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 Festival. “This partnership is more than a meeting of minds; it’s a fusion of visionaries committed to pushing the boundaries of digital and immersive arts. With Christie’s cutting-edge technology, the Signal Festival delivered unparalleled experiences that captivated and inspired, solidifyin

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 4m x 2m ceiling, using AOTO RM2.3mm and MxH3.7mm LED panels powered by a network of Brompton video processors.
The screen displays virtual graphics generated by a multi-node Mo-Sys VP Pro XR server, the third university to utilise this system. At the heart of the VP Pro XR is the Unreal Engin

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 experiences to produce unique shows and spectaculars. This show followed an arena tour they completed at the end of 2022 featuring four powerhouse Finnish female singers, one being Kaija Koo.
Her management team was clearly impressed with their work and invited Ari & Pekka to present a design fo

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 regular tour schedule took a pause at the end of September for the third annual Billy Strings Renewal Festival in the mountain valley of Buena Vista, Colorado. Here, with the timely arrival of custom cabling and infrastructure from EMG, the tour’s complement of Panther loudspeakers became one of

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 Strike M motorised strobes from Zalight with service from Agora.
The Color Strike M fixtures were arranged on the upper frame of the three LED walls, as well as being aligned across the entire width of the stage deck and fixed to the trusses of the delay towers. From these positions, the multi-for

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 meant that during pre-production, he could view all of the lighting and video design together, before controlling the Media Server via a grandMA3 console.
“Since pixel mapping was the main focus here, the Karst+ MK2 was the right Hippotizer for the job,” says Caporale. “It offers flexibi

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 with their mesmerising lighting design at the festival. The Main Stage, a focal point of the event, was bathed in a vivid spectrum of colours with 50 Showtec Spectral M800 Q4 Tour RGBW LED spots. Sixteen Showtec DWE Audience Blinders and five Showtec Stage Blinder 4 DMX audience blinders were strateg

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 singer for almost two years, has relied on a DiGiCo Quantum 338 and Quantum 225 digital mixing console for her latest Motomami world tour, which took in 68 dates at stadiums and arenas in Europe, Latin America, and North America, with Rosalía’s presence also gracing stages at world-renowned events

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 light diffusion. The entire structure was then lifted above the set using pulley systems, creating a surprisingly bright and captivating atmosphere.
Additionally, eight EclPanel TWC XL soft lights were arranged in a linear structure to replicate a vibrant and radiant daytime atmosphere.
Sa

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, due to the challenging nature of the venue itself.
Aside from the entrance, the visual highlight was the main zone, where a 16m-high LED structure backed the main stage. This was brought to life by 39 GLP JDC1 hybrid strobes, set in one continuous vertical 16m line to create a ‘spine’ beh

USA - The Kalahari Resort in the Pocono mountains bills itself as “220,000sq.ft filled with wet, wild, fun”. The massive complex does indeed offer some distinctive amenities, such as the world’s first virtual reality water slide. On the weekend of 23-24 September, it was also the site of The Way, a Salvation Army young adult retreat.
In addition to enjoying the usual attractions at the resort during their recreation periods, the retreat attendees, who hailed from every East Coast state, as well as Puerto Rico, enjoyed high-energy performances by Unbound, a contemporary worship band.
Reflecting the ebullient personality and sound of the band was an eight-universe lighting and video show designed and created by Eagle Production Co. that Moshe Baskin ran on his ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M Stadium console.
Baskin busked his show, which he designed in Vectorworks and

USA - Over the summer, YouTube personality and professional boxer Jake Paul defeated mixed martial artist Nate Diaz in a fiercely contested cruiserweight professional crossover boxing match billed as Ready 4 War. Fought in front of a sell-out crowd at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, TX, the match went a full 10 rounds before Paul was announced the victor based on a unanimous judge’s decision.
To build tension and excitement within the arena, more than 50 ADJ beam moving head fixtures were deployed across multiple trusses, while the intense aerial effects they created were enhanced by four of ADJ’s touring grade Entourage haze generators.
Produced by Jake Paul's company, Most Valuable Promotions, and Nate Diaz's company, Real Fight Inc., Ready 4 War featured a full undercard of matches showcasing both male and female fighters in a variety of we

Denmark - Motor Stage Automation (MSA) is a company that loves challenges. So Christian Vigsø and his team were delighted to be asked to design a bespoke flying runway solution for a recent massive show by popular Danish hip hop phenom Suspekt, for their only live appearance this year - at Parken stadium in Copenhagen.
In the process, MSA devised a new modular quick assembly touring product - M:CAT - which is now available exclusively from MSA, a fresh and innovative Danish enterprise working internationally and specialising in the art of designing and delivering stage and show automation and movement elements.
Christian was initially approached by Suspekt’s lighting designer and set designer Johnny Thinggaard and their production manager and show director Jonas Friis, who wanted a flying 45m walkway to enable the band to traverse between the Main and B stages thro

China - Rock legend Xu Wei restarted his pandemic-interrupted Endless Light Tour with a large-scale Adamson PA design consisting of 172 speaker cabinets at Chongqing Huaxi Culture and Sports Centre. Supporting his latest album, the final leg of the tour required a flexible system design to match various-sized venues across eight Chinese cities.
Real Music Acoustics & Lighting Technology chose Adamson for all loudspeakers including stage monitors, main arrays, side-fills and front-fills.
The main left and right line arrays each consisted of eighteen E15 and three E12 for down-fill . Main side-fills used arrays of 15 E12. All venues were large enough to require extensive front-fills. Front of house system engineer Kaiji Liu says: “For the front-fill, we use eighteen Adamson S10. These 10” line array cabinets are divided into six groups to cover the front

Spain - Quevedo's DQE Donde quiero estar tour has transformed into a visually stunning spectacle, thanks to the inclusion of 30 Ayrton Cobra. Designed by Oscar Marchena, the tour encompasses two formats: a traditional setup and a 360º experience, allowing the lighting fixtures to shine at their fullest potential on stage.
The internationally renowned Spanish artist has already left his mark on significant venues in Spain such as the Wizink Center and the Gran Canaria Arena and is ready to continue dazzling audiences at prominent locations across the country. Oscar Marchena, the lighting designer behind this tour, has crafted a show focused on astonishing audiences, blending light and colour seamlessly. To achieve this, he devised two different lighting formats, opting for lighting equipment that could offer versatility and a wide range of effects for each moment.

Colombia - DiGiCo Quantum338 consoles are an integral part of Maluma’s ongoing Don Juan world tour, the North American leg of which runs from 31 August in Sacramento to 4 November in Miami.
The tour relies heavily on top technology, including Clair Global’s Cohesion series PA system, as well as other DiGiCo products, including SD-Racks, an Orange Box, DMI-Waves cards, and a complete Optocore network loop. The Quantum338 consoles, used at both front of house and monitors, are the central hubs for a complex but reliable audio infrastructure that performs at every show as flawlessly as Maluma himself.
The implementation of the Quantum338 was a system-critical decision for the tour, says German Tarazona, who this year moved from mixing monitors to managing the FOH mix for Maluma (aka Juan Luis Londoño Arias). “We needed a system that could integrate with our require

UK - Martin Audio rental partner VME has announced a major commitment to the company. In making a heavy investment in the company’s MLA platform, they have at a stroke become the manufacturer’s largest global rental partner of the award-winning systems.
Based in the north of England VME, run by brothers Dion and Andre Davie, recognised that after lockdown, the live events industry rebounded at such pace and velocity that inventories were quickly running dry. As a vital part of the MLA network, and sensing the heavy demand on stock, especially in peak season, they took a dynamic approach by repositioning themselves as dry hire specialists, as well as giving them a new cutting edge and marketing outreach for their own productions.
The latest order for 475 cabinets is split into the following products: 179 x MLA; 24 x MLD; 80 x MLX; 40 x DSX and 152 x MLA Compact.

The Netherlands - In the picturesque town of Venlo, on the banks of the Meuse River, the annual free Zomerparkfeest is more than just a festival; it's an immersive experience where music, art, and culture come together.
This year, the Zomerparkfeest unveiled its various stages, brought to life by an impressive array of lighting products from Infinity, Showtec, DMT, and Showgear, courtesy of Demo Productions from Ulestraten, the Netherlands.
As the festival’s main stage blasted off, Demo Productions bathed it in a mesmerizing glow, thanks to a dazzling array of lighting products. Headliners such as Altin Gün, Peaches, and Rowwen Hèze took to the stage beneath the illumination.
Piercing beams of light from 14 Infinity iB-2R moving heads were accompanied by 15 Showtec Stage Blinder 4 DMX and 48 Showtec DWE Audience Blinders. To set the mood, eight Showtec Heli

Japan - Since its world premiere in 2016, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has been a worldwide hit in London’s West End, on Broadway, in Hamburg, Melbourne, San Francisco and Toronto.
For the latest production at Tokyo’s TBS Akasaka ACT theatre, the show’s Olivier and Tony award-winning sound designer Gareth Fry has trusted a Yamaha Rivage PM5 digital mixing system to handle a show which previously needed two mixing surfaces.
The Tokyo production features more than 150 inputs, approximately 50 microphone inputs and 80 channels of playback, with around 500 cues. The audio is routed via a Dante network, fully digital from the wireless transmitters until it leaves the amplifiers. Key to the new production is the Rivage PM series’ advanced theatre software, which offers a number of advantages to theatre sound designers.
“The Rivage PM5 combines the

UK - Chatham’s Central Theatre recently benefited from a sound system upgrade to improve the audience experience at its 1000-capacity venue. The Central Theatre, which hosts a variety of performances, from tribute acts and musicals to stand-up comedy and dance, required a sound system that would deliver clear and even audio coverage no matter the performance.
Bose Professional collaborated with London-based integrator Tateside to bring this transformation to fruition.
“Bose’s UK offices are a stone’s throw away from the theatre, so when we needed a new sound system it seemed sensible to open a dialogue with the team,” recalls Chris Stevens, technical manager at Chatham Central Theatre. “The theatre is operated by Medway Council, so we all strive to support and work with local companies where possible.”
On receiving the project, Bose Professional re

Mexico - The recently inaugurated Olmeca Refinery, the largest oil plant in Mexico and one of the three largest in Latin America, has implemented several Christie solutions in its control rooms and offices, including LED and LCD video walls, video wall processors and a 30,000 lumen 3DLP projector.
Located in the port of Dos Bocas, Tabasco, the Olmeca Refinery can process 340,000 barrels per day of crude oil. The refinery consists of 17 processing plants, 56 storage tanks, 34 spheres, workshops, administrative and service buildings, and control rooms across the 556-hectare site.
The facility required a main control room to supervise and monitor oil production, several control rooms for surveillance throughout the refinery, and boardrooms to increase communication and productivity.
Video walls were critical for displaying scalable content from multiple sources simu

Belgium - At a ceremony at the Brussels Expo Paleis 10, two women, Rika Coppens, CEO of House of HR, and Diane Govaerts of Ziegler, were named Manager Van Het Jaar (Manager of the Year) by Roularta Media Group’s Trends magazine, the largest circulation business weekly in Belgium, and Trends Tendence the Wallonia version of the publication.
Rika Coppensand Diane Govaerts were both praised for their forward-thinking creativity and their ability to maintain high standards of excellence.
Contributing to the success of the event was D-Dream, which provided technical support and creative vision for the evening’s activities. “We’ve been working together with Roularta Media Group for several years,” said D-Dream managing director Elke Scheirs. “This year, we were again chosen to supply all audiovisual support for the execution of the awards.”

India - Christie has announced that its Griffyn Series RGB pure laser projectors are illuminating the façade of the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple for a spectacular son et lumière that pays homage to the timeless legends of Lord Krishna.
Situated in Mathura, a sacred city in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh, the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple is traditionally regarded as the birthplace of Lord Krishna, one of the most widely revered divinities in Hinduism. With its origins dating back to the 6th century BC, this temple stands as a site of profound importance and ranks among India’s most frequented religious destinations.
The nightly 40-minute light and sound show which portrays Lord Krishna’s life as a symbol of tenderness, patience, compassion, and love, was inaugurated by Agra’s chief minister, Yogi Adityanath.
This mesmerising presentation was

UK - The spectacular production of The Wizard of Oz, directed by Nikolai Foster and with lighting design by Ben Cracknell, transferred from Leicester’s Curve Theatre to the London Palladium in the West End for a summer run.
With Martin MAC Encores and VDO Atomic Dots specified in the original design, the rig at the Palladium was expanded with additional MAC Encores and with over 50 Martin VDO Atomic Dots after the compact, high output fixtures were described by the LD as being “a revelation” at the Curve.
For the West End production, the previously specified MAC Encore Performance CLD fixtures were joined by additional MAC Encore WRM fixtures, positioned both overhead and on side ladders.
“The MAC Encore Performance CLD is my go-to," stated LD Ben Cracknell, “and by swapping out [a competitor fixture] to the MAC Encore WRMs we had just one typ

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