STAGECO NEWS Winter 2020

WWE’s SAUDI GEM Stageco helps to bring a world class spectacle to Riyadh

WINTER 2020

Grönemeyer’s TUMULT Live Gibraltar Calling • Rolling Loud LA New Year Celebrations • MTV EMAs U2 in Australasia & Asia • Passion 2020 Soprano’s Phoenix • Lollapalooza Berlin Jeux Africiains Rabat • UAE National Day

STAGECO.COM

2

Making Dreams Real I’m very pleased to note the presence of two

In places like Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, we have

stories from the Middle East in this edition. With the

been seeing more and more high quality produc-

bulk of Stageco’s annual activity based around

tions that are on a par with some of the greatest.

the summer, it has always been a challenge to

find projects to fill the remaining months and so,

think big and the budgets are in place to make

because of its climate, the Middle East is perfect

those dreams real. Also, as this region continues

for us. But it’s not just about the weather.

to open its market to the rest of the world, we can

Creative people are being encouraged to

be sure of exciting times ahead.

As we begin a new decade, it is re-

warding to note that the live event business is gaining even more strength. Audience interest grows with each year and this is mirrored in Stageco’s turnover.

We are all very proud that 2019 was our

busiest year ever, thanks to the huge saturation of touring activity. The future looks extremely promising, so here’s to another exciting 12 months for all of us!

Hedwig De Meyer, Stageco President

WINTER 2020 CONTENTS

3 • AT EUROPE’S EDGE The Gibraltar Calling festival | 4 • COUNTING DOWN 2020 Celebrating the New Year in Brussels & Leuven | |

6 • ON A ROLL Insomniac’s Rolling Loud, L.A.-style

8 • LET THE GAMES BEGIN Morocco hosts the 12th African Games | 10 • HERBERT

GRÖNEMEYER The TUMULT tour takes to the open air | 10 • STAGECO ENTERS THE RING WWE’s Crown Jewel 2019 in Riyadh | 18 • AN EMIRATI CELEBRATION An immersive experience for UAE National Day |

Cover photograph © Groupe F

its final bow |

19 • THE JOSHUA TREE WRAPS IN INDIA U2 tour takes

20 • BACK TO BERLIN Lollapalooza’s fifth German edition | 22 • TAKING

SOPRANO TO NEW HEIGHTS The Phoenix tour | 25 • STEEL & DEVOTION Stageco US at Passion 2020 |

26 • FIESTA FLAVOUR AT MTV EMAs Live from Seville, Spain | 28 • BACK ISSUES GALLERY

WINTER 2020

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

3

AT EUROPE’S EDGE

ELEGANT Stageco was brought into the project by Neil McDonald who led the production in collaboration with Philip Winward of Electric Fly. The company supplied and built an elegantly curved Boogdak stage roof with PA/video wings, a FOH mix riser and delay towers.

To aid practical convenience, part of the steel stayed behind to be kept in storage in Seville for use on the MTV EMAs. “Gibraltar Calling is a very cool festival that we’ve been delighted to be involved with,” Dirk commented. “I hope we can extend our association in the future.”

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

gibraltarcalling.com

WINTER 2020

Photography © Lesley Posso

Organised by the Government of Gibraltar’s Ministry of Culture as part of the celebrations running up to its National Day in 2012, Gibraltar Calling was born as an annual festival that grows in status with every passing year.

While a star-studded bill – Take That, Andrea Bocelli, Liam Gallagher, Pete Doherty, Mel C and local acts – was curated by events agency Neon Angel for the 2019 edition, Stageco was proud to be chosen as the staging provider when the event was held on September 19th at Europa Point Leisure Complex, literally on the edge of the European continent.

The production logistics, however, proved to be somewhat of a “nightmare”, according to Stageco’s project manager Dirk De Decker.

He said: “Apart from having to deal with very high winds, the only way we could get to the site was by driving through the half-kilometre Dudley Ward Tunnel, which is just four metres high. This meant that the local police had to impose one-way traffic and we could only gain access at night.”

4 S TA G EC

O BELG

IU

M Photography © BME, Eric Danhier

COUNTING DOWN 2020 While the end of each year is a time for families and friends to get together and enjoy the festivities, it is business as usual for Stageco Belgium, whose teams are kept busy on a number of New Year events, such as the exciting annual firework extravaganza organised by the city of Brussels.

The celebrations that welcomed in 2020 – and, of course, a brand new decade – saw the event move from the area around the Anspachlaan to a new location at the foot of the famous Atomium building. It was here that Stageco installed eight scaffolding towers along the site to accommodate lighting and sound systems, its popular, transparent Pro-Arche 6 x 4 DJ stage roof, and a small FOH riser to complete the set-up.

WINTER 2020

An on-site team of 12, crew-chiefed by Martin ‘Tinus’ Beckers, completed the job in a single day.

MIDNIGHT FEVER Thirty-four kilometres east of the Atomium, Leuven’s Oude Markt square played host to 15,000 partygoers and an impressive bill of DJs who were raring to “ring out the old and ring in the new”.

This was Stageco’s eighth appearance at the now-traditional Countdown Leuven event and the company applied its tried and tested formula.

As the Oude Markt is long and quite narrow, the stage was conceived by lighting, set and production designer Thomas Boets

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

5

Counting down to the New Year, a video covering highlights of 2019 was shown on widescreen LED walls on both sides of the structure.

PLANNING Oude Markt is one of the city’s busiest areas and therefore any work requires extra advance planning of access permits and allocated time slots.

Having gained plenty of experience of working at this site many times, however, Stageco’s crew – such as the nine who worked under Sebastiaan Kotsch’s supervision on this latest occasion – have grown accustomed to the square’s intricacies, as well as knowing the best place to enjoy a well-earned beer at the end of the working day!

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Photography © BME, Eric Danhier; Vertommen

as a bridge-like structure across the market square, under which pedestrians and vehicles could move freely. It also meant that all lighting, video, sound and decorative scenery needed to be on both sides. The front and back are identical, and as this is effectively an ‘in-the-round’ set-up, it also minimises the distance from each visitor to the stage.

The stage was covered by the client with custom-made skins printed with branding from event sponsor Red Bull.

These skins were mounted on the inside of the scaffolding, keeping the steel components in clear view.

To be extra safe during the holiday season, the entire structure was engineered to withstand wind loads of up to 100km/h.

WINTER 2020

6

Stageco US extends its involvement with Insomniac’s successful hip hop festival

ON A ROLL S TA

G

Yet another successful brand for American electronic music event promoter Insomniac, Rolling Loud has become one of the hottest tickets in the world of hip hop since its first edition in 2015, with lineups featuring rap ‘royalty’ such as Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, Chance the Rapper (opposite, top), Future and A$AP Rocky.

Rolling Loud’s 2019 Los Angeles installment – at the Banc of California Stadium in Exposition Park on December 14th and 15th – followed events by the brand in Australia, Miami and the Bay Area, and whilst Stageco US was previously involved with the supply of secondary structures, including delay towers and video screen support), this marked EC

Photography © Stageco; Rolling Loud/Henry Hwu/Simon Chasalow/@ Snap_LL

O US

WINTER 2020

its first opportunity to be the vendor of the main High Hemp Stage.

To meet the festival’s main stage brief, Stageco also built its 3-Tower roof for the first time ever in the USA, shipping its parts over from Belgium. “Normally, we take three days to build this roof, but owing to a football game at the stadium on the 8th, our schedule was delayed by 24 hours,” explained project manager Tom Frederickx.

“For this reason, we sent a double crew, led by Farley Gross and Jesse Winn, to work on day one from 6am until 11pm instead of having our normal 10-hour day.”

COLLABORATION Packed in 13 trailers, Stageco’s equipment was also used to build the front of house

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

7

riser and four delay towers in the High Hemp Stage arena, while a further four towers for video screens and PA delays were provided for Stage 2. Throuhgout, Stageco worked in collaboration with production manager Brian Yablonski and stage producer Forrest Hunt.

The arrival of the 3-Tower roof for Rolling Loud LA is set to have a positive impact on

Stageco’s future US business, said Tom. “From now on, we will keep the roof on this side of the Atlantic, enabling us to gain a competitive edge in the smaller festival market.”

Since December, long-time Stageco client Insomniac has announced that 2020 will see Rolling Loud’s début in Europe this July.

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

rollingloud.com

WINTER 2020

8 S TA G EC

C

E Photography © Skymagic

O FRAN

LET THE GAMES BEGIN! WINTER 2020

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

9

Stageco France recreates iconic Hassan Tower as Morocco hosts The African Games

Photography © Jeux Africains Rabat; Stageco France; Skymagic

For the first time in its history, the African Games was hosted by the Moroccan capital of Rabat, just two years after the country’s readmission to the tournament. Launched on August 19th and lasting 12 days, the 12th edition of the Games benefitted from the technical input of Stageco France, whose experience and know-how was an integral part of an impressive opening ceremony, attended by HM King Mohammed VI of Morocco.

Promoting sustainability, the 2019 Games – Jeux Africains Rabat 2019 – began with the “lighting” of a virtual flame at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, to ensure no gas or fuel was burned unnecessarily.

Under the chairmanship of Prince Moulay Rachid, the opening ceremony show celebrated Morocco’s geography, art and culture.

As well as featuring a beautiful LED drone show

by Skymagic – the first ever application of drone technology officially permitted in Morocco – and musical performances by 650 artists, the ceremony included a recreation of Rabat’s Hassan Tower constructed in the middle of the arena, lit in a variety of styles and complemented by a number of video segments.

REPRODUCTION Stageco’s main responsibility was to help reproduce the Hassan Tower by building a 20m high structure from black steel, which was shipped to Rabat in two containers.

With two crew from each of its Belgian and French offices, Stageco completed the building work in three days, taking a single day for the tear down and employing a locally-sourced crane that worked well despite it being nearly 50 years old!

The ceremony was produced by Moroccan events specialist Richard Attias & Associates, while Thierry Nataf managed the project on behalf of Stageco France. jar2019.ma

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WINTER 2020

10 S TA

G EC

O DE U TS

C

HL

AND

GRÖNEMEYER Photography: Werner G. Lengenfelder

OUT IN THE OPEN Ever charismatic, Herbert Grönemeyer presented himself as a man for the people as he pleaded for a more open, humanitarian society on the open-air leg of his 2019 tour, TUMULT – the title of his 15th studio album, the latest chapter in a multi million-selling career that has spanned 40 years.

The tour played to a total of more than 470,000 fans at 32 concerts throughout Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland since the tour began last February.

For six outdoor summer shows, Stageco Deutschland fielded a 3-Tower roof with a 3m high, custom made header, and three WINTER 2020

catwalks that enabled the star to perform closer to his audiences. The extremely tight schedule between these shows demanded that Stageco travelled with four independent systems and respective crews, led by Andreas Deubach, Stefan Stadelmann, Torsten Friedrich and Torsten Nowald.

With R&D engineering support from Marcus Dittrich, Michael Herbst was Stageco’s project manager for the concert at the Steigerwaldstadion in Erfurt on August 30th, while Manfred Porschnitzer managed the shows in the other five cities of Flensburg, Hannover, Gelsenkirchen, Frankfurt and Dresden.

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

11

groenemeyer.de

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WINTER 2020

Photography © Werner G. Lengenfelder; Stefan Hoederath

HEART AND SOUL Every night, in a set lasting over two and a half hours, Grönemeyer poured his heart and soul into songs from his current album as well as many old hitsincluding ‘Mensch’, ‘Was Soll Das?’ and his first singles chart entry from 1984, ‘Männer’. Like his friend, U2’s Bono, he also used the platform of the concert stage to share his political messages of anti-extremism, gaining support from the masses who had come to cheer on the 63-year-old performer.

The TUMULT tour ended in Schladming on September 13th.

12

Photography © Groupe F

STAGECO ENTERS THE RING Taking place at the 70,000-capacity King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh on October 31st, Crown Jewel 2019 was the latest professional wrestling event produced

by World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with Stageco fulfilling its continued role as a key production partner.

WINTER 2020

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

13

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WINTER 2020

Photography © Groupe F

14

Notable for the inclusion of the country’s first-ever official female match amongst nine electrifying bouts, Crown Jewel 2019 was the second event in the WWE brand’s chronology and the fourth held under the company’s 10-year partnership in support of Saudi Vision 2030, the country’s social and economic reform programme.

All of these productions share a common team of leading professionals led by Jeremy Shand, a former senior member of Stageco’s staff, who is currently WWE’s Director of Television Production Management.

Jeremy oversees the production elements for Crown Jewel, Raw, Smackdown and other special WWE events that are staged in country, partnering with production designer Jason Robinson on each of them.

He explained: “Crown Jewel came to life at the beginning of 2018 when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia approached WWE about producing a show of a similar scale to Wrestlemania, WINTER 2020

which in America is the ‘Super Bowl’ of this particular sport and the climax of the year.

“From a structural perspective, Stageco is always the company I go to whenever possible because they set the standard and continue to strive for better. I worked for Stageco for 18 years, starting with The Rolling Stones’ Voodoo Lounge tour in 1994, and I’ve maintained a very close relationship with the Belgian and American offices ever since. Stageco has provided the structures at almost every show we have done here and helped us achieve high end quality.”

THE BUILD Each Crown Jewel event features two major construction elements from Stageco: the roof and the wrestlers’ entry stage. With a rigging capacity of 40 tonnes, the 26 square metre, 24.5m high ring roof is based upon Stageco’s Super Roof structure and is furnished with customised skins that were printed exclusively for

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

15

the Crown Jewel shows. Weighing 140 tonnes, the materials for the roof are packed in 10 40ft containers along with 10 tonnes of equipment required to build two FOH risers and other smaller site structures.

Loaded into 19 additional 40ft containers, totalling 280 tonnes, the 30m long ramped entry stage consists of 14 single 14.8m high 750 steel towers to create the video wing structure and a large central grid structure built from double 750 towers a buttress with its highest point reaching 29.6m. This central grid is used to hang the event’s iconic LED crown.

Jason Robinson’s design for Crown Jewel is essentially an in-the-round format but with specific entry points. “We’re not fully 360° but we do our best to sell as far round as possible,” said Jeremy.

“The centre structure that Stageco builds is very typical of what we do. It’s another incarnation of what we create every year for Wrestlemania and Royal Rumble in the States and the

four-poster frame around the 2.4m high stage is the basis of what we start with.”

During the build-up at the stadium, touring legend Charlie Hernandez spent almost a month working as site co-ordinator, preparing the venue with local crew, organising the shipping of containers and liaising with Sound Moves on the air freight.

Stageco’s Stefaan Vandenbosch then led a team of 30 on a six-day steel build in temperatures of up to 40°C before production loaded in over a full week. “It’s a long process,” Jeremy stated, “and it continues for another four days after the show until we are finally out of the stadium.”

Working alongside a number of other world class vendors, Stageco’s contributions extended beyond the stage, roof and stage entrance to include the provision and build of video screen support, the FOH risers, spotlight platforms and any other ancillary scaffolding that is required on site.

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WINTER 2020

Photography © Groupe F

16

CONTRIBUTING TO GROWTH When Jeremy joined WWE five years ago, his team were producing one stadium event a year. Last year, that figure grew to five.

“We went in with the first show in 2018 and it was one of the first large-scale outdoor Western events to come into the country. When WWE began supporting Saudi Vision 2030, they also brought in Formula One racing which has raised the game even further. These are interesting times and I’m very pleased to note that Stageco has been a very important contributor throughout this growth.”

Roel Voeten, who manages the Crown Jewel projects for Stageco from its Belgian head office, commented: “We are very happy to count WWE as a valued client. Our US office already has a long and fruitful relationship with WWE

WINTER 2020

for its American projects, and we thank Jeremy Shand, Jason Robinson and Charlie Hernandez for the great co-operation and trust they have in Stageco.” wwe.com

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

13

IF YOU CAN IMAGINE IT, WE CAN BUILD IT.

Concert stages in all sizes.

Temporary structures for every event.

WORLD RENOWNED INNOVATIONS FOR TOURS, FESTIVALS AND SPECIAL EVENTS SINCE 1985.

Stageco Belgium N.V. Kapelleweg 6, 3150 Tildonk Tel : +32 16 60 84 71 | Fax: +32 16 60 10 61 info@stageco.com

W W W. S T A G E C O . C O M BELGIUM

GERMANY

NETHERLANDS

FRANCE

AUSTRIA

U N I T E D S TAT E S

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WINTER 2020

18

Photography © Stageco; uaenationalday.ae

AN EMIRATI CELEBRATION Legacy Of Our Ancestors was the title given to a spectacular theatrical production that highlighted the long-held values of the United Arab Emirates when the country celebrated its 48th National Day at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Sports City Stadium on December 2nd.

Created and delivered by Betty Productions with Catherine Ugwu as artistic director and executive producer, the multimedia event showcased stories from the UAE’s history using immersive audio and visual effects alongside live performances and a special soundtrack created by international composers.

Sub-contracted by WIcreations, Stageco was heavily involved in the production, with Dirk De Decker leading the project and Patrick Martens heading the crew that built crucial support

WINTER 2020

elements for a series of 22 12m high LED video screens that rotated 60°. The lower four metres of the overall structure contained steel towers connected with frames designed to support Wicreations’ screen automation.

STABILITY It was the second edition of the event to feature Stageco’s work. The previous occasion saw the company contribute to a magical Cirque Du Soleil performance. “This time around, we provided global stability engineering for the rotating video support structure including calculations for ballast,” said Dirk. “I’m glad to report another very successful collaboration between Wicreations and ourselves.” uaenationalday.ae

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

19

THE JOSHUA TREE WRAPS IN INDIA One of U2’s most successful tours plays its final leg.

He said: “In Australia, the steel was shared with Metallica, whose WorldWired tour was due to precede The Joshua Tree but unfortunately had to be cancelled. We had to send a couple of crew over to unload Metallica’s containers for U2 and some of the white steel had to be painted black for U2.

“The itinerary worked out very well from a logistics perspective. We had two systems servicing Australia; our Auckland system transferred to Seoul, and we had individual set-ups for Singapore and Mumbai.”

After playing 66 shows to a total of 3,280,000 fans, The Joshua Tree has finally been laid to rest. “There will be no return after Mumbai,” Dirk insisted. “We were asked to scrap all of the specialised equipment designed for the production and that’s as final as you can get.

What it does mean, of course, is that there is another chapter to look forward to and, with U2 and [show designer] Willie Williams, you never know what to expect but it’s always hugely fulfilling.”

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

U2.com

WINTER 2020

Photography © Dara Munnis

The latest chapter of Stageco’s long and innovative touring relationship with rock legends U2 came to an emotional climax on December 15th when the band played the final date of The Joshua Tree tour at Mumbai’s DY Patil Sports Stadium.

Visiting Australasia and Asia for 15 shows in November and December, the fifth leg of the tour marked the band’s first ever concerts in South Korea, Singapore, the Philippines and India, with their classic 1987 album performed in its entirety every night.

With the exception of painting the iconic 200ft wide LED video screen gold, this revival of the 2017 production, featuring Stageco’s cantilever system for the PA, remained identical (see our Summer 2017 edition for full details).

Sound Moves was contracted to ship five full steel systems in a total of 105 sea containers from Stageco’s Belgium headquarters to the relevant territories, with one system arriving in Auckland ahead of the first date on November 8th.

Project manager Dirk De Decker was once again pleased to be working with U2’s production director Jake Berry, as well as briefing crew chiefs Johan ‘Bellekes’ Van Espen, Patrick Martens, Hendrik Verdeyen and Stefaan Van Den Bossche.

20 S TA

G EC

O DE U TS

C

HL

AND

BACK TO BERLIN

Photography © Stageco/Mike Auerbach

Stageco is a hit at Lollapalooza’s fifth German edition...

The great American festival brand that is Lollapalooza continues to gain favour amongst German audiences and five years in, after editions in a variety of Berlin venues, it settled at the Olympiastadion for its second year, where around 85,000 fans attended each day in 2019 to see a broad sweep of acts including Kings Of Leon, Billie Elilsh, Swedish House Mafia, Twenty One Pilots, Khalid, Hozier and Rita Ora. Six official stages gave attendees a diverse range of activity to choose from, each of them supplied and built by Stageco Deutschland. While artists on Main Stage South and Main Stage North performed under a 4-Tower roof and a 3-Tower roof, respectively, Perry’s Stage featured a Boogdak roof, a 25 x 10 roof covered the Alternative Stage, and 8 x WINTER 2020

6 Prolyte structures were the foundations of the smaller Kidspalooza and Fashionpalooza stages.

Using 39 trailer loads of Stageco equipment, crew chiefs Frank Boehme, Markus Olma and Hendrik Foerster managed a workforce of approximately 100 to erect the

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

21

stages within a five day period ahead of the show days on September 7th and 8th, dismantling them over the following two days. From a logistical perspective, the main challenge was to overcome the practical difficulties of having to empty and load the trucks that were scattered in five different areas.

Lollapalooza Berlin 2019 was project managed for Stageco Deutschland by Michael Herbst with R&D engineering from Kai Eppinger. In 2020, the festival will once again take place in the second weekend of September. lollapaloozade.com

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WINTER 2020

22 S TA G EC

O FRAN

C

E

TAKING SOPRANO TO NEW HEIGHTS ment, logistics and expertise”, Stageco’s involvement in three of Soprano’s concerts was a fine showcase of the company’s skills.

For the September 21st performance at the 32,000-capacity La Défense Arena (below) in suburban Paris, Stageco France provided a rolling stage and crash barriers, however, when the production moved to Marseille’s Orange Vélodrome for two consecutive sold-out shows on October 11th-

Photography © Stageco France

After having sold 800,000 copies of his album L’Everest and more than 700,000 concert tickets for what was the biggest French tour of 2017, singer and rap artist Soprano returned in triumphant form in September as Stageco France made a major contribution to his Phoenix tour.

Described by project manager Thierry Nataf as “a perfect collaboration between our Belgian and French offices in terms of equip-

WINTER 2020

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

23

12th, the company built all of the steel structures, including the stage roof, PA wings, front of house and delay towers.

Stageco’s rolling stage was based on a new system that comprises tripods on wheels, designed to make the act of rolling into place much easier, with each tripod able to withstand two tonnes of weight loading.

Soprano’s production team from Decibel requested that Stageco build the podium in the middle of the arena, allowing the stage rigger to hang the motors simultaneously.

In two days, Stageco completed the build with four of its own crew, 14 locals and three forklifts, transporting everything including the crash barriers in three trucks, and finally leaving the venue after the load-out at 4am.

MARSEILLE-BOUND Later, eight trucks from Stageco’s Belgian HQ in Tildonk and another five from the French office in L’Islesur-la-Sorgue headed to the Orange Vélodrome in Marseille. Ready and STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WINTER 2020

24

for which Stageco built all the the internal machinery.

When the fans left the venue after the second show, the race was on to begin dismantling the stage set and ensure that the stadium pitch was completely empty in time for the grass to be prepared for the start of resident club Olympique de Marseille’s 2019/2020 football season.

Thierry Nataf said: “Our client was very appreciative of our work and we are already in discussions about Soprano’s next live project.” soprano-lesite.fr

Photography © Stageco France

waiting to start the build was a team of seven from Belgium led by Antonio Duarte Da Cruz and a five-person French crew that had previously been dedicated to the rolling podium in Paris.

Assisted by 30 local crew and armed with four forklifts and a crane, the combined workforce built the structures with around 200 tonnes of equipment over three sunny autumn days in time for production load-in on October 9th.

Soprano’s ‘big reveal’ at the start of the show involved him arriving on stage in a specially-designed video cube,

WINTER 2020

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

25 S TA G EC

O US

STEEL & DEVOTION A new client for Stageco US, the Christian conference Passion spanned three days – from December 31st to January 2nd – at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, providing a unique worship opportunity for 18-25 year olds.

Founded by Louie Giglio, Passion has a history that dates back to its first events in the mid-1980s and for Stageco’s début, project manager Tom Frederickx organised for the company to provide the main 60m wide, 38m high stage and a pair of delay towers.

Tom, who liaised with production manager Ian Cattle, said: “The challenge here was to build a stage within 28 hours – one that was comparable to the stage used by Taylor Swift for her 2018 tour! We therefore pre-prepared the head blocks and outriggers, and loaded them in ‘finished’ form on to our 16 trailers to gain time when we arrived on site. To give

ourselves an extra advantage, we had two groups of 14 crew members fly in to work around the clock, with Jesse Winn, James Ramacus and Farley Gross heading the crew.”

The job began at 4am on December 29th and with careful planning, it was completed by the following morning’s deadline of 8am.

Passion opened at 5pm on New Year’s Day and load out commenced at 3pm on January 2nd. The stadium was finally cleared by 6pm the next day.

“We started working on this project in August and it was a long process,” commented Tom. “There was no previous relationship with the client and so we had to get to know each other as we progressed through the pre-production phase. In the end, everything worked out really well for both parties and I was proud of what we achieved for Passion.” passionconferences.com Photography © Passion Conferences

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WINTER 2020

26

Photography © Dave Hogan; Viacom

FIESTA FLAVOUR AT MTV EMAs Seville’s famous fiestas provided the inspiration for the visual language at 2019’s MTV European Music Awards (EMAs), held at the city’s FIBES Conference & Exhibition Centre on November 3rd, with Stageco helping to meet the challenge of transforming an empty venue into a party zone for 11,000 fans and a global television audience.

Hosted in Spain for the fourth time in the event’s 26-year history, the latest EMA spectacle was notable for victories by Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, BTS, Muse, Liam Gallagher and Little

WINTER 2020

Mix, and a set designed by Julio Himede of Yellow Studio that featured 1,064 integrated video floor tiles, a main screen comprising 6,800,000 pixels and automated stages.

Stageco’s project manager on the EMAs, Dirk De Decker spoke of the challenges associated with the venue’s low ceiling height. “It had no rigging capacity at all so the only way forward was for us to build a ground support grid of around 30m x 70m to accommodate up to 70 tonnes of production.

“Compared to previous shows, this was particularly

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

27

a task, especially when getting everything loaded out by the curfew. We worked closely with Nussli, the seating vendor, on co-ordinating the logistics of the infrastructure build.”

PERFORMERS Accompanied by dozens of female dancers, Dua Lipa (opposite) opened the show and was followed by Halsey, Rosalía, Niall Horan, Mabel, Ava Max, Green Day and Becky G (above), who was also the Master of Ceremonies. Boy band NCT 127 became the first K-Pop act to perform at the MTV EMAs. Former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher received the specially created Rock Icon Award.

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

mtvema.com

WINTER 2020

Photography © Stageco; Jeff Spicer; Viacom

low for the EMAs, but we have had a great deal of experience with building grids of this nature to overcome such height restrictions.”

BLANK CANVAS Working with event production manager Maggie Mouzakitis, Antonio Duarte Da Cruz headed Stageco’s 10-person workforce over the fortnight spent on-site where they built the stage, platforms for the awards and for working, the FOH control riser and the “glamour pit” occupied by award nominees, using equipment brought in on 20 trucks.

“The venue was a blank canvas, which meant that all the grandstands and seating had to be built from scratch, so it was quite

28

Discover the stories behind some of today’s greatest live event productions.

Catch up with our back issue library at stageco.com/newsletters or at issuu.com/stagecogroup

WINTER 2020

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

29

RAMMSTEIN! Turning up the heat across Europe

SUMMER 2019

Bon Jovi In The House Wembley & The Wow Factor Tomorrowland | Marco Borsato P!nk | Muse’s Simulation Theory Mylène Farmer | Cirque du Soleil Take That’s 3D Odyssey | Wacken At 30 Swedish House Mafia | Metallica’s Return Lollapalooza Stockholm... and much more

STAGECO.COM

STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WINTER 2020

Tildonk Tildonk

Stageco Belgium NV Kapelleweg 6 3150 Tildonk Tel: +32 16 60 84 71 Fax: +32 16 60 10 61 info@stageco.com

Stageco Deutschland GmbH Schäfflerstrasse 13 86343 Königsbrunn Tel: +49 821 440 22 0 Fax: +49 821 440 22 22 info.deutschland@stageco.com

Stageco Austria Gemeindeberggasse 45 A-1130 Wien Tel: +43 1 48 11 513 Fax: +43 1 48 11 513 20 info.austria@stageco.com

Stageco U.S. Inc 8755 Vollmer Road Colorado Springs CO 80908 Tel: +1 719 495 9497 Fax: +1 719 495 9098 info.us@stageco.com

Stageco France 158 Le Petit Palais 84800 L’Isle sur Sorgue Tel: +33 4 90 20 90 90 Fax: +33 4 90 20 90 31 info.france@stageco.com

Stageco Deutschland GmbH Herzbergstrasse 120 10365 Berlin Tel: +49 30 54 98 72 40 Fax: +49 30 54 98 72 44 info.berlin@stageco.com

Stageco Nederland b.v Aalsvoort 14 7241 MA Lochem Tel: +31 573 25 63 02 Fax: +31 573 25 60 62 info.nederland@stageco.com

Stageco U.S. Inc Manheim 181 E. Stiegel St. Manheim, PA 17545 Tel: +1 866 782 4326 info.us@stageco.com

WWW.STAGECO.COM