With a name that pays homage to Motörhead, We Are The Road Crew Podcast, marks the latest in a recent slew of roadie-generated podcasts that put the spotlight on those working in the live touring sector. The brainchild of Ben Firth from Made At Last and hosted by Music Journalist, Stephen Hill, the show has already accrued an audience of touring veterans and passionate music fans keen to discover more about the world of live touring. “The idea behind the show stemmed from my personal experience, having toured with various bands before I became a studio-based audio engineer,” began Firth.…
Author: Jacob Waite
Before the lockdown of live events following the COVID-19 pandemic, Jennifer Grace Rhodes was a fresh-faced freelancer specialising in live sound. Her fiancé, Rob Priddle, a veteran of the touring industry having spent 20 years as a freelance audio engineer, was working full-time as a Project Manager until he was made redundant. Together for almost five years, the couple now face their biggest challenge to date – financial uncertainty with a young family to feed and no government support. Rhodes shared her story with TPi: “Rob ignited my passion for live events,” she began. “You can’t help but get dragged…
Award-winning Lighting Designer, Tom Campbell has thrown himself into several streaming projects during this strange time. “Right up until lockdown, I was on tour with The Subways,” reflected the LD, discussing how his last few days before the government-announcement lockdown. “We did a gig at Manchester Academy and, as we loaded-in, we got the feeling it was going to be the last gig of the tour – and after sound check, we had the official word that the rest of the tour had been postponed.” It wasn’t long before the creative cogs began to turn. “The ideas of my first…
A familiar name within the touring world, Richard Young has worked with the likes of Adele, Radiohead and P!nk. However, since the lockdown, the accomplished PM has begun repurposing his skillset, delving headfirst into the world of live streaming. Young recalled where he was when the lockdown came into effect. “I was on tour with The 1975 having just finished the last European show in Dublin,” he reminisced, going on to explain how he and the team were in the midst of packing sea containers for a scheduled US run. “We got the call saying not to put anything on…
Video Director, Blue Leach explained to TPi what he had been up to prior to lockdown. “I managed to get to Sao Paolo to direct a festival performance for Kylie,” he began. “It was magnificent as most of those Brazilian shows tend to be – noisy and an appreciative audience. Sao Paolo was very low risk then, early March but we were being very cautious, washing hands thoroughly and always carrying sanitiser.” Leach flew to New York to start rehearsals with Pearl Jam. However, an email arrived after the first day notifying the crew that the tour would not be…
The Kingsway has screened its first films in decades thanks to SLLFX’s hire stock of audio and visual equipment. The site of the historic picture house in the Kings Heath area of Birmingham, which closed its doors in 1979, is now being used by Friendly Neighborhood Cinema to host a seven-week film festival in COVID-safe conditions, with the local rental house called in to meet the technical requirements. Only the frontage of the original venue still stands following a fire that destroyed the building in 2011. However, with the land behind the site now clear, it was seen as the…
Essay Video’s new virtual studio located in Norwalk, Connecticut is equipped with the latest in LED technology, including Brompton Technology 4K Tessera SX40 LED processors to realise customer’s creative projects and create complex, interactive and mixed reality presentations. “With the global pandemic, we had clients who had to pivot from live events and turn to virtual solutions,” explained Essay Video Founder and CEO, Greg Fellows. “Our newly built virtual studio gives them a safe and healthy environment to make their creative projects a reality. We have multiple offices for privacy and social distancing, and we’ve partnered with HBO and Intel…
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has launched IP Oktoberfest 2020, a live, interactive virtual event for broadcast and pro AV professionals to be held 29 September to 1 October. IP Oktoberfest 2020 will highlight the significant progress made toward an all-IP ecosystem supporting today’s real-world media productions. “The migration toward IP-based media workflows has accelerated in recent months, so it’s more important than ever that broadcast and pro AV professionals have access to current information on the standards and solutions supporting this shift,” said AIMS Chairman of the Board Mike Cronk. “We’ve designed IP Oktoberfest 2020 to offer this…
disguise’s response to the COVID-19 impact on the live events industry has earned the company a spot in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100, marking the third consecutive year it has made it in the publication’s Fast Track league. The Sunday Times Tech Track 100 index ranks Britain’s 100 private tech companies with the fastest-growing sales over their latest three years. This year’s 20th-anniversary special COVID-19 edition highlights the contributions tech firms have made during the pandemic. With the halt in production, broadcast and live events, disguise took immediate action going above and beyond to provide lifelines to its community, with…
Backstage Academy affirms its commitment to safeguarding students entering the live events industry, following selection by the QAA (Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education) to take part in a series of best-practice COVID-19 case studies. The institution was recognised by the assurance agency for the measures put in place following the outbreak of the pandemic. Located at Production Park in South Kirby, Yorkshire, the higher education institution was included in a case study report, acknowledged by the QAA for its ability to adapt to the pandemic. The Academy, which offers degrees, short courses and bespoke training for the live events industry, believes the special measures put in place for the next cohort of students in September will ensure “the…
CAST Group reveals a free version of wysiwyg Design is now available to all students and teachers, enrolled on a full or part-time lighting design course at a university, college, post-secondary vocational or poly-technical school. Used in over 300 educational establishments worldwide, wysiwyg offers a 3D environment where productions can be planned, designed and programmed, risk free, offering students a safe virtual lab where ideas can be tested and experimented with. With wysiwyg Design, you can create professional lighting plots and paperwork, and clearly communicate design ideas through high quality renders and animations. Should you wish to connect to…
Having spent 35 years in the live events industry – the past 15 years touring with Stereophonics as well as stints with Barenaked Ladies, The Tragically Hip, and Sarah McLachlan among other performing artists – Lighting Designer, Brent Clark is among the handful of touring veterans inside the ‘NHL Bubble’ in his newfound role as Lighting Programmer and Operator of NHL matches, following the widespread lockdown of live music events. The last time Clark graced the pages of TPi was at Manchester Arena in March 2020, in the days preceding the global lockdown of live events, as Stereophonics hit European…
How did you break into the live events industry? “I’d been working with local bands for a wee while in Aberdeen before taking on some Dundonian acts, but my ‘big break’ came by meeting Blossoms when they played Tunnels, where I was working in-house in February 2016. A few months later, I met the team at Great Escape, where Dan ‘Woolfie’, who was Tour Manager and Backline Tech at the time, was trying to get the lads to interviews in the middle of the load-in. I stepped in, helped, then got asked to come on the road for a week.…
The ALD has revealed the participants of a hugely expanded Lumiere 20:20 mentorship scheme, which has tripled in size after an unexpected turn of events. In total, the ALD will now help 68 emerging lighting designers through the Lumière 20:20 scheme. The original format planned to match 20 emerging lighting designers with experienced mentors. However, due to the generosity ALD members waiving their micro-bursary, 38 Lumiéres will now benefit from the one-on-one scheme. Katharine Williams, Project Manager for ALD Lumière, explained: “It started with one person waiving their micro-bursary and then the whole thing snowballed as many others decided to…
dts Veranstaltungstechnik GbR and organisers of Kultursommer 2020 assembled a wide range of acts from a variety of genres for the outdoor shows, from top metal bands Rage and AXXIS, Classic meets Gypsy with Zorana Memedovic and Heinze Costabel, to comedy and cabaret with Heinrich del Core and Dui do on de Sell. With more than 25 year’s experience in the sector, dts recently invested in a CODA Audio system, and decided that Kultursommer 2020, with its requirement for versatile high quality sound, would benefit from its deployment. Thomas Müller of CODA, who has worked freelance on numerous dts shows…
Swiss electric chain hoist manufacturer GIS AG has expanded its LP electric chain motor series for the entertainment industry with the addition of two new models, the LP1600 and LP2500. The latter takes the capacity range to 6,300kg. At the same time, the new GHF/GMF generation of manual and motorised trolleys is also being put to market. The LP1600 completes the LP series with maximum capacities of 2,500kg (D8), 1,600kg (D8+) and 1,250kg (C1). It ranges from the 13kg light LPM250 for 250kg lifting capacity in the D8+ version to the two new models, available now. The LP2500 represents a…
Integrated Systems Events appoints Jo Mayer as Senior Director of Marketing. Mayer joins from EasyFairs, with over 20 years’ experience in trade shows, conferences and B2B publishing. In her new role, Jo Mayer is responsible for overseeing the company’s marketing and content strategy across multiple platforms in the run-up to its flagship event, Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) in 2021, and beyond. “Jo is a hugely experienced trade show marketing professional, with an enviable track record of successful events to her name,” commented Mike Blackman, Managing Director of Integrated Systems Events. “Her wealth of know-how and expertise will bolster our existing…
Danley Sound Labs has appointed Skip Welch as Director of Sales & Marketing. “Skip spent his first seven years at Danley in the roles of Eastern Regional Manager and National Sales Manager,” said Jeff Pulliam, General Manager at Danley Sound Labs. “He knows the audio industry inside and out and understands the unique and growing niche that Danley holds within it. That, together with his native marketing sense and artistic abilities, make Skip the perfect person for the new role of Director of Sales & Marketing.” Welch added: “Although the pro audio industry, like so many industries, is facing difficult…
