Features

InfoComm 2013 took place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL, with 937 exhibitors showing off products and services within 470,000 square feet of exhibition space from June 12-14. This year’s event drew a record-setting 35,126 visitors, up 2.5 percent from 2012. Along with the exhibition, InfoComm 2013 offered seminars from June 8-14. Attendees came from 110 countries around the world. Here’s a look at some of the companies and featured products at the show.

MALMO, Sweden — If many Americans have still never heard about the Eurovision Song Contest even though it has emerged, in 58 years, as one of the world’s biggest non-sporting TV events, they’ve undoubtedly heard of the stars that the annual event has launched into the entertainment stratosphere over the decades, including ABBA, Céline Dion and Julio Iglesias.

With more than 200 DJs and other artists on seven stages over two three-day weekends (March 15-17 and 22-24), book-ending (and dwarfing) the annual Winter Music Conference from which it sprang in 1999, the 15^th annual Ultra Music Festival smashed its own impressive records for growth by drawing some 330,000 revelers to Miami’s Bayfront Park, doubling 2012’s 165,000 attendee count.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Bay Lights, an $8 million, two-year dynamic LED light installation created by artist Leo Villareal, sprang to life March 5 on a 1.8-mile span of the San Francisco side of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

The death of longtime Martin Professional executive Troels Volver, 58, at his home in Kolding, Denmark (PLSN, Jan. 2013, page 5), elicited numerous online remembrances at www.plsn.me/RememberingTroels. Some excerpts follow. —ed.

The historic 12.12.12 Concert For Sandy Relief, staged to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy, brought together some of the best and brightest of the live event industry for one memorable night. Taking the stage on December 12, 2012, at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, were Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Chris Martin, Eddie Vedder, Eric Clapton, Roger Waters, Dave Grohl, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and Long Beach, Long Island native, comedian/actor Billy Crystal, who emceed the event.

Production Designer Demfis Fyssicopulos

Tour: Maroon 5 North American Tour

Tour Dates: Feb. 13-Apr. 6/North America; all dates at maroon5.com

The White House Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. It’s a hallowed national event traditional involving a live audience of 18,000, a televised audience of millions, U.S. park rangers, the White House, scores of Secret Service agents, and the POTUS and his family.

With both the Olympics and Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee taking place, London was the epicenter for big events in 2012, in terms of lighting, staging and projection. But Madonna’s 2012 Super Bowl Halftime Show will also be hard to top in 2013 (it will feature Beyoncé), and while the Olympics required both marathon-like stamina for the opening ceremonies (with more than 100 consecutive nights of programming) and speed (close to 100 truckloads of gear needed to be loaded in within 18 hours for the closing ceremonies), the Super Bowl Halftime Show has long been known as an all-out sprint, with only 27 minutes allotted for load-in, the performance, and load-out. Finally, of course, 2012 will be remembered as a Presidential election year in the U.S., and for the challenges of staging huge political events in hurricane-threatened Tampa (the RNC) and Charlotte, NC (DNC).

Perspectives from Raj Kapoor, Peter Morse and Brian Jenkins

Carrie Underwood has been out on tour in support of her fourth album, Blown Away, which debuted at the top of the charts along with her single, “Good Girl.” The current 2012 tour has been so successful that it’s expanded into 2013 for an additional 40 dates in the U.S. and Canada. PLSN spoke with the tour designer/directors about this impressive show’s design, which complements Underwood’s rise as one of today’s most accomplished musical artists.