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UK - Showlight will be exhibiting at PLASA Show 2022 on Stand A8 giving visitors the chance to meet some of the committee that organise this quadrennial event and discover more about what the event has to offer.
Showlight chairman, John Allen, and Showlight technical director and past-chairman of the papers committee, Bernie Davis, will also present a seminar Discover Showlight 2023 as part of the PLASA Educational & Seminar programme, on Sunday 4 September at 12.45pm – 13.15pm in Seminar Theatre 1.
John and Bernie will outline what you can expect – in form and content - at Showlight 2023 which takes place in Fontainebleau, near Paris, from 20-23 May 2023. This seminar is your chance to learn more about how Showlight works, and how you can participate as a delegate, sponsor, exhibitor, student, or speaker at Fontainebleau.
You can sign up for the

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The Netherlands - Renowned pastry chef and bread specialist, Eric van Otten, recently established a new food concept for his patisserie that creates multiple atmospheric eating zones with the help of Powersoft’s Dynamic Music Distribution (DMD).
Unlike many of the pastry shops that line streets of Amsterdam, van Otten offers its guests a number of places to sit and enjoy its culinary delights: the outdoor patio, ice cream parlour and a plethora of private spaces, each fitted with sounds that enhance the overall dining experience.
Powersoft’s Dynamic Music Distribution can provide corporate, retail or hospitality venues with a high-quality audio backbone that ensures selected speakers receive the perfect amount of power to each ‘zone’.
Dutch professional audio distributor, Mennegat, was approached by Eric van Otten with a brief to create a multifunction
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Croatia - Valjak I Prijatelji (Valjak & friends) was a show staged in Pula, Croatia, in the city’s Arena Roman amphitheatre venue and dedicated to Aki Rahimovski, lead singer of Croatian rockers Parni Valjak. The enigmatic frontman died suddenly and unexpectedly in January aged 66, just ahead of a major tour.
Slovenian lighting designer Nikola ‘Niko’ Podlesnik was honoured to be lighting the emotionally charged gig. He chose Robe moving lights as the backbone of his rig to help deliver all the drama and sentiment of the evening, which saw the remaining members of the band perform with a series of famous Croatian singers taking on the vocals, including Rahimovski’s son, Kristijan.
Lighting equipment was supplied, together with the full technical production including audio and video, by Zagreb-based rental specialist Promo Logistika. The compa

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UK - Following the success of the inaugural South Facing Festival at the Crystal Palace Bowl last year, festival director Marcus Weedon requested the same formula for this year’s 10-day event. And that included Martin Audio’s MLA loudspeaker array, supplied once again by Capital Sound (part of the Solotech UK group).
This served the requirements of a bill, including London Grammar, Bombay Bicycle Club, Jungle, Becky Hill and Richard Ashcroft.
Two other key developments helped boost the quality of the sound, as Solotech project manager David Preston - who was working alongside production manager, Julia Bruns, and site/production specialists, LS Events - explained. Driven by the positive feedback, and absence of complaints from neighbours last year, he noted that levels within the bowl were raised from an SPL of 96dB(A) to 98dB(A) for this year, while the tech team s

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Italy - Twenty years after first opening in Italy, the complete original cast of Notre-Dame de Paris is back on stage to celebrate the anniversary. Following the success of the show in Paris, the musical made its official Italian debut at Gran Teatro of Rome in 2002, featuring the translated lyrics of Pasquale Panella. Produced in collaboration with Enzo Product Ltd, entirely curated and distributed by Vivo Concerti, and under the direction of Gilles Maheu, the 2022 tour will include over 180 shows throughout the Italian peninsula.
For this 20th Anniversary production, experienced sound team members were selected, including FOH engineer Alberto Alicandro, who was part of the original crew, monitor engineer Simone ‘Zeta’ Saccomandi, and microphone technician Andrea “Niski” Stanisci. The microphone equipment is entirely DPA, with 16 headsets, consisting of 4066

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South Africa - Stage Audio Works, are to host two audio workshops on 12 and 13 October at 3Ci Church in Pretoria. The sessions will be run by a team from MxU, experts in church production based in Knoxville TN, who will be flying over especially for the event.
Additional support will be provided by German manufacturer, d&b audiotechnik, also strong advocates of education and furtherment. Thanks to their participation alongside that of Stage Audio Works, tickets are reasonably priced at only R750 – less than half the cost of the equivalent event in the US.
Stage Audio Works CTO, Nathan Ihlenfeldt comments, “Empowering people is one of the core values that underpins everything we do at Stage Audio Works. Offering people the knowledge to operate their systems and enabling local organisations to act independently is crucial – and not just concerning the specific

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UK - Digital Insanity teamed up with house powerhouse Defected and disco-house connoisseurs Glitterbox in August to deliver visuals for London’s We are FSTVL, choosing up a Hippotizer Nevis+ Media Server to pump out extra VJ prowess.
Reading-based video production company Digital Insanity – which has created visuals for dance festivals including Snowbombing, Lovebox and Global Gathering – was at the helm of the Glitterbox/Defected stage over two days of fast-paced performances. Eight huge 512x1280 portrait, 3mm LED screens were rigged in a four stage-left, four stage-right formation, displaying branded punk style disco graphics, slogans, geometric beauty and live feed footage. A further two screens were positioned as a DJ riser and behind the booth, at the upstage position. The full canvas size was 7680 x 1440 pixels, and all of the screens were supplied by UK Events G

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USA - The Nature of Light: An Exploration After Dark at The Paine Art Center and Gardens, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin is an immersive night time experience - created by visual design practice Lightswitch in partnership with art sculpture studio HYBYCOZO and the Paine - uses a host of Elation Professional fixtures in a number of evocative and transformative outdoor environments.
For nearly a decade, HYBYCOZO and Lightswitch have partnered on art installations and experiences but The Nature of Light: An Exploration After Dark is their first collaboration on a major large-scale exhibition. The Nature of Light features a collection of carefully curated experiences throughout the estate and grounds, spectacularly lit indoor and outdoor environments that incorporate more than 50 different sculptures.
The project began when Aaron Sherer, executive director at

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USA - Frontman Ian Astbury and The Cult have “always been fans of warm blinder light from a low and back position,” says Matt Guminski, the band’s lighting designer, programmer, and operator.
For his part, Guminski is a self-described “fan of contrasting warm tungsten (or a proper tungsten emulating LED), that works harmoniously with the bold & saturated colors of LED or discharge lamp fixtures”.
This alignment of preferences came together this summer for the band’s We Own The Night North American tour.
“Doing bumps between a rich saturated LED look and warm bright blinder hits always provides big dramatic looks, which is what we did on this tour,” said Guminski. “We also went with multiple types of silhouette looks. This harkens back to Ian’s desire for a less traditional rock show, more like Bauhaus/Nine Inch Nails. Chiaroscuro is the na

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Germany - Technology service provider, EBV Veranstaltungstechnik, has invested in Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision technology, with the purchase of a WPM line array from territorial distributors, Audio Technica Deutschland.
Based in Hettenleidelheim in the Rheinland-Palatinate, EBV is a family business with a long tradition. Elmar Breitwieser founded the company over 40 years ago and focused primarily on regional musical events, which he initially equipped with sound and lighting systems before adding stage technology.
In 2018 Christian Breitwieser, son of the founder, took over the company and expanded the business from concert and festival events to corporate functions, conferences and more.
Needing to adapt and upgrade the audio equipment to the new requirement he opted for Martin Audio, stating, "I had already been familiar with the brand for a long time.

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Eurovision Countdown - The shortlist of UK cities that could host next year's Eurovision Song Contest has been revealed, with seven locations in the running. Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield will vie to stage the event in May. Twenty cities expressed an interest, the BBC said, and those not making the shortlist include London and Belfast.
The BBC said the seven-strong shortlist was based on the cities' ability to show they have "the capacity, capability and experience to host an event of this scale and complexity".
A statement added that the process was "heavily weighted towards demonstrating past experience in hosting major international events, as well as being able to demonstrate their credentials in hosting a celebration of contemporary music".
London would have met those criteria but didn't make the cut, at a time wh

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Germany - As one of Europe’s leading wholesalers of visual presentation technology, Lang is renowned for its passion for innovation and willingness to invest in long-term partnerships that ensure an ample supply of state-of-the-art technology of the highest calibre. The company has invested in Brompton Technology Tessera LED video processors which complement Lang’s stock of Venus and Jupiter LED panels for high-quality and high resolution applications.
“Our goal with Venus and Jupiter has always been to set a benchmark in the LED market,” explains Manuel Müller, director rental at Lang. “With this in mind, two of the things next to resolution that were most important to us were usability and brightness, with Brompton’s leading Tessera LED processors serving a perfect match for those key requirements.”
Thanks to Brompton’s Dynamic Calibration technology

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UK - Long-standing Martin Audio rental partner, Bristol-based SWG Events, has upgraded its pro audio inventory with the acquisition of 24 of the large format Wavefront Precision WPL enclosures.
These form part of a Martin Audio package, along with 12 SXH218 subs and 24 XE500 floor monitors. Powering the WPL in 2-box resolution are Martin Audio iKON iK42 process-controlled, multi-channel amplifiers, part of an order for 17 iK42’s, which will also be assigned to the XE500.
Stated SWG Events’ head of audio, Simon Purse, “Everything came along at the right time, with me joining the company [from Martin Audio]. This coincided with SWG looking to buy a bigger, state-of-the-art system as an upgrade for their trusty W8LC, to put us back at the top end of the touring market, with higher tier acts.”
The acquisition was sanctioned by SWG managing director, Alister P

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Vietnam - Ayrton has announced Pro-AVL as its new, exclusive distributor for Vietnam.
Founded in 2011 by Mr. Le Manh Thang, Pro-AVL is the exclusive distributor for many leading brands of sound and lighting in the Vietnamese market. This well-established company also consults, designs, supplies and installs goods, and provides after-sales service for their customers across leading theatres, television companies, event centres and entertainment complexes, and rental and event companies.
Ayrton products are well known and well respected by Pro-AVL which was part of the reason behind the new agreement. “For a long time, Ayrton has been a well-known quality brand used by many lighting designers,” says Mr. Thang. “Part of AVL's mission statement is always to aim for the highest quality products for our customers, which makes the Ayrton brand and their products the pe

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UK - Those wishing to enter products for this year’s PLASA Awards for Innovation are encouraged to do so as soon as possible, as the extended deadline for entries is midnight Wednesday 17 August. PLASA Show 2022 exhibitors, PLASA members and non-exhibitors are invited to enter their products to be in with a chance of winning one of the coveted awards.
Organised in association with LSi, the awards celebrate innovative products from across the live entertainment technology industry that can demonstrate a new style of thinking, improve technical practice or safety, introduce new materials or techniques, or offer a new commercial advantage.
Each successfully entered product will be judged by an independent panel of industry experts who have the authority to present up to eight awards of equal standing, plus a potential Gold Award for an outstanding new product.
An Awa

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UK - Martin Audio’s programme of biannual open days - designed to coincide with the busy spring and end of summer exhibition seasons - is set to continue over three days this September (6-8).
This year they have expanded the mix to incorporate three other brands from parent company Focusrite Group showcasing a portfolio of relevant products from Focusrite Pro, along with its start-up commercial audio brand, Optimal Audio and the recently acquired Linea Research.
Each brand will have its own dedicated presentation time, and in the case of Martin Audio visitors will again have the opportunity to hear the design theories behind ranges such as Adorn, CDD, Torus and Wavefront Precision, before getting to listen to them as they are put through their paces.
Another change this time around is that delegates only need to register for a day pass (rather than a session pa

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USA - Recently, the Student Services Department of the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences travelled to southern California on behalf of its current and future students.
“We sent members of our staff to the greater Los Angeles area for the purpose of visiting studios and companies that CRAS has had long standing relationships with, and additionally open up new doors for future students and graduates,” explained Kirt Hamm, CRAS administrator. “These visits help place our students in their mandatory internships prior to graduation, and then open potential graduate job placement opportunities. All of this helps our current and future students get a leg up when positioning themselves near or after graduation in some of the industry’s best available pro audio environments.”
During the visit, CRAS staff met with personnel from Touring Video, VSI TV, Everg

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UK - This year’s Gottelier Award nominations have been announced, with voting now in process. Named in memory of renowned industry innovator and commentator Tony Gottelier, this special award recognises the invaluable contributions of the people behind the products.
LSi readers, registered PLASA Show visitors and PLASA members are eligible to vote for the Gottelier Award. The recipient of which will be announced during the PLASA Awards for Innovation ceremony at PLASA Show on Monday 5 September. The nominees for the 2022 Gottelier Award are:
David Edelstein – Managing Director of Triple E
David Edelstein, founder of Triple E, invented the Loose Pin Hinge in 1984 after spotting a huge gap in the market. The product went on to receive an ABTT Product of the Year award and has since inspired many imitations. David went on to design and launch UniTrack in

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Tribute to Olivia - Producers of the West End production of Grease have dedicated the rest of its run to the memory of Olivia Newton-John, who has died aged 73. Newton-John, best known for playing Sandy in the 1978 film Grease, died on 8 August, with a statement from her family saying she passed away “peacefully” at her Ranch in Southern California, surrounded by family and friends. “Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer,” it said.
A stage production of Grease is currently running at the Dominion Theatre in London, which is produced by Colin Ingram for InTheatre Productions, Donovan Mannato, Playing Field, Gavin Kalin and Curve.
Paying tribute, the producers said: “Olivia Newton-John is an icon who has inspired countless young performers across the world, not least our compa

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UK - Martin Audio recently introduced a dedicated environment page to its website, detailing its approach to the climate emergency. Now they have taken that a step further, announcing the funding completion for planting 50,000 trees, plus an ongoing commitment to plant another new tree for every line array cabinet sold.
Managing director, Dom Harter, takes up the story: “As a global leader in the pro audio industry, and as part of the wider Focusrite Group, environmental sustainability is a major opportunity for us to demonstrate climate leadership and values, define good environmental practice, and benefit from an opportunity to meaningfully engage with our staff, customers, and the wider audio community. Working alongside Andy Land, head of sustainability for Focusrite Group, we have been outlining our approach and commencing the work.”
Land added, “Our approac

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UK - PLASA Show has just announced its seminar and workshop programme which will run at Olympia London from 4-6 September. Sponsored by Vectorworks, the programme is packed with technical talks, creative presentations, and industry panels – each with a firm eye on the future of live events and entertainment.
Pre-registered visitors can take advantage of the free-to-attend programme across all three days of the show. The first wave of programme sessions is now available to view on the PLASA Show website. Read on for initial highlights:
Plenty of PLASA-hosted business sessions will run, helping you understand the latest legislation changes. These include EcoDesign and RoHS with PLASA and ETC, Stop changing channels; radio spectrum with BEIRG, Brexit update with PLASA and Live, and SIC codes: Government recognition and the viability of our sector with Whit

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Europe - It’s less than 10 months until Showlight 2023 and preparations are gathering pace for this premier networking event. This will be the first in-person Showlight for six years and excitement is building rapidly as plans are made and diaries blocked out.
Exhibitor stand bookings are underway with many confirmations already in place. The first exhibitors will be announced in the coming weeks. Those who wish to exhibit should contact John Allen at the soonest opportunity as places are limited and allocated on a first come, first served basis. Don’t miss your chance to be an integral part of Showlight 2023!
There are plenty of opportunities to become a Showlight sponsor – whether you choose to exhibit or not. Gold, Silver and Bronze sponsorships exist alongside specific sponsorship for aspects such as hospitality, transport, welcome drinks, speakers or student

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USA - Rental house Main Light has added Elation Professional’s new Fuze MAX Spot LED moving head to its growing inventory of lighting products. The full-colour-spectrum automated LED Spot fixture is currently in stock and available to rent across all Main Light locations.
“The Fuze MAX series of fixtures helps fill a gap that has existed in the LED engine fixture types,” stated Randy Mullican, CEO at Main Light. “The customer feedback has been extremely positive in the short time the fixtures have been on the market.” Dave Pretz, Main Light national asset manager, adds, “The high CRI on the Fuze MAX series makes it a great fixture for on-camera applications which need high quality lighting, and the price point provides a cost-effective option to add to our rental inventory.”
First seen at the USITT show in March and shipping since April, the Fuze MAX Spot

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The Netherlands - The Nederlands Blazers Ensemble Nieuwjaarsconcert - performed on-stage before an audience and broadcasted by NPO 2 on New Year’s Day - is a pivotal event in the Dutch cultural calendar, ringing in the New Year for countless viewers. The 2022 edition marked the concert’s 50th iteration, which paid tribute to legendary singers Nina Simone and Maria Callas. To create immersive and riveting visuals suitable for such a milestone, veteran lighting designer Henk-Jan van Beek and the Light-H-Art team selected the Martin MAC Ultra Performance as the lighting fixture of choice.
“I had already seen and played with the MAC Ultra Performance, and so I knew it was something I wanted to have,” said van Beek. “It’s since become my de-facto workhorse - it’s easy to set up, zooming into an iris effect is fast and elegant. Because it’s so bright, the fixture
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