Robe - Leaderboard - 27 Aug25 - Jan26
ISE 2026 - Banner - Oct 2025

Rigging / Staging

Details
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

Details
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

ISE 2026 - Banner - Oct 2025

Details
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

Details
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

Details
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

Details
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)

Details
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

Details
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

Details
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

Details
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

Details
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)

Details
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)

Details
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

Details
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

Details
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

Details
UK - Star Hire (Event Services) Ltd completed its third year as principal stage contractor for this year's tenth anniversary of T in the Park, held in Kinross, Scotland. Star Hire supplied staging and site structures as T in the Park celebrated its tenth birthday, selling out 55,000 tickets and receiving rave reviews from festival goers and press alike for it's relaxed atmosphere and excellent line-up of bands.

A VT 20-20 FPVL featured as the centrepiece to the event, the main stage. With the recognisable T in the Park scrims, the stage acted as the settings for bands including The Coral, The Darkness, Supergrass, the Cardigans and headliners, Coldplay and REM. The stage measured 47.5m wide and 17.5m high to the apex with a 2.5m stage height.

The NME stage was a newly enlarged Vertech design by Star Hire; the VT 15-15 FL was introduced at T in the Park this year, in place of

Details
Portugal - For performing arts lovers everywhere, Portugal is the place to be this summer, with an array of festivals and events taking place right through until September. The programme of dance, music and drama has become a must tour stop for some of the world's most prestigious performing arts companies.

The world heritage village of Sintra is considered to be one of the country's hottest tourists spots for those seeking culture, with much of this accolade owing to its annual festival, Festival de Sintra. Hosting a variety of performances from Opera through to Ballet, the two-month long celebrations take place in every conceivable venue from theatres right through to churches and parks.

The annual success of this festival has seen a number of new builds take place in the small village, the Centro Cultural Olga Cadaval (CCOC) being one of the more recent. Stage Technologies

Details
USA - Polar Focus has introduced the Rocker Zbeam - a new line array rigging system designed to simplify installation. Currently, with conventional rigging techniques, a two-motor rig is usually suspended from one dead hang point and a carefully bridled second point. The acoustic aim of the cluster and the coverage is dependent on the accuracy of the bridled rigging point, and in order to focus the system effectively, the bridled point may need to be adjusted several times. However, the Rocker Zbeam claims to solve this problem by using only two dead hang points. However, if bridles are used, then their accuracy is much less important. In either case, the cluster can be quickly rotated to achieve the desired horizontal angle.

The key component is a rocker beam that keeps the centre axis vertical at all times, even if the two supporting hoists are not running at the same speed o

Details
UK - Summit Steel supplied six SmarTmasts to provide site-wide PA and lighting rigging points for the 2003 Henley Festival of Music & The Arts. The popular event, founded in 1983, is a complete entertainment experience across five evenings, immediately following the famous Henley Regatta, and sharing the same infrastructure and picturesque riverside location. Summit was hired by production manager Bob Caple, who needed an easy and elegant solution for placing lighting and sound equipment around site.

After utilizing three masts for the first time last year, Caple believes the SmarTmast trademarks of a neat footprint, robust construction and stylish appearance make them the best product of this genre on the market. He was also impressed with Summit's service and attention to detail. Set-up time was extremely limited, so SmarTmast was again the ideal choice. Another constructional

Details
UK - The Leicester Haymarket and Raymond Gubbay production of Rodgers and Hart's On Your Toes previewed at the Royal Festival Hall earlier this week. Directed by Paul Kerryson, it stars and is choreographed by ballet dancer Adam Cooper. The other cast principals are Sarah Wildor, Kathryn Evans and Irek Mukhamedov.

Having previously worked with production manager Graham Lister on Copacabana and the Leicester Haymarket production of On Your Toes, Stage Technologies was again asked to provide the control solution. This time round, the London production required additional scenic effects and with The Royal Festival Hall, most frequently used for music concerts, having no grid, the venue had the potential for a challenging fit up.

Stage Technologies' supply consisted of eight sliding tracks (including back wall sliders), two flown ballet bars, Stage Technologie

Details
USA - The legendary heavy metal group Metallica is currently making their way through this years' Summer Sanitarium Tour, with support from Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Deftones and Mudvayne. Metallica also teamed up with Upstaging and Tomcat USA to tour in style. The two companies came together to provide top notch equipment for the mother of all metal bands. Besides the 26 sections of medium duty, 1 section of heavy duty pre-rig truss, and various corner blocks, Tomcat provided 27 10ft sections and 17 8ft sections of the EDDY Award-winning Swing Wing Truss.

Metallica kicked off the tour in San Francisco on 18 May and will continue across the world. Heavily promoting their new album 'St. Anger', the tour covers Europe, America, South America and Japan, before ending on 1 February 2004 in Australia.

(Lee Baldock)

Details
Germany - London-based Park Avenue Productions collaborated with German sister company Citigate SEA to produce a spectacular live show for the launch of the newly-formed HSH-Nordbank in Hamburg. The event, staged at the city's Colour Line Arena, celebrated the merger of two of North Germany's main financial institutions - Hamburgische Landesbank and LB Kiel.

Whilst the event's logistics were handled by Citigate, it fell to Park Avenue to co-ordinate all the technical and creative aspects of the show, one of the highlights of which, was a dramatic 20-minute aerial display of colour and movement artistically directed by lighting designer Simon Tapping and choreographed by Micha Bergese- well known for his work on the Millennium Dome's Central show.

Park Avenue realized an ambitious immersive environment, which included the tasteful branding of all Colour Line's foyer, public an

Details
USA - Several people have been in touch to draw our attention to a story that was posted on the online news site of the Atlantic City County News, which reports on a major collapse of the rig for a concert planned to take place at the city's Boardwalk Hall venue, featuring Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera.

According to the news report, the large steel grid, on which a substantial amount of technical equipment was rigged, collapsed in the early afternoon during set-up. It also mentions that whilst most people escaped unhurt, three sustained minor injuries. The truss was apparently attached to the Boardwalk's false ceiling which was installed in the venue as part of a recent $90 million upgrade. An investigation is now underway. You can read the full report at the website below.

(Ruth Rossington)

Details
UK - Red Bull UK staged their biggest ever event in Hyde Park, London, in early August. The event, hosted by Tess Daly and Brian Dowling, involved 40 teams launching their homemade flying machines off a 6m high runway into the Serpentine, cheered on by thousands of enthusiastic onlookers.

Attended by an estimated 150,000 people, who watched the 40 teams of mad participants launching themselves in home-built 'flying machines' from the huge floating runway, the event was the climax of 18 months of planning and development, which involved over 110 Red Bull staff.

At the centre of the serpentine was the main runway, built by Star Hire, an impressive 40m long by 10m wide, leaving the contestants and their flying machines a 6m drop into the water. To ensure all the crowds could see the action in the park, which is covered in trees, four big screens with relay sound systems were empl

  1. Adding spectacle to the Festival of Speed
  2. The Rat Pack comes to town with LiteStructures
  3. PLASA Education Programme online for bookings
  4. TMB opens in Toronto
  5. LiteStructures at PLASA
  6. Le Mark's 20th anniversary Catalogue at PLASA
Page 85 of 236

Latest Issue. . .