STAR LIVE
STAR LIVE AT 50 ENGINEERING THE FUTURE OF LIVE EVENTS
From renting audio equipment from the back of a van to underpinning some of the world’ s most complex and high-profile live event productions, Star Live has grown into a global multi-service operation that continues to evolve. We explore its 50-years of innovation.
Traditionally known as one of the industry’ s leading live event staging providers, Star Live’ s work today spans entertainment, sport and brands, including semi-permanent and permanent building projects such as immersive exhibition spaces like NEON at Battersea Power Station and the newly opened Mundo Pixar Experience in Wembley.
The Milton Keynes-headquartered operation now provides an array of proprietary products and services, from major touring and festival stage builds to semi-permanent structures, modular solutions and venue enhancements.
Servicing clients across Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, China, India and Mexico, Star Live also delivers seating for major sporting events such as the Ryder Cup and Formula E, versatile Starbox modular structures for events and brand activations including Cannes Lions and The Amex Experience at BST, alongside venue enhancements such as Mothergrids designed and installed at Mexico City’ s Palacio de los Deportes Arena, and Beijing’ s Wukesong Arena. Grahame Muir, who has been Star Live’ s CEO since 2019, says the focus on diversification and de-seasonalising the business has paid off:“ We ' ve gone from a business that was profitable for five months of the year to one that is profitable for 10 months a year. More of that work now comes through repeat partnerships and multi-year projects, increasingly delivered across multiple regions.”
Staging remains at the heart of Star Live, which has engineered some of the most spectacular stage systems used by festivals and tours in recent years. Among them are BST Hyde Park’ s iconic Great Oak Stage, built using Star Live’ s Titan system, and the stunning Ultra Stage used for the Oasis Live’ 25 tour. At Heaton Park, the Ultra Stage carried screen supports that reached 84 metres wide by 12 metres high. The set up is believed to be the largest ever used for a UK concert tour. As well as looking spectacular, the stage was designed to enable increased capacity in the stadiums.
The same innovative approach and attention to detail also underpins Star Live’ s work across sport and brands, from grandstand builds and seating solutions to modular structures and experiential infrastructure.
Star Live technical director Roger Barrett has been with the company since the outset, having founded audio rental operation Star Hire in August, 1976; just three days before the birth of his first child. He describes starting a business and a family in the same week as“ not clever”.
By the early 1980s, venue operators were increasingly installing their own sound systems, and Barrett saw his rental operation suffer. Aware that the rudimentary stage set ups used for the emerging outdoor concert scene could be vastly improved upon, Barrett set off on a new path.
With a new staging operation up and running, Barrett soon realised that the biggest costs were labour and transport, so he came up with the idea
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