Since the touring and live event world kicked back into life after the pandemic, there have been various new venues opening all over the world, but none are quite as unique, flexible and inclusive as Manchester’s Factory International.
As part of the ISE’s Live Events Summit, TPi editor Stew Hume talks to Paul Moore, director of production and building operations at Factory International, a multi-artform venue which is described as a new concept in performance spaces which taps into the creative history of the city.
Moore told the audience: “We’re centred on the audience experience; we talk to the audience, we have a young people’s forum as well as disability working groups where people with limited access can help tell us what we need to be doing.”
The summit also pulled back the curtain on one of the biggest stadium tours in recent years. The last Rammstein tour kicked off in 2019, but after just 30 shows the world shut down due to the Covid pandemic. The tour roared back in 2022 with the same spectacular stage show, including a set measuring 36m high and 60m wide, and a production crew of 144 people.
Roland Greil, lighting and video designer from 360 Collective and Woodroffe Bassett Design, said the design of big staged events like this is always a balancing act: “The design of sets on this scale is an artform; it has to work technically and it has to be within budget, so there are always limitations to work with, but you also have to be able to build and tear down the entire set in a timely fashion.”
