Getting High at Eurovision 2018

	2018 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). Photo: Joan Lyman

Stage engineering specialist WIcreations supplied four of their heavy duty TP06 stage elevators to the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) production which was headed by technical directors Ola Melzig and Tobias Aburg.

The event which brings the glitz, buzz, and very best of euro-pop to a world stage with a global broadcast enjoyed by over 200 million was staged at the Altice Arena in Lisbon.

The four TP06 lifts were installed under the stage which was part of the elaborate set designed by Florian Wieder, and were used for two of the 43 finalists, Austria's third placed Cesar Sampson and Belarus contestant Alekseev.

The project was designed and coordinated for WI by Geert Stockmans and tech'd and looked after on site by Mateo Marastoni working alongside Robert Roos who was the production's props and special staging coordinator.

One TP06 lift was positioned centrally beneath the stage and surrounded by the other three, all of them supporting a trussing structure with a 6m triangular section of decking on top. This top section split in two -- donut style -- with a central cut out that could elevate independently on the middle lift.

For Austria, the whole wedge section lifted up several metres in a dramatic moment with the artist on top to reveal a set of vertically rigged LED battens below, on the underside. Chasing and twinkling, these gave the appearance that the artist was floating in the air as the platform rose up, all helping to make him a favorite with the crowd.

While the Belarus entry didn't make it through the first semi-final (also televised) this year, it was not before a rousing performance by Alekseev who was raised up on the center TP06 lift dramatically back lit by multiple beam lights.

WI was extremely pleased to be involved in the 2018 ESC production which looked fantastic in the Arena and on television with lighting designed by Jerry Appelt, all helping to deliver one of the highest profile and most talked-about international music competitions of the year ... which was won by Israel.

The lifting section of the stage was also used briefly by one of the interval acts.

The TO06 Stage lift has been designed around spiralift theatre technology which is offered for the first time by WI in this mobile format that is ideal for touring and special events.

Multiple lift units can be daisy-chained together and run through the same control system as was the case in Lisbon, which was operated locally from beneath the stage, with all the movement fully synchronized.

The products are known -- like everything made by WI -- from their robust design, reliability, user-friendliness, full safety certification, straightforward installation, and millimeter precision control.

They can lift an impressive weight loading of 2.5-tons per unit and elevate up to 8m.