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US-BASED TAIT, the staging and production specialist behind tours by Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Elton John, has acquired Wakefield-based Brilliant Topco Ltd, better known as Brilliant Stages, fabricator of structures for the Rolling Stones, Take That and Beyonce and Jay Z. The acquisition brings together two businesses with four…
Read moreTHE AUDIO requirements for Vampire Weekend have grown significantly since front-of-house (FOH) engineer Neil Heal first worked with the band over 10 years ago. Following the group’s expansion from a four to a seven-piece, it now uses 120 inputs compared to the 24 it used in earlier times, he says….
Read moreTO CREATE an asymmetrical lighting rig to complement the “loud quiet loud” music of the Pixies, designer Myles Mangino needed a fixture capable of evoking all the moods in the sound. He settled on the Chauvet Professional Strike 1 fixtures for shows at venues including London’s Alexandra Palace (cap. 10,400),…
Read moreNORTHERN IRELAND’S Two Door Cinema Club prefer an entirely different live sound to their recorded output according to front-of-house (FOH) engineer Ian Laughton. He says he enjoys the freedom he has on the False Alarm tour and that the band’s production manager Bennie Brongers is happy to specify his preferred…
Read moreAIMING TO immerse his audience in a “sensory bath” of music and abstract visuals, Thom Yorke is deploying a curved array of three to five screens for his Modern Boxes Tour, which plays at Glasgow SEC Hall 3 (cap. 5,000), Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse (3,500) and London’s Eventim Apollo (5,040)…
Read moreLIGHTING DESIGNER and production manager for the Jonas Brothers’ Happiness Begins tour, Baz Halpin, wanted a fixture that would create a larger-than-life look that would complement the LED screens and floor, the central feature of the production. He opted for 200 Khamsin fixtures by French manufacturer Ayrton to illuminate performances…
Read moreSTROBES, LASERS changing colour and smoke were among the effects deployed by lighting director José Lorenzo to recreate the 1990s party scene for Electric Sunsets: Cruise Back to the 90s on the Marella Explorer cruise ship. Sailing from Newcastle to Southampton, the vessel carries up to 1,900 passengers and hosted…
Read moreSUNDOWN FESTIVAL organisers U-Live decided to dispense with delay speakers despite having to achieve low sound levels of off-site and “enjoyably high” levels at the front-of-house (FOH) position in the middle of the 22,000 capacity crowd. Proper Productions, run by Mark Ward, and production manager Rishi-Louis Gowry invited Capital Sound…
Read moreTHE AUDIO requirements for Vampire Weekend have grown significantly since front-of-house (FOH) engineer Neil Heal first worked with the band over 10 years ago. Following the group’s expansion from a four to a seven-piece, it now uses 120 inputs compared to the 24 it used in earlier times, he says….
Read moreA NEW optical fibre cable designed for festivals has enabled the Billie Eilish tour to use different equipment formats without requiring new cable runs. Festival Box allows any audio protocol, as well as video and data, to travel down the same fibre, making it an efficient option for multi-act and…
Read moreA CURVED architrave with an LED surface dominates the stage of Rod Stewart’s Blood Red Rose tour, while portrait-oriented screens frame the production. The system, designed by lighting and production designer Mark Cunniffe and supplied by video company Colonel Tom Touring, needed rapid data processing and tidy cable runs to…
Read moreHOWARD JONES wanted an electronic, robotic look to his stage show, with video having the equivalent impact of another band member, rather than overpowering the production. Lighting designer Yenz Nyholm of New Illumination Lighting Design worked with Jones and producer Stephen Tayler on what they describe as an off-beat design…
Read moreTHE 550-capacity Under The Bridge (UTB) live music venue located at Chelsea Football Club’s Stamford Bridge stadium in west London, has revealed a technical upgrade comprising a new LED wall, LED lighting and audio system. The wall, a 3.9mm Pitch LED, improves video resolution at the venue to 1080p, while…
Read moreSHEFFIELD RECORD shop owner and promoter Martin Leverton needed a “next level” sound-system when he opened Network, a new 500-capacity music venue in the city. The venture, in collaboration with Sheffield’s DINA Arts Centre, follows Leverton’s success running a 150-capacity venue above his Record Junkee shop, which has hosted showcases…
Read moreTO ENABLE the tour by Brass Against, which has up to 24 band members and plays protest songs with brass instruments, Production & Touring (P&T) had to devise a cost-efficient and transportable production package, according to P&T’s Mike Taylor. It also had to be flexible enough to play 500-capacity venues…
Read moreWITH ARTISTES including Barbra Streisand, Lionel Richie and Celine Dion, the audio system at this year’s 65,000-capacity Barclaycard Presents British Summer Time in London’s Hyde Park, needed unparalleled clarity, according to production manager Mark Ward. Audio provider Capital Sound installed an MLA multi-cellular loudspeaker array by Martin Audio on the…
Read moreHALL AND Oates based the look of their UK stage show on a proscenium arch built of LED, supported by a block of video on the upstage screen The band used a total 150 square metres of UPADIII H05 panels by manufacturer Trinity LED, for performances at venues such as…
Read moreLIGHTING AND production designer Tom Sutherland wanted to create a set which changed “subtly and smoothly” throughout the show for Westlife and decided to use an automation system to create different spatial effects. Using a 64ft screen which split horizontally as a backdrop, he deployed nine lighting pods running from…
Read moreAFTER A period as a division of French construction multi-national the Altrad Group, Star Events has been purchased by British event industry entrepreneur David Walley. The 40-plus-year-old staging, rigging and structures specialist, which supplies clients such as British Summer Time (cap. 65,000), Adele and the Spice Girls, joins a stable…
Read moreDELIVERING A spectacular audio-visual presentation for Jack Savoretti’s flagship performance at London’s SSE Arena (cap. 12,500), Wembley, required logistical expertise and state-of-the-art equipment according to Pete McCrea, MD of visuals supplier Production AV. The display was created after production manager Neil Anderson decided to incorporate live footage and visuals into…
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