Aug 2010 Mojo Barriers create curve for Bon Jovi’s Circle Tour
Mojo Barriers US office created a curved aluminium barrier system, for the three week Canadian leg of the Bon Jovi Circle Tour. The system compromised of 130 m of Mojo Barrier, complete with custom built emergency gates for the inner circular pit.
Bon Jovi’s Circle Tour started on the 9th July in the bands home town New Jersey with a 68,000 strong audience and continued with 10 sold out shows, including a headline act at the first ever Hallabalou Festival on the 23rd July where Mojo Barriers also provided the crowd control barricade.
Mojo Barriers’ JB Dolphin and Matthew Tamulis liaised with Bon Jovi’s head of security Knute Brye and tour production manager Jesse Sandler to ensure the installation of the barriers met the needs of the record crowds. Matthew Tamulis was on site in New Jersey to give expert advice to tour production on successfully managing the installation of the curved barrier system.
Matthew Tamulis, Mojo Barrier’s project manager explains,
“Safety is always a high concern and therefore we needed to create a robust and secure barrier and emergency gate system. The Mojo Barrier system also need to fit in with the specific circular designs for the stage.
“We created an unusual layout for the tour as the barricades were arranged in a curved semi-circle around the ring platform extending from Bon Jovi’s stage, allowing the crowd to form a circle around the ring.
“For this system to be successful in accommodating the crowd pressure and to ensure everyone’s safety, we used different pieces to create a convex curve around the circular stage. Throughout this tour there was a VIP section in an inner circle pit for which we custom built four emergency gates to ensure a fast exit out of the circle if needed.”
July 2009 U2 tours with 360º of Mojo Barriers
Mojo Barriers have made a very rounded contribution to the 2009 U2 360º tour as the Dutch company underlines its international capabilities by supplying an incredible 700m of curved aluminium barrier system for the World Tour.
Having been contracted to supply the touring crowd barrier system in late 2008, Mojo Barriers’ project team was thorough in preparing the largest, most complex touring barrier system the company as ever designed. As the footprint of the gigantic stage spans the width of the stadium pitches, both the central stage and concentric ‘B-Stage” are closely surrounded by live audiences. Safety was at the top of all concerned parties’ priorities list in designing the barrier configuration, which used all elements of the Mojo Barriers system plus some custom-built elements. The challenge was managed using all Mojo Barriers’ experience and flexibility.
Mojo’s managing Director Cees Muurling said:
“This show is pushing production boundaries and we’re very proud to be a part of this A-list production team. We have created a barrier system that follows the contours of this incredible stage and set. It has been designed so that the band can get close to the audience; there are a lot of angles and precise set lines to stay close to, making this a very intricate barrier design and installation, featuring well over a 100 special barrier pieces. “
“With the audience effectively held within parts of the stage it was essential that a robust barrier system was produced to ensure everyone’s safety. This required a great deal of barrier on the stadium floor and the fabrication of some bespoke pieces, such as the 70 barrier sections with the red upholstered chairs built in to the custom barrier piece sited in the VIP hospitality areas. The four ‘claws’ of the giant stage are interconnected by rod on the ground, so we manufactured 20 special barrier pieces to traverse these. This project has required a huge amount of effort and expertise from the whole team at Mojo Barriers.”
Mojo Barriers’ Appy Thörig is one of the tour’s full time carpenter managing the precise installation of this pristine crowd barrier at each stadium.