ENTERTAINMENT RIGGING
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
Hoists used in the entertainment industry need to be specialised – so specialised that they are not even called hoists. Julian Champkin reports.
S
tage performances, concerts, festivals, museums, art galleries, even the odd display in a shopping mall foyer
intended to divert potential customers for a moment or two while they consume something from a fast-food outlet – all of these count as entertainment. Venues range from the permanent, such as a national theatre, to the temporary – a weekend jazz festival in a field. From the simple, like a stretch of pavement hosting a street busker (with or without an amplifier) to the technologically dazzling – think half the long-running spectacles in London, Las Vegas or New York. Lifting of scenery, props and performers above the
stage and above the audience is generally part of it. Lights have to be rigged, speakers set in place and where would the Christmas production of Peter Pan be without Peter, Tinker Bell and the rest flying across the stage suspended on (nearly) invisible wires to thrill the young audience?
And, just occasionally, the lifting can go
wrong. As Beyoncé experienced in June, when she had to interrupt her ‘Carter Cowboy’ stage performance in Houston when the ‘flying’ Cadillac stage prop she was riding suddenly tilted in mid-air. Something had clearly gone wrong with the synchronisation of its lifting hoists.
In lifting for entertainment, therefore, as in any other form of lifting, safety is of the essence. There are, though, other requirements. Festival stages need to be set up, frequently in open fields, and taken down after the event – and both operations must be easy and quick to perform. Lightweight is a desired requirement in entertainment hoists. For outdoor festivals, weather-proofing is a must. (For a typical Glastonbury, mud- proofing would seem to be needed also.) And – a seemingly-trivial requirement, but necessary all the same – the colour and finish of the hoist matters. It should not catch or reflect stage lighting onto the audience as the
A truss-mounted GIS hoist ready to be raised for a musical on ice.
www.hoistmagazine.com | September 2025 | 19
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