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France - All of France marks the beginning of the modern French nation each year on 14 July, with events taking place all over the country. As in previous years, Lawo mixing consoles helped deliver the audio for more than 500,000 Concert de Paris spectators at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
The Concert de Paris is one of the largest classical music events held anywhere in the world, and is followed by a traditional firework display. The show – featuring the National Symphony Orchestra and the Choir of Radio France, along with internationally renowned soloists – was relayed to TV viewers and radio listeners in France and beyond with the Lawo setup.
For the central celebrations on the Champ du Mars next to the Eiffel Tower – the highlight of the National

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Brazil - Brazilian AV company Maxi has purchased DiGiCo's SD12 desk. The company’s association with the digital mixing desk manufacturer dates back to 2012 and the purchase of the SD10.
“In 2012, DiGiCo was already dominant in the world market, but still had very few users in Brazil,” says Maxi’s executive director, José Augusto Martins. “We believed the brand had the same innovative and modern appeal that we have and intend to maintain, which is why we made the original investment. We’ve now added the SD12 because it’s a console that has all the great features from the previous DiGiCo consoles, but in a more compact package. I thought this was a brilliant combination.”
And for Maxi, size definitely matters. “We can use the SD12 anywhere from corporate events to concerts, you name it,” José continues. The quality is excellent, it’s quick and e

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China - Stage Electrics and Pacific Lighting have started work on Hong Kong’s new Freespace Theatre.
The joint venture between Stage Electrics and Pacific Lighting has proved successful in winning the contact to deliver production lighting, sound & video infrastructure, communication systems and rigging for the Freespace Theatre, one of the new performance venues located in Hong Kong’s new Cultural District.
Since signing the £1.7m contract in early 2017 the team have undertaken detailed off-site design work, liaising regularly with the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority. Activity on-site has now commenced, including installation, termination and testing of the specialist works ahead of the planned official opening in 2019.
Pacific Lighting’s Hugh Chinnick and Virginia Kam have been key in providing local coordination, advice and guidance to t
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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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USA - New Found Glory followed up their 2017 20 Years of Pop Punk Tour by hitting the road earlier this summer in support of their ninth studio LP, Makes Me Sick.
Blow-your-head-back colours were part of the experience. The band eschewed video walls and projections, and instead relied on a backdrop of hand-painted psychedelic scenic elements designed to glow when hit by light. Providing that light was a design by Megan Alksninis of JDI Productions that added to the colourful panorama, with help from the COLORdash Par-Quad 7 LED wash from Chauvet Professional.
“The look of the Sick Tour is extremely colourful; it’s bright and loud to reflect the band’s music,” says Alksninis. “Their heavy energy pop punk show does not slow down - and our lights keep pace. I took inspiration off the backdrop and other scenic pieces to create my looks. Neon

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Iceland - Located in the Hali region of Suðursveit in South-East Iceland, Thorbergssetur is a culture centre and heritage museum dedicated to the region’s history and the life and works of writer Thorbergur Thordarson.
With a theatrical-style exhibition which includes glimpses into the life of the Icelandic author, the museum recently decided it was time to update their lighting design. Wanting to install a completely new LED system, Luxor lighting designer Alfreð Sturla Böðvarsson created an elegant, story-telling design using Gallery LED and PHX 150W LED profile luminaires from Altman Lighting.
“A director who I´ve worked with a few times was working in the museum this summer, and he asked me to give them advice on how to replace the outdated 12-year old system with a modern LED lighting scheme,” opens Böðvarsson. “They wanted to emphasize the many sce

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India - Munro Acoustics recently deployed an end-to-end Harman Professional Solutions audio system at the Flea Bazaar Café in the Lower Parel district of Mumbai.
Owned and operated by Impresario Group, the 7,000sq.ft café features 13 separate restaurants, a marketplace for local lifestyle brands and a bar that serves local beers and craft cocktails. The Flea Bazaar Café also includes a community performance venue that hosts stand-up comedy, plays, DJs and live music, and more. The space features a customised pulley mechanism that can quickly lift the tables and chairs to the ceiling and create extra space for audiences, as well as a van that serves as the DJ booth.
Impresario Group hired long-time audio partner Munro Acoustics to design an audio system that would complement the aesthetic of the Flea Bazaar Café and deliver even sound coverage in the highly reverbe

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World - Guns N' RosesNot In This Lifetime tour continues to steam its way around the world two years after kicking off with an appropriately impressive classic rock lighting and visual design using totally contemporary technology created by Phil Ealy.
Phil’s work with the American hard rockers dates back over 30 years - since they first hit stardom with their debut Appetite for Destruction album released in 1987. Ron Schilling is out on the road as lighting director for this one which is the first time that three original members Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan have performed together since 1993.
Phil chose Robe moving lights to play a major role in the lighting scheme with the stadium version of the rig featuring 74 x BMFL WashBeams – five used as truss follow spots, 32 x BMFL Spots, three BMFL Blades and ten Pointes.
The BMFLs are rigged in

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UK - Cardiff-based events services provider 11th Hour has welcomed Matthew Morgan and Rhys Thomas as warehouse assistants, while Debbie Alexander takes the role of in-house bookkeeper.
Morgan has previously worked in various temporary capacities for 11th Hour across a range of projects and is an experienced stadium safety steward, having worked at Cardiff City Football Club. Thomas has experience as a freelance crew member in operations and logistics and has crossed paths with 11th Hour teams on many occasions. Debbie Alexander brings more than 20 years of experience in finance and accounts, accrued whilst working for a range of businesses in South Wales.
11th Hour director John Davies comments: “Demand for our services continues to grow and it is now common to find ourselves working simultaneously on multiple large-scale projects. Our staff are our greatest resourc

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UK - Edinburgh Fringe Festival returns for four weeks of innovative, provocative and entertaining new theatre and performance embracing all genres.
Over 100 x Zero 88 lighting consoles - including the new FLX range and a variety of legacy products - are working hard across the 300+ venues running in and around the city during the event, and the company has once again been at the forefront of offering comprehensive onsite training and support.
At least 25 of Eaton’s new Zero 88 FLX S range consoles alone are involved, just nine months after the desk was launched.
Zero 88 consoles and control packages are featuring at some of the busiest and most popular venues, with FLX range products at Assembly, Underbelly, Gilded Balloon, Summerhall and Pleasance, all of which offer multiple performance spaces throughout the Festival, each staging approximately eight to 10

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UK - Technical entertainment charity Backup collected a record amount of donations at its annual karting challenge held in July.
Kart-Fest 2018 raised £23,500 in donations - the biggest total for any Backup fund-raising event yet, and £2,500 more than in 2017.
Held during the first Wimbledon fortnight, Kart-Fest 2018 was themed around the tennis tournament and saw racers from 33 teams don big hair, sweatbands, tennis skirts and dubious prosthetics.
Backup trustee and event organiser Lee Dennison says: "It can be hard getting everyone together in this industry, as we’re all so constantly busy. But on the day, it felt effortless, and we were so pleased that 33 teams representing all areas participated. Rivalries stayed on the track and a common shared 'want' to support our charity and help our family out became the focus of the day."
In first pl

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USA - API has added Steven G. Christensen as the newest member of its engineering department. He will specialise in digital technology.
Christensen has been in the audio industry for 30 years, beginning as a high-capacity telecom chip designer. He was also part of the original Pro Tools development team, inventing and implementing the TDM system architecture. Christensen then went on to work for Telex and designed their ADAM digital matrix intercom system, before starting his own companies focusing on digital audio.
"Working at API is a breath of fresh air," says Christensen. "Larry Droppa [API president] does a great job leading the company and everybody is following in his footsteps. I love it here and have a lot to learn."
(Jim Evans)

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UK - The 2018 Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon and Half Marathon recently drew more than 22,000 participants to Liverpool’s streets, where runners and spectators alike were entertained by a wealth of stages located throughout the city.
For regional live event specialist IE Production Services, the sheer size of the event was reflected in the number of stages it served - no fewer than 17, each of which presented its own challenges in terms of sound reinforcement. Having considered the options, IE Production Services looked to K-array and the Italian innovator’s UK representative, 2B Heard, for a broad range of solutions.
Encompassing a 26.2 mile course with options to either tackle the full marathon, attempt a half marathon option or try a slightly more manageable 5k, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon draws on Liverpool’s musical heritage and has become an institution with

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Canada - Cosmo Music of Richmond Hill, ON teamed up with Canadian distributor SFM to deploy an Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) Adaptive sound reinforcement system at Canada’s premier musical instrument and gear exhibition, Cosmo MusicFEST & Expo (CosmoFEST).
The free all-ages event saw more than 14,000 people pre-register and attendees took advantage of an outdoor main stage, indoor Cosmopolitan Music Hall, instrument and gear EXPO, retail store, Kidz Zone, Community Zone, food trucks, and beer garden.
“The stage was located at the far end of the area with food trucks located at the end of the audience area, roughly 225ft back,” explains Cosmo Music’s professional services division manager, Ryan McLeod. “We wanted the primary concert audience area to have solid, even coverage while maintaining a more family-friendly volume in some areas - this was easily ac

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USA - The Bama Theatre in Tuscaloosa, AL was originally a depression-era public works project. It opened its doors in 1938 as a combination city hall/movie palace and quickly became a symbol of its community’s determination to prevail during challenging times.
Now a state-of-the-art performing arts centre, Bama Theatre hosts over 200 shows a year, ranging from full-scale Broadway-style productions and music recitals, to dance programmes and film festivals. Supporting this diverse range of offerings is a flexible lighting rig featuring Chauvet Professional fixtures.
David Jones, the facility’s technical director, reports, “I have been working at the Bama Theatre in some capacity since I was 15, which is 26 years ago. I started with audio only and in the last 15 years or so I delved more into lighting. I started diverting most of my funds to improving the lighting

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UK - The Three Festivals Tall Ships Regatta 2018 saw a fleet sail from Liverpool to Dublin and then on to Bordeaux. Marking the fifth time Liverpool has hosted a Tall Ships event, extensive celebrations were very much captain’s orders and Stage Sound Services who, complete with Green Hippo tech, was on duty to deliver a brace of projection-mapped light shows.
Taking place during late May Bank Holiday weekend, the two events brought the power of projection mapping to huge audiences. In Birkenhead’s Hamilton Square, the Stage Sound Services team, working with the creative at Illuminos, used a pair of Hippotizer Karst Media Servers to help map a spectacular show - inspired by Birkenhead’s people, places and history - on to the Town Hall.
The same team also put on another example of projection mapping in Liverpool’s Cunard Building - one of the three graces of Live

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Israel - Ninja Warrior is a sports entertainment competition that features hundreds of competitors who attempt to complete a series of obstacle courses of increasing difficulty in a bid to make it to the national finals and become a ‘Ninja Warrior’. The format originated in Japan and has since been sweeping audiences off their feet in hundreds of countries.
After gaining immense popularity worldwide the television format has finally landed in Israel, with the Israeli version hosted by Asi Azar and Rotem Sela.
The exhausting obstacle course was built at the Haifa Port in two weeks with a team of over 80 professionals using 4.5 tonnes of trusses. The rigging and obstacle course were built by the production riggers who arrived from the US and accompany the production worldwide.
Gil Teichman from Lighting Design Systems was in charge of lighting and sound.

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USA - The snow kept falling and falling. And falling. Reaching two feet, the weight of the snow was too much for the roof to bear at Calvary Fellowship, Downington. Ruptured pipes irreparably flooded the 1,100-seat sanctuary at a cost of over a million dollars in damage. “Luckily nobody was hurt,” says a thankful Lee Wiggins, head pastor at the church.
The renovation was major, and it changed the physical design of the space. Improvements were made at all levels, which rendered the budget to complete important final details relatively low. “Money was an issue but we all felt we still needed to offer our congregation the best possible worship experience, especially the level of quality of the audio production that delivers our sermons,” points out Pastor Lee. “So we called Clair Brothers.”
Clair Brothers was faced with a number of challenges in their effor

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France - For the main celebrations for the French National Day in the centre of Paris on 14th July, pyrotechnics company Groupe F contracted Belgian firm Laser System Europe to stage a spectacular lighting and video display. In turn, they went to PR Lighting’s IP catalogue, drawing heavily on the Aqua range.
These annual celebrations traditionally kick off with a formal military ceremony, followed by a huge military parade down the Avenue des Champs Élysées and flyover by military aircraft. This is followed by a spectacular fireworks and laser / light and video show at the Eiffel Tower on the Champ de Mars, which starts at 11pm and lights up the sky for the next 30 minutes, to the amazement of crowds reaching some 700,000 people.
Laser System Europe were working at the event for the first time, projecting the same show onto two faces - one the Champ de Mars and th

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UK - Old Barn Audio (OBA) has completed its fourth high-profile project for the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, equipping the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London with a customised Martin Audio CDD-WR PA system.
The £30m centre was opened in June 2014 and comprises two outdoor hockey pitches and four indoor and six outdoor tennis courts. The primary hockey pitch has a capacity of 3,000 which can be increased to 15,000 for major events.
In terms of both prestige and value the contract ranks high in OBA’s portfolio. The requirement was to make the Centre ready for a number of high profile international events, starting with the Hockey Women’s World Cup this summer, after which the PA system will be reconfigured and extended.
OBA project manager, Neil Kavanagh said his company entered into a fiercely competitive

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USA - Rock band Slightly Stoopid is bringing the party to the people with their Schools Out for Summer Tour. Known for their signature blend of reggae, punk, rock and punk sound, the band tours extensively every year, with Pollstar ranking them in the top 20 summer tours for the last two years.
Bandit Lites is once again providing the lighting package for the band, who dropped their ninth studio album, Everyday Life, Everyday People mid-July. Lighting designer Scott O’Connor wanted to design a rig that was simple and clean, but bold.
This summer’s production evoked the look of a backyard house party, giving the audience the sensation they’ve dropped in on an epic summer bash.
Bandit Lites supplied a lighting package consisting of festoons (a feature O’Connor shared as his favourite look), Martin MAC Viper Profiles, Martin MAC Auras, GLP X4S

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Norway - Second Warehouse is introducing SMS messaging and a built-in search assistant as it continues to refine the online pro AV cross-rental platform.
The SMS feature will offer another communication channel to customers, whose email requests might be halted by spam filters.
The search assistant, named ‘Ask Sam’ after inventory manager Sam Nesbitt, would enable users to gain the manager’s direct assistance if the platform’s search utility fails to return all requested items.
Second Warehouse founder Stuart Kerrison comments: “SMS support is being introduced to make sure that even if you miss the email, you won’t miss the deal. Email is the principle way that we communicate with our users, but it’s really important that Second Warehouse users don’t miss the opportunity to make money because of an overenthusiastic spam filter. That said, we pass
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