We were booked in to set up a show at a festival last Wednesday evening. Long story short the lighting company had gone home and had left us no room at all to mount at an appropriate height for the outer 2 lasers, we had 5 all in all. We called in someone who had the appropriate experience with stage trussing who was in touch with the lighting company, he called them and briefed them on the situation and instructed them to look after us. We also called the events management company person who was in charge of the area and informed him of the situation, he said that we could not finish setting up and to come back tomorrow when the lighting guys were around. He did say he would ask the lightings guys to move their lights down the trussing so our Lasers could go up near the top.
The next day... The person who seemed to be in charge of the lighting crew and who had been asked to look after us turned up and was less than helpful until he got another call from the same person much later on. This is by the by really but he said he hated lasers and they should have been left in the eighties where they belong and this was the attitude I was dealing with. He was not prepared to move any of their lighting despite being told the only space on their trussing was too low and proceeded to mount one of our lasers for us in the only space that was available on his rigging, he told me to do the same on the other side of the stage. I reported back to the person from the events management company and reiterated that the Lasers were too low and needed moving. He said just to point them upwards and to leave them there.
Another senior LSO was called in when we were not present. He did not see the lasers powered up, just the positioning and we were told that he cleared the set up.
Thursday evening setup
We arrived to set up and there were people around the the marquee. The leading act was rehearsing his performance and halfway through the electric from the generator cut out. When they got the power back up we informed the few people present the lasers were being powered up. Everytime we powered up it was a matter of minutes before the generator cut out again. This went on for quite some time and did not give us the opportunity to get the line up and symmetry of the lasers anywhere near to the perfection that we would have liked. That said I was happy enough that we were above the crowd.
I was feeling very uneasy about this setup and communicated this with all the relevant parties who did not respond accordingly apart from calling in the other LSO for an opinion. I have written to him but so far got no response.
Friday the opening night
All I could go on at this point was my own experience and the experience of others who I had observed in similar situations and make a judgment call. I have been told by several other LSO's that I made the right call and followed the correct protocol and that this should have been OK, one person I spoke with would have refused to power up, and other feedback as well leading me to feel that this is a very grey area. I can't go back and the important thing is that I learn from this, get all the advise I can, and make sure it's done right in the future.
I arrived on site and before we powered up I briefed the person in charge of health and safety for the stage. He actually informed me the it was just a DJ set and no one would be in that area. I briefed the staff/crew from the company that were putting on the show, and most importantly I briefed the dancers, and yes, it was my intention to put the fear of god up them which I believe I managed to convey. I pointed out where the lasers were on stage and warned them that any eye contact could cause blindness.
The issue arrived at the end of the night. One of the dancers did step in front of a 3w RGB laser. While the rest of the dancers were spinning around, she was not. The choreography had been based on my briefing and seemed to have been conducted very professionally. Event control were less than happy that this had occurred and said that I should have hit the kill switch. I did explain the situation to him and that the dancers were fully briefed and aware of the situation.
Really I am asking everyone I can for their opinion regarding how I handled this situation. All I can do is learn from this and take on any instruction and advice from my peers for the future, about the big issue and about how to deal with the whole nightmare setup scenario and how others would have dealt with it. How to deal with other crews and event management companies when I really did put my foot down and was ignored. Sure I've been told this scenario was OK by others I respect, but I think next time I would handle it very differently.
On an end note I have been told the show was a huge success and no one got hurt, the dancers followed my lead and everything was OK. But I'm here in Ireland and how I learn is via reading & studying as much as I can, the forum, the ILDA email list and website and communication with other laserist's and LSO's. So any feedback good or bad on this would be very welcome.