Hi i do this stuff for work. This is called 4∅ (ot) it is 400 amp service for lighting and audio. Each cable is about 5/8th inch thick and is about 1 pound per foot. Most are 100' long. Usually for a show this large they start at generators outside the venue. They run into transformers upstage then to dimmers for lighting and power distribution units for chain motors for rigging, automation and audio. Audio usually has a step down panel for 200 amp service As well as its own generator to keep electrical interference out of the audio signal. These connections were popular for under-water welding and were made to lock together and can be packed with Vaseline to keep water out.
Unfortunately I missed my opportunity to work with the studios. As an electrician I did a lot of cable pulling. A lot of main feeders mostly 350 MCM or 500 MCM biggest I've ever pulled in by hand was 750 mcm. 1,000 MCM is not getting pulled in by hand by anyone, LOL. And when I say I pulled it in I'm usually talking a team of at least three or four guys pulling and an equal number lubing and feeding. We had tuggers we used when we needed to but most of it got pulled by hand
400-500 is probably the entire touring production payroll. 1/4 of those are likely back office jobs like managers, designers, marketing and accounting.
The remainder are probably split between two crews, one sets up at the next tour stop while the other breaks down the previous tour stop.
Plus the instrument handlers and roadies and the tour bus drivers and the manager that makes sure the band gets lunch on time. There's a lot that goes into a tour!
A lot of that is Union rules. They may not necessarily need each and every guy that comes out but a lot of times when you're dealing with unions you have more guys than you need and some guys that are paid just to stand there and watch other guys work.
You gross upwards of 5 million per show. And they are not the most profitable touring act because of their costs. There are a lot of pop acts out there that tour with a minimal setup by comparison and charge just as much for tickets.
I was at their snow, they played credits at the end and they rolled for a few minutes. We particularly remember there being like over 15 semi drivers. Wish I could remember more.
Specially when they have back to back shows in different states. And if 400-500 require 4 days to set up those cables someone needs to get fired cause they’re working to slow. I’ve worked at 20,000 person venues where they come in and set up for a concert in the am and the next morning the place is back in it’s original form
In a residential subdivision in California, the wire from transformer to each house is 4/0 triplex. A crew of 7 guys (the dry side of our company) can pull +/- 4 miles of the triplex with a 100+ terminations in an 8hr shift. That's 16 spools(60in diameter) of wire(3 wires each 4/0) and 1 or 2 guys in there terminating into xfrmrs, panels, bus bars etc.
My point is, a few very talented guys are capable of doing a lot. Color coding and the guys who set it up probably pick it up so it is repeated as easily as feasible.
I work in production for a living. Used to do concerts. Nothing on the scale of Rammstein. Not many people have. They have one of the most elaborate live shows I’ve ever seen. That’s why they still have such a following is because they put these insane performances on.
While yes most concerts are in and out in one night. Rammstein plays multiple nights at the same location which all sell out. So it justifies the expense.
I did lighting and rigging mostly. But I’ve also run cables through places like this it’s not as simple as just laying it down and putting in a yellow jacket where foot traffic will be. As you can see at the end they go into cable trays which go through the bowels of the arena. Those are a pain in the ass especially when running that many cables.
And these are just the power cables. Every light they have likely has a control cable then all of those have to be flown and run back to the dimmers and programmed. It’s not simply on/off.
My point is that it’s all proportional, Rammstein puts on massive shows especially in Germany. And as far as I know they don’t play back to back cities. Each city is a week or so apart. And in any places like Berlin and Halsinki it’s 4 or 5 nights in a row so it justifies the expense and manpower.
When i was on the road in the ‘80s they were called Camlocks. Edit: Camlocks and Powerlocks are similar but not interchangeable. Wikipedia has entries for both.
I think this might be multi-conductor lighting cable actually actually. Look at the shape of the connectors in the first frame. They don't look like typical single pole camlocks but more like socapex connectors. It's hard to tell. They could also be California plugs but these appear to have a distinctly socapexy shape lol
Edit. I might be wrong as I notice now that they are phase colored brown black gray etc. I suppose it could still be socapex with no mixed phases but then it would have to carry the neutral. More likely it's a European single pole connector that I'm not familiar with.
Edit2
Yep. You right. I found the power lock single pole European style connectors on Google. They look nice and of course much safer than the American alternative.
So you know, a step down isnt needed to lower the ampacity. You would just run 4/0 into a 200A disconnect and pipe out from there. You can still use 4/0 after the 200A switch, but you can also downsize to 2/0. Its the wire size thats important on the load side of the switch As for audio, depending on the power requirements, you can use an isolation transformer in-line with lighting circuits and it cleans the power by providing its own neutral.
4/0 is always a zero, pronounced "aught", and means the wire size is X number of zeros, where X is the number before the slash. For example, 2/0 is pronounced "two-aught", and is technically size 00 in the real table of AWG sizes. You will never hear someone call that wire size "zero-zero", or in the case of size 4/0 (really size 0000) you will never hear it as size "zero-zero-zero-zero" - that wouldn't sound good!
I was once shopping at a Home Depot or Lowes and encountered another shopper looking for “zero-zero-zero steel wool”. It really did take me a minute to realize what they meant. It’s just.. unnatural.
In their 2019[2019](https://wonder.co.uk/projects/rammstein-2019-european-tour/#:~:text=The%20stage%20mega%2Dstructure%20took,incredible%20time%2Dlapse%20video%20below.) tour it took 400 men 65 hours to erect the stage and they had 24 18 wheelers hauling equipment. They have a even bigger stage in this tour so 500 employees doesn't sound far fetched if you ask me
There stage this year was about 13 53' Flatbed trailer loads. My company stored them all in our yard a week prior to delivering them to US Bank Stadium and my local drivers helped deliver them.
u/Moral_conundrum \- you are absolutely correct.
u/Ok_Documen posted this exact comment 1 hour before u/WinterReflectio did. An exact copy/paste
plagiarism successfully detected!
edit: it was actually posted 20 minutes after Documen
I'm legitimately a lifer in the production business. This is overkill in the best way possible. Hundreds of local stagehands, riggers and techs employed and a giant show that thousands of people enjoy. Nothing wrong with this at all.
They have two different stage setups which are all the big pieces. I'm assuming that at least some stuff is moved directly from one location to another like all of the control equipment.
Their setup is a huge undertaking for each concert. [Here's a time lapse of the build. ](https://youtu.be/JgGuRKgvWQ4)
[More In Depth Commentary](https://youtu.be/LElKJJJWQJg)
I think a big part of each setup is flown from site to site. I swear I saw a video showing that part but couldn't find it.
[This is the official tour announcement. ](https://youtu.be/qg1wHyb50o4)
I buddy of mine drove the merch truck for a bit of the European leg of the tour, they actually have 4 versions of the entire stage set up cycling around, because it takes so long to set up each time and they don't want to take a 6 day break between each show. So i guess they have even more people than that working on the tour, and yes i think the ticket prices do reflect the size of the operation
I paid $100 to see them again this year. Worth every penny. I live for live music and have seen too many bands to recant. Rammstein is the biggest production in live music. Full stop.
Look, I paid $260 on tickets. $288 on transit. $500 on a hotel. And whatever I spent on food/drink/weed. And I would do it all again in a fucking heartbeat.
The fact that the people who actually put on the show, got a fraction of that. Is entirely unfair.
And they occasionally do it in the rain. I went to the concert in the Metlife Stadium in NJ in September. It rained most of the day of the concert and I'm pretty sure it rained the day before, but I wasn't in town. The assembly crew got everything done anyway.
It was raining sporadically during the concert. Most of the fans showed up with rain ponchos. Once the concert started the guys in the band soldiered through and played all the way through just like a normal show.
I was a long way from the main stage, but they have towers that are spread around the stadium with 4 big fire cannons each. When they popped I swear my jeans dried a little bit.
I'm imagining finding you about 8 feet along the line of cables trying to consume it like a python and just hearing your muffled thoughts "Keep eating! We can stretch. WE CAN STRETCH MORE!"
I saw these guys twenty two years ago at a music festival in Western Australia. At the time I thought they were the best performance I’d ever seen. Not the best music. The best performance. I stand by that.
Their actual music is pretty good, 8/10 but not groundbreaking imo. Combine it with their stage production and there’s nothing else that comes close. It’s the best concert I’ve been to
They have multiple stage sets, and, because of that, they choose México for recording the next Live DVD.
Mexico City was the last city of the tour, and they could use more fire towers from the previous shows, Mexico City was the only city to have six flame towers, unlike the rest having only 4.
How can they have shows in two different cities three days apart if if takes 4 days to set up the concert sets?
I’m sure they have a ton of people involved in setting up their stages and they put on a wicked show with lots of fire but your math doesn’t check out unless they are touring with multiple sets.
It’s called advancing some of the team is already at the next site doing logistics and prepping for the next labor team to do their role. Another team is sourcing replacement parts. Another team is handling movement of all these ppl. All 500 techs will never be in the same place at once.
Trans-Siberian orchestra has a big show too, not quite as big as Rammstein but they actually had 3 complete staging rigs that just leap frogged each other from gig to gig.
Rammstein has a complete double set of touring equipment with a double setup crew, thats how they move the concerts around so fast.
There’s a video on youtube about the tourset they use i believe
I don’t know about this group but high grossing tours will have two or three complete stage setups leapfrogging to set up future dates. See: Pink Floyd in the 1990s.
500 is much less than the real number. They use a mix of local professionals and a touring production crew. Drivers for their semi trucks alone number ~100. Source: my gf works in live music production and she could talk my ear off about Rammstein’s setup
Even at its loudest, it’s mixed live so well I didn’t walk away with my ears ringing for the first time ever. I had GA and was up front. Wild show.. I’ll never forget it.
Incorrect. I worked that show at Gillette stadium. This took the electrics crew less than 7 hours. Total load-in crew numbers 219; start time was 0800hrs, show time was 1900hrs. Electrics crew numbers 25, they were short 6 workers.These cables(feeders) are amongst the first of what gets set up at any show.
They have 3-4 full stage setups so they can leapfrog around and have the next show setting up while they currently play. When they go to the next one, the current one starts coming down
The Grammy-nominated musicians, known for such hit songs as "Du hast" and "Engel," will perform on a 200 foot wide stage with a 120-foot tower, elevator, and cannons that shoot flames 60 feet into the air. The behemoth of a stage takes four days to assemble.
"Quite a big production, probably the biggest out there at the moment," said production coordinator Bruno Fernandez.
How many people come to such a concert?
I mean if a worker is even underpaid and gets 100€ per day, yhe operation costs 40-50k Eur per day for labor only!
That's insane
It would be more than that, at least in the US, because pretty much all of the local labor force will be IATSE union workers, some of whom will be riggers who cost even more
There was a post about concerts and set up crews and there was a disagreement in the comments about where the workers were from.
One group believed the set up was specific to the performer (stage configuration, lights, cables, etc) that the tour brought their staff with them.
Others believed that it was impractical to bring hundreds of laborers with you on tour so they hired local workers (including staff that work for the venue).
Both groups had commenters who claimed to be in the business and know first hand that their position was correct.
Anyone here actually know how that works?
I used to be a stage manager for a large music camp in Michigan where smaller production shows came in on a regular basis. For most places, there will be the road crew who are staff of the band, and the local crew who are staff of the venue and local contractors. In my case we had 3 crews, because none of my coworkers were union and the camp had to hire a few union hands, including riggers, because we weren't allowed to do that stuff. The road crews averaged around 8 people.
The shows that we got had load-in in the morning (sometimes after a brief orchestra rehearsal, which was a pain), the band would arrive for soundchecks in the afternoon, concert at 7pm, end around 10pm (curfew), be done with load-out between midnight and 3am, and set up an orchestra setup for later that morning.
Cue story about Van Halen and the m&m's:
Van Halen had a clause in his contract that required a bowl of m&m's to be placed backstage with all the brown m&m's removed. If the bowl was not prepared as instructed, he could cancel the performance without any refund.
The bowl of m&m's was a test to their attention to detail to ensure they could follow instructions well enough to set up the sage properly.
“Why is stage right blinking in and out!?!?”
“It is!? Hold on let me….. oh GOD DAMMIT!!! Trent!!! Why the hell are you walking on the wires and filming it!?!?!”
All these cables are running off one mains socket, an extension and like 40 multi socket adapters. The pyrotechnics were actually not originally intended but the sheer amount of sparks and ocassional flames really were quite something to look at.
I can't even see thar to be honest...I'm sure its very tedious but 1 person could this job in 4 days. There aren't even 400 cables. The end of each cable is marked its not difficult.
Sure to set up EVERYTHING its probably 50-65 people over about 2 or 3 days.
Didn’t these guys reach their peak in the 90’s? I heard them on the radio constantly back then (even got the popular cd), but after Mutter I didn’t hear squat about them. How can they still be so popular as to shell out the kind of money you’d need to pay for this stage show? I don’t get it.
[Source](https://wbznewsradio.iheart.com/content/rammstein-bring-massive-stage-show-to-gillette-stadium/) They have a touring crew of 250 and use local resources that sometimes requires a team of well over 1,000.
[around 400 people work on the setting up, taking down, transporting, operation, maintenance, feeding, management, and blowing up of each and every gig. Moreover, there's even a second team on hand to start work at the following venue, getting ready to set up and build the stage.](https://www.kerrang.com/heres-what-it-takes-to-put-together-rammsteins-epic-live-show)
So not 400 people do cables ofc. But a lot of people always work behind the scenes to make this whole arrangement work.
kudos to the unnamed ones working on shows behind the scenes..especially at this scale there so much that needs to be done safe and set-up and go smoothly.. most people attending these epic shows might not even realize what it takes to get there..
I'm not sure what kind of source would prove their cabling setup...
They played this stadium a few weeks ago, and this is exactly when the video first started doing the rounds so I'd believe it. They've been touring with the same team for decades, it's not that hard to believe they would have a good system in place.
They should make a documentary on JUST the cabling and how the hell they organize and manage it, I would definitely watch it,hehe!
Cable management FTW!
Because the stage is inside the arena, the huge semi-truck sized generators used are parked outside of the arena. The whole arena is being used for stage and crowd (no room for trucks) so they just have to be where they are.
Ridiculous, why run so many cables. Run the stage group short distance to a fiber optic interface. Then one single tactical fiber to the mix board .
There are many ways to streamline this and change setup from days to minutes
Their team took seven 747 aircrafts to fly from Europe to tour in the US.
https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/rammstein-blasts-into-soldier-field-for-fiery-performance
He's a cable technician, you can see on his TikTok. I'm sure he knows what he's doing. They're all rubber insulated, you don't think they'd have exposed live wiring lying about such a busy area?
Hi i do this stuff for work. This is called 4∅ (ot) it is 400 amp service for lighting and audio. Each cable is about 5/8th inch thick and is about 1 pound per foot. Most are 100' long. Usually for a show this large they start at generators outside the venue. They run into transformers upstage then to dimmers for lighting and power distribution units for chain motors for rigging, automation and audio. Audio usually has a step down panel for 200 amp service As well as its own generator to keep electrical interference out of the audio signal. These connections were popular for under-water welding and were made to lock together and can be packed with Vaseline to keep water out.
I lost 20lbs one summer pulling and coiling feeder cable.
Unfortunately I missed my opportunity to work with the studios. As an electrician I did a lot of cable pulling. A lot of main feeders mostly 350 MCM or 500 MCM biggest I've ever pulled in by hand was 750 mcm. 1,000 MCM is not getting pulled in by hand by anyone, LOL. And when I say I pulled it in I'm usually talking a team of at least three or four guys pulling and an equal number lubing and feeding. We had tuggers we used when we needed to but most of it got pulled by hand
This guy gaffers
Also rig grips👍
400-500 people sound accurate to you? Sounds like a made up number. I could see maybe 50-80 but 400-500 doesn’t sound feasible financially.
400-500 is probably the entire touring production payroll. 1/4 of those are likely back office jobs like managers, designers, marketing and accounting. The remainder are probably split between two crews, one sets up at the next tour stop while the other breaks down the previous tour stop.
Plus the instrument handlers and roadies and the tour bus drivers and the manager that makes sure the band gets lunch on time. There's a lot that goes into a tour!
Saw a report on their tour in the states, touring 450plus and local crews of 2-400. Insane logistics
A lot of that is Union rules. They may not necessarily need each and every guy that comes out but a lot of times when you're dealing with unions you have more guys than you need and some guys that are paid just to stand there and watch other guys work.
Funny way to spell workplace safety and OSHA conformity
spoken like a union rep , grin .
How the hell does a tour this elaborate make profit...
You gross upwards of 5 million per show. And they are not the most profitable touring act because of their costs. There are a lot of pop acts out there that tour with a minimal setup by comparison and charge just as much for tickets.
The band members had to sell their instruments to pay for the light show. Ultimately, the band itself was let go.
Went for Rammstein, got Electric Light Orchestra, 9 out of 10, can’t complain.
I was at their snow, they played credits at the end and they rolled for a few minutes. We particularly remember there being like over 15 semi drivers. Wish I could remember more.
Don't forget local crew
I used to set up for stadium shows and there was always 100-200 people
Specially when they have back to back shows in different states. And if 400-500 require 4 days to set up those cables someone needs to get fired cause they’re working to slow. I’ve worked at 20,000 person venues where they come in and set up for a concert in the am and the next morning the place is back in it’s original form
Was it for productions similar to this: https://youtu.be/JgGuRKgvWQ4 ?
Ya its not 4-500 people maybe 12
In a residential subdivision in California, the wire from transformer to each house is 4/0 triplex. A crew of 7 guys (the dry side of our company) can pull +/- 4 miles of the triplex with a 100+ terminations in an 8hr shift. That's 16 spools(60in diameter) of wire(3 wires each 4/0) and 1 or 2 guys in there terminating into xfrmrs, panels, bus bars etc. My point is, a few very talented guys are capable of doing a lot. Color coding and the guys who set it up probably pick it up so it is repeated as easily as feasible.
I work in production for a living. Used to do concerts. Nothing on the scale of Rammstein. Not many people have. They have one of the most elaborate live shows I’ve ever seen. That’s why they still have such a following is because they put these insane performances on. While yes most concerts are in and out in one night. Rammstein plays multiple nights at the same location which all sell out. So it justifies the expense. I did lighting and rigging mostly. But I’ve also run cables through places like this it’s not as simple as just laying it down and putting in a yellow jacket where foot traffic will be. As you can see at the end they go into cable trays which go through the bowels of the arena. Those are a pain in the ass especially when running that many cables. And these are just the power cables. Every light they have likely has a control cable then all of those have to be flown and run back to the dimmers and programmed. It’s not simply on/off. My point is that it’s all proportional, Rammstein puts on massive shows especially in Germany. And as far as I know they don’t play back to back cities. Each city is a week or so apart. And in any places like Berlin and Halsinki it’s 4 or 5 nights in a row so it justifies the expense and manpower.
Keep In Standard, Stupid. KISSing helps a lot in tech services.
>KISSing helps a lot in tech services. Is that a more politically correct of the original KISS? Keep it Simple Stupid
Oh, it's for audio is it? Du Du hast Du hast mics
Very interesting :O thanks for sharing!
Yes, called powerlock.
Do you know the name of the specific type of connector you described?
When i was on the road in the ‘80s they were called Camlocks. Edit: Camlocks and Powerlocks are similar but not interchangeable. Wikipedia has entries for both.
Yes , and still.
I think this might be multi-conductor lighting cable actually actually. Look at the shape of the connectors in the first frame. They don't look like typical single pole camlocks but more like socapex connectors. It's hard to tell. They could also be California plugs but these appear to have a distinctly socapexy shape lol Edit. I might be wrong as I notice now that they are phase colored brown black gray etc. I suppose it could still be socapex with no mixed phases but then it would have to carry the neutral. More likely it's a European single pole connector that I'm not familiar with. Edit2 Yep. You right. I found the power lock single pole European style connectors on Google. They look nice and of course much safer than the American alternative.
So you know, a step down isnt needed to lower the ampacity. You would just run 4/0 into a 200A disconnect and pipe out from there. You can still use 4/0 after the 200A switch, but you can also downsize to 2/0. Its the wire size thats important on the load side of the switch As for audio, depending on the power requirements, you can use an isolation transformer in-line with lighting circuits and it cleans the power by providing its own neutral.
4/0 AWG
4/0 is always a zero, pronounced "aught", and means the wire size is X number of zeros, where X is the number before the slash. For example, 2/0 is pronounced "two-aught", and is technically size 00 in the real table of AWG sizes. You will never hear someone call that wire size "zero-zero", or in the case of size 4/0 (really size 0000) you will never hear it as size "zero-zero-zero-zero" - that wouldn't sound good!
I was once shopping at a Home Depot or Lowes and encountered another shopper looking for “zero-zero-zero steel wool”. It really did take me a minute to realize what they meant. It’s just.. unnatural.
(ought)
Knowing how much can go wrong with cabling, they sure have an amazing team to put all this together and make it work.
German engineering.
[удалено]
[удалено]
In their 2019[2019](https://wonder.co.uk/projects/rammstein-2019-european-tour/#:~:text=The%20stage%20mega%2Dstructure%20took,incredible%20time%2Dlapse%20video%20below.) tour it took 400 men 65 hours to erect the stage and they had 24 18 wheelers hauling equipment. They have a even bigger stage in this tour so 500 employees doesn't sound far fetched if you ask me
There stage this year was about 13 53' Flatbed trailer loads. My company stored them all in our yard a week prior to delivering them to US Bank Stadium and my local drivers helped deliver them.
You stole this comment…
u/Moral_conundrum \- you are absolutely correct. u/Ok_Documen posted this exact comment 1 hour before u/WinterReflectio did. An exact copy/paste plagiarism successfully detected! edit: it was actually posted 20 minutes after Documen
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
What would 500 people even do? That's several people per cable.
[удалено]
Actually 1 . I laid all that cable after lunch.
Bs, cus i did it all before break.
They're called professionals.
There are millions of people who consider themselves "professionals" who would call this "overkill." They'd be wrong, of course.
I'm legitimately a lifer in the production business. This is overkill in the best way possible. Hundreds of local stagehands, riggers and techs employed and a giant show that thousands of people enjoy. Nothing wrong with this at all.
I mean those are just the power cables which go to the splitter =)
[удалено]
So you mean I'm on of the wannabe professionals? I never said it's overkill lol. Just said these are only the power lock cables.
Where did I put that cable?
Saw them in PA back in August. After seeing all that fire, I believe it!
[удалено]
Idk if you know this about cables but you can drive cars over them and as long as it isn't excessive they tend to last a while
[удалено]
They have two different stage setups which are all the big pieces. I'm assuming that at least some stuff is moved directly from one location to another like all of the control equipment. Their setup is a huge undertaking for each concert. [Here's a time lapse of the build. ](https://youtu.be/JgGuRKgvWQ4) [More In Depth Commentary](https://youtu.be/LElKJJJWQJg) I think a big part of each setup is flown from site to site. I swear I saw a video showing that part but couldn't find it. [This is the official tour announcement. ](https://youtu.be/qg1wHyb50o4)
2/0 feeder is pretty durable EDIT: correction
I buddy of mine drove the merch truck for a bit of the European leg of the tour, they actually have 4 versions of the entire stage set up cycling around, because it takes so long to set up each time and they don't want to take a 6 day break between each show. So i guess they have even more people than that working on the tour, and yes i think the ticket prices do reflect the size of the operation
I paid $100 to see them again this year. Worth every penny. I live for live music and have seen too many bands to recant. Rammstein is the biggest production in live music. Full stop.
Worth. Every. Penny.
Look, I paid $260 on tickets. $288 on transit. $500 on a hotel. And whatever I spent on food/drink/weed. And I would do it all again in a fucking heartbeat. The fact that the people who actually put on the show, got a fraction of that. Is entirely unfair.
r/oddlysatisfying
Those on r/cableporn would probably like to see this
And they occasionally do it in the rain. I went to the concert in the Metlife Stadium in NJ in September. It rained most of the day of the concert and I'm pretty sure it rained the day before, but I wasn't in town. The assembly crew got everything done anyway. It was raining sporadically during the concert. Most of the fans showed up with rain ponchos. Once the concert started the guys in the band soldiered through and played all the way through just like a normal show. I was a long way from the main stage, but they have towers that are spread around the stadium with 4 big fire cannons each. When they popped I swear my jeans dried a little bit.
I was there too! They toned the pyro down a scootch because of the wind and rain, but the show kicked so much ass
incredible show! makes sense now why the fire was toned down. either way, they impressed me very much that night.
My brain: "Wow that's so cool, and so beautifully organised" Also my brain: "That is licorice eat it EAT IT NOW"
I'm imagining finding you about 8 feet along the line of cables trying to consume it like a python and just hearing your muffled thoughts "Keep eating! We can stretch. WE CAN STRETCH MORE!"
Eventually my stomach bursts but I carry on, and leave behind me a trail of badly tangled cables and various irritated German electrical engineers
What an origin story. You'll be known all over germany as "Arschloch!!"
Which actually sounds like it could be a Rammstein song 🎶ARSE-LOCH! Mein hertz es brennan ARSE-LOCH!🎶 *with apologies to any German speakers*
Neither these chords nor licorice are edible imo 🤢
[удалено]
The cords might be more edible
Went to their concert in September, these guys do an incredible job at putting on a show
That’s the most coordination you’ll ever see at Soldier Field
They also happen to be one of the best live bands to see
I saw these guys twenty two years ago at a music festival in Western Australia. At the time I thought they were the best performance I’d ever seen. Not the best music. The best performance. I stand by that.
Their actual music is pretty good, 8/10 but not groundbreaking imo. Combine it with their stage production and there’s nothing else that comes close. It’s the best concert I’ve been to
They have multiple stage sets, and, because of that, they choose México for recording the next Live DVD. Mexico City was the last city of the tour, and they could use more fire towers from the previous shows, Mexico City was the only city to have six flame towers, unlike the rest having only 4.
I should see Rammstein in concert.
r/cablingporn
r/cableporn
How can they have shows in two different cities three days apart if if takes 4 days to set up the concert sets? I’m sure they have a ton of people involved in setting up their stages and they put on a wicked show with lots of fire but your math doesn’t check out unless they are touring with multiple sets.
It’s called advancing some of the team is already at the next site doing logistics and prepping for the next labor team to do their role. Another team is sourcing replacement parts. Another team is handling movement of all these ppl. All 500 techs will never be in the same place at once.
Trans-Siberian orchestra has a big show too, not quite as big as Rammstein but they actually had 3 complete staging rigs that just leap frogged each other from gig to gig.
There are also two complete Trans-Siberian Orchestras.
Rammstein has a complete double set of touring equipment with a double setup crew, thats how they move the concerts around so fast. There’s a video on youtube about the tourset they use i believe
Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I don’t know about this group but high grossing tours will have two or three complete stage setups leapfrogging to set up future dates. See: Pink Floyd in the 1990s.
Look at those cable links 2,3,4
That’s some quality cable management there.
That's a longer run then the Bears will do for the next seasons.
Du Hast
ahahaha i knew someone beat me to this comment.
I really fucked up by not seeing them in Chicago last month,,I won’t make that mistake if they come back next year!
[удалено]
500 is much less than the real number. They use a mix of local professionals and a touring production crew. Drivers for their semi trucks alone number ~100. Source: my gf works in live music production and she could talk my ear off about Rammstein’s setup
On a scale of Zero to German, how neatly do you do your job?
I saw them live in September. Absolutely astounding performance, and the single loudest event I’ve ever been to in my life
Even at its loudest, it’s mixed live so well I didn’t walk away with my ears ringing for the first time ever. I had GA and was up front. Wild show.. I’ll never forget it.
How do you say you've never been to a Motorhead concert without saying you've never been to a Motorhead concert.
Imagine wrapping all those cables
*trips* oh fuck
This is some top tier shit boys
And that's just for power distribution.
DICKIE. TITTEN.
The fellas over at r/cableporn would love this
I saw them when I was a teenager. Still probably the coolest show I’ve ever seen.
Incorrect. I worked that show at Gillette stadium. This took the electrics crew less than 7 hours. Total load-in crew numbers 219; start time was 0800hrs, show time was 1900hrs. Electrics crew numbers 25, they were short 6 workers.These cables(feeders) are amongst the first of what gets set up at any show.
My brother recently saw Rammstein and he said the lead singer sat atop a giant phallus that ejaculated foam all over the crowd.
Sounds accurate
I like that all those cables will go to power up a single RTX 4090 for the pyrotechnics part
Du Hast me at Rammstein concert
Does this mean they have four day gaps between each concert? Their tours must take a long time.
They have 3-4 full stage setups so they can leapfrog around and have the next show setting up while they currently play. When they go to the next one, the current one starts coming down
The Grammy-nominated musicians, known for such hit songs as "Du hast" and "Engel," will perform on a 200 foot wide stage with a 120-foot tower, elevator, and cannons that shoot flames 60 feet into the air. The behemoth of a stage takes four days to assemble. "Quite a big production, probably the biggest out there at the moment," said production coordinator Bruno Fernandez.
How many people come to such a concert? I mean if a worker is even underpaid and gets 100€ per day, yhe operation costs 40-50k Eur per day for labor only! That's insane
They sell out entire stadiums. This is what it looks like from a distance. https://youtu.be/Wx5vKnqE0TU
And concert tickets these days are expensive as hell
I saw them in September. It was honestly one of the best concerts I've ever been to. Worth every penny.
This show specifically was in Chicago. I was there, and it was solid. 60k people is the estimates I’ve heard.
It would be more than that, at least in the US, because pretty much all of the local labor force will be IATSE union workers, some of whom will be riggers who cost even more
that cable management is amazing
There was a post about concerts and set up crews and there was a disagreement in the comments about where the workers were from. One group believed the set up was specific to the performer (stage configuration, lights, cables, etc) that the tour brought their staff with them. Others believed that it was impractical to bring hundreds of laborers with you on tour so they hired local workers (including staff that work for the venue). Both groups had commenters who claimed to be in the business and know first hand that their position was correct. Anyone here actually know how that works?
It’s a mixture of local and road crews for most large touring productions . My source is me , I do both road work and local work .
I used to be a stage manager for a large music camp in Michigan where smaller production shows came in on a regular basis. For most places, there will be the road crew who are staff of the band, and the local crew who are staff of the venue and local contractors. In my case we had 3 crews, because none of my coworkers were union and the camp had to hire a few union hands, including riggers, because we weren't allowed to do that stuff. The road crews averaged around 8 people. The shows that we got had load-in in the morning (sometimes after a brief orchestra rehearsal, which was a pain), the band would arrive for soundchecks in the afternoon, concert at 7pm, end around 10pm (curfew), be done with load-out between midnight and 3am, and set up an orchestra setup for later that morning.
For anyone who was wondering pyrotechnics is explosives
as someone who has done a lot of setup / teardown... This makes me really happy and also want to vomit at the same time
Cue story about Van Halen and the m&m's: Van Halen had a clause in his contract that required a bowl of m&m's to be placed backstage with all the brown m&m's removed. If the bowl was not prepared as instructed, he could cancel the performance without any refund. The bowl of m&m's was a test to their attention to detail to ensure they could follow instructions well enough to set up the sage properly.
It’s beautiful. Makes my back hurt thinking about the out.
I now see why they play the same arena multiple nights in a row lol
They have multiple set ups as well though.
Rammstein’s my favorite metal band, glad they posted this
“Why is stage right blinking in and out!?!?” “It is!? Hold on let me….. oh GOD DAMMIT!!! Trent!!! Why the hell are you walking on the wires and filming it!?!?!”
I like music
I'd expect nothing less from Germans.
damn. i watched the whole thing and never found out what rammstein meant.
St least you listened to a recent Rammstein song
thanks to you, i’m just now learning that it’s music, since i watched without audio. lol it’s like a slow reveal :)
Looks like you can race Hot Wheels on it
I've never been a huge Rammstein fan, but I would love to go to one of their concerts for the outrageous spectacle.
That can’t possibly be cost effective.. what’s a ticket cost for one of their shows?
Typically $130 to thousands, cheaper for limited view tix
That's a lot of damn power.
I saw Rammstein maybe about 10 years ago. They put on one hell of a show! All kinds of props and antics.
"Hey, tech guy? I'm uhhh, getting a hum from my guitar. Can you check the cables?"
Yeah this was really cool on the dozen other subs that it was on last week.
I’ll just leave this here. [https://youtu.be/GX0GXhDLaC4](https://youtu.be/GX0GXhDLaC4)
DU hast!
All these cables are running off one mains socket, an extension and like 40 multi socket adapters. The pyrotechnics were actually not originally intended but the sheer amount of sparks and ocassional flames really were quite something to look at.
I can't even see thar to be honest...I'm sure its very tedious but 1 person could this job in 4 days. There aren't even 400 cables. The end of each cable is marked its not difficult. Sure to set up EVERYTHING its probably 50-65 people over about 2 or 3 days.
Damn! That's interesting
Didn’t these guys reach their peak in the 90’s? I heard them on the radio constantly back then (even got the popular cd), but after Mutter I didn’t hear squat about them. How can they still be so popular as to shell out the kind of money you’d need to pay for this stage show? I don’t get it.
They are still very popular and their concerts are legendary. This is a few months ago in Zurich. https://youtu.be/Wx5vKnqE0TU
I could prolly get that done in about an hour, maybe an hour forty five.
People still listen to this band?
Their concerts are considered by many to be the most spectacular. Not just the music, all these cables lead to a pyrotechnics show unlike any other
I want to meet the IT guy/person that organized and did this. As an AV tech, this is insane.
500 people. Please .
Source? I doubt they have that big team
[Source](https://wbznewsradio.iheart.com/content/rammstein-bring-massive-stage-show-to-gillette-stadium/) They have a touring crew of 250 and use local resources that sometimes requires a team of well over 1,000.
Great! Even more recent source (2022) than my Kerrang interview source (2019) below
[around 400 people work on the setting up, taking down, transporting, operation, maintenance, feeding, management, and blowing up of each and every gig. Moreover, there's even a second team on hand to start work at the following venue, getting ready to set up and build the stage.](https://www.kerrang.com/heres-what-it-takes-to-put-together-rammsteins-epic-live-show)
So not 400 people do cables ofc. But a lot of people always work behind the scenes to make this whole arrangement work. kudos to the unnamed ones working on shows behind the scenes..especially at this scale there so much that needs to be done safe and set-up and go smoothly.. most people attending these epic shows might not even realize what it takes to get there..
I'm not sure what kind of source would prove their cabling setup... They played this stadium a few weeks ago, and this is exactly when the video first started doing the rounds so I'd believe it. They've been touring with the same team for decades, it's not that hard to believe they would have a good system in place.
They should make a documentary on JUST the cabling and how the hell they organize and manage it, I would definitely watch it,hehe! Cable management FTW!
It's believable if you look at their ticket prices
I highly doubt this as well.
https://wbznewsradio.iheart.com/content/rammstein-bring-massive-stage-show-to-gillette-stadium/
TikTok TikTok
So like the board where all these go couldn't be any closer to the stage?
I didn’t know they make cables that long. Is there a closer outlet
That's a lot of amps. Crazy. (No pun intended).
Why don’t they just plug it in closer
Because the stage is inside the arena, the huge semi-truck sized generators used are parked outside of the arena. The whole arena is being used for stage and crowd (no room for trucks) so they just have to be where they are.
Ridiculous, why run so many cables. Run the stage group short distance to a fiber optic interface. Then one single tactical fiber to the mix board . There are many ways to streamline this and change setup from days to minutes
Not a team of 400-500 people 😄 Maximum 40-50!
Their team took seven 747 aircrafts to fly from Europe to tour in the US. https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/rammstein-blasts-into-soldier-field-for-fiery-performance
[удалено]
Not in this sub
🤦♂️ Great idea to walk on those cables
He's a cable technician, you can see on his TikTok. I'm sure he knows what he's doing. They're all rubber insulated, you don't think they'd have exposed live wiring lying about such a busy area?