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Litestructures Studios has kicked off 2008 with a series of concert production rehearsals from Editors, Westlife and X Factor Live.

X Factor Live held production rehearsals at Litestructures Studios for three days in February. For Production North's Iain Whitehead it was the first time to hold production rehearsals at Litestructures. For show finalists Andy, Beverly, Alisha, Same Difference, Niki, Hope, Rhydian, Futureproof and X Factor winner Leon, it was their first taste of live arena stardom.

While X Factor rehearsed in the Studio, the Litestructures stage and set department were busy putting the finishing touches on a custom stage set for Westlife. Litestructures has built Westlife's stage sets for the past five years, but this year's was the biggest yet with a 72ft wide, 40ft deep and 12ft high stage. It also featured Litestructures' brand new product, a 3.5m high modular climbing leg lift made of LitePro 4 Heavy Duty truss which was especially designed for the show. The stage was completed for the arrival Westlife who spent seven days rehearsing for their Coming Home tour at Litestructures Studios.

Fresh from their US tour, Editors dropped into Litestructures Studios for two days in February to prepare for their European tour which kicked off on 26th February in Glasgow. It was the first visit to the Studio for the band, but not for the tour manager Derek Fudge who was the first person ever to hire the Studio when it was christened by Coldplay back in May 2005.

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The Studio has enjoyed its busiest autumn yet having hosted seven rehearsals in as many weeks. In quick succession we've seen Stereophonics, Bill Bailey, Kanye West, Arctic Monkeys and Rihanna pass through the doors of the Studio. In all this autumn has been a great end to a strong year which has seen considerable growth for the Studio.

The Studio has also recently been hosting rehearsals of a very different kind. The West Yorkshire Fire Service required a modern multi-story building to train their teams in new techniques for fighting high-rise fires. Our emergency stair-case and empty upper floors was just what they needed and we were happy to help out.

Litestructures Studios on TV? Monachy: The Royal Family At Work is currently showing on BBC One, Mondays at 9pm. Litestructures hosted the film crew when the Earl of Wessex came and opened the Studio back in March 2007. Watch the programme and you might get a chance to see us on telly!

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Recent weeks have seen no less than three headline acts in the Litestructures Studios as they rehearsed, refined and generally warmed up for their major Summer tours.

In April we welcome the George Michael 25 Live Tour back to Litestructures Studios for a second stay. Following a successful first visit in August 2006, George's Production Manager, Mark 'Springo' Spring said that Litestructures Studios "should be pretty proud of themselves.... I'd go again in a heartbeat". True to his word, Springo brought George Michael back to the Studios again for a full month of preparations for the 25Live European Tour 2007.
In contrast, this was a first visit for Meatloaf, here to rehearse his Bat Out of Hell III, Seize The Night 2007 Tour. Crew and singer alike enjoyed their stay at the Studio before taking to the road for their sell-out itinerary.
The Arctic Monkeys, made the short journey from their native Sheffield to Litestructures Studios for three intensive rehearsal days before heading out for their busy Summer schedule which included a headline slot at Glastonbury.

With more and more headline acts making full use of its superb facilities, Litestructures Studios, is starting to make headlines of its own.

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Litestructures Studios today celebrates its second anniversary with the announcement that the Studio has surpassed occupancy targets with a steady string of concert tours making use of the facility.
Two years ago today Litestructures Studios opened its doors for the first time to host production rehearsals for Coldplay's Twisted Logic tour. In doing so it set a new standard for rehearsal studios - a 2.5 million pound, purpose built facility large enough to accommodate arena and stadium sized live music productions. Since then the Studio has hosted rehearsals for Cirque de Soleil, Franz Ferdinand, Prodigy, Scissor Sisters, Pussycat Dolls, Muse, George Michael, Basement Jaxx, Robbie Williams, Kaiser Chiefs, Massive Attack, Beautiful South, Westlife, Journey, Australian Pink Floyd Show, Faithless, Meat Loaf and many others.
"The Litestructures Studio has exceeded our expectations during its first two years," said Brent Woods, Litestructures Studios' General Manager. "The unbeatable combination of the Studio's high specification, support services and Litestructures' on-site Stage and Set fabrication facility mean that rehearsals held here are more efficient, productive and ultimately money saving."
With over 17,500 sq feet of floor space, a height of 54 feet and a load capacity of 100 tons across its flexible, man-safe gantry, Litestructures Studios is the UK's largest purpose built rehearsal studio.

The height of the Studio and its loading capacity make it the largest purpose built rehearsal Studio in the UK.

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Last month Litestructures Studios played host to a MySpace Secret Show with Columbia recording artists Faithless. The performance for a small group of fans was taped for Channel 4's 4Music strand and will air on Saturday 7th April at 12.45am on Channel 4.

Presented by online community website MySpace and filmed for Channel 4, the Faithless Secret Show was the third event of its kind to be held in the UK. A select group of 260 Faithless fans were taken by coach from central Leeds to the event's 'secret location' -- Litestructures Studios. On entering the Studio they got a special sneak preview of the band's full set, lighting, production and sound system designed especially for the Faithless UK tour.

"It was great to see everyone's faces when they arrived at the Studio," says Litestructures Studio General Manager Brent Woods. "When they realized that they were part of a small group that were going to be treated to a show designed for a 10,000 seat venue, they were over the moon. And Faithless didn't disappoint, delivering a fantastic, energetic set."

For more information, contact us or visit www.myspace.com/secretshowsuk - Watch Channel 4 on 7th April at 12.45am.

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Big event at Litestructures, it's with great pleasure and honour that Litestructures, have welcomed the Earl of Wessex, aka Prince Edward for the inauguration of their amazing studio rehearsal facility, the Litestructures Studios.
No stranger himself to the world of stage and screen, the Prince has spent a few hours, in the course of a special day's visit to Yorkshire, and to nearby Leeds, to visit and explore what is one of the most important studio and rehearsal facilities in the U.K., indeed, one of the biggest in Europe. The Prince first received a personal tour of the offices and factory lead by Adrian Brooks, our Managing Director; he then moved to the Studio to unveil a plaque to officially commemorate the opening of the facility. The ceremony was followed by a 'grand finale' with a spectacular show from the acrobats of the Sheffield based 'Swamp Circus'.
Since its first opening in 2005, the Studio has welcomed one of the top bands/artists in the world such as Coldplay, Scissor Sisters, Robbie Williams, Muse, George Michael, Franz Ferdinand... to name a few. With 54ft to the underside of the grid and up to 100 tons of loading capacity, the venue is a unique place in the UK and claims to be one of the biggest of its kind in Europe. With such a building, opportunities can also arise for the TV and film industry which can easily accommodate their needs too.

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The irrepressible Louis Walsh's boy band, Westlife, are on tour again. As with their last three touring shows, this one also started life at Litestructures. While the band rehearsed in the Litestructures Studio, the design and build team were constructing a brand new stage set for them, following a concept produced by Peter Barnes, the design brains behind the Live8 stage. As ever, the boys enjoyed their time at Litestructures and, now that they are on the road, their adoring fan base is enjoying the impressive stage set that Barnes and Litestructures have put together for them, taking just 4 weeks from start to finish. Another all-win result for our combined studio and manufacturing resource.

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It was with great excitement (especially from the Litestructures’ lads team) that the Studio rehearsal welcomed for the second time the latest US R&B female band, the Pussycat Dolls. They used the facility for three days in preparation of their European tour. The Dolls’ production crew chose our set rental option which allowed the Litestructures’ team to build a big extravagant set with a custom design look in no time. Choosing rental equipment from our vast hire stocks is a smart way to get a bespoke-like set manufactured in a short period of time and also at a much lower cost.

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Another challenge, another success for Litestructures. The US prodigy superstar singer Rihanna was also in the Litestructures’ Studio in November in preparation for her European tour which shares dates with the Pussycat Dolls’. Were so busy that we had to open the Studio number 2 for Rihanna’s visit. Whilst the Pussycat Dolls’ team were using the main big room, Rihanna was in the Studio 2 which is adjacent to the venue.
Once again, production time was tight for this project. The Litestructures’ Design team came up with a truly stunning set custom built to Rihanna’s own design and we had just one week to manufacture the entire set. With a lot of team effort, the set was ready on time and a few songs and moves from Rihanna and her dancers meant that the rigging crew enjoyed their day in the Studio as much as Rihanna did.

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Scissor Sisters, the fabulously successful US band were at the Litestructures' Studio last week to rehearse their UK and Ireland sell out tour. It's the second time we have hosted the band and the big challenge for us this year was timescale which was less than three weeks from the initial enquiry to the start of the tour. However, impossible is not the Litestructures' style! Starting from the Scissor Sisters' production concept, the Litestructures' Design team had to complete the design and manufacture of the band's stage set under great pressure and in minimum time. The impressive set featured a raked clear stage, three massive goalpost structures and giant lift doors with working lights for the show. One of the most unusual features of the set was the giant lift indicator arrow which had to be designed, manufactured and installed in just 36 hours! The whole project was very last minute but the Litestructures team's professionalism and efficiency resulted in a major success. We feel sure that the Scissor Sisters' visit to the Studio won't be their last.

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Having completed some work for them earlier this summer, the MUSE production team came back to us in September to use the Litestructures Studio in preparation of their forthcoming world tour. They stayed in the Studio for 4 days in October for a pre-production initial set up of rigging and lighting. The flexibility of the facility helped them decide on all the major specifications of the set in order to be fully ready for their production rehearsal in Bilbao (Spain), the place of the first gig planned at the end of October.

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Before joining George for full rehearsals at Wembley his production team spent 11 days in the Studio for pre production set up of lights, video and set, with the video screen being suspended 45 feet up in the air! Although they were fairly self sufficient the Litestructures support team arranged vehicles, crew and various materials for the visitors throughout their stay.

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There was great excitement in the Litestructure's offices with the arrival of the Robbie Williams team for a 4 week production set up of lights, video, sound and set and the promise of a two day test rehearsal with the artist himself! The facility was the ideal venue for their work prior to full rehearsals in Belgium later in the year. Working with the team throughout their stay the Litestructures crew supplied set items as required to everyone's satisfaction and despite the rainy weather Robbie's arrival and subsequent singing made everyone's day in the office!

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TPI Awards 2006: Litestructures Awarded ‘Favourite Set Construction Company’. For the production and live entertainment industry, this is the most prestigious awards event of the year and for the second year running Litestructures won the award for ‘Favourite Set Construction Company’ in recognition of our outstanding efforts in building sets and fabrication. We look forward to providing our many clients with future award winning products and services.

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Cirque Du Soleil needed a quick turn around when they booked the Studio for a full refurbishment of their Alegria stage set. The whole work was completed in the 15 days between the old set arriving from Japan and the new one being loaded into the Royal Albert Hall! The Litestructures team worked with the technical team from Cirque Du Soleil and out - sourced scenic artists to carry out the refurbishment in record time. The support team was kept busy too – sourcing vehicles and making sure everyone had a place to sleep at night after a busy day in the studio!

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October 2005 saw the Rehearsal Studio in use again for a pre production set up of lights, video, sound and stage before the world tour of Franz Ferdinand. The house stage for the tour was  built by Litestructures at their on - site manufacturing facility. The in - house support team were kept busy during the stay arranging the accommodation and sourcing vehicles and crew.

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The Studio played host to one of the UK’s top selling bands, Coldplay shortly after opening for business in May 2005. The Studio, which is conveniently located just off the major motorways, was booked at the last minute by production manager Derek Fudge, for 15 days for a full production build, prior to the start of the band’s world tour later in the month. With the artists themselves visiting for full rehearsals, good use was made of the pristine and luxurious facilities on site including a full suite of dressing rooms and production offices, laundry and dining facilities together with the spacious 17,664 sq. ft. rehearsal space with its high loading capacity gantry, 4 loading bays and fully walkable rigging gantry.