What sparked your interest in the live events industry? I was born into this industry – it runs in my blood. My father, Francesco Sorabella, started a full-scale production company and, from day one, I spent every waking hour in the workshop. I was fascinated by the way this industry merges technology and art – the ability to evoke such emotion or feelings in such a short period of time. With the seed planted, in 2003 I attended PLASA London. I saw the Martin Professional light show and I distinctly remember feeling that adrenalin rush. Right then I realised that…
Author: Jacob Waite
Having collaborated on a number of innovative projects, Star Live and Iris Worldwide joined forces to deliver the world’s first three-tier vertical stage gig for the launch of Samsung’s flagship store at Coal Drops Yard, Kings Cross. https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/tpioct19_digitallr/12 Photo: Andrew Whitton www.stargrouplive.com
Good times were mixed with valuable insights at the Grand Opening of the ChamSys UK Head Office on 2 September, as more than 150 lighting programmers and designers from throughout Europe helped the company inaugurate its new office, training facility, and product development centre. https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/tpioct19_digitallr/14 Photos: ChamSys & TPi www.chamsyslighting.com
Comprising 102 dates around Europe and North America, Ariana Grande’s Sweetener World Tour is well and truly underway, with the final show set for December 2019 in California. https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/tpioct19_digitallr/8 Photos: Kevin Mazur www.arianagrande.com www.disguise.one
Boy band BTS have sold over 15 million albums worldwide, making them South Korea’s best-selling artist of all time. They are continuing their world domination by thrilling fans around the globe with their ‘Love Yourself: Speak Yourself’ World tour. The 20-date tour is a stadium extension of the band’s successful headlining tour that began in 2018 and has been very well received, with the London Wembley Stadium dates selling out within two minutes of tickets being released. The innovative production uses disguise gx 2 media servers to drive video content, integrate generative content and render AR content. Management company Big…
In keeping with World Mental Health Day creative event safety specialist Tess announces that it has partnered Music Support, to further enable the charity’s ambitious training program, along with its work with individuals in the UK music industry suffering from mental, emotional and behavioural health disorders. Tess director Simon James commented: “With three decades working in live events I have too many personal experiences witnessing people suffering with mental health issues without adequate support. We work in a pressured environment and we’re very proud to do what we can assisting Music Support bringing empathetic, professional help into the music industry.” Music…
An event like no other, the Fête des Vignerons is held once every 20 years at a temporary stadium at the edge of Lake Geneva. The celebration, which features a vast troupe of performers donning elaborate costumes, as well as animals and vehicles, is held every day for a month to honour the winegrowers of the region, which stretches from Lavaux to Chablais in Switzerland. Organised by the official Brotherhood of Winegrowers – la Confrérie des Vignerons – the show represents a year in the life of the vineyard through 21 action-packed scenes. This year’s event also received a technological…
Celebrating the possibilities of art in virtual, augmented and mixed reality, the Raindance Immersive Awards – presented by Bose – recognises ‘creative excellence and technical achievement’ in 10 categories. Raindance is the only UK festival which acknowledges immersive storytelling on this scale, with the prize-winners being selected by an international panel, including Bose’s Lead Experience Engineer, Chuck Freedman. This year’s top Immersive accolade ‘Spirit of Raindance’ was awarded to Cosmos Within Us. Directed by Satore’s Tupac Martir, the piece explores the notion of memory loss. This immersive experience is the first VR project by Satore Studio, created in conjunction with…
Created in 2004 with the goal of becoming one of the biggest music festivals in France, the latest incarnation of Main Square Festival welcomed the likes of DJ Snake, Macklemore, Ben Harper and Christine and The Queens. Attracting a record-breaking crowd of over 125,000, the festival owes part of its success not only to the big-name three-day bill but the expertise and hard work of France’s crop of capable touring and technical personnel on site. https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/tpisep19_digitallr/66 Photos: Nicko Guihal, Marc de Fouquières & TPi www.mainsquarefestival.fr www.dushow.com www.alabama-media.com www.absen.com
Here at Bluedot, which is now in its fourth year, a veritable culture-clash of experts from various scientific fields and a myriad of musical acts share the stage. Like the acts, the event has very much found its place in the smorgasbord of the annual festival season schedule. Space has been a common theme each year at the festival, but, as 2019 was the celebration of Apollo 11’s landing on the moon, Bluedot rightfully joined in with the festivities. This included one screening of the 2019 film Apollo 11, one unique show projection mapped onto the Lovell Telescope, as well…
In a festival climate where big budgets and big production is often championed, it is hard for a smaller scale shows to stand proud unless creativity, commitment and passion prevails. https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/tpijul19_digitallr/88 Photo: TPi, Chroma Collective’s Jake Davis & Rob Jones. www.gottwood.co.uk www.creationlive.co.uk www.pinnacom.com www.funktion-one.com www.liteup.co.uk www.wearethefair.com www.audio-feed.co.uk www.impressionone.co.uk www.spltrack.co.uk
Arguably one of the most influential indie bands of the past decade, Vampire Weekend is currently touring North America in support of its fourth studio album, Father of the Bride, which has been heralded by Rolling Stone as a “modern California pop masterpiece.” Much has changed over the past six years, when the band released its previous record, Modern Vampires of the City, but one thing that hasn’t is the group’s continued use of L-Acoustics loudspeakers for its touring PA. Serving as Vampire Weekend’s FOH engineer for over a decade, Neil Heal has long been a fan of the French manufacturer’s products. “L-Acoustics is…
Following a successful premiere at Venice Film Festival’s VR Biennale, Satore Tech’s Cosmos Within Us prepares to bring its 360 audio VR experience to London. The next stop is Raindance, the UK’s largest independent film festival, which is dedicated to fostering and promoting independent film around the world. Cosmos Within Us, a joint production from Satore Tech, a_BAHN and Satore Studio, is unique in its technical approach. “From the beginning we knew that the piece was going to be performed live, which meant we had to put an audio system together that would allow for that to happen,” said Tupac…
SSE Audio Group has announced the acquisition of BCS Audio. As part of the move, BCS Audio founder and managing director, Dave Shepherd joins the SSE Audio hire team, while continuing to run the BCS operation. Dave Shepherd commented: “Joining SSE Audio Group, and at the same time its parent company, Solotech, is an incredibly positive development for us and our existing client base. It means we can access the resources and expertise of the largest audio services company in the UK, who as part of Solotech are also a global player. We are planning to integrate our rental inventory with…
The team behind the 6-minute immersive mental health installation Blackout is delighted to reveal that they will be running a pioneering industry evaluation alongside their exhibition experience at this year’s PLASA Show at London Olympia from Sunday 15 to Tuesday 17 September 2019. Bringing academic analysis to the exhibition, Research Director in Clinical Psychology at the University of Surrey Dr Paul Hanna has devised a questionnaire to undertake the first evaluation on mental health awareness specifically within the UK technical backstage entertainment industry. Dr Hanna has worked closely with the Blackout creative team since the project launched at Guildford School…
London-based multidisciplinary studio, Satore, has revealed how its Eriya art piece – a holographic tech installation used in UNKLE’s Beyond The Road exhibition – was created. The musical and art hybrid, which took over the top floor of the Saatchi Gallery this summer, was experienced by the NME: “Two years in the making, this ground-breaking project interprets UNKLE’s ‘The Road: Part I’ and ‘The Road: Part II/Lost Highway’… To step into it is to leave reality behind and enter a bewitching, neon-lit netherworld.” Collaborating with world-renowned and award-winning contemporary artists, filmmakers and photographers, the exhibition deconstructed the exclusive soundtrack by…
The Zero 88 team fully embraced the vibe, buzz and excitement of the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival where they were – again – on the ground with training and technical support for a range of lighting consoles and control solutions. They also embraced the sociosphere with the creation of #behindthefringe – a fun and informative forum for anyone into fringe performance and involved with a show using Zero 88 products! Building on this success, #behindthefringe will be launched as a website later in the year as a hub and platform for comments, experiences and opinions, sharing information and connecting people…
It’s fair to say that the hottest product in global system processing for the last couple of years has been Outline’s extraordinary Newton, the world’s most advanced multi-source audio processor. Newton has re-written the rulebook by combining digital signal synchronisation, all-new filter technology, multi-format audio signal routing and standards conversion within a compact chassis and combining it with intuitive computer control platforms. So far, so good – but it’s about to get even better with this new release (v.95 firmware / v.1.9 software), available via the App Store. The highlights include: This new feature represents the quickest and easiest way…
