“When someone goes to a concert, they shouldn’t come home in a body bag,” says production manager Jim Digby. This is just one example of the frank conversation that ensued when PLSN gathered six industry leaders for a roundtable discussion about recent staging tragedies.
Along with Digby, co-founder of the Event Safety Alliance (eventsafetyalliance.org), five other industry professionals offered their thoughts for this roundtable: LD Chip Monck, rigger Roy Bickel and staging providers John Brown (Brown United), Jim Evans Sr. (Mountain Productions) and Yvan Miron (Stageline Mobile Stage Inc.).
Yvan Miron: “Like the Wild West”
Yvan Miron founded Quebec-based Stageline in 1987. Their stages are used at more than 10,000 events annually in more than 35 countries.
This industry is still like the Wild West when it comes to outdoor stages. There are still no laws for outdoor staging, just suggested guidelines — and we don’t really agree on what the norms and regulations should be! Think about cars — brake pads are needed, but not just any — just the ones that adhere to a certain standards…
It needs to start with good engineering. But, in addition, the engineer needs to follow up during the construction phase. Now let’s talk about labor: I can tell you there are a lot of stages out there that are welded by non-professional welders. Another major element is money — promoters want stages at the lowest price, and sound and lighting companies sometimes use stages as a loss-leader, so it’s the element considered at the last minute.
Another [risk factor] is ground support. That needs to be thought through — for example, a wire structure that goes into the ground needs a soil study to determine what type of anchor, what resistance the cable needs to withstand. Yet, as of now, none of this is required.
The problem is that we, as an industry, don’t agree [on standards and practices]. I believe an outdoor stage should be based on the International Building Code request that a structure withstand 90 mph winds. ESTA’s regulation is 60 mph winds. We’re telling the industry that there have been heavier gusts of wind happening more unexpectedly and more rapidly.
In Ottawa and Indianapolis, the winds were 55 to 60 mph. Now in Ottawa, we had one of our mobile four stages out there in front of the [non-Stageline] stage that collapsed, and the banners on our didn’t even move. Why? Because our stages were designed to withstand heavy gusts of winds. Stages sometimes uses banners and wind walls, and ESTA says that’s fine as long as it can be removed within five minutes of getting 40 mph winds. But a gust of wind by definition doesn’t call and say, “I’m coming in five minutes.”
Jim Evans: “A Dangerous Game”
Jim Evans Sr. founded Mountain Productions in 1979. From their regional base of northeast Pennsylvania to China, they have provided stages for some of the biggest live events.
One thing that is an increasing problem is that these traveling tours just want to hang more weight all the time. They are asking staging companies to handle heavier video, for instance. Screens that are 24 by 12 feet are not good enough any more, it has to be 40 by 20 feet.
There are three or four “big” staging companies, but we can’t do it all. So these smaller companies are put on the spot. They don’t have the resources the bigger companies do. They don’t have the engineers; they don’t have the supervisors who have 20 years experience. Suddenly they are being asked to put 100,000 pounds of gear over people’s head, and for that, you need people who can really pay attention. This is a professional job. You don’t go to a barn and find some guy who is going to put up a stage for you. It’s a dangerous game we’re playing.
The typical example is this: Everybody should know what equipment their stage will hold, but just because [the artist] wants a bigger screen … well, you need to ask for better equipment, a sturdier roof. You can’t hang something extra just because the band wants to hang it.
We did Electric Daisy Carnival in Vegas — the A stage, and our supervisor shut down the show on the second night because of high winds. You have an experienced supervisor who can read the meter and get the stage cleared. Now there were 90,000 people to see that show, but our supervisor had the experience, the [wherewithal] to go to the promoter and shut it down. It’s a matter of being confident, not cocky.
I think the last thing we want is some Gestapo-type governing body coming in and saying “this is the law.” Every live event situation requires its own configuration, and you cannot make a “rule of thumb” or “one-size-fits-all” law.
The Safety Alliance is a good start. That will require us to be self-policing … but again, it goes back to the size of the company. Don’t take a job that’s over your head. I have a pile of pictures from [a recent big rock act in Alabama] and I can see there is so much extra weight hanging on that stage structure that … well, thank God there was no wind that day.
John Brown: Four Things to Do
John Brown, CEO of Brown United, started in the business when he was just 14, going to work for his father’s scaffolding business before taking over and expanding Brown United into temporary stage structures.
I think a few of the most important items to take away from these tragedies are: 1) to show proof of approved engineering with the loads specified at least one week in advance of the load-in; 2) to specify the tolerable wind speed of the engineered structure (no less than 90 mph); 3) that a certified meteorologist is assigned to your event; and 4) to establish an Emergency Action Plan with the venue and client.
Recently, it was forecast at one of my projects that there were going to be 30mph steady winds and gusts to 35-40 mph. So we, and the owners and promoter, hired a meteorologist — ours is from Weather Decision Technologies. We watched all the way through the show, which eventually went on, because the forecast was reduced to 20-25 mph steady winds. On our heavy steel roofs, we lower sound and screens at 30 mph, and we do not open gates at 40 mph. In this case, a show could be cancelled well before a critical decision had to be made, as it is always agreed to by us and the client that this is how it is for safety sake — no risk taking. It is just how it is, and how it needs to be. Finally, the Event Safety Alliance (eventsafetyalliance.org) has compiled excellent existing resources to help everybody be more informed about steps they can take in addition to the above, especially the checklist under the Resources section named “Requirements for Outdoor Event Structures.” We are certainly not perfect, but we can all take the necessary steps to maximize safety at our events.
Roy Bickel: “Exactly What is Needed”
Roy Bickel is one of the industry’s most respected riggers. He began as a circus performer and was the first “Disney Rigger.” Since the 1970s, he has been rigging for large touring rock shows and other live events.
On these shows, there should be a person who represents the staging company, with the experience to make sure it’s done exactly right, and then there should be a show rigger backing him up. Whoever is monitoring the weather should give them the information, and they should be able to look and say, “40 mph winds are coming, and in the book this stage can only withstand 35, so let’s lower the rig.” But the problem is the money guy will want to say, “now wait …” But we need to make it easy [to shut down/postpone a show], and that requires a strong knowledgeable person in charge. But unfortunately, sometimes it’s the bottom-line money guy.
For a rigger, this work can be tedious. You have to check for all the bits and pieces, and with these big stages, it can be a 12-hour process. And now again, we’re talking money.
Who should be liable? With the Indianapolis accident, they will find it’s someone who is insured — the engineer [or maybe] the company that owns the equipment will be the fall guys. They will not find fault with some 1099 guy, because that guy doesn’t have money and can’t be sued.
There needs to be an entity whose sole alliance and loyalty is to the safety of the entertainers and audiences. Someone who can’t be argued with in the way you don’t argue with a Fire Marshall. Now this would ruffle some feathers, but you ask the relatives of those killed in Indianapolis and they would say, “Yes, this is exactly what is needed.”
Chip Monck: “Worldwide Train Wreck”
LD Chip Monck, a Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Honoree, lit the Rolling Stone tours of the 1970s, and Newport Folk & Jazz Festivals, Concert for Bangladesh, and many more big tours.
This is the beginning of a worldwide train wreck. There are so many people that don’t understand the use of power and stature; they think that if it’s outlined in the Acts Rider, it’s all settled.
The only entity that has to fulfill the conditions of the rider is the promoter, who is only interested in money. The promoter hires a bunch of contractors and subs to do the event based on price, and none individually can police the multiple aspects of safety of the entire event.
As for the venue, they offer a structure that was probably engineered to only support the roof itself. They aren’t thinking about it, as they are focused on merchandise sales, parking, concessions, and toilet paper. Their major concern is how much money to not leave on the table. Sure, they insure for public liability, but all of that relates to The Aftermath — after the damage is done.
Two key questions: Who really has the power to stop a show? Who has the greatest vested interest in insuring that the stage is safe? The answer is the act. They are the ones on the stage.
Regardless of responsibility, Sugarland will be forever associated with the Indiana State Fair stage collapse. Radiohead just lost a crewmember, and now they will be associated with the Toronto disaster. I am not in any way suggesting that these bands are responsible for those tragedies. To expect [Sugarland’s] Jennifer Nettles to have the engineering knowledge and weather information in order to make a judgment about going on stage is ridiculous.
All of these shows advance a rigging plot. All of these acts have riders spelling out in detail the promoter’s responsibilities. What the band production staff should demand — and see, before they even load in, are the emergency weather plan, the stamped engineering drawing showing their rigging, and the forces presented to the staging. They should also know the identity of the single person responsible for monitoring the rigging installation and the person monitoring the weather.
But the primary responsibility of meeting the show requirements will always remain with the promoter and the staging provider. Obviously, the band production cannot be responsible for third-party structural issues, but they are the ones with their names on the marquee, and they have the most leverage on promoters to push safety standards down the line to staging and rigging vendors.
Jim Digby: “Weather is Not an Amateur Sport”
Jim Digby is a Parnelli Award-nominated production manager (Linkin Park) and co-founder of the Event Safety Alliance.
If an artist’s contract is persuasive enough to make a dozen people jump through hoops ensuring just green M&Ms are available backstage, then it stands to reason that the very same contract can include language that demands the stage structure be constructed in a manner consistent with existing codes, all engineering documents are current and applicable, an emergency action plan is determined and disseminated prior to the opening of doors, a private meteorological service is in place to monitor the site, and a qualified neutral show stop person be identified and empowered to call the show. Then we would have the beginnings of the kind of verifiable accountability missing in the field today.
We as an industry can do a whole lot better policing ourselves and holding people accountable. But the clout is in the artist contract. If I’m an artist and say in my contract the stage will be built to standard and it will be independently verified, and I show up and it’s not, I should get paid and get to walk. Then people would pay a little more attention.
Weather is the unknown factor. For decades, production managers like me looked at their computer believing we were doing the right thing. Well, I recently put myself through a meteorologist center and realized that predicting is not an amateur sport, but a Ph.D. science. I now work with Weather Decision Technologies and have them track the specific site for me.
But to be able to call off a show, you need experience. What concerns me is the aspiring new guy in that position — doesn’t know what to look for, and there’s no training manual.
I co-founded Event Safety Alliance to help create a book of guidelines so there’s uniformity for those who have to make those decisions. A “best practices Purple Guide” has existed in England for a decade, and we need to get everybody here reading from the same playbook. The first tangible thing we’ve done is taken 38 pages of engineering-speak, which is difficult to insert into an artist contract, and created a three-page version. It sets up this chain of accountability and has been already adopted by Phish, Linkin Park, and agencies like William Morris and CAA. [It can be downloaded from the Resources page at eventsafetyalliance.org —ed].
What’s driving all this for me is personal. In 1983, I was a 19-year-old tech director for a new nightclub. On opening night, the engineer approved [an elaborate reveal], and suddenly 800 pounds [of gear] came down the skull of a woman, killing her. I was the one that pushed that button. That changed me to the core, and has been inside me for 30 years.
