Features

LD Mamo Pozzoli used Martin's LC Series panels in a cylindrical configuration for Gianna Nannini's 15-date GiannaDream tour. The LED structure is positioned at center stage and serves as the visual centerpiece of the set.

Video control solutions specialist SNP Productions supplied video rental house Creative Technology with two Catalyst v4 PRO media servers with 250 Gb hard drives for the Pet Shop Boys' Pandemonium world tour, for which CT was the video contractor.

LOS ANGELES – A few years ago, Paul O'Neil's Trans Siberian Orchestra (TSO) did shows in small theatres, two or three times a week. Now, the dual touring productions do two arena-sized shows a day on both the East and West coast, a challenge even to Chaos Visual Productions, which is used to handling video for large shows.

Large-scale projections designed by Ross Ashton helped bring the year-long celebration for Cambridge University's 800th year to a close. Called Transforming Tomorrow, the light shows were projected onto Cambridge's Senate House and adjacent Old School, and also part of Kings College Chapel and the nearby Gibbs Building.

PLSN marks its 10th Anniversary with the Feb. 2010 issue. In that time, production companies have morphed, but the crew lists and gear lists haven't… Read More »Projection, Lights & Staging News Turns 10

How has the live event production industry changed over the last ten years?

For starters, it now has PLSN.

Ten years ago this month, PLSN launched its very first issue of its now familiar 11-inch-by-17-inch tabloid-formatted industry news magazine.

And now a word from Terry Lowe, the publisher of what you're reading – and how it did not exist 10 years and one month ago. "Many of our competitors tried to spin it that we were just a flash in the pan, but 10 years later we're still cranking out the magazine and continuing to be important to those in the lighting and staging industry."

The tour for Train has been rolling across America with lighting and video gear provided by LMG. Lighting designer Matt Mills and tour manager Thomas O'Keefe co-designed the rig, then handed it off to lighting director Shawn Seithel.

LD Tim Dunn used 282 Robe fixtures in his design for Miss World 2009, which was staged at the Gallagher Convention Centre. The show was televised and broadcast live to 80 of the 112 participating countries, including, for the first time, the U.S., India and China. Along with the 3,500 in the live audience, an estimated 1 billion people saw the show.

Try reaching Alan Falkner, an ETC field service engineer based in Hollywood, during the two weeks surrounding Thanksgiving. Usually Alan is jimmy-on-the-spot, a testament to ETC's exceptional service. But for those two weeks, Alan completely disappears. His friends anticipate it; his co-workers prepare for it; and his fellow church members make fun of him for it. Come December, though, Alan's reclusiveness reveals its yuletide bounty.

HSL supplied lighting equipment, a Kinesys automation system and crew to the final leg of Snow Patrol's 2009 world tour, "Snow Patrol Reworked." As the tour's name suggests, there was a departure from the group's standard five-piece rock band setup, with 12 extra musicians onstage, bringing an orchestral feel to the show.

LD Mariano de Tassis credited Clay Paky gear for helping him fulfill Claudio Baglioni's ideas for lighting his 2009 tour, which included stops in historic venues. "The original idea for the lighting design came directly from the artist and was then developed jointly by myself and Fabrizio "Bicio" Marchi, production and designer manager," said de Tassis.