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Kinetic equipment from Movecat for "Vrienden van Amstel" in Rotterdam

The Netherlands – The "Biggest Pub in the Netherlands" opened its doors once again in January, sponsored by Amstel beer. The event, named "Vrienden van Amstel", is one of the most popular festivals in the Netherlands. The nine back-to-back concerts, each a sell-out with an audience of 14,000, were greeted with enthusiastic applause by the 126,000 fans. The most unusual feature of Vrienden van Amstel as an event is that the names of the performers are not made public prior to the start of each show.

For the 19^th time, the venue selected was the Rotterdam Ahoy, one of the largest events and sports halls in Europe. The first show opened with a display of drumming virtuosity: the backbeat to "Radar Love" by Golden Earring. The group's drummer, Cesar Zuiderwijk, flew through the hall with a specially developed drum kit in a mixture of space capsule and chandelier, accompanied in flight by the drummers of the other acts taking part.

This was only one of a number of kinetic effects – The total weight of the loads moved coming to some 38,000kg – to draw enthusiastic applause. Others featured not only musicians and trapeze artists flying over the heads of the audience, numerous 'floating' platforms employed as stages, and moving trusses carrying lighting and other scenic effects. The highlight was the spectacular transformation of a ring-shaped 'UFO' with a diameter of 22 metres hovering at ceiling height into a gigantic spiral staircase with an eventual length of 70 metres along which a singer made his descent into the hall. The effects were realized by Frontline Rigging & Motion of the Netherlands using equipment from Movecat and eZ-Axis Automation Service and Rentals. Movecat supplied for the purpose 84 VMK-S 500-24 and eight VMW-S 1250-10 hoists, to which eZ-Axis contributed six eZ-Hoist Flying Performer Winches, four eZ-Trolleys and an eZ-Rotator. Ninety-two Movecat V-Motion 40E, six V-Motion 75E and five V-Motion 15E controllers were enlisted to cover the total of one hundred and three axes of movement involved.

30th June 2017

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