UK - His aviator shades, curly mop and beard may appear to be cryogenically frozen in time but the renaissance of Jeff Lynne and his Electric Light Orchestra continues to move ever forward in popularity and – with assistance from Stageco – sheer physical size, as witnessed by 70,000 ecstatic fans at Wembley Stadium on 24 June.
Supported by The Shires and Keane’s Tom Chaplin, Lynne led his latest ELO incarnation through a two-hour set rammed with highlights from his vast catalogue of self-penned hits, including Mr. Blue Sky, Livin’ Thing, Evil Womanand Shine A Little Love, while Handle With Care served as a reminder of his brief but perfect career as a Traveling Wilbury.
The big talking point of the night, however, was the breathtaking, 16.5-tonne spaceship hovering above the band that evoked memories of ELO’s celebrated Out Of The Blue album and tour, nearly 40 years ago, bringing the living legend into present day orbit.
At the helm of all things technical, production manager Chris Vaughan, whose name is inextricably linked to large-scale touring explained how one of his long-time clients was instrumental in getting Lynne and the ELO brand back in front of audience after a protracted absence. “We became involved with Jeff in 2013 when he came to play at the Children In Need Rocks show that we were producing for Gary Barlow and the BBC,” he said.
“Jeff really enjoyed performing with Take That’s session musicians [including Mike Stevens and Milton McDonald] who were the house

World - Canadian singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes shot to fame via a clip he posted to Vine in 2014 and has quickly garnered pop royalty status with a social media fan following of millions. At the pinnacle of his career playing sold-out arenas around the world, Shawn is currently embarking on his Illuminate world tour – and French manufacturer and provider of lighting balloons for the event industry, Airstar, is helping to set the stage with its Pendulair LED product.
The llluminate tour comprises 61 dates in total touching every continent, with Shawn playing some of the world’s biggest music venues. Named after his current platinum-selling second studio album, the show features a set built around a 5m wide Airstar Pendulair LED lighting balloon - known as the ‘Orb’. Providing the main source of the light for fans as they walk into the venue, in an off-blue hue which links the tour to the Illuminate album logo, the ‘Orb’ takes centre stage alongside Shawn for the duration of the concert.
Lighting and stage design for Shawn’s third concert tour and first all-arena tour is overseen by Louis Oliver and James Scott of Okulus, working alongside Shawn’s creative director Paul Caslin, on-the-road lighting director Ryan Nixon and production manager Andrew Thornton at 24/7 Productions (UK).
“With Shawn’s current album entitled Illuminate, we wanted a central piece to the performance that brought this to life visually and set the right tone and atmosphere. Paul took inspiration from the dramatic Solar Equation pr

South Africa - Indian Independence Day, holds a special meaning for the people of Lenasia Township. It was here in the early 20th century that a young Mahatma Gandhi staged a famous protest at the local railway station to advance the cause of civil rights for South Africa’s Indian population. Later, when he returned to India, Gandhi would employ the idea of non-violent civil disobedience that he had honed in South Africa to win independence for his native country, and in the process, change the world.
This year, as India celebrated the 70th anniversary of its independence, Lenasia hosted an array of events to mark the occasion. Among the most moving and colourful was Celebrating India at the township’s Patidar Hall, which featured a performance by the Kashvita Music and Dance Academy. Creating a bright and upbeat background for the spirited performances on stage was a vivid Vikash Maharaj-designed lightshow that featured Chauvet Professional Rogue R2 Spots supplied by JMY Sound and Lighting.
Maharaj arranged six of the 240W moving LED spots across the upstage deck. Drawing on their 16.5-degree beam angle and intense output, he used them to create dynamic aerial effects that energized the Independence Day celebrations and accented key moments in the performance. He also relied on the Rogue’s split color capabilities and dual colour wheels with seven colours to cover the stage and crowd in a rainbow of hues.
“Colour is very important to the overall mood of this event,” said Vishal Nana, president of JMY Sound and Light. “We specifie

UK - Formed in 2013 in Brighton on the UK south coast, Black Peaks is a four-piece rock band that is going places. Their debut album Statues has been described by The Independent as ‘an exceptional combination of alternative rock, heavy metallic riffs, prog infused concepts and subtle post-rock flourishes that all interweave to create an extremely accomplished debut’ and they have been championed by both Radio 1’s Daniel P Carter and Zane Lowe. Having started out, as most fledgling bands do, with an unrefined mix of microphones, adding Sennheiser to their inventory has made a world of difference.
“We were originally an instrumental three-piece, which was me, Andrew Gosden on bass and Liam Kearley on drums,” explains guitarist Joe Gosney. “We quickly got Will Gardner (vocals) involved and from there our music really started to take shape. We spent 2013 and 14 playing a bunch of shows around the UK and getting tracks together for what would eventually become our debut album Statues.”
With their live performances becoming more frequent and higher profile – last year, for example, saw them support the Deftones, playing to a crowd of 12,000 at Wembley Arena and this year, as part of a six-week run round Europe and Scandinavia, Mastodon and System Of A Down – they wanted to upgrade their equipment, with microphones being the number one priority.
“We’re now using Sennheiser e 935s on Will’s vocal and 904s on Liam’s toms,” says their front-of-house engineer, Jack Childs. “I love the 935s for their clear glassy h

Germany - The 1000th edition of Germany’s hugely popular children’s TV show 1, 2 oder 3 aired in July, and Green Hippo and mo2 design helped ensure it looked suitably impressive. Based on the original US version, which was called Runaround, those in the UK may be familiar with the UK show, which went out in the 70s and 80s under that same original US title. The success of the German show has outstripped that of any of its ‘siblings’ seeing it become a mainstay of German childhood TV watching.
mo2 design produced the historic episode, and to help ensure that the visuals went perfectly to plan, Green Hippo delivered special training to the German lighting and design company. Cologne-based mo2 design has extensive experience working with Media Servers – it was the first lighting designer to widely use them in German television – and has recently focused its attention on Green Hippo’s Hippotizer product line. Consequently, Lanz Short, product specialist at Green Hippo, provided three days of Hippotizer training sessions, including a bespoke day, which was planned around the technical requirements of the upcoming show.
The live event itself saw mo2 design use four Hippotizer Boreals – teamed with a pair of grandMA2 lighting desks – controlling four Barco HD 30.000 projectors creating a four-cube wall, a further two Barco HD 30.000 projectors enabling rear projection, plus an LEDGO Black Spinel LED floor.
Manfred Ollie Olma, founder and owner of mo2 design commented: "Hippotizer Media Servers work visual creative for a desi

UK - During PLASA 2017, CLF lighting will present three new lighting essentials, including the Yara.
The CLF Yara is a workhorse for every purpose. The LED fixture has outstanding smooth RGBW colour mixing delivered by 14 high power LEDs with a very punchy 15° beam angle. The specially selected LEDs provide high output with intense colours and an exceptional white balance. IP65 rating makes the Yara suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.
The Ares XS is the smaller brother of the Ares, which has proven to be a lighting essential for many different purposes. The powerful LED wash fixture is designed for illuminating large surfaces both in- and outdoor. Extreme brightness and an extraordinary even projection make the Ares XS a true LED alternative for traditional wash lights. An array of 18 calibrated high power RGBW LEDs is divided in three individually controllable horizontal segments. The Ares XS is equipped with a punchy 21° beam angle, which can be easily adapted to other beam angles, even elliptical, by using the Smart Filter System.
The most recent addition to the CLF product range is the LEDwash XL. This is a wash fixture with two LED segments. The two horizontal LED battens can be manually tilted and controlled separately. Because of the 30° and 55° lens it is possible to use the fixture as wallwash or horizon wash light with both parts complementing each other. Additionally, the fixture can be used to illuminating two different surfaces simultaneously.
(Jim Evans)

UK - Details of an impressive array of contributors for the Theatres Trust Theatres & Placemaking conference have started to emerge, as delegate bookings for this one-day conference rise.
Taking place at Lyric Hammersmith on Tuesday 17 October, Conference 17 will discuss why and how theatres can engage with the placemaking agenda. New contributors include:
Paul Callaghan, chair of live theatre and trustee of Sunderland Music, Arts and Culture Trust, will explore the role of culture within regeneration as part of the MACQ (Music, Arts and Cultural Quarter) project in Sunderland, whose vision will see the restoration of an important area of Sunderland, re-establishing the area’s previous importance as the Edwardian heart and soul of the city.
Graham Lister, project director for Storyhouse Chester and Cllr Louise Gittins, deputy leader of Cheshire West and Cheshire Council will jointly discuss the recently opened Storyhouse in Chester and the important role local authorities play in supporting theatre and placemaking.
Daniel Rose, executive director, Mechanics’ Institution Trust will introduce the work of his organisation, a social enterprise and building preservation and development trust, and their motivation to bring the Swindon Mechanics’ Institution, back to life and to nurture it as a community run organisation in a Grade II* listed building ready for the 21st century.
Hannah Garrow, fundraising and community engagement director, Leith Theatres Trust, will talk about their success in the re-opening and animating of Leith The

UK - The PLASA Show returns to Olympia London next month for what will be its 40th anniversary. The event will once again present ground-breaking technology and exciting new launches by the world’s greatest designers and engineers. As the technical solutions specialist, White Light will be exhibiting on stand L50 where its expert staff will be on hand to meet customers old and new as well as present a range of revolutionary technology.
WL’s head of business development Lee Dennison comments: “We are delighted to be returning to the PLASA Show after what has been yet another significant 12 months for the company. In that time, we’ve become the in-house technical supplier at Claridge’s Hotel, installed exhibitions at the V&A and Saatchi Gallery, supported the relaunch of Hintze Hall at the Natural History Museum as well as continued to supply the biggest shows in the West End.”
The company has also continued to invest heavily in the latest technology and will be displaying a range of products available on ShopWL at the show. This includes d3 Technologies – for which WL has recently been appointed as a Certified Solutions Provider. Lee comments: “The larger and more ambitious the projects we work on become, the more we have found ourselves drawing on d3 products. As the world’s first integrated video production suite, it really is the ultimate software to visualise, design and sequence projects. We have our own fleet of d3 hardware which we are really looking forward to discussing with customers.”
Interactive Technologies is a w

Belgium - Tomorrowland is one of the world’s highest profile electronic music festivals, gathering over 400.000 people at the main site in Belgium, and connecting an additional 70.000 people at multiple remote venues through the UNITE event. UNITE are events organised in different countries and connected via a live satellite broadcast with Tomorrowland Belgium.
This year UNITE shared three hours of live HD video broadcast feeds featuring performances from the main stage in Belgium, with remote live parties in Germany, Malta, Dubai, Israel, South Korea and Lebanon. At each location grandMA2 consoles were in control. In Belgium 13 x grandMA2 full-size, eight grandMA2 light, one grandMA2 ultra-light, two grandMA2 fader wing, two MA onPC command wing and one MA onPC fader wing were used.
Up until 9pm Belgium time, every party had their own DJ performances. Starting at 9pm the live video from Tomorrowland Belgium was sent to the different locations for the audiences to watch. In parallel the local lighting rigs - that were smaller than the main stage - were used to reproduce in the best possible way the same colours and strobe effects as were happening in Belgium. All other parts of the lighting were controlled by the local operator at each venue.
Technical designer Mario Hofman evaluated the live images taken from the different venues during last year’s edition of the festival, and wanted to increase the ‘united experience’ for this year. The idea arose of having a virtual operator assisting the worldwide local operators. For the 2017 edition of

USA - Foreigner recently released Forty Hits from Forty Years with an accompanying 40th Anniversary Tour appropriately featuring an old-school lighting design by Dan Lastovka using Elation Arena Par Zoom LED wash lights supplied by See Factor.
Used to create a 70’s rock par can look but with the benefits of a modern intelligent luminaire are 108 Arena Par Zoom fixtures. Lastovka comments: “When I was first playing around with ideas for Foreigner’s 40th Anniversary Tour, I wanted to centre the design around a big par can rig, certainly not the largest that has ever been out, but bigger than has been seen in 10 or more years, and maybe a different look to modern audiences. In the end, whimsy yielded to practicality and a richer feature set, so the hunt for a par can analogue began.”
Lighting vendor on the tour is See Factor, who, working with Elation rep firm Healy Sales, supplied the Arena Par fixtures along with Elation SixPar lights. See Factor worked with the band and Lastovka to bring the classic rock ‘n roll show vision to life produced in-house setups to show the client different looks, for example Arena Pars vs Par 64s, while playing with dimming curves to get the look of conventional par cans.
“We had an open mandate to look for a fixture that could emulate an old par can rig,” stated Mark Friedman of See Factor, who hold a stock of Elation gear in their inventory and is working with Foreigner for the first time. “We did shootouts and the Arena Par Zoom was chosen. It was a quality decision, not a cost decision.”

UK - Lighting and visuals designer Andy Hurst wanted to make a big impact for Chase & Status acclaimed Saturday night headliner set at the 2017 Lovebox festival in London’s Victoria Park - so he designed an epic specials package which was supplied by HSL, together with crew – which was installed under the event’s production ‘top rig’.
The ‘extras’ included 194 x SGM Q-7 LED flood / strobes, used highly effectively for the onslaught that you expect at a Chase & Status gig as well as super-bright floods and audience blinders.
The Q-7s were rigged so they effectively worked together in linear strips, wrapping around the back and sides of the stage, the PA wings and the portrait format IMAG side screens, also integrating these screens into the performance space.
Andy loves creative challenges and is known for his fresh approach. “I wanted this consistency and coherence in the look to put the band right at the centre of the aesthetic, and also bring a structural integrity, depth and a sense of perspective,” explained Andy
Upstage, five trussing towers were deployed – suspended from a truss in the roof and also anchored to the floor on bases, each outrigged with 16 x Q-7s which took care of 80 fixtures and made up an impressive upstage matrix of lights behind the ‘house’ video screen, a 12mm surface from CT – made up from a semi-transparent product at Andy’s request.
This worked perfectly for through-the-screen retina-burn effects and contrasted completely to when the screen content was running, which was

Hungary - Allen & Heath’s dLive S Class mixing system recently managed the gala event for the FINA World Aquatic Championships 2017, held at the prestigious Opera House in Budapest.
Hosted in Hungary in 2017, the FINA World Championships take place every two years in different locations. The Championships are attended by international athletes in swimming, diving, high diving, open water swimming, synchronized swimming, and water polo. Staged at the end of the competition, the gala comprised performances from a symphony orchestra with a choir and opera soloists, alongside the FINA Awards Ceremony.
Local PA company, AV Advice Ltd., managed technical requirements for the event, supplying the dLive system, which comprised a S7000 Surface equipped with Dante and Waves interface cards, a DM64 MixRack, and two DX32 expander racks with redundant connections to the MixRack. There was also an IP8 controller to provide sound engineers with remote access.
The system managed live sound requirements and provided a multitrack broadcast feed for national TV channel. According to the event sound engineers, Baranya Tamás and Turcsán András, dLive’s flexibility and scene management made it the perfect choice to manage the diverse programme.
“The clarity and transparency of dLive’s preamps is just what we needed for an orchestral event. The flexibility of the surface, the additional IP controllers, and the ingenious scene management makes dLive the ideal mixer in theatrical situations,” they commented.
(Jim Evans)

Germany - The annual DPWK Deutscher Preis für Wirtschaftskommunikation (German Prize for Business Communication) gala award presentation took place recently in the casual surroundings of Berlin’s Columbiahalle rock venue (replacing the usual formal ‘black tie’ event).
Known as Der Goldene Funke, the event was expertly lit by locally based lighting designer, Björn Hermann, working in conjunction with phase7 performing.arts, with whom he shares a studio. German lighting manufacturer GLP provided many of the creative tools, including 24 x GT1, 14 x impression X4 and 16 x impression X4 L.
Hermann says he believes it is important to support the City’s institutions, particularly at student level, and GLP were also happy to lend their sponsorship.
Explaining his conceptual mission, the designer states, “It was important to create an ‘Oscar’ type feeling for the students, nominated companies as well as guests, and therefore I attempted to create a dynamic intro for the winners with moving lights that drive through space and other effective scenarios, which then explode with the announcement of the winners.”
The GLP fixtures were used principally as effect and show lighting, and to create a spatial atmosphere for the judging and prize-giving. “All the lights worked flawlessly,” he confirmed.
Working together with the students of HTW Berlin (University of Applied Sciences and Technology) and phase7 performing arts, who designed the stage show, he was given a free hand in the lighting design.
Hermann also undertook the l

Hungary - July saw the FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation) World Championships for aquatic sports take place at the Danube Arena in the Hungarian capital of Budapest. Hungarian sales and rental company Chromasound was tasked with providing a complete audio system for the games and its subsequent events, with a DiGiCo SD10 chosen to provide audio control.
“FINA was responsible for the entire AV installation for the event and they wanted a redundant, reliable, high-end system that could also be used for various events after the games,” explains Imre Makkay, Chromasound’s sales director, who was in charge of system design. “As well as DiGiCo, we are also suppliers of Meyer Sound loudspeaker systems, so it was obvious that we could provide them with the correct overall solution.”
For the main venue, Imre chose the SD10 because he wanted to supply a console that did not compromise on capacity and had the added benefit of the ability to connect it to an SD-RE redundant engine.
“This was a major selling point,” he says. “In the unlikely, worst case scenario of multiple faults in the main mixer, still having control over audio via the SD-RE is a brilliant feature. Because this was such a sophisticated system, the only right decision for the stage racks was the SD-Rack. We supplied four of them, each with 40 analogue inputs, 24 analogue outs and eight ins and outs, via both AES/EBU and (HD-)SDI. The latter was used as a convenient connection from and to the OB van. We also had an Orange Box for Dante integration.”
An additi

France - With the appointment of AED France as Prolyte distributor next to its existing distribution partner Axente, Prolyte Group has established full distribution coverage in France, offering customers optimized access to the range of Prolyte products.
Prolyte Group’s trusted partner Axente, which holds the position as Prolyte distributor and ProLyft Service Point in France for a prolonged period, made it possible to succeed to open the French market for Prolyte and grow a trusted and steady customer base.
By adding AED Group to the distributing network in France, Prolyte hopes to open up more market segments by offering an alternative sales channel. “It’s really important for us to offer optimum service and flexible access to our product ranges,” states Ralph Stockley, Prolyte CCO. “By installing an extra distributor in the French market, we strive to enable even better access to our product ranges and to the support and product knowledge that go hand-in-hand with this.”
Both Axente and AED group are well-experienced and long-term Prolyte distributors, with considerable in-house experience. Both companies have built strong markets for Prolyte products and serve their own customer bases.
AED France will host an open house on 21 September in Paris. In a continuous programme, from 14:00 hours onwards, a range of Prolyte products will be presented. There will be a Verto demonstration as well as a spectacular live demonstration of the BGR truss. Members of the Prolyte team will be present to highlight the start of Prolyte distributi

UK - Entertainment lighting control system rental specialists, Illuminate Lighting, has acquired the lighting control and data distribution hire business of Lighting Productions with a mission to expand the console brands they offer and the services the company currently provides.
The combination of resources will allow an enhanced provision of services to Illuminate Lighting's growing client list with everything from basic dry hire to a full lighting control solution.
"Illuminate Lighting can now offer three of the leading console brands in the industry - Avolites, Hog, and MA Lighting alongside all the accompanying data distribution equipment," says Jonathan Pask, founder of Illuminate Lighting. "There's a real synergy between our two business inventories. This enables Illuminate Lighting to provide everything from individual consoles to entire networked systems tailored to an individual client's project or brief."
Pask and founder of Lighting Productions, Jonathan Dawson-Butterworth, both have extensive experience of lighting design on tours, events, film and television.
"The Illuminate Lighting team can deliver tailor made systems combined with knowledgeable, experienced and friendly on-site technical support," says Pask.
Based in Production Park in Wakefield, Illuminate Lighting offers facilities to designers, programmers and operators for training and previsualisation purposes. Clients and freelance designers are welcome to use the facilities anytime for pre-programming purposes or to familiarise themselves with the company's wide

UK - ISCE has confirmed its first Sound Engineer ECS Card Health and Safety Assessment event, to be held on Wednesday 6September 2017, at SSE Audio Group’s office in London.
Following the recent announcement of ISCE’s accreditation to assess and issue ECS cards to its members, a Health and Safety Assessment is a critical component of the ECS card application process. All ECS Card applicants must hold an up-to-date health and safety qualification in order to be awarded with an ECS card.
This inaugural Health and Safety Assessment event will take place at: SSE Audio Group, 3 Cumberland Avenue, London NW10 7RX.
To find out more and register for the London September event or express an interest in future Health and Safety Assessment events please follow the registration link: www.isce.org.uk/isce-sound-engineer-ecs-card/apply/
(Jim Evans)

UK - Sir Elton John is one of a number of acts PRG has had the pleasure of working with for many years. Account director Jon Cadbury explains a little about PRG’s history with Sir Elton’s tours: “We have been working with Sir Elton and his touring team for many years, and we supply lights for most of his shows around the world. I look after them in Europe, together with a fairly consistent, and excellent lighting team, and my colleague Curry Grant takes care of all of the North American and rest of the world shows.”
As part of a wide-ranging tour, taking in numerous countries around the world, Elton played a number of dates around the UK this summer, including the First Direct Arena in Leeds.
Lighting crew chief Lars Kristiansen has worked with the touring production and LD Kevin ‘Stick’ Bye for 14 years, during which time there have been various designs which have been utilised in a variety of venues, from racecourses to rugby stadiums, and arenas to cabaret clubs. “There have been lots of subtle changes to the lighting rig over the years. I think that what we have now is a very good system, it’s multifunctional, bright and we can now get the whole rig in the air in two and a half hours. The main lighting fixtures used are Vari*Lite VL3000 spots, Vari*Lite 3500 washes, Claypaky Sharpy and Beams, and Martin Mac Viper AirFX moving lights.”
One recent change to the touring rig is the use of the PRG GroundControl Followspot System. Lars explained: “When I first saw them in action at an open day at The O2, London last year, I knew

UK - Since the release of their debut album Speak & Spell in 1981, Depeche Mode have had 50 songs in the UK singles charts, 17 top 10 albums in the UK chart and have sold over 100m records worldwide. For their current Depeche Mode Global Spirit Tour, Front of House engineer Antony King has chosen an L-Acoustics K1 system, supplied by UK rental company Britannia Row Productions.
Depeche Mode have worked with Britannia Row for more than a quarter of a century and this longstanding relationship with the company and the pristine equipment it provides gives peace of mind to both the band and their engineers, who are certainly putting it through its paces, with the stadium tour starting this past May in Europe and concluding in March 2018 in South America.
With the tour playing over 90 dates in stadiums and large-scale venues around the world, a system that provides accuracy and reliability was needed. L-Acoustics K1 was the choice and Antony specified a main system that comprises 14 K1 per side with four K2 as down-fills. Side-hangs are a further 14 K1 plus six K2 down-fills, to account for the throw distance needed and the large amount of vertical coverage required. There is a total of 46 KS28, with 12 of them per side flown next to the K1, whilst four hangs of 12 K1 are used for delays, all mixed via an SSL L500 Plus.
Depeche Mode’s set design always includes a thrust that sits to one side of the stage. Because of its asymmetrical construction and the position of camera platforms, there are restrictions to where the ground stacked subs c

The Netherlands - Each year, the GelreDome - home of Dutch football club Vitesse Arnhem - is transformed into a huge centre of Christian worship by the EO-Jongerendag (Evangelical Broadcasting Youth Day) event. With 25,000 young people enjoying a range of Christian music and sermons in a huge ‘in the round’ production, two Yamaha Rivage PM10 digital mixing systems ensured that the message was clearly heard.
Thanks to its retractable roof, retractable pitch and climate control system, GelreDome is readily transformed from a 35,000-capacity football stadium into a 41,000-capacity venue for live music and other events. It has hosted concerts by many of the world’s biggest performers, ranging from Madonna, Coldplay and Lady Gaga to Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Bon Jovi.
On 10 June, the 43rd annual EO-Jongerendag hosted a number of high profile Christian acts, including Lindz West, Capital Kings and Philippa Hanna, with the Beam Worship Band providing further music between the main performances and various speeches and sermons. The stage was situated in the middle of the stadium, a huge in-the-round technical production supplied by multi-disciplinary service provider Chain, a sister company of pan-European technical production business Rent-All.
Chain’s audio technical production manager for the event was Ton Damen, who specified three Yamaha digital mixers. A pair of Rivage PM10 systems took care of the Front of House mixes - one mixing the sound for the main artists, the other for the speeches and the Beam Worship Band. In addition, a QL5 was locate

USA - Artist- producer duo, The Chainsmokers, aka Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, embarked on their first arena tour earlier this year, visiting 36 cities across North America. The multi-faceted show was designed and produced by Miguel Risueño, aka Mike808, and Corey Johnson of Production Club, Los Angeles, with a stunning lighting design from Cory FitzGerald, and production management by Clancy Silver.
Signature to the show’s design were 126 MagicPanel fixtures from Ayrton, with 42 of the new MagicPanel-FX and 84 MagicPanel-R fixtures forming a dynamic, articulated ceiling of light above the duo, and 18 Ayrton MagicDot-R units fronting their DJ booth.
The tour was in support of Memories…Do Not Open, the duo’s first studio album which plays with the concept of a teenager’s ‘memory box’ in which a youngster might hide their precious objects – love letters, tickets, photos etc. The pretext gave the designers the perfect opportunity to explore the idea of using the box to create a stage and to ‘open’ that box of memories for the audience.
“Our vision was that the box would bring the band’s lyrics and stories to life,” explains Mike808, the show’s production designer and creative director. Our design reflected that concept, visualizing the stage as a box through which we unveiled the different memories, both those of The Chainsmokers and of the audience themselves.
“The box allowed us to be more ‘literal’ with the illustrated video content running on the V-Thru screen which wraps around the band; or, at other ti

South Korea - Located in the city of Gangneung on the east coast of South Korea, Gangneung Ice Arena is a new indoor venue which has been built for world figure skating and short track speed skating events in 2018 and as a permanent legacy facility for local recreational use.
The Gangneung Ice Arena has a seating capacity of 12,000 and houses two 60m x 30m ice rinks, for competition and training respectively. With four floors above ground and two underground, the arena has been designed using an environmentally-friendly ice cooling system.
The sound system for the Gangneung Ice Arena was designed and supplied by Inter-M Corporation, assisted by Desco Coon for the installation. The Inter-M design was accurately calculated for the required intelligibility, sound levels and coverage and was based around Community R Series loudspeakers.
For the main competition rink, Inter-M used 40 R2-694Z high power, full-range, three-way loudspeakers to achieve the required sound levels and coverage. These are supplemented by four R2SUBDF subwoofers, which add low frequency extension and impact for wide bandwidth, high quality music. The system is controlled from a Midas PRO2/IP console, with Symetrix Edge DSP. Lab.gruppen C 28:4 amplifiers power the Community loudspeakers.
The training rink uses a less powerful but similar system, to give skaters consistency of audio quality for training and competition. In the training rink, Desco used 14 R.25-94Z and eight R.5-94Z. The training system also uses a Midas PRO2/IP console, Symetrix Edge DSP and Lab.gruppen C 28: