Broadweigh hits the road with Madonna
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With each new city, comes a new venue and to handle the challenges of this tour, Art McConnell of A.M.G. Rigging was contracted as head rigger and also as the overall touring CAD drafter. Art in turn, brought Broadweigh on board to help monitor the loads.
Art commented: “I’ve been involved with the Celebration tour from the beginning. As the dancers were in rehearsals, I was gathering information for the venues, working with the creative team on how to draft their vision, creating the overall stage and rigging plot for the tour, and reaching out to individual vendors to confirm what gear they’d be providing. I realised immediately that Broadweigh would be 100% necessary for the tour.”
The Celebration tour weighs in at 164,842 lbs/ 74.7 tonnes, with 160 points (three fall arrests, 43 x 2 tons and 114 x 1 tons). It is also extremely complex with two mother grids, two fly racks, and two spreader trusses that trim above the rest of the rig. When the grids are set, the other lighting and automated elements get flown and trimmed underneath the grids and spreaders. Because of the automated elements, Art must monitor the dynamic loads along with the overall static weight of the show.
Art continued; “The stage is also very complex as we have a main stage area that is a circle, the SL and SR runways, and a centre runway, all of which have stage lifts. The important thing to keep in mind here, is the stage and the rig have to coincide with one another, always. The stage cannot be off a little from the rig and the rig must be hung in the correct place over the stage. All of this is a part of my mark-out and why I take such care when doing the overlays into each of these venues. Using Broadweigh on each leg of the tour give me one thing less to worry about.”
Art uses Broadweigh to weigh the show as a whole. The best weight estimations go into the rigging plot when first planning the show, all before technical rehearsals. Art totals up all the show elements, based on the information received from each of the vendors, to the best of his ability. Then, once in rehearsals he can read what each point actually weighs, and with these documented weights, he is able to go back and accurately update the rigging plot to be sent out to the venues and engineers. But, as he explains, this isn’t the only benefit of Broadweigh on the Madonna tour.
“I love being able to use the load cells to monitor the dynamic loads. When the mirror ball moves up and down, I can read that added movement, document that extra weight, and explain what the mirror ball move does to the weights if ever I am asked. The same applies to the shifting weight of our fly track. I can see clearly how the weight moves along the points when our gantry travels in whatever direction.
“And finally, during load in, as trusses get trimmed and levelled, I can read how the truss weight is distributed among the hoist holding that particular truss. If one point ends up heavier than the next, I can balance it out on the motor control to make sure that I don’t overload a hoist, truss, or certain beam in the arena’s rigging grid.”
As each venue differs, Art finds that Broadweigh really helps to manage the changes – from using the cells in rehearsals to create the plot, he is then able to overlay the show in the venues and, if the venue or local engineer has any questions, Art is able to share his documented proof of loads. “Of course, I understand that each venue and each engineer have different demands. Some are ok with how the show will work in their venue, while others have lots of questions. Broadweigh helps explain it all clearly and concisely.”
Art concluded: “We finish the tour in May with a massive concert on Copacabana Beach which is set to draw an audience of up to one million. Broadweigh will be put to the test for that event too – the Queen of Pop deserves the king of load cells, and that’s Broadweigh.”
