In lighting Musicalteatret’s Jack the Ripper musical at Copenhagen’s intimate Folketeatret, Lighting Designer, Mikkel Bedsted faced some major lighting challenges. He found his solution in the new VL2600 Profile, the versatile, feature-rich LED stage luminaire from Vari-Lite, a Signify entertainment lighting brand. Bedsted’s main challenge was the venue’s limited weight loading. With the small theatre’s fly bars able to support only around 125kg, it became essential that his lighting fixtures were lightweight and compact in size. Versatility was also a crucial factor, as the more functions a single fixture could fulfil, the fewer units would be needed overall. Next, as…
Author: Jacob Waite
Home to some of North America’s finest vineyards, California’s Napa Valley has long been celebrated for its picturesque views, amazing cuisine and, of course, spectacular wine offerings. But music enthusiasts might argue that the best attraction is Napa Valley Expo’s annual BottleRock music festival, which marked its seventh anniversary this summer with a new L-Acoustics K1/K2 loudspeaker system deployed at its main stage by the festival’s primary audio and lighting vendor, Camarillo-based Delicate Productions. Promising its 120,000 attendees “the first taste of summer” over May’s Memorial Day weekend, BottleRock was memorably referred to as “the fancy Coachella” by Bruno Mars…
Summerburst is the biggest EDM festival in Sweden. The inaugural event was held in Stockholm back in 2011, and by the following year had also opened its doors in Gothenburg. Since then it has remained a two-city festival, both with a capacity of around 25,000. Daniel Hellsten has worked closely with Summerburst since its inception, as production manager and designer. At the recent event at Gothenburg’s Ullevi Stadion he introduced GLP’s KNV Cubes for the first time, to the amazement of the many visiting LDs (and daily audience of 25,000 who came to see globally-famous DJs such as Tiësto, Alesso,…
The “Big Gig” turns to DiGiCo for a fifth consecutive year as the exclusive provider of audio consoles, including the festival’s inaugural deployment of 4REA4 on three of its largest stages There’s a good reason that Wisconsin’s Summerfest is colloquially known as the “Big Gig.” For 11 days in late June and early July each year, somewhere between 700,000 and a million people flock to Milwaukee’s Lake Michigan shoreline to watch more than 800 top artists and bands perform on a dozen stages, earning Summerfest its double-decade-running Guinness World Record title as “The World’s Largest Music Festival.” As one can…
The team at WorldStage prides themselves in being “technology specialists at heart,” and they have the track record to prove it, being among the earliest adapters of a long series of breakthroughs like moving LED fixtures. This summer, the innovative company took another step toward the future, when it added 50 Chauvet Professional Maverick MK3 Profile fixtures to its inventory. “This is a new technology fixture,” said Terry Jackson, Vice President, Director of Lighting at WorldStage. “We have been searching for a large LED fixture to upgrade some of the older 3K range units we own, and this is it. …
All eyes were on the pitch at the Stade de France even after the finals of the French National Rugby League’s Top 14 concluded on June 15. French hip-hop brother duo Bigflo & Oli closed the event playing to packed stands as a large complement of Claypaky fixtures illuminated their dynamic set. The Top 14 competition has been played in France since 1892 and features 14 participating teams, hence its name. The choice of Bigflo & Oli to entertain fans at the finals must have seemed inspired since the rugby champions and the rappers both hail from the city of…
Event industry entrepreneur, David Walley has acquired Star Events, a UK supplier of stages, support structures, rigging and design services. David Walley is well-known in the events industry for transforming businesses, including Arena Group and 360 Creative Events Services. He was Managing Director of De Boer, and most recently led the Freeman company in the UK. This adds Star to Walley’s growing portfolio of events businesses, following the acquisitions over the last 12 months of Mobile Promotions, BluePeg and Beautiful Minds. Star Events has been supplying equipment and services to the events industry for 40 years. They have designed and…
Production designers Robert Long and Sooner Routhier of SRae Productions, along with associate designer Ashley Zapar, specified the Vari-Lite VL6000 Beam luminaire to add a bold and dynamic presence to their show design for the farewell tour by legendary rock band KISS. The band’s End of the Road World Tour, which continues through 2019, features all the unmistakable rock and roll theatrics that fans expect of a classic KISS show, described by Long as “Equal parts of the fire, lasers, metal, leather, and controlled chaos”, but with a modern edge. “KISS requires an old school light show with simple cueing…
Funktion-One teamed up with long-term partner Audio Plus to give Vero its first Glastonbury outing at The Glade. The stage, which enjoyed a mixed programme of DJ and live performances, received plaudits from artists, festivalgoers and sound engineers, who praised the system’s precise stereo imaging and generous headroom. Area Coordinator of Avalon, Glade and The Wood, Luke Piper, said: “I was overjoyed with the new system – it surpassed all expectations. We quadrupled the normal capacity of the venue up to 20,000, with people dancing right at the back of the crowd to Carl Cox, Fatboy Slim and Squarepusher. Here…
This June, Meyer Sound returned to Denmark as the exclusive sound provider for the Roskilde Festival, Northern Europe’s largest and longest-running music festival. The event marked the second year of a groundbreaking five-year partnership that aims to leverage the strengths of the iconic music festival and the supplier of professional audio systems to elevate the festival experience for artists, fans, and technology providers. The Roskilde Festival, now in its 49th year, is massive in scale: This year’s events took place over eight days from June 29 through July 6 and showcased nearly 180 acts on eight stages — from big-name…
In 2018, LTM extended their existing offices, creating a bright open plan first floor office. In doing so this has allowed them to convert the existing downstairs offices into a dedicated training room. In addition to the new offices, an open space kitchen & dining room for employees to relax and enjoy their break times has been created. Electric Hoist Training is something LTM has always been widely renowned for, but due to lack of space over the past few years LTM has only been able to offer one to one training in house. It has always been our goal…
Reflecting Riedel Communications’ rapidly growing presence in the U.S. and Canada, the company has appointed industry veteran Rich Zabel as Vice President of Sales for North America. Reporting directly to Joyce Bente, President and CEO of Riedel Communications North America, Zabel will take the helm of the entire sales organization and also focus on expanding Riedel’s presence in key vertical markets. “Rich’s illustrious career spans more than 30 years, and it includes senior executive and sales management positions for some of the biggest names in the video industry,” Bente said. “But his leadership capabilities extend far beyond sales management. He…
All Points East bore witness to opening and closing three-day weekends firmly dedicated to music. The opening weekend main stage headliners included the likes of Chemical Brothers, The Strokes and Christine and the Queens. In between the music, four days of community-driven free entertainment was available, with comedy, film screenings, street food and much more at play. All in all, making for an inclusive, eclectic inner-city festival programme. The experienced AEG Presents team led by Jim King, and event production company LarMac LIVE, led by Director Ian Greenway, returned to deliver the highest of standards across every aspect of All…
Lighting Designer James Scott used the feature-rich VLZ Profile from Vari-Lite on the recent UK tour by hip-hop artist AJ Tracey. The LED fixtures had the power Scott required to deliver a visual complement to the bright LED screens on the Brixton Academy showcase gig that closed the tour. Scott, of design studio Suluko, worked with Production Designer and Creative Director Bronski, and Amber Rimell, of TAWBOX on the tour’s design. Scott had already been impressed by the output and performance delivered by just four LED-based VLZ Profiles on Tracey’s UK tour dates, where limited truck space had called for…
Tappit, the cashless payment and event insights solution, has signed a three-year partnership with UNITE with Tomorrowland Barcelona. The partnership is Tappit’s fifth Spanish festival deal within three months. The deal will see Tappit’s technology integrated with UNITE with Tomorrowland’s own festival currency, Tuents by Tuenti, as the only method of payment. More than 20,000 festival goers will be able to top-up their personal RFID wristbands and benefit from an enhanced payment experience, less worry about theft and security, reduced queuing times and seamless transactions. The festival organisers will also benefit from greater insight into attendee spending and behavioural habits…
Partnering with specialist collaborators in science, light, film, sound and projection mapping, NEC Display Solutions provides laser projection technology in the creation of BEAM, an immersive and multi-sensory experience at Glastonbury Festival. The Greenpeace field at the Glastonbury Festival hosts innovative ways to raise awareness for environmental issues. This year, Nottingham artist Wolfgang Buttress, famed for his Hive sculpture in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, will highlight the plight of the honey bee with a multi-sensory, immersive sculptural experience. “I am delighted with the NEC laser projectors that are being used in BEAM. They have been essential in creating…
A pioneer of the ‘French Touch’ and key player on the international electronic music scene, DJ Étienne de Crécy is renowned for the eclecticism and efficiency of his productions. His latest tour, Space Echo, came to a packed Philharmonie last April, with a striking show design that featured Smode’s ground-breaking technology at its heart. In a video produced by Smode and shot during rehearsals in Bry-sur-Marne cinema studios in France, he takes viewers through the creative process of his new visually striking show where sound and video are intertwined. “Music is no longer my only means of expression,” said Étienne…
Etienne de Crécy’s Space Echo tour includes summer concerts and festival dates. Watch the first episode of the Meet the Smode Users video series featuring Etienne de Crécy below. www.smode.fr
