ISSUE 021 | Summer 2015

INTERNATIONAL
NEWS
A WHOLE LOTTA STEEL!
AC/DC Return With Rock Or Bust
Electric Daisy Carnival
American Adventures
with Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift,
Rolling Stones & more
Udo Lindenberg
Mission: Impossible Premiére
SUMMER 2015
Guus Meeuwis
Festival Action
in Budapest, Eindhoven, Houston,
Arras, Weston-Super-Mare & Ibiza
Working With Shimizu Octo
W W W. S TAG E C O. C O M
2
Home
And Away
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
IN THIS ISSUE
SUMMER 2015
3 • MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED
4 • ON THE ROAD, OPEN AIR
A Dutch Triple
6 • AC/DC... WE SALUTE YOU!
9 • MAIN SQUARE FESTIVAL
10 • AMERICAN ADVENTURES
with Tom Frederickx
14 • BUILDING THE
FOUNDATION FOR EDC UK
17 • ON AN ISLAND: SZIGET
18 • FLASHBACK: GENESIS 2007
20 • UDO LINDENBERG
21 • BRUSSELS SUMMER FESTIVAL
22 • EASTERN PROMISE
24 • EVOLUTION IN 11 STAGES
A lot of people in live production will agree that summer is
absolutely the wrong time of the year to take a holiday. It is
always the busiest period for Stageco and we particularly
like the fact that traffic jams in Belgium become relatively
scarce. I normally wait until the winter months to take a
proper break, by which time I really need it!
Summer may be coming to an end but if you saw our
project diary, you might doubt it. Some of our major outdoor tours, like One Direction and AC/DC, are continuing
in America way into September, with the latter going off
to Australasia towards the end of the year, and the whole
dance scene in the States carries on and keeps us very active. The fashion world is about to wake up again with shows
in Paris that will involve our staging systems and crews.
Elsewhere, it is business as usual. Our German office has
enjoyed a lively season and they have a series of jobs coming up in the corporate world. Traditionally, the corporates
slow down for the summer but pick up again from September onwards with a number of sophisticated events that we
always look forward to servicing.
September is usually a busy month for the local Belgian
event market with small festivals in Brussels, while we are also
getting ready to work on several indoor shows in Ghent and
Antwerp at venues like the Sportpaleis.
As autumn gets underway and the office starts to relax
with some members of staff going away on leave, we take
the opportunity to bring our admin up to date, and when
the equipment returns home we will begin a maintenance
program. There’s always something going on here.
The exhibition season is also on the horizon and I hope to
meet some of you at the PLASA Show, where I’m delighted
to have been invited to deliver the keynote address at the
Rigging Conference on October 5th. Tot binnenkort!
Hedwig De Meyer, Stageco President
SUMMER 2015
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS
S TA G E C
O
Mission: Accomplished
D E U TS C
HL
AND
standard Stageco materials, this job also called for special
components, mainly for handrails, columns and façade elements.
This project posed a special challenge in that the lead time
for planning was a very short three weeks, and space in front
of the Opera was extremely tight – Vienna’s Ringstrasse had
to be temporarily closed.
Live Nation UK, the client, was reportedly delighted with
the outcome of an event that proved to be a resounding success.
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS Photography © Malcolm Birkett
Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is the fifth installment of the American
spy movie series and so far it has grossed more than $2 billion
at box offices worldwide.
Principal filming began during August 2014 in Vienna
where, Tom Cruise’s lead character Ethan Hunt was spotted
in scenes on the roof of the city’s State Opera House.
Adding context to the proceedings, it was Cruise’s wish for
the world premiere of the film to be held in Vienna and the
‘red carpet date’ was set for July 23rd 2015, with Stageco’s
German office hired as one
of the key production contractors alongside Chromatic
Productions, PRG, Faber
Audiovisuals, AEP, AKB and
Zeros.
The ground-level red
carpet in front of the Opera
House ended in a circular
interview platform, and the
stars approached it via two
staircases descending from
a 60 metre long, six metre
high platform that included a
cantilever section measuring
around 20 metres. Besides the
3
SUMMER 2015
AND
SUMMER 2015
Photography courtesy of Stageco Nederland
from the Netherlands.
The biggest highlight of the year for
Meeuwis, however, came at the Philips
Stadion in Eindhoven when his ‘summer
carnival’ show, Groots Met Een Zachte
G (Groots With A Soft G), played its 10th
consecutive season over five nights in
June.
Stageco Nederland has been involved in all of Meeuwis’ stadium shows
since 2006 when the company supplied six trucks of equipment. The star’s
production values have since grown to
the extent where, in 2015, Stageco NL
provided 16 trucks to fulfil the requirements of the set designer and technical
producer.
Arjan Bettink headed the Stageco
crew in Eindhoven, where much of their
work was focused on constructing the
roof (‘recycled’ from previous Johnny
Hallyday tours) and a centre structure
based on Stageco’s 1036 Super Towers with 1800 trusses, as well as a large
amount of Layher scaffolding for the
stage wings. Out in the field, the crew
also built a pair of black steel followspot/delay towers.
On June 20th, the last night of Meeu-
wis’ five-night
run at the
stadium,
Dutch TV
channel RTL4
broadcast
the artist’s
entire concert live to an estimated 1.2
million viewers. Meanwhile, tickets for
Meeuwis’ return to the Philips Stadion in
2016 are being snapped up fast. Here’s
to another successful 20 years!
THE MUMFORDS RETURN
Just eight days after performing underneath a Stageco roof this summer at
Rock Werchter, English modern folk-rock
giants Mumford & Sons played to an
open-air audience of over 40,000 at
Goffertpark in Nijmegen as part of the
band’s latest Gentlemen Of The Road
tour.
The Mumfords’ current live activity
follows the release of Wilder Mind, their
third studio album, which was recorded
after a five-month break and débuted
at number one in the UK chart, becoming the second fastest-selling album of
the year to date.
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS
O NEDE
Guus Meeuwis at
Philips Stadion in
Eindhoven.
Business during the first half of the
summer has been very good in the
Netherlands, according to Stageco
Nederland director Eddie Slotboom.
And it is partly due to the activities of
one of the biggest names on the Dutch
music scene, Guus Meeuwis – a regular
hitmaker since he first made headlines
20 years ago with his chart-topping
band Vagant. Since 2001, Meeuwis has
been working as a solo artist and his live
shows have consistently earned notoriety as major spectacles.
Celebrating his 20th anniversary in
the music business this year, Meeuwis
set about making it extra special with
a number of initiatives. The year began
with the opening of his own pop-up
restaurant, Gustaaf (his real name), in
an old Tilburg factory with Michelin chef
Dick Middelweerd in the kitchen.
In May, 43-year-old Meeuwis fulfilled
his lifelong dream to perform at London’s Royal Albert Hall, to an enthusiastic crowd of more than 5,000. Tickets
to the concert sold out extremely
quickly, and demand was so high that
an additional flight from Eindhoven was
arranged especially for fans travelling
E
C
On The Road, Open Air
STA G
RL
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5
Mumford & Sons’
in Nijmegen.
For the July 4th show at Goffertpark – at the request of promoter Mojo
Concerts’ production manager Thijs
van Dalen – a Stageco NL crew led by
Gerard Bahrt built a 4-tower roof along
with copious scaffolding, entrances,
lighting and set towers, amounting to 14
truckloads of equipment.
Presented in association with Dutch
broadcaster 3FM, the Mumford & Sons
featured support from Eaves, The Vaccines and Bear’s Den.
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS Photography courtesy of Stageco Nederland
SUN, SEA, SAND & SOUNDS
This summer has marked Stageco Nederland’s continued involvement with
Corona SunSets (right), the famous beer
brand’s music festival tour of beach
resorts, featuring varied line-ups of live
bands and DJs, and presenting a set
design by Amsterdam-based Nachtlab.
Stageco NL arrived at each venue
with two trucks of equipment to build
a roofless scaffolding structure for the
main stage – the first show being on July
11th along Marine Parade in Weston-Super-Mare, UK, where Clean Bandit
(with Jess Glynne) and Groove Armada
shared the bill with acts including Rob Da
Bank and Eton Messy.
With Stageco supplying virtually identical equipment, Corona SunSets moved
to Porto Di Rimini in Italy on July 25th, with
Steve Angello and Robin Schulz heading
up the main stage bill. The European
leg of the tour wrapped on August 13th
as Duke Dumont, Pete Tong, Claptone
and other big names appeared on the
Sunset main stage at Benimussa Park,
San Antonio in the dance capital of the
world, Ibiza.
Corona SunSets’ technical production
was driven by Backbone International,
and Stageco’s crew chief was Jelle Hassink.
Eddie Slotboom summarised: “Corona
SunSets was launched in 2014 and has
also appeared in Mexico, with future
plans to play in China and Australia.
It became an immediate hit with the
audiences last year, so it was great to be
asked back.
“I am sure that our experience of
working on so many international festivals has helped to make these events
relaxed and enjoyable for the Corona
team.
“It’s been another great summer all
round for us, although it is far from over
yet with the Lowlands, Mysteryland,
Burning Man and Q Base festivals in late
August and September, and the celebrations of the 200-year anniversary of
the Koninkrijk.”
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An explosive AC/DC at
Wembley Stadium
on July 4th 2015.
Photography: Morten Flavio
AC/DC... We Salute You!
With their iconic exploding cannons and a giant inflatable
woman named Rosie, AC/DC are back on their latest stadium
tour – Rock Or Bust – to reinforce their enduring success as
one of rock’s most instantly recognisable riff machines.
After headlining the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
in California in April, the band began their 28-date European
leg at Arnhem GelreDome in the Netherlands on May 5th,
notably calling at Wembley Stadium on July 4th for a show
that was hailed by The Guardian as “rock’n’roll reduced to its
purest essence”.
Performing under a Stageco arched roof, topped with
a pair of devilish horns, the band – 60 year old ‘schoolboy’
guitar hero Angus Young, singer Brian Johnson and bassist
Cliff Williams, with returning drummer Chris Slade and rhythm
guitarist Stevie Young taking his retired uncle Malcolm’s place
– delivered a non-stop rollercoaster of monster anthems that
have been the backbone of heavy rock for 40 years.
Their Rock Or Bust stage is based on the curved roof technology that Stageco introduced as the Giant Arch for Pink
Floyd’s The Division Bell tour in 1994, a copy of which is being
deployed this summer in Andorra for Cirque du Soleil’s show
Scalada: Storia. AC/DC’s model is a smaller variation of this
arched roof and is similar to that developed for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. It measures 66.3 metres wide;
the central arch is 16 metres high with a width of 23 metres.
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Taking care of the tour on behalf of Stageco is project
manager Bert Kustermans and main R&D engineer Dirk Van
De Goor who collaborated with technical consultant Jeremy
Lloyd of Wonder Works. The three have worked closely with
Dale ‘Opie’ Skjerseth, the innovative production manager
who has played a pivotal role in Stageco’s history.
At Wembley, Opie explained that Stageco’s contributions
to the tour come under three main categories: quality, service
and staff. He said: “As always, they bring everything to the
table from when there’s a presentation of the design to them,
to figuring out how it’s going to work and what it’s going to
take. They come to all the meetings and organise the engineering to the point of making it happen in such a way that
you’re not having to fight your way through the day.
“Right off the bat, we all saw that their solutions would
make it easy to take this around the world. Stageco go in,
build the framework, then we come in with production and in
eight hours we can have the show completely ready.”
Working to a design by Ray Winkler of Stufish, Stageco and
set fabricator Tait have pooled their individual expertise to
create a set that truly embodies the heart and soul of AC/DC.
Jeremy Lloyd commented: “While it would be simple to
explain that Stageco have provided the steel structures and
Tait have focused on the ‘rusted’ corrugated cladding that
fixes to the Stageco roof, and the two horns, the partnership
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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has been more in depth. For Tait’s rolling
B-stage runway, Stageco builds a subdeck underneath to ensure its foundations are level. That’s absolutely key to
the moments in the show when Angus
Young runs out nearer to the crowd for
his famous cameo moments.”
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS Photography & drawings: Stageco
STEEL AND LABOUR
The relationship between AC/DC and
Stageco began in 1991 with the Razors
Edge tour, under Jake Berry’s production
leadership. Since then, the Belgian company has been responsible for all of its
large-scale staging and, for the Rock Or
Bust tour, Stageco is leapfrogging three
steel systems with crews headed by Stefaan Vandenbosch, Hendrik Verdeyen
and Johan ‘Bellekes’ Van Espen.
Verdeyen, the crew chief at Wembley
Stadium, explained: “Each system travels
on 14 trucks with a crew of 12, and they
include a carpenter, two scaffolders,
climbers and so on. The stage structure
includes the nine metre wide PA/video
wings and Tait’s horns, and requires a
three-day build using two cranes and
eight forklifts, working from 8am to 7pm
with 24 local crew [Showstars at Wembley] assisting our own guys. It’s a welloiled machine.
“At this moment, one steel system is
travelling from our last show at the Aviva
Stadium in Dublin to Imola in Italy, and
another is setting up at the Festivalpark
Stenehei in Dessel, Belgium. Another
two trucks are reserved for four delay/
spot towers and a front-of-house control
riser that are set up at each venue by a
separate two-man crew.
“It’s not one of our most complex
builds but you approach each venue
in a slightly different way, according to
its specific attributes. The main thing is
to finish the arch and once that is done,
you can work on the rest of the detail. It’s
also by far not the biggest performance
area we’ve ever built but it has a very
powerful appearance and because the
band members are closer together, it
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gives you the impression that you’re in a more intimate venue
– that’s normally quite difficult to achieve in a stadium!”
Jeremy Lloyd admits that he has worked with Stageco on
more projects than he can remember – The Rolling Stones,
Roger Waters, U2, Genesis, Robbie Williams and, of course,
AC/DC being among them. Many occurred during his fouryear tenure as senior designer at Stufish. Since early 2014, he
has partnered with Piers Shepperd at technical production
company Wonder Works.
Said Lloyd: “We have that shared experience of doing
so many jobs together, it makes everything go much more
smoothly. We understand how Stageco do their CAD and
their engineering, and how their equipment works, but over
that time we’ve also built up some very solid relationships
which obviously makes for a pleasant working environment,
and the results speak for themselves.”
Photography: Mark Cunningham
INCLINE
In physical load-in terms, none of the venues posed a problem to date, however, AC/DC’s show at Hockenheimring in
Germany on May 16th was notable for other reasons. “There’s
a fairly relatively steep incline from FOH up to the stage at
Hockenheim – about two metres difference,” said Opie. “Angus must have felt like he was on the end of a cliff when he
was on the B-stage.
“Many of us are very familiar with Hockenheim and it was
one of the big topics of our planning discussions so we had
our solutions in place well before we arrived. For different reasons, Italy can be more of a challenge because their venues’
rules and regulations are very strict, but everybody has been
on top of it.”
Opie stressed how important AC/DC’s presentation is to the
band members. “This is presentation with a capital ‘P’,” he
said. “AC/DC have a seriously loyal following who know exactly what they want to see, and so the band remain heavily
involved in – and very particularly about – the production.
“Everyone loves the familiarity of the band’s visual trademarks and so we have the bell and the cannons, and a new
version of our inflatable Rosie, not forgetting the iconic wall of
Marshalls. It’s a look that has expanded in size since the last
tour and the guys love it.
The Marshall amplifiers are real, stressed Opie, although
they’re not all turned on. “Of the 35 stacks, 24 are live, and
obviously we carry a lot of spares!”
The current Rock Or Bust itinerary runs until December 15th
when the band finish their Australasian leg at Western Springs
Stadium in Auckland. However, plans are in motion to extend
the tour into 2016, said Opie. “It’s all being worked on and by
the end of the European leg we should have the rest of the
dates put together.”
Above, L-R: Production manager Dale ‘Opie’ Skjerseth, technical consultant Jeremy Lloyd
and Stageco’s Ben Hommers, Mark Van Dyck, Hendrik Verdeyen, Wim Carens & Benny Sterckx.
SUMMER 2015
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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The Main Event
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O FRA
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CE
folding wall between the two
stages that was cladded with
special acoustic skins to minimise
environmental noise.
The project manager for Stageco was Tom Bilsen (the divisional
director of Stageco France) while
the company’s lead R&D contact
was Luc Dardenne.
RELAXED
In a twist of fate, Foo Fighter
Dave Grohl’s leg injury in June
made for a slightly more relaxed
load-in at Main Square. Part of
the equipment was scheduled to
be shipped in immediately after
a Foos show in Edinburgh. Once
the show was cancelled due
to Grohl’s on-stage accident in
Gothenburg, Stageco suddenly
had plenty of time to ship the
gear to Arras.
After rearranging their touring
plans, Foo Fighters will be returning to the UK in early September
for shows at Milton Keynes National Bowl and Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium.
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS Photography: Stageco
Since 2006, Stageco has been
a key supplier to the annual
Main Square Festival, which
takes place ever first weekend
of July in the striking historical
site of Citadelle Vauban in Arras,
France, just across the border
from Belgium.
The three-day event was created two years earlier by France
Leduc Productions and currently
attracts around 40,000 visitors per
day. This year, with the promise
of Muse, Lenny Kravitz, Pharrell
Williams, George Ezra, James Bay,
Kodaline, Rival Sons, The Script
and Hozier, Main Square sold out
for the first time in its history.
Commissioned by promoter
Live Nation France, a Stageco
crew of 11, supervised by Patrik
Vonckx, built a Boogdak XL roof
for the main stage and a 3-tower
roof for the ‘Green Room’ second
stage. Stageco also constructed
several other structures around
the site – delay and PA towers,
small platforms and entrance
gates, etc. – along with a scaf-
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S TA
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Kenny Chesney
on his Big Revival tour.
ST
AG
American Adventures
EC O U
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Photography: Robb Cohen & Stageco US
Stageco US project manager Tom Frederickx talks about the
wide range of activities that have dominated this summer.
Time really flies. It’s really hard to believe that nearly two and
a half years have passed since I came over from Belgium
to join Stageco’s Colorado Springs office, having already
worked for the company as a structural engineer since 2000.
Obviously, the sheer size of the country makes doing business
much more of a challenge compared to Europe. If you are
sending equipment out on a job that has a tight deadline, like
most of our jobs, it needs to be right because the distances
involved do not allow for mistakes. It’s the kind of realisation
that nurtures tough self-discipline.
Most of us connected with the company know the back
story. Stageco US was incorporated in June 1992 after a series
of events and mutual contacts brought Hedwig De Meyer
and our vice-president Mary Lou Figley together. Some things
haven’t changed too much; other aspects of the business
have altered beyond recognition.
Mary Lou, myself and the rest of our team have a lot of
complementary experience and skills that slot together like
jigsaw pieces. That team also includes project managers
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Casey Ross and recent recruit Jonathan Hawkins, draftsmen
Nick Rivas and Patrick Herron, Beth Benson who looks after
crew logistics and travel, equipment manager Keith Ray and
our accountant Veronica Dix.
On an average day in the office, while Mary Lou [who also
works as a project manager] handles most of the client communications because of her close relationships with so many
of them, I will focus on more of the technical aspects of the
projects.
So far, in our busiest period of 2015, we have simultaneously
had eight European crews working here in America. It began
to ease off a little in early August but from the third week
everything was very busy once again with some more dance
festivals [Nocturnal Wonderland’s 20th anniversary event and
Beyond Wonderland], Made In America in Philadelphia and
Global Citizen Festival in New York’s Central Park, which will
then take us through to the end of September.
Our summer season started very early this year, thanks to
Kenny Chesney, whose tour began for us at the end of April,
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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Top row: Bird’s eye views of the Kenny Chesney and (right) Taylor Swift stages. Above: Ms Swift – on stage and pre-show.
Below: Stageco US’s Mary Lou Figley and Tom Frederickx.
THE CHESNEY-SWIFT EFFECT
Kenny Chesney’s The Big Revival tour is a huge success
[grossing in excess of $80 million over 56 shows] that launched
in stadiums just before Taylor and just ended on August 29th.
Mary Lou was account manager for this one and she liaised
directly with production manager Ed Wannabe. It was a Mike
Swinford design and our crew boss, James ‘Jimbo’ Ramacus,
looked after a team of 11.
The Chesney stage had a regular Stageco 4-tower roof system – 25m wide and 20m deep – with custom rotated double
PA wings, video portals, spot/delay towers and a FOH riser
added to the 12-trailer package. One of the big moments
in his show was a fly gag. There were cables connected
between the stage and the two delay towers, and Kenny flew
out on them into the middle of the audience. It’s a gag that
the crowd really loved, night after night.
Designed by Barry ‘Baz’ Halpin, the 1989 tour has definitely
increased Taylor Swift’s star status. I’m proud to say that this
is one of my own projects and I’ve been working with Arthur Kemish (production manager) and David
Lanosga (Stageco crew chief) on the
schedule.
This current North American tour,
which is set to close at the end of
October, requires 13 trailers of gear
and 12 crew. For almost all shows
we used the same type of 4-tower
roof as with Chesney, but with two
extra portals to deal with rigging capacity. In the middle of the schedule.
Taylor did some arena shows and then,
in July, when she had more stadium shows,
we needed a second system – a SuperRoof – for two dates.
We have also provided two 12m wide and 5m deep PA wings.
ZIPPED FOR ACTION
Lasting from May 24th until July 15th, The Rolling Stones’ Zip
Code tour of North America was another huge box office
triumph for the band. Zip Code is a clever name that, as
well as referencing the zip on the cover of Sticky Fingers, the
Stones’ classic album that was recently re-released, the area
zip codes that were local to each venue on the tour were
featured on the video screens as part of the pre-show entertainment.
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS SUMMER 2015
Photography: Jill Trunnell, WB Rosenblum, Shaun Luberski & Stageco US
with Taylor Swift’s 1989 tour following in late May. Very soon
afterwards, we were given very short notice that the Rolling
Stones were springing back into live action with their Zip Code
tour. There had been some rumours about it but you can’t
plan a business schedule around gossip. When
we finally got the call, we had to make it
all work very quickly.
It’s good to have a season begin
with multiple systems out on the
road for long runs with all hands
on deck. While they were out
there, back in the office we had
some time to concentrate on the
new festivals that had come our
way, such as the Free Press Summer
Festival in Houston, as well as planning
how to meet the greater demands of
our services for the flagship Electric Daisy Carnival in Las
Vegas, which draws around 150,000 people, three days in
a row. So, all in all, April, May and June were unusually hectic
months for us, and here are some of the highlights...
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Photography: Tim Johnson, Jack Gorman & Stageco US. Rolling Stones Zip Code logo © Musidor B.V.
Fifty-three years and counting, and still no sign of stopping: The Rolling Stones.
Below: FPSF 2015 in downtown Houston with Tears For Fears (Roland Orzabal pictured) amongst the artist highlights.
There wasn’t really much difference from a staging perspective compared to last year’s 14 On Fire European dates.
The SuperRoof was essentially the same as the one used in
2014, but dressed differently and slightly simplified to enable
a faster build. We had two 15-trailer systems leapfrogging on
the road with Patrick Martens and Antonio Duarte Da Cruz
each leading a European crew of 14. They also erected spot
and delay towers, as well as the FOH riser.
Certain similarities have also been present on One Direction’s On The Road Again tour of 22 American cities which
began in San Diego on July 9th and continues through to
mid-September. They are essentially touring with a design
that they previously had out in Australia. It’s a tour that carries
three Stageco 4-tower roof systems, custom rotated double
PA wing and a pair of spot/delay towers, with each system
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built by a 10-strong team headed by a variety of crew chiefs
including Bart Dewolf and Stephane Angelis.
HOUSTON CALLING
Launched in 2009, the annual Free Press Summer Festival
(FPSF) is an annual two-day music festival held in downtown
Houston, Texas at Buffalo Bayou’s Eleanor Tinsley Park. FPSF
2015, held on June 6-7, presented such leading acts as Tears
For Fears, Skrillex, R Kelly, Ben Harper, Weezer and Band Of
Horses amongst its extraordinary large bill.
Organised by the local independent newspaper Free Press
Houston in partnership with concert promoter Pegstar.net Presents, FPSF 2015 witnessed Stageco US’s first association with
the festival. With Farley Gross leading a five-man crew, we
took care of the main [Mars] stage and brought in six trailers
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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Scenes from EDC Vegas in June. Top left: Building the structures.
Top right and above: The Crystal Cathedral, Cadillac/Pyramid and Wasteland stages
Below, right: Coming soon... some of the last projects of summer ‘15 for Stageco US.
to build an 18 metre wide, 14 metre deep
Boogdak roof with seven metre wide PA/video wings, a front of house control platform
and one spot/delay tower.
SEE OVERLEAF FOR A REPORT ON
Photography: Insomniac & Stageco US
CRYSTAL MAGIC
By far, our most technically challenging project of the year has been the Electric Daisy
Carnival in Las Vegas which was just immense on every level. Our work on the main
stage in 2014 was a major undertaking on its
own but this time we provided three of the
seven stages, requiring 56 equipment trailers.
Jake Berry, the EDC Vegas production
manager, was constantly requesting quotes
for new elements of the show, and the size
of our order was growing by the day to
include items like video screen portals that
appeared in various parts of the site.
Logistically, it was difficult because, when
we were loading in, incredible amounts
equipment were arriving in Vegas from
four different locations – Colorado Springs,
Manheim, Houston and Belgium – and then
heading back out afterwards to numerous
destinations. That was a real adventure! If
we hadn’t been able to plan that as well as
we did, there was every chance that some
projects would have been declined. There
was no way we were going to risk that, so
all our administration skills were very tightly
focused on making everything work.
The main [Crystal Cathedral] stage was a
new design for 2015 and the usual plan is to
shrink it down to form a touring version that
go around the world for the next year. Last
year’s cathedral was intended to be a shrine
that presented music in a religious sense, but
for 2015 the narrative behind the event was
all about the Crystal Village. And, of course,
the motif of the owl continued to play a
prominent role.
Although the festival was open to the
public over the three days of June 19-21, it
was a three week job for our crew. We had
a good mix of US and European crew, the
numbers of which grew from 14 to 25 at
the peak of activity, with Farley Gross, Paul
Van Belle, Johan Van Espen and Mark Van
Gorp taking their turns to head the teams at
various times on our three custom structures,
including the one referred to as either the
Pyramid or the Cadillac, because it was originally designed for a Cadillac presentation.
T H E U K ’ S 2 0 1 5 E L E C T R I C D A I S Y C A R N I VA L
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS SUMMER 2015
Show photography: Jake West for Insomniac • Crew & technical photography: Mark Cunningham
14
Building The Foundation
For EDC UK
Over 35,000 revellers flocked to Milton Keynes
National Bowl on Saturday 11th July to be
a part of the Electric Daisy Carnival UK, the
British edition of the phenomenally successful dance music event brand that has been
taking America by storm since the late ‘90s.
Hosted in the UK for the third time, this year’s
bill featured sets from dance legends Tiësto,
Paul van Dyk, Hardwell, Ferry Corsten and
Steve Aoki.
Towering over Milton Keynes at around 28
metres tall and nearly 100 metres wide, the
sheer expanse of the kineticCATHEDRAL main
stage at the Electric Daisy Carnival UK (EDC
UK) was enough to incite a stare of jaw-dropping disbelief from the average onlooker. But
size was only one of the attributes of a dazzling
scenic achievement that once again saw
Stageco working alongside some of live production’s greatest innovators.
The kinetic energy-themed sensory feast –
with giant owls bookending the stage, largerthan-life art installations and a diverse range
of special effects including around 3,000
pyrotechnic sequences – gave British ravers
a flavour of the stunning panoramic
scenery that American audiences have
been experiencing in recent years.
EDC was originated in the US by Los
Angeles-based production company Insomniac, which recently announced plans to expand the Electric
Daisy Carnival experience to Brazil and
Japan.
Insomniac’s main players on the
ground at the UK show were production
director Alyxzander Bear and festival experience director Conor Bowes, while production manager Neil McDonald and project
manager Jen-e Jones handled the local
aspects on behalf of promoter Festival
Republic.
McDonald observed: “With respect
to the acts, this is one of the few
events that you can confidently say
is more about the audience and the
spectacle than anything else. It’s one
of the hottest events out there right now.
Right: Production manager Neil McDonald with project manager Jen-e Jones,
and (bottom) Stageco’s head of technicians for the event, Paul Van Belle.
SUMMER 2015
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS
15
an-based production as was feasible,
although it still entailed six containers
of equipment coming over from the
States.”
CREW
Dirk De Decker managed the project for
Stageco with Gert Hulsmans looking after
the R&D aspects. Led on-site by Wies
Baaten, Stageco’s crew of 12 arrived
three days before the show to unload
17 trailers of equipment and begin the
stage build, with assistance from 12
local climbers and 10 stagehands from
Showstars.
“Having worked on EDC’s Las Vegas
edition, the Milton Keynes stage has
been quite easy to build, particularly
because the climate allows us to work
during the day, which isn’t the case in
Las Vegas,” commented Paul Van Belle,
Stageco’s head of technicians at the
event.
“It’s a very beautiful structure and
what I particularly like is the absence
of skins – it’s completely open. So it’s all
about our black steel, the scaffolding
and decking, although we also assist
with other aspects of the set such as
Jora Entertainment’s cladding, the video
screens, the DJ booth with its scaffolding,
PRG’s stage lighting and Britannia Row’s
PA system hangs.
“Our first concern is the base structure
– if you don’t do it properly, especially
with a stage design like this, you’ll run
into serious trouble. These days, we work
with a theodolite that helps us to ensure
we are completely level. It’s very time
consuming but essential.
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS SUMMER 2015
Show photography: Jake West for Insomniac • Crew & technical photography: Mark Cunningham
“EDC’s approach to creativity is more
familiar to America and Europe than the
UK. I don’t think the UK had previously
seen a dance event with such a creative
drive to it and, of course, that impacts
tremendously on the design of the stages
and the site, and the whole approach to
the event.
“Here at Milton Keynes, they’ve borrowed from a model that has been a
tremendous success in America [where
Insomniac presented the largest stage
in the world at Las Vegas Motor Speedway]. In consultancy with Stageco’s
team, Insomniac worked out how that
Stageco structure would accommodate all of the scenic elements, such as
the owls. What we’ve done here is to
effectively mimic what they’ve achieved
in America, using as much Europe-
16
“The only significant issue for us is time pressure – to have the
grids up in the air, ready for production after the second day,
and then have the entire structure completed within three
days. It’s a bit of a push but we get there. Until our structure is in
place, everyone is just waiting around.”
In the middle of a busy summer, Neil McDonald particularly looked forward to working at Milton Keynes Bowl this year.
“From my perspective as a production manager, it’s the best
green field site to work on in the UK,” he said, “but it is also
great for the audience because it was purpose designed to
meet all the criteria.”
Show photography: Bennett Sell-Kline for Insomniac
POST-MORTEM
After the event, McDonald voiced his personal appreciation
of Stageco’s vital contributions, which also included the supply
and build of the front-of-house control structure, and four delay/spot towers.
“This has been the most seamless show I’ve worked on in a
long time,” McDonald commented. “There was a long pre-production period of nearly a year that involved a lot of communication and detailed organisation, to the point that when
we got on-site, although we expected a few nips and tucks,
everything came in and went up just as it looked on paper. It’s
all in the preparation and that, amongst so many other qualities, is Stageco’s strength. I’m glad to report that it was remarkably uneventful backstage!”
Pasquale Rotella, the founder and CEO of Insomniac, was
equally happy. He said: “This year’s EDC UK has been an amazing celebration of music, art and individuality. The festival has
truly found a home across the Atlantic.”
SUMMER 2015
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS
S TA G E C
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On An Island
D E U TS C
HL
AND
Photography courtesy of Stageco Germany
Held on Óbudai-sziget (Old Buda Island), a 266-acre
island on the River Danube in northern Budapest, Hungary, the annual Sziget Fesztivál was originally founded
in 1993 as Diáksziget (Students’ Island) by a group led
by Müller Péter Sziámi and Károly Gerendai after the fall
of Communism.
Currently attracting over 440,000 people from 95
countries, Sziget reinforced its reputation as one of Europe’s largest and most successful summer music events
with a line-up that featured Florence And The Machine,
Alt-J, Kasabian, The Script, Kings Of Leon, Limp Bizkit, Ellie
Goulding, Paloma Faith, Rudimental, the controversial
Pussy Riot, New York post-punkers Interpol and Robbie
Williams who, alone, attracted 80,000 visitors to the main
stage.
Stageco Germany, together with its local partner B.L.
Crew KFT, was responsible for the main stage and countless other constructions. The staging material, including
that for the 4-tower stage with ultra large PA wings, was
delivered on 40 trucks. The 5,500m2 VIP platform on its
own was quite possibly unparalleled in Europe.
Sziget’s unique line-up also included several German
artists such as Cro, Kraftclub and Milky Chance, along
with the Bavarian brass/ska band LaBrassBanda.
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS 17
SUMMER 2015
18
Turning It On For
The first tour by Genesis in 15 years proved to be one of the most
commercially successful periods of the legendary prog rock
band’s career... and Stageco was there all the way.
Invisible Touch tour, providing a tower system for the stage
based on crane technology and leaving behind the traditional scaffolding approach. It was as influential in the staging
world as the band’s sophisticated music was to progressive
rock.
Twenty-one years later, that spirit of partnership was very
evident when Stageco leapfrogged four stages around an
intense schedule for the Turn It On Again tour of Europe and
North America that was run by joint production managers Steve ‘Pud’ Jones and Howard Hopkins, with Wob Roberts and
Gary Currier taking care of the advance work.
Photography © Mark Cunningham
Reunions come and go in the rock world,
but few have been as potent as the one that
brought Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, Tony
Banks and their sidemen Daryl Stuermer and
Chester Thompson back together for a wildly
successful 48-show stadium tour in 2007.
It was the first time Genesis had stepped out
as a single unit since their We Can’t Dance tour
of 1992 – the band’s second encounter with Stageco that
was notable for the company’s touring debut in the United
States. Previously, in 1986, Stageco had worked on Genesis’
SUMMER 2015
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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The tour began on June 11 2007 in pouring rain at Helskini’s
Olympic Stadium. Dominated by a 250ft wide curved LED
screen, and featuring seven 110fit high steel ‘ribs’ linked by silver cargo netting, the elegant, regal-looking set was conceptualised by the late Mark Fisher, design engineered by Jeremy
Lloyd and custom-built by Stageco.
Back in 2007, Mark Fisher said: “Genesis wanted their stage
to have an anti-industrial, organic quality that could reflect
the understated Englishness of their music. At the same time,
the stadium the tour was booked through Europe in blocks of
three and four nights, ‘back to back’. Whilst this is normal for
an arena show, it was unprecedented for a bespoke stadium
tour travelling with a custom-built stage. The final design was
an efficient structure that concealed the rectilinear primary
structure beneath expressive curvilinear surfaces.”
“The organic shapes were designed in AutoCAD and we
also used a programme for structural calculations,” explained
Dirk de Decker, Stageco’s project manager for the tour. “As
with all our most challenging jobs, this Genesis stage was very
technical and we had to draw on all our resources to deliver
the service. I think everybody was pleased with the result.”
Roberts, a self-confessed fan of the prog legends, said at
the time that Genesis were the most rehearsed band with
whom he had worked. “They like to know exactly what’s happening when they leave production rehearsals,” he said, “so
for the last two weeks in Brussels, they would play a set every
day, then review a video recording of that set with Patrick
Woodroffe [lighting designer] and Dave Hill [lighting programmer/director], and talk to the video crew. They were very
involved with every aspect of the presentation.”
The late confirmation of the tour meant that the delayed
go-ahead to suppliers and crew pushed everything to the
wire. Said Roberts: ”We didn’t actually commission the stage
until February. It was all a bit panicky right up until we went
to Tildonk in Belgium for two weeks at the end of April where
the set was assembled for the first time on a patch of land
adjacent to Stageco’s headquarters.
“I looked after all the test building there and ran the production rehearsals for three weeks in Hall 5 at Brussels Expo.
At the end of that three week period I effectively handed the
project over to Pud and Howard.”
The steel was manned by Stageco’s four low steel rigging
teams and three for the high steel. In Europe, there were 55
steel trucks on the road and Dirk de Decker worked hard with
Roberts to ensure that the right steel and crew were in the
right place on time.
“Jeremy Lloyd has to be congratulated for designing a
stage that can go into venues within a tiny set-up window,
commented Roberts. “He did all the engineering work along
with Koon Peeters at Stageco to enable universal production
to roll up with 22 trucks at 8.00am on show day and have
everything in place for a show that evening.”
Stageco’s work on the tour is briefly covered in ‘Come Rain
Or Shine’, a documentary film included in the triple DVD set,
When In Rome – filmed at the city’s Circo Massimo.
Since the tour, Genesis have been inducted into the Rock
And Roll Hall Of Fame and came together in 2014 to appear
in the BBC’s career-length documentary, Genesis: Together
And Apart. Sadly, despite the rekindled public interest in the
band, they are not expected to return to the concert stage.
Photography © Mark Cunningham
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS SUMMER 2015
O
AND
with special guests Eric Burdon, Jan Delay, Otto Waalkes,
Clueso and Josephin Busch.
A 21-truck production, Stageco Germany supplied an
11-truck custom-made stage system, which was based on
Stageco’s 3-tower design with a 400m² performing area for
Lindenberg’s Panikorchester (his on-stage musical ‘family’),
guests, choir and dancers. The successful project also included the installation of 600m² of LED screen within the tilted PA
wings and the stage header.
The production manager on the tour was Pat Buhre.
Stageco’s project manager was Dirk Lauenstein and the crew
chiefs were Stefan Stadelmann and Sven ‘Jimmy’ Lange.
Photography © mike-auerbach.com
Forty-six years after forming his first band, German music legend Udo Lindenberg continues to pack out venues whenever
he steps out to perform. The drummer-turned-singer’s last album – Live Aus Dem Hotel Atlantic, part of the MTV Unplugged
series – went straight to number one in Germany and earned
platinum status within a fortnight.
Last year, with his profile higher than it has been in years,
Lindenberg followed the album with his first-ever stadium tour,
playing to more than 200,000 people over a handful of dates.
Encouraged by the response, the artist returned this July to
play a pair of shows at Hannover’s HDI Arena as well as the
Berlin Olympiastadion and Frankfurt’s Commerzbank-Arena,
D E U TS C
Lindenberg Soars
S TA G E C
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SUMMER 2015
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS
S TA
EC
Brussels Comes Alive
O BEL
G
IU
M
Stageco Belgium made its debut at the 10-day cross-cultural
Brussels Summer Festival this August, providing structures at
two locations: the Paleizenplein/Place Des Palais stage (in
front of the Royal Palace) – featuring star names including Imelda May, Flogging Molly, Basement Jaxx and Belgium’s The
Subs – and the Mont Des Arts/Kunstberg stage, where Douglas
Firs, Elvis Black Stars and Sarah Carlier were among the native
acts.
Guided by project managers Lies Rombouts and Tom Bilsen
(and Bart Dekelver and Wim Dewolf who provided R&D support), crews from Stageco’s local and international divisions
worked together to install both stages. A brief to provide
the largest stage possible within a 27 metre space resulted
in a Boogdak being chosen for the Paleizenplein, the home
of the Royal Palace, although the stage’s right shed had to
21
G
be removed to enable it to fit, with additional storage area
created upstage to compensate. Two delay towers, a loading dock and a custom-made
header were also part of the
job.
Close to the Place de l’Albertine, the Mont Des Arts/Kunstberg
stage was constructed from one
of Stageco’s smaller stage systems that has repeatedly proven
to be very popular among smallscale festivals. A standard 25x10
stage, it came equipped with
additional ramps, a loading dock
and a front of house structure.
Photography © Tina Herbots & Stageco
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS SUMMER 2015
22
An example of one
of Shimizu Octo’s
SuperRoofs
from Stageco.
Eastern Promise
Japan has long been a highly respected part of the global event
market and, thanks to a valued relationship, the land of the rising
sun is benefitting from Stageco’s technology and expertise.
Founded in 1932, Tokyo-based Shimizu Octo began
life as the company that introduced professional baseball to Japan, and is today one of its
country’s leading event production vendors,
providing a 360° range of services from
design and planning to audio, lighting and
staging in venues of all sizes.
Some years ago, after becoming acquainted through a number of international
tours, Mr Takuji Shimizu, the company’s chairman, got in contact with Stageco Belgium to
SUMMER 2015
enquire about purchasing staging equipment to
service the Japanese/Asian market.
“That’s how the partnership began to grow
between Stageco Belgium and Shimizu Octo,”
says Hedwig De Meyer.
“For us, Japan is a difficult market to service,
but with Shimizu buying and renting out our
stage systems makes it possible for touring
bands like U2 and Mötley Crüe to have the
same equipment when passing through Japan.
“Business seems to be going well for Shimizu,
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS
23
“Even for our experienced,
globetrotting crew who
have seen it all, [meeting
the Shimizu Octo team]
is always a refreshing
opportunity because the
cultural differences are so
huge and it always makes
for a fascinating visit.”
HEDWIG DE MEYER
and in the last few years it has expanded its stock with three
more SuperRoofs, and an assortment of spot and delay towers.”
SPECIALISED
Shimizu has its own specialised crew to install and dismantle
stages, always within a very tight time schedule that takes into
consideration the very limited availability of Japanese stadium
venues that are inevitably booked up all year round. stadia in
Japan. “They only need half the time for load-in as we do,” De
Meyer continues, “and although they do use higher numbers
of crew, they also seem to be organised more efficiently.
“Every once in a while we have crew going over to Japan to
help with maintenance or instruct them on technical updates.
Even for our experienced, globetrotting crew who have seen it
all, this is always a refreshing opportunity because the cultural
differences are so huge and it always makes for a fascinating
visit.”
Shimzu Octo’s current portfolio of clients includes stadium
rockers Mr. Children and superstar musician, singer-songwriter,
multi-instrumentalist, actor and avid guitar collector Masaharu
IT’S TIME
TO VOTE!
Fukuyama (above), whose recent, sold-out Big Summer Festival
2015 shows included a pair of dates at Inasayama Park in his
Nagasaki hometown. Marking the 25th anniversary of Fukuyama’s debut record, the August 30th concert was also shown
live in cinemas throughout Japan, Hong Kong and in Taiwan.
www.shimizu-global.com
If you have witnessed any tours, festivals or other
events over the last year that have featured the
involvement of Stageco Staging Group and been
suitably impressed by quality of the company’s
stages, temporary structures and support crew,
we humbly encourage you to vote for us in
the Favourite Staging Company category
of the 15th annual TPi Awards.
The results will be announced in
London on Monday 22nd February 2016.
Please visit www.tpiawards.com/enter-now
where voting is open until September 30th 2015.
The procedure is very straightforward and we
also hope to see you on the big night. THANK YOU!
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS SUMMER 2015
24
Evolution In Eleven Stages
1... EUREKA!
Stageco’s first Eureka moment came at
the beginning of the 1980s when, through
experimenting, Hedwig De Meyer and his
colleagues found that a combination of
framework beams, also known as a tower,
was far more convenient for building
stages than a scaffolding tower, and thus
became a standard part of the stage.
More fundamental choices were soon
made – they included building the floor
and towers separately, using water as
counterweight, and building the roof
structure on the ground before raising it.
2... CREATING THE ‘750’
The first fully-fledged Stageco tower stage
was built in 1983 on the festival grounds at
Werchter. A functional black box consisting of all standard elements, it was easily
built, dismantled and transported – the
standard for the next 30 years.
In 1983, the towers had a 1m x 1m
base. From 1986 onwards, they were
made of high-grade steel with a 750mm
x 750mm base, hence the name ‘750
Stage’. In the design phase, the approach was purely pragmatic; the appearance was not taken into consideration. Gradually, a number of variants were
developed: 3-tower, 4-tower… with widths
ranging from 15 to 26 metres.
Photography © Stageco & Mark Fisher/Stufish
3... PA TOWERS
The tower stage inspired Stageco to
create more innovations. In the 1980s, PA
wings were scaffolding towers with two
to three levels upon which loudspeakers
were placed.
Dirk Van de Goor: “That’s the way we
did it every year at the Werchter festival,
yet we were the first to cast aside that
principle. We suggested hanging the
speakers in the scaffolding, to ‘fly’ them,
as we said. We did it like this for Pink Floyd
in 1988 and used towers for this on, for
example, David Bowie in 1990 and Dire
Straits in 1992.”
The tower principle became more than
a sure fire way of delivering value – ‘hanging’ is so much more efficient and safer
than ‘stacking’.
4... CUSTOM SPECIALS
Rock bands wanted more. Smart designers brought the robust but ‘sterile’ standard stage to life. They did it by adding elements that were specifically designed for
SUMMER 2015
the show. The objective of this approach
was two-fold: maintaining a high functionality and adding a personal touch.
Stageco fulfilled both wishes.
Dirk De Decker: “Stageco was constantly being challenged – in 1992 by
Genesis and in 1994 by both Pink Floyd
and The Rolling Stones. Mark Fisher came
up with eye-catching stage designs. For
Stageco, these were the very first ‘specials’.”
5... CANTILEVER
The evolution didn’t stop there. Dirk Van
de Goor: “Bon Jovi’s [These Days] 1995
tour was another pivotal moment. Jon
wanted a larger roof with a bigger free
span at the front of the stage so that, in
larger stadiums, the band could move
further forward on the stage. It made
it possible for people to see them from
the sides, which in turn allowed for more
tickets to be sold.
“To solve this on the technical side,
we worked with roof trusses with a strong
anchorage at the back of the stage. And
later, we combined this with a pitched
roof. Technically, it’s all very subtle,
because you need to support the large
overhanging part of the roof.”
The result was called the cantilever
roof. The technology was later optimised
in the SuperRoof.
6... ARCHED ELEGANCE
The Romans already knew it when they
built aqueducts, and the Romanesque or
even Gothic architecture was based on
the same principle. The arch shape has
a high bearing capacity and Stageco applied that shape in its Arch product line.
In combination with lightweight aluminium profiles, it results in an elegant and
robust stage. Although not suitable for
heavy loads in the roof, it became much
sought after when the aesthetic aspect of
the event is important, such as at classical
music concerts and daytime events in
urban settings, especially when combined
with transparent skins.
7... SUPERROOF / SUPER TINA
At the end of the 1990s, the call for bigger
and stronger stages became louder and
louder. Productions grew with increased
sound, lighting, video and décor. But not
every artist could afford to tour with a
custom-made stage.
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS
25
With this in mind, Stageco developed
the SuperRoof: a majestic structure with
more useful performance space and a
roof with a higher bearing capacity. The
new design had a 1,034mm x 1,034mm
tower base and a roof structure with
1.80 metre high trusses, and for the first
time it was lifted with winches.
In early 2000, the SuperRoof was
groundbreaking and rock-solid with
‘everything under one roof’. Tina Turner
deployed it for her 24/7 world tour.
8... FREE-STANDING TOWERS
The free-standing tower is to Stageco
what the wheel is to the bicycle: simple,
ingenious and vital. Its possibilities are
numerous. In the late ’90s, free-standing
towers were already in use, but only
very occasionally for hanging PA speakers or spotlights, as was the case on the
Rolling Stones’ Bridges To Babylon tour in
1997, and Céline Dion’s Let’s Talk About
Love tour of 1999.
But only when, in 2002, Jake Berry
identified the many advantages of the
free-standing tower, did Stageco focus
more attention on the one-tower construction. It became prominent on the
Stones’ Licks tour along with many other
concerts and festivals as a delay tower,
spotlight tower or an ‘eagle’s nest’ for
production.
9... ENTER BOOGDAK
Whilst on the subject of elegance, the
Boogdak is just as functional as a tower
stage, but it primarily serves an aesthetic purpose. It was originally destined
for the French market, where style and
appearance are very important.
The first Boogdak made its début in
2004 in the waters of the Mediterranean
for a special concert during the Cannes
Film Festival. In 2008, it had a similar impact when it travelled around the world
with Iron Maiden.
Whilst not a technical wonder, the
Boogdak remains an ideal brand profiler
for clients who are looking for something
different without necessarily requiring a
custom-made stage.
Hedwig: “The development of the
Boogdak proves we are trendsetters.
We keep one step ahead by launching
new lines and offering a better service
because that global picture still is our
core business.”
10... U2’s MILESTONE
For U2’s record-breaking 360° tour, all
existing knowledge about staging formats, construction techniques, equipment and transport had to be questioned.
Hedwig: “In our world we often
speak of ‘before and after U2’ – year
‘zero’ so to speak. U2’s 360° ‘Claw’ was
not so much a milestone because of
the shape, but mostly because of the
technology used, which was new to
rock’n’roll – high-quality steel, towers
with a 2,200mm x 2,200mm base, new
lifting techniques.”
Dirk De Decker: “We turned the traditional conventions upside-down. Almost
every element in the construction was
brand new; designed and specially
made for the tour. We reached new
limits and broke new grounds.”
11... XXL STAGE
The end was not yet in sight. In 2012,
Stageco responded to a growing market demand for a stage that was attractive on a large scale. For the first time,
the starting point was a purely architectural approach. Mark Fisher created
a new look and Stageco turned it into
a construction that complied with the
highest comfort standards of the artists
who wanted to use it.
The result was the XXL stage: a revolutionary, rock solid design, with an oval
roof, a 38 metre front and a clearance
of 20 metres. The roof weighs 160 tons
and can bear no less than 70 tons of
equipment. It rests on a new generation
of towers with a 2,200mm x 2,200mm
base.
Hedwig: “The reality is that the XXL
stage makes full use of the technology that was developed for the 360°
‘Claw’. At the time, we made a 99%
custom-made monster commissioned
by one artist; we can now offer a standard stage to every band or festival that
wants to go big as well as beautiful.”
Adapted from Geert Vandenbon’s acclaimed
hardback book ‘Stageco: 30 Years – From
Werchter To The World’, available now in
Dutch and English versions from
boek.pinguinproductions.be
STAGECO INTERNATIONAL NEWS INTERNATIONAL
OFFICES
Stageco Belgium N.V.
Kapelleweg 6
3150 Tildonk
Tel: +32 16 60 84 71
Fax: +32 16 60 10 61
[email protected]
Stageco France sarl
158, Le Petit Palais
84800 L’Isle sur Sorgue
Tel: +33 4 90 20 90 90
Fax: +33 4 90 20 90 31
[email protected]
Stageco Deutschland GmbH
Schäfflerstrasse 13
86343 Königsbrunn Tel: +49 821 440 22 0
Fax: +49 821 440 22 22
[email protected]
Stageco Nederland b.v.
Aalsvoort 14
7241 MA Lochem
Tel: +31 573 25 63 02
Fax: +31 573 25 60 62
[email protected]
Stageco Austria
Heigerleinstraße 23/31
A-1160 Wien
Tel: +43 1 48 11 513
Fax: +43 1 48 11 513 20
[email protected]
Stageco Deutschland GmbH
Herzbergstrasse 120 10365 Berlin Tel: +49 30 54 98 72 40
Fax: +49 30 54 98 72 44
[email protected]
Stageco U.S. Inc
8755 Vollmer Road
Colorado Springs CO 80908
Tel: +1 719 495 9497
Fax: +1 719 495 9098 [email protected]
StagecoU.S. Inc Manheim
181 E. Stiegel St.
Manheim, PA 17545
Tel: +1 866 782 4326 [email protected]
WWW.STAGECO.COM
SUMMER 2015
STAGECO
CELEBRATING 30 YEARS
FROM WERCHTER TO THE WORLD
IF YOU CAN
IMAGINE I T
WE CAN
BUILD IT
Edited and designed by Mark Cunningham / Liveculture Group for and on behalf of Stageco Staging Group