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Australia - The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) recently committed more than AUD$50m to a substantial upgrade to its 100,000-seat stadium.
This included an AUD$25m contract for a new site-wide PA, transport and connectivity, masterminded by two eminent technology companies. Australian sound & AV consultants Auditoria conceived the system, and Diversified (who in 2019 acquired Rutledge AV in Australia) undertook the complex integration at the famous MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground).
Premier pro audio brands, including fibre network specialists, Optocore, were vital to the implementation. To give an idea of scale, more than 3,000 speakers now populate the seating bowl, function rooms and VIP suites, atria, internal concourse areas and exit gates.
The existing PA syst

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China - Christie is continuing its long-standing partnership with the Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) for the 12th consecutive year.
The 2020 festival, which runs from 25 July to 2 August, is the first major international film festival to be held in China since the COVID-19 outbreak at the beginning of this year. Christie cinema projection systems will be used for movie screenings in theatres across Shanghai’s metropolitan area throughout this nine-day event. In addition, a Christie cinema projector will also be deployed for adjudication of films nominated for the Golden Goblet Award for Best Film. A total of nine films from around the world will vie for this award this year.
“We’re delighted to continue our partnership with SIFF for the 12th consecutive year to deliver visually-engaging contents from around the world to cinema audiences in China,”

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New Zealand - Auckland-based lighting designer Rachel Marlow of Filament Eleven 11 created an ‘edgy and exciting ambience’ with Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle, an immersive lighting and audio installation work staged over four days in Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber.
This was part of the Auckland Live Fringe Town aspect of the city’s annual Fringe Festival event, an independent and popular open-access arts festival which took place earlier in the year, just before the Coronavirus pandemic shut down the industry for an indefinite period.
Rachel used the venue’s lighting equipment which includes Robe MMX Spots, WashBeams and T1 Profiles to help realise the piece, which was commissioned by Auckland Live programmer, Anders Falstie-Jensen.
Collaborating with Rachel was Bradley Gledhill who assisted in the design, rigging, lighting programming
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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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UK - Situated in the Dundela district of Belfast, St Mark’s Church has a remarkable heritage. Historically, it has strong links with the author CS Lewis, whose grandfather was the first rector of the Parish.
Designed by celebrated Gothic architect, William Butterfield, in 1876, it recently underwent a complete overhaul of its sound system, with Martin Audio partners, Rea Sound (under the project management of Roger McMullan), installing the manufacturer’s discreet O-Line software-optimised micro line array, which is purpose designed for houses of worship.
Rea Sound had introduced O-Line to the Irish church market as soon as it was introduced back in 2007 - and wherever budgets have permitted, they have continued to specify the award-winning solution. “Nine out of 10 people don’t believe it will deliver such clarity of voice reproduction until we demonstrate it,

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USA - “Our goal is to prep our inventory and staff so as soon as things are ready to start up again, we can hit the ground running,” states Premier Entertainment Group president and owner Dave Guiler about a recent acquisition of Elation Fuze SFX LED moving head luminaires. “That was the goal behind the purchase, to get things together easily and quickly so when this is over we don’t have to worry about any missing pieces.”
Located in Dothan, Alabama, in the southeast corner of the state, Premier Entertainment Group recently acquired 20 Fuze SFX Spot FX fixtures along with other gear as part of a strategy that will see the event services provider put more focus on the touring market. In order to be well prepared once the Covid restrictions have passed, Guiler has put together lighting packages designed to quickly fill a touring rider, truck friendly gear that will

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UK - Live music is back on the Channel Island of Guernsey. With lockdown restrictions on the island completely lifted on 20 June due to the eradication of all Coronavirus cases, the St James concert venue in Saint Peter Port is in the fortunate position of being one of the only live music venues to have re-opened its doors. And when it did so, the 350-capacity venue had completed its first phase installation of a new JBL VTX A8 PA system, a key component in an ongoing series of upgrades to the historic venue.
The search for a new sound system began in August 2019 when St James' executive director Jon Bisson visited the Independent Venue Week conference in London as a fact-finding and networking opportunity. It was there he met team members from Harman Professional and UK distributor Sound Technology - including Sound Technology’s Ben Todd and Joe East, and Harman’s Ed Ja

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UK - A new outdoor sound, lighting and effects event is coming to Hopetoun House near Edinburgh this October and November. Named Wondrous Woods, this lighting trail event is being launched by 21CC Group.
The event will take place in the picturesque private grounds of the Hopetoun Estate and is described as a sound, lighting and effects extravaganza which promises ‘a safe and family friendly experience’. Guests will explore on foot some 2km of winding trails of Hopetoun, exploring the hidden pathways and discovering secrets of the grounds, with some surprises along the way. The event will take place from 21 October 2020 and run for four weeks.
The Earl of Hopetoun says, “We are delighted to be the venue for the inaugural Wondrous Woods; it is thrilling for me to see the grounds come to life with all the creative lighting and effects that are planned.

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USA - Jazz infusion trio Spaga may draw inspiration from deeply embedded roots, but the band also isn’t shy about pushing forward in new directions, both musically and in terms of performance platforms. The latter was evident earlier this summer when they played a virtual set on a 3D stage at Quarantine Comes Alive, a one-day fundraising festival, presented by Live For Live Music, the COVID-19 Relief Fund, and nugs.tv.
Andrew Cass of C2 Design & Drafting created the virtual show, supporting the band with immersive looks that flowed as seamless as the music on their two-song set. Lighting the virtual performance was a collection of 75 Chauvet Professional fixtures.
The creative process behind the virtual production began in April when each band member took 16 photos of himself from different angles while in quarantine. Working with animator Arielle D’Ornellas, C

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UK - Five high profile buildings around the UK were lit with Anolis fixtures in the recent #LightItInRed lighting action organised to draw attention to the special requirements of live performance, entertainment and events as the economy re-starts after the coronavirus lockdown.
The five – the O2 Guildhall and the Mayflower Theatre both in Southampton, Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, Knebworth House in Hertfordshire and Somerset House in The Strand, central London – all feature permanent Anolis lighting schemes to illuminate their facades and intricate architectural details.
O2 Guildhall Southampton: Opened in 1937, the main concert / show venue in this building is now managed by the Academy Music Group and it is – normally – one of the most popular live music showcases on the UK theatre / town hall touring circuit. The exterior is lit with Anolis ArcSource

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Canada - Solotech has announced that it has established a partnership with Yoop eSpace, a virtual and multifunctional production environment that enables content providers to create and stream events in an immersive and interactive way. Benoît Fredette, businessman and Yoop founder, recently launched the new two-way Yoop platform, which offers a real-time visual and audio interaction between artists and spectators.
The partnership ‘represents an opportunity to innovate and to go beyond the barriers of distance by bringing content providers and their audiences closer together’.
Solotech supports Yoop by providing its production expertise, its equipment and technical teams to ensure the audio, video capture and the broadcasting of events. The Yoop eSpace is already planning to open locations in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville and the UK, adding to its first site in

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USA - Continuing to offer ionline training materials and provide industry professionals a platform to share their expertise, Harman Professional Solutions has added a further 12 free Live Workshops which are now available for registration.
The new workshops, scheduled through August, feature lighting or audio experts who have extensive industry knowledge and experience working with various artists such as 3 Doors Down, Bob Seger, Guns N’ Roses, Gwen Stefani, Iron Maiden, Jay-Z, Josh Groban, Journey, Justin Bieber, Linkin Park, Matchbox Twenty, Mötley Crüe, Ricky Martin, Shania Twain, Stormzy, Styx, Travis Scott, Van Halen, will.i.am and many more.
The workshops open for registration include:
Incorporating Martin MAC Encore and ELP into Modern Lighting Design with Paul Collison (27 July)
System Engineer Skills for the Mix Engineer with Cooki

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Sweden - Prolights has announced that Gobo A/S, already Prolights distributor for Denmark, will additionally take over the distribution of the brand for Sweden.
Gobo A/S has been in the business for more than 40 years in Denmark, and it has been present in Sweden for more than 13 years. Jens Lind, head of sales for Gobo A/S says: “Our focus has always been lighting and control for the entertainment industry, including TV and film. For the last seven years we have added this with museums, exhibitions and architectural special lighting. We have been working on expanding our business in Sweden, and here Prolights is the perfect match for us.
“We look forward to expanding the knowledge of the Prolights brand here in Sweden. This new partnership will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the growth of Gobo Sweden and we are impatient to begin this journey together.

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UK - The collective behind the #LightItBlue campaign has formed a community interest company (CIC) dedicated to raising funds for mental health charities, with particular focus on benefitting people from the events and entertainment sectors.
#LightItBlue was created at the onset of lockdown by a group of events and entertainment industry professionals to show a united display of gratitude to the NHS and frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Within four months the campaign had become a global movement spanning 23 countries across six continents and enjoying a social media reach of 700m.
The initiative began on Thursday 26 March when over 100 of the UK’s most famous event venues, sports stadiums and giant LED screens were illuminated in blue to coincide with the nationwide applause for the NHS and frontline care workers.
Since then, landmarks ac

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Belgium - Starting in September, AED Studios in Lint will offer TV, film and event producers the opportunity to use a high-tech XR studio. Extended reality (XR) is the umbrella term for virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and other immersive technologies. At the XR studio, the physical and digital worlds are connected, allowing for new, expanded possibilities for audiovisual productions.
The XR Studio is a partnership between a number of specialised European companies - AED Display, MalfMedia, AV Wizard, by Lex Concept Design Control and Eurogrip - which fitted the Studio 4 complex at Lint with a high-tech XR setup. By using premium LED screens (floor and side wall screens), real-time rendering by powerful media servers, camera tracking systems and streaming facilities, the installation is immediately ready to use for interactive business presen

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Croatia - With its seaside villages, white beaches, hilltop views, and Mediterranean climate, Croatia’s Istrian coast is a popular holiday destination on the Adriatic Sea.
The five-star Istra Premium Camping Resort in the coastal village of Funtana is one of the area’s most-sought locations.
The resort recently underwent a major renovation project including all new audio and video systems featuring Biamp DSP and powered by Linea Research amplification. As Tomislav Stubičan of Hust d.o.o. in Zagreb explains, the resort’s many different spaces and diverse requirements made it a complex project.
“It was extremely challenging to satisfy all the different wishes expressed by the architects, designers, and the investors, the Valamar Group,” Stubičan remarks. “The goal was to harmonize the latest technology with the resort’s high standards of elegance a

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Europe - Grammy-nominated and contemporary Christian singer Lauren Daigle was 10 dates into an arena tour when COVID-19 forced its temporary suspension.
It was her first collaboration with the lighting partnership of Seth Jackson and Nathan Alves of Darkroom Creative, and easily her biggest production tour to date. The arena setting allowed the two men to create a partial rolling stage, giving the design a curved front extension and allowing greater sight lines to be exposed that was vital due to the high demand for tickets.
Helping them to fulfil their creative objectives were a large quantity of X4 Bar 20 battens from GLP. By articulating a desire for her show “to feel like a hug” the artist gave the two men a start point, and consequently their design contained no metal or steel and a minimum of 90° angles. “We really wanted the design to feel more like a ho

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UK - Like many individuals passionate about the live events and performance industry, Philip French of Aldershot, UK-based rental and technical production company Peachy Productions was badly missing shows, gigs, and the camaraderie of delivering live events.
He decided to do something about it, and with the support of the Surrey Event Professionals headed by Hannah Sheppard – which includes some of Surrey’s finest live event experts – the Peachy Playhouse was born.
It offers two weeks of socially distanced, drive-in, COVID-compliant live entertainment, encompassing comedy, music, film and children’s shows designed to appeal to all sectors of the community, staged in the leafy environs and fresh air of Loseley Park near Guildford, Surrey.
Providing the full technical production – staging, lighting, sound, and video – plus crew, Phil and lighting desi

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UK - “We’re in this together,” has been a common rallying cry for communities throughout the world as they deal with the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Andy Tugby took this to heart when he turned his home into an inspiring symbol in the Cornwall town of Camborne
With business at his company, SoundONE Disco, halted because of the prohibition on events, Tugby brought some of his idle Chauvet DJ lighting fixtures home to his 160-year old house and created a Light It Blue display, the kind normally seen on landmarks and public buildings.
“I felt this would be a nice gesture for my neighbours,” said Tugby. “At 8 pm people would come out to cheer the NHS, so I wanted to create an uplifting visual that would support them and serve as a positive symbol.”
Working with his DJ Sam Luke Barns, Tugby positioned four freestanding and batte

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Australia - Astera LED sales have been growing in Australia since the brand was fully introduced there at the start of 2019, with several leading lighting rental companies investing, including Elite Event Technology based in Canberra.
Elite, headed by owner and founder Darren Russell, will typically supply a full production package – lighting, audio, video rigging and staging – to its clients, embracing all sectors of the industry, from music events to corporates and industrials, TV and theatre productions.
Last year Elite purchased 96 x Astera AX1 PixelTubes in kits of eight with “all the bits”, supplied by ULA Group, Astera’s exclusive distributor for Australia and New Zealand.
More recently – and in spite of the pandemic - the company has invested in another 48 AX1’s and 48 x Astera AX5’s with a full complement of accessories which are for gen

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Canada - Atlona has hired Christina Cruzeiro as regional sales manager for Canada. Based in Toronto and reporting to Jamey Swigert, director of AV sales and business development, Cruzeiro is responsible for working with Atlona’s Canadian distributors and integrators, and expanding Atlona’s business across the country.
Cruzeiro’s AV industry experience took shape 10 years ago as a sales manager for New Toronto Group, where she led the company’s Adobe Connect Software product division for five years.
Cruzeiro’s experience with web conferencing and collaboration software over those eight years provided a natural bridge to the AV industry as business development manager for Stampede Presentation Products.
Cruzeiro says, “The industry will accelerate its transition to BYOD strategies in collaborative office environments, and businesses will invest more in

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Spain - Now in its eighth year, BIME Pro takes place on 26-28 October. Say the organisers, “BIME Pro will once again bring together the biggest names in the music industry to discuss the future of the sector and debate the issues it faces in light of over 800,000 concert cancellations globally in 2020.”
Under the hashtag #masceraquenunca (closer than ever) the event urges the industry to move forward together through these unprecedented and challenging times.
BIME Pro will be held this year in a new setting – downtown Bilbao – supported by “a digital ecosystem that will amplify the reach of this unmissable date for music professionals on a global level”.
“At BIME Pro we believe in the need to feel that we’re closer than ever - closer to all the businesses, professionals, students, institutions, sector entities, brands, to all of us who make up
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