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USA - With benefits like greater reliability, increased energy efficiency and less maintenance for a lower cost of ownership, the transition from discharge lamp-based lighting fixtures to LED source luminaires in the entertainment lighting industry was understandable if not inevitable. Then, as LED engines began to compete with discharge-based fixtures in terms of brightness, the writing seemed to be on the wall - it was only a matter of time before discharge-based luminaires would disappear completely. But that hasn’t been the case. So why are manufacturers still launching lighting products with discharge sources? We spoke to Elation to find out their take . . .
“It’s really about what you want to accomplish optically,” states John Dunn, national sales manager at Elat

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France - Following the recent announcement of a new global sales and business development organisation, L-Acoustics has introduced the new business development team.
Under the general management of L-Acoustics CEO Laurent Vaissié, the new team is spread across three divisions: Sales and Sales Operations focusing on developing regional sales channels; Business Development concentrating on developing commercial expertise and end-user outreach in key vertical markets; and Strategy leadership developing mid- to long-term go-to-markets strategies and key partnerships as well as managing resource planning and market intelligence.
The team will focus on setting strategies and roadmaps in five key vertical markets. L-Acoustics veteran William Cornell takes the role of director, musicals & theatre, while Scott Wakelin has been promoted to director, hospitality. Paul Keat

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Thailand - To provide versatile and intuitive AV technology for a variety of events and scenarios, Mahajak Development recently installed networked AV systems by Harman Professional Solutions at MTLA’s new Sarnsara Learning Centre in Bangkok.
Founded in 1951, Muang Thai Life Assurance (MTLA) is a major provider of life insurance with 250 branches across Thailand. In 2020, MTLA constructed Sarnsara Learning Centre, a new facility with the aim of creating an ideal learning space and collaborative environment for its associates and clients. Its facilities include a 1,000-seat auditorium, 73 guestrooms and 16 training rooms of various sizes, each accommodating between 20 and 200 people.
To ensure that the array of rooms could support a variety of purposes - including seminars, meetings, group discussions, workshops and other activities - MTLA turned to integrator Mahajak
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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 - Danny McDonald, one of New York City’s best-known restaurateurs, is known for being adept at the development, construction and operation of modern pubs. Starting in 1995 with the Swift Hibernian Lounge, which Crain’s New York contended "revolutionised the Irish Bar scene" in the city, his portfolio grew to include Puck Fair, Ulysses’ Folkhouse, Pier A Harbor House, and The Dead Rabbit.
Now McDonald’s latest venture, called simply The Barand located in Manhattan’s Moynihan Train Hall, continues his string of successful taverns, this one in the newly renovated Penn Station below the Beaux Arts-designed James A. Farley Post Office Building. The Bar, an elegant venue in dark walnut and polished brass, is a centrepiece of the Hall’s food court.
McDonald chose loudspeakers from Genelec to provide the audio aspect of the establishment’s carefully considere

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Sweden - The home stadium of Sweden’s most highly decorated professional football team, Malmö FF, has been renowned for its modern, world-class design since it was built in 2009 at the cost of €79.7m. Staying firmly on the technology curve, the venue decided it was time to upgrade the stadium’s audio system, specifying a bespoke design from, L-Acoustics, based around its A Series product line.
“The refit came about when the stadium started to have problems with its fire alarm system, which is integral to the sound system,” explains Ola Bigélius, project manager at Creative Technology Sweden, who was appointed to lead the installation. “The technical team had been considering upgrading the current audio system, which was the impetus they needed to proceed with the project.”
With an audience capacity of 22,500, Eleda Stadium is the third largest used by a

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USA - Rising artist Riley Clemmons launched her first headlining tour with a lighting system provided by Bandit Lites. With over 210m global streams and 50m YouTube video views since the beginning of her almost decade long career, Clemmons’s ocals and touching lyrics have endeared her to millions of fans around the world. The First Christmas Tour is named for her hit Christmas song.
“Bandit had the opportunity to work with production manager Chris Newman and lighting director Dominic Hickman on a tour earlier in the fall, and on completion of that tour we were asked if we could continue on with Ms. Riley Clemmons on her Christmas tour,” said Bandit Lites vice president Mike Golden. “Chris and Dom have been outstanding to work with and they are very hands on in terms of production value, logistics and practicality.”
Lighting designer Dominic Hickman assemble

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USA - The organisers of LDI have changed the dates of the 2023 event to avoid clashing with the Las Vegas Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Says the LDI, “Following a very successful LDI 2022 show in Las Vegas, we have listened to the feedback from our customers, attendees, vendors, and the Las Vegas Convention Centre and decided to move the dates for our 2023 event.
“Despite being a week earlier than the Formula 1 event that will be held in Las Vegas, we heard from our community on-site that the LDI 2023 original dates (mid-November) still raised concerns about the availability of hotels, cost of travel, and potential labour shortages. 
As a result, we are moving the dates further away from the Formula 1 event to ensure everybody has the best possible experience and we can hold another successful LDI event.”
The original show dates were 12-14 November 2023

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USA - Phoenix, Arizona, the second driest city in the USA (only Las Vegas gets less precipitation) has gone as long as 160 days without rain; that happened back in 1972. The organisers of the inaugural Zona Music festival had no such luck. On 3 December, the day the festival opened, Mother Nature dropped .76 inches of rain down on the city, breaking a record that had stood for 115 years.
Yet, despite the unexpected downpour, a large crowd poured in to Margert T. Hance Park in the downtown district for the two-day festival, eager to take in performances by 50 different acts, headlined by Portugal The Man, Beach House, Bleachers, and Japanese Breakfast. Brightening the cloudy skies and reflecting the music of each artist in vivid colours were dynamic lightshows created on rigs designed by John Garberson and the team at Creative BackStage that featured over 100 Chauvet Professi

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UK - Hillsong Church UK has chosen Shure’s Axient Digital wireless microphone system to power the sound of the singers in both theatre and arena sized venues.
Hillsong Church UK had a requirement for a reliable wireless microphone system that was versatile enough to be used at multiple locations, from theatres to arenas, whilst delivering professional and consistent sound.
Founded in 1983 in the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia, Hillsong Church UK is a contemporary Christian church. It has churches in city centres in 28 countries around the world and an average global attendance of 150,000 weekly.
The church has been a customer of Solotech for almost 20 years. Phil Aitken, sales executive, Solotech comments: “When Ofcom implemented their licence change, Hillsong had to look at re-specifying all of their RF. It was at that point they chose Shure Axient D

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Junior Eurovision - France has won this year's Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Yerevan, Armenia. Thirteen-year-old Lissandro won with 203 points for his song Oh Maman! beating hosts Armenia in second place, Georgia third, and Ireland fourth. The United Kingdom came fifth overall with 146 points - although it did win the public vote. The UK's entrant, Freya Skye, performed live after suffering with vocal issues during rehearsals.
Rising Stars - R&B vocal harmony group Flo have won the Brits rising star award. The London-based trio only released their debut single, Cardboard Box, in March, but won instant praise for their retro-styled girl band sound. Formed in 2021, they comprise singers Stella Quaresma and Renée Downer, who met at the Sylvia Young Stage School, and Jorja Douglas, who they discovered on Instagram. The prize, formerly known

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Spain - From Hall 7, Stand J875 of next year’s ISE Show, Out Board will demonstrate the latest product innovations from the TiMax family of immersive audio and showcontrol products.
Following on from one of the company’s busiest years, both in sales and in product development, Out Board will showcase new software and workflow enhancements to TiMax2 SoundHub and also some significant TiMax TrackerD4 precision stagetracking performance upgrades. Visitors can also anticipate sneak previews of some new spatial management power within the TiMax SoundHub platform.
You can get hands-on with the new TiMax 600-Series Mac and PC software, which boasts significant boosts to TimeLine and PanSpace object-based spatialisation functionality, as well as enhanced GUI workflows. The 600-Series software also addresses essential stable compatibility with the latest Windows 11 and Mac

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USA - Janes Addiction were out supporting the Smashing Pumpkins beneath a lighting rig of Elation Artiste Monet and DARTZ 360 LED moving heads designed, programmed and operated by Alex Picard. Lighting supply and support was from Legacy Production Group.
The Spirits on Fire tour, which started 2 October in Dallas, played arenas as the Smashing Pumpkins’ special guest openers. Alex got the call to start working on a design in early September, his first ever gig with Janes Addiction, which gave him little time until tour launch. Still, he dialed in the design “pretty quickly” and with great support from the Legacy crew, it all came together.
“When I got the call there was already a stage design and setup in play,” reports Alex, who says he was given a comprehensive rig from the Smashing Pumpkins to use - eight overhead trusses plus wash and hybrid fixtures on

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USA - ‘Hard Rock Live is NOW OPEN!’ The all-caps exclamation on the website for the 2,500-seat venue at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento at Fire Mountain is understandable. The resort opened in 2019, but work on the entertainment facility was stumped for nearly three years by the pandemic and constant supply-chain problems.
In the wake of a debut performance by Maroon 5 this summer, Hard Rock Live is now poised to be the region's premier concert destination, with Live Nation serving as its exclusive talent booking agency. And the space is also positioned to host a multitude of other events - meetings, trade shows, boxing, MMA, and charity events - all with a new L-Acoustics K2 sound system.
The new Hard Rock Live was designed with patrons in mind. However, with world-class design and integration vendors creating it - Montréal-based Scéno Plus did the audio

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UK - Production Futures is an initiative created to provide opportunities for young people to learn, train, network, and develop real careers in production across every area of the live event, music, touring, theatre, TV, broadcast and film industries.
Having run a series of successful live events from its inception in 2016 to 2019, the organisation produced several equally popular online events during the pandemic, before returning in 2022 to forge new partnerships and deliver its nationwide On Tour programme.
Working with 47 brand partners and bringing to the table the wisdom of a number of acknowledged industry experts, Production Futures this year opened many more doors of opportunity for young people at its events. With a mission to inspire, teach and make real connections, the On Tour programme saw more than 1,800 young people visit venues across five UK cities a

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USA - Based in Des Moines, Iowa, Conference Technologies Inc (CTI) recently completed a sound system integration at the nearby Grace Church -replacing the former PA, which had serviced their requirements for two decades, with the constant curvature technology of Martin Audio’s Torus array.
This is the latest of a progressive series of AVL upgrades at the church undertaken by CTI over the past 10 years and meets the high demands of a Southern Baptist church, whose lively worship ministry is based around bands, choirs and orchestras.
Led and overseen by worship pastor, Michael Hoskinson, the old PA, which had been in situ since the church opened, was providing inconsistent coverage across the 1200-seat fan-shaped auditorium and was clearly ready to be retired. “What we were looking for instead was a line array that would provide even coverage everywhere,” said the

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Saudi Arabia - Christopher Bauder, founder and creative director of WHITEvoid, Berlin collaborated with musician and composer, Strahil Velchev, of KINK to produce a spectacular and original art installation of light and sound at the Noor Riyadh Festival 2022 in November.
Named Axion, the temporary large-scale light art piece is inspired by a hypothetical elementary particle which, if it exists, might be a component of dark matter which cosmologists believe makes up 95% of the universe. The dark matter theory describes how the universe went from a smooth initial state to the uneven distribution of galaxies and their clusters we see today.
Such an ambitious work called for a light with a big personality to achieve the necessary impact the design required, and Bauder chose 80 Ayrton Cobra fixtures, supplied by Kaiser Showtechnik of Augsberg, Germany, to define the paramet

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UK - PSCo has announced a substantial expansion to its trade rental fleet with the addition of Barco Event Master image processing solutions for the live events market.
The move sees PSCo immediately offer range of image processing and screen control systems including the flagship E2 Gen 2 and S3 Tri-Combo 4K presentation systems, EC-50 event controller, and PDS-4K presentation switchers to enhance PSCo’s rental offering in the UK.
Trade partners will benefit from rental-ready trade hire packages across all Barco products, as well as access to Barco image processing demonstration facilities at Innovation House, PSCo’s experience centre in Bracknell. PSCo will also be stocking select items from the Event Master range for sales to support rental partners with time sensitive project opportunities.
Additionally, PSCo has added ImagePro-4K switcher scalers to bol

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UAE - Creative Technology (CT) Middle East has made a major investment in Robe moving lights with the purchase of Fortes and LEDBeam 350s which join the company’s busy and expanding rental fleet at their Dubai HQ, servicing projects across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.
Sam Connolly, head of lighting for CTME, explained that it was important to invest in Robe’s innovative technology for several reasons. While the company is well known for its full-service, they have recently expanded further into their lighting department, making huge investments in lighting fixtures to ensure they can be the number one service provider in the region. When Sam came onboard, he started looking for flexible and multifunctional luminaires that would offer immense value for CT’s diverse cross section of projects.
Sam highlights the concept similarities - maximum power and multiple

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Germany - To celebrate 700 years since the 1322 consecration of the initial eastern part of Cologne’s impressive Gothic cathedral, German piano/electronic music duo Grandbrothers played a spectacular gig within its hallowed walls. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the Cathedral’s 157m twin-spires are the tallest such styled church in the world, and it is Germany’s most popular visitor attraction.
Lighting designer Oskar Felix Funke chose a full MA Lighting grandMA3 control system to run lighting for this show that was recorded, both for a new album for later broadcast over the ARTE Concert network. The musical numbers were all specifically created by the artists - Lukas Vogel and Erol Sarp- to work optimally in the Cathedral setting, considering its vast size and acoustic nuisances like the very long reverb.
The performance was instigated by and the brainchild of the

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USA - Dean Mattson mixes FOH for progressive rock pioneers Yes and is currently out with them as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of their seminal Close to the Edge album with an extensive tour.
The production recently visited the historic Warner Theatre, just a couple of blocks from the White House in Washington DC, where the house system is an Outline Butterfly rig.
Dean comments: “I've used the Butterfly system in the Warner a few times now and it always sounds great. Ishai [Ratz, the house sound engineer] has that rig singing like a classic Sinatra song. He was a big help in making sure I utilised the system in a most efficient way and those new subs they installed are nice. Gives the system a little more thump without becoming boomy.”
Mixing such a well-known album and especially for audiences that know the music intimately can be a real challeng

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USA - Mesa Community College Arizona’s 462-seater Performing Arts Centre held its first full production in November 2022 using an upgraded rig of Vari-Lite LED luminaires from Signify. Dominating the new array of lighting fixtures were the VL2600 Profile, VL800 EventWash and VL800 ProPar, which have dramatically reduced power consumption at the centre and provided smooth, rich colours for a premiere run of The Addams Family musical.

The college’s modern, architecturally striking Performing Arts Centre, located just east of Phoenix, opened in 2014. It was initially rigged with a range of traditional Fresnels, pars and tungsten wash and profile fixtures, which were ageing and power hungry. Kyle Rivieccio joined Mesa Community College in 2019 as PAC technology coordinator/master electrician, and he was later tasked with delivering a lighting rig

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