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South Africa - Jade Manicom from DWR Distribution recently delivered comprehensive Vectorworks Spotlight training over a two week period in Johannesburg and Durban. With the live events industry in the midst of a busy season, the classes were small but allowed her to provide personalised one-on-one training.
“The training went very well,” said Jade Manicom. “People were engaged and were asking questions. Having chatted with them afterwards, I could tell they had gained something from it. In Durban, only one delegate had used Vectorworks before, while the others were new to it. They were impressed with what it could do.”
The Johannesburg session took place from 28 August to 1 September at DWR, offering a range of training levels from basic to advanced. The curriculum encompassed various subjects such as layouts and palettes, basic tools, classes and layers, Sp

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UK - Following the retirement of Keith Sykes, flight case manufacturer 5 Star Cases is now under a change of ownership with managing director Justin Locks and operations director Ingus Lasinskis taking over Keith’s shareholding of 5 Star Group Holdings.
Keith, a stalwart in the company's history, began his journey with Ipswich-based ProTect Cases in the early 1980’s, which was acquired by 5 Star Cases in 1991 and two years later he ascended to the position of director and shareholder, acquiring the company, along with Mossman Trunks in 2008.
In 2012, Justin Locks, the company’s general manager was appointed operations director, also acquiring a shareholding in 5 Star Group Holdings in 2016, becoming Keith’s business partner. In 2020 with Keith slowly stepping back, Justin took the helm as MD. At this time, Ingus, with an impressive tenure at the company, was pr
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Austria - Since 1979, international artists have been pouring their magic over the Upper Austrian city of Linz for the annual Linzer Klangwolke. This is when the Donaupark, situated between the Lentos and the Brucknerhaus, is transformed into a gigantic performance area for what has become the city’s flagship event.
The week-long festival always begins with the so-called Visualised Sound Cloud (Visualisierte Klangwolke), which attracts around 100,000 spectators and is therefore the largest staged open-air event in Europe with free admission.
This year, director Francesca Zambello and assistant director/choreographer Eric Sean Fogel created Odyssey. A Journey Through Worlds, denoting a journey on the river of life taken by a little girl, the only survivor of an apocalyptic catastrophe.
Internationally famed Austrian lighting designer Manfred Nikitser (S

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USA - A popular Michigan tradition for over 40 years, the 2023 Detroit Jazz Festival featured over 60 performers, spontaneous late night jam sessions, and 350,000 attendees; online viewership of the festival topped 2.5m live views.
Now a division of The Display Group, Fantasee Lighting has been providing lights and design to the festival for over 20 years. Celebrating his tenth year as Jazz Fest lighting director, Jon Weaver specified High End Systems SolaPix and Lonestar fixtures for this year’s event.
Before COVID shuttered the physical festival in 2020, the festival would stream the headliners on the mainstages, and broadcast three sets on local TV every year. When Jazz Fest returned to a live event, Weaver insisted that the event be lit as a broadcast show outdoors. The lighting rigs were designed to be able to overtake the sun, and still be impactful on televisi

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Belgium - Staged in a sprawling enclosure of woodland and fields near the city of Hasselt, Pukkelpop holds a reputation for being one of Europe’s most diverse and creative music festivals.
As well as multiple stages offering a range of artists to cater for the widest possible musical taste, the event also delivers a host of activities, eateries and shops, combining to create nothing short of a pop-up city for contemporary arts. The 2023 edition of Pukkelpop was a sell-out once again, with more than 65,000 fans in attendance each day.
For the second year in a row Pioneer Pro Audio teamed up with production specialists Kage Audio and electronic collective KRANKk to deliver an immersive experience at the Booth Stage.
Thomas Geysen of KRANKk comments: “Last year’s experience of Pukkelpop was a very successful showcase that left us hungry for more! We were eage

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Germany - Stage Precision has launched a new service partner programme to further expand its partnership network.
The programme offers Stage Precision’s technology to official authorised service-based partners, who provide technical support, expert implementation, and insightful consulting services to customers in their market or region.
Stage Precision has recently welcomed companies across the globe to the new partner network including Lux Machina, All of it Now, White Light, Extended Reality Group, Bild Studios, bright! Studios, Optic8 and Evoke Studios.
Andy Hook, technical solutions director at White Light said: "We're thrilled to join Stage Precision's service partner programme. Their groundbreaking tools have been pivotal in pushing us forward with solution solving challenges on a broad range of AVLM projects this year.
“This partnership will

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South Africa - CS Productionz, a company that specialises in conferences, corporate productions and exclusive events, has expanded its equipment inventory to accommodate its busy schedule.
With offices in both Durban and Johannesburg, the company recently made an investment in Prolyte StageDex and a Beavis II 32A 3-Phase Distro from DWR Distribution.
Clyde Shunmugam initially founded the technical supply company back in 2009 in Durban, and the opportunity to continuously meet new people and to learn from other industry professionals to fine tune his own service, has kept him passionate. He playfully hints that the delectable cuisine offered at every event is undeniably an added perk!
The company’s initial purchase from DWR included Prolyte totem truss pieces and Clyde is delighted to now expand his offerings with the addition of 10 black coated StageDex (2m x

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Singapore - Genelec has further strengthened its distribution network in the APAC region through the appointment of Broadcast Professional Pte as its new distribution partner for Singapore and Malaysia, with responsibility for Genelec’s entire range of Studio, AV and Home Audio products across the two territories.
Founded in 1983 and currently celebrating its 40th anniversary, Broadcast Professional started life in Singapore as a subsidiary of Studer AG, serving the growing needs of the broadcast and recording industries across the region. Since then, it has widened its services to include broadcast and streaming services, as well as the creation of Immersive Experiences.
Genelec international sales director Ole Jensen comments: “APAC has been a key strategic market for us for many years, and having already established our own subsidiaries in China and Japan, the

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Vietnam - Void Acoustics has secured its commitment to the expanding Vietnamese market with the appointment of Van Lam Audio as the country’s Void distributor. With a fast economic recovery in the post-Covid era; and the growing popularity of the country as a tourist destination; Vietnam has an increasing demand for high-end audio solutions in entertainment venues.
Van Lam Audio is geographically well placed to specify and deploy Void installations countrywide, with offices and experienced technical teams located in Ho Chi Minh City, Central Vietnam, and the capital Hanoi.
Fedrick Lu, Void’s APAC sales manager has spent several months visiting Vietnam to analyse the market potential and meet with a number of companies, all eager to represent the Void Acoustics brand. After conducting a series of meetings with Mr Cuong, MD of Van Lam Audio, Fedrick is confident abo

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Canada - La Fabuleuse Histoire d’un Royaume (The Fabulous History of a Kingdom) is billed as a show that stimulates every sense. Held annually at the 2,300-seat Théâtre du Palais in the Quebec City of Saguenay, it is, on the face of it, a community theatre show, although its production values reflect a rather more ambitious and distinctly professional approach.
A cast of 150 volunteer actors play multiple roles within a scenic deployment that features horses, fire, water, cannon-shots and more besides. During the course of its 35-year run charting the birth of Sanguenay, La Fabuleuse has played to 1.3m spectators - a record for an all-French production outside Canada’s major metropolitan centres.
Last year, the show made a grand return after a two-year pandemic-enforced break, scaling new heights with the introduction of an immersive sound

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UK - Located on a site once famed for the production of large quantities of watercress, the recently created Winchester Auto Barn and Drivers’ Club facility sits in the Hampshire countryside near Alresford.
Converted from a large refrigerated production area with offices above, the site now comprises a workshop and showroom, and also offers 30,000sq.ft of easy-to-access premium indoor and outdoor storage packages for classic cars, motorcycles, motor homes and boats. The former office space has been refurbished as a drivers’ club, with communal areas and a board room. Close attention was paid to its interior design, creating a relaxing space which also includes audio and video systems.
Auto Barn director, Niall Holden, engaged Bradford-based Pro Audio Systems (PAS) to supply its requirements which included a zoned audio system and discreet recessed projection scree

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Germany - Salz21, a Salzburg trade fair for startups and new technologies, was illuminated by the dynamic lighting setup designed by Revolution Rental, featuring an innovative LED array of Prolights fixtures. This vibrant collaboration not only heightened the ambiance but also amplified the visual appeal of this influential gathering.
The main stage, a showcase of innovation, shone brilliantly with 22 Astra Wash7Pix and four Astra Wash19Pix fixtures. These Prolights lighting solutions bathed presenters and performers in radiant illumination, crafting a dynamic and immersive environment.
For an equally significant yet more intimate side stage, Revolution Rental harnessed the power of 18 Prolights EclExpo Flood300VW fixtures, delivering precise lighting control that added depth and focus to smaller sessions and presentations.
Complementing the two stages, Prolights

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Venezuela - For over six decades Venevision has been one of Venezuela’s major free-to-air television networks, known for producing and broadcasting a variety of programmes, including news, entertainment shows, telenovelas (soap operas) and more.
Responsible for selecting and playing audio content, such as music and effects, for the network’s live and recorded events are Manuel Amengual, supervisor of the music and post-production department, and Omar Noguera, chief engineer for the audio department.
With ageing equipment causing reliability issues and other impracticalities, the team was tasked with sourcing a reliable and efficient solution to replace the TV studio’s outdated audio workflow. As a past Sonic Solution DAW user and owner, Amengual was keen to explore Swiss pro audio specialist, Merging Technologies’ offering and contacted its local dealer, Mario

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Europe - At the 2023 Guinness Six Nations 2023, Catalyst Event Production Services had just seven minutes to set up the on-pitch trophy presentation podium LED backdrop and footer - so turned to Absen.
The 2023 Guinness Six Nations Championship saw Ireland take the ‘Grand Slam’ champions title. Absen brought 8.3m viewers onto the side-line to watch the Championship Trophy Presentation at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Spanning six weeks, the 2023 Six Nations Championship was the 24th annual international men's rugby union competition, contested by England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. UK based events production company, Catalyst Event Production Services was enlisted to deliver results for the trophy presentation ceremony, working alongside its client, live events agency, EVENT360 who specialise in the design and delivery of global sport events.

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Germany - 01099 are currently one of the most successful up-and-coming rap/hip-hop acts from Germany.
In 2021, the successful EP Dachfenster was released, and the following year the four musicians from Dresden (01099 is the postal code of Dresden Neustadt) produced the LP, Altbau. Recently, their almost completely sold-out tour, Schnelle Brille, came to an end.
Designer Felix Seidel developed a simple but very adaptable light and stage design for the 01099 tour, using the creative possibilities of the GLP JDC1 and impression X4 Bar 20.
In the spring of 2023, he first exchanged design ideas with the band and developed various ideas from them. “My goal was to design a stage that creates a unique and captivating atmosphere that immerses the audience in the musical universe of 01099,” he explains.
Ultimately, when building the set, he decided

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Austria - The legendary Woodstock festival of 1969 remains etched in the annals of music history. Fast forward to today, and the Austrian Woodstock of Brass Music (WoB) pays homage to that event with a playful twist.
Held annually since 2011 in the town of Ort in Northern Austria, WoB has earned its reputation as the largest open-air brass band festival in Europe. Drawing inspiration from its American counterpart, this four-day extravaganza in late June welcomes over 80,000 music enthusiasts who revel in the performances of 130 bands, spanning traditional to contemporary brass music. Notably, since 2015, the festival's highlight has been the Ensemble Playing, a spectacle that unites a staggering 20,000 musicians.
Austrian recording studio tonzauber took care of the twinned main stage with its own recording / OB truck. The heart of the vehicle’s audio equipment is a

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Algeria - Electro-Voice loudspeakers and Dynacord electronics are at the heart of the recently completed New Stadium of Tizi Ouzou. The 50,000-seat venue is the home of JS Kabylie and has been built to exacting UEFA standards, covering everything from the pitch to the capabilities of the technical equipment installed - prompting the selection of the EN-54-rated Electro-Voice EVH loudspeakers and Dynacord IPX amplifiers.
The audio system was designed by Turkish Electro-Voice and Dynacord partner, Atempo. The company has worked on a variety of stadium projects and understands exactly what is needed to meet the expected standards while also allowing a venue the flexibility to host non-sporting events. It was the real-world performance combined with the technical specs that made Electro-Voice and Dynacord the right selection for the New Stadium of Tizi Ouzou.
“Power ampl

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Switzerland - Held in Interlaken on the slopes of the Jungfrau, Unspunnen Festival is a celebration of Swiss traditional dress and culture. Featuring historic games, wrestling matches and traditional music, the festival attracts revellers from across the country.
In order to provide music and live commentary, a versatile audio configuration was required. Event technology provider, Stagepro Veranstaltungstechnik, consulted with local Wharfedale Pro distributor, Sacher Music, to select an appropriate system.
A solution based on Wharfedale Pro’s WLA-112 line-array loudspeakers was chosen, and the design of the system was undertaken in collaboration with Wharfedale Pro applications and solutions manager, Alex Lane. “The primary scope for the system was speech intelligibility and a predictable but even coverage of all seating areas,” explains Lane. “The main challen

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Austria - When the director of this year's Linzer Klangwolke, Francesca Zambello, brought the internationally renowned Austrian lighting designer Manfred Nikitser onto the creative team as a specialist for the colossal lighting looks, it quickly became clear to them that the project would require lights of a special format. He found what he was looking for in the Proteus series from Elation Professional.
Organised by the Brucknerhaus Linz congress centre, the Linzer Klangwolke (Linz Cloud of Sound) is an open-air spectacle that attracts around 100,000 spectators each year to Danube Park in the town of Linz. This year, a moving, somewhat dystopian yet hopeful piece entitled Odyssey. A Journey Through Worlds was performed on 9 September. The odyssey, a little girl's journey on the river of life towards the source of renewal, literally took place on the waters of the Da

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In The Courts - Coldplay and their former manager have filed competing claims in London's High Court, with each party seeking millions of pounds from the other. Dave Holmes, who worked with the band from 2005 to 2022, sued them in August for £10m in unpaid commission. In a counter-claim, the group rejected his claim and said Holmes had allowed tour costs to spiral out of control, and demanded £14min damages.
The case could come to court if the parties do not settle. Holmes' original court case claimed that Coldplay owed him commission for two as-yet-unreleased albums. According to his lawyers, the band were paid an advance of £35m for their 10th album and £30m for their 11th and 12th albums.
Holmes maintains that he helped to organise recording sessions, clear samples and liaised with producer Max Martin before the band decided not to renew his contract last year.

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USA - So successful was the inaugural Iron Blossom Festival, in Richmond VA, that the organisers have already confirmed that it will be repeated next year.
Contributing to this success was the sound quality provided across the two stages by Soundworks of Virginia, and featuring Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision optimised line arrays. This ensured a quality experience for headliners, Hozier, Noah Kahan, and Lord Huron - and the rest of the artists performing.
The Bon Secours Training Centre provided the venue for the festival, organised in a joint venture by Charlottesville's Starr Hill Presents, Virginia Beach's IMGoing and Richmond's Haymaker Productions.
Working in conjunction with Haymaker Productions owner, Tom Beals Soundworks chose Martin Audio’s large-format WPL for main stage and WPC for the second stage - run in two-box resolution from Martin Audio

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Germany - Paulus-Chormusical (The Choir Musical) by German church Evangeliums-Christen Gemeinde e.V is a project produced with only community resources for both its creative content and performance. With a limited budget, but challenging technical requirements, Markus Gorges of AV Support Nümbrecht, Germany, who acted as technical advisor and head of audio for the musical, recommended a combination of a DiGiCo S31+ and KLANG:vokal for the project’s monitoring requirements.
“In the end, 151 participants volunteered over two years to put together their own musical, in their free time, and that’s what makes this unique,” says Gorges. “In terms of numbers, 53 were choir singers, 11 musicians and 43 actors, and the rest did all the work around it.”
This was no small project. The show had to be performed five times in three different locations and,

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South Africa - Durban-based event production and rental specialist, AV Company, run by father and son combo of Craig and Keagan Browning, has invested in its first grandMA3 console with the purchase of a grandMA3 compact XT.
The company provides full turnkey solutions - lighting, audio, LED screens & video, staging, trussing, rigging and power - for a range of events, including fashion shows, awards presentations, brand activations, product launches all over KwaZulu-Natal and across South Africa.
The console, delivered by South African distributors DWR, is the second MA console in AV Company’s inventory, following a dot2 acquired in 2016.
As the company has grown and expanded, especially as events re-started so enthusiastically after the pandemic, “We simply needed a bigger console to handle larger and more complex shows that we do,” explained Keagan.

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Slovenia - The European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) - the largest multi-sport event for young athletes aged 14 to 18 - came to Maribor, Slovenia’s second city this year.
Lighting designer Crt Birsa from design studio Blackout was asked to be part of a team creating a spectacular opening ceremony in Ljudski Vrt football stadium by show director Nejc Levstik, a project on which he worked closely with set designer Greta Godnič and nearly 200 Robe moving lights.
Crt and Greta are known for their design collaborations which always push the barriers of innovation and what is achievable. “I was extremely proud to be asked onboard,” commented Crt, “It is always interesting and exciting working with Greta and Nejc, and everyone involved wanted to deliver an outstanding show fitting to the occasion.”
Their biggest challenge was producing the show - complete w
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