Over a decade since their debut, TWICE’s THIS IS FOR WORLD TOUR saw the nine-member powerhouse K-pop group tour a 360° stage show for the first time. With the stage setup featuring extended runways, B-stages, and multiple performer lifts, the rigging department was put through its paces.
Head Rigger and Owner of Ronin Rigging, Clay Hutson, was onboard to take the show worldwide with over 200 rigging points, a mother grid of over 98,000lbs, and an overall show weight of 205,000lbs. “I have done a few K-pop tours and shows now and the standard is always very high, so I am grateful to be involved in these innovative shows – TWICE being no exception to that,” Hutson began. “Even though we were travelling through different-sized venues, which required different rigging configurations, we made sure the look and feel of the show didn’t suffer for it.”
Leading a team of five touring riggers, Hutson also had the help of 36 local crew members on a day-to-day basis to assist with the rig, supplied by Five Points Rigging, which featured 570ft of Tyler Truss Systems GT truss, 233ft of Fuse Square PreRig, 360ft of TAIT Mother Grid, 160 LIFTKET Direct Drive 1T, 44 Direct Drive 2T, 16 Direct Drive 1.2T, 56 TAIT Nav Hoists and 60 Broadweigh load cells.
Hutson owns the Broadweigh load cells, and told TPi he brings them along with him on every tour he does, as a matter of preference for the kit. “I know exactly what is happening with the kit and it is the most reliable product that I have ever worked with,” he explained. “The interface on the computer is fantastic – you can have your entire overlay into it and then each load cell placed where the hoist is, so if something goes wrong, I know what part of the rig is affected instantly. A properly set up Broadweigh system for me is flawless.”
Having been a rigger for the past 35 years, Hutson also reflected on how his role and rigging across the industry have changed since the early days when alpine harnesses were still used. “Our awareness as an industry about safety has come a long way. The UK and Europe are light years ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to rules and regulations, but I believe that steps are being taken in the right direction,” Hutson stated. “The industry is pushing the envelope with engineering technology; the products we’re rigging are getting lighter, so productions are adding more to be bigger and better than their last iterations, which has meant that we’re seeing a higher calibre of show.”
As a company owner and experienced in his craft, “evangelist for education” Hutson places a major emphasis on training the next generation of riggers. “The pandemic left us with a huge gap in training and competency, through no fault of the crew members themselves, but instead because the industry was shut down for so long,” Hutson said. “What is important to me is to bring the skills to newcomers, so they have the confidence and knowledge to think on their feet and rely on their memory of a situation.”
Hutson noted that these skills cannot be learned by theory alone. “This is not something you can teach by book, which is why it is important to understand it before you can teach it and why people in positions such as mine should help out the new generation of riggers,” he explained. “It is such a practical role, and learning on the job is a part of it, but something I tell the people in my seminars is that I have made certain mistakes in my career, so you don’t have to.”
Looking to the future of education, Hutson hopes to develop a resource for riggers which offers new training courses, how-to videos, podcasts, reading materials and events that will help the next generation through experience Hutson has.
Hutson’s experience assisted him on the THIS IS FOR WORLD TOUR, which began in North America in winter and subsequently traversed varying venue sizes. “The goal was to get the whole show in every single time, no matter the venue, or whether the trim heights were different. There was a large lighting rig that encompassed the entire arena, elaborate automation and an extensive video package, and we worked hard to make sure the show looked the same every night,” Hutson explained. “Sometimes we would have to truncate the original show to make it fit, but we would always have the core of what the show was meant to be.”
Words: Alicia Pollitt
Photos: Clay Hutson and Broadweigh
