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USA - Only two places in the US recognize St. Patrick's Day as an official holiday: Suffolk County, Massachusetts, (which includes Boston), and Savannah, Georgia. Still, this hasn't stopped millions of Americans in every corner of the country from turning out to celebrate the day of Ireland's patron saint in style. New York may have the biggest parade on this day, but it's the nation's capital that hosts the largest St. Patrick's Day festival. This year, over 40,000 people crowded into Washington's RFK Stadium's festival grounds for the 17th annual National ShamrockFest to enjoy carnival rides, food, copious amounts of beer and nonstop music from 50 acts performing on seven stages.

Like the revellers themselves, the Shamrock festival's musical performances represented a diverse

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Europe - Green Hippo is an official technical event supplier for the 61st Eurovision Song Contest. The 2016 Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, on 10, 12 and 14 May, 2016.

Green Hippo will be supplying 11, V4 Boreal and 4, V4 Karst Media Servers (including back-ups) for the set. Previous Eurovision song contests in Finland and Sweden have been run by Hippotizer V3 media servers.

In addition to supplying the equipment as an official technical event supplier, Green Hippo will be presenting its servers at the ESC cafe during LLB Trade Show which takes place alongside the show and gives an opportunity to meet potential clients not just from Sweden but around the world. Swedish distributor SSR Beacon will also have a stand and represent Hippotizer products at LLB.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Jason Derulo wowed viewers at the 42nd People's Choice Awards with a high-energy performance that featured Clay Paky Scenius moving head spotlights as the main effects lights for the dynamic singer/dancer. A.C.T Lighting, Inc. is the exclusive distributor of Clay Paky fixtures in North America.

Honouring the best in popular culture for 2015, the People's Choice Awards were held 6 January, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles and broadcast live on CBS. Emmy-winner Allen Branton was the show's lighting designer; Felix Peralta, Kevin Lawson and Darren Langer were the lighting directors.

A.C.T Lighting gave the team the opportunity to demo Scenius fixtures prior to the show, and they felt the new lights would work well with Derulo's medley of Get Ugly and Want to Want Me performed with a complement of backup dancers. The deployment marked one of the

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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 - San Francisco Opera's new Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theatre features a Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system, custom designed to provide the showcase venue with a range of acoustic environments to support the adventurous exploration of operatic programming for new audiences.

San Francisco Opera (SF Opera) is the first opera company to rely upon Constellation. Located in the newly renovated Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, the 299-seat Atrium Theatre is designed for multiple configurations, providing both performer and audience members with a very personal approach to opera. Constellation's ability to shape acoustics on demand allows SF Opera to expand from traditional theatre-style seating to cabaret settings with café tables and in-the-round performances, or even edgier configurations.

"If we really want this to be a gateway for new audiences and an ex

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Belgium - Nearly 250 Robe moving lights helped shape the drama and magic at the high energy 2016 Reverze spectacular produced by Bass Events and staged at Antwerp's Sportpalais in Belgium, which was packed to its 20,000 capacity with hard dance music fans.

The theme for Europe's largest indoor hard style event this year was Deception (nothing is what it seems) - and an ingenious show design ensured that the guest experience met the brief in all dimensions.

A spectacular lighting, set and visuals design was imagineered by Kristof van Mensel, Patrick Bellens and others from Belgian visual design practice, TCF. Playing on the theme - which offered some serious latitude for invention - their starting point for both lighting and video designs was having lots of unpredictable visual tricks up their sleeves .... which could be revealed as the night unfolded.

The lighti

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Living Life to the Full - Stevie Wonder will play his landmark album Songs In The Key Of Life in full in London's Hyde Park this July. The R&B star is the latest act to be confirmed for the BST festival, which also sees Carole King recreate her Tapestry album, as well as sets from Take That and Kendrick Lamar.

Songs In The Key Of Life features hits like I Wish, Pastime Paradise and As, and won a Grammy for album of the year. Wonder has been playing it to rave reviews in America since 2014. Rolling Stone called it "free-spirited, triumphant and huge," while The New York Times described the three-hour show as "a journey of jubilation". Wonder's 30-piece touring band features his first daughter Aisha, who inspired the opening track of the album's second disc, Isn't She Lovely.

Spaced Out - Veteran French co

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UK - With a raft of new products announced at ISE, which are set to further strengthen Sennheiser's presence in the systems solutions market, Sennheiser UK has made two new appointments to its systems solutions team, Andy Dinneen and Jack Drury.

Joining Sennheiser UK as corporate account sales manager - meeting environment, Andy Dinneen brings a wealth of experience of selling conferencing technology to major clients during his time with LifeSize, a division of Logitech.

Answering to sales director - Pro A/V & systems integrator UK & Ireland Simon Holley, Andy will be spearheading the company's TeamConnect Wireless and other TeamConnect conferencing products in the corporate market.

"TeamConnect and TeamConnect Wireless bring a new level of flexibility and audio quality to a market that I am very familiar with" says Andy. "I am really looking forward to demonstrating h

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UK - Hoist UK has welcomed Colin Jones to their sales team as technical sales engineer. Colin has been in the lifting industry for almost 25 years, having been previously employed by Chester Chain Co. where he started off on a temporary contract as a lifting equipment engineer, working his way through the ranks in various roles including site supervisor, & works manager, until he became General Manager in 2013.

He brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience of standard & specialised lifting equipment, along with his formal LEEA (Lifting Equipment Engineers Association) qualifications.

"Having Colin join our team is a major asset for the company, as it is always difficult to employ a technical engineer with a proven track record in the industry" commented Hoist UK director Paul Jordan. "Colin has a vast knowledge of the lifting equipment sector, and he will be a re

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Denmark - The Martin by Harman VDO Sceptron 20 and VDO Sceptron 40 are the newest additions to the popular series of linear, outdoor-rated LED video and lighting fixtures. Designed for the rental and installed markets, these fixtures are available with 20 mm and 40 mm pixel pitches, with an extensive range of optical accessories for a wide variety of video and lighting looks. The VDO Sceptron 20 and VDO Sceptron 40 are driven by the Martin P3 System controllers for easy configuration, mapping and setup, with no external components required. These fixtures are also backward compatible with DMX controllers for smaller setups.

"What began with the VDO Sceptron 10 has quickly developed into a suite of products with tremendous versatility," said Wouter Verlinden, international product manager for LED Video at Harman Professional Solutions. "All addressing is done by the P3 System c

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USA - Huntington Beach, California-based Pacific Coast Entertainment (PCE) has added 16 Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) Redline loudspeakers to their production inventory. PCE is a full service production company providing rental, sales, audio, lighting, video and installation services throughout the country.

The PCE team had been looking for a powered loudspeaker solution that could serve as both a monitor and a two-way stand-mounted system. The company serves the corporate AV market which oftentimes requires high audio quality that is also simple to use and operate.

"We listened to a lot of products but could not find anything we were really happy with," explains Ryan Steidinger, CEO of PCE. "When EAW's Jonas Domkus suggested we give Redline a listen we figured it couldn't hurt. We were immediately impressed. They have that renowned EAW sound, the quality is terrific and th

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Germany - Event technology provider Nallinger Showtime e.K. of Bonn has added Elation Professional Platinum Beam 5R Extreme and Platinum Spot 5R moving head fixtures to its inventory and immediately put the fixtures to work on eSport gaming event ESL Expo Barcelona.

Showtime, who already had Platinum Beam 5R Extreme's in its rental inventory, now stock only Elation moving heads. They chose to upgrade their inventory of Platinum Beam 5R Extreme's with additional fixtures and acquired the Platinum Spot 5R's as replacement fixtures for aging 250W fixtures.

"The Elation fixtures' easy handling, workmanship and compatibility to our current stock were all factors in choosing them," stated Showtime managing director Guido Nallinger. "Their light output is also excellent. We also value the support we receive from Elation and the price fit within our budget."

Nallinger Showtime

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UK - British audio manufacturer, Audient and the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (ICMP) have teamed up to present The Audient Scholarship: a sponsored tuition for a one-year Professional Diploma in Music Production at the prestigious London facility, starting at the beginning of the new academic year, September 2016.

The creation of the Audient Scholarship coincides with a major refit and overhaul of the ICMP recording studios, which are to be centred around a new ASP8024 analogue mixing console.

Facilities manager, Mike Sinnott comments on the new studios, designed and built by Slowglass Creative. "There's one control room with two adjoining live rooms, which will have a traditional analogue set up (tie lines, patchbay, desk), along with ProTools HD, Logic, Ableton, further outboard and a comprehensive mic cupboard. We are also building three production rooms

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Spain - With more than 15m visitors since opening, Valencia's Oceanographica is one of the most important marine aquariums in the world and the biggest in Europe.

The park wanted to offer the best experience for their visitors and have just chosen Lynx Pro Audio systems for the park's daily dolphin show. Twenty Ionic-100 column speakers ionic-100, together with 8 DR-N12 subs have been installed in different postions in the dolphinarium, including the roof of the amphitheatre and the borders of the dolphin pool.

The roof of the amphitheatre holds 12 columns in combination with six subs. This combination is done with six groups of two columns per sub evenly distributed under the roof. The rest of the cabinets are fixed very close to the dolphin pool to reach the first rows of seats, with two subs perfectly hidden from view. With a capacity of 1500 people this dolphinarium is

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USA - When it comes to naming albums, Lettuce is a band of few words. Following the success of its two previous releases, Rage! and Fly, the group came out with its latest record Crush in November 2015.

Since its release, the album has topped of the US Jazz Albums charts. The recent Crush Tour delivers the big sound associated with its namesake album. It's a sound made all the more powerful on stage by an appropriately potent lightshow by production designer Gabe Fraboni and lighting designer Wiley Cutler, using a collection of Rogue fixtures from Chauvet Professional, provided by 4Wall Entertainment.

"We were using another big name moving head, but the people at 4Wall showed us the Rogue Series," said Fraboni. "The Rogues impressed us with their compact, size, brightness and optics. The fixtures fit our touring needs perfectly."

Fraboni and Cutler

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UK - Allen & Heath's dLive digital mixing system is currently being employed by front of house engineer Steve Pattison on Wet Wet Wet's UK headline tour, which recently included a date at London's O2 arena.

Supplied by SSE Hire for the tour, the flagship dLive S7000 control surface is partnered with Allen & Heath's DM64 MixRack to handle an on-stage line-up that comprises the Scottish four-piece's traditional backline, multiple vocals and horn section. As a longstanding fan of Allen & Heath's iLive system, Pattison's decision to rely on dLive for the tour was an easy one to make.

"It really feels like dLive is a step on from the iLive system that I've enjoyed using with various artists over the years," says Pattison (whose CV includes a five-year stint with Amy Winehouse, Ellie Goulding, Texas, Glasvegas and Royksopp). "It's very fast to use, despite the amount of control

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USA - Football at Colorado School of Mines is a tradition dating back to 1893 allowing the school to boast of the "oldest football field west of the Mississippi". And, in September 2015, Mines celebrated the opening of its new, 5300-seat Marv Kay stadium with meeting and event rooms, a large press box and VIP suites, dedicated sports medicine and strength training spaces and a new sound system with Community R Series loudspeakers.

Tom Falgien of consulting firm WJHW designed the stadium's new sound system. Falgien says the planning and needs analysis began in August of 2013 and involved the stadium's architectural firm and the school's athletic staff. The school wanted even coverage for the field and for both home and visitors seating with high voice intelligibility and plenty of level to overcome crowd noise. They also wanted a modern system with extended frequency range and

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UK - Adlib supplied an L-Acoustics PA for US pop-punk band All Time Low, for their recent Back to The Future Hearts UK Tour, plus a support package for special guests Maryland rock band Good Charlotte, back after a long hiatus.

The PA system technician for Adlib was Alan Harrison, working alongside Adlib's Hassane Es Siahi, with Jay Petch looking after monitor world. An experienced and enthusiastic crew, who all worked closely with All Time Low engineers Phil Gornell (FOH) and Ricky Fernandez (monitors) plus Good Charlotte's Jim Carmichael at FOH and Chris Cotten on monitors. Against The Current was the other support act.

Both Phil Gornell and All Time Low production manager Dan Nickleski are big Adlib fans, and were keen to get the Liverpool company on-board for this leg of the tour - with Phil specifying the L-Acoustics K1 system complimented by K2 side-hangs for the (mo

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UK - Bristolian band Coasts rocked London's Roundhouse in February with a captivating, atmospheric lighting show created by Tom Campbell using an Avolites Sapphire Touch and networked Tiger Touch II.

"This was a stripped back version of the bigger shows we've got planned for later in the year, designed to suit the iconic Roundhouse and create the right feel," says Campbell. "I'm using a lot of tungsten in the show, and a video wall of Ereimul Elidy 'S' matrix fixtures and Clay Paky Stormy CCs, which curves around the band in a 'C' shape."

Campbell's consoles are loaded with Titan v9 for the tour, and he's utilising an array of the new and powerful features available in the software.

"The show is packed full of Key Frame Shapes-powered looks, which allow me to get a wide variety of textures and feels," Campbell continues. "Key Frame Shapes is an extremely powerful featu

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USA - Howard Jones and Nate Alves, who co-designed the lighting for Brantley Gilbert's Black Out World Tour, have selected an array of Clay Paky fixtures - including the new Scenius moving head spotlight - for the current leg of the arena tour

Gilbert, the country rock singer and songwriter, kicked off the US and Canada leg of the Black Out World Tour playing to capacity crowds in Saginaw, Michigan. After the tour wraps this spring Gilbert will take a breather before launching the Take It Outside summer tour. The current lighting rig will be reprised for the summer tour.

Howard Jones, is president of DCR (Digital Console Rental, Inc.) in Nashville, which provides the sound, lighting and video for the Black Out World Tour. He also designed Gilbert's previous two tours: Hell on Wheels in 2011 and Let It Ride in 2013-14.

"I've been with Brantley since early in his career,

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UK - Continuing a long-running relationship with Waltham Services, producer for Autosport International's Live Action Arena, PRG XL Video has supplied a state-of-the-art high brightness projection solution for the 2016 show, held at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre.

Autosport International is a globally renowned trade show, exhibition and performance car show created and managed by Haymarket Exhibitions at the NEC every January.

Alongside appearances by current and former drivers and teams from a variety of motor racing series, one hall of the NEC holds the Live Action Arena, where members of the public can see an array of current and classic racing cars put through their paces by a team of expert drivers.

For more than five years, PRG XL Video has worked with Malcolm Forbes of Waltham Services to provide projection in the Live Action Arena. For the 2016 show, t

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Qatar - As it prepares to become the first country in the Middle East to host the landmark football championships in 2022, Qatar is investing in state-of-the-art infrastructure and technologies for the stadiums at which the matches for different sports will be held.

Among these is the successful implementation of world class wireless microphone systems from Sennheiser at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, which played a vital role in enabling handball fans across the world enjoy the televised broadcasts of live matches. This stadium will be used for boxing, handball and basketball championships and also for live in concerts in the future.

Sennheiser, which also supplied microphones for the football stadiums in Brazil, highlighted the importance of its audio solutions. "With several hundred million TV viewers watching live, there is no room for error," said Mig Cardamone, director

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