Rigging / Staging

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14 December 2016

Seventy-one axes of movement feature a variety of CM Lodestar motors, 29 of which are fitted with Kinesys Elevation 1+ vari-speed drives and these move two (out of 10) chevron-shaped trussing pieces; four individual sides of a large video cube plus assorted other scenic metalwork elements like 'the claw' which flies in and out over 'the Orb' drum kit.

The other eight chevron trusses are flown on fixed speed motors that are controlled with Kinesys DigiHoists.

All of these are controlled via Kinesys' powerful and stable Vector control platform.

The tour kicked off in fall 2014 and is still going - such is Brooks' popularity as a live a

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14 December 2016

Fresh from Glastonbury Festival, the band performed on a Star Events' 15m by 12m SAM platform, the largest single truck mobile stage in Europe.

Since 2006, Sentebale has been helping children in the south African kingdom of Lesotho affected by HIV/AIDS and Coldplay's 11-song set culminated in current single Up & Up accompanied by the Basotho Youth Choir and the charity's founder.

"Please drive home safely and carry on the work of Sentebale," Prince Harry said afterwards. "And thank you to Coldplay, you've rocked the palace."

Working to the tightest deadline, in on Sunday night, show on Tuesday, out first thing Wednesday, Star Events fitted the SAM stage with extended wings to accommodate Coldplay

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14 December 2016

The famous play, directed by Trevor Nunn, was performed during a three-week run at the theatre. It required an elaborate set that included a large raised floor with an automated lift, two 9m-high towers and three platforms connected via numerous staircases and walkways. Any remaining empty space between those towers and walkways was finished with wooden cladding. Elsewhere on set, two large sliders concealed a throne.

Wayne Parry, head of production at the Rose Theatre Kingston, explained that the load cells were used only for set installation, not during performances. He said: "Large steel sections were lifted using several motors

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14 December 2016

At the meeting, the association's new managing director, Peter Heath, will be outlining his plans for the development of PLASA during this time of change and renewal. Peter commented: "I am looking forward to meeting many industry colleagues and friends at my first AGM in charge of PLASA. The AGM is our big opportunity to bring members together, to communicate our aim to grow PLASA and clearly explain the benefits this will bring to all."

PLASA members will be encouraged to ask questions and participate, and, perhaps most importantly, to come tog

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14 December 2016

In his role, Nobile will be based out of ETC's Rome office, with much of his time spent in the sales territories of ETC GmbH and ETC Ltd, working in collaboration with distributors, dealers and integrators.

Nobile's involvement in the industry began in 1979 when he established the design and installation company Elettrosistemi. Six years later, he accepted a position with ARRI Italia and developed the technical department while working alongside Fulvio Cotogni, the former ETC regional manager for Southern Europe and the Middle East. Subsequently, Nobile served as a project manager for Strand Lighting, and later for the Manfrotto Vitec Group, before setting up the TEYCORIG rigging brand in 2011

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14 December 2016

igus has developed a cable-friendly alternative to the reeling drum with its e-spool system, which allows multiple cable types and diameters (even compressed air and fluids) to be enclosed in one e-chain, with no limit on the direction of travel and no joins or slip-rings. An integrated spring enables rotary retraction, a

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14 December 2016

Innovation and collaboration is at the heart of the entertainment technology industry, and is therefore a hugely important element of the PLASA Show. 'Sadlers Wells: New Technology for the Stage', on Tuesday 20 September at 1pm, is a great example of this, highlighting significant improvements of the theatre's systems through technical innovation and collaboration. This session will be presented by Emma Wilson, Sadlers Wells' director of technical production and Christian Wallace, technical manager.

Wilson says:

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14 December 2016

A first event for Lewis Cubitt Square, the new civic space behind King's Cross station, production company Produce called on Star to design and deliver the structure, enveloping a 360° screen, to broadcast live coverage from 45 Euro 2016 matches. Forty five thousand tickets were available free via Ticketmaster over the course of the tournament.

The Orbit Flexidome's modular design brought the best out of the small site, its roof comfortably accommodating over 500m2 of projector screens, lighting and sound. In a major first, Star treated the whole building with a new acoustic barrier system, lowering the exte

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14 December 2016

The Impact Block load cell is manufactured in partnership with tree safety equipment pioneer DMM and contains electronics and software from force measurement, load monitoring and suspended weighing load cell equipment specialist Straightpoint. A tree maintenance company in the sector commissioned the product.

The industry has acknowledged that the Impact Block can fill gaps in knowledge about the forces put through rigging equipment and the weight of loads as they are cut away from trees. It can become as important as a training device as it is a practical onsite tool for the sector.

Unlike crane-related or other typical rigging scenarios, in tree applications profess

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14 December 2016

Heng Mao is one of the main players for rental of truss constructions and hardware integration in the event and touring industry in Taiwan. With a wish to grow and further expand their business, they were looking to invest in truss with a high loading capacity for their rigging department.

As Mr. Su Xin Bin, managing director of Heng Mao explains, "Our company has a reputation for delivering top-notch services to its customers. Safe working practices are a high priority within the company, furthermore the requirements for truss constructions are getting more and more challenging as the demand for complicated set ups and ever increasing loads grow.

"We also see a growing demand from the organizer

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14 December 2016

Established in 2001, Forest Live is an independent concert series, promoted by the Forestry Commission. Hosted within seven nationwide forest locations, which include Westonbirt Arboretum, Thetford Forest, Dalby Forest and Mansfield Sherwood Pines Forest Park. This year's line-up has seen performances from Rudimental, Kaiser Chiefs, James Bay and Guy Garvey.

For the 2016 shows, Serious Stages supplied two 16m Supernova's to accommodate simultaneous performances at different locations throughout the summer. Serious Stages also installed steps, access ramps, handrails and two flanking single PA masts, as well as a double decker front-of-house tower to accommodate t

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14 December 2016

The ultra-modern venue, designed by German architects Drei Architekten, is located close to the shores of the Black Sea, its stunning architecture has some nice twists; the open auditorium can be closed within minutes when rain comes up, by means of 168 rotating, translucent facade lamellas, that protect the audience from sun, wind and rain, but once opened allow full view on the beautiful landscape between Great and Small Caucasus.

The auditorium has a capacity of 10,000 seats circular grand-stands. Visitor lounges, VIP areas, four cinemas, auxiliary areas and technical rooms are arranged below these. The auditorium, with a stage width of 36m., is designed to accommodate the lar

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14 December 2016

On all six days of the festival, which was founded in 1987, the stands provided solid stability for the artists' performances - and additionally added stylish highlights to the stage. Tobias Lange, Bluetone production manager and managing director of PM Systemhaus, says, "We had already opted for Gravity stands for the Gregory Porter tour as well as the Jazz Baltica festival. They immediately convinced us with their handling and stability."

The PM Systemhaus team was responsible for the production of the Bluetone festival together with local rental company StereoMike. "The musicians' feedback regarding the stands was excellent," says StereoMike hea

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14 December 2016

Higgs explains, "I was initially introduced to Hins in 2010 via Funky Junk who have supplied equipment, provided advice and support and been instrumental in the successful outcome of Avon Studios' refit. In 2015 Hins asked me to decommission the two studio recording rooms at Avon to clear the way in preparation for a completely new installation comprising an exciting and eclectic r

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14 December 2016

The automation was specified by production designer Paul 'Arlo' Guthrie, who wanted the additional dynamics of being able to change the architecture and form of the performance space. Having used Kinesys successfully on other tours including Lady Antebellum and Sheryl Crow, Arlo again added it to his stage plot.

"I love the smooth movement - it really suits this show," he explained. The brief for the stage, lighting and visual design was to keep the look clean and direct, with all the attention focussed on Lambert and her powerful music and stage presence which has earned her the title 'Queen of Country'.

The automation is being supplied by Upstaging who are also the lighting contractor, and comprises

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14 December 2016

On the igus stand (Stand C20) there will be two main demonstrations; the first is the drylin W curved rail system. These rails offer an innovative way of mounting sound and lighting rigs, or displays and control panels - anything that needs to be adjusted regularly. As the aluminium rails can be modified by precision bending, the profile of the curve can be tailored to customer requirements. The use of spherical tribopolymer bearings enables the guide rail system to be self-adjust

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14 December 2016

"Top equipment for our young music talents in the Club Zwoelfzehn is very important for us," says Kay Swoboda from the organiser Popb

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14 December 2016

The installation entailed delivering all the multicores, cables, stage boxes, patch bays, wall racks plus associated metalwork, and was overseen by Penn's Leon Whipp who heads the company's specialist wiring division.

Every centimetre of space in the characterful building has been utilised meaningfully in the conversion to serve as a busy and proactive recording environment offering a large control room, main space and mezzanine floor chamber.

Cat 5 connectors have been used throughout. A 48-way line system from the control room connects the recording spaces

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14 December 2016

The Live Event Rigging Apprenticeship, part of the government's Trailblazer scheme encouraging three million new apprentices by 2020, has been developed by the National Rigging Advisory Group (NRAG) to provide formal training to new recruits, supporting them beyond the National Rigging Certificate Level 2, and plug the gap in trainee numbers to fill increasing demand throughout the entertainment rigging industry.

Key rigging leaders from Blackout, UK Rigging, RTM Rigging, PSI Production Ireland and NEC Group attended the trial run of the newly-created Live Event Rigging Apprenticeship, to scrupulously test the assessment format and marking system before it is formally launched to the industry in

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14 December 2016

For example, the prestigious Ushuaia Club in Ibiza not only use GUIL aluminium crowd barriers to restrict access to the main stage where the best DJs in the world perform (David Getta, Bob Sinclair, Dj Luciano, etc.), but also to separate the private and VIP areas from the rest of the club.

Various GUIL products

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14 December 2016

HSL project managers John Slevin and Jordan Hanson co-ordinated everything for the Blackburn- based rental company and ensured that the production design - created collectively by Tom E with input from Christie Lites' Robert Roth and Robert Achlimbari from All Access - was supplied with all the lighting, rigging and automation elements it needed.

The tour's technical director Brian Spett who ran video content for the show and lighting director Charles Ford (also the lighting programmer / operator) additionally had their input, while HSL supplied a top crew chiefed by Simon 'Piggy' Lynch, to ensure that everything ran as smoothly and

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14 December 2016

"The cables of the Epilogue series excel by a neutral, pure and at the same time spatial sound image which is due to a highly sophisticated workmanship and up-market wiring. And all that with a convincing price-performance ratio," explains Pascal Miguet, product & sales manager at Sommer Cable.

Technically the Epilogue series relies on a quad-wire design with crossover capability. A tight copper braid with semiconductor provides 100 % shielding against interferences. Together with th

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14 December 2016

Also on stage were Adam Hall Group's newest brand of stands - Gravity. Exclusively deployed across the festival's three main stages, Gravity stands have won the internationally-recognized Red Dot and IF Design awards, while being recently nominated for the German Design Award.

"For such a festival, it's important that the equipment meets the expectations right from the start. The Gravity stands have even exceeded these. Whether it's about stability or an attractive price-performance ratio with design to boot, Gravity convinced us in every aspect," said Michael Kercher, managing director of 12 L

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14 December 2016

"Having worked with Jeff and the 44 Designs team extensively in recent years, I can tell you that there is not a more creative brain trust of individuals in the stage creative space in Nashville," says Pennington. "Every production that I have seen them produce, or been involved with has blown my mind every time! We could not be more excited about this partnership and the ability to deliver amazing production and event services in an affordable manner to the Nashville music community, and beyond."

Nashville-based 44 Designs enters the partnership with over 25 years of experience in lighting, touring and production. As a 360