For this year's Newmarket Nights, Liz Hobbs approached LiteStructures to provide the stage, lighting and sound. Having taken LiteStructures on board to build a set for Status Quo's performance at Newmarket last year, Hobbs decided that it would be able to provide exactly the type of permanent stage she required for the five-week duration. Martin Featherstone, LiteStructures' sales executive for the Midlands explains: "Liz Hobbs came to us with the brief of providing her with a stage which would fit perfectly between the two grandstands. She wanted to create a dressing room area beneath the stage, as well as incorporating a public footpath underneath one side of the stage since visitors to the show needed access to the bar and eating area at the back of the grandstand."
To meet the requirements, LiteStructures supplied the company with a Midi stage, part of its outdoor range of staging, which incorporates LiteStructures' AstraLite trussing with its standard LiteDeck system. "Because of the location of the Midi stage, we made some minor adaptations," said Featherstone. "We extended it to the front and the rear, and elevated it to a maximum height of 14ft as it had to stand over a brick wall and include space for the steps which led down to the bar. And since performers, crew and equipment had to have a way of getting on the stage, we designed a complex series of ramp networks to overcome the height difference between the stage and the ground."
LiteStructures was also appointed to supply the lighting and the rig changed on a weekly basis, depending on the artist. A standard Par can rig was installed inside the stage, and controlled by a member of the LiteStructures crew, while more specific lighting designs were created in conjunction with each individual lighting director. Meanwhile, a Logic sound system provided the sound for all the performers.
(Lee Baldock)
