Sarens gets the party started at Tomorrowland
Tomorrowland, Ghent Jazz, and Rock Werchter: they are three of the biggest music festivals of the summer, and they all depend on Sarens to set the stage for weeks of entertainment.
To make sure they started on all the right notes, Sarens cranes reported for duty to help set everything up before festivities kicked off.
The Ghent Jazz festival is an annual institution that generates valuable publicity for the region and extra temporary jobs for the local economy. This year, Sarens was thrilled to be chosen to help set up before festivities began. We had worked with customer Louis Huys Special Transport in the past, and were selected for this project because of the strength of our proposed solution for installing the complex festival structure.
For this phenomenal project, Sarens rented the LTM1150 as a main crane and two smaller AC50 cranes for various preparations. The equipment was chosen with required max load and radius in mind, and was then transported by road via several trailers over the course of two days. Once on site, it took the crew about two hours to set up the equipment, working within the limitations of available space for pre-assembly.
With the equipment prepared, Sarens then transported and lifted the event structure, which comprised pre-assembled frames for the main tent, and the smaller tents, which weighed up to six tonnes and measured up to 30 metres. Four crew members proceeded with the lift by uprighting the pre-assembled frames, which were fixed on hinges.
The team was challenged by a relative lack of room for heavy transport and cranes, especially with the narrow roads leading into Ghent’s city centre. At the site, for example, obstacles had to be removed and steel plates installed to reduce ground bearing pressure.
Our client was extremely satisfied with Sarens’ proposed technical solutions and their execution, and we hope to have the opportunity to work with them again next year!
Tomorrowland is the biggest techno festival in the world, and Sarens helps to make it a reality. Because we excelled at setting up the festival last year, Sarens was invited back to do it again for 2023. The Sarens team, led by Serge Dams, deployed a range of 40T through 250T telescopic cranes to Boom, Belgium, to help client Gosselin Logistics erect various stages for the event.
For this mission, we opted for smaller telescopic cranes because of their flexibility. The cranes arrived within 20 minutes from Sarens headquarters in Wolvertem, and setup took between half an hour and an hour for each crane.
Then, over the course of six weeks, ten crew members lifted swimming pools and various stage elements, collaborating closely with the production house, manager, and team members responsible for each stage. When the festival ended, the cranes and crew stayed on to dismantle everything in four weeks.
Every year, Sarens Belgium sends a fleet of telescopic cranes to set up the popular Rock Werchter festival. In May, we sent several cranes to lift stage elements and erect various stages for the event. Working with client Live Nation Festivals NV, Sarens provided the flexible 50T, 70T, and 80T telescopic cranes, driving them an hour from our Wolvertem headquarters and setting them up within half an hour. When the festival wrapped up in July, the cranes returned to dismantle the stages and help Rock Werther put everything away until next summer.
With Rock Werchter, Tomorrowland, Ghent Jazz, and us, Sarens has shown how four big acts can make for one spectacular summer. Sarens is an important provider for the festival sector, not just in Belgium, but across the world, helping to set up similar events with our world-class equipment and engineering solutions.
We’re thrilled that our know-how and can-do attitude have helped make this Belgian summer one people won’t soon forget, with fantastic music and entertainment made possible by our powerful engineering and equipment! And we look forward to doing it all again next year.
