UK - A daredevil walk the plank challenge which kicked off this year’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here on ITV, was designed and rigged by Unusual Rigging.
ITV bosses are no strangers to the feats that Unusual is able to pull off, having contracted director Robin Elias as crew chief on several stunts for various different shows. Robin said: “Pre-pandemic, ITV had brought me on board to work with them on the show in Australia. Then when Covid hit in 2020 and the show hurriedly relocated from Oz to Wales, none of the trials involved any rigging - there simply wasn’t

UK - Like many public events, the outlook for the Edinburgh International Festival in 2021 was a little different. With restrictions limiting the use of indoor venues, the festival looked to d&b Soundscape - and its acoustic shell - to unite the disparate worlds of classical music and sound reinforcement; to recreate the comfort and quality of the concert hall in a temporary open-air environment.
On the grounds of Edinburgh’s Junior Academy and the city’s Old College Quad, two custom built pavilions, a hundred metres long, were installed like giant bubbles, roofed, but op

South Africa - Idols South Africa 2021 underwent its most substantial visual transformation for a few years with a shift of venue, from the State Theatre in Pretoria to Studio 10 at the Urban Brew complex in Johannesburg. This moment was seized by the show’s long term lighting designer Joshua Cutts of Visual Frontier, for a radical re-think, and for the first time in 17 Idols seasons, he presented a lighting co-design created collaboratively with Andre Siebrits, also from Visual Frontier.
The pair relied heavily on Robe moving lights – over 200 were specified on the ri

Denmark - Vejle Musikteater, one of the busiest and liveliest multi-purpose live performance venues in Jutland, has reopened fully after the pandemic period, complete with a new Robe Esprite house lighting package comprising 32 x Esprites in total.
Sixteen of these have been added as front lighting to the existing over-stage rig of 16 in the Main Hall. Head of lighting Rasmus Wiberg explained that during the Covid closure they used the time constructively to activate various renovations and changes needed in the venue, including the complete removal of the ‘advanced’ lighting

UK - The full scope of the Faridabad, India-born Sonu Nigam’s talent was on full display this November at his UK shows at SSE Arena Wembley in London and Resorts World Arena in Manchester. On stage for over three hours at each venue, Sonu Nigam performed 37 songs and medleys that included his own compositions as well as songs from legendary singers Mohammad Rafi and Kishore Kumar.
Reflecting the vibrancy and versatility of the multi-faceted performance was a Roosevelt Dsouza-designed lightshow that featured Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by DMX Productions.
The lig

Indonesia - A major new development at Universitas Katolik Parahyangan (Parahyangan Catholic University) in Bandung, West Java, has seen the inclusion of a high specification, multipurpose auditorium for choir performances, presentations and lectures. An Alcons Audio system has been chosen for sound reinforcement.
The university tasked design and build contractor PT Esa Sinergi Selaras Indonesia (PT ESSI) with delivering the audio in the new auditorium.
PT ESSI also chose Alcons knowing that the company’s pro-ribbon technology would ensure minimal ear fatigue for audience

Canada - Before any entertainer ever sets foot on its stage, Club Regent Event Centre is already equipped to put on a show with its computer-automated flexible seating system, which can adapt in minutes into over a dozen seating configurations for any kind of show: theatrical, concert, meetings, and more.
This 1,400-seat venue in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which is part of the larger Club Regent Casino features a new L-Acoustics K3-based sound system.
“This is a fairly complex sound system for a very flexible environment,” explains Martin Van Djik, senior consultant and partner

Australia - ARX Systems has recently supplied a large quantity of their USB Ultra I/O audio interfaces to multiple campuses of the Australian Catholic University (ACU). The USB Ultra I/O was chosen by the ACU as part of a series of campus wide AV upgrades designed to facilitate remote and blended learning from each lecture room.
David Prentice, audio visual systems administrator for ACU, along with colleague Douglas Simpson, headed up the project. “What we wanted to achieve at ACU, which most other unis are also doing, is being able to use Teams/Zoom in our existing lecture room

USA - Latin music star Marc Anthony has returned to the stage with his Pa’lla Voy tour, taking in 26-dates across North America with an arsenal of VL10 Beamwash luminaires from Vari-Lite. The VL10 delivers speed, versatility and an impressive 28,000 lumens to lighting designer Travis Shirley’s bold stage design.
Shirley developed his concept around six vertical lighting arrays that provide the tools necessary to create effective and functional stage focuses. “When the drawings of the show were completed, it was time to start discussing fixture choices. Good friend and produc

USA - On the south edge of Kansas City, a multi-story commercial building has been lighting its windows in special colours and patterns for decades. ETC’s Mosaic system, a pixel-mapping and show control solution, recently gave them a 21st-century upgrade to heighten the graphics and even provide a new revenue stream for the building.
“The building is right near the interstate. For years, everybody drove past it and loved the decorative touch of the special lighting,” says Autumn Nieland, business development at Mercer Zimmerman. The patterns started with a holiday wreath, th

UK - Home to a technically advanced film production complex, Garden Studios is a one-stop-shop for a wide variety of TV and film productions, designed specifically to support the latest technologies as well as decades of future innovation. Its in-house Virtual Production stage is driven by Brompton Tessera processing.
Launched this year, the facility boasts three traditional sound stages, totalling over 3,700m2, as well as an array of supporting spaces. The jewel in its crown is its Virtual Production stage, which allows filmmakers to shoot live action footage within a pre-visuali

Canada - Twelve Ayrton Domino-S fixtures, part of Ayrton’s IP65 multi-function luminaire family designed for intensive outdoor use, played a variety of roles at Les Francos de Montréal and the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, staged back-to-back in September this year due to COVID-19.
Les Francos de Montréal is a large annual pop music and performance festival featuring French-language performers from around the world. It has been held for more than 20 years. The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world’s larg

The Netherlands - Located in the eastern Dutch town of Hengelo, the Metropool is a long-established live music venue featuring a wide range of acts and genres. It moved to its present home in 2009 and at that point its console stock was updated to include three DiGiCo SD8s and a large-format analogue desk, covering all its audio mixing needs across its Jupiler and Jack Daniels halls.
They were one of the first Dutch venues to invest in DiGiCo technology as Teun Zekhuis, their Head Technician recalls: “We chose the SD8 for its sound, interface, workflow and overall look and feel.

USA - Rapper and songwriter Nate Feuerstein, more commonly known as NF, embarked on a massive amphitheatre tour this past fall that showcased Martin Professional VDO Sceptron and MAC Quantum Wash fixtures with P3 system control, provided by Solotech. 
Boasting several songs with hundreds of millions of streams - including the single Let You Down which recently crossed one billion streams - NF is a multi-platinum-selling artist who has gained a dedicated following for tackling themes like vulnerability, faith and mental health in his music. This latest tour featured just Fe

Japan - Kobe Port Museum, is a new cultural complex in the Japanese city, consisting of an aquarium, food hall, and bridal desk. The space on the ground floor is a ‘next-generation food hall’ typified by the well-known Kobe restaurant brand, Tooth Tooth which has recently installed a Martin Audio system with background music produced by Fish Four.
Based in Kobe, the president Yutaka Okano says: "High-quality BGM is an indispensable element for restaurants and cafes. We choose music suitable for both daytime and nighttime and develop the atmosphere of the place. We have enjoyed

USA - A cornucopia of performers, including Billie Eilish, Coldplay, Dua Lipa, and Nelly, descended on the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for the iHeartRadio Music Festival - a live production backed by striking visuals driven exclusively by Hippotizer Tierra+ Media Servers.
The Hippotizers were supplied by rental company 4Wall Entertainment and looked after by screens producer Jason Rudolph of Mobius Productions.
“I’ve used Hippotizer products for a long time, since the early days of V3,” says Jason. “I’ve always gotten incredible support from the team at Green Hippo

USA - Boxing matches are inherently unpredictable. Some end with a sudden thud mere seconds after they start. Others are boring uninspired 12-round dances. Then there are those that serve up more than their share of dramatic moments. But one thing is certain at every boxing event: a sense of excitement and anticipation fills the air when pugilists enter the arena and walk with handlers to the ring.
Pangea Land of Dinosaurs’ Jurassic Fight Night in Phoenix was no different, even if the combatants approaching the 40ft by 40ft boxing ring were not your typical athletes. Bearing na

Canada - Brompton Technology recently helped the VFX team at Pixomondo bring Star Trek: Discovery into a new era using virtual production. The new season of the Paramount+ streaming hit leveraged virtual production for the first time, filming on Pixomondo’s large volume LED stage in Toronto, Canada.
Pixomondo’s Toronto stage is a 70’ x 30’ horseshoe-shaped volume equipped with ROE Visual Black Pearl 2.8mm (BP2) LED panels for the walls and ROE Visual Carbon Series 5.77mm (CB5) panels for the ceiling, each with Brompton Tessera SX40 4K LED video processors. The volu

UK - Dermot Kennedy’s breakthrough #1 album Without Fear, released in October 2019, had its touring cycle interrupted by a worldwide pandemic, just when the Irish singer-songwriter and Brit-nominee would rather have been treading the boards of global stages. Undeterred, Kennedy featured in Billboard's Live At-Home concert, and subsequently organised his own virtual concert, Sound Waves, in May 2020 in support of the World Health Organisation's Solidarity Response Fund.
He also performed his own global live stream from London’s Natural History Museum. Now, he’s finally

UK - The Bridge is a tourable 22m wide by 6m high bridge structure providing a platform for music, actors and performers, designed by Sydney based designer Dan Potra and executed by Imagineer Productions,
After a series of ‘workshop days’, these events conclude with in a circus style performance, featuring international artists, including regular Cirque du Soleil performers, in an explosive finale, up to 12m above ground.
To provide visual support for The Bridge's series of residencies in town centres throughout the UK, lighting designer Arnim Friess required a multi-p

China - Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Beijing Municipal People’s Government, the 9th Chinese Peking Opera Arts Festival took place over a three-week period in September and October at The National Centre for Performing Arts. As the leading opera art event in China, the Festival has been the launchpad for a large number of productions and performances, and has been instrumental in the advancement of Chinese traditional culture.
The principal work featured at the festival was The Grand Canal of Beijing, a complete orchestral suite for the Beijing

USA - In the tri-state area where Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio meet, just north of Cincinnati, lies Citygate Church’s new campus, Forest Park. The church, which originated in Cincinnati and was once mobile, has grown from a small congregation into a thriving, multi-site ministry that enhances services for live and broadcast audiences using customisable lighting from Elation Professional specified and installed by integration company S&L Integrated Systems.
Citygate is a multi-ethnic, outreach-driven church with a vision to positively impact the community and share the word in

USA - Lighting designer Tim Deiling chose two MDG Atmosphere generators to provide the ambient haze for his lighting of the Broadway production of Six. The British musical is a modern retelling of the story of Henry VIII’s six wives, presented as a pop contest – a production report on the musical will feature in LSi December, out next week.
The show’s signature style is very much that of a rock concert, utilising an abundance of beam effects to take the place of set changes, which simultaneously give a different look and identity to each of the queens.

UK - Reading-based television lighting rental specialist Version 2 Lights has made a large investment in Robe’s new Forte moving lights with the purchase of 50 fixtures.
These have been supplied with both the HCF (high colour fidelity) and the HP (high performance) LED engines - to service V2’s upcoming projects.
Versions 2’s managing director Nick Edwards stated, “We needed a high-powered, high-quality fixture to meet the demands of the big shows, so explored a number of options and selected Forte as the best fixture with optimum quality output for camera.”

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