Arcade Fire, the Grammy Award-winning indie band from Montreal, has been praised by critics since the launch of its debut album, Funeral, in 2004. Ten years on, the group continues to press the envelope with its sonically adventurous arrangements and tours, which can feature a dozen or more multi-instrumentalists switching between an ever-changing blend of guitar, drums, bass, piano, string quartet, xylophone, glockenspiel, keyboard, synthesizer, French horn, accordion, harp, mandolin and hurdy-gurdy.

The 15th Annual Latin Grammy Awards took place in a blaze of glamour at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and was attended by some of the biggest names in Latin music and a sold-out audience of nearly 17,000.  Almost 10 million television viewers - the highest figures to date - tuned in for some or all of the three-hour live broadcast on the Univision network.

Dubai-based rental houses, Eclipse Staging Services and Delta Sound, both unveiled new equipment as Lady Gaga made her Middle East debut in Dubai.

One of pop’s biggest singer-songwriters, Gary Barlow, has premiered a one-off open-air show version of his recent ‘Since I Saw You Last’ tour in Dubai. For the special event, lighting designer Tim Routledge specified an array of super bright Clay Paky fixtures, including one of the latest additions to Clay Paky’s product line the SuperSharpy, from leading supplier Eclipse Staging Services.

Die Große Chance (A Great Opportunity) is one of Austria’s leading talent competitions. The 2014 final staged in Studio 1 at national broadcaster ORF’s HQ in Vienna was lit in great style by Lighting Director Thomas Kruder using nearly 300 Robe moving lights!

The iconic rock band Fleetwood Mac never stops thinking about tomorrow – and planning their next tour to delight fans.  For their current “On With the Show” tour a complement of Clay Paky A.leda B-EYE K20 LED-based moving lights and Sharpy Wash lights have been specified by lighting designer/production designer Paul “Arlo” Guthrie.

After years of fans’ “Unanswered Prayers,” Garth Brooks is officially back in action. With his first studio album in more than a decade released last month and first worldwide tour in 13 years set to launch in February, the country-music ultra-star performed his new single “People Loving People” live during the American Music Awards (AMAs) last month. Brooks was not on stage at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, however. He was 2,500 miles away at the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina, creating a challenging multisite live production for Dick Clark Productions (DCP) and Crosscreek TV Productions.

When BBC’s flagship Saturday night Strictly Come Dancing entertainment show relocates once a year from Elstree Studios to the coruscating Blackpool Tower Ballroom, all the production infrastructure likewise heads north, with the OB recording trucks set up in a co-opted scanner park. With the hit show now in its 10th year, BBC Studios and Post Production’s Andy Tapley, and lead Sound Supervisor, Tony Revell, evolved an elegant workflow in Blackpool, mixing the show entirely on three HARMAN’s Studer digital consoles. For the first time on a Strictly OB, the topology was based on a conjoined Vista 8 and Vista 5, alongside a Vista 1, which handled the surround sound mix within Red TX’s reconfigured Red II 3D/7.1 OB truck. This also housed a dedicated grams area.

Dubstep/garage star Katy B’s current UK tour is bringing a moody nightclub atmosphere to venues up and down the country thanks to Tom Campbell’s audience engaging, silhouette rich, strobe heavy lighting design. Built around the dramatic effects that the exciting new Clay Paky Stormy CC and the award-winning A.leda B-EYE K20 and K10 can deliver, Campbell has created a stunning design with relatively few fixtures.

Airing in more then 160 countries and territories, the 20th anniversary of the MTV EMA awards took place on November 9th in Glasgow. With performances amongst others by U2, Alicia Keys and Ed Sheeran, the 2014 edition of the MTV EMAs set a new record with millions of viewers worldwide and 389 million mentions across social media platforms. To ensure a seamless broadcast of the live event, the organizers relied on Hilversum-based broadcasting specialist United. For the high profile event, United brought in five OB trucks and an additional audio truck.

Leading broadcast solutions supplier, Gearhouse Broadcast, has returned to the depths of the jungle for the seventh time to deliver robust technical and production facilities for ITV Studios’ I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!

Robe’s new Bright Multi-Functional Luminaire (BMFL) Spots made their debut on the vibrant Italian electronic music and arts scene, featuring prominently on the main stage at the 2-day C2C (Club2Club) International Festival of Music & Arts in Turin, where they were specified by production lighting designer Walter Lutzu.

S+H Technical has supplied specialist draping and ‘soft’ lighting effects lighting to several high profile TV shows recently including Strictly’s Blackpool special as well as for the regular weekly show broadcast from Elstree Studios; the main Children In Need telethon studio; popular talent competition ‘Stars in Their Eyes’ back on air in 2015 after a 9 year hiatus; new ITV talent show ‘Get Your Act Together’ and Bette Midler’s first ever ITV special ‘One Night Only’.

With a unique style of its own that miraculously intertwined the best traditions of Russian and Soviet culture as well as new trends of the modern entertainment industry, the World Circus Festival “IDOL 2014” took place at The Great Moscow Circus from September 10th through 14th. HARMAN’s Martin Professional fixtures played the main role in creating exciting lighting effects in accordance with the vision of the event.

Chart-topping LA based indie pop duo, Capital Cities, have completed the first North American leg of their “In a Tidal Wave of Mystery” tour, together with a highly flexible lighting design created by Chris Smith.