This is the largest event of its type ever to take place in this territory so Malaysian promoter Live & Loud drew on the international expertise of Stageco to help achieve state-of-the-art production values. The project demonstrates how Stageco can help medium-sized promotion businesses anywhere in the world grow to meet the standards demanded by international artistes.
In conjunction with the Malaysian government, Live & Loud is organising a series of major concerts featuring Western, Chinese and Malaysian acts, in a pop and rock spectacle featuring Whitney Houston, Shaggy and James Morrison among the global acts on the bill.
For Live & Loud's head of technical production, Ryz Martein Yacob, the decision to use a Stageco structure was key to establishing the festival as a major date in the international calendar for artistes on world tours.
"Before the start of the concerts we invited the Malaysian minister of tourism to tour the stage," says Ryz. "He was impressed by the spectacle of the structure and understood how it is helping to gain coverage for the event on national and international television."
The stage is a 25m festival roof, which will go on to be used on the tour of Australia by The Police. According to Stageco's project manager, Dirk de Decker, use of the 25m roof allows Live & Loud to make a statement. "They want to show they can do productions on the same level as the west," he says. "Live & Loud are taking their organisation to the next level but don't have the large stages they need at their fingertips. We support them by offering technology from this part of the world."
As Ryz Martein Yacob explains, "This time around we want to do something new and tell the world that Malaysia is ready for this."
(Jim Evans)
