Sapsis Rigging Provides Safety Training for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's The River Tour

When Morpheus Lights, long-term lighting contractor for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, wanted safety training for The River Tour 2016's road crew, they put in a call to Bill Sapsis, president of Sapsis Rigging. Sapsis flew in to tour rehearsals at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to conduct fall arrest and rescue training for everyone that works at height -- including riggers, followspot operators, lighting and video technicians. "It was a pleasure working with head rigger Stoney Stonecypher, Elijah Hodge, and the rest of the tech crew." Sapsis noted: "Everyone was very engaged in the exercise and we worked out a number of rescue scenarios for the various places where the crew will need to work."

The safety training took place on the show rig one day prior to the start of the tour. "We prefer to train on the actual tour rig." commented Paul Weller, of Morpheus Lights. "It's a way to ensure that we address the specific fall hazard locations the crew might encounter and it lets the crew work out clear procedures that can be followed cooperatively among the various departments and vendors."

Sapsis Rigging provided similar safety training for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's Wrecking Ball Tour in 2012. Band management has been in the forefront of safety awareness for the concert touring industry. "It's very gratifying to know that safety training is taken seriously by tour manager George Travis and everyone involved with the tour," Sapsis added. "I hope that this attitude will continue to spread throughout the concert touring industry."