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Star Events Staging for 410,000 Fans In Hyde Park

Star Events Group demonstrated their versatility by designing and installing a set of staging and rigging that dealt with the radically different requirements of all the shows in Hyde Park in June and July. These consisted of the record-breaking three Red Hot Chili Peppers shows, 95.8 Capital FM’s Party in the Park for The Prince’s Trust and the reunion of Simon & Garfunkel.

The run of events began in June, with the Red Hot Chili Peppers performing in Hyde Park on 19th, 20th and 25th. Star Events Group was a key part of the production team assembled by the band’s production manager, Bill Rahmy, and promoters Clear Channel Entertainments, whilst simultaneously providing huge VerTech stages for the band’s other UK dates in Scotland and Wales.

The stunning visual impact of the 2004 Chili Peppers show, seen by over a quarter of a million fans in Hyde Park alone, centred around superbly mixed animation, film and live camera feeds, relayed by giant video screens that spanned the entire width of the 90m wide VerTech structure.

“The Hyde Park stage was the largest we have built,” director Roger Barrett of Star Events Group said. “The main stage was a VT 25-20 festival system, which we have modified this year by engineering new components to higher specifications. These changes, combined with our new multi-span technology, tripled our weight loading capacities and gave us increased roof heights (the Hyde Park stage had a 15m trim within an overall height of 24m). With each of the three shows the main loading points were in different areas of the stage roof, so we had to design a system that could comfortably take the loads of each production.

“With the Chili Peppers, there were around 45 tonnes of video flown from the stage structure. A significant proportion of this was onstage and, coupled with adjacent lighting, meant that we had a narrow band across the stage that was very heavily loaded. (Most of the other stage companies on the tour couldn’t deal with this and the screens had to be partially ground-stacked).

“Party In The Park had a large moving screen system (on a tracking system designed and built by Star Rigging) and we ended up with nearly 30 tonnes in the front half of the roof. The position of the revolving stage floor determines the position of the screens, so there are no options to move upstage.

“Simon & Garfunkel also used very heavy screens, on and off stage, and used more than double the amount of sound equipment of the other shows. This required audio hangs of nearly ten tonnes on the front cantilever of the roof. The loading requirements were so onerous that the production had to be scaled down for the rest of the European leg of the tour, leaving the VerTech stage as the only one in Europe that flew the full show.”

The Star Events Group team of up to 30 staging technicians and ten Star Riggers then had to deal with all sorts of other changes between the shows.

With Hyde Park being the flagship show of the Chili Pepper’s tour, being recorded for a live CD and DVD, the team paid particular attention to the visual appearance of the stage. The popularity of the show also extended to a host of VIP guests who enjoyed the performances from two 4m high, 15m x 6m platforms flanking the performance area either side on the stage, and enclosed within the overall weather-proof covering.

As soon as the third Chili Peppers concert finished, the Star Events Group team began work on the modifications for the next event on the site, the 95.8 Capital FM’s Party in the Park for The Prince’s Trust. The event attracted 100,000 music fans to the park to enjoy more than 20 acts from the likes of Busted, McFly, Anastacia, The Corrs to Lenny Kravitz and Lionel Richie.

The Star Events Group team has worked on this event for the last six years and to accommodate the quick changeovers required to keep the shows continuity for the live and TV audiences, they incorporated a revolving platform in the centre of the stage. This meant taking out the existing stage floor and installing the revolving platform, so that there was one consistent level throughout the stage and production areas.

The Star Rigging team, under the leadership of Phil Broad, also had to work to accommodate the significantly different productions. From rigging the huge screens for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, to the more complex Party In The Park show, and into the more subtle Simon & Garfunkel show, all the shows came with their own technical and weight problems. The Party In The Park production centred around moving and tracking screens, which Phil Broad and Mil Rakij controlled from the side of stage on Star Rigging’s IBEX system. The tracking system allowed the screens to be manoeuvred from downstage to upstage moving around the corner to close in front of the main centre screen. The smaller screens also moved in the vertical plane, as did the main centre screen, giving the required headroom for the revolving stage. The lighting consisted of over 50 points of rigging, which, when added to the screen rigging gave an impressive 80 plus points in the front half of the roof, but the overall effect was well worth the effort.

One addition to the show was the request from Jamelia to be flown in on a swing to start her set. This was no easy effect to achieve given the limited rigging space available after the lighting and video had filled the stage.

Significant alterations were required for other temporary structures around the site: The Capital FM Studio Tower, a multi-floored structure was added at the side of the stage, with a TV studio on one level, used for live broadcasts and interviews.

The front-of-house structure had to be moved further away from the stage and increased in size, adding levels to it and a camera platform, which also allowed the sponsors’ adverts to feature on the sides.

Further changes across the site included installing: a royal viewing platform for HRH The Prince of Wales to visit the event; an additional camera platform at the front of the stage, several small stages added to the hospitality areas for promotional displays and the wheelchair users platform was an incredible 60m x 6.5m.

Following the hugely successful event, alterations began immediately with night shifts commencing to set up for the final historic gig, the return of Simon & Garfunkel to a UK stage for the first time in 22 years. The sold-out event was designed for a smaller audience than the previous Hyde Park shows, with seating for 12,500 in front of the stage, but capacity extended due to ticket demand, resulting in 45,000 standing behind the second barrier.

The different feel for this show and seated audience meant that the stage floor and camera platform were lowered by 500mm and the Star Events Group team reduced the overall stage width, (down to a cosy 65m!) so increasing the focus on the legendary duo’s performance area. Between shows the crew also removed the royal platform, the stage revolve element, Capital FM’s studio tower, the wheelchair users platform and two of the six V-Towers being used as PA delays.

These shows were the first outing for Star Rigging’s new V-Towers, designed (with one vertical truss) so that they barely interfered with audience sight lines compared to other delay-towers, a key factor in maintaining maximum audience numbers in front of the stage for the promoters. With a weight-loading capacity of 2 tonne per tower at 15m height from the ground, they can also be used for flying screens or suspending the main PA system on smaller concerts.

Site director throughout the six-week tenure on Hyde Park was Clear Channel Entertainments John Probyn, who commented: “I think this year’s production team has been the best ever. The Star Events Group guys (and girls) have worked through the worst weather we’ve had during our summers in Hyde Park and have been great as the inevitable last minute changes have cropped up. The VerTech stage has been superb and their contribution as a key part of that production team has been invaluable in making these shows a success.”

http://www.stareventsgroup.com

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Star Events Staging for 410,000 Fans In Hyde Park

28th July 2004

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