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USA - Rock band Kansas is about to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the multi-platinum album Leftoverture right on the heels of the release of a brand new album Prelude Implicit, their first album since 2000.

The Dust in the Wind super group is currently gearing up for the celebratory fall tour (which will feature the entirety of Leftoverture performed in sequence, in addition to other hits and new songs) with a spring tour that included a lighting package from Bandit Lites.

Lighting director Scott Pearson took special care to make sure the look of the show was one that both the band and the audience would recognize, buy using Bandit supplied Martin MAC Viper Profiles and GRNLite LED battens all controlled by a Martin M6 console.

Combining those with local 120k, 8 racks ACLs, ellipsoidals, blinders and spots, Pearson describes the look of t

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South Africa - The principal event in the Gauteng theatre calendar came to a dazzling climax in April, when the winners of the prestigious Naledi Theatre Awards were announced to a packed audience at the Lyric Theatre, Gold Reef City, Johannesburg. Set and lighting designer Robert Hoey from Dream Sets incorporated a Robe rig for a glitzy look and feel. This year Robe Lighting, DWR Distribution and Dream Sets assisted as sponsors for the event.

The winners include Kevin Stannet - Best Lighting Designer for Nataniel's After Animals, who wins a trip to Prague and a visit to the Robe factory thanks to Robe and DWR.

Executive director, and creative director for the event, Dawn Lindberg, said of this year's awards, "The standard of excellence gets higher and higher each year, making the judges' job of selecting winners almost tortuous. All the nominees are winners in our

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USA - A new and unproven programme that opens against the season debut of the NFL's Sunday Night Football, the US Open Men's Finals and the return of Fear of the Walking Dead might not be expected to draw a large audience, but Univision's La Banda defied expectations by pulling in 2.6m viewers in the US and earning the distinction of being the most tweeted about program in its time slot when it premiered on 13 September. It helped that the Simon Cowell-produced reality show, which searched for the next Latin boy band, had stars like Ricky Martin on its panel of judges, was brimming with vibrant young talent, and featured a scintillating Tom Sutherland-designed lightshow.

Sutherland and lighting director/programmer Craig Caserta used a large and varying collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures to spice up the set and support the performances of the aspiring you

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UK - The original Ronnie Scott's opened its doors in October 1959 as a small basement club where local musicians could jam with others who shared their passion. Almost six decades later, and in its Soho home, Ronnie Scott's is one of the world's best-known jazz clubs, regularly hosting the genre's biggest names as well as nurturing rising stars. The club also offers a diverse programme of live music including Latin, jive, blues, flamenco, tap dancing and DJ sets which has helped make it the place to be for both the new hipster generation and music fans seeking the very best in live jazz.

A recent upgrade of the club's technical facilities has seen the installation of a bespoke digital audio network plus two DiGiCo consoles, with the system design, supply and installation all carried out by Autograph Sales & Installations.

The club's technical manager Miles Ashton had been

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Argentina - Since 1963, the Fiesta de la Vendimia (Grape Harvest Festival) has taken place at the Frank Romero Day Greek Theatre, located in Mendoza's General San Martin Park in Argentina.

The event is organised by the local government of Mendoza (with support from the Argentinian national government) and this year the Mendocinos again turned out in force, with around 40,000 (including many wine connoisseurs) assembling every night over the four days.

The company who tendered successfully for the technological infrastructure was Merino Producciones, headed by Carlos Merino. This was the fourth time they had been entrusted with the sound - and for the first time this year they were also awarded the lighting contract.

The person responsible for designing the spectacular lighting and special effects was Mariano Velasco. He made good use of nearly 250 PR Lighting fixtures

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Mexico - The jewel in the crown of Mexico's live music scene is the Vive Latino festival. Now in its 17th year, this hugely successful concert weekend takes place in the Foro Sol in Mexico City. Its concept is to gather important and upcoming bands from all over Ibero-America. This year, 150,000 people gathered to hear the performances of 70 artists and groups from 18 countries.

As in previous years, the primary PA systems were provided by Tecnoson Espectaculos, for the promoter OCESA Group. Under the leadership of sound designer Sergio Zenteno, two of the main stages were set up with Nexo STM modular line array systems. Drawing on Tecnoson's extensive inventory, the system specification for the Tecate Stage was an example of the diversity and sonic compatibility of the range of Nexo cabinets.

On the Tecate Stage, played by Natalia Lafourcade, Leon Larregui, Carla Morrison

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Chile - Clay Paky's Chilean distributor, Valook, showcased more than 80 units of the company's latest fixtures as part of an open day event for local rental and production companies, theatres, lighting designers and TV representatives.

Organised by Valook - which has been a Clay Paky distributor since 2014 - the event was held on the rooftop of Santiago's 64-storey Costanera Centre Tower, which opened in 2013 and is the tallest skyscraper in South America.

On show were Clay Paky's Mythos, Glow Up, Scenius Spot, Sharpy, Sharpy Wash, B-EYE K10 and K20, Stormy and Stormy CC fixtures. The event was introduced by the Valook staff, accompanied by speeches and product demos by Clay Paky's Francesco Romagnoli and Massimo Piccinini.

"The open day was a very luxurious and sophisticated event, where only the most important and well known exponents of the Chilean show business ind

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The Netherlands - The Koninklijke Schouwburg, or Royal Theatre, in The Hague has recently taken stock of a large number of Robert Juliat 614SX 1200W tungsten profile lanterns, supplied by Robert Juliat's project partner for the Netherlands, Controllux, in a major refreshment of its lighting inventory.

Built at the end of the eighteenth century as a palace for Prince Charles of Nassau-Weilburg, the beautiful building of the Koninklijke Schouwburg was transformed into a theatre in 1804 and is now one of the oldest theatres in The Netherlands. It hosts a programme of international theatre productions, musicals, cabaret and dance, in addition to a season from the award-winning Amsterdam Baroque Opera, and plays from its own national theatre company, Het Nationale Toneel.

Having undergone extensive refurbishment from 1997-1999 to modernize the venue, it was apparent that, 15 ye

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Australia - With less than one week to go until the lights ignite Vivid Sydney 2016, TDC - Technical Direction Company is working closely with organisers to deliver record-breaking technical production.

After 11 months of planning and research into new technology and trends, TDC is finalizing their design for city-wide multimedia that will be deployed across the festival's footprint and brought together with participating local and international artists and designers.

Some fun facts about what goes on behind the scenes includes: TDC employs 35 staff working full-time to produce a massive 11,500sq.m of video projection in excess of 120m pixels. Over 70 projectors will be deployed in custom-made projection towers located in and around Sydney.

TDC's work will be found on some of Sydney's most iconic buildings and locations including the Museum of Contemporary Art Australi

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UK - Utopium has invested in new lighting and rigging equipment to expand its creative possibilities and offer improved energy efficiency and the highest quality performance.

This investment has bolstered Utopium's already extensive inventory, increasing its choice of modern LED lighting and the latest rigging equipment available to production companies, lighting designers, venue managers and event organisers.

Utopium's range of new products includes SGM P-2 LED RGBW Floods, Martin MAC Quantum Profile LED Moving Lights, Chauvet Rogue R1 LED Moving Wash Lights, Robert Juliat Roxie LED Followspots, SGM G-Spots LED IP65 Moving Profile, SGM Q-7s LED IP65 Strobe / flood / Blinder and ProLights Z8 LED IP65 Wireless Battery Battens.

Utopium's Colin Bodenham comments, "We have expanded our range to match clients' creative requirements. LED technology brings improved sustainabi

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UK - The Huntingdonshire Charity Ball has been organised by Le Mark's Kirsty Fisher, the partner of the late Dave Cartwright.

Dave, Le Mark's national business development manager, tragically suffered a stroke in June 2015 and passed away one month later. Kirsty wanted to commemorate the anniversary of Dave's passing and at the same time find a way to thank and support both the Woodlands Centre at Hinchingbrooke and Addenbrookes Hospitals, which battled to save his life.

After discussing with friends and colleagues Kirsty's decision was to ensure it was a true celebration of Dave's life and the idea of a VIP Charity Ball was born. Forming a group under the heading of 'Friends of Huntingdon Charity' the event has grown and grown.

Kirsty says: "It's been incredible. Once people knew of the plans and the charities that would benefit, local business people came forward and

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UK - When Kevin Mobberley set up his West Midlands based rental company Stage Audio Services at the beginning of the 1980s, the mainstay of his PA inventory consisted of Martin Audio's classic B1, B2 and legendary MH212 'Philishave' components.

Fast forward 35 years and the wheel has turned full circle as the company has placed the first of what will become several tranches of investment, in the High Wycombe manufacturer's new MLA platform.

They have acquired a substantial MLA Compact rig (including MLX subs) promising that this will be the start of a steady upgrade path into both Martin Audio Multicellular Loudspeaker Array and Differential Dispersion technology (with the DD12).

Explaining the timing of the new MLA acquisition Kevin Mobberley said, "With the outdoor season approaching we were getting asked increasingly by our clients to investigate MLA. The system is

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Denmark - 4EVAC has confirmed the appointment of its new Danish distributor, Pro-Partner AV Solution A/S at El & TEKNIK 2016, the annual commercial electronics exhibition in Denmark.

4EVAC presented its range of commercial voice-alarm control and iIndication equipment systems solutions at the show. The new 4EVAC Compact500 audio/voice evacuation system made an impact as a systems' solution in a 'box'.

Offering the latest Voice-Alarm technology for modern environments, the Compact500 is easy to install and fulfills the exacting demands of engineers, electrical contractors, architects and facility managers. In addition it provides peace of mind as fully compliant with EN-54 standards.

Kasper Christiansen CEO, Pro-Partner AV Solution, commented, " We're delighted with the positive feedback from our clients about the Compact 500. It seems that a "single box' non-compromisi

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USA - The 2016 Billboard Music Awards delivered an action packed, star-studded and powerful show. As touted by both Billboard and Rolling Stone, P!NK flew away (literally) with one of the best performances. Consistent with her now infamous previous live performances, P!NK took flight and soared acrobatically above the Billboard Music Award audience, for her world television debut of her latest single Just Like Fire, a song from the Alice Through the Looking Glass soundtrack. To accomplish this dare-devil feat, Tait Towers, provided P!NK's performer flying elements and proprietary automation software, Tait Navigator, which guaranteed her safety by controlling the speed and movements. Despite previous performances where P!NK typically uses a harness for her flight expeditions, this time, she performed without a harness - live on TV.

Ben Gasper, project manager at T

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UK - Chaos, craziness, excitement and anticipation all give Macklemore & Ryan Lewis gigs an edgy vitality. A turbo-charged whirlwind of energy, politics, clever and meaningful lyrics and some great music, accompanied by impressive lighting and visuals.

Their just released new album The Unruly Mess I've Made follows up 2012's Grammy award winning The Heist with the band embarking on a major new world tour. The lighting and visuals design is by Paul 'Arlo' Guthrie and the rig includes Robe BMFL Spots and PATT 2013s.

Arlo has worked with production manager Chris Fussell for some time, and was invited on-board to produce a stage design for this new album cycle, a process that started in late 2015 with numerous discussions around ideas from Ben Haggerty (Macklemore) and Ryan Lewis who really wanted to step up the production from their last tour.

The lighting a

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Online Fraud - Music and sports fans trying to secure event tickets lost more than £5m to online fraud in 2015, councils have revealed. Customers who fell victim to ticket fraud lost an average of £444 per transaction, the Local Government Association (LGA) has said. It urged social media sites urged to do more to prevent the problem as they were used for almost half of the scams.

Councils have warned that the problem is increasing, with total losses up from £3.35m in 2014. Officials say that summer could be "ripe for criminals to exploit desperate fans", with a series of sporting events, festivals and Wembley concerts by Beyoncé, Rihanna and Bruce Springsteen all expected to be targeted by fraudsters.

Grounded - Eagles of Death Metal have been dropped from two French music festivals, after their singer reiterated his suggestion that securit

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South Africa - The Durban Ice Arena is currently closed for public skating from 16 to 31 May, and has undergone a transformation to host the Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League. Black Coffee, commissioned by Shaun Brickell from Umlilo Brands, an event management, brand activation and technical company, provided the television lighting, a few Philips Selecon Arena and Rama Fresnels providing a lighting solution. Brandon Bunyan, owner of Black Coffee, gives a delightful rendition.

"This is a gig that has turned into an interesting science for us and a nightmare for our client," said Brandon. "Because it is in an ice rink with a special sports wooden floor covering, there is a major moisture / condensation problem making the play field very slippery.

"We were looking for an LED sports arena flood solution for this job that would not affect the temperature of the play field, w

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UK - LED, visual effects, drapes and starcloth specialist, S+H Technical has boosted its stock of LED screen with the addition of 182 panels of Glux's 10mm outdoor BAtn product in readiness for a busy summer events season.

S+H already has a substantial stock of LED video with over 1000 panels of Glux LED including 12mm, 3.9 indoor and both 10 & 20 mm floor tiles, and this latest addition of the outdoor screen was a logical extension to the range.

Having a wide range of LED screen stock - plus several other LED technologies - ensures that S+H has the flexibility to service its wide and eclectic range of projects.

"We're getting asked ever more frequently to supply LED screens to various projects many of which are outdoor, so we need to have a solution in stock," comments S+H's MD Terry Murtha. "It made sense to keep with the same manufacturer for continuity and quality

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USA - How does a large and rapidly growing house of worship still maintain an intimate small church feel? While there is no one answer that applies in all situations, the leaders of First Redeemer Baptist have come up with an approach that works well at their 2000-seat church. One of the fastest growing churches in the Southeast, First Redeemer has nevertheless maintained a relaxed atmosphere that makes it easy for worshippers to feel connected. A variety of steps, from having small breakout worship groups, to serving Wednesday night suppers, to holding contemporary and traditional services, have contributed to making each individual worshipper feel welcome.

In keeping with its welcoming philosophy, First Redeemer had a clear objective when it hired Paragon 360 to remodel its sanctuary: create a space that makes everyone feel at home. The Springfield, MO company accomplished t

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Puerto Rico - Internationally acclaimed singer Arc

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USA - A 4,400sq.ft video wall boasting over 65m pixels and comprising 1,640 2.5mm Christie Velvet LED tiles at the Westgate Sports SuperBook is keeping visitors to the Las Vegas casino up-to-date on everything from the rugby world cup to tennis. This enormous video wall spans the length of the world's largest sports book creating a stadium-like experience where every seat in the newly renovated Westgate Superbook is a "front-row" experience.

Westgate Resorts teamed with RP Visual Solutions (RPV) and Christie to build the world's largest LED Video wall inside the Westgate Superbook at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino. Working with HB Communications, RPV and Christie created an enormous curved array measuring 20ft tall and 220ft wide.

Along with the construction of this screen, the Westgate Superbook was completely transformed to create a stadium-like experience, inclu

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Italy - Professional Audio Systems manufacturer dBTechnologies has announced the launch of its new website www.dbtechnologies.com

The new responsive design delivers an engaging user-experience across devices allowing consumers to easily access contents on desktops, tablets and mobile.

The new website is the most complete source of information about dBTechnologies world: news, events and a complete overview on products available in three languages (English, Italian and Spanish)

dBTechnologies' sales & marketing director Giovanni Barbieri points out the reasons for this change. "dBTechnologies' users community is growing at a fast pace worldwide, and we need to provide them with the most complete information. Our customers want to be able to access content wherever they are, whenever they need it. Whether they're experienced professionals or entry level users willing to

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UK - Research from Panasonic has found that 3D mapping, the technique of using projection to illuminate building facades, is replacing traditional types of event entertainment such as fireworks. A survey of design agencies, events companies, end users and manufacturers, commissioned by Panasonic and carried out by Installation Magazine, shows that over the past three years both the number of projection mapping projects and the revenue they have generated has grown.

Survey respondents were clear that driving this growth is the way that audiences expect more and have higher expectations when it comes to being entertained and informed, 75% of those surveyed agreed that 3D mapping was being used instead of traditional approaches like fireworks.

The evidence shows that projection mapping has the ability to attract visitors, create employment, fill hotel rooms, sell resta

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China - APG North East Asia has announced completion of its first Uniline house of worship installation in China. Situated in Shantou, the 3,000 capacity Shantou Sheng Ming Tang church is one of the biggest in the Guangdong province.

The project was carried out by MPHK Group Ltd, the Hong Kong based APG dealer, who installed the entire sound system as well as HD video and LED stage lighting solutions. The project was completed in just a month, from system design to implementation.

"The main acoustical challenge was to overcome the unwanted resonance due to the size of the church," remembers APG North and Eastern Asia managing director Raymond Wong. "Its high ceilings and the presence of two corridors on each side of the room were challenging as they created unwanted resonance. Because the Uniline range is easily controllable, we knew we would easily overcome those challeng

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  2. Educational Conference connects with Chauvet
  3. Danley on song at Atlanta's Velvet Note
  4. BrightSign supports Grand Hyatt Hotel video wall
  5. Professional Wireless Systems chooses Bel Digital
  6. Bandit backs Cancer Society festival
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