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UK - Violinist and conductor André Rieu is known for his popular tours, visiting over 100 venues a year with his Johann Strauss orchestra. The tour is an opportunity to impress both live audiences and millions of viewers watching in cinemas and on DVD. This means that the lighting needs to be suitable for cameras recording the show for broadcast, DVD and the cinema, as well as the audience attending the performance.
It is important for the André Rieu Tour lighting be as compact, portable and low weight as possible to enable quick transitions between shows, supporting the tech crew as much as possible. The large number of performers in the orchestra need to be lit with a uniform field and dynamic effects to highlight different aspects of the performance, creating a great atmo

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Australia - Major theatre productions often have lives involving multiple productions in multiple countries, which provides an opportunity for the production team to assess the equipment they are using and make changes to benefit from advances in technology. This was exactly the situation multi-award-winning sound designer Gareth Fry found himself in, opening Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in Melbourne, Australia after its success in London and New York.
“DPA’s d:screet 4061 Miniature Microphones have long been theatre stalwarts because they sound great, are very tough and are small enough to hide on cast members,” Fry explains. “I’ve been using the legacy version of these microphones for years, and we typically hide them in the hairline, on the forehead, so they are not visible to the audience.”
In 2017, a year after the play opened in London, a

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UK - Robe is the main sponsor of Blackout - an immersive visual and sonic installation created by Guildford School of Acting (GSA) lighting tutor Mig Burgess to raise awareness of mental illness.
Blackout will be staged in the Bellairs Theatre at the University of Surrey and refers specifically to bipolar II disorder. The work is designed to offer a snapshot of what it’s like to experience the highs and crushing lows of bipolar II, what Mig describes as being “like the lights going out in your head”.
Mental health has been high on the public agenda in recent years, with the loss of a number of high profile music artists, including Tim Bergling (Avicii), The Prodigy’s Keith Flint, rapper Mac Miller, Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington, Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell and others.
With the essential seed money being provided by Robe for this proje
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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 - KartFest, the annual fundraising event organised by entertainment technology charity Backup, is returning for its fifth edition on Independence Day (Thursday, 4 July).
Organisers expect over 300 industry colleagues and friends to join on Surrey's Sandown Park, where 33 teams will battle it out in a three-hour endurance race.
“So, get out your fake tan, your candy floss hair, your alien outfit, or your Mickey Mouse ears. In fact, do whatever gets you in the American mood, but book your place fast - the karts go fast,” says Backup.
Besides crowning the new KartFest champions, the day will include the ‘Unusual' Pit Stop Challenge, Medialease’s Fastest Lap, a BBQ lunch and drinks, music, entertainment, the award for the best dressed team award, the Backup Sundown bar and a raffle.
Each team can enter up to six drivers. Non-racer wristbands will al

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UK - LSi is sad to report the passing of lighting designer, Bryan Leitch at the age of 69. During his celebrated career, Leitch lit many of the world’s biggest artists, festivals and events, including tours by Britney Spears, Coldplay, Kanye West, Kylie Minogue, Justin Timberlake and many more.
Having been diagnosed with a form of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2009 and undergoing a successful bone marrow transplant the following year, Leitch embarked on the Cancer Bonus Tour in his trusty 1963 Vauxhall Victor, visiting 332 venues throughout the UK that he’d previously visited during his 30+ year career. The tour benefitted two charities close to Leitch’s heart - Bloodwise and Sussex Cancer Fund - and promoted a positive message about public health care in the UK.
In 2012, L

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UK - PLASA has revealed plans to develop a training scheme for entertainment industry professionals carrying out work on UK construction sites.
The initiative has been announced in response to changes to the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS), the leading UK skills certification scheme that ensures individuals working on construction sites have the required training and qualifications for the type of work they undertake.
PLASA has warned a number of CSCS cards historically used within the entertainment technology industry are being withdrawn, including Stage Equipment Installer, Site Visitor and Related Discipline.
“Once these cards have expired, industry professionals with relevant construction training or qualifications may be able to apply for Skilled Worker CSCS cards, but many may only be able to apply for Labourer cards, which could affect t

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UK - Harlequin Floors, flooring provider for dance, performing arts, entertainment and events, has reported “double-digit” revenue growth in 2018/19.
The growth has been recorded across the whole Harlequin Group, which has offices in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific.
Guy Dagger, Group CEO, comments: “Harlequin has experienced incredible global growth over the last year providing internationally renowned brands, venues and performing arts schools with quality performance floors and stages.
“We have seized the opportunity this growth brings to offer all our clients across the world the outstanding customer service that is synonymous with the Harlequin brand. The highlights have probably been the growth in demand we have seen from the top global providers in the production and events industries, building on our many years of experience as the ‘go-to

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Vietnam - Epizode is a popular music and arts festival, held annually on Vietnam’s biggest island Phu Quoc. It’s aim is to bring the latest global trends in electronic music to Asia, whilst at the same time showcasing the best regional talents. East meets West at this winter hub of party goers, travellers and industry personalities and the latest edition attracted more than 10,000 people from 79 countries.
The festival hosted more than 140 international and regional DJ superstars across four stages spread along a beautiful beachfront, delivering non-stop performance 24 hours a day for 11 days. One significant new addition to the 2018/9 line-up was Pioneer Pro Audio’s XY-3B system, which took care of the Egg stage. The general consensus was that this renewal had seen a marked improvement in the festival’s audio provision, compared to the previous year and XY-3B played

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Australia - After eight years of Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour (HOSH), Opera Australia presented West Side Story, the first musical to be performed on the harbour-side stage.
Boasting a stage that is almost two and a half times larger than any indoor stage in Australia, the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour series is one of the biggest outdoor theatrical events in the country, and a highlight of the Australian cultural calendar.
The stage and venue are constructed from the ground up in just 25 days by a crew of approximately 150 people for an exclusive four-week performance season. The West Side Story set, designed by award-winning designer Brian Thomson, is an urban New York City-inspired stage design that features a highway overpass that weighs approximately ten tonnes and soars 15m above the stage, three custom-built subway cars and the West Side Story

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Slovenia - Hribar Hall is the latest newly renovated event space in Ljubljana Castle which sits majestically above the picturesque Slovenian capital. It is both a top tourist attraction, a place of historical significance and a busy event, meeting and conference hub with a series of renovated spaces available to host a diverse array of shows and events.
The new venue is designed to be completely flexible; the capacity ranges from 180 seated to 250 standing depending on the set-up and format which can be fully seated for banquets and dinners to standing with different sized stages, bare floor or catwalks. The schedule includes a lively mix of performances from music, drama, theatre, comedy and spoken word to fashion shows and other presentations including lectures, seminars and news conferences.
With this in mind, when it came to choosing the lighting, the Castle’s te

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UK - The Make A Difference Trust (MAD Trust) is producing its spectacular West End Eurovision show next month and AV and event production company Blitz is providing the sound support.
Taking place at the Adelphi Theatre on 28 April (Sunday), the interactive event will raise money for MAD Trust, which fundraises for HIV and AIDS projects that build awareness and provide care, support and education in the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The show will feature eight casts from West End Musicals competing against each other by singing original Eurovision song contest songs to win text votes from the audience and the approval of a panel of judges.
Martyn Hunt, theatre & sound project development manager at Blitz, says: “Blitz prides itself on its sound technical support for all of our clients, so we feel honoured to be able to provide equipment for such an impo

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UK - Specialist illumination company LED Creative has been working with the crew responsible for creating the colourful, angular look that accompanies the return of classic TV quiz show, Blockbusters for Comedy Central UK.
Filmed in front of a live studio audience at Elstree Studios and presented by Dara Ó Brian, the reboot of the student favourite has been given a stunning contemporary facelift, although it still retains a host of key elements from the much-loved original, including the infamous Gold Run and original 80s theme tune.
Created by scenic designer Josh Grace, the vibrant set has a distinctly modern feel that features an array of smart hexagonal lightboxes, with offset LED frames, suspended throughout the design to complement perfectly the styling of the Blockbuster letter board.
Commenting on the show’s design, LED Creative’s Ges Smith sa

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Serbia - At Novi Sad’s Green Love festival, performances by techno stars like Fatima Hajji and Sugar Lobby, combined with a lightshow by Chameleon Rental Systems, transported fans into a world of intense auditory and visual wonders.
Contributing to the spectacular sights was a collection of Chauvet Professional Rogue and STRIKE fixtures. Lighting designer Predrag Djordjević working closely with stage designer Dragan Rajčin (both from Chameleon Rental), created a stunning display on the 40 metre-wide stage that immersed the audience while supporting the festival’s artists.
A total of 32 Rogue R2X Beam, 14 Rogue R1 Beam and six STRIKE 4 multi-formatted fixtures were featured in the festival rig along with three Amhaze Stadium hazers. The luminaires were hung on upstage and side truss, as well as being arranged on the left and right stage deck.
“We needed

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UK - The Legends Live tour brought together some of the great names from the 1970s and beyond. Presented by Tony Denton Promotions, the package was headlined by Suzi Quatro but also featured David Essex and Les McKeown’s Bay City Rollers, with Showaddywaddy making way for Smokie at the mid-point of the tour.
Capital Sound are past masters at providing sound reinforcement for such package tours with short turnaround times. Having recently supported the 40 Years of Disco tour, they were out in force with a full inventory of Martin Audio’s MLA PA.
Working under the experienced production management of Richard Ames, Capital’s project manager (and monitor engineer for this tour) David Preston oversaw a sound-optimised set-up in the arenas, and system tech Dan Fathers was able to gauge his optimisations accordingly.
The fact that coverage can be fine-tuned elect

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UK - London’s Royal Albert Hall has completed the biggest improvement to sound in its auditorium since the installation of the acoustic ‘mushrooms’ 50 years ago (as reported in LSi April 2019).
The project took 693 days of labour, 15,291m of cable, and 465 individual speakers in the world’s largest loudspeaker install in a single room.
With equipment supplied by Autograph Sales and installed by SFL, the digital distribution network adopted a ring topology and the selection of multi-format I/O cards included analogue, AES, ANA, DMI Optocore and DMI Dante.
Within this, a pair of BroaMan Route66 Optocore AutoRouters, managing Optocore links from the DiGiCo

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Poland - Pliant Technologies is expanding its global network with the addition of Audio Plus as its new Poland distributor. Audio Plus will offer Pliant’s full range of CrewCom professional wireless intercom systems, along with its complete line of SmartBoom headsets to its customers.
Audio Plus works with MI shops, rental companies, broadcasters, integrators, theatres, cultural organisations, cinemas, clubs, educational institutions, houses of worship and other B2B clients in the region.
“Pliant Technologies is unrivalled among wireless communications systems,” says Paweł Kuhn, director of marketing at Audio Plus. “CrewCom is reliable, expandable, efficient and has many unique user features that fit perfectly with the needs of our customers. We see Pliant as an innovative company that fills a gap in our product portfolio.”
Audio Plus is one of the o

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USA - German networked audio and interconnectivity specialist DirectOut Technologies has appointed MultiPoint Integrated Technologies as its new distributor in the USA.
MultiPoint will introduce both the DirectOut brand and its new Prodigy Series product platform to the non-broadcast related pro audio market segment of the industry. Meanwhile, DirectOut’s long-standing distributor Joseph Electronics remains in place serving the studio and broadcast market.
"This would not be the first time that I have taken on the challenge of introducing a ground-breaking new technology from a perceived newcomer in pro audio business and brought it to the forefront of our industry," says Tom Bensen, founder and CEO of MultiPoint Integrated Technologies. "DirectOut, however, has the strategic advantage of a ten-year record of success under its belt, along with a team of leading-edge

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Italy - Sixty82 has recently appointed Audiosales s.r.l. as the new representative in Italy for its full trussing and staging product line.  
Effective immediately, Sixty82's Italian customers "can rely upon the qualities of a dedicated and enthusiastic team, to meet their requirements," says the manufacturer. 
Date Jonkman, Sixty82’s executive account manager, comments: “We are delighted to be working with Audiosales. They have a well-established position in the market, and a strong team of experienced people. So we are very pleased they joined the Sixty82 family.”
Stefano Rocchi, owner of Audiosales, adds: "Sixty82 is a team composed of professionals that have contributed in a significant way to the development of the staging and trussing market in the recent decades. Their payoff “The New Original” describes in the best way who the people

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World - Shawn Mendes: The Tour hit the road at the beginning of March on a nine-month world tour under a lighting rig which comprises Ayrton Khamsin-S, Ayrton Bora-S and Ayrton Mistral-S fixtures as the major components.
LD Louis Oliver avoided the use of followspots or remote tracking as part of his design intent for the show, choosing instead to work with Ayrton fixtures to provide key lights for the young Canadian singer, and carve out dramatic backdrops with creative back, top and side light.
“We wanted to keep the performance space organic, allowing the technology to hide in the background,” he says. “With the design, we wanted to craft bold environments for Shawn to perform within. We tested the new Ayrton fixtures and found they could compete with anything else on the market. Ayrton has created a range of LED fixtures you can use without

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Acoustic Shock - The Royal Opera House has lost an appeal against a viola player who was awarded damages in 2018 for hearing loss he suffered during rehearsals for Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Christopher Goldscheider is a former viola player in the orchestra at Covent Garden, who said he was no longer able to work as a musician due to “acoustic shock” he suffered during a weekend rehearsal in 2012.
Goldscheider said the noise he was exposed to was unacceptable, and a judge ruled in his favour in March. However, in October the ROH, which is being represented by law firm BLM, was granted permission to take the case to the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal has now upheld Goldscheider’s case, although on narrower grounds. Specifically, it overturned the High Court finding that Control of Noise at Work Regulations meant employers were required to enforce the wear

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UK - Stage Electrics has appointed a new technical sales consultant for the north west.
Jayney Bell is returning to Stage Electrics after some years as a freelance lighting technician, predominantly for touring theatre. Bell was previously the London branch manager.
Anna Western, Stage Electrics sales director, comments: “Jayney is a hugely experienced production electrician and combined with her historical knowledge of how we work, she has already hit the ground running. I am excited to have someone as knowledgeable and who knows the industry as well as she does to represent us in the north west.”
(Jim Evans)
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