South Africa - The 2023 Brixton Light Festival in Johannesburg delivered its third – and largest to date – event filled with the magic, mystery and imagination evoked by light. It started during the covid lockdowns as a community-led and driven art-based lighting experience to unite the already tight-knit, lively and diverse neighbourhood of Brixton. The goal is to celebrate the spirit and importance of community, and the power of art and empathy.
Sound designer and Brixton resident Fried Wilsenach from Working Dog helped implement several lighting installations this year, in

Canada - Matthieu Larivée and the team at Lüz Studio have been relentlessly pushing the envelope of late, driving technology in new directions to transform stages in ways that would have been unimaginable not long ago. So, it should come as no surprise that following their widely acclaimed work on last year’s Jason Aldean tour, when they turned the entire upstage wall into a stunning 3D video screen, these creatives dramatically changed their plans for 2023.
Unlike its predecessor, this year’s just concluded Highway Desperado Tour had a production design that was dominated b

Colombia - They knew her as Carolina Giraldo Navarro in her native Medellín, Colombia, but the world now knows her as platinum global recording artist Karol G. She’s the multi- pop culture icon, and trend-setting powerhouse who’s at home with reggaeton, Latin trap, sertanejo, and other genres that are creating a new artistic front in global music.
She recently completed the US leg of her headlining Mañana Será Bonito tour. It kicked off in August at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and made stops in Pasadena, Miami, Houston, Dallas, and East Rutherford, NJ, and will continue

South Africa - Future Menus 2023 by Unilever was recently held in Durban where top chefs from around the world encouraged local chefs, restaurants, and hotels with ideas to create modern comfort foods to boost the use of wild and pure foods, incorporate mindful proteins when cooking and to create low waste menus.
Insane Sound was commissioned by experiential company Matriarch to supply both the full technical, which included the use of their new Absen Neptune NT 2.9 Lite series screen, as well as the manufacture and installation of the complete set.
For Vimal Rawjee, who s

Italy - Prolights products illuminated the Marrageddon festival, a celebration of Italian hip-hop, conceived and hosted by hip-hop artist Marracash.
With two dates between Milan and Naples, the festival hosted a line-up that included Fabri Fibra, Salmo, Guè Pequeno, Lazza and Madame, attracting more than 130,000 tspectators.
To support such a large entourage of guests it was necessary to design a lighting setup that was up to par with the live performances of the festival; the lighting design was entrusted to Giorgio De Cassan, alongside Lorenzo De Pascalis, who oversaw the

USA - California punk rockers The Offspring’s FOH engineer, Greg Bess, chose Britannia Row Productions for 2023 audio solutions, culminating in a US autumn tour.
Bess has worked with The Offspring for 26 years, yet his relationship with Britannia Row dates back even further - four decades and counting.
“The first time I contacted Brit Row was in 1979, when I wanted to drop in on Pink Floyd’s The Wall tour,” he begins. “I’m proud to say that I’ve now known Bryan Grant for longer than I haven't.”
Fresh from summer festivals, The Offspring - whose members

USA - Right from the start, Papa Roach fans at Newark’s Prudential Centre knew that the trailblazing metal masters were going to be coming at them in full force. Walking onto a dark stage, the band started to play Between Angels and Insects as the background behind them suddenly erupted with strobing images from a massive video wall that ran almost the entire width of the stage.
The menacingly raw and powerful images on the wall were repeated on the extended riser, making the band members on it look as if they were being absorbed into the foreboding video. It was exactly

UK/USA - Three leading West End/Broadway theatre lighting designers are using GLP’s new impression X5 Wash - all supplied by Paul Anderson at Sparks Theatrical Hire - to light current or upcoming shows.
Leading the charge was Paule Constable, who originally requested them for Guys and Dolls at London’s Bridge Theatre. This has been followed by Tim Lutkin, who is responsible for lighting The Crucible at the Gielgud Theatre, and Paul Pyant, who is in production for Noises Off at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
“These are three highly respected designers

Malta - Manta, a luxurious poolside Mediterranean experience in the heart of Sliema, opened this year with a 1 Sound audio system. Black Box Pro is the AV integration company that was contracted for this project. Black Box Pro signed on to be 1 Sound’s exclusive distributor in Malta earlier this year making this their first project to include 1 Sound shortly after signing.
This lido and restaurant offers a captivating ambiance, and breath-taking views on the Mediterranean Sea. This restaurant called for elegance in every aspect and especially durability regarding the loudspeake

UK - Celestial delivered a spectacular drone show on 4 November in partnership with Frome Town Council for a fundraiser event in the place of a more traditional fireworks display. The ticketed event saw over 7,500 people gather to see the drone show.
Close Encounters of the Frome Kind was an extra-terrestrial extravaganza that celebrated the colourful character and quirk of Frome with its blend of innovative drone light show technology, UFO intrigue and touch of celestial magic. The show was designed and delivered by Celestial who, since their last Frome display (the first

USA - The annual Billboard Latin Music Awards is the biggest night of the year for Latin American music and this year lighting designer John Daniels employed a selection of Elation lights to create captivating effects and aesthetic looks on the show.
Aired live on 5 October from the Watsco Centre in Coral Gables, Florida, Daniels creatively incorporated Elation Proteus Rayzor Blade, Proteus Excalibur and Smarty MAX luminaires as some of the most impactful lights on the event.
Daniels, in his fifth year working the show, designed lighting looks for 16 performances from top t

USA - Ed Sheeran’s record-breaking international Mathematics Tour is as much a display of artistic and technological prowess as a testament to the impact a single performer can have - when supported by the right technology. Which, here, includes an expansive Clear-Com system supplied by Major Tom.
Typically, artists of Sheeran’s status tend to add more players, more instruments, and a fair bit of backing tracks to satiate their audiences' demands. As ever, Sheeran takes a different approach, creating a grand spectacle utilising innovative and unique staging and producti

USA - Front-of-house and monitor engineer Cooper Davis (The Regrettes, No Vacation, The Happy Fits) has chosen the Waves eMotion LV1 Live Mixer and Waves plugins for American singer songwriter Gus Dapperton’s 2023 world tour.
Cooper explains why he chose the Waves eMotion LV1 for this tour: “Superb sound! This is a club tour carrying audio and lights in a single trailer, so the audio package had to be compact, yet powerful. And this LV1 is definitely powerful.”
He continues: “Another advantage of using the LV1 mixer is the ease of use and its advanced engine. Operati

Croatia - A feature of this year’s Špancirfest, a Croatian street festival held every August since 1999 in Varaždin, was the appearance of the tribute band, The Croatian Pink Floyd Show. An array of Claypaky Sharpy X Frame/FD and Midi-B fixtures illuminated the dynamic live show.
Špancirfest took place throughout Varaždin’s city centre and featured various street performers, theatre shows, stand-up comedy, concerts and more.
The Croatian Pink Floyd Show is a project led by producer and sound engineer Johnny Grudić who founded the band in 2016 and launched performan

Czechia - Christie RGB pure laser and 1DLP laser projectors lit up a host of spectacular projection mapping exhibits at Signal Festival in Prague. Christie technology - including Griffyn 4K50-RGB, M 4K25 RGB, and 4K10-HS projectors - featured in four exhibits at the festival of digital and creative culture, where international artists created a unique collection of rich and colourful experiences for attendees to enjoy.
“We were thrilled to collaborate with Christie, a brand synonymous with high-end projectors and visual innovation,” says Martin Posta, founder and CEO of Signal

UK - CJP Broadcast Service Solutions, systems integration, production and content digitisation specialist, has handed over a new virtual production environment at Solent University Southampton. The project involved creating an existing studio space into a very large, high performance, flexible environment which will serve students across a range of disciplines.
To provide the sort of facilities students will see in their working lives after graduation, the studio is equipped with the most widely used professional tools. The virtual volume is formed by a 10m x 3m LED wall, with a

Finland - Singer Kaija Koo celebrates an impressive 40-year career as one of the country’s most popular artists, and anniversary activities have included staging a massive show at Helsinki’s Olympic Stadium.
The high-profile one-off event featured an elegant and eye-catching production design evolved by the combined talents of Ari Levelä (set & video) and Pekka Martti (lighting), who chose to use a full grandMA3 system for lighting and video control.
The two have worked together as a visual team since 2016 and enjoy the creative benefits of pooling ideas and experie

USA - The ascent of bluegrass guitarist Billy Strings from van-and-trailer gigs to A-level arena touring is a testament to his mastery of traditional styles as well as his expansion of the genre into new realms of rock-influenced extended improvisations.
On the current leg of his 2023 amphitheatre and arena tour, Strings is enveloping his growing legions of jam-band fans through a robust system based on Meyer Sound Panther large-format linear line array loudspeakers. As with all recent tours, the system supplier on this outing is Nashville, Tennessee-based Major Tom US.
The

Italy - It may not have rivalled the 200,000 or so spectators who used to watch chariot races there in ancient times, but the 70,000 fans who turned out at Rome’s Circus Maximus for Imagine Dragons’ show recently constituted a pretty good-sized crowd.
Making the only Italian stop on their Mercury World Tour, the Grammy- winning band from Las Vegas, didn’t disappoint.
Reflecting the mood of music and the stage ebullient persona of the band was a lively and upbeat light and video show by the Milan design studio Blearred that featured 100 Chauvet Professional Color Strik

USA - Floridian rockers Tedeschi Trucks’ summer 2023 tour staging was dominated by soaring horizontal LED battens which displayed pixels of video content, driven by Hippotizer Karst+ MK2 media servers. The battens were interspersed with LED fixtures to create a dazzling series of audience blinders, colour and sweeping effects to set the scene for the band’s brand of American blues rock.
The lighting design and programming was delivered to the tour by Infinitus Vox, headed by Tony Caporale, who used a Hippotizer Karst+ MK2’s NDI feed to his Depence R3 pre-viz software. This

The Netherlands - The Essential Festival in Oost-Maarland became a centre of music and light on 16 September, thanks to Matrix Event Support. The festival, which featured a line-up of renowned dance DJs, regional artists and singers, was set against the picturesque backdrop of the river Meuse.
Using Showtec and Infinity fixtures, Matrix Event Support brought the magic to life with their spectacular lighting designs that illuminated both the Main Stage and the Hard Dance Stage.
Commissioned by Heijnens Audio - Light - Vision, Matrix Event Support left festival-goers in awe w

Europe/USA - Hailed as an ‘atypical pop star’ for her genre-bending musical styles, Rosalia Vila Tobella, known as Rosalía, is a Spanish artist who wears multiple creative hats, including as a singer/songwriter, producer, actress and musician.
With an impressive tally of 11 number-one singles in her home country, 12 Latin Grammy Awards, plus a host of other prestigious accolades throughout her music career, Rosalía is widely considered one of the most successful and influential Spanish vocalists of all time.
FOH engineer Ricky Ashford, who has been working with the s

India - The Prolights EclPanel TWC series shone in a recent television commercial featuring the Indian cricket player, M S Dhoni, thanks to the lighting services provided by Light Craft & Sound Pvt.
The lighting setup included over 150 projectors, including the EclPanel TWC and EclPanel TWCXL by Prolights. This dynamic configuration provided a vivid and dominant light source, transforming the television set into a truly enchanting environment.
In the context of this installation, 50 EclPanel TWC fixtures were mounted on a truss and covered with snapbags to ensure even li

Australia - Now or Never is the name of a new festival created by the city of Melbourne. This inaugural event - recently held across the city, including several events at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne - saw Gig Control Australia transform the heritage-listed building, designing a spectacular sound, lighting and video infrastructure.
The creative company once again partnered with Novatech Creative Event Technology, which was contracted to take care of technical supply for the five separate events held over four days. This was to ensure continuity and close integration,

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