Record Breakers - U2's current worldwide 360° tour has become the highest grossing in history, beating the record previously set by The Rolling Stones between 2005-2007. The Irish rockers passed the $558m (£341m) world record following their concert in Sao Paolo, Brazil, on 10 April. The tour kicked off in July 2009 in Barcelona and still has more than 20 gigs to go. More than seven million tickets have been sold to date for 110 shows. On average U2's 360° Tour packs out 63,000 people each show, taking $6.4 million (£3.9 million) according to Billboard Boxscore.

The final date is 30 July 2011 at the Magnetic Music Hill Musical Festival in Moncton, Canada. Arcade Fire will be the support act. Before that, they will headline the Friday night of this year's Glastonbury festival on 24 June.

We've Been Expecting You - Dame Shirley Bassey and

UK - The ABTT (Association of British Theatre Technicians) Theatre Show looks set for another successful year, with pre-registrations for the June event already 25% up on 2010 figures.

Attracting the leading manufacturers and suppliers in the theatre, presentation and staging sectors, the exhibition is a leading UK showcase for venue operators, engineers and those entering the business to see the latest products and technologies.

Among the exhibitors already confirmed for the 2011 Show are: ETC (Electronic Theatre Controls), Clay Paky, Martin Professional, White Light, Autograph Sales, Canford, d&b audiotechnik, Doughty Engineering, Triple E, Lee Filters, Philips Entertainment, Roscolab, Stage Electrics, Trantec Systems, Allen & Heath, Sound Technology, Unusual Rigging and Zero 88.

Show director Roger Fox, commented: "We are simply thrilled with this increase in pre-reg

Through years of supply of rigging accessories to the entertainment sector, Rigging Services have developed strong relationships with OEM's from around the globe, whilst still particularly favouring the UK manufacturing industry wherever possible. RSNoir is the brand name of Rigging Services own label of UK manufactured "soft black" rigging products including; top of the range Safety Harnesses, Roundslings ("AKA" Spansets), Ratchet Lashings, Chain and Kit Bags, Wire Rope Slings (steels) and Safeties. All are available to view on display at PLASA Focus, they are available to purchase at any Rigging Services branch or online through RSDirect at www.riggingservices.co.uk/salesdesk

PLASA FOCUS RA-C14

UK - Two special evening events and 21 new and first time exhibitors have been added to the attractions already on offer during PLASA Focus: Leeds 2011, taking place at The Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, on Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 April 2011.

Alongside 130 exhibitors across two halls, and a two day programme of free educational seminars and product demonstrations, visitors can also take advantage of two evening events taking place in Leeds in the evenings after PLASA Focus, with free transport between each event.

The inaugural 'AES in the North' meeting will be held at the University of Leeds' School of Music on Tuesday 19 April, starting at 6.30pm. This new group founded by Kerry-Anne Kubisa, along with AES Cambridge, is leading the expansion of the AES audio community outside of London. Roger Quested is guest lecturer o

Germany - Roland Systems Group has boosted its extensive V-Mixing System lineup with the introduction of the new R-1000 48-Track Recorder/Player, a stand-alone dedicated recorder/player designed to work with the V-Mixing System in any live event or production. The R-1000 can be connected with any digital console that has MADI output capabilities by using the Roland S-MADI REAC MADI Bridge.

Used as a recorder for live events, the R-1000 will capture up to 48 channels of discrete audio all as separate broadcast wave files ready to open in a DAW of choice, says the company. As a playback device, it can be used in live events to play back selected channels, to augment a live performance or as a multi-channel playback deck in a theatre or amusement park application. Two units can be sinked together for a 96-channel recorder/player or sync to video with SMPTE (LTC) or via black burst.

UK - North London's iconic venue Alexandra Palace turned pink from the 6-8 April to mark the year countdown until the ITV London region will go digital on 4 April 2012, marking the end of analogue TV in the city where television began 75 years ago.

Television personality Christine Bleakley turned on the light show at Alexandra Palace which could be seen across the North London skyline marking the occasion.

Alexandra Palace is the birthplace of television, having hosted the world's first regular public high definition television service, operated by the BBC, from 1936. The television station was located within Ally Pally and its radio tower is still in use. The South-East wing of the palace still features the original studios with their producers' galleries, and is open to the public every September as part of London Open House.

APTL Managing Director Rebecca Kane comments, &

Belarus - FE Belimlight recently rigged the huge Minsk Arena (home rink of ice hockey stars HC Dinamo) with moving heads from PR Lighting to enable an audience of 12,000 people to experience the full dynamic of Swedish pop music duo Roxette.

The atmosphere produced by a combination of 38 powerful XL1500 Wash and 46 XL1500 Spot lights were further enhanced by audience blinders and haze machines. All lighting was under the control of a Wholehog III desk.

Responsible for the production and design were Swedish company, All Round Productions AB, with the experienced Calle Brattberg (LXworks) taking responsibility for the lighting design, and creating a huge number of different chases and colour combinations.

Brattberg created a generic arena design and picked up lighting locally on the tour - which included the PR Lighting fixtures in Minsk. Despite having little time to familiar

UK - Students from The Guildford School of Acting (GSA) recently produced and staged The Light in the Piazza - from the 1960 novella written by Elizabeth Spencer. The musical, performed at Guildford's Electric Theatre, relied upon PixelRange PixelLines as the mainstay of the lighting design.

The Guildford School of Acting and PixelRange have a long association and when arranging the lighting design for performances, PixelRange is always specified because the students understand the versatility, brightness and great effects of the lights. Freelance lighting designer, Dan Last, was brought in on this production to give the students experience of working with industry professionals.

The performance was cast from the GSA's Musical theatre course, whilst the backstage team was comprised of those on the GSA's Production skills course. The students take on a variety of roles d

USA - Barco is enhancing the magic of Roger Waters' The Wall tour as it continues around the world, providing a combination of video and lighting equipment including 15 FLM HD20 projectors, five FLM R22+ projectors, five Encore presentation systems, and from High End Systems, 32 Cyberlight 2.0 units and a Road Hog Full Boar console.

Show creative directors set out with the ambitious goal to authentically reproduce the concert venue and show created 30 years ago for Pink Floyd, including building an exact replica of the 1980 set. Fabricating the wall each night, brick-by-brick in sync with the video projection, is a laborious, yet essential task to maintain the integrity of the projections which display rotating scenery, dynamic backdrops and optical illusions. Barco's integrated lighting and video solutions enable the vivid, seamless projections to visualize the concepts

USA - Tomcat participated for the third year in the 62nd SETC that recently took place in Atlanta, Georgia. During the event, Tomcat showcased its truss products, co-sponsored a design-tech mixer and donated two dance towers as give-aways.

SETC is the largest convention of its type in the country and offered the opportunity to over 4,000 students and faculty from all over the country to see new and innovative products, attend workshops, participate in professional auditions, compete and apply for theatre jobs, listen to key speakers, enjoy performance festivals, join social events and networking activities.

"It was an honour to be part of SETC as this event is very relevant in encouraging the educational and creative process of university and college theatre," stated Stefano Rosellini, general manager of Tomcat. "Our company has participated for three years in S

China - Late March saw Hong Kong host the 35th annual Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens tournament, at which 24 international rugby teams competed in front of thousands of fans for the event's Cup, Plate, Bowl and Shield. For the sixth year, Lighthouse provided LED screens to bring all the action in detail to the Hong Kong Stadium North Stand and Sevens Village at the Indian Recreation Club.

The Lighthouse North Stand and Sevens Village screens have become a familiar part of the tournament. This year each screen comprised 7 x 6 panels (7.11 x 4.57m) of R7-ER 7mm screen and relayed real-time playback, action replays, match facts and sponsorship information with the unsurpassed quality, colour accuracy and resolution that Lighthouse screens are renowned for.

"The Lighthouse screens have become an important part of this tournament, with such a fast-moving sport t

UK - LITE, UK distributor for Philips Solid State Lighting Solutions, has put a splash of color on the historical Tyne Bridge in Newcastle using Philips ColorReach PowerCore fixtures and LumenRadio's CRMX wireless lighting controls.

"A typical challenge with older structures is the lack of available wire ways for the control required to take full advantage of the features offered by color mixing LED fixtures. That problem was solved by integrating LumenRadio's CRMX wireless OEM modules into the Philips ColorReach PowerCore power supplies; eliminating the need for any control wiring", explains Andrew Milestone sales director at LITE. "Integrating the CRMX OEM modules was easy, the system worked out-of-the-box, and the reliability was rock solid. LumenRadio's CRMX wireless signal distribution is a true project enabler that we will use on a regular basis in a wide va

UK - Flightcase and speaker solutions specialist Penn Elcom and speaker manufacturer Fane Acoustics have announced a global partnership, whereby each have access to the other's international distribution networks.

The synergies between the companies, both with extensive manufacturing facilities in the UK and Asia, will enable the MI and pro audio markets to benefit from a complimentary and comprehensive range of loudspeaker components and casing hardware available globally, says a statement. Both companies have known each other for over 30 years.

Says' Penn's chair Roger Willems, "Integrating Fane with our sales and distribution network fills a gap, and the already excellent existing relationship and levels of mutual respect made it a logical step. We will be able to offer a whole range of premium products from both companies, fantastic value and unparalleled levels of se

Germany - Nexo's annual Distributor Awards dinner took place in Frankfurt last week. Top honours for success in 2010-2011 went to Russia, with Dmitry Roumiantseff collecting the award on behalf of SIM.

The evening was introduced by Nexo CEO Keisuke Kobayashi and sales director Denis Baudier, who noted record-breaking sales in key territories, including Nexo's home market, France. Taking home the award for best French dealer, Thierry Trenchant of Melpomen has also delivered one of the most prestigious installations in the world for Nexo - the famous Stade de France in Paris, which has been extensively equipped with Geo S12 line array technology.

Latin America featured prominently on stage. The Best New Distributor award was given to Sound Logics of Colombia, and a special recognition diploma was handed to Jesus Aguilar of Sonotec for his exceptional promotion of Nexo technology

Slovenia - When one of Slovenia's premier theatres was looking to replace an existing analogue mixing console with a digital version, the venue's technical team had a long list of requirements that the new desk had to fulfil. A Yamaha M7CL-32 was selected.

Established in 1955 in Nova Gorica, Slovensko Narodno Gledalisce (the Slovenian National Theatre, or SNG) is a venue which stages a wide range of productions, from light comedies to high drama, by both Slovenian and foreign writers.

Although its existing Yamaha PM5D and DM1000 consoles and Outline Audio PA system are working reliably, the SNG technical team had another analogue console which needed replacing. In doing so, they wanted to replace it with one which could handle all of the theatre's varied requirements and work seamlessly with the other equipment.

"The console had to perform all the tasks that a theatre p

Poland - The Zygmunt Hübner Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw is one of the leading modern theatres in Poland. Opened in 1944 and renovated for the first time in 1975, the playhouse in Warsaw's Praga quarter now features over three stages and boasts a seating capacity of 600. The theatre was renovated again last year to meet modern requirements, with one of the principal items on the agenda being the upgrading of the sound system.

The planning and realisation of the new sound reinforcement design were the responsibility of the Wroclaw bureau of sound specialists Tommex Zebrowscy Sp. J. The customer had specifically requested a system that would offer the highest possible degree of flexibility. Additionally, as Marcin Zimny, managing director of the Wroclaw bureau of Tommex Zebrowscy Sp. J, explained "the stage construction design is built around a multifunctional system with va

USA - Austin City Limits, the longest running live music television series in America, has a new home - a modern studio at ACL Live at the Moody Theatre. Designed for a variety of live music performances KLRU-TV produces the PBS series there approximately 20 days a year. The mixed-use entertainment venue boasts has a commitment to green building standards. This commitment to greening the project, enabled the facility an opportunity to apply for LEED certification.

Walter Olden, the lighting director for the Austin City Limits television show since 1982, shared some insight into why Wybron's Cygnus LED fixtures were the first choice for the project. "During the planning and design phase of the space, there was always talk of LED lighting because of wanting to be a green project, trying to make it as green as possible."

"We wanted to go with a minimum numbe

UK - Bath- based production, rental and installation company Enlightened has designed and installed a bespoke Milos Quatro 290V trussing ground support system for a new performance space that has been created in a Grade 1 listed building on the Corsham Court campus of Bath Spa University.

Enlightened's Simon Marcus has been using and specifying Milos products for many years and the company has a substantial quantity of different Milos products in its hire stock. "Milos has a wide range of trussing and accessories, it is very strong and has all the right technical specs as well as looking great for a host of different applications," he says.

The new space is called The Image Capture Studio and will be primarily used for postgraduate studies, assorted productions and media related research. It includes a full image capture studio, green screen, projection facili

USA - For many, the University of Alabama's Foster Auditorium is remembered as a 'ground zero' for the civil rights movement of the early 1960s. It was on 11 June 1963 in front of these doors that then-Governor George Wallace made his infamous 'Stand in the Schoolhouse Door', attempting to resist integration by blocking two black students from enrolling in the University.

Built in 1939, the hall was home to UA's basketball teams in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as regularly hosting graduations, lectures, concerts and other large gatherings. The building is named for Autherine Lucy Foster, the first black student to be accepted and enrolled at UA.

With the opening of the neighbouring Coliseum, the building eventually lost its standing as the campus' largest indoor structure, and in recent years had fallen into disrepair. Recently, Foster Auditorium underwent a major renovation,

UK - In the next few months all BBC sports and children's shows - including the long-running Blue Peter are being moved from the BBC London Television Centre to the new studios- MediaCityUK.

Located at Salford Quays on the banks of Manchester's historic ship canal, Peel Media's bespoke community features one of the biggest HD studio developments in Europe. MediaCityUK has been designed around the specific needs of the media and creative industries with the vision to become a 'world class hub for innovation and content creation'.

Richard Martin Lighting (RML) continues to support Blue Peter lighting designer Lee Allen on the show. The rig includes Colour Block 2, VL3000 Spot and PixelPar 90's.

(Jim Evans)

Spain - "Sometimes I don't think people realise just how big Spain is. At over half a million square kilometres it is more than twice the size of the UK, yet with 46m inhabitants it's just three quarters the population. That's a lot of territory to cover if you're going to reach everyone equally and fairly."

For David Rosello, who heads up the d&b audiotechnik office in Spain, it seems the dilemmas are more than just audio oriented. "That's why we continually roll out a programme of road shows and seminar workshops; to reach people where they are and with the information they need."

The latest road show commences this spring in Madrid. Besides reaching Spain's capital city it's significant for other reasons. "We have eight established partners across Spain; a comprehensive network that provides a solid, strong support to our customers everywhere, but M

USA - Tomcat USA participated in Event Live Expo 2011 held at the LA Convention Centre, 12-14 April where the company showcased an array of truss products to create solutions for the entertainment and live event industry. In addition, case studies were presented on product and custom project solutions.

"For 24 years Tomcat has provided innovative solutions to the touring and the live events industry" stated Don Dimitroff, sales & marketing director, Tomcat USA. "Being part of a cutting edge trade show that brings stakeholders together is a wonderful opportunity for Tomcat to share a different perspective with industry pros from all aspects of live entertainment."

Tomcat exhibited standard truss products including Bax, Edge, Core, Light Duty and heavy Duty truss. In addition Keith Bohn, custom projects director, presented daily case studies on product and pr

Tanzania - A Proel sound reinforcement system was chosen by Aqua Sounds, the audio service responsible for the technical setup of the city stadium for the opening ceremony of the East Africa Football Cup. Dar El Salaam National Stadium can host up to 60,000 people, and it is the tenth largest on the whole African continent. The ceremony that opened this important football competition in East Africa proved to be a festival of the sounds, dances and colours of Africa and the recently elected President, Mr Jakaya Kikwete, took part in it.

Dar es Salaam also hosted the event organized by mobile telephone company Bharti Airtel to announce the acquisition and consequent re-branding of Zain network and products in Tanzania. Aqua Sounds chose a Proel Axiom system for this event too.

(Jim Evans)

UK - J&C Joel installed 49 acoustic roller banner units in the Apex Centre, Bury St Edmunds' newest multi -purpose community venue.

The adjustable roller banners allow the Apex's technical staff to alter the venue's acoustics to complement any performance. The acoustic panels consist of cognac wool serge (WS011) bonded to black premier wool serge (WS090) and are ideal for reducing sound reverberation in the performance hall.

The acoustic roller banner units fitted by J&C Joel's installation team are of differing lengths and widths depending on their positioning within the hall. The majority of the banners were made with a single drop of bonded wool serge, but a number of dual sided banners were installed which are operated by a single motor within the unit's housing.

The acoustic roller banner system is controlled through a multi channel hand held unit which enables the bann

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