Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

Rigging / Staging

Details
UK In the last couple of years, Midlands-based Central Presentations Ltd (CPL) has gone from strength to strength, and its rapid expansion has meant they have had to rethink their whole business processes. Keeping tabs on its kit was paramount, and in this rental management solution inspHire played a key role.

Specialising in conference and live event production, as well as AV equipment hire and sales, CPL has seen massive growth recently. During this frenetic period, they were forced to consider all the facets of their business; from office and warehouse space to the modernisation of the old paperwork systems used to track and invoice its kit.

Increased investment in equipment meant the manual paperwork system began encountering problems - items were mislaid or left on site with no obvious way to trace them, as manual administration systems became time-consuming and laborious

Details
UK - Showsec dealt with all sorts of characters whilst managing the crowds and security for the series of shows held this year at Hyde Park (London). None stranger than when escorting three Storm Troopers from the main stage pit before Roger Waters took to the stage at the Hyde Park Calling concert.

Promoter Live Nation's production director for the shows, John Probyn says: "Showsec mixed well with crowds, production teams and artists and maintained a good, safe atmosphere for all of the shows at Hyde Park this summer."

Showsec's Simon Battersby and Steve Reynolds managed up to 400 staff for the Foo Fighters and Hyde Park Calling concerts, headlined by Roger Waters and the Who, when they looked after the pit, backstage and artists areas. They also managed crowds and security for the whole site for the five nights of the Wireless Festival.

(Chri

Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

Details
UK - National WiseUp2Work Day will be held on Wednesday 30 August 2006. WiseUp2Work is a major initiative by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) to address head-on the issue of safety for the under 21s when they are starting work, apprenticeships or work experience. On average, 10 young people are killed and 2,500 badly injured every year.

The aim is to make employers, trainers, youth workers and teachers, and young people themselves, aware of the risks they face in the workplace and what they should be doing to mitigate them. WiseUp2Work is sponsored by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and supported by the National Youth Agency and the British Chambers of Commerce.

National WiseUp2Work Day is being staged at a time when many young people are embarking upon their careers or starting work experience placements, and are at the highe

Details
UK - Rigging, drape and starcloth specialist Blackout, supplied and fitted out Earls Court 1 for the recent Give it a Name 06 festival held at the London venue in late April, 2006.

The idea was to create a festival style atmosphere with two different stages, but all within an indoor environment. To achieve this, Blackout worked closely with Andy Redhead, the main production manager for SJM Concerts, who was responsible for the overall design and layout. The main area which featured the stages and the catering points was deliberately left open to create an atmosphere where people could sit at the bars and watchthe bands. The event was visited by 26,000 people over the weekend, and among the acts appearing was My Chemical Romance, and Lost Prophets.

Kevin Monks, Blackout's project manager said that attention to detail was important. "We enclosed the stage areas, and

Details
UK - Stoneleigh Abbey sits in 690 acres of parkland and gardens through which the River Avon flows. It is therefore an idyllic setting for staging classical musical concerts accompanied by dramatic firework displays.

Julie McNally of Spitfire Productions has been producing an evening of classical music at Stoneleigh for 11 years and throughout this period has used Star Events Group (formerly Star Hire) as her only staging PA and Power supplier.

McNally says: "I always get terrific support from Jane [Jane Russen - director Star Mobile] and her team throughout the planning process. The whole 'classical show in parkland' type event has taken off so much in recent years, we are competing heavily with similar shows that have sprung up nearby. But we believe the setting at Stoneleigh, and our superior firework displays, are what audiences still appreciate."

This year Spi

Details
UK - Slingco has built and installed a modular CableNet tensioned wire grid system over the auditorium and stage of the brand new Seckford Theatre at Woodbridge School in Suffolk. A major reason for specifying the 8-frame modular CableNet is - for the first time ever - to provide completely safe roof access for students and working personnel including wheelchair users up in the grid.

The £4.5 million project, designed by architects the MEB Partnership from Oxford, has seen the creation of a 343 seat flexible space - which can also be configured in thrust and in-the-round formats - to service the school's own busy Performing Arts Centre department's productions as well as those of visiting companies, assorted local 'am dram' shows plus conferences and events.

Funded by the Seckford Foundation, which is dedicated to the young and the old of Woodbridge, it's a professional

Details
UK - For the past ten years, Hyde Park has been a second home during the summer months for Star Events Group whilst the company provide staging requirements for the park's live music events.

This year saw Tez Sheals-Barrett make her debut as Star Events Group project manager for the event. The first show in the series featured the Foo Fighters, who played to an 85,000-strong crowd on 17June. "We arrived in Hyde Park on 10 June to start the main stage build, allowing just five days in advance of production arriving on site!" says Sheals-Barrett.

"We had a lot of involvement with the band's production team due to the specific nature of the numerous structures they required. These included a specially designed thrust to allow Dave Grohl to run from the stage to the front of house towers and we had crew on hand throughout to make sure they got exactly what they want

Details
UK - Rigging, drape and starcloth specialist Blackout have recently completed a rigging infrastructure and provision of Starcloth to an Annual Celebration Dinner for 2,000 people hosted by a major Global Banking firm.

The aim of the event was to recognise staff achievements and successes over the past year. The theme was based on the musical Grease and featured cheerleaders, a Greased Lightnin' Band, and an American style convertible car.

Five halls at the ExCel Conference and Exhibition Centre were completely wrapped in Starcloth from Blackout creating an environment that was transformed into a tribute to the 1950s. 75 motors and 460 metres of lighting, AV and sound trusses were provided along with an 8m diameter truss circle. Four giant projection screens dressed to look like Drive-In Movie theatres were rigged by Blackout along with giant iconographic images from the

Details
UK - 5 Star Cases will celebrate its 25th anniversary at PLASA 06, where it will show its diverse range of cases - and also have some fun. Marking the quarter century, 5 Star is holding the 'Speed Challenge' - where visitors can experience an exciting flight-cased racing simulation game - with prizes to be won.

The simulation includes high quality graphics and sound and the entire system is housed in a custom built 'Super Tour' flight case with racing seat, steering wheel and pedals. The 'Speed Challenge' will take the lap times from each hour of the show, and the visitor with the quickest time walks away with a 5 Star 25th anniversary, limited edition briefcase. More than that, the overall quickest time over the four days will receive a £2,500 voucher to spend at 5 Star Cases.

5 Star will also show a selection of cases from its various ranges, including the recently upd

Details
Benelux - In a pan-European collaboration, sister companies Flashlight Rental of Holland and Flashlight-APR of Belgium provided the complete audio, lighting, rigging and trucking production for the recent European tour by Frank Zappa's son Dweezil.

The arrangement was a development of the relationship between LD Bryan Hartley and Flashlight that began on last year's successful tour with Lenny Kravitz. "I was delighted with Flashlight's service," says Hartley, "so I recommended them for the Zappa gig."

The tour - entitled Zappa Plays Zappa, Tour de Frank - included a sold-out night at London's Royal Albert Hall on 2 June in which the venue's refurbished organ was pressed into service for one number, Louie Louie, just as it had been when Zappa Snr. played the venerable hall.

Tour manager Maryjo Spillane and production manager Glynn Wood headed the crew. Woo

Details
UK - The Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA) was one of the main bodies representing the architectural, creative and live events sectors at the recent Olympics Business Summit, held in Leeds on Wednesday 19 July.

During the course of the Summit, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) - the body responsible for delivering the new venues and infrastructure for the Games, launched a draft version of its Procurement Policy - which outlines how it will manage the whole procurement process, including its selection and award criteria.

With the UK Government spending £3bn on the physical infrastructure for the Games, PLASA is keen to profile the creative and technical expertise of its membership and is preparing a guidance note for members to help them maximise their chances of winning key contracts. It will also be working with them to ensure they are fully aware

Details
UK - Tower Productions' Edinburgh depot recently supplied all power generation (24 sets) ranging from 15kVA to 200kVA, cable, distribution and site lighting to the fast-growing Wickerman Festival near Kirkcubright. Due to the nature of the site and preferences of the organisers tower lights are "not welcome" - so site lighting comprised approx 150 halogen floods as well as 40 x 400W and 150W discharge fittings. This, although much slower, and demanding industrial quantities of cable, resulted in the site looking great at night without the noise, glare and building-site look, normally associated with tower lighting.

The Wickerman was the most recent of a string of high-profile temporary power contracts supplied by Tower including the provision of cable, distribution and lighting (for use by others) to; T-in-the-Park, The Johnny Walker Golf Tournament at Gleneagles, The

Details
Ibiza - Manumission's sister company, Ibiza Rocks, has just purchased a purpose-built Tomcat one 290 48 fixed legged ground support which was subsequently installed in the newly refurbished Live music venue - Bar M, Manumission's Ibiza bar on the beach.

The initial idea for the ground support came from a sketch from the customer and a photo of the area in which the stage was to be installed. The brief was simple - design a structure that would sit on their newly built stage giving the bands a concert atmosphere in a small venue but also to give cover from the weather, be it rain or shine. "We were supplied with a few site photos and a basic idea of how they would like the structure to function," said Patrick Lockwood, sales engineer for Tomcat UK. It was only when I did the site visit that we found that due to conditions on site, their ideas were not suitable so we red

Details
Stage automation specialist Stage Technologies' latest news includes an interesting installation at the new Leicester Performing Arts Centre, in which the stage and backstage areas are visible to the street outside. The company provided complete automated power flying, including BigTow winches and a MaxisID control system operated by Nomad control consoles.

Details
UK - Star Events Group Ltd and Stage Hire Scotland Ltd are pleased to announce a new joint venture agreement. The new deal sees Star Events Group placing equipment permanently at Stage Hire Scotland's premises and training its locally-based crew in its use. At a stroke, this removes some of the considerable operational costs associated with supplying the growing Scottish events market from England, whilst retaining the industry leading engineering and back-up support services offered by Star Events Group.

Star Events Group director, Pete Holdich said: "The Scottish market has always been incredibly important to us and we have been looking at ways of reducing the financial premium of operating there for some time. Stage Hire Scotland is the only existing Scottish service company we have found that aspires to the same level of service and safety as we do and we are all lookin

Details
British Harlequin were exhibiting examples from their range of floorings for the performing arts, alongside accessories such as tapes, cleaning products, roll straps, etc. Floorings include: portable,roll-out floors, cushioned, heavy-duty permanent floors, plus permanent and touring spring floor systems.

Harlequin's new publication, Specifying Dance Floors - a Guide for Architects,was launched for the Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference (see July-August issue of L&SI). The guide covers the sprung floors in Harlequin's range; giving test results, specifications, and case studies.

Details
Tomcat claimed Widget of the Year Award for its Chain Runner, designed by Mylan Lester of Creation Logics with the entertainment industry in mind. Some chain runners require the removal and reattachment of the hook to fit. Other 'split' style runners can spin and be noisy. Tomcat's on the other hand can be added and removed very quickly. These strong runners are quiet, and won't spin or fall off - even if the two sides haven't been attached together. Tomcat's runners are suitable for CM Lodestars.

Details
Europe / USA - Bandit Lites supplied lighting, rigging and crew for the UK, European and US legs of Mark Knopfler's and Emmylou Harris' All the Roadrunning tour.

The tour promotes the collaborative album of the same name from the Dire Straits front-man and 11-time Grammy award-winner, Emmylou Harris. The pair have been compiling duets for seven years.

Lighting designer Simon Tutchener was asked to produce a simple look for the stage - with no video production onboard - the visual scenography was all down to lighting - and he in turn again asked Lester Cobrin at Bandit to help realise his design.

The design was based on using two very elegant eight metre diameter A-type interlocking circular trusses - which Bandit had custom fabricated. Tutchener wanted an architectural feel to the stage that defined the space. The circles symbolised the fusion of two of the greatest l

Details
UK - Having worked on similar events in Leicester over the last eighteen years, Hawthorns secured the opportunity from the Jalaram Charitable Trust, Leicester, to provide the power, sound, video and lighting systems for this year's special festival.

With the visit of the religious leader, Morari Bapu, the organisers changed the festival to a more corporate style format including the erection of an enclosed Arena TFT structure 95 metres long, 50 metres wide and 16 metres in height to the apex, accommodating 8000 people.

In order to power the whole site, two pairs of generators were used, one of which was a one megawatt set, which provided all the power to the catering facilities, lighting, sound and the all important air conditioning, given the recent temperatures.

To illuminate the Arena TFT structure and stage both decoratively and safely, over 250KW of lighting was used.

Details
UK - Stage Technologies have supplied the Royal Shakespeare Company's Courtyard Theatre with a portable automation control system. The new 1,000 seat theatre is a temporary venue for the RSC while major renovation works transform their permanent home at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. The temporary venue has been designed as a prototype for the auditorium planned in the permanent theatre which will re-open in 2010. The new thrust-stage brings the audience closer to the actors to re-create the intimacy of the theatres known in Shakespeare's time.

The entire Courtyard Theatre project is estimated to have cost in the region of £6m and following careful planning it is envisaged that a large amount of the equipment and materials will subsequently be reused in other RSC theatres and to support its works in London and on tours in the UK and around the world.

Details
China - Prolight + Sound Shanghai, the Frankfurt fair's younger sibling, will make its fourth showing in China from 18 - 21 October 2006, alongside the international MI show Music China. As of June around 170 exhibitors have signed up to take part in the fair, from the pro-audio, lighting and entertainment technology sectors. A special 'Premier Contractor Seminar' running in conjunction with the show is expected to attract hundreds of event contractors, specialised engineers and technicians from across China.

Pro-audio, specialist lighting and entertainment suppliers from around the world can find a strong and growing market in mainland China. Companies from China, Germany, France, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, the UK and the USA have already signed up to be a part of Prolight + Sound Shanghai.

Prolight + Sound Shanghai will feature a Taiwanese Pavilion fo

Details
UK - The Pet Shop Boys have even made squares cool with the help of the team at Specialz. Rockdrops Gary Cooper-Burrows said, "After discussions with Joe Sanchez (production manager) and Es Devlin (set designer) as to the requirements and uses of the cube for the forthcoming PSB 2006 tour, there was no choice in my mind as to whom I should use for the engineering and manufacture of the cube. After working with Dave Smith and Keith Owen on the Franz Ferdinand tour last year, I knew It had to be Specialz."

Specialz were commissioned to provide a multifunctional cube for use on the latest Pet Shop Boys 'Live' 2006 tour. The cube, which is internally illuminated, functions as a giant projection screen, a band prop, and dancer platform. The cube subdivides into four (4m x 4m) separate parts which are moved around the stage during the show.

Whilst these unique items look s

Details
UK - Tri-press, a new and unique hand-held press, has been launched by specialist rigging supply company Rope Assemblies. The press allows riggers to create hanging wires on site, quickly and efficiently, says the company.

The single-handed operation of the tri-press means that riggers can produce terminations quickly and easily whenever they need them, including on-site and at the point of application. The press has a number of interchangeable dies, which makes even crimping electrical terminations both quick and easy.

The tri-press has a number of features that add to its versatility - it can be supplied with a range of dies for various applications; the press automatically retracts once the crimping operation is complete; it has a crimping force of 35kN with a cycle time of four seconds and can complete 85 crimps per battery charge. The tri-press also comes with a RAM1 batt

Details
UK - With less than six weeks to go before PLASA06 opens its doors at Earls Court, the finishing touches are being made to the show's biggest-ever line-up of features, seminars and star industry speakers.

The expansion comes as PLASA Show organisers Clarion Events report the highest ever number of pre-registered visitors - up by 13% on 2005, with technical and creative teams from major venues and high-profile projects among the first to register.

The show's track record of hosting major international product launches, and wide interest in this year's new features, have helped drive the pre-registration increases. The new features are led by the new Integrated Systems Area; a greatly expanded PLASA Seminar Programme with a dedicated Technologies for Worship programme; the first PLASA appearance of NEET (National Exhibition of Entertainment Technology); and new features for DJs.

  1. Kinesys at PLASA06
  2. Guns N' Roses to EFM
  3. Mojo Barriers tour with Red Hot Chili Peppers
  4. Total Structures opens Eastern US office
  5. ESTA Foundation offers Rigging Sessions at LDI
  6. Lift Turn Move at PLASA 06
Page 114 of 234
Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
Sennheiser - MPU - June 2025

Latest Issue. . .