Edinburgh's Hogmanay - celebrating the 20th anniversary of the world famous street party SEGL were contracted by Unique Events for the 13th successive year and provided a 15m VerTech stage system for the centrepiece 'Concert in the Gardens' show featuring Scottish 80's legends Simple Minds.
The stage specifically designed to integrate with the listed Ross Band Stand structure located in West Princess Street Gardens was erected over two phases spanning the Christmas festivities. The 41m wide frontage provided rigging facilities for four audio hangs and stage right and left wing Imags to give the audience a great view of the show. Production access features including substructure tunnelled ramps had been commissioned by event production manager Rab Randall and stage manager Alan Mouat to improve efficiency of loading the extensive production on/ off the stage whilst leaving down stage access for vehicles and ultimately hundreds of new year revellers.
The stage was augmented by bespoke VT roofed front of house structures to provide facilities for sound and light control, follow spot and camera positions. The installation delivered by Star Events crew chief Andrew 'Crossy' Cross and his team provided a perfect focus for the countdown to the legendary Castle firework display.
Star Events also provided two systems from its mobile stage fleet to provide variety of performances around the huge city centre site, with an SL200 system occupying Frederick Street and a SS10-08 taking up residence outside Waverley Station hosting headliners The Macabees. The full package was overseen by Star Events project manager Pete Holdich who commented, "The installations all went as planned despite some blustery conditions, the Star crew performed brilliantly in assembling the stages on some challenging shifts, the back up and support available from Unique's on site team is always re-assuring throughout the build."
Meanwhile some 40 miles West of Edinburgh Star provided their 15m Morbit™ system for Stirling's Hogmanay celebrations. Positioned high up on the Castle esplanade the stage provided a spectacular focus for the evening festivities headlined by The Proclaimers. Matt Durham and the team overcame the windy conditions on this exposed site to deliver the stage to schedule. The 44t mobile system contracted through Glasgow based Stage Hire Scotland to Zizys Events was gently hauled up the steep incline to the site and expertly positioned on the esplanade, flanked by the BBC's OB compound and production offices facing the spectacular Stirling Castle and the stunning NY firework display.
For the 13th consecutive year SEGL provided staging for Cardiff City Council for Calennig. The 10m mobile stage sat alongside the ice skating and funfair at Cardiff's Winter Wonderland, the free show took place at Cardiff Civic Centre and saw Abba tribute band Platinum perform on Star's 10-08 Mobile. The branded stage, with flown PA, was provided with 20m of front-of-stage barrier and FOH as part of the package.
(Jim Evans)
