brony

Cheers:) Most of the craziness I saw was on smaller-mid-sized shows (12 movers and some cans kind of thing). When I was in the biz, anyone who could buy some box (or 12" triangle) truss could call themselves a 'production company' Truly scary. I don't think our head tech even knew what SWL was. On the bigger shows, I was just a stagehand. The whole thing was a lot more coordinated I terms of LDs taking to riggers, etc. but some little unexpected thing always led to us rigging up some kind of 'plan D' on the spot. Usually some old 'pro' would declare it ok by saying "that'll hold." The way we handled the gear wasn't exactly the best either. Chain lifts got slammed around, scaffold was tossed like sticks, things were 'unbent' at the next show. Again, I have no idea what happened here. But without actual regulation, I don't think the industry in this country will learn from it.

I worked in the live event industry here in Canada on and off for 10 years, and I think that article does highlight an issue that does not seem to be entirely isolated to this country: the pass the buck mentality. I know that Elton John might not be the best person to attest to the strucural integrity of his touring rig (although who knows) but the buck has to stop somewhere. Who should be ultimately responsible? With multiple companies all involved in this type of show, everyone assumes that the riggers/sound crew/lighting crew/local crew/touring crew/event organizer/venue owner is making sure its all going to plan. If you were brought in to hang lights - you hang them. You're not trained about how heavy they are. You do as you're told and get home as quickly as you can so you can because your GF is waiting. Someone else will take care of it. Whether proper oversight is the issue in this particular case is unimportant. But these tragedies always raise the issue, and without any kind of governing body, or industry-specific regulation here in Canada we will never learn from what happened when it is discovered. And in 10 years Scott's death will just be an old story, and not the horrific lesson it really is.