Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

Rigging / Staging

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Europe / USA - Bandit Lites supplied lighting, rigging and crew for the UK, European and US legs of Mark Knopfler's and Emmylou Harris' All the Roadrunning tour.

The tour promotes the collaborative album of the same name from the Dire Straits front-man and 11-time Grammy award-winner, Emmylou Harris. The pair have been compiling duets for seven years.

Lighting designer Simon Tutchener was asked to produce a simple look for the stage - with no video production onboard - the visual scenography was all down to lighting - and he in turn again asked Lester Cobrin at Bandit to help realise his design.

The design was based on using two very elegant eight metre diameter A-type interlocking circular trusses - which Bandit had custom fabricated. Tutchener wanted an architectural feel to the stage that defined the space. The circles symbolised the fusion of two of the greatest l

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UK - Having worked on similar events in Leicester over the last eighteen years, Hawthorns secured the opportunity from the Jalaram Charitable Trust, Leicester, to provide the power, sound, video and lighting systems for this year's special festival.

With the visit of the religious leader, Morari Bapu, the organisers changed the festival to a more corporate style format including the erection of an enclosed Arena TFT structure 95 metres long, 50 metres wide and 16 metres in height to the apex, accommodating 8000 people.

In order to power the whole site, two pairs of generators were used, one of which was a one megawatt set, which provided all the power to the catering facilities, lighting, sound and the all important air conditioning, given the recent temperatures.

To illuminate the Arena TFT structure and stage both decoratively and safely, over 250KW of lighting was used.

City Theatrical - Banner - July 2025

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UK - Stage Technologies have supplied the Royal Shakespeare Company's Courtyard Theatre with a portable automation control system. The new 1,000 seat theatre is a temporary venue for the RSC while major renovation works transform their permanent home at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. The temporary venue has been designed as a prototype for the auditorium planned in the permanent theatre which will re-open in 2010. The new thrust-stage brings the audience closer to the actors to re-create the intimacy of the theatres known in Shakespeare's time.

The entire Courtyard Theatre project is estimated to have cost in the region of £6m and following careful planning it is envisaged that a large amount of the equipment and materials will subsequently be reused in other RSC theatres and to support its works in London and on tours in the UK and around the world.

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China - Prolight + Sound Shanghai, the Frankfurt fair's younger sibling, will make its fourth showing in China from 18 - 21 October 2006, alongside the international MI show Music China. As of June around 170 exhibitors have signed up to take part in the fair, from the pro-audio, lighting and entertainment technology sectors. A special 'Premier Contractor Seminar' running in conjunction with the show is expected to attract hundreds of event contractors, specialised engineers and technicians from across China.

Pro-audio, specialist lighting and entertainment suppliers from around the world can find a strong and growing market in mainland China. Companies from China, Germany, France, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, the UK and the USA have already signed up to be a part of Prolight + Sound Shanghai.

Prolight + Sound Shanghai will feature a Taiwanese Pavilion fo

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UK - The Pet Shop Boys have even made squares cool with the help of the team at Specialz. Rockdrops Gary Cooper-Burrows said, "After discussions with Joe Sanchez (production manager) and Es Devlin (set designer) as to the requirements and uses of the cube for the forthcoming PSB 2006 tour, there was no choice in my mind as to whom I should use for the engineering and manufacture of the cube. After working with Dave Smith and Keith Owen on the Franz Ferdinand tour last year, I knew It had to be Specialz."

Specialz were commissioned to provide a multifunctional cube for use on the latest Pet Shop Boys 'Live' 2006 tour. The cube, which is internally illuminated, functions as a giant projection screen, a band prop, and dancer platform. The cube subdivides into four (4m x 4m) separate parts which are moved around the stage during the show.

Whilst these unique items look s

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UK - Tri-press, a new and unique hand-held press, has been launched by specialist rigging supply company Rope Assemblies. The press allows riggers to create hanging wires on site, quickly and efficiently, says the company.

The single-handed operation of the tri-press means that riggers can produce terminations quickly and easily whenever they need them, including on-site and at the point of application. The press has a number of interchangeable dies, which makes even crimping electrical terminations both quick and easy.

The tri-press has a number of features that add to its versatility - it can be supplied with a range of dies for various applications; the press automatically retracts once the crimping operation is complete; it has a crimping force of 35kN with a cycle time of four seconds and can complete 85 crimps per battery charge. The tri-press also comes with a RAM1 batt

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UK - With less than six weeks to go before PLASA06 opens its doors at Earls Court, the finishing touches are being made to the show's biggest-ever line-up of features, seminars and star industry speakers.

The expansion comes as PLASA Show organisers Clarion Events report the highest ever number of pre-registered visitors - up by 13% on 2005, with technical and creative teams from major venues and high-profile projects among the first to register.

The show's track record of hosting major international product launches, and wide interest in this year's new features, have helped drive the pre-registration increases. The new features are led by the new Integrated Systems Area; a greatly expanded PLASA Seminar Programme with a dedicated Technologies for Worship programme; the first PLASA appearance of NEET (National Exhibition of Entertainment Technology); and new features for DJs.

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UK - Automation specialists Kinesys are exhibiting at the PLASA show in Earls Court in September. The past twelve months has seen further growth into an increasingly varied selection of projects and markets requesting Kinesys products, says the company.

Theatrical projects have included West End shows, installations for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and the servicing of ongoing existing touring theatrical shows. Kinesys equipment is increasingly finding its way onto high profile events like the Chanel fashion show at Paris Fashion Week, and work at both the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Opera House.

International shows as diverse as Showboat and War of the Worlds have benefited from the huge flexibility of Kinesys' motor control, and the equipment is regularly working in the USA, France, Belgium and Spain.

Concert touring continues to be a d

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Worldwide - A busy summer season continues for Event freight specialists - EFM, who recently completed a charter schedule for Guns N' Roses, transporting the band and their equipment to four countries in five days.

For the final part of the band's world tour, EFM engaged in meticulous planning to get the band, crew and equipment for Guns N' Roses between four venues in four different countries over a five-day period. Responding to every change of plan, right up to the last minute; EFM handled every element of the logistics for the band and its equipment.

Meeting the tour in Oslo, a charter plane was supplied to carry the band's 25 tonnes of cargo which included backline, lighting, pyrotechnics, staging and PA equipment, whilst another charter flight carried the 47 crew for the tour, and a VIP plane was organised for the band members. These three charters took the band between

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Europe - Mojo Barriers went on the road with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in May 2006 as they started their biggest ever European tour with two nights in Barcelona, Spain.

Mojo Barriers was contracted to supply the 80m aluminium front of stage barrier for the whole Stadium Arcadium tour. They have been holding back crowds in front of the stages as the band played to sold out crowds across Europe in football stadiums, arena's and festival headline spots.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have grown in popularity throughout Europe over the past decade, and the release of their new album this summer fuelled fans passion to see the band performing the new numbers.

Amidst four nights performing at London's Earls Court Arena the band's tour production manager of six years, Bill Rahmy, said: "I don't think there's any one in the same league as Mojo Barriers. Their barriers are of

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USA - Total Structures has announced the forthcoming opening of a sales office in Atlanta, Georgia. The office will be managed by Elmer Veith, who until recently was the long-term sales manager of Atlanta Rigging Systems.

Vice-president Adrian Forbes-Black explains this further expansion: "We have known for a long while that although we have been very strong in the Western and Central areas of the country, the three-hour time difference from the East coast has definitely been a factor in our further growth. With that in mind, earlier this year we consciously decided to look at opening an office somewhere in the Eastern time zone. When the opportunity to employ someone of Elmer's calibre and experience arose the decision to open the office in Atlanta made perfect sense. It's our hope that being in Georgia will allow us easy access to the large markets in Florida and Tennesse

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USA - The Seminars & Training Committee of The ESTA Foundation will offer two day long rigging classes at LDI2006 in Las Vegas. On Wednesday, 18 October, Eddie Raymond and Bill Sapsis will team-teach a course in Arena Rigging, while Jay O. Glerum will present his Stage Rigging Fundamentals Workshop on Thursday, 19 October. Both courses are part of the annual LDInstitute, which provides in-depth professional training in various facets of entertainment technology.

The Arena Rigging course covers the basics of fall protection, hardware, hoists, trusses and the math involved, and effective methods to communicate the standard to be met to the crew, the work to be done, and their roles in getting it done. The course is designed for riggers with 1-3 years of practical rigging experience. The instructors are rigging experts Bill Sapsis of Sapsis Rigging and Eddie Raymond of IATSE Local

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Lifting, and rigging sales specialists Lift-Turn-Move (LTM) - celebrate their second birthday at PLASA 06.

Visitors can expect a warm welcome from the LTM team who will have a special cake on the stand to help celebrate the occasion, as well as a selection of their wide range of Lodestar hoists, motor control systems and other rigging equipment and accessories.

The LTM team will also be on hand to discuss their latest training initiatives, an element that key individuals in the company have pioneered in the industry for the last 12 years.

LTM offers a range of lifting and rigging equipment including the Lodestar and Prostar electric chain hoists, which are being highlighted at the show. High integrity hoisting systems are also available including equipment to BGV C1 German safety standard. Special features include double brakes, load sensing and multiple limit switches. Variable sp

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UK - GSL Power Distribution has been launched by Garry Lodge to offer the entertainment industry in general and rental operations in particular a fresh approach to providing power solutions to suit the different demands of today's venues from large-scale outdoor events to concert halls, theatres and even intimate cabaret settings.

Based on his experience of more than 20 years working with Avolites and some of the largest companies in the lighting industry, Lodge believes that his new GSL Power Distribution company will bring something unique to the event marketplace. "We have developed (and are currently working on) a selection of new products and services that we know the leading rental operations are demanding," he comments. "They want easily customised products that are robust and reliable and GSL Power Distribution will provide practical solutions and developm

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UK - Summit Steel is enjoying a hectic summer of SmarTmast supplies. This is the highly practical answer for rigging PA, lights, video elements or anything else that might need to be flown at height on a wide variety of sites.

For the Commemoration of the First Anniversary of the London Bombing on 7 July in Regent's Park, Summit supplied the Department of Culture Media and Sport with a 13 metre high ground support system for a BBC hot-head camera, plus four SmarTmasts for the stage area. The Masts were used to support the VDosc PA arrays supplied by Delta Sound. Production manager was Chuck Crampton.

At Leeds Castle, Summit deployed four SmarTmast 1s and two SmarTmast 2s - a two legged goalpost format structure constructed from 20.5 cm SuperTruss - plus two SmarTmast 3s. The 3 is also a goalpost construction - made from 52 cm truss, designed for heavier duty applications like

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UK - Serious Stages supplied one of their 20m 'standard leg' Space Roof stages, complete with their new Super Deck decking, to Live Nation for a series of Summer Concerts at Harewood House near Leeds. Artists performing across two high-profile weekends of events included Simply Red, Westlife, The Who, James Blunt and others.

The 4-Bay Space Roof was supplied complete with 12m x 6m goal post PA and video wings, ramp, handrails and disabled platform. It also featured Serious's new improved anti-slip steps and a new solid handrail design. The roof offers 14m of headroom - plenty of height for lighting - and a distributed SWL of 11 tonnes per arch, with a centre load of 6 tonnes.

Serious also took care of the decking, using a combination of their standard Black Deck as well as their new Super Deck. The Super Deck ran at a 6m depth across the front of the stage. This is specially d

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UK - For the second year running the Canary Wharf Group turned to Hawthorn to assist in their Summer Gala events. With nine days of activities in July, held at Canada Square Park, with both lunchtime and evening performances the gala attracted over 10,000 spectators over the two week period.

The varied programme included: film screenings, a comedy night, an evening of dance, and classical music recitals. Hawthorns were commissioned to provide entrance, stage and garden lighting.

"This years event was an interesting project," said Matt Oscroft the Hawthorn project manager, "with it being our second year working for this event, we realised we had to keep our designs and specifications fresh. This was achieved by using new configurations of Prolyte truss, which allowed us to use the maximum height of the Orbit structure. In addition, as the Clay Paky Alpha Spots we

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UK - J&C Joel have supplied an award winning (PLASA 2003, Award for Design Excellence) Unibar lifting system for the newly opened €14 million Mill Theatre in Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin 14, on the site of Ireland's largest shopping centre.

J&C Joel's project manager Tony Griffiths co-designed the Unibar with Slingco's Nick Dykins, and Maurice Power Theatre Consultants specified it for the Mill Theatre. J&C Joel worked closely with its premier Irish distributor, Stage Lighting Centre, on the installation and commissioning of the system.

The nine 4-line Unibars - eight over the stage and one advanced bar in the auditorium - are each designed to raise and lower up to 400kg on 10m long suspension bars, The Unibar system allows the quick and easy raising/lowering of suspension or bars for scenery, lighting and AV equipment with a motor-driven unit.

Unibar was seen as the ideal s

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UK - "Common-Sense is one of those products that you don't need every day, but when you do - it's the only solution!" say Artistic Licence of their new product. As the name suggests, it is a common point for sensors and interfaces in the world of show control and systems integration.

Common Sense provides a wealth of input and output functions including opto-isolated contacts, keypad readers, analogue sensors, real time clock, DMX512, MIDI, MIDI Timecode, RS232 and RS485. A Windows software package, Sense-Edit, is used to configure the relationship between all of the inputs and outputs. This can include up to 350 discrete events such as 'When DMX channel 3 passes 50% send this serial data string'.

Common-Sense has recently been extended to provide even more functionality. The optical inputs can now be combined using Boolean equations to provide even greater triggerin

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UK - GSL Power Distribution has announced what it says is "a breakthrough in power management" with the launch of its new interchangeable power distribution modules. Designed for the rental market, to give ultimate flexibility in power distribution, the Revolution Range will receive its UK debut at PLASA 06 (10-13 September, Earls Court, London).

With the Revolution, the company says, the need to predict future power requirements will no longer be necessary, as the rack-mounted modules are easily interchangeable by simply unplugging the Veam snap-locks (mini power locks). "Basically," says Garry Lodge MD of GSL Power Distribution, "you decide what outputs you require on the 3U module and we translate your ideas into practical reality. Probably the two most important aspects of this new development are that it is truly cost-effective (you only have to inv

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UK - After many years of service to both Stage One and the industry, Simon Whitaker, former MD and founding partner of Stage One, has retired from the company. Mark Johnson, the company's current managing director, said: "I'm sure that many people would like to join us in wishing Simon all the very best for the future."

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Arena Seating supplied three tiered grandstands to the British International Motor Show at ExCel this year.

Organisers created a new look exhibition when the UK's most prestigious motor show returned to London for the first time in 30 years. One of the new features of the exhibition was the Motor Theatre, which ran four presentations a day of a modern adaptation of Romeo & Juliet throughout the event featuring performers, stunt cars and JCB plant.

In the evenings following the show, Tim Etchells, Rob Mackenzie (for IMIE) and Harvey Goldsmith used the temporary theatre as the venue for a series of nine concerts, Dock Rock, featuring UB40, Brian Ferry, Van Morrison and The SugaBabes.

Robbie Wilson of RnR Logistics was the event manager (responsible for the site, health & safety and production), who brought in Arena Seating to help create the dual-purpose temporary theatre

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Worldwide - Automation and control specialists Kinesys have designed and built a bespoke control system for 40 giant streamer cannons which have been added to the latest leg of the Rolling Stones Bigger Bang world tour.

It's been project managed and engineered for Kinesys by Andy Cave who's been working closely with Andy Edwards from Brilliant, designer of the hardware, in conjunction with the show's set designer Mark Fisher.

This also follows on from work Kinesys completed earlier in the tour involving the design and build of a motion control system to move the B Stage into the middle of the auditorium.

The compressed air cannons are rigged to a header truss running the width of the stage, each containing a very long piece of folded silk, which is ejected - parachute style - at the designated moment, forced out by compressed air.

Kinesys was asked to design a syste

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UK - There may have been an absence of Glastonbury Festival this year, but Glastonbury Abbey delivered live music to the south west and pleased the crowds this August, with the help of That's EnTEEtainment production behind the show.

The annual three night extravaganza organised by Michael Eavis partly as a thank you to the people of Glastonbury for their acceptance of the main festival and also to raise funds for Glastonbury Abbey, this year hosted Jools Holland, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Rat Pack, performing to thousands in the beautiful surroundings of the Abbey.

Having been involved with Glastonbury Festival for eight years and Glastonbury Abbey for 11 years, Dick Tee of That's EnTEEtainment was the production manager for the show, overseeing the complete production from build up to break down.

Arriving on site five days prior to the event, Tee and his tea

  1. Pharos at PLASA 06
  2. Hawthorn's online hire shop
  3. Global Truss' mobile rigging system
  4. Litec launches new S Series version of truss
  5. Stage One with Marks & Spencer
  6. Blackout promotes project manager
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