Rigging / Staging

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14 March 2016

Innovation: PLASA goes for Gold
During consultation with the PLASA Awards for Innovation Judges after the 2007 PLASA Show, the judges expressed a desire to be able to more accurately reflect the levels of innovation seen in the products nominated for the Awards. Specifically, they were looking for a way to highlight those cases where a product truly delivered something strikingly new and innovative to the industry.

Roland Hemming, a highly-respected audio consultant and a regular on the PLASA Awards for Innovation j

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14 March 2016

Craig Eagleson has been promoted to the position of engineer from his project manager job at Clancy. Eagleson joined the staff a year ago. In his new position, he will work on research and development of new products in all areas of Clancy's expertise, with emphasis on automation and motorized rigging.

Jennifer VanWaldick joins Clancy as the company's accounting manager. Formerly an accountant for Bowers & Company, VanWaldick came to Clancy in December 2007. She now handles accounts payable, accounts receivable and billing for the company.

Bill Jones brings more than 35 years of theatre experience to his new position as estimator for J. R. Clancy. He works closely wit

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14 March 2016

Simon Battersby, Showsec operations director and Download's head of security, says: "We worked closely with the Live Nation production team throughout the planning phase, working to ensure the correct crowd management plans were in place."

One key challenge was the sloping ground towards the main stage: Showsec, Live Nation and barrier suppliers Mojo Barriers worked together to create a barrier configuration which would m

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14 March 2016

Ben has a proven track record within the industry starting his career almost 40 years ago at Jac Van Ham, the Audio & Video equipment specialist in Holland. After spending 10 years in the production then installation departments, Ben moved on to the Sales team to finally become Jac Van Ham's General Manager after 20 years in the company.

Having built a strong and respectful experience, Ben decided in 1996 to buy Jac Van Ham's Audio & Videos department and set up his own company called Wytec which become one of the industry's favourites as a distributor in Europe.

Managing director, Adrian Brooks, commented: "Ben and Litestructures have known each other for many years. He knows our product range, and our way of working, very w

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14 March 2016

The Somerset-based suppliers supplied a full range of their products to the event in an impressive order which totalled three stage roofs, 4 PA/Screen Goalposts, 7 PA Masts, 4 Spot Towers, 5 Front-Of-House complexes, around 4000 square metres of decking and the iconic Ribbon Tower in The Park area.

It was a Glastonbury debut for the 22m Supernova roof structure that was the Other Stage, with its smaller sibling, the 16m Supernova, making its first appearance as main stage in The Park.

An 18m Orbit Roof was supplied for the ever-popular Jazz World, plus all decking, PA/Screen goal posts and Lunar delay towers for the main Pyramid stage helped complete the order.

A progression from the Solar Roo

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14 March 2016

Slingco services a broad range of markets with its wire rope and engineering solutions and a diverse range of companies were represented on the day - from theatre equipment suppliers to garage equipment suppliers, and from lift installers to aerospace designers, to name a few.

The move from the previous home four miles away has given the company a 50% increase in building size and additional land for expansion. With the building needing extensive remedial work prior to moving in, the Slingco team was able to shape the facility just as they wanted it.

On the day, sales director, Matt Dykins, introduced visitors to the full scope of the company's work

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14 March 2016

Chilvers has been a 5 Star case user for 10 years, ever since his early days as an apprentice with lighting rental company, Hawthorn Theatrical. He has also worked as a technical manager at venues, including the Kings Lynn Corn Exchange and Arts Centre and the Princess Theatre in Hunstanton.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Last year's inaugural Award was won by Tony Andrews of Funktion One for his decades of dedication to the advancement of loudspeaker design.

The Nomination phase of the 2008 Gottelier Award is now open, and industry professionals worldwide are being asked to put forward the names of individuals who they believe should be considered for this year's award.

Following the nomination period, a shortlist of the leading nominees will then be ope

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14 March 2016

"In response to modern production specifications, we decided we wanted to bring a new roof to the market," says Hedwig de Meyer, Stageco's president. "Bon Jovi needed three roofs and approached us for a standard roof type. We told them we wanted to invest in a new roof type and offered them the new, original product."

The Bon Jovi team has always used innovative production elements, where possible, to create an exciting live show, and the three new roofs

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14 March 2016

It provides 'up and over' access for the Genie AWP Super Series to be used in spaces that are otherwise inaccessible and hard to reach. Now available in all markets worldwide, the new Genie Super-Straddle was redesigned to meet the latest ANSI A92.3 standards and is CE compliant, the company says.

"The Super-Straddle is a versatile, efficient accessory for facilities such as schools and churches," says Kim Williams, senior market analyst at Genie Industries. "It allows easy overhead access for maintenance like changing light bulbs, replacing ceiling panels and even for touching up paint."

E

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14 March 2016

J. R. Clancy now offers the PowerLift Variable Speed 0-20 fpm motorised winch with a load capacity of 2,000 pounds. The new winch fills the need expressed by users and consultants for a motorized winch with no "bounce" at the start or end of a move, says the company.

In addition, Clancy has added the PowerLift Fixed Speed, 20 fpm motorized winch with a load capacity of 1,200 pounds.

"Some projects require short battens with only a few lift lines," said Tom Young, J.R. Clancy's vice-president of marketing. "PowerLifts use 3/16-inch lift lines, with a recommended working load of 525 pounds. This new PowerLift solves the potential problems with a three-line hoist using a winch that's rated for

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14 March 2016

Vienna's Fanzone, organised jointly by the city of Vienna and the tournament organisers UEFA, which provided entertainment and screenings of matches on big screens. Stageco was asked to provide the structures for the main stage itself, in Rathausplatz, a large Communications Centre, the Supervision EM 2008 (a public video viewing support) and a huge experiential marketing zone for the public, Meinl's Kaffewelt, welcoming 12,000 visitors per day.

Stageco Germany had no fewer than five project managers working on the Vienna Fanzone, including Stageco Germany's managing director Werner Herbst, who project managed the structure in Rathausplaz. Here, the company provided its Micro Arch stage, which hosted a variety

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14 March 2016

Adjacent to the stage, Arena Seating installed a bespoke, three tiered platform. It comprised a disabled viewing area with access ramps on level one, sponsors and VIP guest seating on level two and VVIP seating at the top level, complete with a cover, to host Mr Mandela, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and guests.

As an additional facility, Arena was asked to install a lift at the rear of the grandstand, making it easy for the guests to access the structure with minimal effort.

Arena Seating's sales and marketing director said: "It was a privilege to work with 46664, RW Productions and Live Nation to contribute to an event

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14 March 2016

TESS worked closely with Licensee Melvin Benn to develop policy and deliver practical controls to meet the needs of both pieces of legislation. Independent monitoring proved the measures were an outstanding success.

This year, TESS, used a new computerised file sharing system to improve the exchange of health and safety information between the Festival, contractors and service providers. The huge amount of documentation generated by the event - and the need to scrutinise safety information, insurances and so on means the easy sharing and retriev

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14 March 2016

Over 200,000 visitors are expected for this festival, which is located near the historic Petrovaradin Fortress, built high on the banks of the River Danube and offering a stunning view of Novi Sad.

The Exit festival was established in 2000. In 2007 it was awarded the prestigious UK Festival Award for the best festival in Europe for 2007, as voted for by festival-goers from all over the world.

Studio Berar, responsible for the technical organisation for the festival selected Prolyte to provide a large roof system for the main stage at Exit 2008. Prolyte is already established in this region, thanks to the enthusiastic support of Prolyte distributor PSP.

Novi Sad-based sound, video and light engineering and rental company Studio Berar contracted

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14 March 2016

The exhibition was staged at Barkarby Airfield in Stockholm and included a large demo site for working presentations of heavy plant machinery.

Scanlaser is one of Samzelius's key clients and he has designed all their exhibition stands for some time. He has also used Milos products for the last five years.

The Scanlaser stand space at MaskinExpo measured 25m by 30m, with the MR2 system measuring 15m by 13m for the main tent and 12m by 13m for the black tent. It was purchased specially for the show by Samzelius and will eventually be owned by Scanlaser. He comments, "I've wanted to purchase an MR2 roof for several years, and this new Scanlaser stand pro

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14 March 2016

Echoing the original West End design, the art deco-influenced set was designed by Tom Pye with significant input from his associate, Tim McQuillen-Wright. Bespoke staging company, Brilliant Stages, has constructed specialist components within the set.

The main band rostra, which carry the 16-strong Big Band, was the first section to receive the Brilliant Stages treatment. This three-tiered structure maintains the art deco look with a retro silver and black finish to each fascia, complete with soft black leather trim and brushed silver 'corrugated' risers. Each fascia incorporates concealed, clear, non-neon lighting acting as down-lighters on the corrugated risers, whilst the bottom fascia conceals a line

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14 March 2016

The scheme enables installers to be rewarded with either a handheld consumer JVC Everio camcorder or a portable iPod stereo system with the purchase of a certain amount of CCTV products from an approved JVC UK supplier.

Phil Wring, UK CCTV sales manager at JVC Professional Europe states: "This sales promotion has been put in place to offer our partners a fun product to go with their CCTV purchases, and should make an ideal accompaniment for the rest of the summer months ahead."

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

In a letter to customers, Pier Luigi Gherardini, the general manager of Vitec's Staging Systems Europe division, said: "Tomcat is now completing its integration with the Staging Systems organization and continuing its expansion into the European, Middle East and African markets."

The letter continued: "Staging Systems will provide Tomcat with new state-of-the-art, 9,000sq.m facilities in Italy and Slovakia, where its capacity will be integrated and expanded, together with extensive R&D and engineering capabilities to support its new strategic geographical approach."

The compan

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14 March 2016

Done and Dusted managed the event for Channel 4, bringing in production manager Tony Wheeler of Nine Yards to look after all aspects of the live production. Wheeler comments: "This year's event grew most significantly. We like to keep our team consistent and once again entrusted Power Logistics to ensure there was uninterrupted power, particularly important for an event driven by its live television show. As ever they have been exemplary and taken all of the late changes an event of this nature throws up in their stride."

Tony Harpur led the Power Logistics te

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14 March 2016

Three high profile events took place on two consecutive weekends, starting with the star-studded 46664 charity concert celebrating Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday on the final Friday of June. Hard Rock Calling took place on the Saturday and Sunday immediately following, with a bill headlined by the Police and Eric Clapton, while, on the second weekend, O2 Wireless hosted Fat Boy Slim, Morrissey, Jay Z and Counting Crows. The same site and infrastructure was also used for an additional mid-week concert by Jack Johnson.

Showsec were at the heart of event planning, with the company's operations director Simon Battersby appointed Head of Security for all three events. The Mandela concert boasted the largest capacity of 46,664, while

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14 March 2016

The Lomonosov Moscow State University has also invested in equipment from ChainMaster, including four D8 Jumbo Lifts (the 6-tonne model) to manoeuvre the university's heavyweight video cube into position and a D8 manual control for installation work also involving the video cube.

Also in Moscow, four VarioLift 500 hoists and four VarioTrolleys - electric running gear with integrated frequency converters and positioning units -

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14 March 2016

The exhibition of 60 images, entitled Portraits of Adventure, consisted of 50 regular sized photographic images along with 10 specially commissioned four-metre high portraits by photographer Alastair Thain.

"We enjoy a close working relationship with both Cricket and Land Rover and are delighted to play a part in Land Rover's celebrations," said Simon Wood, sales director, Stage One.

For the exhibition, Stage One was asked to construct a number of different items including several plinths, two of which were designed to take a Land Rover vehicle and one used to display an Alastair Thain camera. In the main gallery area four double-sided aluminium walls

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14 March 2016

Executive News - Bandit Lites has announced that Peter M. Heffernan, a 30-year veteran, has been named president of the firm. Effective immediately, Heffernan will take the reigns and serve as both president and C.O.O., a role he has held for the last 15 years. This move comes at a time of growth for Bandit and is the logical step in taking the firm to the next level, says the company. Heffernan began his full time relationship with Bandit Lites in 1978 and he has risen through the ranks. He served as lighting director and/ or production manager f