Despite its economy being in recession and a lack of venues and touring activity in the south, Italy boasts a robust concert business that is making the most of its many geographical and historical locations, a steady demand to see international artistes … and a reduction in sales tax on…

As live music productions become increasingly complex and festivals demand ever more impressive centre stages, the international staging sector is exploring new materials and methods of handling their heavy load while ensuring safety is the utmost priority. Christopher Barrett reports  Stages is undoubtedly one of the fastest-growing sectors in live entertainment,…

The revival of the Doctor Music Festival after a break 19 years has faced a setback, with the risk of flooding forcing a site change. The 50,000-capacity event was due to be held in the Escalarre Vall d’Àneu valley in the Pyrenees on 11-14 July. But a Catalan Water Agency…

MUSICIANS, DANCERS and artists from around the world will showcase their local culture at a new area being launched at this year’s Sziget festival (cap. 95,000). Called Global Village, the line-up includes musicians from the Roma community, an Indian travelling circus and Puerto Candelaria from Colombia. It’s part of a…

A tight timescale and the need for state-of-the-art facilities dictated the choice of rehearsal space for Shawn Mendes’ world tour, says Scottie Sanderson of Fly by Nite Rehearsal Studios (FBN).  He believes the production chose the UK-based facility, south of centrally-located Birmingham, to carry out production rehearsals because it not…

With venues ranging from the 4,800-capacity Jahrhunderthalle in Frankfurt to the Lanxess Arena (18,000) in Cologne, the audio system for rapper and songwriter Alligatoah’s Wie Zuhause tour needed to be fully scalable. Front-of-house engineer Claudio Malaguti ordered a “massive inventory” of MLA by manufacturer Martin Audio from rental company Complete…