NewsNTech
Load-out is the least visible and most mechanically demanding phase of large-scale touring.
When a show ends, a venue's service corridors and vehicle tunnels become the route for moving staging, lighting, and sound hardware onto transport, often in a compressed overnight window.
Forklifts run in tight spaces while crew workers coordinate the breakdown. The operational tempo is high and the tolerance for equipment error is small.
That combination produced a serious incident Saturday at Ford Field in Detroit, where a forklift lost control during the stage teardown following Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour concert and struck several workers, sending six people to local hospitals.
Keep reading