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Rigging / Staging

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PLASA has announced changes to its elected board including the appointment of Adam Blaxill as the new chair.
Blaxill joined the PLASA Board as the Professional Services Representative in 2012 and was elected as vice-chair in 2014. He has been voted as the new chair of PLASA through a simple majority vote.
Blaxill takes over from Ed Pagett who has served as chair for an extended seven years. During this time Pagett oversaw the de-merger with ESTA with the support of an executive committee which included Blaxill as vice-chair and Martin Hawthorn as treasurer. This valuable work enabled the survival and growth of PLASA.
Pagett will continue to serve as a non-executive director, contributing his extensive knowledge and expertise to advise and support the association as it continues its work in the industry.
As a director of Stage Electrics - one of the UK’s leading

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UK - Dubai-based Protec has acquired Birmingham-based Aventeq.
The UK company, which offers a comprehensive suite of services, including creative & technical design, production, lighting, audio, video, staging, rigging and venue support services, will be renamed to Protec European Events and continue to be lead by its founder Chris Bramwell.
Stephen Lakin, Protec’s founder and CEO, says: “I have a lot of time for Chris Bramwell and the team. They have built up a strong business and I’m thrilled to welcome them into the Protec family. I am looking forward to the opportunity to introduce their customers to a wider global reach and more exciting tools & technology to create unique and memorable event experiences.”
Bramwell adds: "Aventeq, which of course I’m thrilled to say, is now Protec European Events, has a similar passion to Protec. We are very
HOF - Banner Apr 2025

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USA - Tomcat and JTE racked up another successful show at LDI that not only featured their current line of products, but also the products they had each manufactured over the years that allowed them to experience the success they both enjoy today.
The walk-through time was to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Tomcat and the 40th anniversary of James Thomas Engineering in truss manufacturing, but the main thrust of the show was to highlight their current line of truss products and new innovations.
This year’s LDI show was also the introduction of Carmen Savarese as the new sales & marketing director for the Tomcat and JTE teams.
The star of Tomcat’s presentation was its new Nemesis pre-rig truss that comes in standard and touring formats. Its single person side loading system allows you to easily rig moving lights to the aluminium bar, slide into the truss

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UK - The newly opened Darlington Hippodrome, formerly known as Darlington Civic Theatre, has been restored to its former glory and transformed with 21st century technical facilities that include new stage lighting, audio and video systems.
Featuring leading brands including Chroma-Q, Allen & Heath, Panasonic and many more, most loose equipment was supplied by A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET).
The theatre received a £5m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) towards the ambitious £13.7m project to regenerate and upgrade the venue, which also included restoring the exterior of the distinctive Grade II listed building and the beautiful Edwardian auditorium inside. In addition, seating capacity has been increased to enable larger shows to be accommodated as part of an expanded artistic programme.
Darlington Hippodrome is also managing the newly-buil

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UK - Adlib supplied full production, including sound, lighting, rigging and large format video projection, for a special one-off event at the SSE Wembley Arena in London, DreamWorks Animation in Concert which was presented by DreamWorks Animation, CineConcerts, and The MJR Group. It featured music and many memorable moments from DreamWorks Animation’s numerous hit films like Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon and more with music performed live by The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.
Adlib project managers Dave Eldridge and Richard Nicholson co-ordinated all the technical elements working closely with tour manager Barry Jepson, MJR’s production manager Leanne Powell, technical manager Curtis King and creative director Nathan Stone.
It completes a hattrick of recent noteworthy orchestral works serviced by Adlib including

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UAE - Event technical production specialist Maestra’s UEA based operation, delivered rigging, staging, sound, lighting and video / AV for Blend Abu Dhabi, a special event to relaunch the YAS Marina Formula One circuit meeting space.
Attended by event organisers, production companies, suppliers, social influencers, media and other organizations and individuals from across the event spectrum, all with different interests in the world of live events, the pressure was on for Maestra’s team on site, led by project manager Aaron Merchant, to deliver something unique.
They co-ordinated technical production for four different areas, the main conference space, the pit garages, the reception area and entrance and the afterparty staged in the chic, rooftop Luna Lounge.
A stunning sculptural set design for the conference session’s stage was conceived by the YAS

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Australia - Mojo Barriers Australia recently undertook one of Australia’s largest stadium field cover installations, with over 15,000 sq.m. being installed for Sensation at Spotless Stadium, Sydney Showground, in November.
Sensation, the biggest open-air festival in Australia this year, was a great success, and protecting the valuable sports surface was of critical importance as Spotless Stadium is the home of Sydney’s professional cricket team Sydney Thunder and the Greater Western Sydney (GWS) Giants, part of the Australian Football League.
Mojo installed a complete Supatrac system to ensure the best possible pitch protection. It took 34 truck movements to freight the equipment in and out of the stadium and over 850 man-hours to install and remove.
The Mojo team installed over 15,000 sq.m. of 100% white Supatrac, along with over 500m of alum

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UK - The Band is a new musical written by Tim Firth, featuring the music of Take That. Cast through the 2017 BBC reality television show Let It Shine, it is produced by David Pugh and is currently touring the UK through until July 2018, with more dates being added.
With so many theatrical venues playing host to the production, Kate West, production manager has brought Unusual Rigging on board for the duration of the tour to provide motors, truss and rigging for LX and sound positions and for some scenic items, as well as supplying staff for the get-in and get-out at each tour move.
While The Band is not a particularly complex show in terms of rigging, as with the nature of touring productions, some venues are more challenging than others and Kate needed peace of mind that the points could be installed relatively quickly in each venue to enable the

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UK - The stages used for Adele’s 2017 stadium tour in the round became the first events industry designs to win a coveted Structural Award.
Designed by OPS Structures for Star Events, the VerTech Ultra stages claimed the Best Small Projects (of between £1-3m) gong at the annual Structural Awards organised by the Institution of Structural Engineers. The stages were developed, built, tested and shipped to Australia in just four months and suspended 90t of production equipment at 25m above the ground. The judges praised the structures’ design, which allowed easy transportation and erection, minimised work at height and enabled unobstructed views by negating traditional bracing.
A spokesperson for the judges said: “The Adele 25 Stage engineering took account of the vast constraints and design drivers to produce a safe, efficient, elegant and reusable structure. The

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UK - Technical production specialist Central Presentations (CPL) and producers Constructive Communications delivered full technical production for Construction’s Got Talent, a team-building / gala dinner conference event with a difference for leading independent construction and property services company Wilmot Dixon.
This was staged in the Noble Suite at the Pullman Hotel on Euston Road, London, with tailor made format partly inspired by TV talent show competitions on a quest to discover the company’s own undiscovered talent, which was interspersed with presentations and speeches.
Lee Gruszeckyj led the CPL team who worked with Constructive Communications’ project manager Ken D’Souza.
A 10 metre-wide stage with free-standing printed graphic wrap set / backdrop including the event’s own Got Talent logo was installed, complete with small thrust fo

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UK - Overlooked by a dominating Nelson’s Column and The National Gallery, U2 premiered material from new album Songs Of Experience amongst a set of their greatest hits, at a free show for 7,000 fans in London’s Trafalgar Square on Saturday 11 November.
Introduced by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, MTV Presents Trafalgar Square was the curtain-raiser to the following evening’s 24th annual MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) at The SSE Arena, Wembley, where the Irish four-piece were honoured with the Global Icon award.
Both events were graced by Stageco’s dedication as staging provider with Wim DeWolf and Mario Dockx handling the R&D, while Dirk De Decker managed both projects. For the U2 event, the Stageco crew of seven [plus local crew], headed by Stefaan Vandenbosch, negotiated one of the busiest tourist areas of the city to erect the company’s

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South Africa - The country’s first strictly dry hire company, Guquko Technical Rider, has been established by a young entrepreneur, Phumzile Sibanyoni. Guquko is the Zulu word meaning ‘to turn around’ or ‘to reform’, a pertinent name for a company that hopes to bring a fresh wind of change to the industry.
Making an investment of 12 Robe Spiiders, 24 Longman 4 Ups and Prolyte stage decks purchased from DWR Distribution, the objective of the company is to rent out high ticket line items that are specified by lighting designers on a daily basis.
“Because we were just starting out, we looked at gear that would be beneficial to the growth of Guquko,” said Phumzile. ”The company has started trading and with the Robe Spiiders currently high in demand on shows, their units are out already creating revenue.”
Duncan Riley of DWR says, “Phumzile was wi

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USA - Automation and motion control manufacturer Kinesys will exhibit at LDI for the first time on its own booth - 843 - where they will be creating a strong presence with an international team and an eye-catching design showing a selection of key products which will be moving and working in situ.
Having focussed on building brand presence in the U.S. in recent years, which has included attending the last few LDIs and walking the floor, the next phase in that strategy explained founder and CEO Dave Weatherhead, “is to put ourselves right in front of potential customers, for which LDI - attracting a wide cross-section of high quality decision makers and influencers - is a perfect opportunity”.
Kinesys will be showing their new Apex system which incorporates the best of Kinesys’ extensive experience working with variable speed chain hoists. Apex offers a range of s

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USA - ESTA and USITT has announced the session line-up for the New World Rigging Symposium taking place 13-14 March 2018 in conjunction with the USITT Conference and Stage Expo 2018 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
In these 10 sessions, participants will be given the opportunity to further their technical knowledge, keep up to date with codes and standards, and learn what it’s like to work as a rigger in other segments of the entertainment industry. Attendees will also hear from experts in related fields. Full session descriptions can be found at www.esta.org/nwrs_sessions.
The keynote address will be delivered by Scott Fisher, with the programme including: Show Rigging on Cruise Ships. Big ideas. Tiny venues; Ground Support Concert Rigs; ANSI Standards and ICOPER. Paperwork that’s actually useful; OSHA, Risk Assessments and Rigging Emergency Action P

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USA - Tomcat USA has appointed Carmen Savarese as a sales & marketing director.
Carmen has served as global business developer and chief operating officer during her 11 years in the entertainment industry and will use this experience to grow and expand the Tomcat and James Thomas Engineering truss brands in the Americas and internationally.
She will add “a new, dynamic element to the already well established and successful Tomcat and JTE teams”, says the company.
(Jim Evans)

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USA - Little Ceasars Arena in Detroit opened in September, with nearly 1,700 custom LED strip lights from Elation Professional mounted to the venue’s vast wire grid.
Designed by HOK architects, the $863m, 20,000-seat arena is part of District Detroit, a major new development in the city centre.
Lighting and multi-media design firm, Illuminating Concepts (IC), was the lighting designer on the project, responsible for lighting the public spaces through to the theatrical lighting in the bowl. The dynamic ceiling is just one part of the arena’s large integrated lighting network in which all lighting is interconnected – indoors and out – to act as one themed environment.
Illuminating Concept’s design for the arena uses lighting to create a space that engages, guides visitors, creates moods and disseminates advertiser information. IC brought in production d

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UAE - World Class Events supported DXB Live and WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017 in the safe and successful delivery of WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017 held at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) from 15-18 October.
Project director John Adkins, senior project manager Brian Gowen and six project managers planned and oversaw the event build, which welcomed 1,300 competitors, 10,000 international visitors and 100,000 visitors from the UAE.
John Adkins, managing director of World Class said: “Make no mistake, the de-rig for World Skills Abu Dhabi 2017 was a mammoth undertaking! The scale of the event, size of the venue and large quantities of kit, equipment and exhibits and the timeframe we working to meant that nothing less than a precise and efficient plan would ensure a successful outcome. The way that Showforce switched on all of its departments to mobilise the numbe

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UK - Ayrton fixtures were used in the lighting design of the 2017 Slam Dunk Festival.
The alternative music event was headlined by rock band Enter Shikari and held in Leeds, Birmingham and Hatfield, with warm up shows at The Dublin Academy and Belfast Limelight and a further headline date in Barrowlands.
LD Steve Bewley used Ayrton’s MagicBurst LED graphic strobe fixtures and MagicPanel-602 units to achieve the dramatic visual effects needed for the event.
Bewley said: “For this show we designed four rotating towers which we wrapped in haphazardly-arranged LED strips, and used these to flank the drummer by deploying two towers either side of him. We then rigged three MagicBurst units vertically inside each tower towards the rear which, concealed within the towers, we use to shoot huge blasts of light out between the LED strips – much to the surprise and del

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World - ESTA and PLASA have announced the release of an International Code of Practice for Entertainment Rigging (ICOPER) which is available as a free download at www.esta.org/icoper or www.plasa.org/icoper.
In response to calls from the international entertainment rigging community, rigging professionals from around the globe came together to create ICOPER to promote awareness and safety worldwide by providing a model code of practice with a focus on arena rigging. However, this Code of Practice is applicable to all event production rigging disciplines.
The practices described in the Code are intended to provide a universal foundation for those engaged in planning, managing and executing entertainment rigging. ICOPER also provides guidelines for those who wish to develop policy, design training content or help establish certification criteria.
Key areas covered

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USA - Prolyte Group has appointed Hawai-based ProVision Staging as a distribution partner for North America.
The company will be serving the Hawaii region.
Andy Boujikian, general manager of ProVision Staging comments: ”There’s a growing demand to raise the level of knowledge and creating awareness on safety issues within the local event industry here. With Prolyte as a partner we have the perfect package. We can offer a combination of high quality products and training events, like the Prolyte Campus. In my own work practise I have experienced how raising the level of knowledge can enhance workfloor safety.”
Distribution manager Matthijs Meijer adds: “Finding a partner whose intention matches our company’s philosophy so seamlessly is really rewarding. With this addition we have created better access to our product range, so more US based customers can b

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Middle East - Protec has signed a MOU with German turntables and revolves manufacturer Bumat Motion Systems. The deal is expected to improve Protec's rental offering in the region.
Protec’s Founder and CEO – Stephen Lakin says: “Over the last year we have had more and more requests for revolves, particularly in the motor industry. We felt that working together with a world leader like Bumat would be the ideal solution to beef up our stocks with a quality product that we could offer our clients."
Bumat’s managing director Timo Burgmeier adds: "We are very excited and we are sure that our agreement with Protec will be a positive step - both for us as well as the Middle East region”, Burgmeier added.
Bumat’s modular system can supply turntables of any size and carrying capacity, made of aluminium or steel, in diameters ranging from 0.1 m to 5

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UK - Technology with Heart was the theme of Jaguar and Land Rover's inaugural Tech Fest which took place at Central Saint Martins in London in September.
Organised by London-based creative agency Imagination, the event explored how technology contributes to the auto industry and was packed full of innovative displays which demonstrated how technology is being used to make a positive difference.
Jay Plomer, senior production manager, Imagination commented: "The venue for this event is a fantastic space but it is a listed building and right from the start we were told that it would not be possible to install any fixing points in to the walls and ceiling. This posed the challenge of how to light all exhibits in a big area within the space – and so we brought Unusual Rigging on board to help us solve that problem."
Paul Rhodes, senior rigging supervisor, Un

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UK - Cardiff-based events specialists 11th Hour were stage and lighting suppliers for the 2017 Steelhouse Festival, held in July near Ebbw Vale, South Wales.
11th Hour, who had previously worked at Steelhouse in a limited capacity, saw their responsibilities expanded and enjoyed a highly productive if rather damp week.
Max Rhead, promoter and co-organiser of Steelhouse Festival takes up the story: "We teamed up with 11th Hour to provide the power solutions for the Steelhouse Festival back in 2016. We were incredibly impressed with their knowledge and professionalism as well as the quality of the equipment that they supplied. So, when the requirement for a new stage and lighting supplier presented itself for 2017, we immediately contacted director Andy Hopkins and the boys to expand t

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France - Technical provider Visuel once again took charge of the stage set up and audio requirements for world music festival moZ’aïques held in Le Havre, France.
For this eighth edition, 40 concerts were planned, with 100 musicians performing across two stages. Visuel decided to deploy APG’s loudspeakers at the festival over the brand they had previously used, with the goal of handling a complex acoustic challenge: two main stages facing each other only 200 metres apart, with musicians performing in front of an audience of up to 4,000 people.
“When you are lucky enough to host incredibly talented musicians and singers, it is absolutely critical to offer a sound quality that is capable of giving back the energy and the warmth drawn by the artists,” explains Jérôme Le Bay, director of moZ’aïques festival and a knowledgeable audiophile.
  1. DWR schedules Prolyte rigging training 2018
  2. Kinesys for American Idiot Copenhagen
  3. 11th Hour appoints three new team members
  4. OneRepublic on tour with Ayrton MagicPanel
  5. Stageco takes to the road with the Stones
  6. Unusual Rigging on the road with Miss Saigon
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