dusseldorf.
It was Tim’s first design for the artist; however, he ha

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USA - After arguably the toughest year in recent memory, Bayside Church in Granite Bay, California, one of the largest churches in the Sacramento area, wanted to do something special for its congregation this holiday season. As a special holiday gift to the community, Bayside built a Christmas village complete with ice-skating rink, towering Christmas tree and special Christmas light show, a festive holiday experience enhanced using dynamic IP-rated luminaires from Elation Professional.
Alec Takahashi, a former lighting designer and lighting director at the church, was called on to light the project and worked on creative production with the church's creative team, including Bayside creative director Corbin Phillips. Felix Lighting of Southern California supplied all of the lighting gear for the project.
The Christmas experience, which included a 10-minute light show

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Qatar - The Amir Cup Final 2020 Ceremony, the biggest football cup competition in the State of Qatar, and the inauguration Ceremony of Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, the fourth FIFA World Cup stadium to open in Qatar following Khalifa International, Al Janoub and Education City was recently performed using two grandMA3 full-size and multiple MA Network Switches.
Qatar Vision Company developed, produced and managed the inauguration and final, that took place during Qatar National Day and exactly two years before the country hosts the FIFA World Cup final. Mohammad Assaf and Mark Anton were the lighting designers.
Because of strict health and safety protocols, Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium was only allowed to reach approximately 50% capacity. Any fan who attended the match had to return either a positive COVID-19 antibodies test or a negative COVID-19 test prior to being allowed access

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UK - The London skyline again turned into a beacon of blue at 18:00 on Thursday 7 January. Major sporting and entertainment venues, national landmarks and historic buildings across the capital illuminated in a gesture of thanks to the NHS, volunteers and all those on the COVID healthcare frontline.
Heading the list of venues were The O2, London Stadium and Olympic Park, the National Theatre and Madam Tussauds London.
The #LightItBlue campaign has been organised by mental health non-profit organisation Makeitblue CIC, formed last year by members of the live events and entertainment industry.
Tim Owen, Makeitblue director of strategy and engagement said, “With the support of the Mayor of London, we want to light the city blue as a public demonstration of continued support and admiration for all those working under immense pressures to look after COVID and other e
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