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UAE - Home to the world's tallest building, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is accustomed to doing things big. The extensive festivities marking the 44th UAE National Day were no exception. The official National Day event at Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi was a high-end production featuring grandMA2 consoles.

UAE National Day commemorated the Emirates' 44-year union with fireworks, concerts, heritage attractions, regattas, and art and theatre festivals across the Emirates. The official National Day show at Zayed Sports City celebrated the spirit of the union and the Emirates' national pride.

Produced by Five Current with lighting and video design by 4U2C, the show flashed back to the creation of the UAE by the region's seven kings. "The main challenge was the size of the stage - 300ft wide," notes Karl Gaudreau, associate lighting designer at 4U2C, a Montreal-based one-stop

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Europe - ImageCue, the manufacturer of the compact, easy-to-use image server of the same name, has opened an office near Zurich, Switzerland to support its expansion into the European market.

ImageCue has been establishing distribution partners in Europe since the beginning of the year. So far they have entered into partnerships with Gobo & Highlight in the Nordic countries, White Light in the UK, FACE in the Benelux, and Lightpower in Germany and Austria.

Bill Hewlett, CEO of ImageCue LLC says, "In order to better serve our European distributors and dealers we felt that a European base was necessary. ImageCue units for Europe, the Middle-East, and Africa will be assembled at our new facility outside of Zurich."

ImageCue GmbH is a subsidiary company of ImageCue LLC based in the USA. The European branch will be managed by Norbert Schenkel who performed his practical ele

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UK - Next Robe Generation (NRG) is a new initiative launched by Robe UK, offering future lighting professionals the chance to meet other like-minded individuals and access a whole range of interactive social networking and educational opportunities.

It will encompass forums for discussion and the exchange of ideas, product open days and mentoring by leading practitioners and activists in the dynamic world of performance lighting and visuals among many other activities.

Robe is currently working with six participating universities and colleges - RADA, Rose Bruford, Central School of Speech & Drama, LAMDA, Mountview and the University of South Wales - with the intention of widening the list and reach as the NRG concept flourishes and engages.

Anyone in full time industry related studies or who has graduated from a relevant course within the last two years can join NRG.

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UK - A new advert for online British retailer VERY's Spring 2016 fashion collection has gone live, featuring an LED cube pixel mapped and powered by an Avolites Ai S6 server.

VERY, through their ad agency, St Luke's, commissioned London-based creative think tank Prettybird to conceptualise the commercial, which features a fast moving array of dancers surrounding the cube. The LED cube glows in bright neon pink colours to reflect the VERY branding and displays a variety of Spring-related visuals.

Ai expert RES worked closely with Prettybird's Dori Oskowitz, who directed the advert, through the initial stages, creating technical renders at pitch stage. Once the job was commissioned, RES took on the role of advisor for all technical aspects of pixel mapping and media playback for the cube in pre-production and onsite.

"As the show included three different HD outputs for t

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USA - When Bud Light decided to throw a party at South by Southwest Music Festival, they went all out with a full blown production. Working with Mosaic and LiveNation, Bandit Lites provided the lighting package for both the Brazos Event Centre and the rousing upstairs party, where musical performances throughout the weekend included Bleachers, A$AP Ferg, Yo Gotti, The Struts, MisterWives, Santigold, and Bloc Party with it all capped off Saturday night with The Roots SXSW Jam featuring Big Grams (Big Boi and Phantogram) and other special guests.

With the party taking place in an event centre with a low trim height, the crew was tasked with coming up with a design that made up for the tight space and limited mounting options.

"Dizzy Gosnell and project manager Matt King came up with a great way to mount the fixtures to the existing house beams with limited impact on the over

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USA - The Staples Centre in downtown LA is one of the world's prime sporting and entertainments venues, hosting over 250 events and some 4m guests every year. The venue is home to four professional sports franchises including the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers production team has recently invested in a sophisticated 360-degree video installation to further enhance the spectator experience. At the heart of the system is a powerful Octo media server from Picturall.

The company responsible for the installation was Benchmark Productions, a full service live event production company based in Lake Forest, Southern California, who worked in conjunction with Picturall US's Dylan Ankney in order to deliver the Lakers' ambitious AV project.

The Picturall Octo is housed in the video booth. Four outputs from the Octo are sent to four 1-in/2-out HDMI distribution amplifiers from

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USA - Lighting designer Susan Nicholson used Elation Professional's Platinum Spot 35 Pro moving head luminaire for front lighting, backlighting and texturing on a recent Off Broadway production of the new musical drama Death for Five Voices

Staged at the Sheen Centre for Thought and Culture in New York City, and inspired by the life and work of Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo, Death for Five Voices is a complex musical that changes locations on a static set. "The show does not call for spot lights," Susan Nicholson explains, "So moving lights were my answer as a way to be able to pop characters out. It gave me an opportunity to draw the audience's attention to the important action on stage."

Nicholson used the Platinum Spot 35 Pro subtly as front light and highlights with fixtures positioned over the audience, splitting centre, and another located upstage

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Canada - The Crossroads Church in Red Deer, Alberta, has installed Allen & Heath mixers throughout its six room facility, ranging from the compact Qu range to the larger iLive digital systems.

The rooms have various capacity and serve many different purposes. Supplied and installed by Parklands Audio, an iLive-176 at FOH with dual iDR10 MixRacks and an iLive-T112 for monitors were selected for the main 1150-capacity Sanctuary.

"Crossroads needed a future-proof mixer that was flexible for the next phases in construction. iLive also sounded good, and ease of use was of great importance, as it is crucial to have the capability to simplify the mixing process for the wide range of technicians and volunteers. It was also important that each subsequent room had a similar work flow and ease of use, hence A&H mixers were selected for all other phases implemented," says Crossroads t

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Belgium - Due to renovations, the Royal Munt Theatre in Brussels needed temporary accommodation elsewhere at short notice. Veldeman provided a quick, qualitative solution and built the Munt Palace on the site of Tour & Taxi's, an opera house which was made to measure with a capacity of welcoming up to 1,100 people. An imposing TFS (Tension Fabric Structure) tent of 3,200sq.m will accommodate the opera productions until at least the end of 2016.

A storey tent of 25m by 40m serves as an entrance hall and VIP room. A true eye-catcher is the facade which has been personalised in a beautiful way, referring to the Munt's pediment in the heart of Brussels. The entrance and covered terrace were luxuriously decorated with wooden walls, wooden ceiling and a beautiful new bankirai floor. This highly qualitative decoration was maintained on the inside as well. The cloakroom was walled by

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USA - Inspiring the next generation of space explorers and scientists at Kennedy Space Centre Visitor Complex, one of America's most-loved visitor attractions, thousands of visitors were taken on a first of its kind, high-tech journey into space for Spirit of Exploration held during the Holidays in Space festive season from December 2015 through January 2016.

Originally commissioned by NASA for the Apollo programme, the 223ft long Saturn 1B rocket located in the open air Rocket Garden was transformed for the very first time into a giant projection surface comprising an eye-watering 6,528 by 1,050-pixel image that used 80,000 lumens of projected light. Visuals were accompanied by a dramatic musical score, actual launch audio, and other sound effects, in conjunction with a Rocket Garden Light Show that uses moveable lights to illuminate rockets throughout the Rocket Garden, comp

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USA - When your client has been one of the creative forces behind the reference music used to tune literally thousands of concert PA systems across the known universe, you had better bring your 'A-Game' - and your best gear. That is exactly what Clearwing Productions did when they got the call to provide sound reinforcement for David Gilmour's Rattle That Lock North American tour, by specifying a full L-Acoustics K1/K2 rig complemented by the company's new KS28 subwoofers.

"KS28 is a marked improvement on the SB28, and I was not at all unhappy with the SB28," reports Gregg Brunclik, president and CEO of Milwaukee, WI-based Clearwing.

This tour represented the official US debut of the KS28, which was introduced only a month ago at Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt and deployed by Clearwing on a North American pilot program for the product.

With its extended frequency response

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Turkey - The spectacular Litore Resort Hotel & Spa on Turkey's Gulf of Antalya has recently been fitted out with professional D.A.S. Audio sound systems. This five-star hotel is located in the city of Alanya, one of the most popular tourist destinations on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. The resort boasts 260+ rooms and a full range of first-class facilities spanning over 15,000 m2 of prime beachfront property.

Melomani, D.A.S. Audio's exclusive distributor in Turkey, was called in to handle the sound installation for this upscale resort. The Melomani sound technicians, faced with the challenge of providing audio for a range of different spaces, knew that the extensive range and versatility of D.A.S. Audio professional sound systems would be the ideal solution for adapting the sound across the resort.

The technicians opted to bring in D.A.S. Audio's Event Line Array systems

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The Netherlands - Dutch house DJ Fedde Le Grand recently played his Grand 2016 event at Amsterdam's 20,000 capacity Ziggo Dome, which was completely sold out and featured a spectacular lighting design by JJ Rotte from Dutch lighting and visual creative practice Light Image - and over 200 Robe moving lights.

JJ has been Fedde's lighting designer since 2013. When the first Grand live concept was staged in 2015 he came on board to evolve the lighting, and asked Bas van der Poel and Jeroen van der Velden of Light Image - both of whom he'd known for some years - to assist in what was a complex design process. He joined the imaginative lighting design, programming and operating practice based in Utrecht full time at the end of last year.

This year's Grand was a one off show demanding high-impact visuals with minimal time on site and intense pressure to produce the spectacular re

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Europe - R&B diva Mariah Carey recently packed arenas across Europe with a Meyer Sound Leo linear large-scale sound reinforcement system. The powerful and transparent system clearly delivered Carey's five-octave range and soaring, melismatic vocal style to every seat without the use of delays. Mixed by FOH engineer Lorin White Jr., the 22-city Sweet Sweet Fantasy Tour was Carey's first European tour in 13 years.

"The Leo system is superb for handling Mariah's voice, particularly when I'm tracking her extended high notes," reports Lorin, whose mixing credits include Roberta Flack, Jon Secada, Hilary Duff, Melissa Manchester, and Machine Head. "She always gets a strong crowd reaction when she hits those extreme highs - like on Emotions - so I always try to give her a push over the top. With Leo, the highs come out just as clear, and without hurting your ears.

"All the

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UK - The Theatres Trust has announced that booking is now open for its tenth annual conference: Conference 16: Protecting Theatres, to be staged at the New London Theatre.

Says the Trust, "In this milestone year in the history of the Trust we will examine the state of our nation's theatres and discuss their future. We will consider the past and present influences on theatre architecture and design; the provision of existing and new theatres in response to city and government devolution; changing demographics; housing delivery and community and audience demand.

"We will then look to the future, and the potential for the next 40 years, and ask: What kinds of theatres will we need to build, and how will we find the resources to do so? How should we be asking existing buildings to adapt and change? What impact will the popularity of digital distribution of live theatre have? H

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Germany - HK Audio has formed a new Business Solutions division, offering "highly efficient and acoustically outstanding packages" worldwide for installation projects which require special custom solutions.

With a focus on the hospitality sector, HK Audio Business Solutions delivers the company's 30+ years of 'Made in Germany' pro audio experience to customers who are not only looking for exemplary sound reinforcement, but who also want to be able to aesthetically integrate loudspeakers into sophisticated design environments, says the company.

To this end, Business Solutions customers will be able to customize their HK Audio system of choice to perfectly suit their needs.

Available in any desired colour, and featuring either printed or engraved design elements (such as company logos or slogans), the speakers will end up forming an integral part of the location's interi

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Australia - MPH Australia is a busy lighting rental company based in Melbourne, headed by Matt Hansen, a well-known personality in the Australian production world.

The company has enthusiastically embraced Robe as an in-house brand - with LEDWash 600s, MMX Spots, LEDBeam 100s - and was an early adopter of Robe's game-changing BMFL series fixtures.

MPH started as 'Matt's Party Hire' 11 years ago with the tongue-in-cheek trestle table and balloons logo for which Matt is still known and loved, a free-spirited attitude to life plus a selection of niche LED products, control and media servers also offering bespoke and off-beat lighting system designs.

This was a great success, and through his contacts, imagination and ability to think 'out-of-the-box' Matt designed and toured internationally with a number of top Australian bands, leaving his own kit with his colleagues and

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UK - Hawthorn has been awarded the contract to supply lighting and crew for upcoming performances by 80's British new wave group, OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark).

The band, which has sold over 40m records worldwide, is returning to the stage to perform classic 1980's albums Dazzle Ships and Architecture & Morality in full, with performances kicking off at a sell-out gig on 9 May 2016 at London's Royal Albert Hall. Further shows have been announced in Germany, with the band now also playing in Berlin, Frankfurt and Hamburg.

The Concert Touring division in Hawthorn is drawing upon its extensive range of hire equipment, supplying lighting to specification, including Clay Paky Wash, Clay Paky Sharpy, Robe BMFL Spot and Martin Atomic 3000 Strobe fixtures. Hawthorn is also supplying two members of crew for the four dates.

Mick Freer, head of concert tou

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UK - The Shaftesbury Theatre in London prides itself on being the largest independent theatre in the West End. For over a century it has played host to many high quality, large scale productions, and in order to ensure its long term ability to do this, the theatre recently extended its fly tower, increasing both the height and loading capacity.

This valuable addition to the Grade II listed theatre has made the venue more capable than ever of accommodating large scale productions, particularly musicals, and indeed earlier this month opened Motown The Musical to critical and audience acclaim. The theatre now also provides additional dressing room accommodation and increased on-site office space. To help facilitate the refurbishment, Unusual Rigging was engaged on each of the three phases of the construction process, the last of which was completed in February 2016.

Ja

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In The Vatican - The Edge has performed four songs in the Sistine Chapel to raise awareness for cancer prevention, becoming the first contemporary artist to play at the venue. The guitarist played for around 200 doctors, researchers and philanthropists as part of a conference at the Vatican on regenerative medicine. He played acoustic guitar and was backed by a choir of seven Irish teenagers. He performed Leonard Cohen's If It Be Your Will, and versions of three U2 songs. The Edge, whose real name is David Evans, lost his father to cancer last month. He is on the board of several foundations working in aid of cancer prevention.

Park Life - T in the Park will go ahead at Strathallan in July after councillors granted the festival a one-year public entertainment licence. The approval followed a five-hour Perth and Kinross Council meeting attended by organisers and o

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UK - Following on from PLASA's backstage tour of Sadler's Wells in March, a visit has been arranged to the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon on the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.

The Royal Shakespeare Company will be welcoming PLASA members on 24th May 2016 to take part in an immersive backstage tour covering the transformation of Elizabeth Scott's iconic 1932 cinema-style Royal Shakespeare Theatre into a definitive new environment for performing the works of Shakespeare.

This was a major construction programme and Stage Electrics were involved on-site in the realisation of this transformation for over four years working to the design brief created by Charcoalblue (theatre consultants), Buro Happold (engineers) and Bennetts Associates (architects).

This project was a huge collaborative effort with a number of different contributors all handpicked by the RSC. More r

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One of the most highly tipped rock 'n' roll exhibitions of all time - the Rolling Stones' Exhibitionism at the Saatchi Gallery in London - uses technology on a grand scale to create the realism of the band's early history, and enhance the visitor experience through seven separate zones.

Produced and curated by Australian event company IEC (International Entertainment Consulting), the lighting design has been created by another major event company, Woodroffe Bassett Design (WBD). They, in turn, have specified a number of LED fixtures from GLP, who are the nominated exclusive automated lighting partner.

The inventory was supplied and installed through partners White Light, under the project management of Simon Needle. This included 25 GLP impression X4, each featuring 19 high output RGBW LEDs, along with six of the new X4 Bar 20 high performance battens. All appear in the 'P

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UK - Bluebell Opticom, provider of innovative fibre optic solutions for fixed and remote applications, has announced that UK broadcaster ITV has installed a ShaxX Lite SMPTE hybrid alternative connector kit as part of a studio upgrade and relocation. The ShaxX Lite allows ITV to share the refurbished studio with an existing master control room in another part of the building.

"Thanks to Bluebell's ShaxX Lite, we didn't need to design and build a new cable bridge between buildings to reach the gallery from the studio," said Steve Usher, project manager, ITV. "Eliminating those steps saved us time and money."

The refurbished studio, which is used for live broadcasts of This Morning five mornings a week, has been relocated a long distance away from the master control room, and the ducting was too congested to run SMPTE hybrid cable between them. Thanks to the ShaxX Lit

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USA - Located near Oklahoma City, Maple Schools is a K-8 elementary school serving 155 students. Its new Clyde Gene Miller Gymnasium, completed in 2014, is a multi-purpose facility for Maple Eagles sports, band and choir performances, assemblies, graduations and other events. In 2015, the school added a versatile, high-performance audio system designed and installed by Video Reality of Oklahoma City.

Sales manager Cody McDowell knew that the school needed a multi-purpose audio system with good coverage and clear voice intelligibility. And the school added one more requirement, "We want this place to rock!" To meet the school's needs, McDowell designed an exploded cluster system using eight Community V Series V2-3264 three-way, full-range loudspeakers supplemented with two I SeriesIS6-218 dual-18" subwoofers. The loudspeakers are arranged to cover the floor and the home and vis

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