The Concert Touring & Events judging panel for The Knight of Illumination (KOI) Awards, the ultimate celebration of video and lighting design has revealed the 2019 shortlist for the Concert Touring & Events category. Having received a record number of submissions, up 25 per cent from the 2017 Awards, the judging panel had the difficult task of choosing just a fraction of the entries to put forward for the shortlist. This year’s judging panel comprised LSi editor Claire Beeson, music business and events consultant Ronnie Gurr, director of architectural lighting firm 18 Degrees Christopher Knowlton, Head of Lighting Design at…
Author: James Robertson
For those on-site, or at home viewing the BBC coverage, this year’s Glastonbury was indeed a scorcher in many ways, with endless highlights and standout performances that are still being talked about months after the event. As is the annual tradition, the UK’s biggest festival saw some of the industry’s best-known suppliers, manufacturers and crew members come together for one almighty gathering. With water bottle in hand, we ventured out to visit the various stages, tents and cranes – yes you read that correctly – to meet some of the teams that collectively create one of the most talked-about cultural…
Put together by a formidable crew of creatives, the Texas-born and Los Angeles-based multiplatinum artist’s live shows are renowned for their bold looks and brash vocal delivery. Immersed in bright lights, plumes of CO2 and carnival iconography, for one night only, London’s O2 Arena was transformed into a carnival-inspired fairground, based on the rapper’s beloved Six Flags AstroWorld – a Houston theme park that inspired the Travis Scott’s latest number-one album and formidable North American tour, ASTROWORLD. https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/tpiaug19_digitallr/22 Photos: @felix.aaa www.travisscott.com www.prg.uk www.ct-group.com www.bpm-sfx.com
Embarking on his first ever UK tour, David Blaine’s Real or Magic arrived in Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Bournemouth and London in June 2019. Renowned for his close-up street magic and elaborate, often dangerous stunts, the American is one of the most recognisable and pioneering magicians on the touring circuit. At the O2 Apollo Manchester, TPi caught up with the double act tasked with handling the audio for the one-man show. https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/tpiaug19_digitallr/16 Photos: TPi www.davidblaine.com www.audio-technica.com www.rock-tech.events www.stageaudioservices.com
EPIC 6.0 Holosphere was the latest in Prydz’s EPIC (Eric Prydz In Concert) series of jaw-dropping visual spectaculars, realised by dream team, longterm collaborators Liam Tomaszewski (Punkette), Ross Chapple (RCLD), Mark Calvert and Dave Green (RES) and Bryn Williams (Light Initiative) with the 8m-high Holosphere forming the centrepiece of the new design. https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/tpiaug19_digitallr/10 Photos: Antonio Pagano and RES www.resgb.com www.lightinitiative.co.uk www.ericprydz.com
I can honestly say that I didn’t realise quite how many Backstreet Boys tracks had made a home in the back of my mind. That was until last month when I got to witness the five-piece powerhouse at London’s O2 Arena, and to meet the men and women behind the DNA World Tour. Despite it being some 23 years since the band’s self-titled debut album was released, the group has maintained much of the energy that brought it success in its formative years. https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/tpiaug19_digitallr/32 Photos: Jess Gilbert & TPi www.backstreetboys.com www.prg.com www.sound-image.co.uk www.er-productions.com www.taittowers.com www.flybynite.co.uk www.coachservice.com
Audiologic has announced the recruitment of Iain Cameron to the role of Business Manager with specific responsibility for Scotland and the island of Ireland. Based in Glasgow, Cameron will work to expand the company’s reach in what is a fertile and rapidly growing marketplace for the Essex-based distributor. A background in studio and live engineering led Cameron into AV installation in the corporate, house of worship and entertainment sectors. After gaining valuable experience as an application engineer, he moved into the world of manufacturer representation and has spent the last eight years managing distribution channels on behalf of major AV…
Westlife’s lighting designer Tom Sutherland specified one hundred and forty-eight Robe MegaPointes for the boy band’s 20 Tour. The first leg of the tour culminated in two sold out nights at Dublin’s Croke Park stadium playing to an incredible 170,000 adoring fans. Sutherland of DX7 Design is part of a new and exciting creative team. He was asked onboard by show producer / director Brian Burke, and the two combined imaginative forces to create the stunning production design that is supporting Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Shane Filan on the 20 Tour. The performance space is defined by a…
Adlib supplied full production – sound, lighting, video and rigging – plus crew for the recent UK tour by maverick US duo Daryl Hall and John Oates. It’s the first time that Adlib has supplied all technical disciplines for a Daryl Hall & John Oates tour. After the UK tour, an Adlib control package and video servers went on to the Latin American leg of the tour, and then returned to Europe with the addition of a full audio package for the third segment and euro festival run. Adlib’s Craig Hamilton – based in the Glasgow office – project managed…
As well as keeping more than 78,000 hardstyle fans entertained over three days at Q Dance’s Defqon.1, a dedicated live production team from NEP was also working to deliver UltraHD content from the festival’s main stages for the first time, through its UHD2 OB truck, a mobile control room and a newly built mobile UHD PPU for content production. With stages up to 1.5km away from each other, NEP designed a live video solution around a central production hub, which received all camera signals, tally and intercom from the ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ stages via optical fibre, allowing for reliable signal…
English rapper Dave’s Psychodrama World tour in support of his eponymous debut album features a disguise solo media server driving dynamic video content by TAWBOX on the stage. London-based creative studio TAWBOX and its founders Bronski (Chris Jablonski) and Amber Rimell worked with the artist to design the show concept, which has a giant skull as its centerpiece. “Dave is an incredible talent, a mastermind of his generation,” said Bronski. “The idea of a massive skull replicating what was left from the burning head pictured on the album cover felt great to Dave, who loves a set piece.” “We wanted…
RCF loudspeakers were used for sound reinforcement at the Dolan Beats electronic music festival in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany. The festival grew from a small open-air party to 5,000 visitors, and headliners such as Felix Kröcher and Ostblockschlampen ensured a correspondingly positive response from the party-seeking audience in 2019. From the very beginning, Livito Eventtechnik was responsible for the technical implementation of the event. “We used Loudspeakers from RCF as a sound reinforcement solution already last year. This year we have experienced much more popularity, and therefore the sound system has been increased accordingly”, said Andreas Schnepf, GF of Livito Eventtechnik.…
Australian band Ocean Alley’s Lighting Designer, Max Baldwin used Chauvet Professional Rogue R1X Spot fixtures supplied by Squeek Lights, for their recent North American tour. “Our entire idea was to get looks in 400 or 500 capacity rooms with limited-stage in North America that were similar to what we got at giant festivals and amphitheatres in Australia,” said Baldwin. “Obviously, we couldn’t duplicate the Australian looks exactly, but we could reflect the spirit of those shows with a smaller rig. The Rogues were essential to our plans. Working them with the various house rigs we encountered gave us a lot…
Watch the latest video release on A4i.tv about the new Ultimate Hinge from Milos. Norbert Tripp is back again to explain the design of the Ultimate Hinge, its feature set, loading capacity factors and the self-balancing act it achieves when attached to your truss spans. www.a4i.tv
Inspired and headlined by Italian singer, songwriter and rapper Lorenzo Cherubini (Jovanotti), the infamous travelling ‘festival village’ that is the Jova Beach Party is mid-way through its summer-long tour armed with over one hundred robust Prolights fixtures. Jova Beach Party will welcome over 63 international acts, DJs and artists from around the world. From riviera to riviera, the main stage is set to entertain visitors from evening to night. With such a vast space available, the festival village includes children’s’ play areas, sees people sunbathing, swimming in the sea, and has frequently featured as a travelling wedding venue. In…
Mobile Promotions, BluePeg, Star Events and Beautiful Minds become a single entity rebranding under the Star Live banner. The new name and brand identity launch today and will be adopted by all the businesses with immediate effect. The four businesses have been acquired over the past eighteen months by entrepreneur David Walley. The founders of the businesses all remain with the new company to form its senior management team, providing vast expertise across live events and experiential. The integration brings to life a unique business, with teams based in multiple locations across the UK and an international presence in Shanghai,…
Marshall Electronics recently introduced the new CV503-WP All-Weather Full-HD Miniature Camera, which rounds out the updated release of its new HD Miniature and Compact cameras line. This new generation of Marshall cameras represents the next step for Marshall’s offerings for point-of-view videography in sports broadcast, reality TV, and live events. www.marshall-usa.com
International Busking Day has celebrated the world’s best street performers for the past five years. The free London event – held this year on the 20th of July at Wembley Park and produced by Found in Music Ltd as part of the Busk in London programme supported by the Mayor of London – featured five stages including the Main Stage on Olympic Way and indoor venue, Boxpark Wembley. Sennheiser was there to support the event and give the artists and visitors the chance to get a hands-on demo of its evolution wired 600/800 and 900 series microphones as well as…
