UK: The South West Four Festival (SW4) on Clapham Common’s south side is the latest in a long line of events that has called on the expertise of Capital Sound and the advanced controllability of its flagship Martin Audio MLA loudspeaker array. This time it was needed to contain the high-octane energy delivered by a host of world famous DJs and dance music specialists, on a site closely surrounded by residential buildings. Promoter Andrew Mattle of Lock N Load Events had called in the London-based production company and its MLA last year for main stage only, initially having being impressed…
Author: Festival Insights
NETHERLANDS: On October 14, as a part of the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), de Brakke Grond theatre will host ADE Green. After the extremely successful first two editions of ADE Green, ID&T and ADE will once again present a rich and varied programme with panel discussions, inspiring speakers and workshops about sustainability, innovation and social change. During ADE 2014, Open-House was launched – an innovation platform for startups in the event and festival industry. Earlier this year the Nature Calls competition was set up by Open-House, with three different categories: energy, waste and water. During ADE Green 2015 the five…
CHINA: The inaugural Infinity Summer Festival took place on August 8 in Shanghai, constituting the first interactive carnival-themed music festival in the city. The music offerings were mostly EDM-oriented, with an abundance of house and trance courtesy of Roger Shah, Dzeko & Torres, Alvaro, Genix, Ben Nicky, and many more. The laser show was a central visual element of the event, so the organisers decided to go for high end laser gear of Swiss and German manufacturing, specifically utilising 10 x SwissLas PM-10.000RGB lasers as well as 6 x RTI PIKO RGB 18 from the Laserworld Group. The setup had…
GERMANY: In the early morning hours of September 8, the western open-air stage at Spielbudenplatz on the Reeperbahn burned down, fortunately without causing harm to anyone. However, the stage has been an essential part of the Reeperbahn Festival for years, and plans were in place to join it with another stage to make up the large ‘Spielbude’ location for four days as a part of the festival’s 10th anniversary celebrations. Reeperbahn’s organisers have announced that the plan will continue to be pursued despite the fire. The 26 concerts originally planned, such as showcases of various music export agencies and other…
Florent Gatard is Event Sales Director for the French market at Airstar, the world leader and inventor of the lighting balloon technology. Established in 1994, Airstar is specialised in the design, manufacturing and distribution of inflatable structures and lighting balloons for the event and staging industry. An innovation source at the crossroads of lighting, design and technology, Airstar is active in 40 countries through 12 subsidiaries and a network of independent distributors. In this article, Gatard shares some important considerations to make before lighting up a festival site. Once the site has been chosen, the line-up secured, and partners and…
USA: Following a spate of drug-related casualties at electronic music festivals and concerts in the US, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in support of the formation of the Electronic Music Task Force on September 1, which will act in an advisory capacity towards dance festivals in the hopes of making them safer. Billboard reported that the motion was spearheaded by LA County Mayor Michael Antonovich as well as LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis. Solis said: “I want to emphasise that our efforts around this motion, above all, are about the health and safety of those attending…
UK: In the recent Green Manifesto Survey conducted by Kambe Events, in partnership with the AIF and AFO, 84% of participants cited reducing festival waste as a key issue for them. In response to this, the former company, which is also responsible for the consistently environmentally friendly festival Shambala, will host a one-day training event to address the issue. Bringing together leading waste management and behaviour change experts, the day will consist of presentations, discussions and a practical session so attendees will come away with an action plan and various resources for their 2016 event. The workshop, set to take…
UK: EGX – the UK’s largest videogames event – has announced a new partnership with YouTube that will see the latter bring a major YouTube Gaming stage to EGX from September 24 – 27. YouTube Gaming is the brand new app and website to keep people connected to the games, players, and culture that matters to them – with videos, live streams, and the biggest community of gamers on the web – all in one place. In the wake of the UK launch of YouTube Gaming, YouTube will bring a brand new live YouTube Gaming experience to EGX via a…
UK: Electric Daisy Carnival landed in England this year with its trademark colourful performers and EDM stars with lighting controlled by a host of Avolites consoles on two main stages. This year marked the third EDC in the UK and was again held at the Milton Keynes Bowl with headline acts including Tiesto, Paul van Dyk and Pendulum. Design and production agency Electric Fly supplied an Avolites Sapphire Touch and Pearl Expert as back up to the neonGARDEN stage, operated by Ross ‘Dubstick’ Chapple. Over at the Pepsi Max cosmicMEADOW stage, Ben Hyman operated a Pearl Expert with the new…
UK: One of the latest additions to the Philips Strand Lighting line of consoles, the NEO, has made its Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut, taking up residence for the duration of the arts festival in the popular venue C south. Operated by leading Fringe independent venue producer C venues, C south saw up to 10 performing companies coming through the space each day. It offered a plethora of different style shows, ranging from Shakespeare plays to circus performances, performed by an international mix of companies from the UK, Europe, Korea, Singapore and Australia. “The technical team found the NEO to be…