Rigging / Staging

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14 March 2016

The truss, all powder coated with a specific texture of black, varied from straight 20.5" square Element 20, fitted with steel fork-ends for maximum strength, to 12" square Element 12 nut and bolt connection truss, custom radiused to match the architectural lines of the newly completed building.

The truss, which was designed, fabricated and delivered to site in less than three weeks from date of order, was supplied with specific California stamped engineering reports to provide the 2,300 capacity, 59,000sq.ft venue with accurate loading capabilities of their new s

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14 March 2016

The football tournament searched the UK to find the best 5-a-side football team in the country through a series of knockout matches leading to the final which was held at Alexandra Palace in May. The experiential campaign was part of the biggest push the sports brand has launched in the UK in the last 10 years accompanied by television advertising featuring Wayne Rooney, Joe Cole, Rio Ferdinand and Fernando Torres.

A pitch area was created within the venue which was surrounded on three sides by temporary seating. Sunbaba provided a 21m X 6m Digimesh

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14 March 2016

Youngman Group is a leading provider of access equipment and systems that are designed and manufactured with safety in mind. Founded in 1926, it has built an international presence in over 25 countries worldwide through partnering with select distributors.

Adam Beaumont, sales manager of the A.C. Rigging division, commented, "We are really pleased to be working with the UK's leading access products manufacturer. With their focus on quality, safety and innovation, the new Aluminium Crowd Control Barrier system is great product and a great addition to our product portfolio."

A.C. Rigging has the new crowd control barrier system available for immedia

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14 March 2016

Designed for stage floors and drama studios, Stagefloor 100 is priced at £10.95 per square metre. This flooring product comes with a high level of specification, fire-rated for safety to NF P 92-507 class M3, is quick to roll out and suitable for permanent installation, or for portable use, says the company.

When permanently installed it can be either hot or cold welded. There is a colour choice of black, dark grey, light grey or hazelnut - all highly tear resistant and tough enough to stand up to props, equipment, street footwear - in fact most normal wear and tear encountered on stage. Stagefloor 100 is in stock now - ready to ship in 2m wide rolls with lengths from

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14 March 2016

The basic level course on 15 June consists of an overview of the CM Lodestar Hoists. It includes practical exercises on inspection, maintenance testing and troubleshooting CM Lodestars. The course is suitable for technicians dealing with CM Lodestar products on a regular basis and is intended to provide a more comprehensive working knowledge of the products. A.C. will supply all technical documentation, certification of the training and lunch on the day.

The advanced level cou

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14 March 2016

LoadGuard hoists are available in capacities from 250kg to 5 tonnes, they are available as standard rigging hoists and hoists to higher safety standards- for example the British Hoisting Entertainment Standard BS 7906: Part 1, Category A, and the German Standards BGV D8 Plus or BGV C1 (VPLT SR 2.0) - all of these standards allow some form of load positioning and holding without secondary suspension to support the load.

The hoist comes in modular form, allowing standard hoists to be ordered now for retrofitting later with special components to meet present or future higher integrity standards. The big feature of these hoists are that the clutch is not in the drive train meaning that clutch wear

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14 March 2016

The venue for the high-profile VIP event was the former Royal Hangar at the Expo site at Dubai International Airport, and Almoe were contracted direct by flydubai LLC as the technical services provider. In addition to rigging, this included sound, lighting and AV.

The big technical and creative challenge for the Almoe team was to transform the barn like structure of the hangar into a theatrical space for the event. The launch culminated in the reveal of a new Boeing 737-800 airliner, which necessitated flying trussing the length of the hangar, and bringing the new aircraft in underneath screens that were suspended from it. With the plane valued at $75 million, the rig above had to be

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14 March 2016

The tour is scheduled to play stadia of all sizes in France, Belgium and Switzerland, so it required a flexible touring set that would create a dramatic visual impact in different capacity venues, from the 60,000 seat Stade de France in Paris to smaller venues like the Stade Jules Deschaseaux in Le Havre.

Stage designer Mark Fisher of Stufish designed a stage dominated by a large mythic bird, wings outstretched and spanning the entire width of the performance area. Beneath it were two pairs of giant caryatids, half human, half av

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14 March 2016

Class size is limited to 20 students, however should demand necessitate an additional course will be added for Wednesday 19 August and Thursday 20 August.Unlike prior Columbus McKinnon training schools this course will now include a written certification examination, with successful students receiving recognition as being a CM-ET (Columbus McKinnon Entertainment Technology) certified entertainment hoist technician.

Appropriately qualified students passing the course will also obtain 16 renewal credits towards ETCP rigging examination re-certification. Suited to both touring and in-house repair technicians

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14 March 2016

With HD broadcasting now common, Cover It Up has found that by exploiting the variances in the opacity of their fabric stock, draping and soft goods coverage can be maximized to provide more acutely defined edges, bringing greater depth to the set design, along with other production solutions.

Each textile has its own texture, light transmission and reflection quality which is much more noticeable with HD. Cover It Up's Elliot Sennett says, "We worked hard with the WWE production team to ensure that our grey and black wool serges work together. It's amazing how even a different

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14 March 2016

Accompanying the InterAmerica SkyDeck system is Tomcat's Sky product. Sky is a ladder beam truss product with a sturdy spigot connection. It is designed for light, medium and heavy duty applications over short and large spans. It utilises a 'Star Connection' system or can also be connected direct and has a range of accessories making it ideal for building grid structures and modular trusses. Its ladders ar

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14 March 2016

Fokko Smeding, founder and shareholder of Prolyte, will stay active within the company, offering the management his professional vision and plans for the future. "Being able to put daily operations in capable hands, leaves me room to do what I'm best at," states Smeding. "My involvement with Prolyte will remain significant, laying out plans for the future holds a big challenge for me, all the more because this business is a thrill to work in."

Gert Felten was able to experience the many facets of Prolyte in his previous position as production manager and can rely on the support and k

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14 March 2016

Spotlight celebrated its 40th birthday last month with a series of open days. Augusto Andraghetti, Spolight's president said: "The partnership between Spotlight and VMB is based on a similar strategic mission - our work, over the past 40 years, has been focused on continuous improvement, technical innovation and customer satisfaction, in order to always be a step ahead in providing solutions for the performing arts."

Spotlight exclusively distributes a number of brands including Arkaos, ADB, Compulite, Chainmaster, Eurotruss, Litestructures, Kleu and now VMB.

VMB's export manager Ben Sinclair comments: "I am looking forward

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14 March 2016

The company announcement says: "Litestructures Live is a unique, one-stop-shop facility, unifying three previously distinct areas of operation, Hire, Stage and Set, and Litestructures Studios, merging them into a single, powerful entity. Add into the mix on-site custom design and manufacture and you have the most capable, flexible, experienced and user-friendly force in the concert, touring and events marketplace. In short, Litestructures Live is a division formed by fusion."

The launch took place at Gibson Guitars showroom in London. After a speech and introduction from Julia Jones, Litestructures' consultant in the south, the evening kicked off with musical entertainment provided by Scottish band Our Lunar Act

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14 March 2016

Showsec has secured the festival since it's inception in 2003, this year supplying over 600 trained and licensed staff. They ensured the safety and enjoyment of 75,000 rock fans through three nights of music from the leading rock acts, headlined including Faith No More, Slipknot and Def Leppard.

Showsec operations director Simon Battersbsy commented: "The new site brought new challenges, but was a better site for the crowd and for us to work on. Download attracts really keen music fans who like any festival want to move from stage to stage to enjoy the music. Our aim is to facilitate this with ease of movement and minimal stress. The new site engendered itself to this festival: it pro

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14 March 2016

The backdrops come in various sizes ranging from 10ft x 12ft right up to 40ft x 20ft. They have tie tapes and can also be suspended from our free standing pipe and base support system, offering lots of flexibility in hanging to suit every venue.

Themes include: Olympics, Underwater, Circus, Forest, Carnival, Nautical, Pirate, Motor Racing, Football, Tennis, the Jungle, Christmas/Winter Wonderland, 60's, 70's, 80's, plus topics such as Venice, Egypt, Paris, Rio and Africa.

Hawthorn's new battery powered LED up lighters are suitable for lighting the backdrops without the need for cables or power as they are self contained and last for up to 10 hours, offerin

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14 March 2016

Water Sculptures has been in collaboration again with celebrated choreographer Kim Gavin and renowned production manager Chris Vaughan, for Take That's Circus stadium tour.

For the band's Back for Good number, performed on the stadium's central satellite "B" stage, a 7m high screen of water appears from jets concealed within the stage floor, which shields the boys from their screaming fans. As they walk into and out of the water screen, the water disappears and re-appears as though by magic.

Six tonnes of water are stored in tanks under the stage, which during the three minute performance showers the nearby crowds. Although they ar

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14 March 2016

Sunbaba supplied over 800sq.m of digitally printed Ultramesh for AEGON International, which is a combined men's and women's tournament. Three panels were used to brand the main stadia consisting of one for each side and one for the rear, which was made up into one single section. The panels were secured by the edges being connected by heavy duty bungee cord to stretch the panel across the structure while seamless welded flaps hid the bungeed edges so that the tensioning system wasn't visible.

Sunbaba worked alongside rope access specialists Nawrocki Alpin for the install. Rope access allowed the team to carefully attach the brandin

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14 March 2016

Approximately 50 generators from Tower's own fleet and Aggreko provided power to all critical applications. All major performance areas had synchronised machines, resulting in interruption-free supplies for the likes of Orbital, the Prodigy, Placebo and many others.

Site lighting requirements included 8000m of festoon, approximately 100 floodlights and 30 towable tower lights all deployed by Tower's team of eight led by project manager by James Mitchelmore.

After nearly three weeks at Loch Ness the team is now off to power and light the Game Fair at Scone Palace, the Wickerman Festival near Kirkcudbright, the Countryside Festival at G

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14 March 2016

The ETCP Council understands that there is a certain amount of fear surrounding the exams because many candidates have not taken an exam in quite some time and/or may be unfamiliar with computer-based testing. The 50 question practice exams will provide candidates with a valuable tool for self assessment. There is no application process with the practice exams; so any interested candidate will be able to take the exam privately at home, at the office or on the road whenever it is most convenient for him or her.

"I speak with candidates every day who

Details

14 March 2016

The suspension beam system, which can travel along the inside flanges of two I-beams, or mounted to bespoke brackets which interface with an existing house system, allows two or more adjacent systems to pass by each other without obstruction. The Rig Beams can also be removed and repositioned onto other beams elsewhere within the venue using the telescopic option.

Anti-crab rollers, wheel guards, a fail-safe clamp system which locks the beams into position, support of multi-directional forces for rigging bridles, 3D

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14 March 2016

On August 8th in a field in Horam, East Sussex, Gary Moore will top the bill, supported by Mo Foster and local legend Ray Russell. There will also be a special guest appearance by Geno Washington of The Ram Jam Band fame and Chris Difford from Squeeze.

Vibes from the Vines '09 follows the first hugely successful festival in 2006, when organizers raised an impressive £32,000 for Cancer Research UK. This year, with a much bigger show and substantially improved production facilities organizers will be loo

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14 March 2016

The Compacta AG60 and MR30 models are now available with a double brake to meet the industry's stringent safety standards. These products are suitable for powering the movement of stage curtains, lighting and stage elements.

As its name suggests Compacta is appropriate where space is at a premium. Its smaller dimensions and the low weight are achieved by the use of a spur and worm gear transmission combined with performance-optimised motors.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

As often occurs, a chance conversation at a trade show in 1989 between Stuart Gibbons - Le Mark's MD and a Customer led to the invention of the now well travelled, reusable Flight Case or Road Case Label. "Correctly termed a PAL (Plastic Adhesive Laminate) Label, these ultra heavy duty customized 'stick and forget' items have become the label equivalent of a 'sticky work horse" quotes Stuart."Simple yes, underrated perhaps, however they are highly effective at getting specific Entertainment Industry items preped', packed, shipped and arriving on the right (or left) part of a stage," says the company.

"There are now very few Country's that we have not at some time built and shipped our case labels too.