South Africa - With a start in November 2013 in Amsterdam, Armin Only Intense will continue its journey to over 20 destinations to all corners of the world, from America to Australia to Africa and to Moscow.

The concept and vision of this world tour is inspired by Armin's latest album, Intense. Armin Only is a concept that started in the early days of Armin's career. Since the first editions in the early millennium years, the show has grown and come to life. Armin explains, "Unlike today, now that it's all based on short sets and quick highlights, it used to be all about t

Germany - An impressive array of Clay Paky fixtures recently took centre stage, or rather nine stages, on the new interactive talent show, Keep Your Light Shining, which claims, "You should never hide your talent in the dark". The show debuted on German Pro7 television with lighting designer Jerry Appelt using lighting as one of the main components of this clever show.

The programme showcases talented young contestants who take turns singing a song in brief intervals. It uses dramatic lighting to emphasize the importance of each singer's brief chance to impress the vi

Brazil - If one country has been defined by the celebration of 2014 then it has been Brazil. Already famous for its carnivals this summer it exploded into life by hosting the FIFA World Cup.

With the potential requirement for sophisticated point-to-point communication systems, broadcast service companies like Tele-Ponto started casting the net for solutions, and it was not long before Optocore came under their radar.

"Tele-Ponto had been looking for a solution to integrate with our RTS intercom systems and [RTS senior support engineer] Chuck Roberts suggested Optocore," st

A Man from the Future - The Pet Shop Boys unveiled their latest work, a tribute to wartime codebreaker Alan Turing, at the first of this year's Late Night Proms. The 50-minute 'musical biography' featured an excerpt from Gordon Brown's public 2009 apology for Turing's 1952 conviction for homosexual activity. Narrated by Juliet Stevenson, A Man from the Future received a standing ovation at London's Royal Albert Hall. Chrissie Hynde also performed alongside Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe themselves.

Back to the Future - Further shows of Secret Cinema's Back to the Future<

USA - One of the most successful off-the-Strip venues in Las Vegas, South Point Hotel and Casino is captivating guests at its ultra-busy Showroom and is doing it with an economical dynamic lighting package from Elation Professional that includes LED pixel mapping effects.

Operating from the southwest Las Vegas valley, South Point features amenities like an equestrian arena, 64-lane bowling centreand the most convention centre space off the Strip. South Point also operates a busy 400-seat Showroom facility that features headliner entertainment, live bands and other acts on a daily basi

Scandinavia - Since 2010, Equipson and Yamaha Europe have been cooperating on a range of products under the WORKproCA brand, manufactured by Equipson and exclusively distributed by Yamaha across Europe.

Today both companies have announced that this arrangement has been modified to focus the distribution of WORKproCA products on the Scandinavian markets of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland. From 1 September, the distribution of Equipson products will be managed directly by Equipson in all other European markets.

"We have enjoyed great cooperation for over three years

The Netherlands - Following Elation Europe's popular PRO Service Days in May, Elation Professional is offering Pro Training Days to be held 20 and 21 August at Elation's European Customer Care Center in Kerkrade, The Netherlands.

Day One of the factory-authorized training will focus on Elation's Capture Polar lighting design software and Emulation/Emulation Pro lighting control software. Day Two will cover Elation's Zeus media server including the Arkaos Media Master Pro.

The training will be headed by qualified Elation instructors and costs 30€ per person per day which also covers

Qatar - With just eight years to go until they host the FIFA World Cup in 2022, Qatar was keen to get as involved as possible in this year's biggest international football tournament.

Qatar's Brazil 2014 Fanzone, was a specially built, open-air venue with a three tier retractable roof located in Katara Cultural Village. Using a prototype of one of the systems that Qatar is developing to use in stadiums when it is their turn to host the World Cup, the venue was cooled to ensure the environment, if not the atmosphere, was kept at a regular and comfortable temperature for all fans.

Wit

France - Pop star Amel Bent first took France by storm as a semi-finalist on the pop idol television show Nouvelle Star in 2004. Ten years later, she's still going strong. Currently in the midst of her Instinct Tour, Bent is performing to enthusiastic audiences across France and Switzerland, where a pair of SSL Live consoles, supplied by SGroup's Alès location, are handling FOH and monitors.

Having previously worked with Christophe Willem, Zazie and 1789 Les amants de la bastille as PA tech, FOH engineer Thibault Maestracci joined Bent in November 2013 at the start of the tour

Germany - After winning a thrilling World Cup Final in Rio de Janeiro and the subsequent flight home in the 'Siegerflieger' (the victors' plane), nearly one million fans of the German national team gave them a memorable reception at the 'Fan Mile' in Berlin.

Already in recent weeks up-to 500,000 football fans had celebrated their team's success on the Straße des 17 Juni in front of the Brandenburg Gate and along the Fan Mile. For the light show on the main stage, situated in front of the famous landmark, local company TLT Event AG was responsible for building the 65 square metre LED

South Africa - Clear-Com has announced that Tadco, the South African audio distribution company, will offer the entire range of Clear-Com communications systems to the House of Worship, live entertainment and AV sectors in the Sub-Saharan African region.

Clear-Com's intercom solutions, including partyline, digital matrix, wireless intercoms, and intercom-over-IP conferencing software, will provide the live production industry in the region of Sub-Saharan Africa with the dependable communication solution that it has been missing in the past few years, says the company. Tadco offers qua

USA - Cache Creek Casino Resort, (CCCR), located in Brooks, CA, recently completed upgrading the lighting system in its popular entertainment hub, Club 88. Along with extensive audio and video production upgrades, the 700-seat multipurpose venue is now a premiere state-of-the-art performance space equally able to showcase entertainment acts as well as sporting events booked at the Northern California casino.

Club 88's technical team wanted to move beyond the limitations of the original, more conventional lighting equipment. They were looking to more effectively address the audiences'

USA - Rebelution has been reinvigorating reggae with an irresistible sun-splashed playful sound that's been acclaimed as being "easy on the ears." Its highly anticipated Count Me In Tour is offering something else too: a lightshow that's easy on the eyes and souls of the group's free spirited fans thanks to a colorful and quick moving design by LD Kenny Gribbon of Pulse Lighting that features Legend moving fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

"Rebelution is on a roll, drawing big crowds, and riding high on the charts; so there's a lot of excitement surrounding the

Europe - Top Gear Live (TGL) - the show that presents all the adrenaline, excitement, humour, serious motoring stunts and moments of the top TV show in a breath-taking arena extravaganza - has just completed a whistle-stop European tour playing Prague, Budapest, Zagreb and Turin.

Lighting designer Steve Sinclair lit this using nearly 200 Robe moving lights - and for the first time no generics - not even a single PAR can or Molefey in sight!

The show saw TV show hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and The Stig add their irreverent and quirky humour to this extrao

World - When it came to lighting superstar Katy Perry's current Prismatic world tour, lighting and show designer to the stars Baz Halpin selected the Clay Paky Sharpy and Sharpy Wash 330 to create a series of surprise special effects.

Engaging in a bit of theatrical trickery Halpin designed a series of 36 bespoke hydraulic flippers onto which are attached 36 individual Sharpy fixtures supplied as part of a lighting package provided by UK Neg Earth and US hire outfit Upstaging. The flippers are built into the sides of show's giant onstage triangular LED screens to provide a rang

Austria - Everyone is familiar with the idea of a rock concert, but few events take the word 'rock' as literally as the recent series of outdoor gigs staged in Norway by the Pink Floyd tribute band Puls. Against the dramatic backdrop of the Kilden-Fjaereheia quarry in Grimstad, the band played six sold-out nights to audiences who were wowed not just by the music but by the spectacular projection-mapped backdrop that was created courtesy of AV Stumpfl's Wings AV multi-image control technology.

Event design and production for the Puls concerts was the responsibility of Norwegian company

The Netherlands - Singer Barbara Straathof is enjoying unexpected success after her exposure in season 3 of the TV show The Voice of Holland. It was the third season of the Dutch reality singing competition, created by media tycoon John de Mol, and the first sophomore season ever of the show's format. After rising demand for her appearances following her participation on the show, Straathof's first professional decision was to choose a microphone system for her rapidly building live schedule.

Barbara explained her choice of microphone, "For my live work, I decided to do a

Europe - Robbie Williams spent much of April, May and June on tour throughout Europe promoting his latest album, Swings Both Ways, culminating in four nights at London's O2 Arena. Taking care of musical genres from jazz to rock was a comprehensive package of Sennheiser microphones and in-ear monitors.

The tour's audio system was supplied by Britannia Row Productions and included 10 channels of Sennheiser SKM 5200 series handheld microphones with MD 5235 capsules and 22 channels of 2000 series in-ear monitors.

"There were a lot of challenges with the vocal microphones, be

UK - The Live Event Hire Programme is a new initiative from Roland that has been established to promote the growing network of UK rental companies supplying Roland professional audio and video products for hire. The Roland Systems Group website (www.rolandsystemsgroup.co.uk) provides the hub of the programme, creating an online resource for customers wishing to source Roland products for hire and get in touch with suppliers directly.

"The aim of the Live Event Hire Programme is primarily to help raise market awareness of the service providers in the rental market by giving prospe

The Netherlands - AVL has a solid track record of selling and supporting ChamSys in Belgium and Luxembourg with the highest standards of customer training and support which will be expanded to the Netherlands.

"We are confident that with AVL's skills and experience there will be a high standard of customer service, support and training in the Netherlands," says ChamSys.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Allen & Heath's new Qu-24 compact digital mixer has been installed in the prestigious Cambridge Union Society.

Founded in 1815, the Cambridge Union can claim to be the oldest continually operating debating society in the world, with participants including heads of state, business leaders, actors, academics and politicians.

Having extensive experience in the university, cathedral and heritage sectors, installer About Sound was appointed to specify and install a new audio system as part of an AV refurbishment. The brief was to provide a digital console that inexperienced users wo

Italy - Based just outside of Milan, the latest addition to Audient's global distribution network is Leading Technologies. Responsible for Audient's compact product range, including the USB interface, iD22 and the 8-channel mic pre and ADC, ASP880, the company takes on the mantle of distribution throughout Italy, this month.

"We are very excited to start this adventure with such a high quality brand that perfectly fit into our portfolio complementing and completing our offer," says Leading Technologies' CEO Marco Porro. "The addition of Audient products will help expand

Spain - Lighting designer Edu Valverde and Madrid-based AV group Geometrica Studio have created an urban-inspired lighting design using the exact beams of the Clay Paky Sharpy for a show celebrating Spanish jewellery brand Aristocrazy at this year's Mercedes Benz Fashion Week (MBFW) Madrid.

Taking inspiration from the 80s cult classic film Blade Runner, the design comprised of a clever mix of architectural, video mapped and lighting elements that combined to create an urban set reminiscent of the gritty architecture featured in the science-fiction blockbuster.

"The light

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