UK - Following successful spoken word tours in 2019 and 2021 to promote his autobiography, in 2023 Status Quo’s Francis Rossi set out to do something a little different. Bringing anecdotes and acoustic versions of well-known songs to intimate venues throughout the UK, Francis Rossi Tunes & Chat has been the perfect task for the Yamaha DM3 digital mixing console.
Featuring Rossi with studio collaborator/guitar tech Andy Brook and a pair of electro-acoustic guitars, the two-part, 101-date tour visited 400-600 capacity theatres in many of the UK’s provincial towns and cities.
Long-term Status Quo Front of House engineer Andy May was asked to mix the shows, but his Yamaha PM5D - a veteran of many Quo tours - was obviously over-specced for this one. Instead he chose a Yamaha DM3, which packs a lot of technical punch into a tiny footprint, just right for mixing on house PA systems in smaller venues and travelling in the luggage hold of a tour bus.
“With the book tours, Francis found that he liked playing theatres, where audiences are smaller and closer,” says Andy. “Quo had previously also done the Acquostic tours, but they featured a bigger production with strings and other instruments. There seemed to be a demand for a show which combines conversation with stripped-back, acoustic versions of the songs.”
Having seen the DM3 at an event he was doing with Yamaha, Andy persuaded the company’s Tom Rundle and Tom Blood to let him trial one. “I immediately liked the way it looked and navigated,” he says. “It’s very easy to use -

Japan - As one of Japan's top five film giants, Toei Tokyo is renowned for its comprehensive business in fields such as film, television, animation, manga, and music. At the end of last year, the company constructed Japan's largest virtual production hub, Toei VP Studios, marking the first independent operation of this type of facility by a film company in Japan.
Anticipated to reach full operational status in 2024, the studio showcases a state-of-the-art LED wall comprising AOTO LED panels and powered by Brompton Technology LED processing.
Toei VP Studios offers and practices efficient shooting methods, featuring the largest LED stage and one of the most experienced 16-strong teams in the country. The facility spans 640sq.m and utilises eleven 4K Tessera SX40 LED processors, along with 24 Tessera XD 10G data distribution units.
“We have chosen an LED video processor that is globally renowned for its stability,” says Junichi Higuchi, producer at Toei Tokyo. “As we explore new directions in visual production within the film industry, our need for more realistic rendering grows. Brompton Technology, which resolves issues such as colour reproduction, is precisely the best tool to fulfil this need.”
The LED wall is constructed using AOTO's RM series, with MXH series for the ceiling, which can be raised and lowered to adapt to various lighting environments. The screen spans 30m by 5m, boasting a 1.5mm pixel pitch, a low scan rate, a high refresh rate, and a frame rate of 144Hz, ensuring the delivery of vivid, crystal-clear visuals. Comple

Denmark - Hip hop band, Suspekt, appeared in a one-off date at Copenhagen's 47,000 capacity National Parken Stadium in September. Suspekt is renowned for playing with cool lighting effects and Ayrton was delighted that its Zonda 9 fixtures were chosen for the dramatic lighting system that included 168 Zonda 9 Wash and Zonda 9 FX fixtures.
Zonda 9 Wash is the first luminaire in a new family of Ayrton products devised for stage lighting, equipped with a high-performance 40W LED source with RGB+W additive colour synthesis. The lighting was supplied by VIGSØ, Denmark, and the striking lighting and stage design was provided by Johnny Thinggaard of CMY.
Thinggaard elaborated on his choice of lighting: “The concert was a one-day event and the band's biggest show to date. I chose to use the Zonda 9 Wash because of its large light surface - I really like the way that the lamp provides such a great visual fill for this type of show. In fact, the entire show was based on the Wash style. Not a single gobo. For me, it is about creating space and emotions - and since this is a hip hop band, I didn't think profile lamps would fit the style. I also chose Zonda 9 as I needed a lamp that could light from a height of 20m all the way down to the floor. There is a lot of light in the Zonda 9 and it mixes colours really nicely.”
The strong and colourful design for the show and the rapping, hard-hitting style of the band required some strong, punchy lighting. Arraying the Zonda 9 Washes in 10 pods of four x three units, plus a row of 48 more on the floor upstage, Th

UK - Manchester-based dbnAudile has served as event technology providers for The Warehouse Project ever since the series of popular club nights debuted in 2006. This year, seeking a new linear lighting effect that could do more while ensuring operation in wet conditions, the company turned to Elation’s versatile Proteus Rayzor Blade.
The Warehouse Project, which runs from September through New Year’s Eve, features acclaimed DJs and musicians as well as less established artists, and is continually rated as one of the best dance/DJ club venues in Europe. dbnAudile handles audio, lighting, video and rigging for the project’s run, which has been held in the refurbished Mayfield Depot in Manchester since 2019.
Pete Robinson project manages the operation for dbnAudile and has served as lighting designer since The Warehouse Project’s inception. He explains that the 10,000-capacity former railway station is a significantly bigger venue than the previous location and therefore required upscaled production.
“Each year we try to find an upgrade or change in design to keep the look fresh and interesting and this year we were looking for something more interesting than the LED bars we’ve been using the past few years,” he commented, acknowledging head of lighting Dale Wilson and main room desk operator Colm Whaley as important collaborators on the project.
“The Rayzor Blades jumped out at us not only because they are brighter and punchier than the previous LED bars we were using, but with the strobe effect and sparkle feature we felt th

China - Located in Lujiang, within China's Anhui Province, the Shishi Zen Temple serves as a place of worship and to enhance both the vocal and musical experience, the Zen Temple made the decision to embrace cutting-edge audio technology. After conducting thorough research, they opted for the Martin Audio active MLA Mini array, complemented by Martin Audio's CDD series, as the basis for their new PA system.
The choice of the MLA Mini was based on its sound quality and its ability to optimise coverage, consistency and control of sound for a room's own acoustics, dynamics and the position of the listeners. This was particularly crucial as it ensured that both those near the Buddha statue at the heart of the Zen Temple and those worshiping at a distance could enjoy the same high-quality music and Dharma teachings.
The CDD series serves as an auxiliary system, delivering consistent sound coverage throughout the venue and delivering an enhanced listening experience to the audience. This ensures that every nuance of the music is conveyed with crystal clarity. Additionally, the CDD's versatility in installation allows it to seamlessly adapt to different settings, maintaining audio quality and reliability.
The Zen Temple demonstrated a deep respect for the characteristics of their environment during the sound system installation. Despite the temple's spacious layout and towering architecture, the Martin Audio system was meticulously modelled and tuned to deliver outstanding audio performance for various events, be it a grand Buddhist ceremony or an intimate

UK - Exterior lighting solutions provider DW Windsor has unveiled its Light Responsibly initiative to support and promote responsible lighting practices.
Announced at the LiGHT 23 Expo in London, the new initiative aims to provide lighting specifiers with the tools and guidance needed to eliminate light pollution, conserve energy, cut waste and help protect biodiversity. It consolidates several long-standing principles the British luminaire manufacturer upholds and underlines its commitment to delivering sustainable lighting solutions.
The initiative outlines five key areas where DW Windsor can assist lighting professionals, helping to educate key stakeholders and support considered lighting designs. It includes the adoption of precise optics and light shields, warmer colour temperatures, adaptive lighting controls, highly efficient LEDs, and the embracing of circular economy principles.
DW Windsor addresses these crucial areas through its product design, innovative technologies, advanced manufacturing processes and local supply chain. For example, several DW Windsor luminaires are now DarkSky Approved, meaning they don’t pollute the night sky.
Alan Grant, design and Development director at DW Windsor, explains: “Lighting has a significant impact on our lives and the functions of our urban spaces. When carried out responsibly, in line with best practices, good lighting can enhance the built environment while providing social, environmental, and economic benefits.”
Demonstrating how the initiative integrates more broadly across the

UK - As Optocore dealers fac365 end the year, they can reflect with satisfaction at having further helped to establish the company’s portfolio, notably Festival Box - not merely during the festival season - but for major international tours with bands like The Killers and Coldplay, with four Festival Boxes making up Coldplay’s control package and network infrastructure.
One major source for this success has been fast-expanding rental house, Solotech UK - which has a historic relationship with Optocore - supporting production with gear supplied from four warehouses spread across the UK.
“We have sold a large number of items to Solotech over the past two years,” confirm fac365 operations manager, Richard Newall, “most recently an M8 [MADI] package for a touring playback rig and X6Rs for their Control/Drive racks.”
In the north of England, prior to becoming part of the Solotech Group, Wigwam had become the first rental house adopter of Festival Box, while down south Optocore has long formed the backbone of the extensive delay network on the two-week BST Hyde Park event in London.
The device itself comes in two versions - the Grand (with 12 SFP ports) and Petite (with six SFPs) - Solotech now holding six Grandes and eight Petites across the group.
Robin Conway, Solotech UK’s senior account manager, comments: “Optocore continues to form large parts of Solotech returns systems in the UK - generally when specified by the client - and we are more than happy to roll it out in these instances.”
He reports that that the Pe

Germany - The 12th season of the annual Rocket League esports Championship took place in August 2023 at Düsseldorf’s PSD Bank Dome. The tournament marked its biggest season yet, with $6m in prize money up for grabs.
bright! studios - a visual design and technology studio based in Frankfurt - created engaging visual ‘hero shot’ content for the tournament using innovative show control software from Stage Precision.
“We were tasked with creating modern player introduction videos that were shown before each team to hype up the crowd,” explains Leon Herche, creative producer at bright! studios.
“The team at Rocket League used a completely new approach at this year’s tournament. We began by building different scenes in Unreal Engine and playing the content through LED walls. We used motion control systems from Marc Roberts and used the tracking data to create intense camera movement that couldn’t be done by hand. Stage Precision’s Shield plug-in was a crucial part of this process.”
The Rocket League 2022-23 season was divided into three splits: Fall, Winter and Spring, with each split hosting three regional events; an Open, a Cup and an Invitation. Teams of up to 16 earned points during the regional events and international majors to qualify for the Rocket League World Championship, which was broadcast across the world from the 8th - 13th August 2023.
bright! have been working with leading competitive games and esports organisation EFG - who are behind the Rocket League championship - for several years. The new vision fo

UK - The University of the Arts London (UAL) recently sought to update its audio-visual systems in classrooms at three key campuses. London-based integrator, Tateside, was approached directly to work on the project.
“The project encompassed classroom refurbishment works at South London-based campuses and a full installation at a further campus in High Holborn,” explains Joby Morris, audio visual and networks specialist at Tateside.
“We selected Tateside because it was clear from the start that they really understood our vision for using NDI and Dante to create learning environments that had the flexibility of AVoIP without the vendor lock-in of other protocols,” explains Tom Lynch, technical manager at UAL. “Also, as a London-based university, working with a London-based AV Integrator is super valuable and quite rare.”
The most significant part of the project was at UAL’s High Holborn site, part of the university’s Creative Computing Institute. Here, two newly refurbished classroom spaces required AV integration to improve the learning experience for both in-person and remote students. “The team at UAL are NDI visionaries and their campus systems are based around this flexible protocol,” says Jack Cornish, technical director at Tateside. “They were also keen on using BirdDog technology, so we also incorporated this into the solution too.”
In the larger of the two classrooms, the main display comprises a pair of Panasonic PT-VMZ71 Series projectors with Supernova Core 120” projection screens. A custom lectern from To

USA - Bandit Lites has announced that an original Bandit, Brent Barrett, has moved into his retirement. Brent, along with founder Michael T. Strickland, first met in grade school in Kingsport, Tennessee. Neither knew this meeting would culminate in a strong bond and friendship that would last both a full career and a lifetime.
While Bandit began in junior high school, the real work began as Barrett and Strickland attended The University of Tennessee together. Barrett was pursuing a degree in food and lodging with an intention to be in the hospitality industry. After a Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn tour while in college, Barrett never looked back. Both Strickland and Barrett indeed finished their degrees, and at the same time toured and ended up in their lifelong careers.
“Brent and I grew up together,” stated Strickland. “We have been best friends since grade school. We lived every phase of life together and know more about one another than anyone else. To sum up Brent Barrett is easy: He is a friend. Period.”
Barrett toured with numerous artists in the early days including Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Kenny Rogers, Blackfoot, Def Leppard, Molly Hatchet, and many others. He then transitioned into the role of lighting director and production manager with Alabama. This is a position he would hold for 23 years. Indeed, most people in the industry remember Barrett as the jovial gentleman that ran the amazing Alabama show for many years.
When it was time to retire from the road, Barrett moved into the role of director of business developm

UK - LSI Projects director Bob Peill has left the company after three decades. The company expresses its gratitude for his pivotal role in achieving significant milestones that have defined its success from the first projects in China in the early 90s up to and including one of the company’s largest projects to date in the form of the New Cairo Opera House in Egypt.
Stepping into the role of projects director is Nick Broad who has a proven track record in systems integration, project management and consultancy.
Nick joins the company as LSI completes projects at Bristol Beacon, and Sadler’s Wells in Stratford East, and continue work on Hertford Theatre, Theatr Clwyd in North Wales and the Royal Arts Complex in Riyadh.
Brenda Dunsire, managing director of LSI, comments: “We will be forever grateful to everything Bob has committed to LSI over the years playing a fundamental role in shaping the company it is today and he will be sorely missed. It is time however for LSI to look to the next 30 years and the appointment of Nick aligns seamlessly with our strategic vision for the future.”

UK - TAIT has announced plans to open a central London base in early 2024 at Tileyard London in the heart of King's Cross. This new office follows the trajectory of TAIT’s extensive growth both in the UK and globally.
TAIT’s current UK locations include super-factories, equipped for heavy entertainment engineering, in Wakefield in West Yorkshire and Haverhill in Suffolk, as well as training and R&D facilities in Hampton.
Born through strategic acquisitions of Stage Technologies, Delstar, Brilliant Stages and Kinesys, TAIT’s UK based team have played a key role in some of the most notable live experiences of the last 45 years, from the flying car in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to the Royal Opera House to the Rolling Stones; the Olympics to Outernet.
TAIT’s global team across 20 offices, work together to deliver live experiences across concert touring, permanent and touring theatre, cruise ships, performance venues, brand and location-based experiences.
Ben Brooks, managing director UK, TAIT, comments: "We’re creating this central London base to support our work across the UK, Europe and Worldwide. We’re proud to be part of the live experience community, and this new space will support our work with partners across the globe. Locally, it means we have a central point for the UK’s talented design houses and celebrated theatres, especially in London’s West End. It's also two hours from our sites in West Yorkshire and Suffolk”.
Gemma Hodgson, chief commercial officer, TAIT, adds: "It's important to have a London base

Greece - DirectOut and Audio & Vision have joined forces to establish an exclusive partnership for distribution in Greece. With this strategic alliance, Audio & Vision will now serve as the official distributor of DirectOut products in Greece.
Audio & Vision has established itself as a reliable provider of premium AV products and services in Greece since the beginning of their activities in 1998.
"We are proud to add DirectOut to our distribution portfolio in Greece," says Mr. Alkis Kotsifas, general manager of Audio & Vision. "With a 25-year track record in the professional audio, video and lighting solutions sector, we have been committed since the foundation of our company to provide our customers with the highest quality of products and services. We seek the best partners worldwide to achieve our goals, and our new partnership with DirectOut is a testament to our determination."
Audio & Vision acts across various sectors within the AV industry, including installation, touring, broadcast, and recording. By incorporating DirectOut’s innovative solutions into their offerings, they are equipped to meet the diverse demands of signal distribution, conversion, routing, and processing.
Lorenzo Sassi, business development manager, comments: "We are thrilled to partner with Audio & Vision in Greece. This partnership marks an important step for the future, and we are confident that our combined expertise will bring innovative and high-quality solutions to the Greek market."

India - Gujarat’s Premier Navratri Celebrations organised by the Rotary Club of Bhuj reaches new heights, as Phoenix Networks deployed their Meyer Sound Panther line-array system for the first time for a public event.
The vibrant tapestry of Hindu culture is woven with a myriad of festivals, each celebrating different facets of life and spirituality. Among these, Navratri stands out as a radiant and joyous occasion, marking the triumph of good over evil; with the festival spanning nine nights dedicated to the divine feminine in various forms - each representing strength, wisdom, and prosperity.
This year, the Rotary Club of Bhuj in Gujarat orchestrated a 10-day cultural extravaganza at the Sandalwood Villa & Clubhouse Grounds in Mirjapar. Nestled in the heart of Gujarat, this sprawling venue, measures 550ft in length and 260ft in breadth, setting the stage for a celebration of music, dance, and devotion.
The gathering witnessed performances by renowned artists, including the dhol virtuoso Aslam Dafrani of Hanif-Aslam fame, and soul-stirring singers Firoz Ladka, Amber Desai, Yasita Sharma, and Pallavi Dabholkar.
Technical production of the event was expertly planned and executed by Phoenix Networks.
“This was the perfect platform for us to showcase the true potential of the Panthers as the Navratri Celebrations organised by the Rotary Club Of Bhuj is by far one of the most prestigious and grand events to take place in the entire region,” comments Animesh Mishra, director of Phoenix Networks. “The sheer expanse and scale of th

UK - In its 25th year, live event production workers charity Stagehand, has launched the Christmas fundraiser, #I Love Live 3.
This year's campaign recognises the immense challenges faced by the live event production industry and aims to provide crucial support to UK-based touring and festival crews dealing with serious physical or mental ill health. #I Love Live 3 launched on Friday 1 December, with tickets available now.
Previous I Love Live events have featured Liam Gallagher’s Les Paul guitar, Glastonbury Festival tickets, and Dave Grohl's signed DW ICON snare drum, raising over £900,000 for stage crew impacted by the pandemic.
This year, #I Love Live 3 will see signed set lists from a star-studded line-up including Paolo Nutini, Prodigy, Nile Rodgers, Bring Me The Horizon, Duran Duran, James Bay, New Order, Natalie Imbruglia, Everything Everything, Blossoms, Wet Leg, Maisie Peters and The 1975, plus a drum skin from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. Additionally, unsigned memorabilia from Michael Jackson’s This Is It tour, and a piece originally owned by Pink Floyd will be included.
Jonathan Higgs, frontman of art rock band Everything Everything, emphasises the crucial role crew members play in touring activities, stating: “Our crew are a vital part of our touring activities; we couldn’t do it without them. I’d encourage all live music fans to get involved and give back to the people behind the scenes.”
Lighting designer Tom Campbell of MIRRAD, who has worked with an array of high-profile bands, including Br

Switzerland - The Zurich Open Air Festival, held over three days in suburban Glattbrugg, features artists from an array of genres, from ballads to electronic beats, and hard rock anthems to indie tunes. Jazz, blues, and folk join the diverse mix for good measure. The artists on stage at this year’s (10th annual) rendition of the festival, included Robbie Williams, Zara Larsson, Bastian Baker, The Killers, The Chainsmokers and Paul Kalkbrenner.
The production design on the 2023 festival’s substantial main stage also embodied a very diverse range of creative inputs. Defined by two high towers, each with a large vertically-oriented video wall at its base, the towers were connected by horizontal rows of lights. Other rows of lights extended from each wall and sloped down to smaller stage left and stage right columns.
Contributing to the rich visual panorama was a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied and installed by FeedBack Show Systems & Service, which provided all video, audio, and lighting services on the main stage.
The spectator area around the main stage at this year’s festival was designed to resemble a rock concert arena. FeedBack Show System & Service’s rig accentuated this mood with its bold towering lighting displays, abundance of blinders for audience lighting, synchronised pixel mapped effects, and linear lighting arrange to extend the impression of the stage.
Key to helping in this effort were the rig’s 24 Color Strike M motorised fixtures. Drawing on the two ultra-bright white tube elements in the

USA - Vari-Lite has announced a new, higher output light engine upgrade for their workhorse VL2600 Series fixtures. The light engine upgrade provides significantly higher output to the popular line of moving head luminaires while aligning with Signify’s commitment to sustainability by promoting circular economy, minimising waste by extending the existing product lifecycle rather than making iterative new versions, for a positive impact on the environment and society.
Originally released in the spring of 2018, the VL2600 Series is, to date, one of the most popular Vari-Lite fixtures ever produced. Boasting a profile, wash, and spot version, the VL2600 Series is a full family of fixtures with a broad colour palette, a wide range of features, and a consistent light engine across the series. It’s possible to rent a VL2600 Series luminaire on every continent on the globe, and the new easily replaceable light engine increases sustainability by extending the life of these highly specified light fixtures with notably higher output and the same great features.
“The VL2600 Series is now entering its seventh year of production, and it’s amazing to see how little technology and feature trends have changed in that time,” says Martin Palmer, Vari-Lite product management and marketing leader at Signify. “Although technology in areas such as the efficiency of LEDs may have improved, the core technologies and needs for fixtures like the VL2600 Profile have not shifted that much. That’s why the VL2600 Series still remains competitive, even against new competi

USA - Claypaky is returning to LDI again to present its recently launched products. The joint display, in Booths (179, 279, 285) in the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Centre, will feature the company’s top-of-the-line products for the entertainment industry.
Besides all the new products and innovative technologies shown, it is also the first time since ARRI’s acquisition of Claypaky, that the two companies will be exhibiting together at LDI, thus presenting a broader product portfolio in addition to the entertainment-oriented product range.
On debut will be Rhapsodya - a high power, low-noise multi-spectral - LED based fixture designed for a variety of applications such as theatre, TV production, touring and live events. It uses a custom 1200W multicolour RGBAL LED engine, capable of a 24,000-lumen output.
Rhapsodya incorporates AccuTone, a sophisticated, internally developed firmware algorithm for a precise control over the beam in a multicolour LED engine, providing vibrant, rich colours and a balanced, consistent white, optimised for both stage and TV.
Colorstring is a new system enabling an individual control of four independent LED stripes within the engine for a high level of graphics and colour effects.
With Xtylos, the first laser-sourced moving light beam fixture in the entertainment lighting, Claypaky has shaped a new era of moving heads.
Skylos, the most recent member of the laser family, is an ultra-versatile and weather-resistant fixture is much appreciated in the touring sector, where LDs are constantly

USA - GLP (German Light Products) will showcase its innovative portfolio in a future-oriented design, on stand #194. The company invites trade fair visitors to climb aboard its all-white ‘GLP Spaceship’, which will also provide the setting for ‘a very special world premiere’.
GLP's JDC1 Hybrid Strobe is a popular standard that set new standards when it was originally introduced. The JDC2 upgrade will be shown for the first time at LDI.
Larger, significantly brighter than the JDC1, IP65-certified and equipped with a still under-wraps secret special feature, the JDC2 is ‘set to revolutionise the world of professional show lighting again’. Visitors to the stand can look forward to a newly designed show that breaks from the classic light shows at the exhibition stand.
After the successful market launch of the impression X5 Wash 2021, the impression X5 IP Maxx is an even more powerful sister device for applications from greater distances and - thanks to the IP65 version - also outdoors.
The GLP impression X5 IP Maxx emits an extraordinary luminous flux of up to 24,000 lumens with an expanded colour space, from 37 powerful 40W RGBL LEDs. Like all devices in the X5 series, the X5 IP Maxx is equipped with the new iQ.Gamut colour algorithm, which means it always offers a clean white point with a CRI 90+ / TLCI 90 at 6,500 Kelvin.
Like the impression X5 Wash, the impression X5 IP Maxx also offers an extensive effects package. The new 16:1 zoom mechanism allows a penetrating 3.5° parallel beam as well as a homogeneous wash up to 60°.