USA - Following Widespread Panic's larger-than-life New Year's Eve performance, the rock band has returned to the road for a 25 date spring tour. On the road with them is long time lighting designer Paul Hoffman, who again trusted Bandit Lites to provide the gear for his exceedingly mind-blowing psychedelic looks.

Due to the wide ranges of venues that Widespread Panic plays, Hoffman is always conscientious of designing a flexible rig that can be utilized in both tiny theatres and expansive arenas.

"We want to use as much of the production every night as we can - so that is a si

UK - The 25th anniversary tour of Return to the Forbidden Planet is currently making its way around the UK, complete with a Flare Audio loudspeaker system, representing the first major touring musical production to deploy the recently launched X2A Compact Vertical Point Source Array system. Along with the X2, the show's system also carries Flare Audio's Q18 subs and the micro X0s for delay and front fill duties.

Flare Audio's polished aluminium speakers are an aesthetic match to the cult musical's 1950s sci-fi theme, and with Ben Harrison's new sound design, the combined effect

Mauritius - UK singer songwriter James Blunt recently played his first show on Mauritius at the 3500 capacity Swami Vivekananda Centre (SVICC) just outside capital city Port Louis in a show promoted by Music Machine & Immedia. Lighting was co-ordinated by his long term lighting & visuals director, Glen Johnson, and delivered by the country's leading rental and sales company, Impact Production.

Eight Robe BMFLs featured prominently on the rig together with eight MMX Spots, six ColorWash 1200E ATs and 14 LEDWash 600s, plus some beam lights, Molefeys and LED PARs, all making up a festiva

UK - One of the UK's premier arts and entertainment venues, the Grade II* listed Liverpool Philharmonic Hall (LPH) is in the midst of a £13.8m refurbishment. A significant element has been the UK's first Coda Audio ViRAY installation, which delivers exceptional sound while ensuring the venue's aesthetics are not compromised.

Also the home of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, LPH hosts more than 250 concerts and events of all kinds each year - from classical, opera, folk, rock, pop and roots music to comedy, film, speeches, conferences and private events. So the new aud

South Africa - With an estimated 20 visits to the country, international lighting designer Liz Berry is no stranger to South Africa. In fact, she says that when she stepped off the plane recently, it felt like coming home. While her adventures have included trips to Namibia, Botswana, and forming a good friendship with the team at Gearhouse SA and many other South Africans over the years, this stopover was different as Liz presented a lighting workshop at DWR Distribution, aimed at upcoming lighting designers and operators in Johannesburg from 25 to 27 March.

Having a mother who taugh

UK - On Monday 23 March, Sennheiser's newly-formed Strategic Collaborations team, in partnership with Bucks New University and MC9 Music, staged a special event showcasing exciting and emerging new talent Nellie Bell at the Hospital Club in Central London.

The event was organised by Sennheiser's Strategic Collaborations manager - EMEA Phil Cummings and brought together a host of guests from the music and entertainment industries to hear a range of material from Nellie's new album, which is due for release later this year.

Sennheiser e945 microphones were deployed for Nellie's vocal,

USA - Elation is once again be lighting American blues rock musician George Thorogood and his Delaware Destroyers band, who continue to surprise after four decades. George Thorogood found chart success in the '80s and continues to tour extensively after 40 years.

Out on a Badder Than Ever spring tour through April, lighting designer William Bennyhoff needed a rig that could complement Thorogood's high-energy boogie-blues style and found it in Elation Platinum Beam 5R Pro, Rayzor Q7 and Cuepix Blinder WW2 fixtures.

"Five years ago we were looking to have an ACL look for our show

UK - This month, the Teenage Cancer Trust marked the 15th anniversary of their annual concert series at London's Royal Albert Hall, where leading names in music and comedy come together to raise money to help young people facing cancer. Closing out this year's event, Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls headlined at the venue, with LD Shaun Moore trusting the Avolites Sapphire Touch for the occasion.

Moore, of North-East based rental company Nitelites, has been working with Turner for five years. He designed a lively and dynamic show reminiscent of the band's recent UK tour. He used th

UK - Excelling in gymnastics requires a high level of adroitness and flexibility, two qualities that the Q-Wash 560Z-LED moving RGBWA wash from Chauvet Professional has in abundance. Perhaps that's why the fixture proved to be so popular at the 2015 Men's and Women's British Artistic Gymnastics Championships held at Liverpool's Echo Arena.

Lighting designer Stephen Jolly arranged eight Q-Wash 560Z-LED fixtures provided by Novum AV on either side of the podium, where Olympians and other top gymnasts from throughout the world participated in an array of competitions covering the power h

Panama - Electrosonic has designed, fabricated and installed audio-visual systems in the Biomuseo in Panama City, Panama. Situated on the Amador Causeway, at the entrance to the Panama Canal in Latin America's only Frank Gehry-designed building, the Biomuseo will offer eight permanent art and science galleries on the origin of the isthmus and its impact on the planet's biodiversity.

In the early design stages of the project, Electrosonic's design consulting team worked with Kubik Inc, the project design/build and management group, on the development of each gallery, whose fabrication

USA - Radio City Music Hall, the legendary 5,933-capacity theatrical venue of Manhattan, New York, celebrates the premiere year of New York Spring Spectacular starring the Radio City Rockettes and upgraded Delta Media Server video systems from 7thSense Design in the UK. This is the second Radio City theatrical production to utilise the now refurbished system, following three seasons of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular Show on the original installation of 2011.

In 2014, Radio City's display technology systems were overhauled and updated to support the new seasonal pro

Germany - Artistic Licence has announced that Soundlight is now an official distributor of Artistic Licence products in Germany. Visitors to Prolight & Sound at the Messe Frankfurt next week (15-18 April) can see a selection of the broad range of Artistic Licence products on offer at the Soundlight stand, D31 in Hall 9.0.

Artistic Licence CEO, Wayne Howell comments, "As a long-standing specialist in digital lighting control and DMX512 interfaces, with an extensive manufacturing and distribution program, Soundlight is ideally placed to distribute our products. Germany is an increa

USA - Blue Martini Lounge has introduced Robe's MiniMe digital fixtures to three of its South Florida locations - in Naples, Fort Lauderdale and Miami (Brickell).

The MiniMes, an innovative and different fixture in Robe's popular Robin line of LED fixtures, join a wide range of other Robe lights in the venues including Robe Scan 250 XTs and LEDForce 7 PARs along with a variety of Anolis products including recessed Anolis ArcSpot 170s.

Eventually Blue Martini would like to incorporate multiple MiniMe units at each location nationwide. The Naples location currently has four MiniMes wh

South Africa - Cape Town stepped out, for the second year running, for the Mercedes-Benz Bokeh Fashion Film Festival, held on the 27 and 28 March at the African Pride designer hotel.

Rental company Ultra Events were the full technical supplier, as commissioned by their client Mercury Productions, to take care of the staging, trussing, lighting, sound, lcd screens and a central flow LED screen and also to provide AV equipment for the break-out conference area, which held talks, discussions and presentations on the hour every hour.

The red carpet was a podium of fashion fusion for the

UK - Simple Minds, one of the biggest pop-rock bands of the eighties, is back with their sixteenth studio album, Big Music. Simple Minds are currently in the middle of a major UK and European tour, Big Music + Greatest Hits 2015. FoH engineer Olivier Gerard (aka Gg) has been working with Simple Minds since 2009. One of the key elements of his system setup on this tour (and indeed many others) is his Intelli-X 2 48 loudspeaker processor and system management device from Apex.

"On tour you need to be both reliable and efficient," explained Gerard. "That mean

UK - Electrosonic is hosting its third New Technology Day in Aberdeen which will provide visitors with an in-depth look at the latest audio-visual and collaboration solutions on the market for the corporate, oil & gas and control room industries. This free event will be held at The Chester Hotel in Aberdeen on 13 May.

This year's Technology Day will feature a new format where over 20 manufacturers will work together, integrating their technologies to demonstrate different 'room solutions' including a control room, a high end visualisation room, video conferencing cloud solutions, Lync

Germany - Flightcase and loudspeaker component manufacturer Penn Elcom highlights its new Case Automation machine on stand D20 in Hall 9 at Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt this year, which is designed to assist case makers' operations become more efficient.

Case Automation has been designed and engineered to aid specific elements of the production process by speeding up some of the most difficult and challenging tasks associated with case making e.g. punching extrusion and others.

Penn Elcom's Case Automation system has a footprint of just one metre square and the machine costs around 1

UK - At the end of April 2015, both Lighting&Sound International sales manager Barry Howse and sales executive Jane Cockburn will be leaving LSi after over twenty years of working with PLASA's members, advertisers and readers and exhibitors and visitors. LSi editor Lee Baldock comments: "On behalf of the entire PLASA Media team, I want to thank Barry and Jane for their many years of hard work and thousands of miles of travel undertaken in our cause. We will all miss them and wish them the very best in the future."

Barry Howse joined LSi in March of 1992 as Advertising Manage

UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises has announced a series of seminars under the title Academy 4.0. The seminars will be held in Dubai during the months of May and June this year.

The training will take between one to three days depending on the particular brand. Attendees will have the opportunity not only to hear about the strong and successful brands, but also they will improve their knowledge and skills within different areas of professional audio and video market.

Confirmed dates are: Sound Devices, 6 May; DIS I, 10 - 11 May; DIS II, 12 May; Shure, 13 May; Rane, 17

UK - With the outdoor season fast approaching, and local authorities across the country seeking to reduce noise pollution at key event sites, Kent-based Old Barn Audio has taken the enterprising and pre-emptive step of purchasing a 16-element MLA Compact system from Martin Audio to help meet the anticipated market demand.

Director Phil Clark says that given his company's own history with Martin Audio - coupled with an already existing demand this summer for a technology that is scientifically proven to eliminate off-site noise escape - the move was a logical one.

"We are not a

USA - The Portland Trail Blazers enjoy a passionate following among NBA fans, whether in the stands of their home court at Moda Centre, or listening to live radio streams over the air or online.

Recently, the franchise turned to LineQ, the chief distributor of Barix products in the United States, to improve the fan experience. The solution employs three Barix Instreamer IP audio devices to encode live game feeds into files for streaming over the Internet and to mobile devices. The streams additionally incorporate live closed-captioning for hearing-impaired fans.

Because they own rig

Poland - ARAM, Poland, was responsible for the design and technical production of largest gaming event in the world - the ninth edition of the World Final of the Intel Extreme Masters .

For the second year in a row, this event was held in Katowice, this time spread to two locations - Spodek and the newly built International Convention Centre. Event broke all records of audience and visitors.

The event lasted for a total of four days, and ARAM was responsible for the design and implementation.

"Work began many months before the show," says Michael Mrzyg?ocki. "We wer

USA - The Journey North Community Church near Brainerd, Minnesota has been steadily growing since its first service in 2004. That day, 130 people showed up to a rented room in the city's community centre, a space that would serve as the church's temporary home for many years.

Recently, Journey North acquired an old Lutheran church school building in nearby Baxter, Minnesota and set about the task of converting its reverberant gymnasium into a contemporary worship space.

Twin Cities-based Audio Video Electronics (AVE) assisted, repurposing old classroom acoustic tiles and using other

USA - Before Enrique Iglesias set out to play some of the world's largest venues for his 2014 Sex and Love Tour he consulted Travis Shirley, his longtime creative director and show designer. To make the show's production elements specialized yet easy to replicate in any tour destination, Shirley deployed several classic lighting fixtures from Martin Professional and one new one - the MAC Quantum Profile.

Over the last decade, Shirley and Iglesias have done 12 tours together. The Sex and Love Tour was a first, however, in that Iglesias shared the role of headliner for some of the shows

Latest Issue. . .