Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

Rigging / Staging

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UK - Drapes and rigging specialist Blackout has recently worked with Endemol UK Productions, providing a variety of set design solutions for the live sets of 'Big Brother' and 'Shattered'. Blackout's managing director Steve Tuck collaborated with one of the artistic directors Paul Drake and production manager, Janine Terry, on both productions.

Drake commissioned Blackout to design and supply a host of acoustic black-serge drapes, which were deployed on the new series of Channel 4's blockbuster, 'Big Brother'. Paul Drake says: "The time-scale to supply the acoustic drapes was extremely tight. Blackout were great to work with and provided the perfect practical solution, softening the acoustics of a highly reverberant set into a functional live broadcast environment."

'Shattered' was the show investigating the effects of sleep deprivation on contestants living in a pur

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USA - In mid-July 2003, Mice Creative awarded Total Structures the contract to fabricate the elliptical acoustic canopy which is flown under the new Hollywood Bowl structure in Los Angeles, California. The Bowl dates back to the late 1920s and several attempts have been made over the years to improve the acoustics so that members of the orchestra could hear each other. The last incarnation included the installation of 11 fibreglass spheres of various sizes under the direction of renowned architect, Frank Gehry.

The Design Architects for the new facility was Hodgetts + Fung Design Associates, with Gruen Associates acting as project architect for the main client and owner, Los Angeles County. The project, essentially comprised demolishing the existing Bowl and rebuilding from the ground up - the buildings on either side of the main roof structure to house new dressing rooms and p

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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UK - Event company Logistik co-ordinated and produced the Athens 2004 Ball - a high profile charity live event staged at London's Battersea Park Marquee, for Sparks, The British Olympic Association and The Sir Steve Redgrave Charitable Trust.

Over 1,000 people enjoyed the event during an evening of entertainment hosted by Radio 2's Jeremy Vine and Sir Steve Redgrave - an official 'send-off' party to wish the GB Olympic team success at the upcoming Athens Olympics. Leeds and London-based Logistik were called in to oversee the event's creative and technical production including the design, graphics, dressing and venue themeing for the event.

The night culminated in live performances by international artists including Gabrielle, Mike & The Mechanics and Amy Winehouse. It was recorded for broadcast by Radio 2, and a post-event DVD will be produced by Logistik Vision, the company's

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UK - Sunbaba Screens created a range of branded screening across the sell out Isle of Wight Festival site. This year, 35,000 music lovers enjoyed bands and artists including the Stereophonics, The Who and David Bowie across the three-day event.

Sunbaba Screens was contracted by production company, Hot Hammer to create a range of branded screens. Headline sponsors Nokia used Sunbaba screening on Heras fencing around the site to reinforce their support of the festival. In all, 67 panels were covered with giant 'Nokia Rocks' branded screening, around the backstage and various perimeter positions. These were produced using Digimesh, a screening material that allows images and logos to be digitally printed onto the fabric with great accuracy and precision for highly effective branding.

Sunbaba also used Digimesh for banners used at the festival's entrance, producing four 10m head b

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UK - Harlequin Floors' new website provides a useful reference resource for anyone involved with the world of dance and in choosing a dance floor to suit their needs. With the growing understanding that the right floor can allow dancers to perform with confidence and protect them against the risk of injury, Harlequin's new website is a helpful asset.

A simple three step online guide steers through the process to selecting an appropriate floor and presenting the possible options. Product detail and specification as well as help direct from British Harlequin is easily accessed. The site also includes testimonials from many of the world's leading dance companies, case studies of recent projects, as well as useful guides for installing, maintaining and transporting floors.

The site includes a comprehensive coverage of all Harlequin's activities, history, products and services as w

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UK - Busted's production company, Productions North, recently approached LiteStructures with a model box detailing exactly how they wanted the set of their tour and summer festivals to look. "The only instructions we had were to make the real thing look like the box, using mainly rental stock," explained LiteStructures' project manager Lou Hall. Unlike some jobs which we turn around in under a week, we had three months to put this set together using a mixture of our existing stock but also making some custom pieces to set the Busted stage apart from other boy-bands. We also had to take into consideration the number of summer festivals and concerts they were performing at and devise a stage that would be flexible for a variety of venues and easy to downsize if necessary, without ruining the overall effect."

Project manager Chis Bridges and Hall set about creating s

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UK - The ABTT Theatre Show is known for its relaxed and intimate atmosphere, combined with a good visitor profile. This year's show, however, was able to maintain that quality and claim a 15% growth over the previous year - with an impressive 127 companies represented.

Autograph Sales debuted the Swedish LDS 'invisible' true line source theatre loudspeakers. New to Autograph's portfolio is Aviom, whose new A-Net digital multicore system, available with a Yamaha interface, was demonstrated with the DM1000 digital mixer.

Lee Filters added to its 700 series of filters, created by lighting designers. New from Dave Davey: Provence (701), Twickenham Green (736), Dirty White (744), Hampshire Frost (749) and Burnt Yellow (770); from Kate Wilkins - Virgin Blue (723) and Easy White (747) and from Rick Fisher - Cool Lavender (708).

Alcons Audio debuted at ABTT with a complete line of

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UK - Rigging training and equipment supplier Lyon Equipment has just opened a brand new, purpose-built training facility in the north of England. Robin Johnson paid it a visit.

Situated by the M6 motorway in Tebay, Cumbria, it's only a dark-green tower that gives away the location of Lyon Equipment's brand new rigging training facility.

Such is the amount of training now undertaken by Lyon that the company's previous training centre - 10 miles away at its HQ in the picturesque village of Dent - was not enough to satisfy demand. Although training at Dent will continue, building a new facility gave Lyon the chance to design a practical training facility literally from the ground up.

Taking time out from instructing a Greenpeace group doing IRATA Level 1, Lyon's Paul Witheridge showed me round. "We already owned this building and used it as extra warehouse space," he says. &

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UK - Hall Stage Limited are very happy to announce another new addition to their staff. Peter Woods joins the company as engineering design manager after many years in the industry with Glantre Engineering and most recently Stage Technologies, where he spent four years as mechanical designer and site engineer.

"Peter adds a tremendous amount to our business" says Charles Haines, Hall Stage managing director: "He obviously brings a wealth of experience in engineering design and project management and he fits in with our core work ethics! We needed someone with his qualities and qualifications to support the development and supply of new products, such as the 2004 ABTT Rigging & Engineering Product of the Year award-winning DGS counterweight drive - and we're absolutely delighted to have him here."

Woods adds: "Its a great opportunity for me to be part

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UK - PCM has supplied Lodestar double-braked motors to Adlib Audio for its high profile audio installation at the Villa Marina complex in Douglas, Isle of Man. The Lodestars, flying the main PA arrays, were chosen because their high spec' and double-braking feature means the venue doesn't have to call a rigger to adjust the safety steels every time the installed PA needs to move for maintenance or other adjustments. The same applies if a visiting production brings in their own PA which has to be flown.

Adlib's Andy Dockerty thinks this will become much more common in the future, because it saves time, and at the end of a show, a visiting crew can get their equipment in and de-rigged with a minimum of hassle. Dockerty has used Lodestars supplied by PCM for Adlib's touring work for many years, because of their proven reliability and excellent safety record.

The double-braked ver

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UK - Harlequin has announced that its ever-popular Harlequin Reversible - a vinyl flooring for dance and stage applications that can be reversed to offer an alternate colour - is now available in a wider range of colours. As well as the established range of black/white, pale grey/dark grey and black/grey, the company is now adding red/blue, hazelnut/beige, tan/fog (a grey in between the existing medium and dark greys) and, finally, green/yellow. Widths and weights remain the same.

There are now seven combinations to choose from, each quick to roll out and lay flat to provide a slip-resistant dance surface. Ideally suited to touring companies, Harlequin Reversible is lightweight, easy to handle and hard-wearing for a long service life. Also available are colour matching adhesive tapes for the whole range.

Harlequin has also announced the release of the Summer 2004 issue of its

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UK - Le Mark has announced its expansion into new premises. As from Monday 26 July, both sales and administration will be located in 3,000sq.ft of modern air-conditioned offices, once again located in St Ives, near Cambridge. Le Mark's existing buildings will remain, and are currently being converted in to warehousing and conversion facilities. The company has adopted an open plan format for the re-designed building, bring together both its existing Arts & Entertainment team and the new Industrial Innovation division, which will see additional staff join the company from August, under the control of Linda Gibbons - sales director for the Group.

The last 12 months have seen consistent growth in specialist self-adhesive applications, say the company, particularly where ultra-high bond tapes are needed to work in high temperatures and extreme conditions. "The support from our

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UK - Summit Steel's SmarTmasts have been in action at a variety of events and festivals around the country this summer. Highlights include Major Sir Michael Parker's Music on Fire son et lumière spectacular at Sandhurst Military Academy, where four SmarTmast IIs were in action flanking the main stage, flying Delta Sound's V-Dosc PA system, together with a pair of SmarTmast 1s at the edges of the area. Summit also installed 12 9m masts at the back of the seating tribunes for audience lighting.

Six 12m SmarTmasts were in Jersey, providing PA and lighting positions at a medieval jousting event for Delta Conference Systems, while in London, 12 single Masts were spread along a mile of The Mall for the Olympic Torch event, supplying sound delay points for Britannia Row's PA.

Four masts were supplied to Britannia Row Productions for PA rigging points at the opening of the Pri

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UK - Star Events Group demonstrated its versatility by designing and installing a set of staging and rigging that dealt with the radically different requirements of all the shows in Hyde Park during June and July. These consisted of the record-breaking three Red Hot Chili Peppers shows, 95.8 Capital FM's Party in the Park for The Prince's Trust and the reunion of Simon & Garfunkel.

The run of events began in June, with three shows by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Star Events Group was a key part of the production team assembled by the band's production manager, Bill Rahmy, and promoter Clear Channel Entertainments, whilst simultaneously providing huge VerTech stages for the band's other UK dates in Scotland and Wales. The stunning visual impact of the 2004 Chili Peppers show, seen by over a quarter of a million fans in Hyde Park alone, centred around superbly mixed animation, film

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UK - ChainMaster of Eilenburg, one of the world's market leaders in the manufacture of chain hoists and chain-hoist controllers for the stage, has now become a member of the Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA). Frank Hartung of ChainMaster commented: "We applied for admission to the Association in order to be able to drive forward the international dialogue with colleagues, customers and users. With its considerable influence, the PLASA represents an attractive platform."

At this year's PLASA show in London, ChainMaster will again be presenting its latest products. The venue for the fair, as in previous years, is the Exhibition Centre in Earls Court. ChainMaster can be found on stand C79.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - LiteStructures, the company that was instrumental in putting together the first set for the revolutionary music programme The Tube, has recently provided the set to the newest music channel, the Musicians Channel, a free-to-air channel aimed at budding musicians.

The Musicians Channel's set designer Shaun Burley wanted a versatile adaptable stage set that could be changed according to the segment being featured. LiteStructures' solution was an effective combination of AstraLite and LiteDeck, both of which are ideal for creating interest in a variety of configurations. Adrian Brooks, managing director of LiteStructures explained: "We used LiteDeck and AstraLite because they are both light enough to manoeuvre easily and flexible enough to set up in a variety of combinations. They are also quick and easy to put together - which is, after all, the point!"

Jonathan M

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UK - Four divisions of the Star Events Group delivered a range of staging and rigging solutions across five venues for ClearChannel Entertainments series of Summer Nights concerts. The 2004 series of Summer Nights concerts attracted 187,500 fans to venues including Cardiff Castle, Warwick Castle, Edinburgh Castle, Leeds Castle and Chatsworth House. Cliff Richards, Tom Jones and Donnie Osmond played all of the venues, with Pavarotti playing his farewell UK concert as Leeds Castle as part of the series.

Star Events Group director Pete Holdich liaised with ClearChannel's Emma Hodgetts and production manager Neil McDonald to develop a tailored staging solution for each venue and had to manage the complex logistics as the shows took place simultaneously. Jake Piper was brought in by the group to manage the project on the ground, overseeing the impressive logistics operation including

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UK - When White Light's production manager Jon Coventry decided to arrange some rigging training for his production team, he wondered whether the training would also be helpful to others. To that end, he contacted Stuart Graham, technical manager at the New Wimbledon Theatre, the closest venue to White Light's South London base.

After discussing options, Coventry and Graham agreed on a three-day rigging course offered by Chris Higgs at Total Fabrications. This course is often conducted at a client's site, and Coventry and Graham felt a theatre environment would better suit their needs, while Higgs had previously hosted training there for the ENO. Fortunately, the New Wimbledon Theatre was dark for its summer break and so it provided the perfect venue.

The New Wimbledon Theatre is part of the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) - one of the country's foremost theatre producers. It i

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USA - It's been a busy season for Total Structures, with the fabrication of a range of aluminium outdoor load-bearing roof structures. Systems have been supplied to a number of clients including Brown United, Stages Northwest, Hughies, Rhino and E-Staging and will be used in a variety of locations from Mexico to Oregon, California to Ohio. Clients continue to be attracted by the modular nature of the Total Structures' roof system that can be readily configured to a variety of sizes, say the company. The roofs are based on a 10ft x 10ft grid to facilitate the suspension of loads above the stage: multiple covers and engineering reports have been supplied with some of these roofs so that they can be configured in a variety of ways using common structural components.

Braced goalpost and rectangular sound wings are also provided with some of these roof systems. The roofs can be used

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UK / The Netherlands - LGH Rigging Services, specialist in the hire, sales and service of rigging and associated equipment, has signed a two-year contract with Q-Production, the leading producer of dance-events in Holland. The contract, which has been secured by LGH Rigging Services' Dutch operation, is for the hire and supply of Lodestar motors, control and associated rigging equipment for rigging the lighting, sound and video equipment at over 50 annual dance events held all over Holland and supported by well known DJs such as Tiësto, Paul Van Dyk, Mauro Picotto, Sven Vath, Marco V, Dana and many others.

'Q-Production have until now sourced their rigging equipment through their lighting supplier but realized that it would be more beneficial if they were to come direct to a supplier of rigging materials," explained Frank Kreuk, Dutch manager, LGH Rigging Services. "A

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UK - PCM has supplied the Plaisterers Hall, in the heart of the City of London, with Lodestar motors for a challenging installation.

The Plaisterers organization is one of the oldest livery companies in England, with its first charter granted by King Henry VII in 1501. The largest livery hall in London, it remains a focal point for the plastering trade. The current Hall, the result of a new build in 1972, needed a makeover to bring it into the 21st century in terms of an audio-visual, lighting and audio infrastructure. The idea was to provide hanging points for whatever technical production equipment was required in the Hall, according to the format of the event.

PCM was contacted by the main project consultant Plaisterers Hall Ltd, on the recommendation of David Harding from Winchester-based lighting and sound consultancy, Whitwam. They supplied and located 18 double-braked Lodesta

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UK - Drapes and rigging specialist Blackout has recently expanded its rigging operation by investing in large quantities of James Thomas SuperLite and SuperTruss, enhancing the company's ability to offer a variety of rigging solutions across the live production industry, and complementing its drapes installation division. The new rigging operation is headed by Ken Nock.

Recently appointed by live brand communications agency Pci:Live, Blackout played a pivotal role in realizing the colossal set for Microsoft's TechEd 2004 Europe. This is the definitive Microsoft conference for building, deploying, securing, and managing connected solutions and the largest conference and exhibition of its kind in Europe. Over 7,700 IT professionals and Microsoft developers attended the four-day event to up-date their knowledge of the latest integrated solutions from the world's largest software d

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UK - PCM is highlighting two product ranges at the PLASA 2004 Show - their extensive range of CM Lodestar Motors and the PLASA award winning Unibar system. PCM put the Lodestar brand on the map during the 1990s as far as the European touring and event industry is concerned. The company supplies a wide selection of standard Lodestar electric chain hoists which will be highlighted on the stand at PLASA, together with details of its Motor Schools.

PCM also features the Lodestars to BGV C1 standard, with double brakes, each capable of stopping the full load. They provide double the usual hoist safety factor, with a chain safety factor of 10:1, plus four-position limit switches including emergency switches, 24V control, under/overload electronic protection and a slack chain detection device.

PCM's Award-winning Unibar winch system (PLASA 2003 Product Excellence) allows the quick an

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UK - Out Board's CM-Series chain hoist controllers have recently found new customers in the concert touring industry, featuring on the rigging of state-of-the-art line array PA systems for several major acts this summer. London-based Capital Sound have bought a pair of CM6 six-channel controllers with remote handcontrollers, plus a quantity of C-Form splitter boxes to mount on the PA flybars. Specified by Capital's technical manager, Ross Anderson, the CM6s are handling multiple hangs of the company's unique hybrid line array system, comprising Meyer MILO mid-high boxes and Martin Audio W8LS low cabinets, which have been out for most of the summer on Dido's European tour.

Global Rigging's Oz Marsh purchased two CM12 12-channel controllers, also with remote handsets and truss-mounting splitter boxes, to support Concert Sound on recent international tours by Eric Clapton and Lenni

  1. ChainMaster successes in Russia
  2. PLASA awards deadline looms
  3. James Thomas Engineering at PLASA 2004
  4. New products from Prolyte at PLASA
  5. Madonna in Wembley Arena with Star Rigging
  6. Prolyft from Prolyte
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