Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

Rigging / Staging

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UK - Tower Productions recently provided a turnkey package in the grounds of Cardiff Castle for a Heineken Cup Final event, comprising power, heating, lighting, audio, video and networking.

Site access restrictions meant no large plant could deployed so Tower synchronised four 100kva machines from their own stock to give a 400kva generation package with 100% redundancy.

Christie Roadster HD18ks, Philips Vari-Lite VL3000 spots, and a dozen ETC Source Four profiles looked after the external branding/projection onto the castle walls with Dominator and NovaLight High Ground searchlights for aerial effects. 40 green 400W HQI's provided a solid base colour to the castle walls.

Inside the marquee, an array of HD plasma screens from Tower's newly formed AV department were recessed into the set showing the game, associated branding and information, live camera and a Sky HD feed.

In

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USA - LDI, the annual US trade show and conference for the entertainment design and technology industry, has announced a five-year partnership with PLASA, the international entertainment technology trade organisation.

The purpose of the agreement is to expand the reach of both PLASA and LDI, and broaden training options for industry professionals.

According to organisers Penton Media, PLASA's international reach adds a broader global dimension to LDI. The Technical Standards Updates track, now from PLASA (formerly ESTA) will again form part of LDI's training line-up this year, giving LDI professional attendees the latest information on essential issues at the heart of the industry.

PLASA will be able to share its technical updates with the industry at large and benefit from the additional US exposure for its trade show and association. By partnering with LDI, PLASA also adds

Doughty - Banner - from 4 July 2025

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USA - Kai Knox Technologies and Scott Almand Designs have announced the launch of Shock Boxx, billed as "the first-ever pre-rig lighting truss shock system". This product "protects expensive truss-mounted lighting and video equipment as it's transported around the world, finally providing a solution to a common and costly challenge for the touring market".

This technology is the result of a collaboration between Heather Roberts of Kai Knox Technologies and Scott Almand of Scott Almand Designs. Their combined 30 years experience in the entertainment industry and their passion for meeting client needs with innovative solutions inspired them to design Shock Boxx.

"In this economy, extending the life of expensive equipment is more important than ever," says Roberts. "Crossing your fingers and hoping that all your gear arrives in tact just doesn't

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USA - Buying a new theatre rigging system is now within reach for schools and smaller theatre owners, via to a simple financing plan offered by J. R. Clancy.

Rigging equipment purchasers can spread payments over two to seven years, with competitive rates that make the arrangement affordable, says the company. It's simple to estimate monthly payments based on interest rates available to municipal venues at the time of purchase. Payments can be made monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually, as the venue prefers.

Most important, the venue will own the rigging equipment at the end of the financing period. Until now, many municipal theatres have opted for leasing agreements for their rigging system. Leasing seems advantageous at first, but extends payments for the life of the equipment-an arrangement that can add considerable cost. The Clancy financing agreement places a flat cost on t

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Belgium / UK - For Take That's European Progress Live Tour 2011, ShowTex Belgium was brought in to supply customized and printed fabrics. The prints are based on the cover design of Take That's last two albums, Progress and Progressed.

ShowTex produced five panels, measuring 10m high and 6m wide each. The panels were built up in different layers of ShowTex's Bannerdrape fabrics. Each panel holds two layers of Bannerdrape Silver and one layer of Bannerdrape Print. Bannerdrapes were specifically designed for outdoor use.

ShowTex also manufactured Molton CS Black curtains cascading behind the panels to black out the set behind it. In all 1200m² of flame retardant and waterproof fabrics were produced for the tour.

The prints were realised in cooperation with ShowTex Middle East (ME). ShowTex Belgium integrated 1712 of water resistant ShowLED Classic LED's i

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UK - The security training school has been developed in conjunction with the needs of its partner Company AP Security and for training for the security and stewarding industry as a whole.

With its trainers being also active on the circuit at some of the major events and venues throughout UK, it allows for training to be fully up to speed with the current and future proofing requirements of the industry.

The company already works with a back to work agency REED and is currently bidding for services resettlement courses as well.

The school states, "Working in conjunction with the LSC and Train to Gain, we are in some instances able to source part or occasionally full funding for a selection of our courses, the courses we are currently set up to deliver include: NVQ level 2 In spectator safety; NVQ level 3 In spectator safety; SIA door supervisor / close protection / cctv

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Off Stage - Phantom of the Opera sequel Love Never Dies is to close on 27 August, it has been confirmed. The announcement comes a little over a year since Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical first opened at the Adelphi Theatre in London's West End. The show opened to some poor reviews, and after substantial rewrites, was relaunched nine months later. Although the new version gained a better critical reception, it failed to perform at the box office.

A fresh production of the show opened in Melbourne, Australia, at the end of May with far more positive press. In an interview earlier this month, Lord Lloyd-Webber attributed the show's failure to his being treated for cancer during production, which meant he was unable to give it his full attention. "With hindsight we should have said, 'Let's put the whole thing on hold until I'm 100% again'. Frankly I wasn't feeling v

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UK - Le Mark reports that its portable dance floor, EventFloor has been selected by the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama for their four new rehearsal studios.

The £22m development which also includes a 400-seat concert hall and 160-seat theatre is due for competition within the next few weeks.

The two 120m2 polished wood rehearsal studio floors will be protected by Le Mark's EventFloor during student events. RWCMD's technical manager Simon Denman-Ellis says, "We were so impressed with the flooring, we may even use EventFloor on the main stage in the new 400 seat concert hall."

(Jim Evans)

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UAE - Harlequin's new AeroDeck sprung floor is now available through IBS Solutions. The lightweight modular panels, constructed from advanced engineering grade plastics, cuts the weight of a typical equivalent sprung floor by around 50% and eases transportation of panels in and out of venues, says the company.

The all new Harlequin AeroDeck panels dispense entirely with wood to produce a panel that is unaffected by moisture and suitable for use on outdoor productions. At the core of each panel is a patented structure sealed with a bonded GRP surface that provides inherent strength while being very light.

Edged by a framework manufactured from recycled polyurethane the tongue and grooved detail allows panels to interlock and be locked together using the patented Harlequin latching system. Standard panels are supplied in 2m x 1m or 1m x 1m sizes and incorporate a series of circu

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UK - PLASA's recent AGM and Members Lunch drew over 170 members and guests to Kings Place Concert Hall in London for a day focusing on developments since PLASA merged with ESTA and the wider issues of product copying, radio spectrum and Technical Standards.

The AGM featured presentations from PLASA's Acting Chair Ed Pagett, Treasurer Martin Hawthorn and CEO Matthew Griffiths, covering the early stages of the merger and operational and financial reviews of the past 12 months. In the year since the merger was first voted for by members, PLASA has restructured its membership, run new-style elections, introduced a more representative Governance structure with Regional Boards and an international Governing Body and launched new services and research projects.

Whilst the merger was a key focus of the day, it was not the only subject under discussion and in a lively Q&A session follo

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Spain - Ibiza Rocks is a summer-long festival of live music that has run annually since 2005. And this year Prolyte Group was commissioned to supply a branded version of its performance platform, LiteConsole, to create a striking visual impact as part of selected live shows and DJ sets. The newly crowned Ibiza Rocks Bar, where the LiteConsole will be based, is steeped in moments of Ibiza history.

As the original home of the Ibiza Rocks live gigs, it was largely responsible for reintroducing guitar based music to the island, and the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, Babyshambles, and Kaiser Chiefs have all performed on stage under the Ibiza Rocks banner. The list of DJs to grace the bar also reads like a who's who of dance music; Zane Lowe, Annie Mac, Calvin Harris, Doorly and Eddie Halliwell have all made regular appearances.

Ibiza Rocks approached Prolyte Group back in March

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USA - PLASA Events, an operating division of PLASA - the lead international membership body for those who supply technologies and services to the event, entertainment and installation industries has announced its first regional event in North America. PLASA Focus: Austin 2012 will be held 22-23 February, 2012 at the Renaissance Austin, Texas.

Modeled after the highly successful PLASA Focus: Leeds (UK), which recently broke previous attendance records in its third year, Focus: Austin will bring together members of the entertainment technology community to do business and network in a relaxed and friendly setting.

The two-day show will be reasonably priced for exhibitors and free to registered visitors. A unique hard wall booth package-including furniture, power and lighting-will level the playing field and give exhibitors a simple and affordable exhibiting experience. The show'

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UK - The Backstage Academy is launching a new foundation degree in Live Events Production in partnership with the University of Bolton.

The one-year foundation degree, which is the only one of its kind in the UK, focuses on the artistic, creative and practical use of technology for live events.

According to Creative & Cultural Skills, the Sector Skills Council for creative and cultural industries, by 2017 there will be a need for 30,000 skilled backstage and offstage technical theatre staff to support live events. The Backstage Academy is aiming to train students who can help meet this demand.

Students will gain hands-on experience at the Backstage Academy thanks to its base at the LS-Live Studios in South Kirkby, Wakefield. LS-Live is one of the largest purpose-built rehearsal facilities in Europe and has hosted some of the world's biggest music stars, including Lady Gaga,

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USA - The ESTA Foundation has announced its 2011 Behind the Scenes Holiday Cards, created by an impressive line-up of all-star designers - Andrew Hefter, Seth Jackson, Derek McLane, and Jim Youmans.

Seth Jackson has designed tours for two decades for Don Henley, Jason Mraz, Hilary Duff, Melissa Etheridge, American Idols Live, Barry Manilow, Carrie Underwood, and Toby Keith, to name a few. He's also a two-time Parnelli Award winner, and has received the Illuminating Engineering Society?s Award of Distinction.

Derek McLane is one of today's most sought after designers, with designs seen on Broadway in this year's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Anything Goes revivals on Broadway. His design for 33 Variations won him a Tony Award, and his Ragtime and Pajama Game revivals each earned Tony nominations.

Jim Youmans has design

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USA / Low Earth Orbit - Tait Towers scenic and motion control solutions are often praised for being "out of this World," - but this was literally the case this summer when they helped U2's 360 Tour achieve universal appeal.

When Willie Williams, lighting designer for U2's 360 Tour, wanted to incorporate the space shuttle Endeavour's Mission Commander Mark Kelly singing "A Beautiful Day" lyrics into U2 concert footage for their show in Seattle, Washington on 5 June, he called James 'Winky' Fairorth at Tait Towers, in Lititz, Pennsylvania. Tait Towers, who provided the staging for the ground?breaking 360 Tour, has been collaborating with U2 on projects since the mid?1980s. In terms of knowledge and speed, Williams knew Tait was a great ally.

Fairorth, upon agreeing to be a part of this one?of?a?kind opportunity, told Williams, "Only if we can talk to roc

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Europe - Stageco created the bespoke stage that supports Take That's record-breaking UK and European Progress tour that runs through until 29 July, 2011.

Stageco's project director Dirk de Decker planned the custom built stage in consultation with the tour production manager Chris Vaughan, show designer Es Devlin and technical designer Malcolm Birkett.

Initial sketches for the stage were designed in October 2010 and final sign-off was only given in January, which left a very short time scale to create the materials for a show of this size. While Stageco's designs barely changed, the technical production and scenic elements continued to evolve and final information regarding weight loadings was provided with a short timescale, so Stageco created a structure with plenty of headroom in regards to its tolerances.

The main stage system was framed by a giant 'Big Man', who

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Conference Cancelled - The In The City music conference, set up by the late music impresario Tony Wilson in Manchester almost two decades ago, will not go ahead this year. The event was founded by the Factory Records supremo and partner Yvette Livesey as a music industry symposium and a platform for the best new bands. Oasis and Coldplay are among the acts that got exposure there while unsigned. Ms Livesey told the BBC she was taking a year off to get married and start a family, but pledged it would return in 2012.

Reunion Blues - Paul Simon has told Sky News he hopes to be re-united on stage with Art Garfunkel for a final farewell tour. The singer said he would "like to sing with him one last time and maybe do 10 or 15 shows and then say goodbye". However, the reunion may not happen immediately as Garfunkel has been suffering from vocal chord pare

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USA - J. R. Clancy has added two people to its design and mechanical engineering staff.

Hee Yeon Jeong joins the Clancy staff as a mechanical engineer. In her new position, she will design submittal and shop drawings for projects involving dealers of J. R. Clancy products. A native of Busan, South Korea, Jeong most recently was a mechanical engineer at JASStech Corp., the largest theatre rigging firm in South Korea, where she was involved in many international projects. "I wanted to work on a larger market in this field," she said. "I think J.R. Clancy is a perfect choice."

Brandon Welsh is a new design engineer at Clancy, where he will be involved in system design for clients' rigging projects. A recent graduate of the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering technology, Welsh worked for Beck Studios, a theatre e

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UK / Netherlands - Prolyte Group has announced that Unusual Group has signed up to be a dealer for the full range of Prolyte Group theatre products in the UK.

"The range of theatre products that Prolyte Group supplies is the perfect addition to the range of products we already offer," states Denis Bramhall of Unusual. "The fact that these products have been tried and tested in many theatre productions worldwide, combined with the knowhow and expertise that Prolyte can support us with is very important to us. We strive for optimum reliabilty".

ProLyft brand manager, Michiel van der Zijde, adds, "We started talking about this cooperation more than a year ago. Being able to provide Unusual with the right products for the field they excel in is just what Prolyte Group is all about."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Theatre professionals, technicians and stars of the future were introduced to The Backstage Academy at the ABTT show in London, exhibiting together with partner LS-Live for the first time at the show.

The launch of the Academy's new fast-track foundation degree in Live Events Production, produced in partnership with the University of Bolton, caught the eye of many prospective students looking to start their studies this September.

Based at the LS-Live headquarters in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Backstage Academy will offer students a state-of-the-art learning environment in which to study short courses in backstage skills and all manner of technical and creative arts, as well as the one-year foundation degree.

The course (currently subject to validation) is a ombination of newly written material produced in line with industry experts and existing courses by manufacturers

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The Netherlands - Developing a close bond with its partners and customer community has always been a main driving force of the Prolyte Group operations. Organising yearly update trainings for the product managers of its distributing partners is part of that philosophy.

During two days, "crammed with information", the participants are expected to take in all the product and technical information, which is later tested in hands-on sessions and an examination.

Sergey Rybinskiy, managing director of ModifiC comments, "First of all let me say a huge thanks for everything you have done during the training time. It looked like Prolyte is a happy family and I was very glad to be the small part of that. Every step of training was carefully thought trough, very efficient and useful, we found time to discuss our working questions and future goals."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Used-trussing.com is a new online portal dedicated to supplying a wide variety of used and new trussing solutions to the entertainment industry. The new site is co-ordinated by A.C. Entertainment Technologies

Available through used-trussing.com are quantities of new, as new, ex-demo, ex-installation, ex-rental, ex-tradeshow and second hand truss sections and associated accessories, including corner blocks and connection sets, plus a selection of other rigging equipment.

Many leading trussing and rigging brands are represented on used-trussing.com, including Litec, Prolyte, Slick, Thomas, TFL and Trilite. In addition to the diverse selection of trussing available, visitors can also find Lodestar electric chain hoists, motor controllers and rigging equipment - basically anything that is needed to get a truss floating in the air.

Despite items being sold at heavily discoun

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UK - Series Two of BBC One's hit show So You Think You Can Dance concluded another successful season this month. Pushed to the limit for eight weeks, the four finalists and the set lighting proved impressive, dependable, and resilient to the very end.

Four ultra-bright Solaris Quasar 15K strobes provided visual punch over the entire season. "The Solaris strobes performed flawlessly for the entire run," says lighting designer Mark Kenyon. "Their tremendous brightness, even field, and surprisingly long constant-on time gives me a new and effective creative tool. They allow me to create a visual impact the audience can feel."

Mark Kenyon's TV credits include The X Factor, Push the Button, The Eurovision Song Contest, The Brit Awards, The BAFTA Television & Film Awards, Children in Need, Comic Relief, and

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UK - PLASA Events Ltd, organisers of PLASA 2011 (11-14 September, Earls Court, London) have announced the launch of this year's PLASA Awards for Innovation, which this year will include the newly named Sustainability Award - and of the 2011 Gottelier Award nomination process.

The PLASA Awards for Innovation always draw a great deal of interest from visitors to the PLASA Show, who can view all of the nominees in the specially designed 'Innovation Gallery', which will this year again be situated near the Earls Court 2 entrance to the Show. Independently judged by a panel of industry experts from lighting, audio, video and rigging & staging specialist backgrounds, the PLASA Awards for Innovation are one of the most prestigious product Awards in the business. The judges will again have eight product awards at their disposal, with the option to award a 'Gold' to a product or products

  1. Le Mark sets up new venture in Colombia
  2. Total Fabrication manufacture The Big Man for Take That
  3. Arena Seating returns to Hyde Park
  4. Tower Productions devises showpower package
  5. Unusual Rigging refurbishes Kuwait centre
  6. Stageco in residence in Stade de France
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