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Europe - Kasabian are rated one of the best live acts in the UK. A cursory glance reveals a tight little four-piece rock band with an insatiable appetite for musical exploration. Sounds simple: far from it.
“Kasabian are one of those bands who, on the face of it, appear to be just a straight forward rock band. But once you start to look more closely, when you start exploring how the arrangements are put together, then you find there is a lot of detail in there.” Ben Findlay, the band’s FOH engineer talking just before their first UK show.
The band have just completed an intense trawl through Europe culminating in a dozen arena shows around the British Isles. Britannia Row Productions provided an L-Acoustics K1 system with Findlay using an SSL Live out front. “Pa

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USA - AWS re: Invent is an event, held annually by Amazon Web Services. It is the biggest event of the year for Amazon's cloud division, when customers and developers descend on Las Vegas. More than 30,000 delegates attended the event, held at The Sands Expo and Convention Centre at the end of 2017 to hear Amazon Web Services executives announce new tools and share the stage with representatives from big companies touting their AWS usage.
For 2017, Amazon wanted a 400ft high-resolution LED wall suspended as their primary design and backdrop. Production company ZED Ink knew that with LED dimensions like these, the weight quickly adds up, so they brought Cassidyrig on board to assist with the project and monitor the loads.
The Sands Convention Centre is historically known as a weight restrictive venue, despite being the second largest convention centre in the wor

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UK - St Pancras Renaissance Hotel at London’s St Pancras International station - that Gothic Revival masterpiece of the great Victorian architect Sir George Gilbert Scott - reopened in 2011 as the glamorous St Pancras Renaissance Hotel.
Gilbert Scott has been immortalised in the restaurant that bears his name, as part of renowned British chef, Marcus Wareing’s stable of restaurants.
Also helping to ensure a successful rebirth of this iconic space, formerly the original’s hotel’s Dining & Coffee Room, has been loudspeaker manufacturer JBL, and sound installation specialists, Evolve Install, led by Elliot Patterson.
Evolve were awarded the contract following a successful site meeting with Marcus Wareing Restaurants’ Group operations manager, Lise Mabon.
Elliot Patterson recalls the restrictions of working in a Grade I-listed building. “Other c
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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 - Newry Town Hall in Ireland has undergone a dramatic refurbishment to make the venue more usable for the entertainment industry. Newry District and Mourne Council brought consultant John Gallagher from Lumiere Productions on board to specify the technical facilities in the venue, with Doughty Engineering's Irish and Northern Irish distributor Production Services Ireland (PSI) being awarded the specialist theatrical install.
Brian Reilly, director, PSI said: "As part of this prestigious project to transform this historic venue into a space that works well for hosting entertainment events, we were enlisted to supply Newry Town Hall with all its theatrical requirements including lighting, dimming and flying system as well as IWBs and facility panels from Doughty. Working with Peter Tweed, PSI's service and install manager, we took the outline from the consultant and the di

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UK - When club owners Matthew Dimmack and Cleto Capetta took over the former Lola-Lo club site in Brighton, they wasted little time in approaching Penguin Media Solutions as they set out to convert it to the Bau Wow Club. As company director Dylan Thompson emphasises, “We already had a good relationship with Matt after working with him on other venues over the years, and so we were invited to tender.”
The integrators went up against a handful of other companies, but their attention to detail won the owners over, as well as their ability to provide a live Martin Audio demonstration of the proposed system via sister company Penguin Media Hire, which holds extensive stock.
“Key to the system was its flexibility,” Thompson recalls, “as the venue needed to be used for live shows as well as club nights - and this had to be taken into account.”
As the 170-ca

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UK - Bourbon, Edinburgh is a three-room basement space that includes a bar/lounge, restaurant and nightclub. Having taken over the space from a previous nightclub, the management team invested in renovating and updating the venue aesthetically and technically.
To meet the high standard of the overall re-fit an audio system of equal quality was required to attract big-name DJ’s and audiences to the new venue.
KV2 Audio were invited to demonstrate products to the venue in situ, following which there was no doubt that KV2 products would be the ultimate fit. Each area was subsequently equipped with a range of KV2 products selected for their sonic quality, clarity and output.
The primary Club Room features KV2’s SL 4.12 and SL 2.15 wide-dispersion, slim-line mid/hi and bass enclosures powered by the dedicated SL 3000 amplification and control unit. Low frequency o

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UK - Rag’n’Bone Man headlined Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Concert in the Gardens, the best New Year celebration in the UK, if not the world. Edinburgh's Hogmanay was the place to be to send off the 70th anniversary of Edinburgh as the festival city and kicked off 2018 in style.
At the sold-out Concert in the Gardens, Edinburgh’s own Nina Nesbitt kicked off the night sharing stories with the capacity crowd in Princes Street Gardens. Nina was followed by BBC Music Introducing Artist of the Year Declan McKenna who wowed the crowd with his eloquent, upbeat indie set. The audience in the gardens lit up for Rag’n’Bone Man’s powerful set with the crowd going mad for anthems Human and Skin and his finisher Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones.
This year’s spectacular Midnight Moment was, for the first time, choreographed to a speciall

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Europe - German fibre network giants Optocore reported substantial investments by consolidated resellers in further Optocore devices from all over the world.
Leading the way were global rental giants CLAIR Global, who have substantially increased their Optocore inventory as they gear up for a major, as yet unannounced 2018 tour.
Having used Optocore DD series solutions for some time, mainly with their vast inventory of DiGiCo SD series mixing consoles, the Lititz-based company has added a further six DD32R-FX network converters and pair of DD2FR-FX AES/EBU.
CLAIR Global console dept manager, Jonathan Shober, stated that previously the company had enjoyed a brief experience with an LX4 system prior to utilising Optocore with a DiGiCo D5. “Our clients continually ask us to push the envelope,” he said. “With regard to the new tour, it was suggested that an au

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UK - LSi is sad to report the passing of much loved industry personality Ian Dow. An engineering manager and lighting designer and director for the BBC for many years, in his retirement Dow also served as Chairman and Chair of the Papers Committee for lighting conference Showlight, and dedicated much of his time to training and supporting students.
In 2013, Dow was awarded the Enrico Caironi Lifetime Recognition Award during the Knight of Illumination awards ceremony.
Dow was also a long-serving contributor to LSi magazine. His popular Recollected Works column – which ran for 10 years and 37 installments before concluding in December 2016 – saw Dow reflect on his long and varied career in lighting; in particular his experiences lighting countless television dramas, light entertainment shows and outside broadcasts. His good-humoured accou

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USA - Focusrite has appointed industry veteran Pepe Reveles to the position of VP sales & marketing for Latin America. Reveles has nearly 25 years of industry experience, having most recently been part of the team at Avid, where he was in charge of the audio division for Latin America.
Reporting to Damian Hawley, Focusrite global director of marketing & sales, Reveles will be responsible for extending the brand’s reach to the customer base in Latin America. He will work to expand Focusrite Novation’s Latin American presence in all market verticals, from home and project studio interfaces for independent artists, all the way up to professionals in commercial studios relying on Red and RedNet interfaces to simplify complex workflows.
“Focusrite is a vibrant and dynamic company,” remarks Reveles. “The passion, quality and innovation printed on each and e

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USA - Bose Professional debuted the S1 Pro multi-position PA system at NAMM 2018 in Los Angeles. An all-in-one PA, floor monitor, practice amplifier and primary music system, it’s the latest addition to the Bose portable professional product line.
Designed for singer-songwriters, DJs, other musicians and general PA use, and drawing upon the award-winning technology developed for the Bose L1 and F1 portable loudspeaker systems, the S1 Pro allows users to sound great anywhere.
At only 15 lbs (6.8 kg) and with dimensions of 13" x 9.5" x 11.2" (330 x 241 x 286 mm) (easily fitting in an airplane’s overhead compartment), the ultra-portable and rugged S1 Pro is lightweight and designed for effortless transport using the convenient carry-handle.
The S1 Pro is engineered to be used in four different positions to accommodate a wide range of applications – tilt-back,

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USA - On Volvo’s booth at this year’s LA Auto Show, Creative Technology’s Chris Wasilauskas used Elation Professional’s new exhibit-optimised Fuze Wash 575 white-light LED luminaire to light the Swedish auto manufacturer’s newest vehicles and concept cars, the same light he used on the Kia booth to great effect.
“They are an excellent fixture for lighting vehicles,” the lighting designer and technical director (lighting division) at the global production house said of the cool-white LED PAR moving head. “The high colour temperature and high CRI shows off the paint color of the vehicles quite well.”
Held 1-10 December at the LA Convention Centre, the LA Auto Show is one of the most influential auto shows in the world and especially high demands are placed on the lighting. Creative Technology has used Elation Design PAR 575 opti par moving heads on auto

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UK - As fine a reputation in edgy relevance as you could wish for, Kasabian continue to confront their fans with an ever-evolving musical output. “It’s a totally different dynamic,” said their long-time director of video, Paul Eggy Eggerton. And well he might; while other bands join the expanding club of content-driven video backdrops, Kasabian take the braver route, relying on their live stage energy to carry the crowd.
“So often a lot of content tends to be stock graphics or just splodge,” continued Eggerton. “For these guys we have big side screens in portrait orientation.” The two six-metre tall 7mm LED screens and a four camera PPU are supplied by Video Design.
“With that screen format, there is no standard mid-shot - it just doesn’t work, you’d end up with lots of either limbs or instruments missing. So you are constantly having to keep it wid

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USA - New York-based lighting designer Cory Pattak never ceases to be awed by the sunsets over Manhattan. “You find yourself swearing ‘this can’t be real,’” said he says. “All those pinks, oranges and purples that can only exist in an Instagram filter, right? But your eyes don’t lie. This is how days often end in Manhattan. I used to be afraid that if I put those colours on stage, it would look too unreal.”
Pattak set aside this concern recently when he lit a fall production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award winning musical In The Heights at the historic Olney Theatre. Using a collection of Ovation, Rogue and Maverick fixtures from Chauvet Professional, he supported the production with vivid displays of colour, including one during the song Champagne that captures the surreal beauty of a Manhattan sunset.
Elaborating on the role of his

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Sweden - LD Fredrik Stormby has been making prolific use of GLP’s new JDC1 hybrid strobe on tour with Gothenburg-based heavy metal band, In Flames, on their European arena tour with co-headliners, 5-Finger Death Punch (FFDP).
Having been operating lightshows for the Gothenburg-based In Flames since 2011 (and been designing their sets since 2014) Stormby wanted to focus on the artwork that the band had been developing for the current European tour.
“I wanted to use a lot of video and set elements,” he said. “There is a lot of artwork and figures/elements to look at and my idea was to create an atmosphere and style that really represents the band; you should be able to see a picture and immediately tell that this is an In Flames show.”
No fewer than 65 JDC1 hybrid strobes have been helping him in his quest, with Soundforce supplying all the In Flames gea

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UK - CPL, working for event producers Bright, supplied lighting, sound and video equipment for Bristol Vision 2017, a networking event held at the University of Bristol Students’ Union building and organised by Bristol Media for individuals and companies engaged in media and communications sectors.
Mike Radford project-managed for CPL, working with a crew of four and closely with Bright’s production manager Fleur Saynor. The team covered several different areas including a main plenary space, associated break-out rooms in the Pegg Theatre and AR Bar, reception / check-in and a café / open / meeting space complete with a number of exhibition display booths.
It was a busy day for the 200 delegates who could catch 18 keynote speakers and engage in a range of digital and media-related commercial and business activities.
In the main plenary room, CPL rigg

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UK - Lighting designer Tom Campbell utilised 37 x Robe MegaPointe moving lights for the recent UK tour by indie rockers The Hunna.
Lighting and lasers for the tour were supplied by Colour Sound Experiment. They were among the first UK companies to invest in MegaPointes immediately after the product’s launch in September 2017.
Tom, who joined at the end of last year, evolved the look and feel of this first production tour in close collaboration with guitarists Dan Dorney and Ryan Potter.
He originally saw MegaPointe in action at the PLASA Show in London just after its launch and was impressed. As a result, 19 MegaPointes were rigged on 12ft drop bars allowing them - trim permitting - to fly the mid truss out of view so the lights appeared to be floating in space.
The rest were all on the floor where they provided a dynamic balance in the beams. Eight were

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UK - Lighting and rigging provider TSL has announced that Colin Paxton will now be managing its dry hire department.
Colin brings considerable experience and technical knowledge having previously worked in similar roles in rental companies, including a senior position as hire manager.
Colin will be supported by hire coordinator Ryan Abrahams who has been with the company since May 2017.
Colin comments, "I have admired TSL for a long time for their strong focus on quality equipment, maintained to the highest standard and backed up by knowledgeable staff who have a passion for what they are doing. I'm looking forward to getting back to building relationships with hire customers. It's a really exciting time to join the company as with the addition of Blinding Light there are a huge range of opportunities for customers."
Alongside Colin's appointment,

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Europe - Lawo has appointed Tibor Tamas to the position of senior sales manager for Austria and Switzerland.
Tamas brings with him over 35 years’ experience in technical development and sales positions in the field of audio mixing consoles, plus extensive broadcasting know-how. After several years of international experience during which he established and organized service and sales infrastructures for Studer in North America, Tamas also worked as business development manager for Studer’s Professional Audio division.
“Lawo is a forward-thinking company that understands applications and customers, and can map the complete broadcast workflow with its IP-based systems and solutions,” says Tamas.
Lawo sales director Martin Blum says, “We are very pleased that Tibor is now a member of our Lawo family. He brings a lot of industry experience and has excellent

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USA - Kevin Loretto, popular New York based lighting and technical sales specialist died on 23 January in New York after a lengthy battle with cancer.
Celebrating his life, bubbly personality, resilience, dignity and amazing contributions to the world of entertainment and performance lighting, his friends and colleagues at Robe Lighting are all proud and privileged to have had the chance to work alongside Kevin for the last five years, says the company.
He is survived by his wife and soulmate of 29 years, Penny Loretto, three children Tammy Monroe, Kerry Watkins and Robert Monroe and four grandchildren and will be hugely missed by everyone.
Kevin graduated from St John’s University in Queens, New York in 1974 and has worked in many jobs over the years primarily in marketing and sales. It was his love of music which led him into entertainment industry lighting

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UK - Ron Bonner, who has worked for PLASA for over 17 years, has announced that he will be retiring at the end of February.
Bonner has been an integral part of PLASA’s technical standards and resources department since early 2001, and has made a huge contribution to standards writing for the entertainment industry, both in the UK and internationally.
Under Bonner’s leadership, PLASA has instigated a wide range of standards which have contributed hugely to the safety of the industry.
Notable projects include the development of the European voluntary agreement for stage engineering that will shortly be converted to the first ever European stage engineering standard. He also led the way in guiding PLASA members on administrative compliance requirements for newly introduced European environmental legislation.
Bonner was instrumental in the creation of the
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