UK - Vertigo Rigging utilized its new PLASA Award-winning InMotion 3D/Cyberhoist automation system for the first time on a live gig for BBC 3's The Big C Concert at Alexandra Palace. The system was specified by lighting designer Darryl Noad, who had seen the demonstration at PLASA and though it would be an ideal creative tool for the show which featured artists including Travis, Lostprophets, Goldie Lookin Chain, Razorlight, Lemar and Delta Goodrem.

The show's designer Peter Bingeman and director Tony Dickson were also keen to use the Cyberhoist system, as it would maximise time during their tight set-up and rehearsal schedule, and also be a flexible solution for moving certain set pieces in and out during changeovers, to get the next band's backline onstage.

Vertigo undertook the rigging for the event, project managed for them by Tom Roberts, who worked with a team of six Ver

Italy - A new roof has been built to host the 2004 MTV Awards, right in front of the Coliseum in Rome. The construction is manufactured by Prolyte, for Ital Stage, via Decima, Prolyte's distributor in Italy.

This latest system, developed in close cooperation between Prolyte and Ital Stage, is based on the standard B100RV truss and the new series of towers, the C52T. As the stage is based on standard elements, it is not only a very economic system, but is also easy to build, say Prolyte, with the whole construction designed and developed within two weeks.

The roof is constructed from five arches made of B100RV truss. A hinge in the bottom connectors and a pen-fork connection with a spreader plate in the top connections, gives the complete span the arch needed. Two steel wires per span absorb the arch thrust. The arches are connected to a standard sleeve block for the B100RV t

UK - Edwin Shirley Staging, the international staging and structure specialist, has unveiled the first ever European Wine Tower. ESS acted as design co-ordinator and main contractor working closely with its client, Radisson SAS, to deliver this centrepiece Wine Tower for a new flagship hotel at Stansted Airport.

The structural challenge of the project was to deliver a tower capable of supporting the 6.5 tonnes of glass, four thousand bottles of wine and four flying performers known as 'wine angels'. Adding to the already stunning complexity of the project the air-handling system had to deliver chilled and warm air to individual wine cases throughout the tower, maintaining ambient working temperatures for the Wine Angels and ensuring that there is no condensation on the glass.

To make this complicated system work, every element of the tower had to be perfect with the largest

Italy - The MTV EMA's attracted the crème of international pop, rock and dance artists to Rome for a glitzy ceremony hosted in a giant Kayam marquee transformed for the evening. To accommodate the guests and artists in comfort, Arena designed and installed the seating plan. In addition to the seats for 3,000 people, the company installed nine staircases and over 150 tonnes of system scaffold to create the elevated tiered seating that ensured a good view for everyone.

Arena Seating worked closely with fellow suppliers StageCo and Kayam through the design process and rain-flooded installation, to interface its equipment to create a safe infrastructure for the televised event. The company had been given only two weeks to translate Italian seating regulations and design a layout to conform, before being given the go ahead to ship the 10 truck loads of equipment and nine crew to Rom

USA - The Pro-Commander Pro-V, a fully programmable computerized hoist control system from CM Entertainment, received honourable mention in the Rigging Hardware Product of the Year category at the recent ETS-LDI Award ceremony in Las Vegas. The Pro-V provides full load monitoring accuracy along with variable speed operation from appropriately configured hoists. The Pro-V comes complete with a graphical touch screen remote handset with six-inch screen, user-friendly programmability and multi language capability.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

USA - Rigging Seminars has announced that it will conduct three classes in 2005. These will be held in Las Vegas from 8-11 February, 2-5 May, and in Chicago from 3-6 June. Each class covers the principles and operation of both stage rigging and arena-style rigging, and will include a full day of hands-on training.

Rigging Seminars is the longest established entertainment rigging training program, and is highly respected in the industry. They are taught by Harry Donovan and Jay O. Glerum, both working professionals with more than 40 years' experience in show business. Both have written respected books on entertainment industry rigging and thousands of riggers have graduated from their courses, ay the company.

Glerum has been a stagehand, scenery and lighting designer, technical theatre instructor at several universities, and systems designer for a major theatre equipment compa

UK - Away from the theatre and into the public domain, Stage Technologies Ltd has provided wine waiters with the power of flight. A new 6.5 tonne glass wine tower, which holds over four thousand bottles of wine, has been designed and installed by Edwin Shirley Staging for the Radisson SAS hotel at Stansted airport.

To order wine at this venue is to initiate a live aerial performance, where 'wine angels' fly up the face of the 13m tall tower and descend with your desired bottle. To achieve this Stage Technologies has supplied four BigTow winches that are controlled by radio linked operator pendants. These handheld, wireless pendants enable the wine angels to control their own movements up and down the tower. Their two-point hip harnesses allow them to turn upside-down and swing from side to side whilst performing choreographed routines. Stage Technologies' BigTow winches, origina

USA - Production Resource Group (PRG) provided a combined lighting, audio, and scenic solution for the latest tour of the popular rock band, Scorpions. PRG's service package includes a conventional lighting rig with Icon control system, a V-Dosc audio system with Midas consoles, and several scenic flats for the band's stage. All of the items were packaged together in PRG's Las Vegas operations depot, which contains a full-service scenic shop and over $50 million in lighting and audio equipment.

"Being able to prep and load all of the equipment and scenic elements from a single operations facility enabled us to respond quickly to the band's needs," stated Mark Coleman, a PRG account executive for the tour. "And by co-packing the items, we were able to save the band significant shipping costs."

The first portion of Scorpion's Unbreakable tour began on October

UK - A Kinesys Elevation 1+ control system and its fully programmable proprietary Vector software is being used as a major dramatic effect on The Darkness's current UK arena tour. This was specified by lighting designer Rod Clay, it's supplied by lighting contractor Neg Earth, and is being operated on the road by Barry Branford.

Clay wanted some large moving elements to his rig, both for general dynamics and for those big 'rock statement' moments. Four moving pods -previously incarnated as a back wall effect for the show earlier in the year - have now evolved into the overhead rig. Once the precision, speed and flexibility of the Kinesys system was demonstrated to Clay at Neg Earth - Clay describes it as, "The most reliable and accurate I have ever used" - he had no hesitation in integrating it into his rig.

Branford and lighting crew chief Nick Barton went to Kine

UK - Edwin Shirley Staging, the international staging and structure specialist, unveiled its latest installation at The Eden Project. In just eight weeks the company designed, manufactured and installed the structure which is multi- functional for use throughout the year. The canopy will house an ice rink in winter and the Projects Summer Sessions later in the year.

The ice pad is supported by a 1,600sqm of decking built in the lake. This provides a flat surface for the ice pad and public areas around the ice. The size of the structure is 54m x 41m and it is 13m high. The structure is made from galvanized steel truss and a tensile membrane. 350m of truss was designed and manufactured especially for the project.

Tim Norman commented: "ESS had to coordinate the work of two designers, three engineers and eight major sub-contractors to design, fabricate, deliver and install t

Finland - Summit Steel has supplied a Kinesys automation system to the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, for its current production of Der Rosenkavalier. Summit was approached by FNO's production manager, Timo Tuovila, to help fly and automate three large mirrors for the show, as part of the Opera House's busy winter 2004/05 season.

These are suspended over the stage and used to reflect the onstage action and the floor itself using 12 model LL Lodestar hoists, controlled by Kinesys flexible Vector software, running via 12 Kinesys Elevation 1+ variable-speed hoist controllers. The floor consists of a set of printed scenes, specifically designed to be read in themirrors, providing either an atmospheric 'set' backdrop or a more stylistic, abstract effect. One mirror is used per act. Each is moved throughout the act to highlight and convey particular elements of the print or parts of th

UK - Wembley London Ltd and Quintain Estates & Development Plc have announced that work on the new Wembley Arena Pavilion has begun. The state-of-the-art temporary structure is being built to host all shows while the £29m refurbishment programme on Wembley Arena begins in early 2005. John Probyn - Clear Channel Entertainment's head of production - has been contracted by Wembley as project manager for the site.Probyn, who has built a successful reputation as one of the UK live music industry's leading production and site managers has been responsible for events such as Clear Channel shows in Hyde Park (see L&SI August 2004) and Donnington.

The Pavilion will take two months to build, with a team of 80 staff on site to oversee construction. The fully insulated and sound-proofed structure will be built with over 45,000m of scaffolding and will weigh over 250 tons. A special secondary mem

Chainmaster was on hand with its North American distributor, Show Distribution. Frank Hartung, the company's managing director, noted that Chainmaster chain hoists and controllers have been installed at the Deutsche Staastoper in Berlin, the Theaterhaus Gesnerallee in Zurich, the De Harmonie concert hall in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, and the Theatre aan het Vrijthof in Maastricht, also in the Netherlands. Chainmaster Variolifts were also used on Sting's Sacred Love Tour 2004.

The new, low profile S3S stage from Milos is made of lightweight aluminum. It can be used with standard, adjustable or telescopic legs. Their cell 300 series of clamps are designed for 60-63.5mm tubes, while the cell 400 quick clamp series are used with tubes 38-51mm. Their M520 folding truss come in triangle or box format, and reduces storage and transportation volume by 70%.

UK - Out Board's new DM-Series of direct control chain-hoist controllers have been achieving growing success with UK and international re-sellers, the company reports. Italian distributor Audiolink has recently sold one of the eight-channel DM8 units to major sound and lighting rental company Agora for rigging their lighting and PA systems including their V-Dosc line-array. Audiolink has also put four DM4 four-channel units into stock in anticipation of rapid demand for compact modular direct hoist control.

Pete Brotzman's Crystal Pro Audio sales company has also supplied two DM8s to the Croation production company Lite-Prom to manage direct control CM hoists used for PA and general rigging purposes, while in the UK A.C. Lighting reports positive client feedback on the four-channel DM4 which the company has recently started selling, following substantial sales this year of six-

Columbus McKinnon, on whose stand we found Adrian Forbes-Black chained up and loving it, has introduced a new line of Hoist Controllers. The CM ProCommander Control Systems - which can control up to 96 motors singly or simultaneously, are available in four models, all approved to the German standard of BGV C1 for overhead rigging. The CM ProCommander is available as a basic manual control unit or a fully computerized variable speed system with built-in load monitoring. CM also introduced the ShowPro line of electric hoists, ranging in capacity from half-ton (454kg) to two-ton (1814kg); with lifting speeds up to 16ft per minute (4.1m/min at 50Hz). Finally, the CM Hurricane ES, designed for inverted and regular use in the entertainment industry, is a rugged unit designed with fewer parts, assuring longer life and minimal maintenance and available in capacities half-ton (500kg), one-ton and

Italy - In the first significant expansion since the purchase of Orbit, Star Events Group announced the immediate opening for business of Star Orbit Italia. Working from offices in central Milan and with a brand new warehouse situated near Milan Linate airport, this will be a full service operation.

Stocks of the unique Star Orbit stages are already in Milan, along with trained crews, transport and associated services such as front of stage barriers. The modular nature of the Star Orbit range enables the company to temporarily increase stock levels in Italy, from the UK, for large projects.

The Milan office will also be offering other Star Events Group products to the Southern and Eastern European markets. The first confirmed contracts for the new venture are to supply 15m Orbit stages for the pre Christmas and New Year's Eve concerts being organized by the City of Milan outsi

Tomcat had the One line of trussing for exhibit and retail applications, which makes use of a new aluminium connector that provides ease of construction and exceptional support. New from Brilliant Stages is Dekex, an extra-light line of risers and stage decking which is billed as being exceptionally quick and easy to use. At 40kg for an 8ft x 4ft module, it is designed for schools, colleges, and exhibitions, among other applications.

At the Rose Brand stand, the ShowLED Star Drop has gone full colour, using RGB LED technology for additive mixing that allows for thousands of colours. The drop uses wide-angle, high-output LEDs, which are individually addressable (with the ability to assign up to 16 virtual channels). A lightweight DMX-compatible controller can be run in stand-alone fashion, connected to a light board, or via a PC control system. Also, Rose Brand is now the US stocking distributor for UK-based Triple E track systems. Triple E's Unitrack features large-capacity scenery carriers, eliminating the need to build custom carriers. In addition, the company's Chaintrack system allows curtains to turn up to 180° in as little as a 6" radius.

UK - Star Vertech is supplying 7,500sq.m of its proprietary Vertech platforms to support temporary ice-rinks through the 2004/2005 festive season. Star Vertech (part of the Star Events Group) is more commonly known for supplying staging at large concerts and festivals; but as the trend to install temporary ice-rinks has grown over recent years, the unique Vertech platforms have been called in to use to create strong, level bases for ice rinks.

Star Vertech crews have installed the large platforms in Newcastle, Dublin, Glasgow and Warwick, with another going into Leeds Millennium Square in January. Phil Addyman has managed the projects, commenting: "The Vertech staging system has proven popular for ice-rinks as it provides a very stable base and as it is designed to be installed quickly it saves time and money over other systems."

In addition to supporting the weigh

UK - Quest - The Legend of the Green Knight is a totally new family spectacular performed in a fully heated Big Top on Clapham Common, running from 16 December 2004 to 3 January 2005. Sunbaba Screens has provided specialist printed backdrops for the festive theatre production.

A huge 135 sqm full colour backdrop being used for the event was digitally printed by Sunbaba Screens on the company's "Ultra-Mesh" fabric, while a number of smaller screens were designed and printed to hang over the doors of the temporary structure which houses the production.

Trevor Booth, technical director of Sunbaba Screens explained: "We worked closely with Quest to produce a backdrop which would suit their precise requirements and set the scene for the production. We have worked with David and his team before and it was great to be involved with a theatrical production of thi

UK - When rock and roll landed at London's Earls Court for sell out shows by Morrissey and Muse (two nights) this month, Star Events Group supplied its rolling riser stage system. The 60ft x 40ft system was built in a mere five hours, saving critical time on a tight time schedule.

Project manager, Phil Addyman said: "This used to be a quiet time of year for us, but we are amidst a very busy December season of outdoor shows, supplying Vertech ice-rink platforms and these rolling riser stage shows emphasize how the company has moved forward to be busy at all times of the year."

Star Events Group will finish the year with New Years shows as far a-field as Edinburgh Hogmanay and Milan (the latter managed by the new international arm of the company; Star Orbit Italia).

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

UK - Since the appointment of Tony Dickson as UK sales manager of Tomcat UK in May 2004, two further new additions have been made to the Tomcat UK staff, namely Patrick Lockwood and Paul Jordan.

The company say that the impact of this new team will be that Tomcat UK will be able to offer a much wider range of services to its customers including technical appraisal, site surveys, theatrical installations and also the supply of industrial lifting and mechanical handling equipment and structures, which will be dealt with through its Lifting and Handling Solutions division based at Bromborough, utilizing the skills of Dickson, Jordan and Lockwood.

Lockwood, who joins Tomcat UK as a sales engineer, first started in the industry as a welder for James Thomas Engineering in 1990. Working his way through the company, Lockwood ran the welding shop for approximately two years. With his k

UK - Large format projection specialists E//T//C UK projected into the Shell Building for London's New Year's Eve 2004/05 celebrations, working for show and event producers Jack Morton Worldwide (JMW).

The projections were part of London Lights a pyrotechnic and lighting extravaganza designed to catch the spirit of London as the year rolled over and reinforce the city's bid for the 2012 Olympics. The event took place along the Thames, encompassing the South Bank between Jubilee and Westminster Bridges, including landmarks like the London Eye and Big Ben. Over 135,000 people on the streets, plus TV audiences of several million enjoyed it live.

E//T//C's Ross Ashton decided to change the projection format slightly for this event, covering the full surface of the building with eight PIGI 6Kw projectors. (In the past, they've used 6 for the images, with two for accompanyin

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