Pharos - Leaderboard - May 2024

Events

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UK - At the start of June, Stage Crew - the Irish event crew company - were shortlisted for their first two awards. The Irish Event Industry Awards shortlisted Stage Crew in their 'Best Event Infrastructure Provider' category and the Northern Irish Workplace and Employment Awards named them as finalists for the 'Best Company to do Business With' award.

The Irish Event Awards are now in their fourth year, celebrating excellence and showcasing the highest standards in Ireland's event industry. The Workplace & Employment Awards are in their 6th Year and are endorsed by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation and the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development.

Both awards ceremonies were held on 21st June, and at the WEA awards Stage Crew were named the winners of the 'Best Company to do Business With' category.

The judges said Stage Crew offered "something uniquely

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UK - Entertainment industry training and skills centre Backstage Academy will be holding an open day next Sunday 15 July 11am - 4pm.

Visitors are invited to take an Access All Areas tour around the LS-Live rehearsal and events facility, and learn more about the Foundation Degree in Live Events Production (validated by The University of Bolton) and short courses in backstage skills. Staff and tutors will be on hand to discuss the many opportunities to get involved with Backstage Academy whether as a student, partner, or supporting institution.

There will be plenty of entertainment on the day; the 17,664sq.ft studio arena will be hosting West Yorkshire Police's charity Battle of the Bands event from 12pm - 5pm, where 10 local schools bands will perform songs about crime and anti-social behaviours in the community, in the hope of impressing the judging panel, which includes Chumb

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Italy - "I needed something that could properly compete with its bigger neighbours in the rig in terms of brightness and presence and the MAC Aura didn't disappoint." So says lighting and show designer Jò Campana who teamed Martin Professional's MAC Aura LED wash with 1500-watt MAC III Profiles and MAC 2000 Wash XBs on Italian rock band Litfiba's latest tour.

In accordance with the band's wishes for the 2012 tour, more contemporary visual elements like LED video screens were avoided in favor of classic rock looks. "In the end, it's an old style rock 'n' roll show with big sound and strong lights," Campana says.

"I went for the MAC Aura because of their powerful and defined beam, besides its notorious distinctive aura feature. It is also very lightweight and with its speed I sometimes launched a very high-speed pan/tilt effect. The result was definitel

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UK - An audience of over 700 Yorkshire business people paid and turned up to hear worldly wisdom and wit at the 17th Yorkshire International Business Convention, held in Leeds.

Over the past 17 years, the event has brought together some of the world's most inspirational and influential speakers, from Bill Clinton to Mikhail Gorbachev. This year's sell-out event was run in a purpose-built marquee at Wellington Place, Leeds with a parallel presentation at Bridlington Spa and a two-way helicopter taxi service for the speakers. The Leeds event was the last in the series, although YIBC will continue to be staged at Bridlington Spa.

The complete audio visual production was supplied by Saville Audio Visual, providers of the AV technology for practically all previous YIBC events. Saville technical project manager, Richard Zamberlan said, "Holding the event in a marquee brings its

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USA - Wireless Solution Sweden AB is on the road again, this time heading for PLASA Focus: Nashville, 11-12 July with new products and some innovative advancements to their W-DMX product range. The show will be held at the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, USA and Wireless Solution will be exhibiting with A.C.T. Lighting in Stand 321.

In addition to demonstrating their new product advancements, Wireless Solution will also be holding a seminar on Wednesday, 11 July from 1:30-2:30 in the Demo room. The seminar will be hosted by Niclas Arvidsson and will serve as an introduction to the world of Wireless Lighting Control, including Wireless DMX, RDM and more. Topics include what to avoid and which solution is the best for different applications in both crowded indoor situations or long distance outdoor applications. A presentation of the W-DMX line of products will be sh

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Germany - Last month, all Germany was gripped with football fever. In addition to record TV ratings, the fans who gathered in vast numbers in front of giant screens all over the country to watch live relays of its performances underlined the popularity of the German national team. In arenas, including the stadiums in Kiev and Lviv where the matches were being contested, as well as at football parties all over Germany, sound reinforcement from Bosch Communications Systems provided the competition with acoustic support - whatever the size of the gathering.

In Dresden, the excitement was delivered in XXL format. Every time trainer Jogi Löw's team took to the field, around 12,000 fans assembled at the Königsufer on the banks of the Elbe to follow the action. To get them really geed up, the organizers (the City of Dresden and the company that produces the city's film nights) hired

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USA - The New Line Cinema film adaptation of the Rock of Ages Broadway musical opened 15 June with a star-studded cast, hits from the 1980s, and High End Systems products in the mix. The rock and roll romance of small town girl Sherrie and city boy Drew, meeting on the Sunset Strip in search of their Hollywood dreams, is told through the music of Journey, Foreigner, Def Leppard, REO Speedwagon and more, much of which is recreated in performances in the film.

LD Mike Baldassari who has designed the theatrical lighting and concert scenes for a number of films including Nine, Joyful Noise, Sex and the City 2 and more, was tasked with handling the live stage performances in this production. In his rig full of assorted lighting, he chose to include four High End Systems Showbeam2.5 automated luminaires. However, to run all the performances, he specified th

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USA - - The Boston Symphony Orchestra has once again tapped DPA Microphones for its nationally broadcast, live Boston Pops Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular. Held annually in the Hatch Shell at the Esplanade along the Charles River, the concert and fireworks show hosts nearly 400,000 attendees. As the most watched Independence Day performance in the US each year, the Pops have continued to rely on DPA Microphones to ensure that audio at the Spectacular is as magnificent as the rockets' red glare.

With limited rehearsal time and over one hundred production inputs, the Pops needed gear that sounded good from the start and worked dependably. DPA Microphones fit the bill for miking the orchestra, and the audio crew made good use of several of the company's equipment options during the event.

DPA could be found across the stage throughout the evening's performance, with t

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USA - Norway's projectiondesign has supplied core technology to Electrosonic for the new building of the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. Electrosonic was the main contractor involved with the installation of audiovisual equipment and systems throughout the building.

Electrosonic was tasked with delivering AV systems that met the needs of media consultancy RomeAntics and media designer and producer Local Projects.

"Almost all the smaller screens at the NMAJH that require projection use projectiondesign," explains Bryan Abelowitz, system sales consultant at Electrosonic.

Depending on the throw distance, image brightness and resolution required at each location, Electrosonic selected projectiondesign F12, F22, or F32 projectors, and Abelowitz is pleased with their size and performance.

Anders Løkke, marketing director, projectionde

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UAE - Dubai-based AV company, MediaPro International, recently fielded three Christie Roadie HD+35K projectors (along with two Christie HD18K 3-chip DLP projectors) to beam the action for the Etisalat Pro League football finals - a major event in the Abu Dhabi city of Al Ain.

Contracted by Al Ain Football Club, the production company ensured that the high output 35,000 lumens projectors, brought the event to life for the 11,000 people who gathered in the Tahnoun bin Mohamed Stadium, showing HD content and bespoke graphics throughout the event.

Images were projected onto a huge 60m x 90m canvas, using the Christie Twist module in the projectors, with the show run through a Dataton Watchout system.

With a throw distance of around 55 metres, MediaPro used 1.45-1.8:1 zoom lens on the projectors, which were mounted on scaffolding platforms positioned in the upper grandstand. This

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UK - On Sunday 3 June, over 1,000 vessels participated in a flotilla on the Thames from Battersea to Tower Bridge in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. And while it may have been an awful day for the weather, live acts were the order of the day at Battersea Park, with everything from 1950s swing orchestras on the bandstand, to a host of exciting acts on the main stage.

On hand was Illuminate Design, who set up and managed the lighting for all five stages, with an anticipated audience of up to 90,000 - as well as a number of different craft areas with a small but functional lighting arrangement.

Project manager Robin Shephard-Blandy reports, "We have worked on the Mayor's Thames Festival many times before, so knew the organisers of the Diamond Jubilee Pageant already. They asked us to help with a number of different stages, with a finishing time of 7pm - which meant ev

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UK - Conceived and sponsored by Saville Audio Visual in partnership with De Vere Venues Whites, the first ever Conference North attracted an enthusiastic audience to Bolton's Reebok Stadium.

Chairman Richard John introduced a team of leading events industry professionals to debate the benefits and the development of blended, or hybrid, events in some detail. The viability and effectiveness of the eStream streaming solution was clearly demonstrated on the day, with 25% of the audience watching and interacting online as remote participants.

Topics and questions from the room and from the online audience were discussed, broadcast and captured, using the Saville iDEA iPad platform to sample opinions and display results on screen. Nearly half the audience comprised professional event organisers and 60% saw the benefits to accessing a wider audience coupled with the ability to respo

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USA - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light will this week be at PLASA Focus in Nashville, showing the latest LED lighting technology from i-Pix and Core Lighting.

For the last seven years, i-Pix has been creating LED lighting fixtures that have immediately become the favourites of lighting designers working across the full spectrum of entertainment lighting, from concerts and live events to theatre productions. At PLASA Focus, staff from White Light, i-Pix's distributor, will be showing the new i-Line 600 and i-Line 1200 battens. Building on the success of i-Pix's renowned BB range, the i-Lines are six-cell or t12-cell colour-mixing fixtures offering high light output in a beam that is completely blended. The i-Line fixtures deliver over five times the output of the original BB range. The new fixtures have already been put to use lighting the Queen's Diamond Jubilee con

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Music in Schools - Violinist Nicola Benedetti has attacked the spending squeeze on music tuition in schools. She said young people needed a cultural identity to replace their obsession with celebrities and in becoming a celebrity. Benedetti began violin lessons at the age of five and went on to attend the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey. The 25-year-old told the Radio Times, "I'm fiercely furious about the provision of music in schools."

Benedetti secured a £2m, six-album record contract after winning BBC Young Musician of the Year at 16 and has risen to international fame. She has also been involved in supporting the Big Noise orchestra in Raploch, Stirling - inspired by the Venezuelan El Sistema scheme to help poorer children. The violinist said: "So many people up and down the country are trying to create a better foundation for musical education.

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China - The Volkswagen Group presented an exclusive preview of its latest models at the first Volkswagen Group Night in China, which was held recently during the Auto China 2012 exhibition at the Beijing Olympic Swimming Centre. Over 1700 guests turned up for the one-hour event, which took place the evening before the opening of the motor show. The event was planned and coordinated by Filmtec Media GmbH, on behalf of Volkswagen Kommunikation, and technical direction was entrusted to Martin Kuhn.

Seventy-eight Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1500s, 24 Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1500s, 14 Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1500s, 32 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 700s and 18 Clay Paky Sharpys were used at the event together with other lights.

Kuhn explained the advantages of using Clay Paky moving heads for this Night, "The Clay Paky range has been highly successful at this type of event in recent years, an

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USA - On the morning of 14 September, 1814, Major George Armistead signalled the American victory in the war of 1812 by raising the first American flag over Fort McHenry. The incident inspired poet Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner, which would eventually be declared the country's national anthem.

On 13 June, the city of Baltimore kicked off a three-year national commemoration of the events of 1812 with the Star Spangled Sailabration, a seven-day festival of concerts, celebrations, fireworks, an international parade of ships, and a rousing air show featuring the Blue Angels.

To provide audio support for the Blue Angels air show, Continental Air Show Productions selected a dozen Community R.5HPT loudspeakers. CASP's Dave Olmstead comments, "Obviously, the biggest challenge in providing sound for a Blue Angels air show is competing with the a

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Australia - "The Prime Minister's Olympic Dinner has become the signature lead-up event in preparation for the Games - to recognise and support those who have been selected to represent Australia in London by raising vital additional funds to support our Olympic team" says Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia.

The Prime Minister's 8th Olympic Dinner, produced by Multiple Award Winning producers -Peter Jones Special Events, held at the Plenary, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, raised over $2m dollars for our Australian Olympic Team, competing at next month's Games.

VIP's included former Prime Ministers, Over 60 past and present Olympians, along with corporate guests.

Entertainment for the evening included a star studded line up featuring Orchestra Victoria, Melbourne Philharmonic Choir, Delta Goodrem, Todd McKenny, David Hobson, Silvie Paladino, Mar

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Portugal - Headlining the fourth night of this year's Rock In Rio (Lisboa) festival, Stevie Wonder used three DiGiCo SD7 consoles, ensuring that his sound didn't rely on any Superstition.

Playing a mixture of hits and cover versions to an audience of over 75,000, Stevie Wonder himself requested the three SD7s - one for Front of House, one for vocal an in-ear monitors and the third for band monitors.

Supplied (along with the rest of the festival's audio system) by Brazilian rental company Gabisom Audio Equipment, Stevie Wonder's set included over 80 inputs with each SD7 having two dedicated SD-Racks.

The FoH console was on a redundant Optocore loop, with the monitors on redundant MADI. All SD7s were dual redundant mirrored engines (audio and control), which assured total permanent redundancy.

"When Stevie made the jump from analogue to digital, the SD7 was the ideal ch

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UK - As booking opened at 9am this morning, strong exhibitor numbers, record breaking pre-registration figures and a new focus on content provision were creating a buzz about PLASA 2012. With four brand new theatres and 80 free-to-attend sessions split into nine new themes, these exciting developments underpin PLASA's commitment to providing an unparalleled experience for visitors and remaining a leader in the provision of education, professional development and knowledge sharing across our industry.

PLASA CEO Matthew Griffiths comments, "PLASA runs events to provide quality business opportunities, education and thought leadership. The PLASA Show in London is the only entertainment technology event to reinvest its revenue back into the industry it serves - anything that is not invested back into the show is used to help develop technical standards, certification and qualifi

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UK - Prolyte Group has announced the launch of the latest incarnation of its LiteConsole - the XPRS. The performance platform, which previewed at Musikmesse/Prolight + Sound, is now available to consumers through a network of Prolyte partners.

LiteConsole is a versatile podium structure that offers a portable and high-visual-impact solution for any number of applications from live musician and DJ performances, to corporate AV presentations, exhibitions, conferences and retail environments where it makes an eye-catching stand.

This new version "combines all the most desirable features of LiteConsole in a sleeker, lighter package". The design makes the system even easier to assemble - it now takes one person just a matter of minutes. The innovative folding frame design means the LiteConsole XPRS will flat pack and fit into an average car, thus leaving plenty of room fo

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UK - XL Events, commissioned by the TRO Group, supplied a specially constructed circular LED screen for Nissan's stand in the main exhibition area of the 2012 Festival of Speed, held at the Goodwood Estate, Chichester.

The stand was showcasing Nissan's rugged Juke crossover vehicle under the 'Built to Thrill' banner. Over the Festival of Speed weekend, fans were treated to a virtual skydiving experience.

XL Events' display, measuring six metres in diameter, was made up of lightweight Pixled F-11 LED, mounted on to a circular Litebeam truss. The circular display was flown just off centre of the main stand and displayed facts and figures about the Nissan Juke throughout the Festival of Speed weekend.

Rich Pow project manager for XL events worked with Matt Price from the TRO Group both before and during the event:

"It was a pleasure to work with Matt," said Pow. &qu

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USA - Mac Miller knows how to reach for the heights when it comes to moving his career forward. He famously titled the first single from his breakout mixtape Donald Trump which garnered over 53m views on YouTube and elicited a favourable comment from Trump himself, via Twitter, who stated when it reached 20m views, "Who wouldn't be flattered?" and declared Miller the "new Eminem."

So when it came time to choose a PA system for Miller's first major solo tour, Showtime Sound, of Glenelg, Maryland, put together a touring EAW PA system consisting of 24 KF740 line array modules in two hangs of 12 modules each. Six KF750 modules were used for flown out-fills, three per side, with six KF755 modules hung beneath as down-fills, also three per side. Another six EAW JF80 systems were used as front-fills positioned along the front of the stage lip.

The system wa

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UK - Canegreen, a part of the SSE Audio Group, is providing Meyer Sound equipment to multiple name artists as the summer touring season heats up. A dealer and provider of Meyer Sound for more than 25 years, this year sees Canegreen/SSE Audio Group supporting artists as diverse as Tony Bennett, George Benson, Paul Weller, and newcomer Jessie J. The common denominator is Meyer Sound.

Another aspect that links current Canegreen/SSE clients is that many of them are performing at London's Royal Albert Hall, which hosted the annual BluesFest in June and for which Canegreen/SSE provided a Meyer Sound system.

The Royal Albert Hall, says Canegreen/SSE Director Yan Stile, is a notoriously challenging environment for front-of-house engineers. "The nature of the building," he explains, "is its 360-degree coverage. It's a really difficult place to cover." For BluesFest

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UK - Last month inspHire demonstrated market leading hire software solutions, tailored to meet the specific needs of the Lifting and Access Hire Industry, at Vertikal Days 2012.

Over the course of the two days, inspHire exhibited key features that are valuable to hire companies within the lifting, access and crane industry such as:

Automatic Servicing - inspHire provides you with the option to automatically place items in to a state of service when off-hired so an inspection must take place before it can be hired again.

Forward Planning - Carry out multiple future bookings for the same piece of equipment, checking clashes and scheduled service and repairs ensuring maximum utilisation of your machinery.

Create your own custom test certificate criteria, a LOLER certificate for example. Enter the test results, complete the test and attach it to the equipments record fo

  1. Pendragon Dezign at PSL Awards
  2. HSL says farewell to Westlife
  3. Kid Koala tours with iLive
  4. Robert Juliat Lancelots at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee
  5. PLASA Focus rocks Nashville
  6. XL Events gets Škoda up to speed
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