Rigging / Staging

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14 December 2016

Electric Daisy Carnival UK returned to Milton Keynes Bowl for a one-day electronic dance music party. The main stage built by Serious Stages was some 70m wide and incorporated a huge Owl, a Dragon and two 'Guardians' as well as a massive 400m2 LED screen and a fully functioning 'waterfall'.

"It was a great challenge to be able to combine such a huge stage based construction with so much creativity and artistic design," said Tee. "Unlike conventional stages which offer complete weather protection to the performance area, the only 'on stage roo

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14 December 2016

As part of the grand refurbishment, multi award winning piano dealership Chris Venables Pianos, was contracted to supply a premium hand crafted Yamaha CF6 recital grand piano for one of the entertainment spaces.

Will Venables, partner at the company, which is based in Ringwood, Hampshire, explained: "The new piano was not only a much better instrument than their existing model, but also significantly bigger in size. This might not sound like much of a problem, but when you realise that the piano has to fit under the stage, then the challenge becom

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14 December 2016

To exhibit a piece of such scale in such a precious and delicate building, Artangel contacted Unusual Rigging for advice and expertise in suspending the piece from the Hall's 28m high hammer beam roof without damaging the building in any way.

Michael Morris, co-director at Artangel explained: "Westminster Hall is the oldest part of the Houses of Parliament and has been in continuous use for nearly a thousand years. Its walls have seen many political events - from the trials of G

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14 December 2016

Serious Stages was tasked with producing a 30m tall by 70m wide stage structure, complete with cascading waterfalls, crystal towers and a giant owl's head, synonymous with this magical event. The EDC owl incorporated 1,000 lighting fixtures, over 400 video tiles, 28 lasers, pyro and 15 CO2 cannons, and Serious Stages was entrusted to ensure the stage could withstand its weight-loading requirements. Serious Stages also designed and built the stages' bespoke crystal towers, to ensure they were structurally sound.

To support the stage set and the three pyro platforms, the Serious Stages scaffolding was constructed using three heavy duty truss system

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14 December 2016

The range of equipment available to buy on the new website includes power distribution units, automatic transfer switches (ATS), site transformers, single and three-phase power cables ranging from 16A-125A, as well as a wide range of electrical accessories.

The new website will also feature an online exclusive in the form of the Vulcan range. This budget range of power distribution units features a high-visibility orange enclosure, making it ideal for outdoor use.

"We've launched ide O

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14 December 2016

ShowTex Hong Kong supplied 15 large set pieces, shaped like buildings, making up the Sky City to represent Singapore's vision for 2065. Of the 15 buildings, 10 were futuristic buildings, measuring up to 35m high and five of them illustrated existing landmark buildings of the Singapore skyline. Each had a footprint of about 5m by 5m.

This large scale project was a major undertaking for which ShowTex tackled multiple challenges. One of the main concerns was the lead time given to design, engineer and man

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14 December 2016

Arena Structures, project manager Matt Clark comments, "This being my first project delivered since joining the company, I am delighted to have joined a team that took the same pride and attention to detail when delivering 25,0000sq.m of event structures at The Open, as they do sporting events with smaller infrastructure needs. It is inspiring to see Arena Structures go above and beyond to support every client, regardless of size, to deliver installations of the highest standards and bespoke creativity, maximising the impact for both the event and sponsor brands."

A total of 5,000sq.m of temporary structures was installed, includi

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14 December 2016

Ed Pagett, formerly managing director of Panalux Broadcast & Event and current chairman of PLASA's Board has led the organisation through very challenging times. In his speech Ed outlined the many changes that have taken place over the last year including bringing in a new managing director following the departure of former CEO Matthew Griffiths, and the demerge from PLASA North America (which has now returned to its former name of ESTA) after four years. This development, said Ed, although not desired by PLASA, had brought fresh clarity and new opportunities for PLASA, but had also resulted in a financial fallout with the North American organisation that has yet to be resolved.

Ed commented, "My role as Chairman has been to navi

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14 December 2016

Magic - The Unique Stadium Show is the first time that the magician duo has ever played a football stadium and it also signalled the end of a sold-out 120-date arena tour by the Ehrlich brothers in spectacular style.

WI's Geert Stockmans was contacted by production manager Thomas Bartz who was in charge of co-ordinating all the ambitious show's massive automation elements.

The stage was built at one end of the stadium and the production used the massive LED screen already installed for public viewings of Germany's UEFA Euro 2016 soccer championship matc

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14 December 2016

Lighting was designed by Merle McLain who has worked with the band for 23 years. He was on the road operating the key and conventional lights and also directing and switching seven robo-cams as well as keeping an overview on all-things visual. Running the moving lights was Robin Seefeldt. Lester Cobrin was HSL's project manager on the road, with everything at the warehouse end managed by Sean McGlone.

Earth Wind and Fire, one of the most successful bands of the 20th century have embraced many musical genres including soul, funk, jazz, hip hop, R'n'B, pop, rock, Latin and African - and have a huge and eclectic fanbase as a result. Their live shows are known for their vibrance and en

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14 December 2016

The Kinesys elements comprised eight Elevation 1+ drives working in conjunction with one tonne Liftket motors capable of 12m a minute movement, controlled via Kinesys Vector software operated by Paddy Neilly and the set-up included a Kinesys PD-ES power distribution and Emergency Stop system.

The two lighting pods were both loaded with a 6 x 6 grid of Elation SIXPAR 200s with 16 x Clay Paky Sharpys around the perimeter of each. They

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14 December 2016

Voting in the Gottelier Awards is only open to PLASA Members, registered readers of LSi magazine and pre-registered visitors to PLASA 2016. All will receive an email with a unique code inviting them to place their individual vote via the PLASA Show website. Voting closes on Friday 9 September 2016 and the winner will be announced at the PLASA Show at Olympia, West London, on Monday 19 September.<

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14 December 2016

They have used the Milos M400 range of truss to realize custom installations in various public places in Hong Kong. Among their many creations is a hanging sculpture in Pacific Place shopping mall for its 25th Anniversary celebration and a hanging goat display at the PMQ Goat ARTventure exhibition gallery.

(Jim Evans)

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14 December 2016

"We met up with a lot of clients, really nice guys," said Date. "I felt very comfortable with them. The funny thing is that typically when you walk into a rental company, no matter if it's based in North of Europe, Holland or Spain, the people are always the same."

Date has been with Prolyte since 2002. "Like many other people in this industry, I was a DJ at the time, playing records and that is how I came to meet the former owner of Prolyte," Date recalls. "We had a beer together and he said I should work for his company."

Robert Izzett from DWR has met with Date many times over the years. "He is an amazing guy and we appreciated the visit," said Robert. Date is temporarily filling in for Paul-Erik Ha

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14 December 2016

The innovative approach taken to design and operation has led to a faultless installation in Tennessee, completed by BellaTEX Inc. who sent this independent report.

"I have nothing but good things to say about the LivePipe product," says Ty Prewitt. "It offers significant and unique advantages - and showed us it will work in very difficult situations.

"Live Pipe was not only the best solution in this case, but its cost was on par or lower than other options. I believe its appeal will be broad. It can be exceptionally quick to install. Since it doesn't include hoisting a 150Kg motor, 'quick' actually has some validity.

"The assembly and installation process is significantly simpler than any other products I've encoun

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14 December 2016

The Miller is a unique venue - a free, outdoor, full-proscenium theatre; the original facility was built in 1923. Rebuilt in 1968, the Miller now includes a 64' x 41' stage, 54 line sets, orchestra lift and a 100-ton air conditioning system to cool the performance area. Seating is provided for approximately 1,700 patrons, with a sloping lawn that accommodates roughly 4,500 more.

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14 December 2016

The Miller is a unique venue - a free, outdoor, full-proscenium theatre; the original facility was built in 1923. Rebuilt in 1968, the Miller now includes a 64ft x 41ft stage, 54 line sets, orchestra lift and a 100-ton air conditioning system to cool the performance area. Seating is provided for approximately 1,700 patrons, with a sloping lawn that accommodates roughly 4,500 more.

To assist with the renovation, J.R. Clancy turned to Beck Studios, a long-standing J.R. Clancy dealer. "It's a great partnership,"

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14 December 2016

Founded by Roger Barrett and Maddy Sheals as touring sound specialist Star Hire, the company's first contract, in 1976, was with singer/songwriter Carol Grimes. Star went on to provide for the likes of Split Enz, the Rock Against Racism tour of 1979 and Miles Davis in a similar capacity.

Star Hire stages made their debut at Notting Hill Carnival 1983, Barrett, and Sheals who retired in 2014, determined they could make a better, safer job of it than the platforms then available to them as a PA supplier.

Later the same decade, Star formalised its interest in improving standards, writing a technical safety guide for the National Outdoor Events Association (NOEA). Star Mobile platforms were patented in 1989 and the Ver

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14 December 2016

In this video, Area Four Industries R&D director Marc Hendriks dives into the technical design, testing and certification of Mobiltechlifts products.

This video is part of the on-going three-month promotion series from Milos that focuses on a selected range of products. During these promotions, Milos provides its customers with valuable information and extra value with each purchase of the featured Milos product.

The link to the video is here: https://youtu.be/iPAi5Lu2nd8

(Jim Evans)

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14 December 2016

Based in New South Wales, the sales dedicated TRS operation is part of Pollard Productions, popular and well-respected rigging professionals working in all areas of live shows and events, TV productions and concert touring, which has been established for 35 years. Pollard is also a long term customer of Kinesys.

The announcement follows a recent visit to Australia by KInesys MD Dave Weatherhead, who comments, "TRS share our core values, standards of excellence and attention to detail. They have the right attitude and bring a huge amount of knowledge and enthusiasm to the equation and through the Pollard Productions connection, the TRS team is also really experienced with our product ranges. We a

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14 December 2016

This summer's BoomTown Fair saw the introduction of over 80 street venues and an increased capacity of 60,000, making it the biggest year to date. The fully immersive festival features nine individually themed districts, impressive main stages and an eclectic line up of music and entertainment with the introduction of Sector 6, a brand new district and witnessed performances from Madness, Damian 'Jr Gong' Marley and Fat Freddy's Drop.

Utopium provided festival lighting and rigging to 12 main stages and venues, which included the Town Centre, The Lion's Den, The Jolly Dodger, The Old Mines, The Ballroom, Rusty Spurs and Tangled Roots.

To illuminate The Lion's Den stage, which is the largest reggae stage in

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14 December 2016

Harlequin Floors offer a wide range of floors for live entertainment, the performing arts, dance, special events, set building, television studios, exhibition stands, as well as theatre stage construction and stage refurbishment projects. At PLASA this year Harlequin will additionally be launching a number of exciting new floor options, including the addition of Gold and Silver, the first two in Harlequin's new Metallic range, joining the already immensely popular Hi-Shine event and display floors.

Also of interest to set designers looking for new creative opportunities, Harlequin is rolling out Reversible Pro a floor that is well suited to printing designs and images using advanced wide format computer controlled techniqu

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14 December 2016

The simple, interactive, entertaining and educational experiments contained within The Exploratorium prove a concept, demonstrate a principle and wow visitors with a bit of science. There will be axe heads and horns, Virtual Reality and prisms, experiments on perception and even a 'Brain Transfer Machine'.

One highlight of The Exploratorium is The Sideshow, a bit of virtual and magical fun, hosted by Ryan Metcalfe from PreeVue, producers of photo-realistic 3D models for theatre productions and live events using the latest CAD and VR technology. "This is a fantastic opportunity for us to be able to demonstrate this brand new technology in a way that allows vi

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14 December 2016

Candidate information, including eligibility requirements and applications, is available on the ETCP website at http://etcp.esta.org/ldi2016.html. Questions can be answered by Meredith Moseley-Bennett, ETCP Certification Manager, at 212-244-1505 or etcp@esta.org.

The new ETCP PPDT certification is focused on the large population of industry workers in the roles of technicians, stagehands, portable power set/strike technicians, as well as facility maintenance personnel for a wide variety of venues. This certification targets the top two-thirds of people working with t