Tedeschi Trucks Band (TTB) is a popular contemporary blues band, known for superlative musicianship and gripping live performances, so Nashville-based Lighting Designer, Tony Caporale of InfinitusVox was delighted to be asked to design a new lighting scheme for their live shows. Caporale has enjoyed an action packed 2023 schedule and TTB is a brand-new client. They reached out to him after seeing some of his other work, particularly the Goose tour earlier in the year, for which he was lighting programmer, working closely with Andrew Goedde. A long-term Robe advocate, when Caporale started drawing up the plot, he reached for…
Author: Jacob Waite
A feature of this year’s Špancirfest, a famous Croatian street festival held every August since 1999 in Varaždin, was the appearance of the tribute band, The Croatian Pink Floyd Show. An array of Claypaky Sharpy X Frame/FD and Midi-B fixtures illuminated their dynamic live show. Špancirfest took place throughout Varaždin’s city centre and featured various street performers, theatre shows, stand-up comedy, concerts and more. It’s recognised as an important cultural event in Croatia. The Croatian Pink Floyd Show is a project led by producer and sound engineer Johnny Grudić who founded the band in 2016 and launched performances two years…
Located throughout Milwaukee’s extensive Summerfest grounds, IrishFest is known as the largest and most comprehensive celebration of Irish music and culture on the planet. Spanning up to 18 stages, their loudest and most premier stage — named the Ciderboys Rock Stage after 2023s headlining sponsor — required a large-format line source PA system that performed at the highest levels. AudioBiz, a well-known and equally well-respected representative firm in the area, suggested a large-format ViO system from dBTechnologies. The array comprised two main hangs of nine L212 three-way boxes per side, supplemented by three L1610 down-fills flown on the bottom of…
Lightware Visual Engineering has opened a new Experience Centre in France, located next to Paris. The new facility, situated in Vélizy-Villacoublay, serves as both the new office for the Lightware France team and a central hub for partners and customers throughout France, offering sales, customer, and technical support for all of Lightware’s products. Customers enjoy direct access to Lightware’s comprehensive product range, which includes Vinx, MX2M, TPX, LARA, as well as technologies such as Taurus UCX and UBEX. An exclusive training room, equipped with the latest Lightware devices, provides customers with a platform for product testing, roadmap discussions, and the…
Neutrik further expands its fibre optic connectivity portfolio with the introduction of two new variants of its HMA expanded beam multimode connector system. Available in two- and four-channel configurations, FIBERFOX EBC25 is a ruggedised development of its FIBERFOX HMA expanded beam multimode fibre-optic connector system. FIBERFOX EBC25 chassis is a jam-nut design, intended to meet a vast array of network, audio, video, lighting and broadcast applications, in all manner of industrial, defence and civil engineering environments, wherever consistent levels of performance and reliability are mission critical. FIBERFOX X-TREME EBC25 is an especially ‘hardened’ cable assembly variant that additionally offers a…
Wharfedale Pro has released updates to its DP-F and DP-N series amplifiers. The output power, model numbers and configurations remain the same, but updated DP-F and DP-N models will now feature updated DSP Controller software, increased internal DSP functions, new IPS colour displays, locking XLR connectors and AES/EBU inputs. These upgrades are supported by the simultaneous release of the updated v1.1.8 DSP Control software. The scale and expanded feature set of the DP-F and DP-N upgrades means that not all of the new software features are backwards compatible with original DP-F/N hardware. However, users of current DP-F and DP-N series…
Making the only Italian stop on their Mercury World Tour, GRAMMY-winning band, Imagine Dragons of Las Vegas, performed a 20-song set featuring familiar hits like My Life, Radioactive, and Demons, as well as some well-chosen new tunes. Reflecting the mood of music and persona of the band was a lively and upbeat light and video show by Milan-based design studio Blearred that featured 100 CHAUVET Professional Color STRIKE M motorised strobes from Zalight with service from Agora. The Color Strike M fixtures were arranged on the upper frame of the three LED walls, as well as being aligned across the…
Ed Sheeran’s record-breaking international +–=÷X (Mathematics) Tour is as much a display of artistic and technological prowess as a testament to the impact a single performer can have – when supported by the right technology. Which, here, includes an expansive Clear-Com system supplied by Major Tom, one of the preeminent global touring companies. Typically, artists of Sheeran’s status tend to add more players, more instruments, and a fair bit of backing tracks to satiate their audiences’ demands. As ever, Sheeran takes a different approach, creating a grand spectacle utilising innovative and unique staging and production elements while primarily performing alone,…
As the third element of CODA Audio’s VCA ‘family’, alongside ViRAY (dual 8”) and the flagship AiRAY (dual 12”), CiRAY has been developed by CODA to deliver ultimate flexibility for rental companies and complete a full spectrum of line array products for installation. As well as building further upon CODA’s revolutionary patented technologies to offer an ultra-light, ultra-compact standalone system, CiRAY can also work seamlessly with its ‘siblings’ for optimum mix and match configuration to obtain the best sonic and logistical outcomes for a host live and installed applications. The VCA range shares CODA Audio’s unique technologies, including the patented…
LC16D is a high-capacity AES/EBU- and MADI-to-Milan AVB audio network converter housed in a compact and rugged 1RU chassis. With up to 80 legacy format inputs and outputs, LC16D can interface with up to 128 channels to and from the network. It offers dynamic mapping of audio channels and comprehensive synchronisation options, all controlled via an intuitive, embedded web interface. LC16D features flexible power options, with the innovative use of Power over Ethernet and seamless Milan AVB audio connections, providing robust redundancy features as standard. LC16D is simple to use; the embedded web interface enables full control and monitoring from…
Michael ‘Micky’ Johnson, who co-founded NEXO and served as its Managing Director until 2008, has passed away. Establishing the company alongside Eric Vincenot and Thierry Tranchant, ‘Micky’ contributed to the expansion of NEXO over nearly thirty years, travelling the world and engaging with customers. He was not only an entrepreneur but also a patron of arts, music and theatre and an avid art collector. NEXO invites the wider live entertainment sector to remember Micky, his contribution to the industry, and the legacy he leaves behind.
Finnish singer Kaija Koo celebrates an impressive 40-year career as one of the country’s most popular artists, and anniversary activities have included staging a massive show at Helsinki’s Olympic Stadium. The high-profile one-off event featured an elegant and eye-catching production design evolved by the combined talents of Ari Levelä (set and video) and Pekka Martti (lighting), who chose to use an MA Lighting grandMA3 system for lighting and video control. The two have worked together as a visual team since 2016 and enjoy the creative benefits of pooling ideas and experiences to produce unique shows and spectaculars. This show followed…
Tedeschi Trucks’ summer 2023 tour staging was dominated by soaring horizontal LED battens which displayed pixels of video content, driven by Hippotizer Karst+ MK2 media servers. The battens were interspersed with LED fixtures to create a dazzling series of audience blinders, colour and sweeping effects to set the scene for the band’s brand of American blues rock. The lighting design and programming was delivered to the tour by Infinitus Vox, headed by Tony Caporale, who used a Hippotizer Karst+ MK2’s NDI feed to his Syncronorm Depence R3 pre-visualisation software. This meant that during pre-production, he could view all of the…
In all avenues of the live events industry, there has been a notable sea change when it comes to the attitudes towards training incentives. In 2022, TPi spoke to the team at UK Rigging about its Project X scheme, which saw the company bring in and cover the costs of training a batch of aspiring riggers as they worked towards their National Rigging Certificate. In the same year, Acorn Event Structures began to take full advantage of the Event Structures Industry Training Scheme (ESITS) – a brand-new events industry training scheme, which was launched by SIMIAN – a nationally recognised…
“I want to be a specialist – I don’t want to be a competitor,” explained Kristof Soreyn, CEO of Twenty Three, when talking about the steps the company is taking in becoming a powerhouse in the live events industry. Now in its fifth year, Twenty Three has become a well-known name within the live events sector, providing specific LED framing solutions. As well as providing solutions used in the install market, the company’s framing solutions have also found themselves on some of the world’s biggest tours for the likes of Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran and Red Hot Chili Peppers. However,…
In the aftermath of COVID-19, it is rare that post-lockdown firsts are still prominent. However, this is not the case for Westlife’s The Wild Dreams Tour, which became the first international campaign to tour China since the grounding of live events. With meticulous planning and a dedicated team, Westlife’s production defied expectations, showcasing to the vast Chinese market and setting a new standard for international tours to come. “It’s a testament to the band, the fact they have been together for 25 years and have just done the biggest tour of China for an international act – it’s crazy,” said…
There has been a clear need to provide a cross-industry picture across insights and trends within the live events industry. Striving to provide multiple data points is The Power of Events. The collective’s approach and research, now catalogued in a new app – Event Industry Insight – will enable comprehensive input from all sectors by providing scale, representation, and a dynamic user experience. The app also facilitates customised target contributors and stands as an open results publication, featuring academic expertise from leading universities for data analysis as a tool available for the industry partners to support research requirements. Rick Stainton,…
TPi recently caught up with The Cure on their Shows of a Lost World Tour 2023, where the band still exhibit long sets showcasing their historic catalogue and a rock show that defies odds despite Robert Smith’s plea to keep ticket prices low. As the band celebrate a 45-year career, the show is designed for dedicated fans and newbies alike. The Cure’s Lighting Designer and Director veteran, Angus MacPhail said working with the band all these years has been a process, an evolution: “The lighting and set have evolved quite organically, from my experience along with personnel changes and new…
