What do you do when your point person for a major event has a family emergency and cannot be on show site? This can be a catastrophic problem for many suppliers.

Challenge

The U2 – 360 Tour was the largest stage set to ever tour North America. The production, with it’s three 164’ steel arms for the stage canopy, were delivered in 120 semi-trucks, and required a crew of over 250 stagehands to assemble. The term “Mega Production” was an understatement.

Mark Galstaun, our Vice President of Northwest Operations, had been working on the U2 Concert for months. Weekly conference calls, planning cable runs and power drops to rigging, dressing rooms, spotlight towers located at the very top of the stadium, portable kitchens for the crew, and merchandise kiosks. There were generator placement and stage bonding to take in account, permitting and inspections to schedule.

The night before load in, Mark’s father passed away. After countless hours of planning, Mark would not be able to oversee the installation.

Solution

All of Mark’s planning notes, labor and equipment orders had been meticulously entered into Edlen’s proprietary EMP system, complete with descriptive notes of location, size, and schedule of installation. This enabled Liz Brostrom, Edlen’s Seattle General Manager, to seamlessly step into Mark’s shoes. Liz relied on a seasoned staff of event professionals from the Seattle branch office to execute the plan flawlessly.

Result

Without the comprehensive pre-planning captured in EMP, and the depth of expertise that Edlen has to draw upon, this situation could have been disastrous. Fortunately for all concerned, the power installation went in like clockwork and the concert was a major success.