USA - When Bon Iver’s album, Bon Iver, Bon Iver, dropped 10 years ago, it was widely praised by music critics, debuting at the number two spot on the Billboard 200 US chart and earning the group Grammy Awards for both Best Alternative Music Album and Best New Artist.
To celebrate the anniversary of this milestone release, frontman Justin Vernon and his band brought the album to life in its entirety, plus additional material, with a pair of immersive live shows dubbed Sincerely Grateful at the new YouTube Theatre at Hollywood Park, Los Angeles, using L-ISA technology.
The two-day event marked the first concerts that the group had performed in more than a year and a half, and also represented the first official worldwide deployment of the new L-Acoustics L-ISA Pro

Russia - The final of the 2021 Russian National Open Championship of Creative Competencies – ArtMasters – was staged at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow to honour the best creative and technical talents working behind the scenes on shows and events - lighting designers, set designers, content creators, virtual worlds programmers, costume designers, make-up artists and many more.
One of last year’s ArtMasters Champions, lighting designer ‘Roma Robot’, was invited to light this year’s gala ceremony, and he chose Astera Titan Tubes to be a major part of the production lighting design.
Lighting challenges included facilitating super-quick changeovers. The Bolshoi’s stage was in use for classic theatrical performances the night before the event, so this had to be transformed into a show-space for all the different finale competition pieces, and then again for t

Denmark - From 18 to 24 October 2021, more than 82,000 guests visited Fårup Sommerland to experience a very special illumination event. Under the title Lysfald (Light Falling), the Danish amusement park presented an impressive outdoor lighting installation after sunset, for which the provider responsible – Profox – used more than 200 Cameo spotlights.
Since the installation covered an area equivalent to approximately 55 football fields, Profox was only able to use spotlights that can be controlled from a central point via W-DMX. In total, the experienced service provider deployed 120 Zenit W300 and 24 Zenit W600 outdoor LED wash lights, 72 Drop B4 outdoor uplights, and eight Q-Spot 40I outdoor spotlights at Fårup Sommerland. While the Zenit W300 was used to illuminate the large rides and trees, the Zenit W600 provided an impressive option for the extensive illuminatio
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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

USA - Buddy Guy has been an enduring icon of the Chicago blues for more than half a century, and the octogenarian guitar virtuoso continues a full touring schedule of around 140 shows a year. However, every January, he returns to Buddy Guy’s Legends, his personally owned and family-operated blues club where he holds court for 16 shows.
This year, his annual homecoming benefited from a sonic upgrade with the recent installation of new Meyer Sound ULTRA-X Series loudspeakers for the house and MJF-210 stage monitors for the performers.
“The new Meyer Sound system is a whole lot clearer than what we had before,” notes Greg Guy, Buddy Guy’s son and regular house engineer at the club as well as an accomplished guitarist in his own right. “It’s the same number of speakers as before, and even though the new ones are much smaller, they actually sound bigger. Buddy

Japan - German audio technology and solutions company d&b audiotechnik has appointed Ayumi Hanano as Soundscape business development manager for Japan.
In this role, Hanano will be supporting Japanese users on both the technical and commercial aspects of d&b’s Soundscape System, with additional regional support. Hanano, who will be based in the d&b office in Yokohama, will report to both Hideki Yajima, managing director, d&b Japan, and Anand Narayanan, d&b president, APAC.
“We have seen success with both Soundscape and SL-Series throughout Japan, and Ayumi joins us at a great time to help build on this momentum and develop the markets further,” says Yajima. “Ayumi has a wealth of knowledge and experience throughout Japan and the APAC region. She will be working closely with end customers, system integrators and content creators to help demon

Germany - Pan Acoustics’ AMT series has been deployed successfully in installations and live/theatre applications worldwide. The series is now complemented with a new line source.
P 12-AMT is a powerful line source with balanced frequency and directional characteristics. With a line-up of 12 x 3.5” drivers and Mundorf’s AMT tweeter, it reaches consistent sound reinforcement distances of up to 20m with an overall speaker length of 1.5m.
The system is passively designed and can be operated without DSP equalisation thanks to a complex crossover design. The P 12-AMT is suited for both music and speech applications. In combination with the 12” subwoofer P SW-112, the P 12-AMT system becomes a powerful sound reinforcement system - which also meets live sound requirements.

South Africa - Rivers Church is one of the fastest-growing congregations in South Africa. Starting with a humble attendance of only 70 people in 1992, Ps Andre and Wilma Olivier have grown the church into a faith of thousands, with multiple campuses located in Sandton, Kyalami, Centurion, Durban North and Ballito. Self-described as a ‘dynamic church’, Rivers offers inspirational messages and community to all age groups, with their online streaming service further widening their reach, particularly amidst the pandemic.  
The church is dynamic in terms of adapting and integrating audio-visual technology to enrich their services, resource sharing between campuses and streaming online. “We started working with Stage Audio Works (SAW) in 2011 at the most basic level, but they are now our principal supplier and integrator for audio and video,” explains Andrew Illgner,

The Netherlands - Showtec light effects feature in a new season on NP01. The company Chain knows how to support television programmes in the field of lighting design and attract the attention of viewers. This enables the artists to move, surprise and entertain as much as possible in the programme Matthijs gaat door that is being broadcast every Saturday night on NPO1.
Jeroen van Geffen (lighting design) and Benno van Merrienboer (lighting operator) know how to transform the studio and create a stylish stage experience using the Showtec light effects.
Every week a famous artist takes the stage accompanied by the Sven Hammond Big Band at the most successful Dutch talk show of the moment on Saturday night. Both national and international artists get a stage here. Recently, performers include Stromae, André van Duin, Ruben Hein and Froukje.
A production this

Germany - Pop singer Nico Laska recently presented his debut album, NI/CO, at a sold-out event at the Frankfurt club Nachtleben. Working alongside him was lighting designer and operator Patrick Rabus, a long-time friend of the musician. In order to give the small basement club an atmosphere worthy of the occasion, Rabus turned to GLP’s JDC Line and Fusion Exo Wash.
"The Nachtleben is a typical basement club, with everything that basement clubs have to offer: low ceilings with nowhere to hang lamps, limited power availability, and very spartan house lights," says Rabus. "And then I come in with my own lighting set when the house technicians haven't worked in the club for months due to the pandemic. That was exciting for everyone involved.”
Rabus searched for a place on the club stage to place six GLP JDC Line and eight Fusion Exo Wash. Since there was nowhere

Japan - With its curving abstract form, the Matsumoto Performing Arts Centre presents a fitting architectural testimony to the poetic beauty of the Japanese theatrical tradition. The 18 year-old structure in Nagano, is characterised by a speckled pattern of 20,000 pieces of glass adorning the façade.
Inside the venue’s 1,800-capacity main theatre, the continuation of the flowing contours and curves provides a platform for the venue's programme of traditional and contemporary theatrical performances. As part of a recent lighting upgrade by Hibino Lighting, a total of 17 Chauvet Professional Maverick Silens 2 Profile fixtures were added to the theatre's lighting rig to provide multi-faceted looks in support of the myriad of stage performances which the venue is renowned for.
Whilst some traditional disciplines rely on sound and light to transport metaphor and feeling

USA - UK manufacturer Optimal Audio has continued to expand its distribution network by appointing Exertis ProAV as a distributor in the US.
Part of the Focusrite Group, Optimal Audio manufactures a one-stop solution of control, amplification and loudspeakers for small to medium-sized commercial installations, with a focus on supporting multi-zoned venues.
Exertis’ ProAV division offers a complete range of products and systems for corporate, education, retail, hospitality, government and house of worship customers.
Lee Stein, Optimal Audio vice president America, notes: “We’ve made tremendous strides in expanding our global footprint through distribution agreements with strategically placed partners around the world. The appointment of Exertis ProAV in the United States represents another major step forward in this expansion. Exertis’s expertise in specia

Japan - Try Audio provided an Outline’s GTO system at one of Japan’s largest facilities for large-scale expos and concerts.
The city of Chiba, which stands on Tokyo Bay, recently hosted the first two days of uP!!! Special Live Holic Extra 2022 in its Makuhari Messe complex. The event featured 16 Japanese rock bands, including Androp, Straightener, Blue Encount and Orange Range.
The audio contractor was Try Audio Japan, who fielded an Outline sound system for the high-profile live event. The two main hangs comprised 12 Outline GTO plus three Mantas (on down-fill duty) per side, while side-hangs consisted in 16 Outline Butterfly per side. Bottom-end punch was ensured by a centre subwoofer system of 20 Outline DBS 18-2 dual 18-inch enclosures and lip-fills were four LIPF-082. The powerhouse featured a combination of Outline’s T-Eleven and T-Seven power amplif

UK - Sound Technology, exclusive distributor of Martin Professional in the UK, has appointed Joshua Wakley as area sales manager in its professional lighting division.
Wakley has been working in the theatre & live events industry for 13 years starting out as a lighting technician for regional venues in the south west. As the technical manager with The Redgrave Theatre, he oversaw investment and development into the venue, producing multiple in-house shows and attracting a range of commercial hires.
Wakley joined the customer service team at SLX in 2018 before becoming business development manager where he supplied and supported national venues, production companies and touring shows as well as event production companies & the corporate sector. Most recently, Wakley has added tools to his portfolio as a health & safety inspector & fire risk assessor. <

USA - ADJ Lighting has introduced the Focus Profile, a feature-packed automated profile luminaire powered by a potent 400W LED light engine. Taking its place as the new flagship model in ADJ’s popular Focus Series of LED-powered moving heads, this new fixture is billed as the brightest and most feature-rich fixture in the range to date. it is designed for theatrical, concert touring and event production applications.
At the heart of the Focus Profile is a powerful 400-Watt LED light engine, with a native colour temperature of 6,700K, which offers an impressive output of 20,000 Lumens and an equally impressive average life expectancy of 20,000 hours. After being manipulated by a variety of beam shaping tools, the light generated is focused through precision optics and a large front lens to create a punchy output with a CRI in excess of 70, which can be further increased to

USA - Anaheim-based BCT Entertainment has invested in a large complement of Ayrton Diablo fixtures from ACT Entertainment, Ayrton’s exclusive distributor in North America.
“We have expanded our lighting inventory with the purchase of our first Ayrton fixtures,” says BCT’s owner, Brian Longhofer. “We had a gap in small-format fixtures with framing capabilities, and the Diablos checked all the boxes.”
ACT Entertainment introduced Longhofer to the Diablo fixtures, which he later saw at LDI. “We considered other fixtures, but ultimately decided on the Diablos because of Ayrton’s name recognition, the fixture’s feature set, and its high quality compared to its price.”
He expects the Diablos to be used primarily for corporate events, where their small format is especially desirable. “Unlike concerts where lighting is part of the show, corporate cl

UK - St Paul’s House is a prominent city centre building located in the heart of Winchester held by Lane Clark & Peacock LLP (LCP), an independent, owner managed pensions, investment and insurance consultancy.
In keeping with the building’s recent refurbishment, a modern AV system was required with the brief of ‘audio over visual’. This was desired by LCP to allow the teams to conduct Microsoft Teams meetings, as well as the offices boasting the flexibility for other uses such as conferences, presentations and collaborative meetings, with the option of using the space as a singular large room or divided in two.
Working with the team at Shure, Microsoft AV specialists Symity and Stoke-based integrators Connect Anything, Microflex Advance MXA910 Ceiling Array Microphone were deployed throughout the divisible space, along with Intellimix P300 processors and MX

India - Ground Control used 26 Showtec Sunstrip Active MKII blinders for Red Bull Dance your Style.
Red Bull Dance your Style is a global digital event where you get to see the best dancers around the globe showcase their skills in one-on-one battles to unpredictable tunes. Last year no fewer than 80 events took place, including one in India where 26 Showtec Sunstrip Active MKII blinders were used. The event was live on Insider and reached dance lovers from all over the world.
The dancers’ skills were exposed to the world in style thanks to the professional lighting and visual production around the dance floor. The production was managed by Nodwin Gaming. Naveen Deshpande from Ground Control arranged the lighting design with support from lighting inventory supplier Star Dimensions India. He has previously successfully used Showtec Sunstrip Active MKII

USA - The Christ Fellowship Churches in South Florida are enjoying new visions during services at five locations this year, following a major investment in Hippotizer media servers to playback pre-made content and drive LED pixel strips with swathes of colour.
Three of Christ Fellowship’s largest locations, in Palm Beach, Royal Palm Beach and Port St. Lucie are now enjoying the user-friendly, visual impact of Hippotizer Taiga, Karst and Boreal Media Servers respectively. They were specified by the church’s technical director, Neil Zimmerman.
“We were previously using a tired, software-based visuals solution but found that the graphics cards within our computers had major limitations and required constant updates,” says Zimmerman. “I was aware of the power and intuitive interface that Hippotizer offers, and as the church grew, I knew this was the best option.

UK - Having recently celebrated 50 years of theatre-making in Sheffield, the Crucible is part of Sheffield Theatres, alongside the Lyceum and Studio. Thousands of actors have performed at the venue which also hosts the annual World Snooker Championships.
Built in 1971 and refurbished between 2007 and late 2009, the Crucible is a Grade II listed building. Its 980 seats are located on three sides of its versatile thrust stage, with no audience member further than 22m away from the performance.
Having been awarded capital grant funding from Arts Council England, the theatre’s management team were able to upgrade its audio system, with the aim of helping its creative team to push artistic boundaries as far as possible. Sheffield Theatres specified a d&b audiotechnik system on the basis of their previous experience with the brand at The Lyceum Theatre and elected to e

UAE - Lighting designer Bruno Poet recently turned to Elation Professional’s Proteus line of IP65 luminaires to light the UAE’s 50th National Day Celebration, a technically demanding show that chronicled the country’s history and hopes for the future.
The ambitious Golden Jubilee spectacular took place in the remote and harsh terrain of the Hajar Mountains and was both technically bold and emotionally touching. Artistic director and designer was Es Devlin who worked with LarMac Projects, the Official UAE 50th Celebration producer. LarMac enlisted a team of 650 personnel to bring Devlin’s vivid designs to life.
“Lighting National Day 50 was a thrilling challenge,” Poet commented. “Es Devlin’s show design was a sculptural form in an unbelievably beautiful setting on the Hatta reservoir surrounded by mountains. The lighting had to bring this sculpture to

China - Audio-Technica is supporting the host broadcaster of China’s most significant live sporting event this winter with ‘an exceptional number’ of microphones, headphones and associated accessories.
For some 26 years, Audio-Technica has been providing audio acquisition solutions to the biennial global broadcasts that cover multiple sporting disciplines across many different and varied venues, played out over two weeks of intense physical action.
Camera positions are often set up with Audio-Technica’s shotgun microphones, at Beijing there are over 700, with the majority being BP4027 and BP4029 stereo models in order to deliver an enhanced soundscape.
Microphone innovation can be found in multiple locations that call for competition on ice, such as speed skating, ice hockey and figure skating, where approximately 60 pieces of AT880b contact microphone ar

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