Doppler, A Roadies View

Stage Collapse's my view

As someone who has been in the music industry as a touring crew person I have seen a lot of things in my time. The last month has been tough for people in my industry. Today another stage was damaged, this time in Belgium. In this case and also in Indiana and Ottawa it appears that weather played a major role in these stages collapsing.

Several people including concert patrons were killed and injured. No one wants to see this happen especially us who are responsible for building these stages.

Most of these years I have worked as a lighting director and or tech. I also have worked in other areas too. The last few years I went back to working for a regional production company when I am not touring. We provide all aspects of production, sound, lighting, backline, trucking and yes staging. Matter of fact we own Thomas staging just like what was used in Indiana. We also use Stageline.

I can tell you we take great care and time when setting these up. Granted there is a difference between the two types. One of them you build from the ground up and is comprised of trussing. The other is self contained and when closed it is basically a tractor trailer.

Neither type of stage will withstand a tornado but they are rated to handle certain weather and wind speeds to a point. Some people have been blaming the stages and the people that put them up as the fault in their collapse. Granted I was not personally involved in any of them. I will say that most of these people have no idea what they are talking about.

Whenever I step foot onto someone else's stage I make sure to look and all aspects of it. How is in setting, are there ballast supports, is the sound and lighting hanging correctly on it, etc. I also keep and eye on the weather especially when I am involved with one of oupr companies stages.

Just yesterday we set up a Stageline 260 for a Barenaked Ladies show and everything went off without a hitch. That stage will get set up again for a show and then on Saturday. One of our Thomas roofs is setting up for a show on Saturday. Our concern will be the safety of all the people on or around. Not because of what has recently happened, but for the fact this is always what we have done.

If weather becomes a factor we will take the necessary action to assure every ones safety.

Labels: Collapse, Crew, Stage, Stageline, Thomas

posted by Doppler at 8:07 PM