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Rigging / Staging

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South Africa - In May this year, The National Ports Authority of South Africa (NPA) hosted the 23rd International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH) World Conference in Durban, South Africa - Gearhouse SA was engaged by Global Conferences to supply the audio-visual and other equipment necessary for this event.

This is the first time in the IAPH's 46-year history that this prestigious biennial Maritime conference was held on African soil. More than 14 countries confirmed their participation in the conference, which was held from 24 - 30 May at the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Durban. The theme was: 'Ports - The Catalytic Impact: Uniting World Economies through Ports and Harbours', the conference aims to facilitate discussion and debate among the world's port community.

Belinda Loockx, branch manager of Gearhouse SA Durban branch, says she and her team were &qu

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Russia - When Sir Paul McCartney gave his memorable concert in Moscow's Red Square on 24 May, ESS were right there with him, providing the staging, roof and towers. "It took seven days to rig the stage and peripherals, but only two to de-rig," said John Hetherton, ESS crew chief. "As well as our own team, we worked with a large local crew who operated cranes and fork lifts," continued Hetherton, "and we had a team of five interpreters, although many of the Russian crew spoke English."

Besides the stage and roof, ESS built two towers joined together, each with eight crow's nests, and two 25m high delay towers, 60m distance from the stage. Working in Russia was no more difficult than working in other countries, says Hetherton: "I've worked there before and there's no doubt it's getting better." The heat was the crew's biggest problem. "

PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

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Canada - Matt Stoody has joined Fourth Phase, PRG's Toronto subsidiary, as account executive. Working out of PRG's Fourth Phase Toronto location, Stoody will sell and manage all Group services - including lighting, audio, projection and scenery - to new and existing accounts throughout the Northeast United States and Eastern Canada.

Prior to joining PRG, Stoody played key sales and operations roles in projects as diverse as last year's Papal visit to Toronto (World Youth Day 2002), Disney's The Lion King and concert tours by Alabama and Styx.

Jere Harris, chairman and CEO of PRG, commented: "Matt's background and experience with a broad range of clients and markets will help PRG and its affiliates to further expand their presence in vitally important markets such as automotive shows, corporate events and trade shows."

(Ruth Rossington)

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Denmark - Seelite has supplied lighting, project management and design for The Roskilde Festival's two largest stages - Orange and Arena - for many years, and will return again this year. Metallica, Björk and Iron Maiden will all perform on the Orange stage, for which Seelite will supply the lighting and truss systems, plus two large PA support wings.

The company is also supplying lighting and roofing installations to include more than 35 moving lights and 230 generic lights for The Midtfyns Festival 2003. Among this year's artists are REM, Moloko, Badly Drawn Boy and Swan Lee.

In another recent project, John Svendsen of A/S Corporate Events chose Seelite to provide production design for SimCorp's event, held at Odense Congress Centre in June. The assignment was to plan, decorate and light the hall for a conference followed by a gala dinner party, live bands and a huge theatr

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UK - One of the more interesting developments to come out of this year's Glastonbury Festival was the launch of a UK trade union for road and backstage crew. The formation of the Roadcrew Provident Syndicate (already short-handed to the Roadies Provy) was announced at a special session at Glastonbury on the Left Field Stage on Friday 27 June.

The union will be a branch of the GMB, one of the UK's biggest trade unions, and will provide financial advice and support to its members, as well the usual union benefits. You can read a full report on this in the July issue of Lighting&Sound International - out next week.

(Ruth Rossington)

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USA - Entertainment Design magazine presented its annual EDDY Awards for outstanding contributions in the field of entertainment design and technology at a special 'Salute to New York Theatre' ceremony held on Friday 27 June at the John Jay College Theatre in New York. The Awards were presented in conjunction with the Broadway Lighting Master classes and the first Broadway Sound Master Classes.

The 2003 winners were set designer John Lee Beatty, projection designer Elaine McCarthy, sound designer Dan Moses Schreier, production electrician Mike LoBue, noted director Mary Zimmerman's design team (Dan Ostling, Mara Blumenfeld, T.J. Gerckens), and Theatre Projects Consultants.

Winning lighting products included City Theatrical's WDS Wireless Dimming System, Entertainment Technology's IPS Intelligent Raceway, Electronic Theatre Controls' Emphasis control system, Martin Professional

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USA - Total Structures has been honoured with another award for new wave truss to add to the Buyers Choice Award for Innovation it collected at the Exhibitor 2003 trade show and the 'Debuting Product of the Year' award it won at LDI 2002. This time the judges at the recent Rental and Staging Systems Awards held during the InfoComm 2003 in Orlando, Florida awarded new wave the accolade of 'Best Truss Product'.

(Ruth Rossington)

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Czech Republic - The 10th Prague Quadrennial - the international showcase for scenography and theatre architecture - came to a close at the Výstavišt? Exhibition Grounds in Prague on June 29. The exhibition, which first took place in 1967 and now runs every four years, represents the best ideas in the fields of scenography and theatre architecture. This year, a record-breaking 50 countries participated in the exhibition, which, over its 16 day-run, attracted nearly 20,000 visitors.

Running alongside were a series of professional conferences and meetings, including the FIRT International Theatre Conference, Transteatral international meeting of students of theatre studies, and that of the OISTAT International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians.

The exhibition itself showcased two unique projects - 'The Heart of PQ - a Cardiac Arrest to the Conve

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UK - Trying to match the energy and impact of Robbie Williams on-stage was never going to be easy. The creative team behind his latest 'Weekends of Mass Distraction' tour came as close as possible however with a massive automated video show to complement the set-list perfectly.

Kinesys were happy to provide the expertise and equipment necessary to control this huge undertaking. Eight columns of LED video screen had to travel around a 360° oval track, perfectly synchronized with each other. In order to ensure a high quality picture when all the screens were brought together, millimetre-precise movement was essential. The reverse sides of the screens were lined with lights and so a rotate mechanism had to be included to allow either video or lights to face the audience at any location around the track. Finally the geography of the stage dictated that the columns must be almost to

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UK - The traditionally sedate world of ocean cruises is undergoing a revolution. In a move intended to attract a more youthful clientele P&O has just refitted the Arcadia, now re-named the Ocean Village, as an eclectic and vigorous entertainment centre. Central to this reorientation is an entirely new presentation concept by film director and choreographer Micha Bergese (of MBP), the man responsible for the aerial spectacular that proved the most successful and well-regarded element at the Millennium Dome. "What I've done is create a series of four events," said Bergese. "A themed narrative, like Inspector Morse, episodes of discovery, which take place over the course of a one-week cruise. Three are staged within the ship's theatre, the fourth, and arguably the most spectacular, is presented up on the main deck."

There is a strong aerial content to all four e

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UK - Building on critically acclaimed projects for Placebo and Simply Red, special projects and set wiring company, Specialz, has successfully completed its first job for Clear Channel. The unusual brief was to install various effects into the Harry Potter car (a 1960's Ford Anglia), which would then be used as a set piece for an event to support the release of the latest Harry Potter book at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The range of effects supplied included remote-controlled moving headlamps running at 250W, hazard warning lights and a DMX smoke machine connected to the exhaust with its own PAR 36 key light. Because the car was suspended above the stage, all the equipment had to be self-contained and controllable from the ground. Solutions were found for all of the requirements and the overall effect was to give the powder blue 1968 Ford Anglia, a sense of life and persona

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UK - Following a successful year since de-merging from Blackout in 2002, Triple E has moved to new premises in Biggin Hill, adjacent to the famous airport, on the south London/Kent border.

The building - which incorporates a warehouse, production areas and first floor offices - has been newly equipped by Triple E and offers room for further expansion. It will allow the company to further develop its engineering solutions for track systems and equipment for theatres and TV studios. Recent installations include Harrods department store, Bombay Dreams in London's West-End, Sophie's Choice at the Royal Opera House, St Luke's - the new home of the London Symphony Orchestra, Flagey - the renovated National Institute for Radio Broadcasting in Belgium, and cruise ships - the most recent being Carnival Glory and HAL Oosterdam.

The new address is 16 Airport Industrial Es

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UK - TESA UK, a leading manufacturer of high quality self-adhesive tapes, has appointed the Le Mark Group as its 'entertainment technology specialist'. The appointment represents the long-term commitment of the giant German-owned company to develop products specifically for the entertainment industry.

The announcement concludes nearly 12 months of negotiations between the two companies and sees Le Mark become a 'focused distributor' for TESA. Le Mark's managing director, Stuart Gibbons, told PLASA Media: "This is very much a two-way partnership. It will enable Le Mark's design ability and award-winning flair to be developed further. It also ensures that Le Mark's clients have a direct channel to a multi-national manufacturer who recognizes that the entertainment industry is a growing sector which should be given special attention."

One of the first areas of collabora

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UK - Stage engineering and automation specialist Stage Technologies announced a worldwide partnership with Siemens during a recent Open Day held at the Göteborg Stadsteater in Sweden. The event coincided with the production of Siemens' 400,000 MasterDrive, and the end of a highly successful first season for the Stadsteater using Stage Technologies state-of-the-art power flying solution (see June L&SI).

Co-hosted by Siemens and Stage Technologies, some of the entertainment industry's leading consultants were invited to the event to tour one of the latest automation solutions resulting from the partnership. Mark Ager, Stage Technologies' managing director and Ian Bowman, director of marketing and communications for Siemens, explained the dividends connected with an integrated drive solution - namely its cost effectiveness and compact nature.

The installation, featuring Stage T

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USA - The award-winning Dixie Chicks kicked off their 'Top of the World' Tour 2003 in Greenville, South Carolina in May, before taking their unique sound across the country and ending on 4 August in Nashville, Tennessee. Upstaging and Tomcat USA came together to provide top notch equipment for the tour: besides the 12 sections of medium duty, 24 sections of heavy duty, and various corner blocks and pick-up bars, Tomcat provided a custom 16ft truss circle and 16 sections of the EDDY Award-winning Swing Wing Truss. The Dixie Chicks will also be extending their tour into Europe with 10 show dates recently announced.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - For the fifth year running, Blackout was appointed as drapes and rigging contractors for Microsoft's annual Tech-Ed conference by London-based production house PCI:Live. Simultaneously, Blackout was also commissioned by production company Thomas Hannah Associates (THA) to provide the drapes and rigging for software giant Oracle's AppsWorld Conference in London's ExCell Centre.

Tech-Ed is one of the largest conferences in Europe, filling both halls of the enormous Fira de Barcelona 2 exhibition center. Over 6,000 Microsoft employees and IT professionals traveled to Barcelona for the five-day conference. The 6,000 capacity keynote room coupled with the delegates' dining area filled an entire hall; the second housed a further 10 breakout rooms, some seating 2,000.

Blackout director Chris Brain worked with PCI:Live's Matt Hearnden designing the system of room-dividers using c

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UK - While millions queued for their copies of J.K. Rowling's latest addition to the Hogwarts adventure, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 5,000 lucky children already knew they were in for the treat of their lives. Bloomsbury Publishing (plc) called upon Clear Channel Entertainments to stage a special event at London's Royal Albert Hall, an event which gifted these avid fans an opportunity to quiz Rowling herself.

No simple question and answer session, the confines of the Albert Hall were converted into a magical rendition of Hogwarts school, replete with flying ghosts, for a spectacular simultaneous webcast on the MSN network. Naturally, this called for the specialist talents of the UK's presentation industry; amidst a burgeoning production team can be found the names of Britannia Row Productions, Light&Sound Design, Creative Technology, Hand Held Audio, Unusu

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USA - Bandit Lites is currently on tour with lighting designer Eddie 'Bones' Connell and country music star Toby Keith, whose stage show includes a changing backdrop. Instead of employing the traditional 'Kabuki Stick' or the existing bulky Kabuki boxes to accomplish the curtain drop, Bandit Lites has improved on the design of the existing boxes to make them smaller, lighter and more maintenance friendly.

These newly styled Kabuki boxes were designed and manufactured by Bandit Lites' Technical Services Division. Each box has a load bearing potential of 15 pounds. The system is 'fired' from a custom-designed control centre, which is rack mountable and is contained in the PD racks. It holds the potential to fire up to 60 Kabuki boxes simultaneously. "This system is much more versatile than anything else on the market," said Richard Willis, Bandit Lites vice-president. Th

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UK - Summit Steel launched its new SmarTmast2 mast system at the recent Leeds Castle open air concert week, a series of sold-out events and classical concerts attracting 16,000 people per day.The SmarTmast2 is a development of the original SmarTmast, launched by Summit in 1998 to provide robust, compact mast for outdoor PAs, specifically line array systems. However, it has also been utilized to create lighting positions, and two SmarTmasts combined make an ideal support for external video screens, as recently demonstrated by Summit's Ken Nock for a BT event at Alton Towers.

Since its launch, the original SmarTmast has been enormously successful, and has been used for a myriad of events from the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations to the Henley Arts Festival, the Kenwood House summer season and many more. The SmarTmast2, constructed from robust 30cm square aluminium trussing, has

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UK - A big increase in demand this summer has seen London-based Alistage - already one of the largest stock holders of aluminium framed stage units in the country - having to manufacture approximately 300 more standard 8ft x 4ft stage units. This is in addition to the 200 extra units added last year. The range has been further extended with the introduction of a 4ft x 4ft chequer plate-topped unit and a 4.8m Perspex-topped circular stage. Recent productions that have put Alistage units to good use include Glastonbury, Womad, the disco night on Channel 4's Big Brother, Fame Academy and Later with Jools Holland.

(Barry Howse)

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UK - Carlsbro Electronics Ltd has announced the appointment of Dave Martin as its export agent. Martin's appointment follows the closure of Edgeworth Electronics Ltd, manufacturer of Torque amplification, which Martin had been selling on the world market since 1985. Carlsbro has appointed Dave Martin International as the exclusive sales agency for its complete product range on the international market, excluding China.

(Lee Baldock)

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Korea - When the LG Arts Center in Seoul, Korea ordered its new Liberty panels from dance floor specialist British Harlequin plc, they also specified a new-style storage cart to offer ease of handling and to protect the floor panels when not in use. Since then, Harlequin has received orders from other companies that have recognized the benefits of this newly-designed storage cart.

With each cart having a loading capacity of up to the equivalent of 20 full-size Liberty dance floor panels, six swivel wheels provide for complete manoeuvrability, while the chassis incorporates pockets to facilitate use with fork lift trucks. The cart's robust steel construction has a black powder-coated scratch resistant paint finish, and comprises a removable front gate and hinged sides to allow loading access from three sides.

Panels are stacked in sets of five, with additional support bars int

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Canada - Olympic skating champions Jamie Sale and David Pelletier christened Princess Cruises' newest passenger super liner Island Princess earlier this week, in a ceremony which also marked the operator's third decade of sailing from the Canadian Port. Island Princess and her sister ship Coral Princess, which joined the fleet in January, will be sailing seven-day Gulf of Alaska cruises from Vancouver and Seward.

The entertainment facilities onboard are second to none, featuring three show lounges including the state-of-the-art Universe lounge. Split over two decks, the Universe lounge was designed to facilitate a diverse range of entertainment options from Princess production shows to movie screenings.

Stage Technologies, perhaps most widely recognized for their work on land-based theatres such as the Royal Opera House and the stage production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

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UK - Adam Hall, world-renowned manufacturer and distributor of hardware components to the pro-audio, music and allied industries will be launching many new exciting product lines at PLASA this year. One of the many new lines they will introduce this year is the complete range of US made 'SKB' cases and 19" racks, including their innovative range of DJ workstations, turntable and record/CD cases and their unique light-weight range of Roto-moulded 'Gig-Rig' all-in-one 19" mixer/rack cases.

As usual Adam Hall will be adding many new innovative items to their extensive range of hardware components including their new 'Easycase' system, giving case manufacturers a new quick and easy way to build strong light-weight cases. Also they will be launching their new 'TrussStacker' system, which tackles the age-old problem of safely transporting aluminium lighting trussing, both it

  1. Star Hire at T's tenth year
  2. Stage Technologies - Centro Cultural Olga Cadaval
  3. Polar Focus introduce new line array hanging frame
  4. Summit SmarTmasts at Henley Festival
  5. Stage Technologies & On Your Toes
  6. Metallica Summer Sanitarium Tour
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