Concert Lighting, 3rd Edition

14 LIFTS HOISTS AND ROOFS

When trusses were first used to solve the problem of luminaire support they were ground supported. When trusses began to be tied to the building's structure, the process, called rigging (borrowed from the circus and construction), came with its own set of considerations. First, many of the buildings did not have primary and secondary beams with adequate weight-bearing margins to hold the added weight. Second, the cost of hiring riggers was prohibitive. As the lighting systems and production grew in complexity in later years, it became necessary to use only qualified rigging specialists. This meant that the tour had to restrict itself, in some cases, to larger facilities such as basketball and hockey arenas.

But, the ...