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China - The 13th edition of the popular West Lake Music Festival which has been held in the picturesque Prince Bay Park in Hangzhou every year since its inaugural event in 2008, was finally able to take place from 11-13 November. Having been postponed from its traditional dates in April due to pandemic concerns, music fans were more than ready to make the most of three days of China’s highest profile rock and pop acts.
With over 10,000 festival-goers every day, West Lake remains one of the most important music festivals in China, and the 2022 edition was no exception. Full-service production technology specialists D&S Stage Technology – the largest rental company in Zhejiang Province – was responsible for supplying all of the FOH equipment for the festival. Having road-tested KV2’s flagship VHD5 high-definition Constant Power point source system for the first tim

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The Netherlands - The new Amare building is an arts, culture, and educational hub on the Spui in Den Haag, which opened last year at the heart of this lively capital city, after six years of construction. Built on the footprint of the old Lucent Danstheater, Amare is a centre for excellence and houses the Dance and Music Centre, The Hague Foundation, the Residentie Orkest, the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) and the Royal Conservatoire.
Offering a 1500-capacity concert hall (2500 standing) and a 1300-seater theatre plus two other performance halls and extensive rehearsal facilities, it was a big deal to get over 100 Robe moving lights specified for the project.
These are a mix of 86 x T1 Profiles and 30 x T2 Profiles plus 60 x ParFects all supplied by Robe’s Benelux distributor Controllux and installed in the two primary venues and their main black box space.
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UK – EnterTec, a Buckinghamshire-based provider of audio and visual rental and turnkey production services, has made a major investment in lighting equipment from the Prolights brand, via UK distributor, A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET).
The range of new equipment EnterTec has added to its stock includes a range of Prolights’ moving heads such as Astra Wash 19Pix washlights, Jet Spot4z spots and Jet Beam2 beam fixtures. Static luminaires from the brand include Eclipse FS RGBLs (with a choice of lenses), plus a number of Eclipse Junior profiles and Fresnels. The investment also sees EnterTec add 24 of Prolights’ Lumipix 15IP, the tour-ready LED pixel batten, to its stock.
Through clients including production management agencies and high-end event producers in the UK and Europe, EnterTec supports events for global brands including several international airli

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Germany - This past summer, Waldstadion in Frankfurt was the scene of two sold-out shows by one of Germany’s favourite rock bands over the years, Böhse Onkelz. Renowned lighting designer and long-time lighting collaborator with the band, Jerry Appelt, created a spectacular stage and lighting design for the stadium shows and ensured that the visual impact would be memorable using Elation Professional’s Proteus Excalibur beam moving head.
Formed in Frankfurt in 1980, the band’s stadium shows were meant to be 40th anniversary events in 2020 but were postponed until this year. Appelt, who worked with the band earlier in its career and lit the band’s ‘farewell’ concert in 2005 before 120,000 fans, has continued to light shows for them after the band reunited in 2014.
The two Waldstadion shows featured distinctive stage and lighting designs by Appelt who says h

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On Broadway - The world's longest-running play, The Mousetrap, which marked its 70th anniversary last week, is to open on Broadway for the first time next year. Agatha Christie's whodunit premiered on 25 November 1952 in Nottingham's Theatre Royal. She initially thought it might run for only eight months. But it has since become a West End fixture, being performed almost 29,000 times and seen by 10m people. The show has been staged in the US before, but never on Broadway.
The Broadway transfer comes after the profile of the play received a boost when it featured in the recent murder mystery film See How They Run. The movie is set in 1953 against the backdrop of the show's 100th performance, with a starry cast including Saoirse Ronan, Ruth Wilson, Adrien Brody, David Oyelowo and Sam Rockwell.
West End Pay - Producers are paying West End performers a

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USA - The combined forces of two of hard rock’s most totemic bands, Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe, turned this year’s The Stadium Tour into the biggest outing of either band's career and the biggest rock tour of the year thus far. With special guests Poison and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts along for the journey, the trek sold 1.3m tickets, according to Billboard.
It's also significant to point out that the North American tour marked the first time that Def Leppard enjoyed the benefits of KLANG’s immersive in-ear monitor mixing solution, provided via a DMI-KLANG card-equipped DiGiCo Quantum5 monitor console supplied by touring sound company Clair Global. The use of the KLANG system created a more manageable SPL environment onstage that reportedly made the group’s performances more enjoyable than ever while simultaneously helping to protect their hearing.

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UK - A deployment of Hive Player_3 4K and 8K media players have been selected for London’s Frameless permanent digital immersive arts experience.
Situated in the new Marble Arch Place Complex venue, Frameless blends digitalised art, creative vision and entertainment technology to present a cultural attraction.
The project has been brought to fruition by figureheads from the worlds of tech, art, architecture and experiential events to showcase works of art via immersive video projection.
Creative Technology (CT) delivered the video solution sitewide including projection, digital signage, LED and media servers. Hive media players use less power consumption than many market equivalents. This sustainable product choice powers the artistic displays that not only cover the walls, but the ceilings and the floors across a 30,000 sq. ft space.
Digital interpretati

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UK - The Jools Holland’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra embarked on their Autumn 2022 UK tour in October, backed by a ‘big band’ lighting design by Paul Fairfield. His vision for the show swings from upbeat rock ‘n’ roll large looks to smooth solo instrument key lighting using VL2600 Profile luminaires from Vari-Lite.
The VL2600 Profile fixtures were supplied by Peterborough-based Pearce Hire, which was the first company in the world to invest in them back in 2018. Pearce Hire has supplied the lighting rig to Jools Holland’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra tours for more than a decade and worked with Fairfield to specify the VL2600s. “We knew the VL2600s were just perfect for the needs of the Jools Holland tour,” says Fairfield. “The consistency of the smooth light output from the LED engine across the rig versus a discharge fixture was a game changer.”
For

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USA - Speaking Spirit Ministries of Richmond, VA is a non-denominational Christian ministry, which in the space of nine years has expanded to three campuses, offering over 100,000 sq. ft of worship space.
Known as Glen Allen Campus, the Ministry’s latest facility opened recently, and again RTW Media were brought in by pastors, Fred and Inger Wyatt to provide a complete AVL technology infrastructure. Incorporating projection and control, the PA this time was based around a central hang of Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision line array.
“We were fortunate to be able to start with a clean slate,” stated RTW operations manager, Zack Guida. “We knew what they had in their other facilities, so we wanted to match that end user experience, but with a little latitude to design the speaker we wanted. Our engineering team had the flexibility to design the ideal integrate

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France - Every year since 1998, the mass choir of Les Fous Chantants (The Singing Fools), has honoured French-speaking songwriters and composers - living or deceased - with a major choral concert devoted to their works. The musical programme generally includes 25 songs, including those of the guest artist, that are sung with the choir.
This year's event, honouring Pascal Obispo, took place in the Temperas Arena in Alès, at the end of July. One thousand choristers were seated on bleachers around a 27m wide x 13m deep main stage, extending the performance area a further 35m x 20m x 8m high.
Victor Lagiewski and Guillaume Fournier, founders of lighting design company Chromatik, have managed the lighting for this event since 2017 and specified 44 Ayrton Cobra, 16 Ayrton Perseo Profiles and 12 Ayrton Khamsin S luminaires for their main rig, all of which were supplied S Gro

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UK - This Autumn, Natalie Imbruglia embarked on a celebratory tour de force of her 1997 debut album Left of the Middle, the album that made her an indie-pop star.
After a 12-year hiatus from recording music and with a brand-new album in tow, fans were both expectant and suitably excited for her highly anticipated comeback tour.
With a music career spanning a quarter of a century, it would be easy to rely on past hits to carry the show's opener. Instead, fans were treated to a triumphant return with What it Feels Like, a track from Imbruglia’s latest, album, Firebird.
“Natalie gave me my first touring job back in 2015,” notes production manager Rob Jones. “Today, we have a small but exceptionally talented crew who work incredibly hard.”
Although Jones had never worked with Brit Row before, they came highly recommended from hi

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USA - To simultaneously ensure professional key lighting while blending seamlessly with the set design, HBO’s Game Theory With Bomani Jones recently utilised Martin VDO Sceptron and MAC Encore Performance lighting fixtures deployed by lighting designer Mike Baldassari.
Produced by HBO, Game Theory with Bomani Jones features the Emmy-winning journalist sharing his satirical takes on the intersection of sports and culture through topical monologues, sketches and deep dives. Season One of is available to stream on HBO Max.
To ensure a sleek and fresh lighting design for the new series, television producer Kathy Welsh hired Mike Baldassari, who utilised Martin lighting fixtures such as the VDO Sceptron and MAC Encore Performance for their versatility, reliability and user-friendliness. MAC Encore Performance fixtures provided all the key light and addition

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UK - The city of Birmingham hosted the first PoliNations event, an epic installation work that took over Victoria Square with 40ft-high sculpted archi-cultural trees and thousands of varieties of plants crafted into a setting that hosted a diversity of live events, experiences, and performances. The forest celebrated the colour, existential beauty, delicacy, and adaptability of horticultural life, telling stories of different species and their global journeys, movement and transformations, a fantastic metaphor for the energy and symbiosis that cultural diversity brings to any society.
Lighting designer Matt Daw was already onboard with the project when Hampshire-based lighting rental company Liteup won a competitive tender issued by creative production company Trigger Collective – under the artistic direction of Angie Bual and Carl Robertshaw – to illuminate the project

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UK - Rental and technical production company Adlib has invested in Robe Forte moving lights and RoboSpot remote follow spot systems to service their busy ongoing work schedule.
Some of the new kit went directly out on the recent Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Live Show - The Battle for Moore Street tour, with lighting designed by Mike Summerfield, who made use of two Fortes on the front truss controlled via two RoboSpot BaseStations positioned side stage by the racks.
“This is one of the best remote follow spot systems out there,” commented Adlib account manager Jordan Willis. “So far, our team has praised this system's additional flexibility. The set-up and operation are easy, so it makes sense that everyone is happy to see it on a rider or a specification.”
Mike Summerfield comments, “The Fortes remove the need for touring bulky follow spots that need

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Sweden - US-based AtlasIED has appointed Intersonic AB to distribute AtlasIED products in Scandinavia. The Intersonic AB team will sell and distribute AtlasIED audio products and coordinate between AtlasIED’s U.S. headquarters and integrators, distributors and users in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
Headquartered in Bromma near Stockholm, Intersonic AB is a distributor of professional audio, light and image solutions for live productions, corporate, hospitality, and retail. Founded in 1997, Intersonic represents top AV brands and has strong relationships with regional integrators and customers. Intersonic offers AV technology solutions for a range of customer needs, including large-scale and small event productions, to in-business displays and audio.
“Intersonic has an excellent track record with deep experience and relationships in the Scandinavian AV mark

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UK - UKCA is a new product marking that will soon be required for manufactured products placed on the market in Great Britain. The UKCA marking is intended to eventually replace CE marking and requires that certification of construction products, such as voice alarm control and indicating equipment, is performed by a ‘UK based approved body’.
Baldwin Boxall confirms that all VIGIL2 and VIGIL3 voice alarm products and systems are certified to UKCA and the certificate is available to view on the company’s website (baldwinboxall.co.uk/ukca-certificate-for-vigil2-vigil3-voice-alarm).
Further guidance and information regarding the new UKCA mark can be found on the Government website (gov.uk/guidance/placing-manufactured-goods-on-the-market-in-great-britain).

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South Africa - Cape Town-based Ultra Events has purchased 12 Robe Robin LEDBeam 350s from DWR Distribution which went straight to work this past weekend.
Costa Champanis, owner of Ultra Events, was one of the core people during the pandemic who would meet up to come up with plans and ideas to save the live events industry and was instrumental in the formation of #LightSAred. He has a heart for people, and a dedication towards his clients.
“Oh, what I relief!” said Costa. “After a dark period of business during COVID-19, with the events industry being shut down and our ability to work restricted, it’s a great feeling to be on site and doing what we love most with great people and nice toys to work with.”
Johnny Scholtz, DWR’s representative in Cape Town says: “I was able to spend a bit of time with Costa and his team while taking delivery of their ne

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UK - New pay per view streaming platform Lounges.tv is joining forces with London music venue and bar The Lower Third, part of The Outernet, to help support the grassroots music community, providing an online space for artists to stream their performances from the venue to the widest possible audience through the Lounges.tv platform.
Lounges.tv recently launched ‘to democratise the online creator industry, focusing on supporting emerging and grassroots music talent by ensuring that any artist or creator who uses the platform is paid 80% of stream or content revenue within 24 hours’. This ambition reflects the ethos of The Outernet, which uses innovative technology to help the creative community connect with their audiences.
Focusing on The Lower Third’s grassroots performances, which since opening in September are averaging around six shows a week, Lounges.tv p

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USA - An army of Hippotizer Media Servers has landed in Brooklyn to feed vast amounts of visual data to 63 HD projectors inside ArtsDistrict Brooklyn’s Limitless AI immersive experience, filling the 10,000sq.ft main gallery space with a 360-degree video.
Created by Istanbul-based artists Ferdi and Eylul Alici of Ouchhh Studio, Limitless AI transports audiences into a world of culture, science and nature. Artificial intelligence reimagines terabytes of data, taking in billions of brushstrokes by historical masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, physics teachings by greats including Stephen Hawking, and brainwave responses by musicians as they perform, among many other extraordinary things. The five-part, 60-minute experience is presented as five separate chapters and features a finale with live music and an opportunity to influence the video via interaction.
At the core o

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USA - After a two-year, pandemic-related wait, The Weeknd’s 19-date After Hours Til Dawn Tour surpassed even the loftiest expectations. This was plain to see (and hear) from the moment the stage erupted in light, and The Weeknd appeared dressed in black and wearing a mask to begin his show with a hauntingly evocative rendition of Alone Again.
Supporting The Weeknd during his transformative two-hour set was an immersive light and video show that featured over 1,100 fixtures and a 180ft video wall supplied by Solotech.
Solotech account executive Robert Kennedy and his team accomplished this feat by drawing on global resources. The resultant lighting and video rig was a key part of a production design.
Going beyond scenery, the design created an actual ‘city’ on stage with 17 custom carved, hard coated, painted buildings in various levels of ruination

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UK - With 35 years’ experience in the corporate events sector, the people at MSP Global know all about the need to adapt. But when Covid brought the industry screaming to a halt, the Liverpool-based events services company overcame its biggest challenge yet, remaining afloat by successfully pivoting to become one of the north-west’s busiest lockdown live streaming facilities.
Now, with the events business roaring back, company founder and MD Colin Reader is ready to write the next chapter in the MSP Global story, investing in new inventory and backing a highly experienced team to build on a prestigious client list that already includes Matalan, Speedy Services, United Utilities, Santander, Monster Energy and Everton Football Club.
“We started looking to upgrade our sound equipment inventory before Covid hit, and I’d always remembered what a strong product Nexo

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UK - Birmingham-based event services partner Taylex Group has unveiled its new look to mark significant post-pandemic growth and expansion of its event and exhibition services.
During 15 years of continued expansion, Taylex Group’s team has been synonymous with the delivery of exhibitions and event builds for the likes of Kawasaki, Raleigh, Commonwealth Games 2022 and BST in Hyde Park. Following post-COVID reflection, the business is now primed to enter 2023 with an evolved, expanded range of services and solutions.
The all-new Taylex Group offers full in-house CAD and technical expertise, production and fabrication of state-of-the-art special projects, events, interiors, environments, design and exhibitions.
A supportive and collaborative approach is taken with all clients, reflected by the launch of Taylex located at the NEC, providing modular solutions for

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Italy - On Saturday 24 September, the Italian fashion house Salvatore Ferragamo held its Spring-Summer 2023 show at the Portrait Milan Hotel, a 17th-Century former seminary in the city that has long been the centre of Italian fashion – and, by extension, of world fashion.
The central courtyard of the baroque building was covered with a layer of sand dyed in the same vivid red colour that is now the Ferragamo house colour, and which also filled the arches around the courtyard. The contrast between the classical location and the bright modernity of the clothes on view could not have been sharper.
In the centre of the courtyard, also forming a clear contrast with the building, its red decor and the new fashion collection, stood a circle of GUIL lifters, eight ULK 500 towers holding the speaker system that provided the music as the models walked across the sand.
T

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Spain - Estopa, one of Spain’s most popular rock/rumba bands, have been touring the country for much of 2022. With many venues sold out, their Fuego tour has been a roaring success. Sixteen Showtec Sunstrips have been used as part of the lighting setup throughout the tour. They were supplied by Fluge Audiovisuales, who were responsible for the tour’s sound, lighting and AV equipment.
After performing a few dates in the USA earlier this year, Estopa have played more than 20 dates throughout Spain. The Fuego tour was originally planned to go ahead in 2019 and 2020 to support the release of the album that bears the same name but, due to the global pandemic, the tour dates in 2020 had to be scrapped.
Consisting of brothers José and David Muñoz, Estopa have now been successful for over two decades. In addition to touring Spain, they have played in the U
  1. Main Light grows Ayrton inventory with Zonda 9 FX
  2. Quantum in the mix for Manhattan Transfer finale
  3. Dubai fitness centre fitted out with Martin Audio
  4. Rebuilt Basel stadium relies on RCF HL arrays
  5. Exertis Pro AV to distribute Kramer in Germany
  6. Elation Professional enjoys ‘fantastic’ LDI 2022
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