Czech Republic - Herbalife, the Los Angeles-based manufacturer of natural nutrition products, held its annual corporate 'Extravaganza' motivational event this year in Prague. A total audience of around 54,000 people attended the event in the city's O2 Arena, a modern multi-purpose facility inaugurated in 2004.

The production of 'Extravaganza' Prague was entrusted to event company Planet Service, long-time partner of Herbalife for its international conventions. Technical manager for the event was Alessandro Giangi; lighting design was by Luca Casadei and Claudio Tappi, and set design w

UAE - Gary Barlow, has premiered a one-off open-air show version of his recent Since I Saw You Last tour in Dubai. For the special event, lighting designer Tim Routledge specified an array of super-bright Clay Paky fixtures, including one of the latest additions to Clay Paky's product line, the SuperSharpy, from leading supplier Eclipse Staging Services.

Routledge specified 55 Clay Paky Sharpys, 12 Sharpy Wash 330s, 36 A.leda B-EYE K20s, 10 A.leda B-EYE K10s, 15 Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1500s and 20 SuperSharpys to deliver versatility and impact to the diverse production by Loud

UK - Lighting designer James O'Neill enjoyed working with rental company Entec so much when they supplied an Imelda May one off St Patrick's Day gig for him at London's Roundhouse earlier in the year that they were his company of choice to supply a dynamic floor lighting/specials package for the latest tour which has been out for six weeks around Europe and the UK.

"When it was clear that we would be taking production on this tour, I went straight back to Entec," explained James, who was delighted to be back working with Entec's Noreen O' Riordan and Pepper (Paul Schofield).

UK - It was announced on Friday that the UK's first government-backed National College for the Creative and Cultural Industries is to be established at The Backstage Centre, High House Production Park, opening in September 2016.

Managed by Creative & Cultural Skills on behalf of a consortium of employers and industry organisations including Live Nation, Royal Opera House, White Light and the Association of British Theatre Technicians, the new National College will provide specialist training in the technical skills needed by the creative and cultural industries. This is in response to

USA - Virtually every new club lighting project has its own challenges, whether they involve dealing with limited power draw or trying to accommodate some unusual architectural limitation. For Jay Krause of Sound and Lighting Solutions, the biggest challenge when working on the city's Hunter's nightclub was getting the 10 Rogue fixtures his client wanted in fast enough.

"As soon as our client saw demos of the Rogue R1 Spot and R1 Beam, they fell in love with the fixtures," said Krause. "They wanted them yesterday. They were super excited, because they saw what the Rogue

South Africa - Lighting designer Willie Bothma was honoured to once again light the Kings of Chaos on their latest tour to Sun City and at GrandWest's Grand Arena in Cape Town. The full technical was supplied by Gearhouse Group's Cape Town branch and supported by Gavin Taylor, Sean Caie and the team at the Grand Arena.

Kings of Chaos featured special guest Steven Tyler alongside Billy Gibbons, Matt Sorum, Gilby Clarke, Duff McKagan, Robin Zander and Nuno Bettencourt and was brought to South Africa by Andrew Mac of AMP Events.

"It was a great show to do," said Bothma from G

South Africa - The eighth biennial advanced media and entertainment technology tradeshow, Mediatech Africa, will take place from 15-17 July 2015 at the Dome at Northgate, Johannesburg.

Mediatech is Africa's leading trade show for the live entertainment technology, AV systems integration, broadcast, film, production, post-production, animation and new media, studio and recording and pro DJ equipment sectors, and offers an open platform to showcase new products and technologies.

Stand sales opened at the beginning of October 2014 and the orgainsers report that response from the indust

USA - The 15th Annual Latin Grammy Awards took place in a blaze of glamour at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and was attended by some of the biggest names in Latin music and a sold-out audience of nearly 17,000. Almost 10m television viewers - the highest figures to date - tuned in for some or all the three-hour live broadcast on the Univision network.

For the fifth consecutive year, the lighting was designed by Carlos Colina, LD for all of Univision's major shows and events. After using Robe's Pointes for a successful show-stopping 'special moment' last year, he chose Point

USA - The Audio Engineering Society is set to bring the AES139 International Convention to the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City, NY, from 29 October to 1 November 2015.

Following highly-successful conventions in Los Angeles (2014) and New York (2013), which saw increased attendance as well as the development of expanded attendee and exhibitor offerings including the Project Studio Expo, Live Sound Expo and High Resolution Audio sessions, the 139th AES Convention will bring together the world's largest gathering of audio professionals for four days of audio technology, informati

World - Since the beginning of the Arctic Monkey's last global journey in May 2013, lighting director Sam MacLaren estimates he must have had his hands on over 50 different grandMA2 consoles from rental sources across the world.

So he must have been a regular grandMA2 user before then? "Well, actually that wasn't the case," says MacLaren. "I used the MA1 a few times but more recently have been using a few boards from other manufacturers, all of which have had some issues with reliability. So when we were deciding on the specification for this tour, the choice of console

UK - Teatime quiz show Eggheads is currently filming a new series. The show, hosted by Jeremy Vine, sees two teams going head-to-head through five rounds of gruelling questions and brain teasers. The Eggheads teams consist of highly regarded quiz and game show champions, (rotating each episode) against a series of teams of five 'challengers' who in each episode attempt to 'beat' the Eggheads.

Lighting designer Martin Kempton continues to originate the show, supported by Richard Martin Lighting (RML) and features their latest purchase the VL4000 Spot. The VL4000 Spot includes al

UK - A.C. Special Projects Ltd (ACSP) have supplied, installed and commissioned the LED lighting and control system for a high-profile Christmas holiday season display surrounding the iconic Eros statue at the heart of Piccadilly Circus in London's West End.

Based on a concept designed by Wildstone and approved by Westminster City Council, Wildstone developed an eye-catching 'Box of Christmas Presents' to surround the statue of Eros at Piccadilly Circus. Each side of the octagonal box features a 2.5m by 2.5m high definition LED screen promoting pre-Christmas marketing campaigns from a

South East Asia - DPA Microphones has reorganised its distribution channels in South East Asia by appointing new distributors in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Taiwan. The appointments reflect the company's ongoing commitment to develop new business channels and support DPA's influential customer base.

The new appointments include AV United in Malaysia, Vision One Co. Ltd in Thailand, Pro AVL in Vietnam, Promedia in Indonesia and Shin Lee Sheng Music Corp. (SLS) in Taiwan. "Sales in virtually every APAC country are showing growth as the market recognizes the quality a

UK - Since launching earlier this year, Yamaha's QL digital consoles have become favourites with education, the flexible facilities and familiar ease of use ensuring that students are given the best training for a job in the entertainment industry. One of the highest profile installations is at Tonbridge School in Kent.

Established in 1553, Tonbridge is an independent day and boarding school for boys aged 13-18. The school still occupies its original site, albeit with many new buildings constructed over the centuries. One of the more recent is the EM Forster Theatre, built in 2000 and

Australia - For the second year in a row, Audinate has been recognized by Deloitte as one of the fastest growing technology companies in the prestigious 2014 Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500 with 186% growth. Audinate was also recognized in the Technology Fast 50 for Australia.

Audinate develops the industry-leading Dante digital media networking solution enabling the delivery of high quality, low-latency audio over traditional IT networks. Dante has been adopted as the industry standard in pro audio, live sound, recorded music, conferencing, houses of worship, broadcast and communica

UK - Really Creative Media's VJing skills were put to the test when worked alongside lighting designer Rob Sinclair to design all the animated content for and produce the live shows on The Human League UK Tour.

The stunning stage set, designed by Sinclair, was built with video integration in mind to bring the electro beats and vibe to life through the accompanying visuals for the audience. It included three cascading arches of 12mm video screen, the largest being 48ft wide with 25ft legs down to the stage floor. These surrounded the central upstage screen which was 24ft x 8ft of 6mm.<

USA - Lighting designer, Jason Bullock of Infinity Point Design Inc, brought a wealth of new Ayrton lighting fixtures to Wiz Khalifa's Under the Influence of Music Tour this year. Under the Influence of Music is an annual event which brings the biggest new names in hip-hop to venues across America.

Bullock was amongst the first to use Ayrton's MagicPanel 602 last year and has returned to it this year incorporating 48 of the units in his design. To these he has added fresh offerings from Ayrton's newly released Radical Series, employing 36 MagicBlade-R linear fixtures and

Italy - Bringing a taste of Cuba to metropolitan Italy, Todos a Cuba is a new bar and restaurant located in the centre of Milan. A Yamaha Commercial Installation Solutions (CIS) delivers high quality, seamless sound to its customers.

Located close to the Colonne di San Lorenzo, Milan's noted Roman ruin, Todos a Cuba was designed by Novara-based architects Archizero. Comprising a single level, L-shaped space, the brief was to create a venue with a strong individual identity. One side of the L accommodates the bar area and the other customer tables and seating, the contrasting elements

UK - HHB Communications has supplied Imperial College London's Student Union with professional audio and video equipment for a major refurbishment of its radio, television and music facilities.

The TV production studio at Imperial is now equipped with an Avid S3L-X mixing system, while its radio station features a Studer OnAir 1500 console. Genelec loudspeakers, a PreSonus digital mixing console, Yellowtec m!ka microphone stands and microphones by R°DE and Shure are also employed throughout the building. The Union's new HD video infrastructure utilises a selection of Blackmagic De

UAE - Dubai-based rental houses, Eclipse Staging Services and Delta Sound, both unveiled new equipment as Lady Gaga made her Middle East debut in Dubai.

Promoted locally by AMI Live and ATW Live in association with Live Nation Global Touring, artRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball took place at Meydan Racecourse. Eclipse provided the lighting, video and primary and secondary power distribution, while audio was supplied by Delta Sound.

"We are immensely proud to have been selected as event technology supplier for such a landmark show, the fact that so much of the production was able to be se

Denmark - Copenhagen Central Station was recently equipped with 24 SGM P-5 wash lights with the goal of making it more welcoming for its approximately 100,000 daily visitors.

The contractor on the project was Matrix Sales ApS with Urs Friis-Alstrup as the project manager responsible for budgeting, product selection and programming.

The mission was to light up the arched ceilings of the more than 100-year-old railway station which consists of two 100-metre long halls - each with more than 20 metres to the ceiling.

The halls, bearing the architecture and craftsmanship of the early 1

Mexico - Vatel Producciones, founded and managed by Miriam Villalobos is celebrating its eighth birthday with a wide range of events utilising their Robe equipment in Mexico City.

Vatel's owner Miriam Villalobos was curious to learn about the production industry, and back in 2000 took a job in public relations at local company A1 Audio, during a show by Mexican band Molotov. The company was the main one in Querétaro and serviced all the major shows in the area, allowing her to meet professionals and engineers from many other places.

She says: "Audio became my passion! Af

UK - With Christmas in sight the team at Fix8Group are once again run of their feet getting everyone's pre-holiday events programmed, operated and running perfectly in all their glory.

The MTV European Music Awards took place at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow on Sunday 9 November 2014 and saw artists like Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, U2 and Alicia Keys amongst many others perform, with the awards being hosted by Nicki Minaj.

The enormous setup for the show involved a range of companies such as XL Video, who provided all the LED screens, fixtures and projection for the show; multiple graphic

China - In celebration of its 35th anniversary in October, Hong Kong Ballet presented three dance showcases, titled A Celebration of Dance, in the Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Lighting designer and director of C'est Bon Projects, Kwok Fai Mak, employed numerous ETC Source Four LED CYC and Selador Desire luminaires to light up this ballet trio.

The showcases included George Balanchine's masterpiece Serenade, Nacho Duato's provocative contemporary ballet Castrati and Natalia Conus' staging of Swan Lake's third act, which is based on Marius

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