Any UK-based readers working in the international touring industry will no doubt be more than familiar with the name LMG. Established 40 years ago from humble beginnings when founder Les Goldberg bought his first projector, the company initially focussed on the corporate market before diversifying in 2007 and bringing in Craig Mitchell to oversee the new touring-focussed branch of the business, LMG Touring. Offering a 360° solution of audio, lighting and video, the company has continued to grow to a point where it now holds over $150m of stock across several locations in the US, as well as operating a large rehearsal facility in Las Vegas and another slightly smaller one in Orlando – and at the end of 2023, LMG announced that it would be opening a brand-new operation in the UK.
The UK branch of LMG Touring is based out of the same premises as Pixl Evolution, another company within the overarching ETP Group that owns LMG Touring. “Pixl’s main focus is corporate, while LMG Touring deals with touring clients,” explained Mitchell as he outlined the split of the two companies. The UK division is overseen by industry stalwarts Paul Wood and Jo Beirne, who hold the roles of Project Manager and Business Development.
“I find productions are looking for a few key things from a supplier,” mused Mitchell. “They want great packaging, crew, support, and scale of inventory. We can offer all that in the US, and in a perfect world, we’d love to be able to support tours from the US to the UK, replicating a setup to avoid shipping as much gear as possible. You can recreate the rig on either side of the Atlantic, which helps with clients’ production budgets.”
Words: Stew Hume
Photos: LMG Touring
