Music Inside Rimini expo sees 20% visitor spike
The third edition of the Italian event drew an attendance of over 12,000.
Italian Exhibition Group (IEG), the organiser of Music Inside Rimini (May 6-8) announced a 20% increase in attendance for this year’s event, writes Mike Clark.
The third edition of the event was attended by a total of 12,000 visitors (professionals, technicians, prosumer and consumers), attracted by a format integrating almost all the sectors of the product chain – b2b, b2expert and public in four macro areas (Lighting and sound, pro video, integrated systems and Music & DJ Producer), as well as live shows and product demos and tests.
MIR also hosted over 70 appointments with events, performances by well-known Italian and international artistes, meetings and training courses, with the objective of providing the ideal place for exchanging experiences and knowledge.
The 12 fully equipped Live You Play stages offered visitors the possibility of hearing new products under real-life conditions with four bands alternating live sets with product demos and hands-on tests.
Manufacturer FBT deployed the 210 LA, the big brother of its Muse line array range in an L/C/R format (10+3+10), nine Mitus 218SA twin 18” woofer subs in cardioid configuration and two models in the Ventis range on frontfill and monitor chores.
Nexo was out in force this year, not only with staff (sales director Denus Baudier among those in attendance), but also as far as product were concerned, with no less than three Live You Play stages hosting its systems. GEO was supplied by rental firm Joint Rent (8+8 M 10 and 6 M SUB15), STM 28 (9+9) and twelve STM B112 subs deployed by Nexo and the “heavy team” (18 STM S118, 18 STM 46 and 18 STM B112) supplied by AMG International, the rental company covered by PSNE in the April issue on occasion of Italy’s X-Factor live tour.
Not to be outdone, as well as fielding a ShowMatch rig comprising 8+8 SM5, 1+1 SM10, 1+1 SM20 and no less than 24 SMS118 subs, for the live band, on its Live You Play stage, Bose added 4+4 SM5 and 2+2 SMS118 to form a quadriphonic system, which was put through its paces to great effect by Niek Boes (nice play on words!), a Dutch artist specializing in sound effects (a bomb raid, a shattering Boeing 777 taking off, etc.), created vocally by the artiste during his highly entertaining show.
Although exhibiting since the first edition, Sinergie Group VUE Audiotechnik Italia took advantage of the opportunity offered by Live You Play for the first time this year, fielding no less than two Pas on the same stage: one with 6+6 al-12, an al-8 and two al-4 , the other with 6+-6 and both used with eight hs-221 dual 21-inch sub.
Prase also featured part of its distributed brands on a Live You Play stage for the first time this year, with a Lab Gruppen powered Clair Bros rig:16 Bros C8M120,
12 CS218M, three 1AM,a 1AM+, two 1.5AM, four 12AM, a KitSub and two FF2HP. As far as products addressing the installation market were concerned, the company reported considerable interest in Mersive’s Solstice pod, Apart’s Kubo speakers and Biamp’s TLUX on the stand.
Although not exhibiting or supplying equipment for Live You Play stages, audio manufacturer Outline was heard in a big way, with PAs used on all three locations chosen for Music in Festival, staged prior to MIR: the top DJs spinning sounds from the two stages at Rimini Expo Centre (the MIR venue) had Outline GTO C-12, Mantas 28, Vegas 15 cx, DBS 18-2 and LAB 21 HS at their disposal, whereas those at Castel Sismondo and Teatro degli Atti had fans bopping with Mantas 28, DBS 18-2 and Vegas 15 cx systems. All the equipment was supplied by Tuscan rental firm Emporio On Stage di Firenze.
On its first outing at the Rimini expo, dBTechnologies did things in a big way, with the Italian debut of new products at Live You Play and its stand. The stage featured a rig comprising 9+9 VIO 208 compact line array modules and ten VIO S118R subs, whereas the Bologna manufacturer’s stand hosted among other systems the compact VIO L212, its first self-powered 3-way line array addressing the large-scale touring market. Italian Sales manager Stefano Bini enthused, “MIR was the perfect setting for the launch of our new line array. The combination of exhibit space and live demo was a winner and attendance was even greater than we expected. We received very positive feedback from long-standing clients and potential new users.”
The positive results of MIR, the economic growth of entertainment facilities in Italy (in spite of a lack of government support for the sector) and the interesting performance by Italy’s lighting equipment manufacturers, in second place in Europe, have led to MIR organisers closely examining the opportunities that could be created abroad for the 2019 edition of the event.
Source: mi-pro.co.uk
