Slovakia - Show designer and director Martin Hruska wanted to create a sense of spectacle coupled with edginess and idiosyncrasy for Slovak rap star Kontrafakt’s two much-anticipated, high-profile New Eras concerts which were staged at Prague’s O2 Arena.
Kontrafakt was celebrating two decades at the cutting edge of rap, so Martin, the artist and event producers Mafia Records were on a mission to “present the biggest and most memorable show possible” in that venue, explained Martin, outlining his ambitious visual aesthetic for which he also leaned heavily into Kinesys autom

Columbia - Bogotá’s Movistar Arena staged the 2023 Red Bull Batalla World Final, celebrating the creativity, importance, and popularity of freestyle rap culture in Spanish-speaking communities. The event was fully loaded with energy and excitement and lit by Madrid, Spain-based lighting designer Edu Valverde from design studio Experiencias Visuales.
Edu utilised over 200 Robe moving lights to realise an eye-catching show design for the tournament which was attended live by a 14,000-capacity audience and streamed worldwide.
On Edu’s lighting plot were 105 x Robe MegaPoi

Austria - Gerdon Design, based in Mainz, Germany, specialises in show, content and lighting production. In late 2023, the team at Gerdon Design were approached to work together with client, Revolution Event, on the upcoming Nukranox Festival, a celebration of hardstyle music, which was to be held in December 2023 at an arena venue in Salzburg.
“Revolution Event had come up with an idea for an immersive festival experience,” recalls Marek Papke, CEO at Gerdon Design. “They wanted to take a holistic approach and provide a narrative for the upcoming show and future shows in th

Slovenia - Comedian and TV personality Lado Bizovičar set lofty goals for his live show Slovenska Muska A-Ž (A-Z), in which he went through the entire Slovenian alphabet, linking it to a recording artist (A for Avsenik Ensemble), or genre (R for rap) to reflect on the state of music in his country.
Like the star and his many guests on stage, the production team that supported this show at the sold-out Arena Stožice in Ljubljana aimed high, creating a 360-degree stage and working with hang points that reach 34m. And just like him, they delivered a spot-on performance, thanks to

The Netherlands - As part of the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), electronic music fans partied the day away at the combined Dockyard Festival x Mystic Garden Festival ADE 2023 in the Havenpark in Amsterdam on Saturday 21 October.
Think! AV supplied and set up lighting equipment for several of the areas at the festivals with the company's Niels de Feij managing the light project. He also created the light design along with YES! Your Event Support's Itai Joosten who also worked as the technical producer.
The Dockyard Festival x Mystic Garden Festival ADE offered revellers the ch

Italy - Indie group Pinguini Tattici Nuclear (Tactical Nuclear Penguins) played Reggio Emilia’s RCF Arena, Europe’s largest outdoor concert venue to a crowd of 80,000.
Supporting the pulsating, upbeat music of this six-member Italian pop band, which takes its name from a Scottish beer, was a vibrant light and video show by Ombra Design that featured 120 Chauvet Professional COLORado PXL Bar 16 motorised battens, imported by Zalight and serviced by Agora.
Designing for Pinguini Tattici Nuclear’s entire 11-date tour run, Ombra Design created looks that were as big and e

UK - London welcomed 2024 with its biggest ever New Year’s Eve fireworks, lights and drone show on the banks of the Thames River. Lighting Designer Tim Routledge returned for a second year to light the giant London Eye Ferris wheel, choosing laser-source Claypaky Skylos fixtures to deliver spectacular beam effects from each of the Eye’s 32 pods.
The festivities featured more than 12,000 fireworks, 600 drones, 430 lights and a varied soundtrack of songs and voice-over clips. Attending the huge party were 100,000 lucky ticketholders while millions around the world watched on BBC

The Netherlands - Renowned trance music festival Transmission transposed to the Gelredome in Arnhem in The Netherlands for the first time, presenting its newest Elysium show concept at the end of 2023 and keeping the winning international production and supply teams that have helped make the event such a success in its native Czech Republic and globally.
Organisers United Music turned to their long-term lighting, audio and LED screen supplier, Ministry Rentals to supply the production kit - every bit of the kit came from Banska Bystrica in Slovakia - and lighting designer

China - This year marks a significant milestone for Brompton Technology. The opening of the Shenzhen office in March 2019 strategically positioning the company in High-Tech Industrial Park, Nanshan, was prompted by customer demand and the city's status as a hub for LED panel manufacturing.
Brompton’s decision to establish a dedicated office facilitated seamless communication and support for local clients. Fast forward five years, and the company’s Shenzhen team support Brompton’s customers with account and project management, calibration, operations, technical product queri

Patagonia - George Vlad, a professional sound designer, recordist, and composer, packed his bags and set off on an adventure to Patagonia. His goal was more than just braving extreme weather conditions and noisy environments to record sounds. George was on a mission to capture the unheard symphony of nature, to bring attention to the significance of sound in our visually saturated world and the unique beauty that lies within the noise of our acoustically polluted globe. His journey wasn't just about collecting sounds; it was about making us listen.
Armed with Rycote's audio equipm

USA - The first Super Bowl played in Las Vegas attracted the largest audience ever to watch the game on a Spanish language television network.
Over two and a quarter million viewers tuned in to Univision’s Super Bowl broadcast to watch the Chiefs top the San Francisco 49ers. To mark the occasion, the popular Spanish language network staged a lively pre-game celebration at Caesars Palace at the centre of the festivities was a performance by the multi-award-winning Puerto Rican rapper and singer Myke Towers, which was broadcast on Televisa, Univision’s sports special for

USA - Production sound and re-recording Mixer Thomas Cassetta has always loved live theatre and events, so when presented with the opportunity to work on comedy specials back in 2014, he jumped at the chance. Cassetta has worked on projects around the globe for platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, Tubi, Peacock, HBO and ShowTime. He also helps generate laughs with comedians such as Andrew Schulz, Jim Jefferies and Hasan Minhaj. Cassetta’s most recent stand-up production work includes recording and mixing comedian Akaash Singh’s first hour-long comedy special, as well as Pete Davidson

The Netherlands - Created in 2013 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of dance in The Netherlands, the Amsterdam Music Festival is the biggest electronic dance music event of Amsterdam Dance Event which takes over the city annually each October. AMF’s popularity in its first year saw it move from the RAI Amsterdam to the 40,000 capacity Amsterdam ArenA (now the Johan Cruiiff ArenA) where its top EDM line up attracts the most international visitors of any dance event in the city.
Lighting designer, and owner of The Art of Light, André Beekmans chose a wealth of Ayrton Cobra, Hurac

UK - In a repeat of their successful deployment at OVO Arena Wembley for the 25th MOBO Awards, SWG Events this time headed north with their flagship Martin Audio WPL Line Array to the Utilita Arena, Sheffield for this year’s event.
They had to overcome the challenges of providing balanced sound reinforcement for the live audience inside the 12,500-cap arena, while preserving the integrity of the set and striking a balance between the presenters’ mics and the live showcases, in a fast-paced show.
These live performances ranged from UK rap to Afrobeats, Dancehall to Pop/R&

UK - Playing at London’s Old Vic Theatre, Just For One Day is a new musical which tells the story of Live Aid and those who came together to create this event. Penned by John O’Farrell (Mrs Doubtfire), it features the songs of Bob Dylan, David Bowie, U2, Queen, Elton John and Paul McCartney among others. The show also features a lighting design by Olivier Award-nominated Howard Hudson, who approached White Light (WL), a d&b solutions company, to supply his lighting rig.
Just For One Day is an insight into the origins of the history-making concert held

The Netherlands - Visitors cannot help but feel the freedom of the sea when they encounter Het Scheepvaartmuseum Amsterdam, the National Maritime Museum of the Netherlands. The attraction sits on an artificial island built in 1656 as a naval base near Amsterdam’s city old harbour.
Designed by Belgian architect Laurent Ney, the symmetrical roof, engenders an air of openness and discovery in the courtyard below, while projecting a nautical image. Accentuating this effect and enhancing the aesthetics of the courtyard is a new LED lighting system by Leon van Warmerdam and the team

China - Hypersonic Fest was a one-day experimental event organised by Hypersonic Lab in Hong Kong, aimed at inviting people to enjoy the talents of 37 diverse Christian artists and music bands from Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and Malaysia and to explore the possibilities of Christian music. The festival was staged at Kowloon Bay International Trade & Exhibition Centre and featured four action-packed stages of live music performance.
Production equipment for the Main Stage including lighting was supplied by the MPHK Group and project managed by Raymond Wong, working

Qatar - Lighting designer Roland Greil turned to two power luminaires in Elation’s Proteus series to bring the grandeur of the AFC Asian Cup opening ceremony to life.
Held 12 January at Lusail Stadium in Doha, Greil chose the Proteus Brutus and Proteus Excalibur to deliver captivating lighting displays and theatrical impact for this major event production.
The AFC Asian Cup, organised by the Asian Football Confederation, brought together 24 national teams in Qatar to crown the men's football champion of Asia. The opening ceremony was a celebration of unity and inclusivity

USA - Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, home to the NHL Predators, recently took delivery of its third DiGiCo audio console, a Quantum338, purchased and installed through Nashville-based Spectrum Sound.
The Quantum338 joins two existing and upgraded DiGiCo SD12-96 desks, along with an SD-Rack, SD-MiNi Rack, D-Rack, and three SD-Nano Racks, all also sourced through Spectrum Sound. The Quantum338 has now taken over front-of-house duties at the venue, while one SD12 is used a router/hub/mixer for the broadcast control room and the other as a utility mixer, paired with the D-Rack and d

UK - British grime MC and rapper Dizzee Rascal performed his Mercury Music Prize-winning album, Boy in Da Corner, to loyal fans with help from Eighth Day Sound. Working with production manager Tommy Sheals-Barrett of Back On Your Heads, the tour hit UK arenas following a major comeback at London’s O2.
Commenting on the importance of choosing the right vendors, Sheals-Barrett says: “This job can be hard enough without worrying about whether you're in safe hands, supplier-wise. You get the best out of the artist (and the artist's crew) when they have confidence in a prod

USA - For the first time in history, the biggest game in American Football descended upon Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium. This presented a massive new challenge: managing the Super Bowl’s immense production in Las Vegas’ already crowded wireless radio frequency (RF) environment.
The production crew tackled this challenge and delivered to all attendees and 202.4m broadcast viewers. For audio, the team relied on the Emmy Award-winning Shure Axient Digital Wireless Microphone System.
“Axient Digital is the key to the Halftime Show,” shared lead RF engineer Cameron Stu

UK - The Art-Deco Grade II listed Queens Hotel has been a majestic presence on Leeds’ City Square since its construction in 1937. Designed by W.H. Hamlyn and faced with white Portland Stone, it is a striking landmark which over the years has hosted many notable guests. Princess Grace of Monaco, Cary Grant, Nelson Mandela and Laurel and Hardy, all chose the comforts of the Queens. During the recent festive season,
The Queens was the focus of a spectacular art installation which saw LeedsBID (Leeds Business Improvement District) collaborate with Barcelona-based creative studio On

Australia - Every January, when the sun is at its hottest, thousands of country music-loving people make the pilgrimage to the country town of Tamworth for the Toyota Country Music Festival which runs over 10 days.
The heat of over 40°C and the flies are no deterrent as the festival, presented by Tamworth Regional Council, is now in its 52nd year and is recognised as the second biggest country music festival in the world, after the CMA Music Festival in Nashville USA. The town comes alive with ticketed and free shows alike, and buskers that line the main streets.
The fest

USA - History is often made at the annual Grammy Awards ceremony and this year was no exception, with legendary 80-year-old Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell performing on the live broadcast for the first time in her decades-long career.
The historic performance, also featuring Brandi Carlile, Jacob Collier, Blake Mills, Allison Russell, Lucius and SistaStrings, was captured with a variety of Sennheiser microphones, including Carlile and Mitchell’s own custom gold SKM 6000 handheld transmitters with Neumann KK 205 condenser capsules.
Also on the awards show, which

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