We headed to the ProLight & Sound event again this year, our third consecutive attendance at this show, which is for professional A/V in live shows and music events. The main display interest is in LED and it was noticecable that this year, there was even less attention to anything other than LED displays, which dominate live event rentails. A couple of years ago, there were more projection demos, but there were very few this time.
The show runs alongside the Musikmesse and has a very strong entertainment vibe – the lighting/audio companies have competitions (formal and informal) to see who has the best A/V performance, so it’s always noisy and lively. There are lots of after show parties and events.
Some exhibitors were there that really have little or no rental business, for example, Eyevis, who told us that although it isn’t significantly in rental, the show pulls in many from theatres and other entertainment locations, many of them public-owned and managers are rarely allowed to travel out of Germany to attend events, so going to Frankfurt is still a good way to meet potential clients.
As often, it’s interesting to see who isn’t at the show and this year saw Barco drop out and Unilumin was a ‘no show’ – the company was in the guide, but not on the show floor. However, the company’s LEDs were shown by Ledcon and Eyevis (although that may not be for long!).
