For The Record - Adele's 21 is the UK's best-selling album of the 21st Century, selling more than five million copies since 2011. The record, which features the hits Rolling In The Deep and Someone Like You, is more than a million copies ahead of the second biggest-seller, Amy Winehouse's Back To Black. Adele also takes third place in the chart, with her most recent record, 25.
The century's 40 biggest albums were revealed on Radio 2's Pick of the Pops, as part of National Album Day. Ed Sheeran appears in the top five twice too, while other artists in the top 20 include Coldplay, Kings of Leon, Lady Gaga and Scissor Sisters.
Leading Role - Sebastian Cater has been appointed head of UK Theatre, replacing Cassie Chadd

Spain - Chauvet has announced that Jose ‘Alberto’ Barja has been appointed as its business development market specialist for Spain.
Barja brings extensive experience in many facets of the entertainment lighting industry to his new position, having worked for 20 years in executive positions at manufacturers Traxon, Osram and Siemens, as well as at the distributor Stonex, Bofill & Asociados.
At Chauvet, he will be working closely with the company’s Spanish distributor ACSON and Jon Petts, the company’s brand development manager for Western Europe.
“The addition of Alberto to a team that already includes Jon Petts and Goran Doncic, business development manager for Western and Eastern Europe, greatly strengthens our position in this market,” said Stéphane Gressier, Chauvet’s international sales director. “Alberto brings a depth of knowledge about

Europe - d&b audiotechnik has announced the appointment of Alain Richer to serve as managing director in France, succeeding Didier ‘Lulu’ Lubin who retired in September having founded d&b France in 2000. In his new role Richer will be responsible for all aspects of business and market development of d&b in France as well as the day-to-day operations throughout the country. He will report to Phill Coe, territory manager, EMEA.
Richer comes to d&b from Sennheiser where he held the role of European marketing director. Commenting on his appointment Richer stated, “Throughout my career in the professional audio industry, I’ve always had deep respect for d&b’s commitment to quality and industry leading acoustic technology. I look forward to being part of d&b Group and lead the team that will create the next phase of growth in France.
“In
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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


UAE - Unusual Rigging & Engineering, Doughty Engineering and SIXTY82 will exhibit jointly at this year's PLSME. Visitors will be able to see a range of equipment from Doughty and SIXTY82, as well as kit from Liftket, for whom Unusual Rigging is a distributor, and a selection of PPE gear.
Speaking ahead of the show, Denis Bramhall, managing partner at Unusual Rigging and Engineering said: "We've been exhibiting with Doughty at PLSME for a few years now but this is the first year that we welcome SIXTY82 onto the stand. We look forward to it being a very successful show for us and hope it marks the start of an interesting and exciting working relationship with SIXTY82."
Denis continued: "From experience, PLSME is a well organised show and attracts the right people. We look forward to meeting up with new and familiar faces, making the most of the networking oppo


USA - At this year’s 147th AES Pro Audio Convention in New York the OCA Alliance is exhibiting within the AVoIP Pavilion, promoting the advances in control and monitoring of AVoIP networks embodied within the AES70 standard. The convention will be the focus for a number of presentations and announcements from the OCA Alliance, including numerous educational sessions, presentations and demos, and the reveal of a new AES70 Products page on the OCA Alliance website.
The OCA Alliance will be on hand throughout the show as an exhibitor in the pavilion, with experts from the alliance and its member companies available to discuss the AES70 standard, available developer resources, and the evolution and progression of the standard throughout the AV industry.
In addition to demonstrations on its booth, the OCA Alliance will be participating in the programme of presenta

UK - Located in the heart of Mayfair, Novikov Restaurant & Bar was the first restaurant to be opened outside his native Russia by award-winning multiple operator, Arkady Novikov. Extending over three floors with two restaurants and a basement lounge bar, Novikov has enjoyed considerable success since its opening in 2011 and remains one of the favourite haunts of London’s glitterati. When the venue decided to upgrade the sound system in the Lounge, they turned to Toby Jones at Middlesex Sound & Light for advice. Jones recommended a KV2 Audio system to deliver the nightclub feel that Novikov was looking for.
“When I visited Novikov at their request to see what could be done, I saw straight away that KV2 would be the ideal solution, but I didn’t want them to take my word for it,” says Jones. “I insisted on a demo in situ so that they could compare with their

UK – Prolights Panorama IP Airbeam moving beams recently lit up North Yorkshire’s skyline with big air looks for Harrogate 1571, part of Harrogate Welcomes the World celebrations supporting the UCI Road World Cycling Championships and acknowledging the spa town’s heritage.
The lighting installation was commissioned by Harrogate International Festivals, an arts project that has helped to ‘revolutionise’ the cultural landscape for the North of England.
To celebrate the waters that have made Harrogate a tourist attraction since 1571, when William Slingsby discovered natural mineral springs in the local Valley Gardens, these wells and the town’s iconic Harlow Hill water tower were illuminated for a stunning light show over a series of evenings.
The project’s lighting designer, James Bawn of Element 3 Design needed an IP65 fixture with a very bri

UK - In September, Entec renewed its acquaintance with the exhibitions division of media group Future plc to deliver sound and lighting equipment to the two-day UK Guitar Show and the London Bass Guitar Show.
Centred around the sprawling Gear Hall, the show saw Entec liaise with production manager Pete Witham to equip five stages that hosted a diverse programme of stellar musical performances, showcases and masterclasses.
September’s event was Entec’s fourth for Future in just over a year. “Entec was mainly given the contract because it was able to provide a complete range of sound, lighting and some elements of staging, unlike the other companies we approached,” said Pete.
Along with a host of leading microphone models and wireless equipment distributed amongst the performance areas, the audio specification for the main auditorium included a Midas PRO1

Norway - When the summer-long Foynhagen Festival last year adopted Martin Audio’s MLA Compact PA, the complaints it had experienced after experimenting with different systems over the previous four years ‘evaporated’.
Although the festival site - located in downtown Tønsberg, 90 minutes outside Oslo - is picturesque, overlooking a harbour and bars on one side and residential buildings on the other, noise spillage was one thing the festival didn’t need. And so the event’s PA supplier Spekter A/S invested in a Martin Audio MLA Compact after a system demo had established proof of concept.
Lorry Kristanesen from Atendi A/S, Martin Audio’s Norwegian distributor, confirmed that having established a winning formula last year, the rig again comprised eight MLA Compact per side with four MLX subs across the front in a broadside array. Spekter also supplied 12 x Mar

UK - Sister Act the Musical, performed by Splinters Theatre Group raised the roof at the Montgomery Theatre, Sheffield. The lighting design took this show to a higher level, creating the emotive, joyous atmosphere people know and expect from this gospel choir-based dramatisation.
Along with the venues inhouse generic lighting rig, Tom Dyson from TDL added an array of moving heads and battens to further enhance the shows backdrop and musical numbers. He utilised numerous eLumen8 Kudos 350ZS fixtures for multiple scenes including highlighting key actors, set lighting and effect lighting for musical numbers.
Tom Dyson comments, “The use of the backlight on the Kudos 350ZS moving heads, along with the beam projected, helped create some new and different eye-candy effects that both myself and the show directors were really impressed with.”
In addition, LED

UK - Power Logistics’ pledge at the start of the year to deliver power monitoring at every project it undertook in 2019 has proved a success throughout this summer. Implementing its bespoke power monitoring system at numerous festivals and outdoor events, the company says it has delivered sustainable power solutions that have resulted in fuel bills consistently being reduced by 20% or more, along with significant carbon emission savings.
A bespoke power monitoring system was been devised and developed by Power Logistics’ in-house research and development team. This has proved to have a significant impact on an event’s carbon footprint; reducing fuel consumption and often the number and size of generators required onsite which in turn leads to cost efficiencies, says the company.
A key addition to the system is the utilisation of QR codes which are placed on eve

Europe - Optocore’s Festival Box has been successfully deployed on a number of festivals and tours this summer.
As demo systems were released to targeted dealers and production companies around the world, Optocore technical sales manager, Maciek Janiszewski, said, “It is gratifying that customers have trusted us with delivering a completely new device concept and placed it immediately on high-profile tours and festivals.”
Early adopters have included Billie Eilish and Spice Girls, both with Wigwam, while festivals have ranged from the mighty Sziget in Hungary and KFPP Opole in Poland, to Parklife and Bluedot festivals in the north of England.
Festival Box allows any audio protocol as well as video and data to tunnel over the same fibre, making it an efficient solution for multi-act scenarios. Migrating the technology from sister company BroaMan’s Repeat48

Australia - Elite Event Technology from Canberra – one of Australia’s leading rental and production companies – supplied lighting equipment and crew for the 2019 NAIDOC Awards which celebrated the history, culture and outstanding achievements - at community, national and international level - of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
This high-profile event featured a mix of live performance and awards presentations and was hosted by media personalities Sean Choolburra and Elaine Crombie at the National Convention Centre Canberra in front of a live audience of 1,200 and broadcast live on SBS’s NITV channel.
The lighting design by Tom Wright featured an all-Robe moving light rig with 12 x BMFL Spots 12 x BMFL WashBeams, 26 x LEDWash 300+’s, 12 x LED Wash600s and 14 x MMX Spots.
It was the first time that Elite had been a technical supp

Germany - More than 50,000 EDM fans descended on a former NATO missile base in August to experience the massive Nature One Festival. Germany-based Gerdon Design specified two Green Hippo Boreal+ media servers for the main floor, to power live IMAG feeds, Notch effects and pre-made content.
This year marked the 25th anniversary of Nature One, which is held near the western town of Kastellaun. Over the years, it’s grown into one of Europe’s biggest dance music festivals. Gerdon Design has been involved with Nature One since 2011, responsible for the stage, lighting and video design as well as creating the concept, audio and visual design for the timecoded highlights show.
“We were responsible for the content playback of all acts - except for those who were travelling with a VJ – so we needed a powerful and easy-to-use solution,” explains Gerdon Design’s Marek

Argentina - One of the major annual events to mark the start of the new year in Argentina is the three-day Festival del Pescado y el Vino 2019 on the south coast of Gualeguaychú, 200km from Buenos Aires.
Organised by the government of Gualeguaychú, for the second consecutive year Caio Sonido provided all the technical services, including a number of moving heads from PR Lighting, as well as sound, LED screen, stage structures and power.
The main artists performing were singer/guitarist Nahuel Pennisi, and pop/folk group Los Nocheros. The lighting design was carried out by Caio Sonido president, Ricardo Olivares, and his team of lighting technicians, and the board was operated by Guillermo Wheeler. Central to their design, were 16x PR Lighting XR 1000 Spot and 18x XR 300 Beam above the stage. In addition, there were four sound towers in each of which a further four XR

USA - At over 130 years old and counting, First United Methodist Church of Midland, Texas is the oldest church in Midland, an oil industry hub and home to over 100,000 people. The church enjoys local fame because its spacious and beautiful sanctuary was the site of President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush’s wedding, and the First Lady’s mother, who is local to the area, is still a member.
A recent sound reinforcement system ‘upgrade’ to line arrays disappointed congregants, staff, and musicians alike because of its murky, indistinct sound. FUMC called in local AV integration firm Romeo Music, who worked with Danley representative Anderson Sales and Marketing to design and install a straightforward replacement system at a fraction of the cost, using Danley’s patented point-source technologies. The new Danley system is a hit, so much so that FUMC is conside

UK - Throughout a busy summer, event production specialists Light Fantastic Production Services has been supporting a number of major UK cinema releases, includingThe Lion King, Toy Story 4, Aladdin, Yesterday, Good Omens and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Working on behalf of client Limited Edition Event Design, recent projects required custom-built solutions tailored to the associated media campaigns and movie branding. 
Complementing the colourful look of Toy Story 4, LFPS built a series of frames to surround the LED video walls which flanked the red carpet. Finished in a gloss blue laminate, the surrounds incorporated over 400 LED cabochons to mimic the fairground theme in the films advertising campaign. The same look extended to a 3D ‘step and repeat’ structure used for

France - Campus Serge Kampf Les Fontaines, a XIXth Century château nestled in a wooded area 57km north of Paris is a meeting and conference centre that regularly business leaders from throughout Europe.
Let’s Dare is a new immersive video and lighting environment created by Stardust Group with help from Chauvet Professional ÉPIX fixtures.
“We have been the technical service provide to Serge Kampf Campus for some time,” says Stardust Group development director Eric Matouk. “Through our association with the campus we work on many events for CAC 40 companies, so we must always be innovative and forceful, which suits our own spirit as an organisation. For the Let’s Dareexperience we placed guests in a 180° video environment that evokes a ‘virtual reality’ sensation, but without the glasses. We want to engage our audience while still conveying

Romania - Romania’s largest electronic music event, Untold Festival in Cluj-Napoca, was recently staged for the fifth time.
The main stage was located inside the Cluj Arena stadium and almost all stages were packed with CLF fixtures.
LD André Beekmans from The Art Of Light was responsible for designing the main stage while Chris Das from Four Aces took care of production management and design of the secondary stages. The main goal was to achieve and elevate the light design in comparison to previous years. Fourteen trusses with CLF Ares and Orion fixtures were added to the Arena setup.
“We used the Ares to create a massive audience wash, which worked really well for the livestream as well as pictures. We used Orions as effect lighting and the double spot/beam functionalities meant it was the perfect fixture for creating spherical momentums to hype up the cr

South Africa - The 2019 season of The Voice South Africa saw technical supplier Multi-Media and production manager Chris de Lancey ask lighting designer Joshua Cutts of Visual Frontier onboard to help the team deliver the show, which Cutts accomplished with some help from a large Robe moving light rig - nearly 150 fixtures.
The final eight-week series was recorded at the Mosaïek Teatro in Fairlands, Johannesburg, and aired on M-Net Channel 101.
Josh worked closely with set designer Dewet Meyer, series director Darren Hayward and TV director Nadia White to carve out an ambience for the 2019 season which saw him programme - intensely - 12 songs a week for the eight-week period.
Lighting - together with sound and video equipment - was delivered by rental company Multi-Media with the set built by JDM Sets. All aspects of the technical production were co-ordin

Russia - Dominated by Russian gymnasts, rhythmic gymnastics has been a particular success for Russia since gaining worldwide recognition as an Olympic sport in 1984. In Moscow, construction of a new gymnastics venue was recently completed, the Irina A. Viner-Usmanova Rhythmic Gymnastics Centre, a world-class facility that houses a flexible Elation Professional lighting system.
Featuring a main performance arena and facade that resembles the wave of a gymnastic ribbon, the Irina A. Viner-Usmanova Rhythmic Gymnastics Centre, named after one of the most successful gymnastics coaches of all time, can host any type of gymnastics event from local competition to world championship.
As the sports facility was designed to be multifunctional in order to accommodate training and competition across a variety of events, as well as concerts, shows and special events, Elation distr

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