On July 28, there was an accident at the Marror concert of the Hong Kong boy band, and a large screen above the stage fell sharply, smashing two dancers, one of whom is still being treated in the ICU;
On July 31, when the Korean singer "Uncle Bird" PSY concert was withdrawn, a staff member in his 20s accidentally fell from the 15-meter-high lighting tower and died after being sent to the hospital for treatment...
It is understood that just two days ago, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism also issued a notice to further standardize the safety behavior of performance units and make every effort to prevent and reduce the occurrence of safety accidents.
It is a glamorous stage, but also a dangerous stage. The Red Star News reporter contacted a number of senior concert producers and chatted with them about the story behind the concert.
"Uncle Bird" PSY concert scene
A glamorous stage
In fact, "step by step"
Many times, the public pays attention to the wonderful performances of the artists on the stage, but in fact, from the Huang Jiaju of that year to the current Mirror concert, the horror moments of the performance scene have occurred from time to time, and many tragic results have been caused.
Red Star News reporters combed through the performance site accidents in recent years and found that most of the performance accidents were caused by omissions in on-site organization or stage construction.
Among them, outdoor concerts, rock music festivals and other open-air performances, due to the large number of people gathered and relatively mobile, once the organizers get out of control of management, they are most prone to stampede accidents.
At the Roskilde Festival in Denmark in 2000, a stampede accident occurred while performing in the band Pearl Sauce and left 9 people dead and 26 injured. The heavy rain on the day of the accident caused the venue to be slippery, and in the continuous crowding, some spectators fell, and the crowd rushing to the stage crushed many people to the ground, causing the squeezed people to suffocate to death. On November 5, 2021, a serious stampede occurred at the Astroworld Music Festival in Houston, Texas, USA, resulting in 10 deaths.
Astroworld Music Festival live
More accidents happened on stage.
As live performances have higher and higher requirements for lighting and choreography, the construction and management of stages have become more and more complex. The stages of some large-scale performances resemble intricate and intricate engineering installations, and the performers and staff are "thrilled step by step" on the stage.
Huang Ling fell into the "inside" stage of "sinking" during the performance
In 2020, when singer Huang Ling was participating in a music festival, the stage under her feet suddenly "sank", she reacted less than the whole person fell into the stage "inside", after the performance was interrupted for 3 minutes, Huang Ling insisted on returning to the stage to continue performing, and the bruises on her legs that were dropped were clearly visible;
In 2017, grasshopper performed as a guest in the Red Pavilion, and during rehearsal, 3 people and 6 staff members of grasshopper who were working on the stage were injured due to the sudden tilt and collapse of the oil pressure workbench;
In 1993, Wong Ka-ju, the lead singer of beyond, accidentally fell and died while participating in the recording of a variety show, and many media used words such as "accident" and "stumbling and falling" to express it, but in fact, the game and venue setting of the show were very unreasonable, and such a tragedy occurred.
Huang Ling later painted koi on the bruises of the fall
Nowadays, most celebrities usually have an indispensable elevator when they hold concerts, and can also be said to be the most common "killer" on the stage:
In 2003, Lin Zixiang served as a concert guest of Wang Mingquan, but due to the failure of the lifting platform, he fell into a large hole more than 2 meters deep in an instant, and once fell into a coma and was admitted to the intensive care unit. Nowadays, it also leaves the sequelae of tinnitus and inability to hear stereo sound;
Aaron Kwok, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, was holding a concert in 2012 when the steel wire of the square lifting platform under his feet suddenly broke, causing him to fall off the stage nearly 3 meters high. Fortunately, Aaron Kwok reacted quickly and was not injured;
At Zhang Liangying's Beijing concert in 2015, she accidentally fell from the opening of the lifting equipment while singing and dancing, and after a short break, she returned to the stage with a large bruise on her arm and sat and sang;
In 2021, Zhang Jie unfortunately fell from the lifting platform at the end of his concert in Suzhou, causing hand injuries and a fracture of the lumbar vertebrae...
Stage accidents continue to occur
What is the problem?
In fact, according to the information that has been disclosed, the Mirror concert has been problematic since the beginning of the rehearsal, and there have been sudden vibrations of the lifting platform, members almost falling, fireworks bursting position too close to people, hanging in the sky singing and dancing "overpass" constantly shaking, and some staff complained about stage design flaws on social platforms. "Under the premise that the situation of the first three games is continuous, I feel that the organizers have not thoroughly investigated enough." Mr. B, who has been engaged in concert stage construction and stage sound related work for more than ten years, told Red Star News reporters.
In the view of Mr. C, who has participated in the concert production of many Hong Kong and Taiwan artists, the so-called "condition" on the stage installation is not only caused by problems such as stage engineering, equipment and technology, but also because of improper use or performance process problems. "For example, the walking position and the rehearsal are not sufficient. Giving more time and space for rehearsals should minimize the chances of a so-called 'situation'. ”
The accident caused by the rush to time is more obvious in the process of installing and dismantling the stage. In order to shorten the construction period, the irresponsible construction party will arrange multiple types of work at the same time in these two stages, and if it encounters the construction personnel's contempt for safe operation and the unfamiliarity of theater equipment, it is easy to lead to accidents. The Korean Uncle Bird concert worker crash mentioned at the beginning of the article occurred during the stage dismantling process.
Mirror concert accident scene
In addition to the general contractor, the stage construction of the Mirror concert also involved multiple subcontractors. According to the Red Star News reporter, this is actually the norm in concert production. "The stage construction part of the concert is mainly composed of four major parts: stage, lighting, sound and video, and other stages, special effects and so on. There are very few production companies that can take over all the projects, and they basically use subcontracting. This company is good at lighting, and that company is proficient in sound, dividing the work according to their respective areas of expertise. Mr. B introduced.
According to traditional conventions and workload, the general indoor concert stage construction time is 3 to 5 days, and the outdoor concert takes 7 to 10 days, except for special customization projects. For large-scale indoor concerts like Mirror, the stage construction has a fixed process and requires the coordination of various departments. "After getting the stage construction drawings, put samples in the venue, fixed positions, build light stands, install LED screens, hang up audio... The safety factor of all organs and mechanical devices is the most concerned of the director group. In Mr. B's view, before the stage is officially set up, the construction team and the director team need to coordinate a lot of work, and the most important thing is safety.
In Mr. D's more than 20 years of experience in manipulating concerts, his most memorable one was a concert in Yibin. At that time, the meteorological department issued a red warning signal for thunderstorms and strong winds, indicating that there were still three hours (thunderstorms and strong winds) to reach the performance venue. The organizer has an emergency meeting to assess whether the performance can be performed: is the grounding wire connected? Will the arrival of lightning have an impact on the stage and the audience? Mr. D told Red Star News, "Because the temporary stages are all steel structures, in case your grounding wire is not connected, it is very troublesome." Our stage grounding wire must be 1.2 meters underground, which is technically demanding. After the thorough investigation results are foolproof, the performance proceeds normally. ”
There is no doubt that the production of concerts is very complex, and the decentralized project involves multiple departments. The performances on stage are wonderful, but the rigor behind the scenes ensures that the stage is as safe as possible. "You can see that the accident of the Mirror concert in the Red Pavilion has been involved in three suppliers, which shows how important safety management is." Mr. D confessed.
The performance stage technology content is getting higher and higher
However, the industry has a low barrier to entry
The recent two concert safety accidents have undoubtedly sounded the alarm for the performance industry. For the current situation in the industry, a number of performance industry practitioners have said that with the increase in market demand and the improvement of quality, the industry is becoming more and more standardized and professional. "Maybe more than a decade ago, the organizers were looking for some people to set up the stage on a temporary basis, which was relatively less professional. But in the past decade, the team that set up the concert stage has been relatively fixed, and they all follow the tour. Mr. C also added that the construction team is relatively fixed, which can not only improve efficiency, but also reduce costs, "every time you change a city to perform, you find a new team, the cost is too high." ”
According to the Red Star News reporter, the cost of stage construction generally accounts for 10% to 20% of the total cost of the concert. Mr. D told Red Star News, "(Stage costs accounted for) low 5%, up to 30%. This has nothing to do with the artist's fame, mainly depending on the artist and the team's requirements for the stage part of the concert. Some artists have high requirements for the stage, need to have a lot of high-tech content, as well as a lot of lifting, weiya, but this situation is few. ”
As for the quality of the practitioners, it is uneven. "Due to the low barriers to entry in this industry, most practitioners only need a diploma from high school. Some experienced practitioners even only graduate from primary school and junior high school, so that the education level and quality of existing relevant practitioners are generally low. Mr. B told the Red Star News reporter, "I personally feel that the most difficult thing about [stage construction] is that many construction workers ignore safety, and the most prone to problems are also construction workers." ”
Dancer Lee Chi-yan, who was injured in the Mirar concert accident
In contrast, professional and technical personnel are more secure. "The Stage Professional Committee of the China Performance Industry Association has relevant regulations on the titles of personnel and the technology of personnel, like our engineers, technicians, including small workers have the requirement of holding certificates." Mr. D introduced. In this regard, Mr. B disagreed, "I personally feel that the regulations related to stage construction should be formulated by professional institutions in the construction industry. Like the construction of the stage in the theater, it is strictly in accordance with the relevant regulations formulated by the design institute. And most of the concerts are temporary stages, and there is no (strict implementation). ”
So, what is the income situation of employees? According to the Red Star News reporter, there is no specific standard, but according to the size of the project and design requirements to determine. Mr. D told the Red Star News reporter: "Like Andy Lau's concert, the scale is very large, the cost is also very high, and the income of natural stage construction practitioners will be high." On the contrary, you said that you want to hold a birthday party, the total budget is only 200,000, and the apportionment will naturally be much lower. ”
But in any case, insufficient budgets, tight time, and poor management cannot be a reason to relax security, after all, a single negligence can be fatal. The frequent occurrence of accidents has had a negative impact on the entire performance industry. Therefore, for the latest notice issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, practitioners in the performance industry are very supportive. "These major accidents have touched me greatly, and we must strengthen management in every detail and strengthen everyone's sense of responsibility." Mr. D confessed.
Red Star News reporter Ren Hongwei Intern He Yanling Wang Zuxi
Edited by Duan Xueying
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