UK - Hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall and once again held at London’s The O2 Arena, this year’s BRIT Awards saw two of Britain’s most exciting breakthrough pop acts, Stormzy and Dua Lipa, take home the top prizes, and Sennheiser’s Digital 6000 series get taken to extremes.
Britannia Row Productions provided all requirements for the show’s audio system, which was designed by BRITs’ head of sound Colin Pink, with a combination of Sennheiser Digital 6000 and 9000 series microphones proving the majority choice for both artists and presenters.
As well as winning bo

UK - HSL is on the road again as lighting suppliers with Scottish rockers Simple Minds and their long-time lighting designer Stephen Pollard who has created another innovative look for the band’s new Walk Between Worlds album.
Released in February as part of a celebration of the band’s 40-year career, the album is a blend of the introspective yet optimistic elements of their music with some huge electronic and stadium rock moments that kept them on the ‘alternative’ side of cool. The performance features the entire new album, bookended by a careful selection of Sim

Mexico - The first Latin Festival of Salsa at the Mexico City Arena hosted some of the greatest exponents of this musical genre. These included Víctor Manuelle, who has received numerous awards during his wide ranging musical career, such as the Billboard Latin Music Awards; Puerto Rican artist, Eddie Santiago, who boasts an extensive international career; Oscar de León, the Venezuelan artist who is known worldwide as the Pharaoh of Salsa, and special guests such as the Sonora Dynamite of Lucho Argain.
The Mexico City Arena is one of the biggest indoor venues in the World

USA - Atlanta-based North Point Ministries, whose 38,000-plus weekly worshipers make it Outreach magazine’s second-largest house of worship in the United States, has acquired eight new DiGiCo SD5cs consoles for three of its six locations.
The Browns Bridge and Buckhead campuses have each installed two SD5cs desks at front of house and monitors, while the main campus in Alpharetta (North Point Community Church) has installed a total of four new SD5cs consoles, for FOH and monitors in the main auditorium and in a second large auditorium used for overflow, events and other applicat

USA - Having illuminated some of the world’s most prominent clubs and biggest EDM festivals, Southern California-based production design specialists SJ Lighting, with Steve Lieberman at the helm, have established themselves as a leader in entertainment technology design for electronic dance music.
That reputation continued with the opening of Academy nightclub in Hollywood in January, a new 1400-capacity space for EDM junkies that has been renovated, rebranded and updated with the latest sound and lighting technology, including lighting effects from Elation Professional Platinum

USA - Encompass AV recently supplied a Martin Audio CDD sound system for the Gibsons Italia restaurant located in a spectacular setting on the Chicago River. The restaurant has quickly become known for its sophisticated combination of Italian food and steaks and luxurious setting.
A $20m build, Gibsons Italia is a high-end, four-storey restaurant, bar and lounge with a dining space for private functions on the roof deck with floor to ceiling windows that offer views of the river and skyline.
Encompass owner Tim Pickett explains: “We were contracted to provide exceptional

UK - With three churches already serving its population of 2,300, it’s perhaps surprising that one of them is building a new one in the fenland village of Isleham in Cambridgeshire. But the congregation of High Street Church outgrew the existing chapel and a larger building became a necessity.
In 2009, they began construction of The Ark, which, at 2,200sq.m, is believed to be one of the UK’s largest green oak buildings constructed in living memory. Now fully weather-proof, it is expected to be completed in the not-too-distant future.
Jonny Billitt from event productio

UK - The award-winning Chroma-Q Space Force LED space/soft light has been proving its versatility for Big Shed on several major TV and photographic projects.
Manchester-based Big Shed's 4,000sq.ft of professional studio facilities is the ideal space to shoot large sets, automotive photography, TV commercials and videos.
After being impressed by a demo, Big Shed's Justin Windle has sub-hired in the Space Force for several big-brand clients' shoots, including utilising six units to top-light a 5sq.m, 360-degree revolving stage used to shoot stop-frame imagery of revolving ca

USA - Country singer Miranda Lambert captures the heartfelt openness of the summer of love in her aptly named Livin’ Like Hippies tour. Opening with a cover of the John Prine classic, That’s The Way The World Goes Round, her 20-song set takes audiences on a lively, freewheeling road trip that offers an unruffled look at life, love and happiness.
Lambert’s lighting designer, Paul ‘Arlo’ Guthrie, strengthens the connection between the artist and her audience in this deeply personal show with help from the warm white glow of Chauvet Professional STRIKE 4 fixtu

The Netherlands - Held in the prestigious Royal Theatre Carré in Amsterdam, the third annual Amateur Musical Awards featured lighting design by Coen van der Hoeven, who specified a large High End Systems rig for the show, including 16 SolaSpot 2000s, 40 SolaSpot 1000s, six Shapeshifter C1s, 20 UNO and Hog 4 control.
The team’s production time was only one day, so Coen’s challenge was to get a show with 250 performers, 16-piece orchestra and 17 show numbers up and running in just a few hours.
The LD also had to reckon with a live television broadcast. He explains, “We

Belgium - The popular Walibi theme park in Wavre near Brussels is renowned for its Halloween spectacular, when its rides are ghoulishly transformed. Awarded best Halloween attraction in Europe for three consecutive years - 2014, 2015 and 2016 - in the Diamond Theme Park Awards, expectations were very high for Walibi at the end of last year, and with the help of AV Stumpfl’s Wings IObox hardware module platforms, they were surpassed with the creation of Asylum.
The brief for Asylum was to transform a ride into a haunted house while making use of the latest automated AV technolo

USA - Charlie Daniels’ Volunteer Jam has seen many different iterations over four decades, but none have been as distinct as Volunteer Jam XX: A Tribute to Charlie.
Produced by Blackbird Events, Bandit Lites provided the lighting for the Country Music Hall of Fame member’s twentieth instalment of Volunteer Jam which featured a setlist of over 30 songs from a diverse and talented line-up including Travis Tritt, Chris Young, Alison Krauss, Lee Brice, Chris Janson, Justin Moore, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Alabama, The Oak Ridge Boys and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
"Volunteer Ja

USA - Established in 1977, the Big Apple Circus has been a mainstay outside Manhattan's Lincoln Centre for decades and has also travelled to countless cities on tour.
In 2017, the circus was purchased by BigTop Works, who decided to update Big Apple’s traditional circus presentation to a Broadway-like spectacle. Management hired veteran Broadway lighting designer Jeff Croiter to create a bold and modern lighting design for the revamped show. Partnering with lighting vendor Christie Lites, Croiter designed a powerful and versatile lighting rig that features a range of Martin ligh

UK - Adlib is delighted to be back on the road again with Irish rockers The Script, supplying a CODA audio system for FOH engineer Steve ‘Pato’ Pattison.
He and monitor guru Marc Peers are also both well-known Adlib regulars who have worked on previous Script tours and are both assuming engineering roles for the first time.
Adlib has provided audio for The Script’s four previous album campaigns which has included three arena tours and some stadium shows. Long term FOH engineer Richy Nicholson has actually flipped roles on this one, after many years of mixing FOH, he

USA - Early March saw the third incarnation of the Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival, a four-day multi-genre music experience filled with art and entertainment held at Sunshine Grove in the heart of the Florida wilderness.
The festival’s recipe of offering a range of diverse talent – this year saw Arcade Fire, Bassnectar, Halsey, Travis Scott, The Flaming Lips, Snoop Dog, and Khalid among many others – attracts a wide range of music fans.
Rob Ross, site lighting designer for the festival and president of Rob Ross Design, Inc., designs and oversees the installation o

Poland - The noted Śląski Stadium (Silesian Stadium) in Chorzów, has undergone a complete rebuild to become one of the most modern football and sporting facilities in Europe.
The original stadium, opened in 1956, was a symbol of Poland's post-war rebirth. It has held some of football’s most important and memorable matches, played by legends of the sport including Johan Cruyff, George Best and Cristiano Ronaldo. It has also hosted massive concerts by bands like U2, AC/DC, Iron Maiden and The Rolling Stones. In 1993 the stadium became the official home of the Polish national f

Canada - Lüz Studio continues to provide highly inventive lighting solutions from its base in Montreal - currently for American singer-songwriter, Børns, on his Blue Madonna world tour. This opened in Oakland, CA, at the start of the year and will travel the globe during 2018.
Set up in 2005 by lighting/video designer Matthieu Larivée, Lüz Studio has frequently turned to GLP’s X4 platform for its requirements, and this latest tour has been no exception. The LD has made versatile use of 16x X4 Bar 20 battens and 14x impression X4, supplied by Upstaging of Chicago.

Europe - Snake Newton, FOH engineer for Harry Styles, relies on DPA Microphones to mic up the entire drum kit for their current world tour production, performing over 20 confirmed dates across Europe before jetting off to Australia.
Snake opted for DPA d:dicate 4011 Cardioid Microphones on the snare top and ride, a d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphone on the hi-hat top and d:dicate 2011 Twin Diaphragm Cardioid mics on the snare bottom, rack toms and floor toms.
His choice won the approval of monitor engineer Charlie ‘Chopper’ Bradley, who says, “I usually defer to Snake

USA - Located on a 10,000sq.ft deck overlooking the Fountains of Bellagio, Beer Park at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino provides an exciting rooftop experience.
With over 100 eclectic beer options, including 36 beers on tap, the developers of the flagship location wanted the outdoor atmosphere to be a shining example of how to best enjoy the Las Vegas life. In this environment, they now needed a high-definition video display to be a focal point in the dynamic audio/visual design, so they worked with the design specialists at Ponto Solutions who chose a FLEXUltra 1.9mm LED v

China - Rock icon Wang Feng kicked off one of the country's most highly anticipated live music events in September 2017 with The Times tour. The major national tour supports his latest album 29, Guoling Lane which has propelled Wang Feng to even greater acclaim.
Debuting at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, the tour has the popular singer performing in 30 cities over the course of 2017 and 2018. The production requested a sound system without delays on the field, to preserve sightlines and budget. Sound designer Mr Shaogang Jin chose an L-Acoustics K system, supplied b

USA - Even before the opening notes were sounded for Bob’s Biker Bash on 4 November, John Garberson knew it was going to be a great night. Behind the stage, the setting Arizona sun was blazing a glorious red that looked as if it came out of a classic western movie.
“It was the perfect setting for an outdoor concert, and everything that followed lived up to this beginning,” said Garberson, who served as the lighting and video production manager for the Phoenix Children’s Hospital fundraising concert, which was headlined by 3 Doors Down.
Contributing to the smooth flow

Romania - In need of an audio infrastructure upgrade, Bucharest’s Hard Rock Café turned to integrator Paradigma Teknik for a system with power, clarity and above all reliability, featuring Powersoft’s latest fixed install Quattrocanali and Ottocanali amplifier platforms.
Paradigma sales manager, Laura Angelescu, recommended a system of Martin Audio loudspeakers, and turned to Powersoft’s Romanian distributor AudioVision Store, for the amplification aspect of the installation.
AudioVision’s Marius Craiu, explains: “We have a very strong relationship with Paradigma

Philippines - Audiophile Components recently upgraded Café Havana Greenbelt’s aging sound system with a modern live audio solution by Harman Professional Solutions.
Founded by hospitality pioneer Larry J. Cruz, Café Havana is a traditional Cuban restaurant located in the Makati district of Manila. In its quest to celebrate all things Cuban, Café Havana features a nightly line-up of live salsa music for standing room only crowds.
When the restaurant’s previous sound system began to show signs of wear and tear after extensive use, management hired Audiophile to install

USA - Clearwing Productions of Milwaukee used Elation Professional’s Level Q7 IP RGBW Par lights on Miller Holiday Lites in Milwaukee for the entire month of December in cold weather with no issues then rolled them right into ‘big game’ festivities in Minneapolis in January, where they continued to perform in even colder weather.
Clearwing, who stock hundreds of the Level Q7 IP Par lights, provided all of the lighting, decor, video and audio equipment for Miller Holiday Lites in partnership with GMR Marketing, their second year decking the halls on State Street with GMR Mar

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