Following eight years of collaboration, Absen and French rental stager, Alabama have reached a new level in their distribution partnership by agreeing on the sale of 2,000 panels – totalling over 1,000sqm – of Absen Lyra (LR) Series of transparent LED. This new inventory will be used alongside the 800sqm of Absen LED products already owned by Alabama, which includes Polaris 2.5mm indoor rental LED and Altair Series AT5 Pro mobile indoor / outdoor products. All in all, this means that the Novelty Magnum Dushow Group – Alabama’s parent company – now owns over 5,000sqm of LED available for rental.…
Author: Jacob Waite
AT&T, the Official 5G Wireless Network Partner of the NBA and presenting partner of the NBA Conference Finals, offered a unique connected music experience with its 5G Courtside Concert Series. The four-part series, starring 2 Chainz, Big Sean, Cordae, and CHIKA featured Extended Reality (xR) visuals on a virtual stages. Portions of the performances aired on TNT and ESPN’s broadcast coverage of the NBA Conference Finals, and full performances were released online following the telecasts. To bring this unique broadcast to life, AOIN teamed with sports marketing and talent management company, Wasserman Media Group; xR stage and equipment provider, PRG…
Queenie frontman, Michael Kluch and his band took to the stage in September for a huge concert at Prague’s 18,000-capacity O2 Arena. The Queen tribute group performed the Queen Relived show with a rock ‘n’ roll lighting design and a mix of pre-made and live feed visual content driven by Green Hippo Hippotizer Boreal+ and Karst+ media servers. The three-nighter, big budget production took more than a year to plan and programme, with the staging and tech taking 16 trucks to transport. Show Designer, Martin Hruška staged an impressive display of pyrotechnics and lighting pizazz, backed by a huge upstage…
Like many public events post-lockdown, the outlook for Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) in 2021 was a little different. With COVID-19 restrictions limiting the use of indoor venues, festival organisers turned to d&b audiotechnik Soundscape – and its acoustic shell – to unite the disparate worlds of classical music and sound reinforcement; to recreate the comfort and quality of the concert hall in a temporary open air environment. On the grounds of Edinburgh’s Junior Academy and the city’s Old College Quad, two custom built pavilions, a hundred metres long, were installed like giant bubbles, roofed, but open sided for free-flowing fresh…
Robe enjoyed the buzz and excitement generated by Journées Techniques du Spectacle et de l’Evénement (JTSE) 2021, staged over two days at Les Docks de Paris in the lively Saint-Denis area, close to the city of Paris. The expo was a welcome return to face to face, or mask to mask, meeting opportunities following the 2020 online rendition. Robe France celebrated this landmark with the launch of the new T11 range of theatrical luminaires, a unique three-in-one LED lighting solution. The eye-catching Robe booth in the main Pullman Dock building was designed as a stylish, contemporary ‘lounge’ meet and greet…
To bring the Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown to life on stages across the US for its national tour, Lighting Designer, Bradley King implemented a cutting-edge and versatile lighting rig featuring Martin by Harman LED fixtures, provided by Christie Lites. Written by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and directed by Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown is an American blues and folk-infused version of the Ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Mitchell first premiered Hadestown in 2006 with a DIY theatre group in Vermont and recorded a concept album based on the show in 2010 before the final version debuted on Broadway in 2019 at…
Ross Robertson has joined Arena UK MEA as Managing Director of the structures division, based in Arena’s St Ives headquarters. “Arena Group is taking on a new look as we bounce back from the pandemic, and I am sure that Ross is the right person to steer the structures division, bringing great experience to achieve ambitious expansion beyond our core events sector,” Arena Chief Operating Officer EMEA, Tom Evans commented. “Arena’s structures division is gearing up for an incredibly busy 2022 across a wide range of events, and we are investing in our team to support our project directors, managers…
The “ghost lights” are gradually disappearing from London’s theatres as the world learns to live with COVID-19. One by one, the household-name shows which bring so much joy, colour and revenue into the most vibrant theatre scene on earth are returning, and the audiences with them. As ever, Sennheiser wireless technology takes centre stage, with Hamilton, Les Misérables, Phantom Of The Opera and Disney’s latest production Frozen just some of the shows currently relying on Sennheiser Digital 6000 wireless systems. The association between Autograph and Sennheiser is a long one, reaching back to 1984 when the former first used the…
DTS Lighting has won Best Debuting Product Award at LDI 2021. The accolade, hosted during an exhibition in Las Vegas, was given to the Italian lighting manufacturer for its latest wash moving head – Alchemy 7. Alchemy 7 was designed in order to widen its range and offer a high-power, high-efficiency product. Much like its predecessors, it harnesses the creative capabilities of a Fresnel light on a moving head. With a 250mm lens, a two-blade framing system and a six-LED colour chip, Alchemy 7 is capable of light quality and a wide range of pastel shades. The product was…
With his inimitable repertoire of eclectic music blended with high-brow comedy, Tim Minchin’s UK tour, which began back in 2019, resumed after lockdown with a further eight-week stint. Imaginatively titled Back… Encore, this took him through a number of sold-out UK theatre shows, interspersed with a handful of arena dates. The Australian was supported onstage by a seven-piece band — three brass players, bass, guitar, drums and percussion. Masterminding the sound production was Martin Audio rental partner, Capital Sound, with Dave Roden mixing to his favoured Wavefront Precision WPS. Capital Sound crew on their inventory of 32 WPS line array…
NETRON EP2 is a no nonsense, no compromise Ethernet to DMX gateway solution for the professional lighting and AV markets. Part of the NETRON family of easy-to-use EtherDMX nodes, it offers a solution for systems that require rugged hardware, flexible configuration and a reliable Ethernet to DMX gateway solution at an affordable price. Ideally suited for the installation of distributed DMX Universes in venues, the universal housing of the EP2 provides mounting in 2-Gang boxes (US) as well as European Standard 50mm round boxes in the same extremely compact design. EP2 ships with a full metal back box and M10…
The full scope of Sonu Nigam’s talent was on full display this November at Wembley’s SSE Arena and Resorts World Arena in Birmingham. On stage for over three hours at each venue, the Faridabad, India-born singer-songwriter performed 37 songs and medleys that included his own compositions as well as songs from his musical heroes, Mohammad Rafi and Kishore Kumar. Reflecting the vibrancy and versatility of the multi-faceted performance was a Roosevelt Dsouza-designed light show, which featured CHAUVET Professional fixtures supplied by DMX Productions. Flowing as smoothly as Sonu Nigam’s vocals, the lighting followed the singer through every twist and turn…
Adlib has acquired West Molesey based Triplex — a boutique provider of audio systems for concert touring and special installation projects — providing the company with a London location to widen support to its customers. Triplex, founded in 2013, has quickly gained a reputation for the quality of bespoke control packages provided to touring artists and now also specialises in sales and permanent installations for live venues and places of worship. “Having worked with Triplex for a number of years now, this was an obvious next step for both companies”, said Adlib Director, John Hughes. “We were very close to…
The new fly tower at Theatre Royal Drury Lane has been dedicated to Unusual Rigging Founder, Alan Jacobi, LVO, who passed away in April 2020. Iin front of an audience of 500 friends, family, colleagues and industry peers, Jacobi’s life was celebrated on the stage of the beautifully restored Theatre Royal with tributes from those who knew him during his early years, through to royalty and his closest friends and family members who were with him in his final days. The plaque, unveiled by Jacobi’s wife, Peta, during a live stream from the fly tower at Monday’s event, reads: ‘The…
Live Company has invested in Astera AX9 to keep pace with the “incredible demand” for wireless LED products in Denmark. Copenhagen-based Live Company was among the first rental houses in Denmark to invest in Astera, having purchased over 100 AX1 PixelTubes in 2018. The firm’s latest acquisitions include several sets of Titan Tubes and the newly launched AX9 PowerPAR. AX9s were purchased specifically for Dejlig er Jorden, an operatic recital tour around Danish churches by an ensemble of opera singers and classical musicians. Lighting Designer, Súni Joensen specified 12 AX9s for the task. “AX9s are excellent front lights,” commented Live…
With over 60 years in the music industry, Cliff Richard decided to mark his 80th birthday in a memorable way with a UK tour. Despite being slightly delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Great 80 Tour hit the road in October 2021 with Lighting Designer, Derek Jones powering visuals with Vista 3 by Chroma-Q lighting and media control system. As a long time Vista user and supporter, Jones utilised both the Vista EX and Vista MV lighting and media control surfaces, to bring his lighting design to life. “For me, portability is key. I travel around a lot, so…
Latin music star, Marc Anthony has returned to the stage with his Pa’lla Voy Tour, taking in 26-dates across North America with an arsenal of VL10 BEAMWASH luminaires from Vari-Lite delivering speed, versatility and 28,000 lumens as part of Lighting Designer, Travis Shirley’s dynamic stage design. Shirley developed his concept around six vertical lighting arrays that provide the tools necessary to create effective and functional stage focuses. “When the drawings of the show were completed, it was time to start discussing fixture choices. Good friend and production guru Roly Garbalosa mentioned to me that our preferred vendor ProColor was looking…
Rapper and songwriter, Nate Feuerstein, more commonly known as NF, embarked on a massive amphitheater tour this past fall that showcased Martin Professional by Harman VDO Sceptron and MAC Quantum Wash fixtures with P3 system control, provided by Solotech. The tour’s lighting crew aimed to create a rig that enhanced and heightened NF’s energy for arena-sized venues while also maintaining an aesthetic use of shadows and darkness. To achieve this balance, Creative Director, Chris Denholm and Lighting Designer, Clay Joiner selected Martin by Harman VDO Sceptron LED video battens and MAC Quantum Wash lights. “We tried to figure out how…
