Insomniac Events has been a leader in the electronic dance festival experience, creating high-profile events such as the Electric Daisy Carnival, Electric Forest, White Wonderland and more. Mountain Productions traveled to California to set up staging for two Insomniac events within 2 weekends: Nocturnal Wonderland at San Bernadino and Beyond Wonderland at the Shoreline Amphitheater.
This past weekend, Metallica performed at Yankee Stadium to honor retiring pitcher Mariano Rivera. Rivera has been closing games for years to the famous Metallica hit, “Enter Sandman”. The band in turn dedicated the song to the Yankees pitcher as well as feature his jersey number on their team-inspired pinstriped amplifiers.
In Part 1 of our coverage of hoist servicing, we discussed the inspection process and the steps that our rigging department take to ensure your hoists are in top condition. Even though an annual inspection is performed to certify your hoists are in proper working order doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take care of your hoists every time you handle them. Maintaining your hoists will result in a longer lifespan and less repairs required when inspection rolls around.
We use weather covers at our own location to protect our motors from the elements
Because many of our events occur outside, it’s important to be prepared for the often unpredictable, but unstoppable force called Mother Nature.
In our industry, it is imperative that the hoists that hold the equipment above us are in top-performing shape – in the best interests of safety. Mountain Productions is a master distributor of CM products, including their legendary chain hoists. Even though CM offers some of the best and most trusted hoists in the industry, it is still important to inspect and service each hoist regularly. Our rigging department recommends (at least) an annual servicing, but some applications could require a more frequent inspection.
When we service chain hoists, we make sure to take every aspect of the hoist into consideration. Here’s a quick overview of the steps we take to ensure your hoists are in working order:
Founded in 2012 by hip hop household name Jay-Z, the Budweiser Made in America Festival is a 2 day celebration of diverse music (hip hop, rock, pop, R&B, EDM) and culture. Located in the heart of Philadelphia, Mountain Productions has set up staging at MIA in 2012 and again this year. The 2013 event took place on August 31st and September 1st and hosted a variety of high profile performers, including Beyoncé, Deadmau5, Empire of the Sun, Calvin Harris, Nine Inch Nails, Kendrick Lamar and more.
The more adapted you are, the less adaptable you tend to be. – Unknown
Over the years, we have been privileged to stage events all over the world. Each event brought its own challenges and solutions, as well as a unique location to build upon. Sometimes our engineers are given a site survey showing a large field and relatively flat land for staging outdoor concerts and festivals. But more often than not, this is not the case.
Depending on the type of event you are planning, mobile staging could be your best solution. A quick setup, small footprint and an impressive rigging capacity for its size make a mobile stage great for small to mid-size concerts and events. But not all events will benefit from a mobile stage, and if not planned out properly, you might find yourself with an autostage that can not hold your production load.
We’ve created a fun info graphic to show some of the pros (and cons) of our fleet of mobile stages. We hope you enjoy it and more importantly share it! For a full breakdown of each stage’s specifications, visit our Autostage web page here.
We know how intricate, involved and stressful our industry can be. Our staff prides itself on doing everything and anything possible to make our clients’ lives easier through the entire event process. We’ve done thousands of jobs, and are striving to improve each and every day. One thing that helps us to continue to evolve and adapt with our clients’ needs is often overlooked, but very simple – your feedback!
If you’d like to leave us a review on a recent project we have helped you on, visit our profile on the IFEA Event Resource Marketplace and give us your honest feedback. As an added bonus, the IFEA is hosting a contest to win a trip to Hawaii! Simply write a review and your entered in the contest.
Best of luck to everyone with the contest giveaway, but more importantly, thank you for your feedback!
The industry is always changing and evolving, pushing the limits on what is possible. The past few months have been a welcome challenge, with festivals and concerts looking for the most innovative and GIGANTIC staging systems.
For large festivals, a stage with an incredible presence and roof capacity is ideal. Mountain Productions’ Mountain Truss system, developed in 2010, has been built all over the country, and this past year it has been used by some of the largest festivals in the nation.
Deciding which company to hire for event staging and equipment is a daunting task. With everything to consider, it’s easy to find yourself frustrated and sporting a few more gray hairs than when you started. We understand the importance of being prepared and well educated even prior to contacting any company for a quote. In hopes to offer some tips and helpful hints to prepare for your next event, I talked to Mountain Production staging and rigging salesmen Tim Evans, Marty Wesstrom, Pat McGlynn and Jeff Sivick. Their 25+ combined years of experience has equipped them with helpful advice that we would like to share with you (in no particular order)…