Rigging / Staging

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14 March 2016

Dave Carmack, entertainment product trainer for Columbus McKinnon, led the training sessions along with Adam Beaumont, sales manager for the A.C. Rigging division, at the company's Leeds premises. Course attendees were taken through various levels of training, from the basic course covering overcoming daily scenarios, to an advanced two-day course covering inspection procedures and certification of the Lodestar and Prostar motors.

Trevor Hanna, senior technician for Production Services Ireland, commented: "Having attended the advanced course, it has now provided me with greater knowledge and confidence to work on CM Lodestar chain hoists. The methods and instruction from David

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14 March 2016

The stage design involves a multi level 'necklace' stage composed of two curved arms sweeping down from a back walkway to the main promoter's stage and forward into the audience to a B stage, giving several performance areas on different levels. With so many venues on the tour, the stage dimensions and construction needed to be flexible to allow for different configurations within each venue.

Access to the main stage is via access stairs situated towards the rear, down which the four singers descend to the mid-air walkway level, a

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14 March 2016

Charles Criscenzo, a 53-year-old French worker, was killed outright in the accident and Charles Prow, a 23-year-old from Headingley in Leeds, died in hospital. Technicians had been setting up the stage at the city's Velodrome stadium when the partially-built roof fell in on Thursday, bringing down a crane.

Madonna paid tribute to the technicians at her concert in Italy on T

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14 March 2016

The stage's four legs arch out to embrace the audience, giving fans unprecedented and extensive access to the superstars on the pitch, while its gargantuan proportions carry the band's performance to every seat in the house.

This is one of the largest stages ever toured in any field of entertainment. The structure's central grid is raised 28m high, with legs traversing the width of the famous soccer pitch and a central antenna reaching as high as 5m.

The Stageco steel structure weighs 220 tons, excluding both the 90 tons of steel ballast that travels with each system and the rigging loads. Stageco has produced three identi

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14 March 2016

Jason Carlton, head of business development (events division), says that the new division is concentrated on developing a range of innovatively designed products to meet customer requirements coupled with working in partnership with a small number of key distribution partners. "We are not simply modifying scaffolding equipment, but are focused on providing bespoke products for technically demanding clients", declared Carlton. "At the same time we aim to provide the best possible after-sales service. Th

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14 March 2016

Ed Barnes, WSCTC vice president of operations, stated, "We began the process to certify all riggers working in our facility for the safety of the centre's guests and everyone working behind the scenes. Having rigging installed by ETCP Certified personnel provides the most reliable and efficient way for us to verify the level of knowledge and

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14 March 2016

Named in honour of the late designer, developer and commentator Tony Gottelier, this award aims to recognise the product developers who have made a significant contribution to the development of the equipment and tools that enable our entertainment technology practitioners to continually push the boundaries of event production, presentation and installation.

The process of identifying the winner by peer voting will again consist of two distinct phases, but with a few subtle changes.

In the Nomination Phase, industry professionals will again be asked for their choices, but will also be asked to identify the specific product contributions that make that nominee a worthy contender. Based on the nominations received, a panel of industry expert judges will then be asked to decide

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14 March 2016

Once again it fell to Alfred Sturla Bodvarsson, head of set & lighting for the Icelandic TV company Luxor, to look after the design. As usual, he turned to his trusty stock of Maltbury Steeldeck to build something both practical and a bit funky.

The stage is made up of about 60 Steeldeck units with LED tubes inserted between them at intervals. The decks were covered in chipboard which was then given a gloss black finish.

Bodvarsson has also supplied Maltbury Metrodecks and Metrodeck Ultra to numerous other Icelandic venues.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Adrian Brooks, managing director of Litestructures comments: "We are obviously delighted to win and gain recognition for our innovation. We feel that it was well deserved because as a company, we continually strive to move forward and develop new products and ideas."

Brooks invented the world's first aluminium truss system, AstraLite. Since then, many have followed: LiteDeck is now an industry standard staging system, the Litestructures rehearsal arena is the only facility of its kind in Europe, DigiTruss, and LiteSwitch are new lighting developments. Last but not least, the Backstage Academy is well on its way to training

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14 March 2016

Jan Julius Miebach, e:cue's managing director for product strategy, said, "We designed this product to allow end-users to experience dynamic lighting as well create dynamic lighting scenes themselves. We specifically paid great attention to the user interaction with the device as well its aesthetic design."

The glassy interface features an LED ring around the touch wheel to guide users in selecting and adjusting colours, intensity, and speed as

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14 March 2016

The temporary structures served as television broadcasting booths complete with lighting, a complex map of cabling and electrical wires, and a weather-proof canopy to keep commentators dry during rainy innings.

The bespoke broadcasting booths were designed by Creative Dimensions, a full service exhibition and sign specialist based in Cheshire, Connecticut. Doug Carabillo, their director of business development, needed to cover all bases when assembling experts from many different industries. He was not familiar with Milos products, but had received numerous referrals from other vendors working on the project, and decided to utilise Qu

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14 March 2016

The combined creative talents of show producer, Kim Gavin and set designer, Es Devlin devised a circus-themed set for which Brilliant Stages created a total of 5 stages, in addition to several pieces of staging wizardry, for the 20 UK stadium dates.

The main Performer stage, 18m wide x 17.8m deep with tech tunnels beneath and access steps on either side, incorporated six lifts: a piano lift, two double band lifts and a puppet lift for the show finale.

Two satellite stages with weather-proof tech bunkers beneath were linked by ramps to the main stage and housed sound kit and instruments. A 6m-deep C stage, also with tech bunkers, was located at the front of the performer

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14 March 2016

The proceeds from the concerts will go towards permanent funding for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation and Museum, established in 1984 by Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun who died in 2006.

Dublin Protest - People who live close to the Croke Park stadium in D

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14 March 2016

Arena also installed temporary grandstand seating at the other grounds visited by the touring Australian national team, namely 4,638 seats at Old Trafford, 3,645 at Edinburgh, 10,766 at the Rosebowl, 8,427 at Durham, 336 seats at Lords, 793 seats at Edgbaston, and a further 218 seats at The Brit Oval.

The Brit Oval's balcony, with its specially upholstered luxury seating, was designed to provide additional comfort in a spectacular environment for the club's VVIP guests. Arena Seating designed the facility in brushed aluminium and glass, using 70 seats based on Arena's Congress seat with weatherp

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14 March 2016

Packages are all tailored to precise customer requirements. The result is a kit that is as flexible as Maltbury's staging systems. With backdrape you can construct a line of curtains to the height of your choosing which will follow the rear of your Maltbury stage - or do something quite different. As always, those decisions are left up to you, says the company.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

The vibrant London festival was held in Victoria Park on the 18 and 19 July and was headlined by founders Groove Armada alongside Doves, Florence and the Machine and Duran Duran, whose set featured a special guest appearance from Mark Ronson.

Sunbaba produced 125 lightbox panels made from backlit PVC for the Relentless Dance Area. The company worked alongside Lovebox set designers and Spacial, the set builders, to create the panels which spanned from the stage to five surrounding tower blocks. This illuminated the area and created a 'rave environment' at dusk.

To keep costs low and waste to a minimum Sunbaba produced each of the 125 panels separately, instead of covering the whole of each structure. Each of the panels was coded so that th

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14 March 2016

A 91st Birthday celebration party was staged in Mary Fitzgerald Square, with an eclectic line up of performers, attended by 16,000 people.

The previous week, Gearhouse SA supplied staging, lighting, sound and AV for the Nelson Mandela Foundation Lecture in Johannesburg City Hall. Professor Muhammed Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Grameen Bank addressed this annual landmark.

A strong party atmosphere pervaded Mary Fitzgerald Square, where the Gearhouse team was co-ordinated by project manager Bonni Meyer, working closely with show producers Out of The Box for the South African Music Promoters Association (SAMPA).

Gearhouse Structures built the scaffo

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14 March 2016

HSL was approached by Duncan Holmes from BPM Special Effects just 10 days before the event staged at Long Marsden Airfield in Warwickshire, and asked if they could create and build a special visual concept for both artists. They wanted something to add impact, excitement and atmosphere to both their performances - which took place in bright daylight and touching dusk.

HSL's Mike Docksey project managed the mission. Overnight, he came up with a design for Angello, whilst HSL's Mike Oates produced one for Prydz. These were drawn up, presented to the artists and given the green light - with now just a week to go

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14 March 2016

Having been contracted to supply the touring crowd barrier system in late 2008, Mojo Barriers' project team was thorough in preparing the largest, most complex touring barrier system the company has ever designed. As the footprint of the gigantic stage spans the width of the stadium pitches, both the central stage and concentric 'B-stage' are closely surrounded by live audiences.

Safety was at the top of all concerned parties' priorities list in designing the barrier configuration, which used all elements of the Mojo Barriers system plus some custom-built elements. The challenge was managed using all Mojo Barriers' experience and flexibility.

Mojo's man

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14 March 2016

The system (3m wide, 1.5m high and 1.2m deep) is lightweight, modular, easy to assemble, accommodates two 50' plasma screens at the front and has Oakenfold's name laser cut on the front fascia along with the Perfecto label branding on side panels.

Oakenfold's LiteConsole has toured the globe, supporting Madonna's Sticky and Sweet tour and Lenny Kravitz.

The DJ comments: "I have been very impressed with the level of professional support and advice received from the Litestructures team, I am delighted with the beautiful piece of staging technology that has been produced. It made sense to custom design my o

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14 March 2016

As well as supplying the London MoonWalk held in Hyde Park, Hawthorns has also supplied the Edinburgh MoonWalk, and also the Bristol and Newcastle SunWalks.For the two MoonWalks and over 27,000 walkers, Hawthorns provided lighting, sound, staging, rigging and power distribution which was installed into De Boer's massive 'pink palace', a 150m x 60m Galaxy structure.

Three artics of lighting, sound, rigging, power distro and site services made their way to Hyde Park for the main structure and nine smaller ancillary marquees. Hawthorns used six main generators and over 10 miles of cable to supply the marquees, 280 toilets and numerous catering wagons with power.

Hawthorns also introduced t

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14 March 2016

Loud Sound's event director Jim King commented: "We were very happy with the operation undertaken by Showsec at Camp Bestival. They had the right staff with the right attitude for the show and helped make it a pleasant and relaxed experience for all concerned."

Showsec supplied over 250 SIA licensed event security professionals to Camp Bestival, a new style of family oriented festival sited at Lulworth Castle on the Dorset coastline. The festival is the brainchild of promoter Rob da Bank, produced in collaboration with Loud Sound, and its standing results from it setting out from the start to cater for families, rather than adding feature areas for children as an afterthought. The sit

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14 March 2016

A recent addition is the Touring Production Rack. Aimed at lighting, sound and theatre technicians, this foam-suspended rack system features a fold away TFT monitor and a keyboard drawer plus various 19" rack-bays. Primarily designed to house a Mac Pro, it can also be built to accommodate a range of PC system cabinets.

Also on display will be 5 Star's newly launched Arena range of general purpose road trunks. Arena trunks are available in three sizes, the Arena 600, 900 and 1200 from stock (black only) or to order in 5 Star's standard range of colours. All are finished with the standard Penn-Elcom hardware.

5 Star's Tour Grade is another popular p

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14 March 2016

To simplify the changeover Maltbury strengthened the walls of the pit and created a load-bearing 'shelf' around the inside face. Decks were kept to a maximum of 2ft wide so they were easy to handle as they dropped into place on the ledge. No legs were needed. Maltbury also took on other specialist carpentry work on the site at short notice.

(Jim Evans)