Australia - The State Library of New South Wales is one of the major locations on the Sydney tourist trail, having opened in 1910 thanks to funding from David Scott Mitchell. Its location in the heart of Sydney means that as well as housing one of Australia's premier collections of books, it is also the start of many of the cities sightseeing tours.

LumenRadio, working with Enttec and Sylvania Lighting Australasia provided a wireless control scheme to update the building facade lighting and add color controls, wireless monitoring and integration into the building LAN. Enttec supplied

South Africa - Canadian singer / songwriter Tamia played three dates on her recent South African tour and for the two Johannesburg shows staged at the Carnival City Big Top Arena, lighting was designed by Magz Schoeman who used Robe moving lights at the core of her rig, including the venue's new Robin Pointes.

Schoeman is head of lighting at Carnival City and lights many performers visiting the venue with a schedule that includes a steady flow of international artists.

For Tamia, Schoeman had a free rein to come up with the design, and started with the music, which embraces multi ge

USA - Before Joe Bonamassa hit the road this spring for the initial North American leg of his latest world tour, the production team at Special Event Services (SES) knew they needed a highly versatile loudspeaker rig that could handle anything they could throw at it over most of a year and three continents. To ensure that they were well prepared for everything - acoustic sets, electric sets, large theatres, small arenas, the US, Europe, and Australia - SES chose to specify L-Acoustics' new K2 system for its first official tour as a main PA.

Jason Farah of SES says that the venues on t

USA - Country music icon Tim McGraw embarked on his Sundown Heaven Town 2014 tour in May, with Silent House production designer, Baz Halpin orchestrating a typically inventive set that evolves as the show unwinds.

Having been approached by production manager, John 'Lug' Zajonc and tour manager Nick Cua, Halpin was soon discussing concepts with the artist himself. "He wanted this show to look unlike anything he had done before - moving away from the traditional imagery of country music and into something more modern looking." He also wanted to display abstract 'light a

UK - Utopium contributed to the stunning setting for the inaugural Bristol Summer Series, 25-26 June, 2014, for Metropolis Music when it supplied a comprehensive lighting production, including newly acquired fixtures.

These were the first major music events in Bristol's Harbourside for 10 years: open air concerts featuring Paolo Nutini on 25 June, with The Pogues 26 June and the promoters have since announced their intention to establish an annual Bristol Summer Series event.

The stage was framed by a tall ship, the Kaskelot, where Paolo Nutini played a combination of his hits with

New Zealand - Park Road Post Production, a premier post production facility based in Wellington, has recently invested in a new MADI solution from DirectOut Technologies to improve working conditions in the mix area.

Owned by Academy award-winning film director, Sir Peter Jackson, best known for having directed and produced The Hobbit' and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Park Road was established as a one-stop shop with world-class integrated picture and sound departments all under one roof. Park Road is uniquely placed to supply all post services for a feature from on-se

Switzerland - Set high in the spectacular Graubünden Alps, 1600m above sea level, the new InterContinental Davos luxury hotel offers the very best of Swiss hospitality and business facilities. A major Yamaha audio system has been installed to deliver the optimum in sound quality and flexibility.

The hotel features 216 rooms, 25 suites, nine meeting rooms, a business centre and conference facility, fitness centre, spa and three restaurants. With extensive alpine views, the hotel's state-of-the-art facilities are matched by the extensive Yamaha audio system.

The system was designed a

Germany - Since July 2014 HB-Laserkomponenten GmbH is a member of the Laserworld Group and underlines Laserworld being the world leader in the field of manufacturing and distribution of show laser light systems.

Martin Werner, CEO at Laserworld, has overseen several acquisitions and new foundations of companies in the Laserworld Group in the past years, where he sees an obvious trend: "In an increasingly difficult niche-market, consolidating is essential to configure in a way to be competitive and at the same time provide products that perfectly meet the requirements of the custo

USA - Free registration is now open for PLASA Focus: Austin 2014. Taking place at the Palmer Events Centre on 9-10 September, this will be the second time PLASA Focus has returned to Texas since the launch of the event series in North America in February 2012.

PLASA Focus provides visitors with the opportunity to check out the latest products from some of the biggest names in entertainment technology. Companies already signed up to exhibit include: d&b audiotechnik, Chauvet Professional, TMB, Altman Lighting, Drape Kings, Harrington Hoists, Lightronics, Elation Professional, and Big H

South Africa - From humble beginnings, JMVR restaurant owner, Mike van Reenen, had the right idea when he opened his first venue, Soccer Shack in Pretoria 15 years ago.

Today he owns and manages five very successful venues in the city, one of which is Europa Night Club situated in Sunnyside. Europa has been going strong for the past eight years and the time recently came for Mike to up his game and upgrade the sound and lighting for the venue, making it on par with international specs.

He started with the audio system and involved Wild & Marr who did what they do best!

DWR Distrib

Australia - When Darlinghurst Theatre Company, The City of Sydney and architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer set about to renovate and repurpose Darlinghurst's Burton St Tabernacle as The Eternity Playhouse, there were always going to be a lot of technical and physical challenges. The building was originally constructed as a Baptist church in 1887, and now had to be adapted to run lights, sound, power and flybars, as well as accommodate clear sightlines for the audience.

With the Tabernacle's heritage came beauty and workmanship, including the decorative timber ceiling. Intricately worked a

USA - Production designer Steve Cohen's association with Billy Joel dates back an astonishing 40 years. Based on this vast experience he has conjured up some further magic for the artist's latest tour, which takes in an open-ended monthly residency at Madison Square Garden. By becoming established as the fourth franchise at MSG the artist has reaffirmed his close association with New York City, and has been delivering some stupendous performances.

Along the production journey, as technology evolved into LED, so Cohen encountered the world of the GLP impression series - using both the

UK - Carnaby Street - The Concert took the sounds of the 60s up and down the UK, from the south coast of England, into Wales and up to the north of Scotland. Capital Sound was there every step of the way, providing an audio system fit for the best of the rock n' roll era.

With the tour playing small theatres, Capital's challenge was to supply a system, complete with independent front of house and monitor desks, that would fit into a self-drive panel van, but still provide the punch and coverage the show deserved.

"We opted for the very small, compact Meyer Mina/USW sub s

USA - The CVS Caremark Charity Classic is known throughout Rhode Island for bringing big name golfers to the state (20 PGA pros were at this year's event) and raising much-needed funds for local causes.

This year's edition of the event, which has raised well over a $1m annually since it began in 1999, also brought something else to the area - big name entertainment in the form of Lady Antebellum. The multi-Grammy winning, platinum recording artists performed before over one thousand invited guests at the Rhode Island Convention Centre, illuminated by a zesty lightshow created by Derek

UK - Leisuretec Distribution is gearing up for an interactive seminar on Multi-Format Vision Mixing, in partnership with Roland Systems Group on Wednesday 23 July.

Following the success of their last event, Demystifying Web Streaming in June, Roland Systems Group and Leisuretec have designed this seminar to specifically highlight some of the daily challenges that live event professionals face with different video standards, connections and formats. Focusing on the practical application of managing video production, the seminar is designed for live event equipment users,

UK - Lighting and visuals rental company HSL supplied an extensive lighting specials package - including 140 new Philips Nitro LED strobes - for the Prodigy's show-stopping headline performance on Friday night at Sonisphere 2014 in Knebworth Park.

Show designer Andy Hurst has developed the latest spectacular look for the band who are playing a series of festival headliners and own shows throughout Europe across the summer, where they are maintaining their reputation for high production values and epic visual and sonic experiences.

HSL is also supplying a standard 'floor specials' li

UK - The Royal Opera House in London has recently invested in SpectraCyc 200 units from Altman Lighting for their Linbury Studio Theatre. The new cyclorama wash fixtures, which have replaced existing tungsten fixtures, use an LED source with RGBA colour-mixing to achieve a nearly limitless colour palette. Designed for both theatrical and architectural applications, the Spectra Cyc blends colours via a patent pending LED lens and can be adapted for either floor mounted or sky-cyc uses.

Before deciding on the Altman fixtures, Paul Hornsby, lighting systems manager at Royal Opera House,

Germany - Germany had a lot to celebrate at this year's Football World Cup - including victory over Argentina in the final - with event technology supplier sld mediatec of Nuremberg turning to an Elation Professional lighting package to highlight the viewing party of German national team matches at Kennametal Kick and Groove Festival Park at Nuremberg Airport.

Some 20,000 fans gathered at the park to witness live the success of the German team on the big screen. Complementary lighting effects from Elation Platinum Series, Design Series and LED moving heads, along with Elation LED Par

Nigeria - With bases in Nigeria and Ghana, TV production company, Ultima Studios are responsible for developing high viewing television programmes such as the music talent show, MTN Project Fame West Africa and the territorial franchise, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.

As a premium media production organisation - one of the most prolific in sub-Saharan Africa - they are backed by their own cutting-edge production inventory to service their studio work - and this includes nearly 50 discharge and LED moving heads from Chinese manufacturer PR Lighting.

As they gear up for

USA - When San Antonio's Tobin Center for the Performing Arts opens in September, its H-E-B Performance Hall and Alvarez Family Studio Theater will boast Robert Juliat Cyrano and Buxie followspots, respectively.

The new Tobin Center rises behind the façade of the former San Antonio Municipal Auditorium along the famed River Walk downtown. The 1,750-seat multi-purpose house will be the home of the San Antonio Symphony and other resident companies; its inaugural 2014-15 season will feature such diverse performers as comedy legend Bill Cosby, radio icon Garrison Keillor and "The Pr

USA - George Strait holds the record for the most number one country music hits - 44 top charters since 1981 - of all time. So it only makes sense that the final show of this music icon's national touring career would also set a record for attendance. Nearly 105,000 fans attended Strait's 7 June concert at AT&T Stadium, eclipsing the Rolling Stones' previous attendance record of 87,500 for the venue in 1981, coincidentally the same year the singing cowboy launched his professional career.

Dallas-based Onstage Systems, which has been rigging sound reinforcement for Strait's tours since

Europe - Lighting designer Jamie Thompson has again turned to GLP's LED impression series to help create dramatic stage impact for this year's world tour by Bastille.

Three years after successfully integrating the impression 90s (and Zoom) into The Script's show design, his company MIRRAD, which he runs with experienced co-lighting designer Bryan Leitch and Dave Cohen, specified 60 of the German manufacturer's popular X4 moving heads. The inventory was supplied by PRG after first providing a demo of the fixtures.

Technology has advanced a long way in three years, and Thompson admits

Opening Acts - Rod Stewart is set to perform at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Glasgow later this month. He will be joined by Susan Boyle, Amy MacDonald, Julie Fowlis and violinist Nicola Benedetti. Glasgow 2014 organisers expect 40,000 people at Celtic Park on 23 July to watch the games kick off and millions more will watch on TV around the world. Chief executive David Grevemberg said the announcement of Stewart on the line up would take "excitement and anticipation to a whole new level".

Theatres In Perspective - Venues funded by Arts Council England are

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