In the early days of the global pandemic, Live Nation’s Crew Nation was created to extend a helping hand to the touring and venue crews severely affected by the sudden halting of live events. The fund – powered and administered by charitable 501c3 organisation, Music Forward Foundation – was kick-started by Live Nation contributing an initial $5 million and committing to match the next $5 million given by artists, fans, and employees. With its products being responsible for powering the sound systems of some of the world’s most renowned artists, Italian amplifier specialist, Powersoft decided to play its part by…
Author: Jacob Waite
Despite being best known for their video content design and direction exploits, following the ban on mass gatherings, NorthHouse Creative has spent the past seven months exploring new avenues. This includes virtual real-time technology, moving efficiently into show design and creating space for a series of lockdown projects – born out of restrictions faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty of the live events industry. “We had just finished Lewis Capaldi’s tour in March when the lockdown hit. From then, all the shows and projects in our diary gradually began to ebb away,” Creative Director and Founder of NorthHouse,…
The O2 arena has announced it will host its first live music event after eight months of dormancy, with London-based band, Squeeze set to play to socially distanced fans on Saturday 5 December 2020 (now rescheduled to 27 February 2021). The announcement marks a major step forward in getting the UK live event industry back up and running following the closure of live music venues and ban on mass gatherings. Speaking to TPi following the announcement, The O2 arena Vice President and General Manager, Steve Sayer reflected on a turbulent eight months. “We have been effectively closed since March, which has…
“So, I’m working on a Pendulum show where we have the guys playing in a fort in the middle of the sea.” In these COVID-19 times, this was certainly one of the more obscure messages I received from Production Manager, Mattie Evans a few weeks prior to the band’s ambitious performance. When he first mentioned the project, many of the details were still under wraps, but on 2 October, the band dropped the live premier of the performance, captured by a team of drone pilots and showcasing a truly jaw-dropping visual spectacle. With the cat out of the bag, TPi…
With COVID-19 spreading across the globe in March and Northern Italy’s Veneto region one of the worst hit areas, work on the fourth edition of RTL 102.5 Power Hits Estate was halted abruptly. However, certain that the show must somehow go ahead, with the support of local authorities, organisers took to their sketch pads and accounting spreadsheets to devise a COVID-19 secure, technologically advanced spectacle – transforming an empty, historic, UNESCO-protected, 15,000-capacity Verona Arena into a hotbed of light, performance and pyrotechnics. For the past four years, the title of ‘Best Hit of the Summer’ has been awarded at RTL…
Following the ban on mass gatherings in March, socially distanced performances, seated audiences and drive-in shows have been the order of the day. Diverging from conventional lockdown live offerings, Irish singer-songwriter, Dermot Kennedy joined forces with actor Paul Mescal to deliver a multistage performance, complete with socially distanced musicians, a string quartet and a choir. The technologically advanced undertaking was broadcast live from the Natural History Museum in London by Driift on 30 July – entertaining live music fans and providing an outlet for a talented production team amid the global pandemic. Midway through the build and rehearsals for Dua…
After several months of lockdown, French Sound Engineer, Nicolas Poitrenaud of Herisson.tv dusted off his roadie uniform to embark on a unique broadcast project which saw Lebanese jazz trumpeter and pianist Ibrahim Maalouf bring together the ancient and the modern to deliver an innovative live performance in the age of COVID-19, with NEXO sound systems providing an immersive soundfield. Staged in the historic Arena of Nîmes, Ibrahim Maalouf’s production used mobile NEXO sound systems to create an immersive soundfield in which to record a concert for multichannel replay in the future. Poitrenaud was approached by Oleo Films to assume the…
“I think it’s more than 20 years old,” joked Kay, as he described how he purchased the vehicle several years ago, after it was sitting dormant in a field. “The setup in the van is really quite basic for both the audio and video, but this means it can be used for acts who might not have huge budgets.” Throughout lockdown, Kay has used the van as both a recording studio in his hometown of Durham as well as a livestreaming control hub in collaboration with the team at Vans for Bands who have converted a work shed into temporary…
The Warehouse – a 10m by 10m studio features adjoining audio and visual control rooms and – was hand-built in association with Reel Recording Studio, offering full socially distant live online event production in a secure setting. “The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to diversify and accelerate our progression, creating a bespoke livestreaming studio space to cater for the growing demand for interactive experiences for music fans in lockdown,” Hammond informed TPi, speaking over Zoom. “Everything we’ve built is a permanent fixture, even when live touring returns.” Located five minutes off the A1, The Warehouse is two hours from most…
“It was my daft idea,” laughed Steve Reynolds, Director of Loud Sound, as The Survival Tour rolled into Manchester’s AO Arena as part of their epic 1,500km cycle around England. Reynolds and his colleague, Mike Trasmundi, along with the team from Proper Productions – Mark Ward, Harry Ford and Tyler Cole-Holmes – had set out from Newcastle, each on two wheels, with the goal of visiting a number of iconic venues across the UK to raise awareness of the plight of the 600,000-plus workers in the UK events industry as part of the #WeMakeEvents campaign, to raise funds for Backup.…
VYE has joined forces with Clair Global and GENETIC Productions to create a unique pay-per-view livestream performance space at Clair Global’s facility in Nashville. “We wanted to give fans everything they’re used to seeing at a concert with moving lights, video walls, etc. and blend that with high-quality video streaming and a multi-camera setup for broadcast,” stated Danny Zacharias of VYE, who designed lighting for the livestream space using gear from Elation Professional and sister company ADJ. “Add to that a Virtual Live Audience and this is really a virtual live event experience like no other.” Zacharias started working on…
Absen has signed a partnership with Fairlight, a distributor of light, sound, and video equipment for professional users, to welcome the company as its latest Value Added Distributor (VAD). Headquartered in Bemmel, in the Netherlands, Fairlight will primarily be tasked with bringing Absen’s expanding range of fine pitch LED products to customers across the Benelux region. The new partnership will allow prospective customers in the region to experience Absen LED at Fairlight’s Bemmel showroom, as well as taking part in product-specific training and making use of the company’s on-site maintenance and repair services. “Our aim has always been to offer…
Vision: 2025 has revealed speakers and content for its #WeMakeTheFuture Autumn webinar series, bringing together sustainable event professionals to enable, and encourage, informed action on climate breakdown. With the live event sector shutdown in its own COVID-19 ICU, the webinars aim to focus minds, over the next six weeks, to #BuildBackBetter and move toward zero net emissions, with inspiration from industry leaders and insights from across the creative community. Links to register for the three webinars are open, covering core themes to inspire transformation and guests are invited to interact with the panelists: Net Zero Emissions – 11 November Circular…
Lost Horizon, which premiered with a four stage festival to 4.36 million people across the world this July, has revealed its first season of virtual events will take place throughout December 2020 in the immersive world of Sansar. The season will culminate with ‘Chasing Midnight’, a colossal 24-hour global celebration on New Year’s Eve, chasing midnight around the planet as we countdown to 2021, taking in 12 time zones and 12 countdowns, with a line up of some of the world’s best DJs. Lost Horizon will produce a game changing season of events in December, in virtual reality on the…
10K Used Gear announces the passing of Co-Founder, Keith Dale who has lost his battle with cancer on 29 October 2020 at the age of 61. Keith began his career as a lighting designer in the early 1980s working for bands such as Haircut 100, Culture Club and mostly for Joe Jackson with whom he kept in touch with until the end. Keith then joined forces with Tim Bridle, Andy Reed, and Matt Deakin to form Celco, a leading force in lighting control in the 1980s. “I guess it must have been late 1980 or early ’81 when Keith first…
Evolve Technology is now offering an inventory of Analog Way Aquilon RS2 and RS4 multi-screen presentation systems and videowall processors with HDR capabilities. Evolve’s Aquilon complement was upgraded with version 2 firmware for LivePremier 4K/8K models making the processing engines compatible with the BT.2020 Wide Colour Gamut (WCG) as well as the HDR10 and HLG standards. More importantly, they accept simultaneously sources of different types (SDR, HLG or HDR10) and convert them without any added latency to the desired standard. This conversion allows for all the sources to look correct and to mix HDR and SDR content in the same…
Fisher Productions has joined The Event Technology Group in a strategic move designed to complement other specialist events-based businesses within the group, which will facilitate seamless delivery of all aspects of event management and production. Renowned for delivering some of the world’s most spectacular and innovative events, Fisher Productions Limited will operate as Fisher Productions London Limited, based out of South West London, with MD Philippa Bowers remaining with the operation alongside the incoming new CEO, Chris Norman. Philippa will drive the bespoke, tailored experiences, elevating the creativity and diversity of the company. Chris Norman, CEO said: “The reputation and…
Lighting Designer, Fredrik Jonsson harnessed Robe LEDBeam 150 luminaires to provide an ingenious solution to a complex staging requirement for a performance of Funny Girl to 50 socially distanced audience members at the Malmö Opera, Sweden. Jonsson was initially approached in 2018 by Director, Ronny Danielsson having worked with him before on Kinky Boots also at Malmo Opera and Shakespeare In Love at the Stockholm’s Stadsteater. The LD combined his vast experiences as both a television and theatrical LD to sculpt spectacular results. However, he faced two fundamental lighting challenges. The first was the curved shape of the orchestra pit…
