Market Focus: Outdoor Staging

An overview at some of the leading outdoor staging providers on the market.

PROLYTE

Prolyte offers a wide variety of roof systems and stages. The Arc Roof is a fixed construction, based on three inward-curving trusses that are mounted to side masts. Special corners connect the arches to the main grid. Different configurations are made possible by simply changing the arches. The arched trusses have a keder profile on top for fitting the optional canopy. The Arc Roof is suitable for small to medium temporary events, like festivals, concerts, roadshows, fairs and other promotional activities. Arc Roof comprises a range of multiple sizes and dimensions (6 x 4m, 8 x 6m and 10 x 8m). H30V and H30D are the building blocks of the system. Depending on the size, the loading capacity varies from 1,800kg up to 2,450kg. Each system is delivered with a structural report and, where applicable, an initial instruction training is part of the sales process.

PRODUCT FEATURES:

• Versatile application

• Easy to handle, quick setup

• Significant loading capacity

• Ideal for smaller events

• Extra options available www.prolyte.com

SIXTY82

Utilising its British, Dutch and French alliance of innovative industry leaders in the design and manufacture of lightweight staging and trussing systems, SIXTY82 brings a fresh perspective of the outdoor staging market by providing innovative ‘next generation’ rigging solutions.

The brand offers a range of temporary demountable truss structures for indoor and outdoor events, which are available in a variety of sizes and specifications, from small LED portals to large roof systems. Bespoke structures can also be manufactured.

Truss structure products include the SIXTY82 Arc Roof, which is high loading, easily set-up by hand and contains no side guy wires – available in 6 x 4m and 8 x 6m sizes.

Stage decking products include the SIXTY82 Livedeck, which consists of welded aluminium lattice truss stage modules, handrails and stairs, designed around the imperial measurement system.

All products comply with national and international regulations for safe work practices and are also compatible with other brands. Moreover, SIXTY82 has introduced innovative, unique technology that guarantees every structural component is traceable, safe and properly engineered. The integrated SixtyTag enables RFID product tracking and traceability, always tied to the unique serial number.

In addition, the brand’s Product Personality Label system gives a unique identification to every piece, which links data about its specific manufacturing date and process, and its TÜV certification.

SIXTY82 products are distributed exclusively in the UK by A.C. Entertainment Technologies, and in Ireland by A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ireland. www.elationlighting.com

SERIOUS STAGES

Celebrating its 35th year supplying stages to the music industry, Serious Stages continues to push boundaries, introducing new products and adapting the company’s offering.

The most notable new product this year is the MegaNova building. Designed and constructed at Serious Stages’ UK headquarters in Wells, large-scale engineering allows a 100m span and 30m heigh relocatable venue, with modular component steel elements enabling clients to go to any length or configuration.

The weight loading capacity of 10,000kg per arch, coupled with acoustic and thermal walling, means these are ideal temporary arena venues, while ancillary green-screen products helped the first of these buildings produced by Serious to be used as temporary film studios. The smaller 50m span Space building was used once again this summer at Parklife for the festival’s Warehouse venue.

Elsewhere, Serious introduced a new steel beam-based front-of-house tower at Download Festival, which incorporated VIP viewing capacity on the third and fourth levels. The curved screen beams on the tower’s rear wall were again designed and manufactured in-house, in line with client

Festival Republic’s request to introduce more immersive curved screen viewing experiences for the audience. A similar curved beam system was also installed at Wireless, Latitude and Reading festivals to link the main stage screens to the goalposts flanking the Serious TZ Tower stage, to create a continuous spectacular screen viewing vista for fans. www.stages.co.uk

STAGECO

In the midst of another incredibly busy summer, Stageco has supplied roof systems, staging solutions and a variety of structures throughout the European festival circuit and, notably, at Wembley Stadium where the Belgian-headquartered company serviced major shows by BTS, Spice Girls, Bon Jovi, Fleetwood Mac, Eagles and P!nk during a short residency at the venue.

The company’s presence on some of the world’s biggest current tours has included Rammstein’s 2019 stadium spectacle, for which Stageco specifically developed a new addition to its wide range of innovations. Based on a requirement identified by project director Dirk De Decker, Stageco created two 23m-high, 1.4 x 1.4m downstage PA towers in order to combat a practical issue.

De Decker explained: “The show’s iconic 5m-diameter lighting pods travel on a track but, in the original design, two of them were going to interfere with the PA bracket so we had to engineer a tower solution capable of dealing with above average wind loads. After the pod is built on the ground, it is hoisted up the tower on a tracking system until it reaches its final position, allowing the track to become the PA bracket. The bracket then hinges 90° upwards and is then ready for the PA hang to be hoisted and locked.” www.stageco.com