France - Indochine's Météor tour took in the Stade de France in Paris where 80,000 fans celebrated the band's 30 years in the music business. The tour officially kicked off on 6 October 2009 at the Zénith in Rouen and ended in a grand finale on 15 September 2010 with a final concert at the Palais Omnisport in Paris Bercy.

Olivier Payen, the tour's lighting designer, who also worked on Indochine's previous Alice&June tour, succeeded in creating a breathtaking light show. However, according to the team managing the project, it was no easy ride. Apart from the challenge of an enormous stadium, from the outset specifications were determined by the video layout. With five 16:9 screens occupying the entire north curve of the stadium and covering a total area of 720m2, there was little space left for the lighting. The design used lighting to surround

UK - Kinesys has supplied 160 of its new DigiHoist motor controllers to Production Resource Group (PRG).

The new units will replace all PRG's existing motor control stock in the UK, standardising the control platform across its substantial rigging department which has over 2000 motors.

Kinesys were one of three companies that pitched for the design commission of this project which was managed by Dave Weatherhead for Kinesys, and for PRG by PRG's UK head of asset management Paul Weaver and Summit Steel's Jon Bray - who have co-ordinated an overall upgrade for all equipment in PRG's rigging department.

Together, they came up with a list of requirements and a basic spec from which the DigiHoist was developed as the most suitable product for concert touring and systems for shows and events of all sizes.

Following the product's official launch at the recent 2010 PLASA exhibitio

Lebanon - Vicoustic's flagship Wave Wood acoustic panel has featured in a major installation at the St Gabriel Church, Ajaltoun, Lebanon. Led by Movses Balabanian, a team from Vicoustic's Beirut-based distributor 21dB installed over 650 Wave Wood panels on the ceiling in order to address acoustic problems in the venue that included long reverberation times across the frequency range and poor speech intelligibility.

Wave Wood is specifically designed to control excessive and unwanted frequencies while maintaining a bright, ambient sound. The panel's design, which includes a series of non-linear cavities set into an elegant wood finish, has proved highly effective in the treatment of medium and high frequencies while also enhancing the appearance of room interiors.

"The whole installation project took eight days to complete, with the team having to work almost continually a

France - Having launched ACP (Agence Centrale de Presse), the first BtoB editorial marketplace in the world of newspapers, ACP Group is to join forces with Digigram for the next stages of its development.

A statement says, "The new entity aims to ensure the acquisition, storage, transportation and management of content for the media in order to improve their productivity and responsiveness. This proposal is consistent with the transformation of traditional media to a new model of 'convergence' and aims to reposition 'content' as the engine of growth for its customers."

"This merger is a fantastic opportunity for Digigram because it combines the pursuit of development in the areas that, historically, are the heart of our business and associates us with the ACP project launched by ACP Group. It will enable us to add value as well as being highly motivating for our

France - Robert Juliat reports that its new Aledin LED profile has been adopted by one of France's most popular news channels. i>TELE, a subdivision of Canal+ Group, the leading pay-TV Group in France, has installed 24 cold white Aledin profiles in its broadcasting studios where they are in daily use on live news broadcasts and weather reports.

i>TELE studios has changed all its lighting from incandescent sources to LED or fluorescent. Technical director Laurent d'Auria says, "There was too much maintenance, too much energy consumption, too much heat being produced at i>TELE studios, all of which was just not compatible with our new lighting infrastructure."

i>TELE quickly decided on Robert Juliat Aledin on the advice of Canal+, pioneers in the new uses of television, who were already investigating low energy solutions. Aledin's new technology provides the answer to

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies audio and lighting divisions have supplied an extensive inventory of stage production equipment for the auditorium of the Hawth Theatre in Crawley as part of an upgrade to the venue's technical facilities.

The Hawth Theatre is one of the south's liveliest arts venues, playing host to a diverse mix of theatre, dance, music, comedy, concerts, film and visual arts. The theatre has been host to hit West End and worldwide musicals including West Side Story and Saturday Night Fever, comedy acts including Eddie Izzard and Jack Dee, and visiting companies including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Following a competitive tender, single source supplier AC-ET was selected to provide the complete order of leading brand entertainment technology products, accessories and custom manufactured items from its

UK - Jon Thornton, head of sound technology at the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts (LIPA), has recently taken delivery of two new Audient ASP8024 consoles. LIPA students have been learning on Audient desks for almost a decade.

Thornton comments, "Eight years ago we came to replace two split analogue consoles in our studios. We wanted something intuitive, clear and simple - yet flexible. Fortunately, that was just after the Audient ASP8024 had been released. What attracted us was the clarity of the desk, which is ideal for training purposes. It has a nice big centre section, so you can get four students around it comfortably and they can all see what's going on."

Audient is an established player in the education market, with Thornton explaining, "In teaching basic principles - signal path, equalisation, signal routing - analogue is easier and better t

USA - After a year of planning, and following several other momentum-building events, the North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee staged its spectacular XLV Countdown Live from Cowboys Stadium on Friday10 September. A 60' Daktronics LED video display, provided by Argyle, TX-based GoVision, served as the main backdrop for the jam-packed evening of entertainment.

With more than 200 stars on hand to speak, sing, play or perform during the evening's festivities, every one of the nearly 37,000 attendees wanted a close-up view of the stage. Corporate Magic, the official event producer of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee, enlisted the expertise of GoVision to construct and provide the LED centerpiece to do just that.

"Only the lower tier of the stadium was used during the event to provide an intimate feel in the massive venue," said Chris Curtis, president

UK / USA - With plans for the merger between ESTA and PLASA now in their final stages, the elections for places on the new North American and European Regional Boards, and the over-arching Governing Body, got underway on 1 October.

The elections are a unique milestone in the merger of the two Associations, as this is the first time that ESTA and PLASA Members will vote simultaneously to elect representatives to the new Board structure. The month-long ballot, in which over 1,000 companies and individuals will have the opportunity to vote, pre-empts the New Year merger date when the Associations formally unite under the PLASA name.

For PLASA, one of the major developments to come out of the merger is the move to a more representative Governance system. The new 12-member Regional Boards will better mirror the diversity of regions, market sectors, business types and technologies a

UK - XL Events supplied LED Screens and camera systems to Pope Benedict XVI's recent state visit to England and Scotland.

This involved three of the four major sites - Cofton Park in Birmingham for the beatification of the now Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman; Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, celebrating an open air Mass; and for a meeting of religious leaders and school students at St Mary's University College in Twickenham, Surrey.

XL Events was working for production companies WRG in Birmingham and Twickenham and DF Concerts in Glasgow and had been involved in the planning for this project for over seven months. XL's Guy Vellacott was lead project manager for the Papel visit and also co-ordinated the site at Cofton Park, with XL's Steve Greetham and Dave Lawrence taking care of Glasgow and Twickenham respectively.

Says Vellacott, "The production requests were both spe

UK - Stage Electrics hire department continues to invest. The most recent addition has been the Panasonic PT-DZ12000 DLP HD Projectors which produces 12,000 lumens of brightness. To add to this HD setup, the purchase of Analog Way Di-Ventix II multi-layer high resolution vision mixers and Panasonic 65" HD ready plasma screens have also been added to their hire portfolio. At the other end of the scale 20 of the latest Casio 'lamp Free' LED Projectors have been purchased for small presentation work.

Mike Jackson, Head of Live Events commented, "As our clients continue to raise the bar, we continue to raise our game. Our investment into the latest video technologies puts our hire equipment in the top end of the market with the ability to deploy equipment on high end production work and for any scale of events, from meetings and presentations to major AGM's and exhibitions

Brazil - When Teatro Bradesco opened in the Bourbon Mall San Paulo, its 1,457-seat house made it one of the largest traditional theatres in Brazil. Its Italian-style proscenium stage features some of the most technologically advanced equipment used in any theatre in Brazil - including automated stage rigging designed and manufactured by J. R. Clancy.

The rigging system includes 10 PowerLift automated hoists, controlled by Clancy's SceneControl 500. Designed by Clancy's in-house team of rigging professionals, this touch-screen system shows operators a 3D representation of the stage and the scenery hanging on each batten. Operators can set simple or elaborate cues, group battens to move together, and see exactly what's moving on stage at any moment.

In addition, J. R. Clancy supplied a Zetex fire safety curtain for the theatre, which lowers automatically in the event of a fire o

UK - The Arena Group installed a wide range of temporary event overlay at the 2010 Ryder Cup. The company provided triple and double decker hospitality structures overlooking the 18th green, media facilities, all 19 temporary spectator seating grandstands, over 60 on-course event structures and furniture to all areas of Celtic Manor.

Ryder Cup match director Edward Kitson says, "Extending the strong working relationship between the Ryder Cup, the PGA European Tour and Arena Group, they (Arena) once again justified our trust through the professional delivery of key elements of the event infrastructure. They have provided a very good service and their offering has enhanced this Ryder Cup tournament."

The project had required months of attentive advance planning, with Arena Seating's project director Bradley Merchant and newly promoted project manager Sam Feaviour walki

UK - Audio companies Technical Knowhow and Paul Sparrow Sound are among the first to use DiGiCo's SD9 console.

Having worked for Newcastle-based technical production company NiteLites for many years before setting up his own company, Technical Knowhow director Andy Magee was already familiar with DiGiCo's D series consoles. He purchased his SD9 from Stage Electrics, following conversations with the company's Ed Gamble.

"I used the D series for about four years. They were my desk of preference," he says. "When I heard about the SD9, I decided to get one straight away. To be honest, when I found out the price I would have been happy to buy one without even seeing it. I knew it would be really good."

In contrast, Paul Sparrow was not a previous DiGiCo user. "I was looking for a digital console that used a Cat 5 multicore. I needed 32 inputs and plenty o

UK - The Science Museum's award winning biomedical gallery, Who am I?, has been relaunched as part of the museum's centenary celebrations. The exhibition was first opened at the museum in 2000 but, thanks to significant advances in genetics and brain science, the Science Museum has updated and revamped the gallery with the very latest scientific research, interactive exhibits, hands-on experiences and educational show cases which explore what makes us who we are and what makes each of us different.

AV installation company Sarner was appointed as audio visual systems integrator for the detailed design, installation and commissioning of AV services of the exhibition following a tender process. The project, which was supported by the principal funder, Wellcome Trust, and major sponsors, GlaxoSmithKline and Life Technologies Foundation, took a total of five months from tender

USA - The charity event Farm Aid turned 25 in 2010. Founder Willie Nelson said, "In 1985 I never imagined we would be doing this ever again, let alone 25 years later." Nelson is joined by Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews as the core group behind the cause.

The event has been run for many years by Ron Stern, ably assisted by Lyle Centola. Designer Stan Crocker has been at the helm of the visuals for many years. Working with Bandit Knoxville GM JR Sander and crew chief Eroc Shafferman, the show was a complete success, capping 25 great years. Bandit has been involved since 1990 and welcomes this most important event every year.

Crocker used a wide offering of fixtures including Martin MAC 2000 Washes, Martin MAC 2000 Profiles, Martin MAC 250 Spots, Vari Lite VL 3000 Washes, Vari Lite VL 3500 Spots, Coemar Infinity XL Washes and Lycian 1271 spotlights. There

UK - Allen & Heath's iLive digital mixers were used on all of the main stages at this year's Beach Break Live (BBL) festival in Pembrey, South Wales.

SPS Audio was appointed as the production company for the event, selecting a modular iDR10 MixRack and iLive-144 Control Surface to manage FOH on the main stage, an iDR-48 with iLive-T112 on the dance stage, and an iDR-32 with iLive-T80 on the new music stage. Ellie Goulding also brought in her touring iDR-48 with iLive-R72 surface on monitors for her performance on the main stage.

Beach Break Live is now in its fourth year, and is renowned for having a high calibre line-up for a modest ticket price. The 2010 line up included Vampire Weekend, Calvin Harris, Chase & Status, Ellie Goulding, Plan B, 2Many DJs and the Futureheads.

"The only way I can manage this event within budget is to take care of everything m

Czech Republic - The 2010 Hrachovka Festival, staged near Robe's Czech Republic factory in Valasske Mezirici, featured Robe moving lights on the two main stages, supplied by locally based lighting company Stage Plus, run by Tomas Bierza. Robe also sponsored one of the stages making their Robin fixtures available for use.

The line-up was an eclectic mix of the very best of Czech bands including 2010 Czech & Slovak Superstar winner Martin Chodúr, Airfare, Plastic People of the Universe, Žlut? Pes, Electric Mann, PSH, Cocotte Minute and many more, representing a diversity of styles and genres - rock, urban, electro, pop, punk and dance.

Lighting for both Ostravar and Robe Stages was designed by Bierza, and operated by him plus Dalibor Michenka from High Life Touring and Martin Valovy.

The Ostravar Stage had six Robe ColorSpot 2500 and six ColorWash 2500E ATs on

UK - His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI's public address at Cofton Park near Birmingham was the most significant of his state visit, as this was the day that saw the Beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman. Attended by almost 80,000, the event was managed by WRG Creative Communications, Wigwam Acoustics providing a PA system of a scale that reflects the importance of the day.

"It wasn't that it needed to be loud," said Wigwam Director Chris Hill, "but it was imperative that everyone present heard every word."

Hill with Wigwam's systems expert Rob Priddle devised a temporary installation of monumental scale as befit the occasion. "We put in a main stage system of d&b audiotechnik J-Series, with a mix of d&b J and Q-Series across twenty three delay towers. The park was licensed for 80,000 so we had more than enough PA for an audience that size, but it's

UK - Wireless Solution Sweden reports a successful PLASA 2010, having signed deals with several new OEM partners including A & O, Pulsar, Antari, W-DEV and Aryton, in addition to new distributors. The company also held a Wireless University Seminar during the show and hosted its traditional Swedish vodka and meatball party to a packed booth.

On display was the W-DMX Generation 4. This new standard is transparent and works with several protocols, creating extreme flexibility and reliability without the need for additional controllers or software.

The new G4 product line includes Adaptive Frequency Hopping technology to avoid interference from Wi-fi, Intercom and other radio products, W-DMX invisi-wire and data-safe technologies for fidelity, and support for RDM (Remote Device Management) so W-DMX units and lighting fixtures connected through W-DMX can be configured remotely wit

Australia - Drawing attendees from around the world and broadcast globally via GodTV, the Planetshakers Conference was again a success for the Forefront team who were engaged to provide production management and design for lighting, video, monitor audio and custom motion graphics.

Rob Thorne, of Forefront and lighting designer for the project, asked Phaseshift Productions to make his design come to life for the 2010 Planetshakers Conference held at Melbourne's Hisense Arena.

"Phaseshift did a great job and I love working with them," Rob said. "I've worked with them a few times and they've always been very good."

With six weeks preparation consisting of 3D lighting programming and video content creation, the whole production setup went into Hisense arena in just one day. Restrictions on venue availability meant that the crew only had a very short time fram

China - Milos ran a successful Technical Training & Safety Awareness workshop at its facility in Guangzhou, China, to highlight its facilities, products and services immediately available in the Asia/Australia regions.

This followed the model of the workshops that Milos runs regularly in Europe, and was attended by a selection of high profile, key decision project makers from major companies in Thailand, Indonesia, India, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore and mainland China.

The aim of the two-day event was to illustrate the quality of Milos's trussing, roofing and staging products, and emphasise the benefits of the brand's reputation for unbeatable efficiency and service worldwide in a highly competitive marketplace.

It also stressed the importance of knowledge in terms of health & safety legislation and standards and safe working practices for rigging and the building of tempora

USA - Production Exchange, the new online exchange for AV and rental staging market sub rentals, has announced a partnership with IntelliEvent. As a result of this partnership, current authorised users of IntelliEvent will be able to subscribe to Lite Exchange, Video Exchange or Audio Exchange individually or as a bundled solution. The Production Exchange solutions will be third party applications that integrate seamlessly with IntelliEvent software's current version.

"We are excited to have IntelliEvent as our new technology and co-marketing partner," said Grif Palmer, president of Production Exchange. "IntelliEvent has a great track record of providing AV and Lighting rental companies the technology to run their operations. The partnership we have created will enable IntelliEvent customers to access three exchanges (lighting, audio and video) that can drive reve

UK - Black Light has been contracted to supply the trussing for the return of Black Watch, one of the National Theatre of Scotland's most widely acclaimed plays. Black Light's involvement in this international touring production marks the second time that it has been involved with this show, as it supported the original show during its award-winning debut at the 2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

"We have had an excellent working relationship with the National Theatre of Scotland from the Company's earliest days," says Black Light's head of hire & events, Stephen Reid. "They know they can rely on us to deliver exactly what they need, even when we are dealing with a high-profile project such as Black Watch that is touring to many different venues."

Black Watch is touring to eight venues in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the United States.

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