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France - Hellfest is not as frightening as it sounds! For three days, 40,000 rock and metal fans gather in the countryside of western France (Clisson, just outside of Nantes) for this annual festival. Headlined by Def Leppard, Kiss, and Volbeat, this year's event saw Nexo's new STM system make its Hellfest debut on the two main stages.

French rental company Melpomen has provided the audio kit for Hellfest since its inception in 2006, and, as Melpo has been a big Nexo user for nearly 20 years, the festival has always been Nexo-centric. With STM onboard this year, that meant more headroom and more control than ever before, according to Thierry Tranchant, Melpo's president.

"We have a very good relationship with the festival organisers, so when we explained that we needed STM

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France - When Harlequin Europe interviewed the leading lights of The Opéra national de Paris there was unanimous agreement that the partnership between dancers and the dance floor is of great importance.

Director of dance, Brigitte Lefèvre was joined by principal dancers, Dorothée Gilbert and Jérémie Bélingard for the interview which is featured on the Harlequin YouTube channel.

Brigitte Lefèvre explained that although a well-established and respected traditional dance company "everything is always evolving, a living tradition and at the same time we are a reflection of an age, of the times." She continued, "You realise that the dancers are all becoming more and more attentive to everything that accompanies them and they are perfectly right. In a reference to dancers' health and well-being she said, "you can speak of att

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South Africa - MJ Event Gear supplied the full technical for the Black Management Forum Corporate Update Dinner, held recently at the Sandton Convention Centre.

A thousand guests, including South African government and business leaders, were invited to the black-tie occasion.

With the client only confirming the technical four days prior to show day, the greatest challenge was to build the set. Project manager and head of crew, Zeeks Sebatjane of MJ Event Gear, and lighting designer, Johnny Scholtz, had already come up with the design. The team at Driftwood, under the guidance of Jaco Meyer, put the set together in record time. The stage incorporated white flats and two big screens.

"The client was impressed," said Zeeks Sebatjane. "They said our work was very tidy... and that was during set up. The crew was super and everyone was willing to help. "Thank y

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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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South Africa - Born in Sydney Australia Kevin Maybury was attracted to the world of theatre at a very early age. By the time he was 16 he was already working backstage and making scenery for the amateur dramatic productions being staged at the YMCA theatre in Sydney. From there, he moved on to the Tivoli Theatre in Sydney

As soon as he left school he was on his way to Melbourne; headquarters of Australia's professional theatre production company, JC Williamson.

One of the theatrical companies that toured Australia in those days was the Royal Shakespeare Company from Stratford-on-Avon, which afforded Kevin an invaluable Introduction when he arrived in England seeking employment. Kevin joined the company as it was about to embark on a new venture, which was a season of three plays to be staged the Adelphi Theatre in London. He stayed with the company for a further season when it

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Japan - For the second year in succession, RCF was chosen to support Japan's Big Beach Festival (BBF) at the Makuhari Seaside Park in Chiba, which this year saw Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) - who performed at the Festival back in 2011- and Basement Jaxx as headliners.

Promoted by Akira Kidoguchi and Masachika Fukui for A-life Entertainment Co. Ltd., rental company Comestock again equipped the three stages with RCF TT+ Touring & Theatre systems to satisfy an audience totalling around 25,000 people.

In addition to the usual armoury of high-powered TT+ line arrays there was a surprise for anyone visiting the party tent known as the 'Disco Balloon'. Six of the new TTP5-A enclosures (three per side) were making their Japanese debut in the Balloon - supplied (as with all the RCF equipment) by the Italian manufacturer's territorial distributors, Ballad Co. Ltd.

Dominated by its newly

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South Africa - To commemorate the 1976 Soweto uprising, 16 June, also known as Youth Day, is a public holiday in South Africa. Events aimed at young South Africans are held across the country and this year a draw card was a concert by Zakes Bantwini held at the Durban ICC on Friday, 14 June.

Zakes Bantwini returned to his home province for the Upfront with Zakes Bantwini live concert. The show was brought to fans by the Ethekwini Municipality and Mayonie Productions. Black Coffee was commissioned to provide the full technical for the event.

"The only challenge was getting in on that morning - actually at midnight - to set up and be ready for the rehearsals at 2pm," commented Llewellyn Pieters from Black Coffee. "But we planned crew shifts and it all worked out. The gear worked very well and everything was pre-addressed at the workshop and labelled for rig

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Germany - K.M.E. reports new additions to its Pano Hybrid user pool at the beginning of the summer event season 2013.

The German companies Tonart from Kürten, Bild und Tonstudio - Medien & Veranstaltungstechnik from Sigmaringen, DM Elektronik Veranstaltungstechnik from Wolfsburg, JAM-SOUND Veranstaltungstechnik from Lützen and Beschallungsteam Marticke from Schönborn from now on belong to the the system.

In Europe Vest Lydservice from Stord /Norwegen, Veranstaltungstechnik Mayrhofer from St. Georgen im Attergau / Austria, Crealine Audiosystems from Wetzikon and Musicelectronic Jaccoud from Givisiez / both Switzerland and Musicalbox from Verona / Italy invested in Hybrid components.

(Jim Evans)

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Australia - As of 1 June, 2013, authorised Shure distributor for Australia, Jands Pty Ltd, began distributing conferencing products manufactured by Danish Interpretation Systems (DIS), a division of Informationsteknik Scandinavia Group of Copenhagen, Denmark, which Shure acquired in February 2011.

"With the acquisition of Informationsteknik, Shure has reinforced our position in the installed sound market. Together, Shure and DIS have a history of innovation, quality and customer commitment, and with our strong and dedicated network of distributors, we will deliver state-of-the-art conferencing solutions to an expanded customer base," said William Chan, managing director of Shure Asia Limited.

(Jim Evans)

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Norway - A dazzling array of pure beam Sharpys, rigged in a two-tier array around the Oslo Spektrum Stadium and pointing directly at the audience, has added superstar sparkle to the final of Norwegian Idol.

Respected lighting designer, Anders Busch, specified a host of Sharpys for the closing show of the international TV show phenomenon.

"The concept for the Norwegian Idol finale 2013 was that it should not look like every other TV talent show," explains Petter Nilssen from lighting equipment supplier, Elektrik Solutions AS. "The production designers didn't want the ubiquitous supersized LED or projector screens, they wanted something different. In addition the producers wanted to have as many people in the audience as possible. In order to do this they needed a 360 degree stage."

This presented a considerable challenge - how to create enoug

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UK - London venue the Brewery has confirmed Blitz Communications as its exclusive in house audio visual supply and production partner. The five-year agreement will commence on 31 July.

James Varah, sales director, at the Brewery comments, "We are thrilled to be welcoming Blitz to become part of The Brewery family at a key point in our history. Our business has grown significantly in the last eighteen months, and we are now hosting more events than ever before. The breadth of Blitz offering was instrumental in our decision, and we feel will enhance our already comprehensive event service."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Dating from the 13th century, the Chester Mystery Plays production involves hundreds of amateur actors, volumes of volunteer work and a great audience from different corners of the UK and from all over the world. Organized every five years, this year's performances took place for the first time ever in the Chester Cathedral's nave, where about 100 CHauvet Professional fixtures lit the set.

"In order to bring these 700-year-old Mystery Plays to life, I knew I had to deliver some spectacular effects," said lighting designer Chris Ellis. " I also knew we needed a large lighting rig to do justice to the large setting in the Nave of Chester's medieval cathedral. With only modest power supplies available, it was an ideal opportunity to try out a large LED rig to help keep the power consumption down. Chauvet lighting kindly obliged with a selection of some 10

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UK - Harlequin Floors, have played a vital part in the development of The Academy, the south coast's largest dance studio and training centre. Opened last Friday by Strictly Come Dancing professional dancers, Ian White and Natalie Lowe, the centre in Southampton features 720m2 of Harlequin Activity Sprung Floor and Harlequin Standfast.

Friday 28 June saw the unveiling of three large dance studios, costume and shoe storage room, an aerial performance room and two singing rehearsal rooms, all in a converted warehouse. The Academy is one of the largest dance studios in the UK and will house rehearsals for thousands of dancers and performers rehearsing for appearances on Carnival Cruises.

Each of the three dance studios were fully equipped with Harlequin Activity Sprung Floor topped with Harlequin Standfast Surface and were built to replicate a ship in a bid to help perform

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Italy/USA - LDR has announced a significant change in their distribution policy for the USA . Effective from July 2013, LDR will cease the cooperation with Ballantyne-Strong.

LDR's Fabiano Besio says, "Ballantyne-Strong proved to be a professional and dedicated partner for LDR during our many years of collaboration and we wish them all the best for the future.

"The change has been necessary to answer the growing demand on LDR products in the USA and particularly on the Canto followspots and The Xpress 21 color color Scroller . Our customer base is very demanding and expects from our distributor the same high level of quality and service that are representative of our products.

Beginning 1 August, 2013, the Canto followspot range and related LDR products will be exclusively distributed and serviced by CantoUSA.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Cadac has announced an expansion of its marketing team with the creation of dedicated brand marketing and brand development positions, and the appointment of James Godbehear and Richard 'Fez' Ferriday, respectively, to these positions; both men having formerly held the same positions for a considerable length of time at Midas/Klark Teknik. The appointments are with immediate effect.

Commenting on appointment of the two industry stalwarts to their new positions within Cadac, managing director David Kan, stated, "We are very excited to welcome two marketing professionals of such exceptional experience and calibre to our expanding team here in our Luton HQ. James and Richard come to us with industry-wide recognised abilities in their respective roles and their appointments provide us with the extended marketing capabilities we require. James and Richard will be especially

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Germany - The first live show in Europe to use Robe's new Pointe moving light fixtures was headlined by DJ and house music producer David Guetta at the DR2 Plaza Festival in Hannover.

The Pointes, supplied by satis&fy AG, were part of the specification provided for his headline slot enjoyed by 17,000 fans who packed the venue.

Guetta's lighting designer is Leggy (Jonathan Armstrong), and lighting is looked after on the road by lighting director Junior (Alex Cerio) from Smash Productions.

Armstrong is a big Robe fan and has used various Robe products in his work for some time. He was delighted to get the chance to run 20 x Robin Pointes - making their worldwide concert debut - in Hannover.

These were supplied, together with the rest of the lighting rig, including another 74 Robe fixtures by the leading German lighting rental house which has over 800 Robe units in its hire s

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Peru - Together with Novolite screen & Light s.a.c, MA Lighting's distributor in Peru, MA Lighting Latin America, has just finished its grandMA 3D competition in Lima. Twenty young LDs selected from 50 participants had the chance to present their designs in the auditorium of the UNIFEM in Lima during the contest.

The contest was an ideal opportunity to showcase the use of grandMA 3D as a free pre-programming and design tool. It also showed that in combination with the free grandMA2 onPC software, users could access a real life design studio.

The jury comprising Alarico Sanchez, director of Novolite, Daniel Ridano and Paulo Lebrao from MA Lighting Latin America, Francesco Romagnoli from Clay Paky and lighting designer Mario Ráez assigned the awards to: first, Alex Tacora from Peru winning an MA onPC command wing; second, Jose Luiz Fagundes from Brazil winning an MA 2Port Node

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USA - Constructed inside the shell of a vacated Boeing Defence Systems plant, Eastside Christian Church in Anaheim, Calif. is centred on a 1,765-seat worship auditorium. A Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system and a MIca line array loudspeaker system were installed here to provide flexible sonic enhancement for Eastside's contemporary worship band and musical events.

In addition to supplying variable acoustics, Constellation also helps lend a sense of small-room intimacy to the teaching segments of senior pastor Gene Appel and others. "The main benefit of Constellation is that we can finesse it. We are not locked into a permanent acoustical decision as we would have been with a fixed acoustical ceiling," says Chris Gille, Eastside's CTO and chief systems engineer.

Gille says Constellation's effect on the room is strikingly apparent at all times. "Just talkin

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Denmark - When Elton John played the 10,000-capacity Resenlund Parken in Skive in Denmark's Jutland at the end of June, DPA Soundco decided that its Coda Audio Airline LA12 system would be the perfect solution. The results proved their decision was justified and further cemented their faith in Coda and its products.

DPA Soundco has already been working with Coda for several years and bought the Airline LA12 system because they saw huge potential in Coda's technology, as well as the size, weight, rigging and handling of the system.

"We have been working with it a great deal and we've found out how to make the most of its power and versatility in a large variety of applications," says Ulrik Rasmussen, DPA Soundco project manager and system designer for the Elton John concert. "We're now really confident that it has plenty of potential to compete with the top brand

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UK - Greenford-based rigging specialist Actus Industries has invested in new Kinesys Elevation 1+ controllers, Liftket chain hoists and a LibraCELL load monitoring system to expand its rental stock.

Actus Industries is headed by Andy Martin, and its senior management team includes some of the most experienced and respected practitioners in the production, show and event industry.

The business has three separate divisions; equipment hire, selected sales and project management.

Actus general manager Adam Beaumont explained that they always intended to go into automation and the choice of brand was made because, "Kinesys is easily the best option'.

They recently won the contract to supply the full rigging package to Robbie Williams' Take The Crown tour, and at this point decided to expand their Kinesys elements.

The new Kinesys kit - including Liftket motors, El

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UK - Neneh Cherry is back for a small UK tour with new band RocketNumberNine and they have chosen the RML demo room for their production rehearsals.

This multi-purpose space can simulate studio conditions especially useful for lighting demonstrations, effects and design. The RML team of proficient lighting and industry experts and technicians can be on hand to clarify features, performance and technical characteristics. Alternatively the space can be hired for many other purposes including small productions, rehearsal space, pop promos, music videos, photo shoots and training to name a few.

Lighting designer Ed Warren, who is busy working with a number of artists including Mumford & Sons said that it was "a fantastic space" and wouldn't hesitate in recommending it.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Black Light now has one of the largest hire stocks of ETC LED lighting in the country. The company has recently invested in over 100 pieces of ETC's technically-sophisticated range.

"LED is the way forward," says Calder Sibbald, Black Light's head of hires. "We are committed to providing our customers with the best possible choice and the latest technology and we think that ETC's range offers an unbeatable combination of features."

The new additions to Black Light's stock include Source Four LED Lustr+ and Studio HD Profiles, Vivid Desire D60's Vivid, Lustr+ Desire D60 Lustr+'s and Vivid Desire D4060 Vivid luminaries.

"We bought some Lustr+e Profiles last year and they have been out on hire almost constantly ever since," says Sibbald. "We know that this range is perfect for our broad customer base which includes Lighting Designers, Ven

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