showstars - crew call winter 2015 newsletter

01/Winter 2015SHOWSTARS.CO.UK

T H E O F F I C I A L S H O W S TA R S B U L L E T I N

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CREWCALL

SHOWS TARS CREW C ALL w i n t e r 20152

I’m not usually one for wallow-ing in nostalgia but, for one of the features in the début issue of our new-style newsletter, it felt right to open up the scrapbooks for once and remind ourselves of the rich and varied journey that has taken Showstars to where we are today, nearly 32 years since it all began – well, a bit longer if you count my own introduction to the crewing business, thanks to a bunch of legendary Swedes.

The live event industry has changed in so many ways during that time, and I’m sure that I speak for all my colleagues when I express how privileged we feel to continue to be a major part of that evolution. The show must always go on and we take on board that responsibility with great enthusiasm.

Our crewing activities are extremely diverse, spanning festivals and concert tours, to awards shows, major sporting events and corporate galas, as well as helping individuals and businesses to gain a better un-derstanding of the safety issues that govern our world.

The aim of Crew Call is to keep you up to date with our latest projects and experiences. For the most part, this first issue contains a series of snapshots of some of the projects that kept us busy during 2014. We hope you enjoy it.

Graham ShawManaging Director, Showstars

WRING OUTTHE OLD,BRING INTHE NEW...

C O N T E N T S

AUNTIE BEEB’S PRIZEGIVINGCrewing the inauguralBBC Music Awards.

RESIDENT AT THE ROUNDHOUSEShowstars celebrates aspecial relationship.

HIGHER GROUNDWorking at height trainingis a boost to industry.

EXPERIENCE IS EVERYTHINGThe roots of Showstars.

A FINE DEBUT FOR ONBLACKHEATHHelping Harvey Goldsmith’s newfestival rise above all expectation.

REVELATIONS AT THE APOLLOHans Zimmer’s Hammersmithshows crewed by Showstars.

INTRODUCING STARMANThe company’s new mascotis getting around!

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SHOWS TARS CREW C ALL w i n t e r 2015 3

On December 11, the music world united for the inaugu-ral BBC Music Awards, a star-studded affair hosted by Chris Evans and Fearne Cotton, and broadcast live on BBC1 from London’s Earls Court. Boasting performances from some of the biggest UK and international artists, including Take That, Coldplay, One Direction, Gregory Porter, Tom Jones, Pal-oma Faith, Ed Sheeran, will.i.am and Clean Bandit, along with the BBC Concert Orchestra, the event saw BBC 1, Radio 1 and Radio 2 join together to celebrate some of the best highlights in popular music from the over last 12 months. Having worked with production manager Tony Wheeler of Nine Yards for many years on all manner of large and small projects, he approached Showstars to take on the crewing of this launch event. Being similar in scale to a number of the music awards shows crewed in the past by Showstars, Wheeler had com-plete trust in the company to supply the crew numbers and the skills and capabilities required to make the job work within a relatively short timeframe.

Operations manager Stuart Milne, who was on-site to oversee the project, commented: “With a project of this scale, you need to enlist a number of crew chiefs to manage different departments. At Earls Court, our senior crew chief was John Hunt who also ran the site crew and helped

to check everyone in, giving them passes and meal tickets.

“Peter Ridley managed the steel crew as a separate entity, while Tony Say headed the set crew and assisted me with any issues concern-ing the crew. There were also a number of senior

crew members who can be relied on to carry out different tasks.”

Showstars’ entourage also included 16 follow spot operators – 10 out front and six over the stage on the truss – plus forklift drivers, a production crew to assist with sound, lights, video and set, a team of eight in the catering department and runners for catering and produc-tion. “We make sure that a good number of experienced crew are divided across all those departments so there are

AUNTIE BEEB'sPRIZEGIVING2014’s Biggest Names Come Alive At Earls Court

Earls Court prepares for the BBC’sfirst-ever Music Awards event.

enough people present to advise some of the lesser experienced members if ever that becomes necessary,” said Milne, who added that a special foliage crew was also brought in. “Showstars supplied a cherry picker driver who attached all the foliage to the set, giving it a slightly organic look.” Before the BBC event, Showstars was present at Earls Court over a much longer period when it provided the crew for a “very ‘secret’ fashion show” by a popular lingerie brand. The man hours involved were twice as long and several shifts were also extended. In terms of the staging, more steel and structure was required, as well as additional set and lighting. However, as Milne observed, in many ways it was a similar type of job that used a number of identical suppliers including Stageco, PRG and Unusual Rigging who redeployed their equipment for the BBC. “A lot of the staging and lighting didn’t need to go back on the truck so that saved some time. So although some of our crew didn’t get to have a break between jobs, having back-to-back shows proved very practical. “In total, we got through

approximately 250 crew and, as expect-ed, the peak times for us were the de-rigs which required a large contingent of between 100 and 150 overnight after the fashion show, with a similar number com-ing in the next day to start working on the BBC’s event.” During the set-up of the BBC Music Awards, Stuart Milne was approached by the BBC to talk on camera about Showstars’ role on the production.“They were filming a short ‘behind the scenes’ documentary on the show build and wanted to interview someone about it,” he said. “Some time lapse photography was taken and they also attached some cameras on the front of the forklift trucks that ena-bled them to get some fast-moving footage around the venue.


Above: The set was designed by Misty Buckley in association with Malcolm Birkett, with the stage supplied by Stageco.Below: Crew chiefs John Hunt (top) and Peter ‘Mavis’ Ridley; Stuart Milne being interviewed by the BBC.

A HELPING HANDStuart Milne says: “On the larger jobs, we like to have a senior management pres-ence and at Earls Court that person was myself. Showing the client that we have a high degree of interest in the project and want to look after them is an important confidence builder. From an internal per-spective, we get an idea of what’s happen-ing on-site and it allows us to assess the crew’s performance. “Sometimes, you may want to switch some crew around between departments depending on their specialities and what-ever is required of us at the time. “It also means we are here to deal with things of a welfare nature; maybe there are some financial or social issues that need input. Anything we can do to lessen the burden on the crew chief is a positive thing, because it enables him to run his team and just get the job done. “That also goes for all individuals. If there is ever something troubling a crew member, we can sit down and talk it through to the point where they’re able to continue working with less on their mind. “Transport and accommodation occa-sionally prove to be obstacles. We had some de-rig call changes for the BBC Mu-sic Awards which meant that some of the crew had to arrive at 5am, so we had to arrange taxis and some overnight rooms for those who weren’t able to rest at home in between shifts. “We like to think that Showstars is a family company in the sense that we are approachable and we do take an interest in the lives and welfare of the people who work for us. We just try to make things a little smoother for them whenever possi-ble and if we can’t help with a particular problem, we will always point them in the direction of someone who can.”


“The BBC also asked me who I was looking forward to seeing. The answer was obvious: my wife!”

THE VICTORSDespite its two-hour length, only four awards were presented during the evening. The absent Pharrell Williams was beamed in live from Los Angeles to receive two awards – International Art-ist of the Year and Song of the Year for his monster hit ‘Happy’ – from No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani. Ed Sheeran beat stiff competition from artists including the legendary David Bowie to win British Artist of the Year, and the BBC Introducting Award for new talent went to Welsh band Cat-fish And The Bottlemen.

FAREWELL TO EARLS COURTWith the demolition of Earls Court Exhibition Centre due soon, to make way for a new housing and village development, the BBC Music Awards turned out to be the penultimate live music event held at the iconic venue which was originally opened in 1887 and was rebuilt in 1937 in its current form. “Earls Court has hosted some of the UK’s all-time greatest concerts and events, and I’m proud that Showstars has been involved in many of them,” said Milne. “Sadly, this is the end of an era.”

IN RESIDENCE ATTHE ROUNDHOUSEWhile festivals, major sporting events and a variety of other outdoor pursuits kept Showstars on its toes all summer long, the same period witnessed a number of its regular workforce in residence at the Roundhouse in Camden Town, north London, maintaining a relation-ship that dates back to the legendary venue’s re-birth in 2006 when Showstars contributed to its redevelopment programme. A former railway engine repair shed and gin warehouse, the historic status of the legendary Roundhouse cannot be

overstated. Built in 1847, its role in the development of live music and the arts began 50 years ago when, in 1964, the Centre 42 Theatre Company laid down plans to convert it into a multi-purpose cultural centre. Within two years, artists including The Pink Floyd and Soft Machine had put the venue in the driving seat of Lon-don’s influential underground movement while, a decade later, performances by The Ramones and The Clash helped to reinvent the Roundhouse as the kingpin of the capital’s punk circuit.

The lack of funding that forced the closure of the Roundhouse in 1983 coincided with the founding of Showstars by Graham Shaw. “It was sad when the venue disappeared because it had been one of the best

Showstars Celebrates A Special Relationship

Camden Town’s finest marks 50 years asa cutting edge performing arts venue.

Left: The original railway engine repair shed, circa 1850; flyers for classic shows during the mid ’60s.



places in London to see bands as well as theatre shows,” said Shaw. “By the time plans were being drawn up to bring the Roundhouse back to life with a £29.7 million facelift, Showstars had become estab-lished as a crew resource and so we were delighted to help the cause as a ‘360° Founder Member’.” Since the north London venue reo-pened in June 2006 with the theatrical spectacular ‘Fuerza-bruta’, Showstars’ crew has remained heavily involved and this summer’s calendar was no exception. The end of August notably saw the company busy with the venue’s tran-sitions between Camden Beach, the eclectic Summer Sessions, the Imo-gen Heap-curated Reverb weekend of visionary music and, ultimately, a high profile live music festival that dominated the ven-

ue throughout September. “We have a seating structure that is rather like a giant Meccano set. It takes three days to build and two days to dismantle, and along with other jobs such as placing art installations around the building, Showstars have been working on that exclusively since it was introduced,” said Fiona Green-

hill, the Roundhouse’s Head of Techni-cal & Production. “We always defer to Showstars because they are the company that knows this system inside out. Whenev-er possible, they bring back the same crew every time because it’s quite a precise, demanding job and their pre-vious experience counts for a lot.”

Urban sand – Camden Beach in August.Below: Showstars crew at work inside the Main Space.

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ON THE BEACHOne of Showstars’ more unusual pro-jects at the Roundhouse, the annual Camden Beach, north London’s ‘urban summer resort’, saw the crew shov-el 150 tonnes of fine sand into (and, later, out of) the venue’s car park to create a 900m2 beach environment, complete with deck chairs, beach huts, arcade stalls, a fish and chip restau-rant and an ice cream van. Tony Say, one of two Showstars crew chiefs on-site this summer, com-mented: “We cleared the car park and placed sleepers around the perimeter of the beach area to act as barriers, and then emptied nine lorry loads of sand into that space, making it even and as authentic-looking as possible. Once that was in place, we erected beach huts, set out deck chairs and put toys around the sand for children to play with. In addition, we built a roof garden within a container that featured a swimming pool, bar and VIP area. It was great to see so many people enjoying it this year. “At the same time we were clearing the beach, another section of our crew dismantled the seating structure in the Main Space, moving it outside and packing it into containers, and then tidied the arena so it was ready for the load-in of the forthcoming live music season which had an all-standing

audience on the floor. Depending on the nature of the event, whether it’s a concert, opera or arts production, the seating arrangement will change.” Showstars’ average crew call at the venue involves 14 crew, each working three 12-hour days with two crew chiefs. “Our crew are all multi-skilled with numerous specialities between them and hold a variety of licenses for activities including climbing, rigging, the use of plant such as forklifts and cherry pickers,” informed Say. “We normally arrive at 8.00am and the first day will start with us examin-ing the plans and organising how we approach each job, and I’ll oversee the process.” The Roundhouse’s seating will be re-installed by Showstars in January 2015 for an eight-show run of the Roy-al Opera House production of Monte-verdi’s masterpiece ‘Orfeo’.

Crew members pack away and remove the seating in the Main Spece to prepare for the September run of shows. Below: Fiona Greenhill, Head of Technical & Production at the Roundhouse; Tony Say, Showstars’ crew chief. Bottom right: The Roundhouse’s Main Space after seating removal.



HIGHER GROUNDIn May 2014, Showstars introduced one of the UK’s first Working At Height training courses for individuals and businesses engaged in live events. For years, Showstars had searched for a Working At Height course that suited its crew. Although the company had sent its staff on a variety of courses that covered mast climbing and numerous types of outdoor climbing, nothing could be found that was specifically designed for local crew or stage builders. Stuart Milne, the driving force behind Showstars’ course, explains: “A lot of people who work at height aren’t what you’d naturally describe as climbers. They might be work-ing on a stage or a catwalk, however, awareness training is still vitally important for those people because as the HSE states, any fall can cause harm. “So, In the absence of the right kind of training, we took it upon ourselves to develop the SPA’s existing Working At Height module by removing some of the less relevant content and adding items that reflected day-to-day practic-es within the live event industry. After spending a good few months on developing it, the SPA endorsed the course and we began to roll it out last spring.”

The course leaders include a number of the professionals with whom Showstars helped to run the Live Event Safety Passport courses. There are six tutors, one of whom is Stu-art Milne himself. “We’re very open to feedback from course participants because we want to make the content as appropriate to their working lives as possible, so ideas for additions or modifications are always welcome,” comments Milne. “If we’re instructing a group of stage builders or theatre technicians, for example, we can tailor the content to suit their specific requirements. It’s quite a fluid module in that respect.” The course can be held in a training room at 3 Mills Stu-dios where Showstars is based or, alternatively, at another company’s premises. Says Milne: “All we require is a classroom-type environ-ment with tables and chairs, and a projection facility. We’re also trying to make it a very hands-on course, so there’s less focus on PowerPoint presentations and more practical interaction on things like PPE inspections and trying out harnesses which are precisely what people experience every day in the real world.”

Showstars’ Working At HeightTraining Is A Boost To Industry

To discover how thE WORKING AT HEIGHT coursecan benefit you, contact Showstars at

[email protected] call 020 8215 3333

EXPERIENCEIS EVERYTHING

Graham, how did your career in live event production begin?

GS: It started for me in February 1977. Listening to music had always been a passion and although I didn’t have any professional music aspirations, I was intrigued by the crew work my flatmate had been doing for the past few years. At that point, I was between jobs and jumped at the chance of assisting the load-in and load-out of two concerts at the Royal Albert Hall by ABBA, whose career was then at its peak. It was Valentine’s Day and I was pushing flight cases up a ramp. This wasn’t particularly romantic and not at all what I expected to be doing with my life.

I must have done something right because further offers of work came and, soon, crew jobs became frequent and I was helping out on some gigs for Harvey Goldsmith who had been using college students as local roadies. One of Harvey’s staff, Paul Loasby approached me after a while and asked if I’d running the crewing side of Harvey’s business. Paul hadn’t been happy with the way it was being managed so I gratefully accepted the challenge and ran the crew myself until the summer of 1978 when I fell off the stage at The Stranglers’ Battersea Park gig and fractured my skull. That was obviously a shock to the system in many ways. By the time I returned to manage the company, other crews

Robert Williams grills Showstars’founder and MD Graham Shaw on theorigins of the UK’s leading crew company...


Graham Shaw: looking back.

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were beginning to make a name for themselves on the live circuit and it resulted in some rivalry. Meanwhile, as a huge Bruce Springsteen fan since ‘Born To Run’, I was about to have the time of my life on his UK tour of 1981 [The River] as the runner for the tour man-agement. I got to know the E Street Band and Bruce him-self. I’d drive him around and take him sightseeing, and it’s still one of the big highlights of my career. It was during this period that I got to know George Travis who has remained a key figure on Bruce’s tours and subse-quently has become his tour director. We’re still in touch.

At what point did you establish Showstars?

GS: Up until 1983, I’d been working on a self-employed ba-sis and I had gathered enough experience by then to start my own company. It was Ian Wright at Solo Music Agen-cy who encouraged me by putting me in touch with his accountant and Showstars was incorporated on March 1st 1983. Most of the rock’n’roll crew work at that time was split between Showstars and a close rival, but the project that helped to define us came in July 1985 with Live Aid at Wembley Stadium.

What was Showstars’ role at Live Aid?

GS: We supplied all of the stage crew and it was a fantastic day, despite being a daunting prospect at the outset. I’d worked on a number of shows at Wembley Stadium but I re-member looking out through the stage drapes at this huge crowd – never before had I seen Wembley so rammed!

On the morning of the show, I was standing in the wings when [production manager] Andrew Zweck turned to me and said, “Well, it’s all in your hands now”… the very words I believe Bob Geldof had said to him earlier that day. I was given free reign to use as many crew as I thought were needed for the changeovers and right up to the morning of the show, I was still hiring people to come and help as the enormity of the task unfolded. In the end we had a total of 70 crew. The load-out was also a challenge because I do not think so much production equipment had been used in one place. We had to load out the massive revolving stage the next day, before even starting on the staging. Interestingly, in the week prior to Live Aid we had worked on Springsteen’s show at the same venue during his Born In The USA tour. We’d started building the stage on June 29 – the day my first child was born. At around 8.15am I was at the hospital as my daughter made her first appearance but by midday I was at Wembley for which my ex-wife never forgave me. That stage was left in place for Live Aid as Bruce’s contribution to the event. I’m still very proud of what we achieved on that mo-mentous day although we didn’t use that experience as a stepping stone. In reality, we were just stumbling from one to the next and even when Showstars became a larger operation I didn’t have a business plan. If I’d have been more astute back then I think we’d have achieved a greater portion of the market but we had very good people within our ranks; our reputation was growing and we soon established ourselves within the industry as a force to be reckoned with.

Top row: ABBA at the Royal Albert Hall on Valentine’s Day, 1977 – an auspicious start to a remarkable career; The Boss himself in 1981.Above: Live Aid, Wembley Stadium, July 13 1985; Bob Geldof; production manager Andrew Zweck.

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Towards the late 1980s, Showstars began to enter the corporate events arena. How did that come about?

GS: Possibly inspired by the advances in rock’n’roll production, the corpo-rates were becoming more sophisticat-ed with their event designs for AGMs and product launches, and Showstars started to become in demand. Many of them were using the same suppliers that were found on large concert tours and, naturally, we fell into that brack-et as a default local crew source. I don’t think it’s an accident that

the upscaling of corporate events co-incided with the dawn of the affluent society because there was suddenly more money available to impress. A new generation of entrepreneurs began to have decision-making power and they enjoyed the kudos of using companies who had toured with The Rolling Stones for their car launch. Our first major project of this kind was the launch of the re-designed Ford Sierra in September 1987, for which we were hired by design agency Imagination to help convert a disused warehouse in the Docklands into a

luxurious, state-of-the-art showcase venue. Also around that time, the British Gas AGM took over three halls at the NEC in Birmingham, which ob-viously required a huge crew to install lights, drapes and endless amounts of set pieces. They had the money to turn what was usually a dull meeting into one that reeked of razzamatazz, and we recognised that this was a very lucrative area of work for Show-stars. After that we started to work on all the European motor shows, building the Ford stands for Imagination. We had a crew of 12 people who took on that responsibility for a number of years until it began to tail off a little when it was more cost-effective to hire local crew, although we remain involved to some extent. Obviously, the appearance of our crew on the corporate events had to be more refined than rock’n’roll usual-ly demands, so we adopted a smarter, uniform approach for our crew’s pres-entation. You quite literally have to cut the cloth to fit!

The car’s the star... working for Imagination on Ford’s exhibition stands has contributed to Showstars’ reputation in the corporate world.Below: Mick & Ronnie with the Stones at Wembley, 1990.

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You mentioned The Rolling Stones. Did they represent another of the company’s big milestones?

GS: Absolutely! It was quite a break-through for us. By 1990 we had been building stages at Wembley Stadium for roughly seven years and The Roll-ing Stones’ production manager Mi-chael Ahern came to us to ask for 30 touring crew to help build their stage throughout the band’s Urban Jungle tour of Europe – the last to feature Bill Wyman on bass. Edwin Shirley Staging created a massive stage structure for the band – it was bigger than anything we’d worked on up to that point – with scaff towers that folded up the sides on which the inflatable ‘honky tonk’ women appeared.

Their schedule was incredibly tight and even though they were leapfrog-ging two stages, they had a very small window in which to de-rig the stage and move it to the next venue. So rather than rely on numerous local crew companies, they wanted one team who knew exactly what to do at every show and would travel on two sleeper buses. I’m pleased that we did very well on Urban Jungle, from May 1990 until the final show at Wembley in the August. Not only did we build the stage, we also multi-tasked as produc-tion hands and played a big part in the overall smooth running of the shows. That Stones tour earned Showstars a valuable reputation for providing good climbers and steel crew, and that reputation has stood to the present.

Wembley appears to have played a big part in Showstars’ development.

GS: Yes, I’d agree. Along with the V Festival and The BRIT Awards, which we’ve crewed since 1997, both incar-nations of Wembley Stadium – and the Arena, where we’ve done hundreds of shows – have been at the heart of our business. When the new Stadium opened in 2007, we were the first company to build a stage there, for George Michael’s 25 Live – a pair of sold-out shows for which Marshall Arts requested us to also provide produc-tion and stage building crew. We’ve re-mained a regular fixture at the venue ever since. I can only think of about three rock tours that have played there when we’ve not been present.

Main photo: Pyromania along the River Thames on Millennium night.Insets: (top) George Michael opens the new Wembley Stadium with his 25 Live production; the Millennium Show at the Dome.

“The Millennium called for a huge range of diverse skills” SHOWS TARS CREW C ALL w i n t e r 2015 13


Another major client has been Jack Morton Worldwide, well known for its production of some of the biggest sporting and corporate brand spec-tacles.

GS: One of the projects that really brought things together for us was the Millennium, when a combined crew of around 200 were simultaneously working for Jack Morton Worldwide [JMW] on the celebrations along the River Thames and for NMEC at The Millennium Dome who ran the building and were responsible for the very large show taking place there for

the Millennium celebrations that was attended by Her Majesty the Queen. It called for a huge gathering of diverse skills from us – lots of staging in the Dome and a big corporate production out on the river. We had already worked on The VE Celebrations in Hyde Park and had been supplying festival crew since 1997, proving our capability on outdoor events to a wide range of suppliers, so when the Millennium job came up we were ready to take it on and perform very well for JMW. That was really the start of a relationship that carried on with projects such as

a very large Toyota European retailer meeting for 6,000 dealers at ExCeL, the wedding of the Duke & Duchess of Cornwall, and right up to date on a very recent large international show. We have supplied the crew for the New Year’s Eve celebrations ever since and will be doing so again this year. London 2012 was, of course, anoth-er massive watershed for us although we were appointed by a separate body to supply crew to build the main staging and automated elements of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Crew from Showstars had key responsibilities at the Olympic Stadium during London 2012.Bottom: Many of the same crew worked on the Sochi Games in 2014.


U2 at Wembley, 2009.

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We also supplied dedicated teams to the aerial department, technical stag-ing, the Olympic flame cauldron, and lighting and set construction, along with being responsible for many of the plant operators, drivers and runners. The crew calls just kept growing and growing! It was a very special project. On top of all this, Stuart Milne head-ed the training of the London 2012 Ceremonies staff, contractors and vol-unteers in the Event Safety Passport, so it was a very comprehensive and very special project for us. Subsequently, due to the global nature of these events, we went on to

send 78 crew to Sochi 2014 for five months and, very recently, had 140 crew working in Glasgow.

Back to live music – Live Nation has been the source of many key projects for Showstars.

GS: The work we’ve done with Live Na-tion originally came as a result of our relationship with Andrew Craig, their Head of International Production. It’s become the norm for Live Nation’s crew work to be divided between the stage build and general production. So whenever a stage needs to be

built at venues like the Emirates Stadium, Wembley or Twickenham, we are often the company that is asked to supply a crew of anywhere between 40 and 120 people depending on the size of the production. The same generally happens with SJM and Metropolis. On some shows we actually cover the staging and all the production crewing too. This year, the Live Nation connec-tion was through Stageco who won the contract to supply the main stages for most of the promoter’s outdoor con-certs and festivals including Kasabian at Victoria Park in Leicester [new-


Showstars worked with Stageco on several Live Nation events in 2014. Clockwise from top: Wireless in Finsbury Park, Electric Daisy Carnival, Calling on Clapham Common, Kings Of Leon at Milton Keynes Bowl and Kasabian in Leicester’s Victoria Park.


ly released on the band’s Summer Solstice DVD], Kings of Leon and the Electric Daisy Carnival [EDC] at Mil-ton Keynes Bowl, Wireless at Finsbury Park in London and Birmingham’s Perry Park, and Calling on Clapham Common. It was agreed that Stageco would take care of all the local stage building labour for those shows and because of their previous positive experiences of working with Showstars – on projects including U2’s record-breaking 360° tour – they very kindly chose us. I don’t think any other British company can match Showstars for its experience and relia-bility when it comes to stage building, and it’s fantastic to get hired as frequently as we do because we have at least 40 or 50 people work-ing for four days on the load-in and an extra day for the load-out. But we are also very happy to take on production.

Over the 30+ years that Showstars has existed, the level of competition

between crew companies in the UK has increased dramatically. How do you remain a leader?

GS: The challenge of staying at the top has never been more difficult. How-ever, I have enormous confidence in our experience across a very diverse range of live events, of all types and sizes, and if a new client comes to us we can provide a compelling case for hiring Showstars to cover all depart-ments.

We’re often regarded as the old kid on the block, and some decision mak-ers might prefer to do business with a younger company. That said, our prac-tical outlook is as fresh as anyone’s and when unfailing results count, you simply cannot beat experience because experience is everything.

The more you work with a client, the more you become accustomed to how they prefer to operate, and that informs us which are the right individ-uals on the right crew for any particu-lar job. You have to apply people who are not only capable of the job in question but are also polite, and those who are allocated the responsibility of liaising with the client must present themselves in an affable, professional manner.

Back in the office, clear and respect-ful communication with the client is paramount. And, ultimately, the pro-duction manager or event director must be impressed. You might have 12

climbers or 12 steel hands but unless you are absolutely convinced that these people have the right aptitude for work you may as well have none of them, because our future – and theirs – relies on us getting it right every time. We adhere to that old adage: you’re only as good as your last job.

“Communicationis paramount”

Operations Director Stuart Milne.

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a fine debutfor onblackheathAlmost 50 years since the start of his stellar career, Harvey Goldsmith CBE continues to innovate as a con-cert promoter and his latest festival project, OnBlack-heath was launched in spectacular fashion last month with assistance from his long-time production partner Showstars who supplied a complete crewing solution. Held over two days in mid-September on Blackheath Common in south-east London, OnBlackheath matched a diverse music line-up – Massive Attack, Grace Jones, Aloe Blacc, Frank Turner, Gilles Peterson, Chris Holland’s All-Star Band and many more – with fringe theatre attractions and a highly popular food village, featuring demonstrations by top chefs. Showstars provided 10 site crew (including plant oper-ators), four caterers, five runners, 36 production staff, a pair of spotlight operators – who came into their own dur-ing Grace Jones’ electrifying performance – and 13 show

call crew who handled changeovers on both show days. “There were three stages at the festival with a vast array of different artists and a variety of activity areas,” com-mented Stuart Milne, the east London-based company’s operations director. “The food was amazing and there was even a workshop where you could learn how to cook with celebrity chefs. John Lewis, the principal sponsor and part-ner, had two wonderfully decorated hospitality areas which we helped to set up. “OnBlackheath was a great success and everyone remarked on what a laid back and happy festival it was. It helped that it was a sunny weekend and a great way to wrap up the summer season. Having worked together for over 30 years on projects including the mighty Live Aid, Showstars and Harvey Goldsmith Productions enjoy a fan-tastic rapport and it was exciting to team up on this new event.”

Showstars helps Goldsmith’s newfestival rise above all expectation



Reviews of OnBlackheath were unanimously positive and the 25,000+ audience clearly enjoyed the formula. Production director Jim Baggott was delighted with the results. He said: “Showstars’ site crew were picked for their vast experience in the field and they helped deliver a safe environment for festival goers with a very short build time of six days, which is quite an achievement. “The production crew did a great job for the load in and out, with the show call guys keeping changeovers tight and on time, ensuring that we did not lose a minute and that everything went as planned. “All in all, as usual, the crew did a fantastic job in all areas, making the event a great success and helping us to be nominated in five categories at this year’s UK Festival Awards – Best Medium-Sized Festival, Best New Festival, Best Family Festival, Best Toilets and Best Headline Per-formance (Massive Attack at OnBlackheath) as shortlist-ed by Gigwise reviewers and readers.”

Massive Attack.Below: Grace Jones; Jim Baggott.

19

“The crew did a fantastic job inall areas... a great success”

REVELATIONS ATTHE APOLLO

Just days after completing a multi-tude of tasks on Harvey Goldsmith’s successful OnBlackheath festival, Showstars were back in action on behalf of the legendary promoter for two sold-out shows at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith by renowned German film & TV composer Hans Zimmer (left) on October 10-11. Presented as Hans Zimmer Revealed, the concerts showcased the work of Grammy, Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning composer and multi-in-strumentalist as he steered a 76-piece orchestra through soundtrack high-lights from ‘Driving Miss Daisy’, ‘Glad-iator’, ‘The Da Vinci Code’, ‘Pirates Of

The Caribbean’, ‘The Lion King’, ‘Crim-son Tide’, ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ and many others. Moving into the Apollo immediately after Kate Bush’s extraordinary run of 22 shows, Revealed was hailed as one of Zimmer’s greatest live achieve-ments. Mixing traditional orchestral instruments with rock and electronica, Zimmer was joined in the second half of the shows by British guitar icon Johnny Marr, with whom he is collaborating on the former Smiths guitarist’s next album. Before the entourage moved into the Apollo, however, just over two weeks of music and technical rehearsals took

Hans Zimmer’s Hammersmithshows crewed by Showstars



place with Showstars managing a number of roles for production director Jim Baggott. While a small Showstars crew handled the load-in/out of backline equipment for the band’s rehearsals at John Henry’s in north London, the four days of full production re-hearsals at ExCeL in the Docklands proved to be a far more involved affair, according to Showstars’ Stuart Milne. “We had 16 crew loading in rigging, lighting, stag-ing, audio, video and drapes on the first two days, and everything was top secret because the appearance of guests like Johnny Marr was to kept as a surprise,” said Milne. “We also provided two spotlight operators and a dedicated runner, while I acted as safety advisor for the whole production. “It was an interesting time to be working at ExCeL because the rehearsals partially clashed with not only the annual PLASA Show but also a Star Trek conven-tion, so we would occasionally see Vulcans passing along a corridor!” Later, on October 9, a Showstars crew of 26 loaded the full show into the Apollo and also supplied two runners, three catering assistants and a wardrobe assistant, with four show call crew and two spot oper-ators on the show days. “There was a massive amount of kit for such a small venue – we had 38 crew handling the load-out,” said Milne. “But I’m pleased to say it all went well and Jim Baggott was delighted with everyone’s performance.”

Zimmer with special guest guitarist Johnny Marr.

“Everything was top secret” 21


STARMAN:OUR GUY'S GETTING AROUND!If you’ve had your wits about you recently, you might have caught sight of a new addition to the Showstars crew. Measuring just 85mm tall, ‘Starman’ (as we like to call him) might be easy to miss despite his standard hard hat and hi-viz, but he is blessed with a special added extra. Removing Starman’s head – don’t worry, he’s immune to pain – exposes a USB drive on which to store your project files and other important info when you’re on the move. A few Starmen are currently in circulation as unique sea-sonal gifts, and are loaded with a few digital bonuses. If you should come into contact with Starman on an event site, be sure to take an ‘on location’ snap and email it to Max at our London office – [email protected] – so that it can be included in our forthcoming online Starman gallery. The best entries will be rewarded with a Showstars T-shirt!


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WE W I SH YO U A VERY HAPPY, HE A LTHY & SUCCESSFUL

NEW YEAR

S TAG E & E V E N T C R E W S E RV I C E S

BRIDGE HOUSE3 MILLS STUDIOS

THREE MILL LANE • LONDON E3 3DUT 020 8215 3333 • F 020 8215 3355

E [email protected] • W showstars.co.uk

CREW CALL is produced by Liveculture Groupfor and on behalf of Showstars

Cover image © The RoundhouseOther images © Paul Stich, Mark Cunningham, The Roundhouse, Harvey Goldsmith Productions, Band Aid Trust, LML Archives and the BBC

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