Once upon a time…
It all began with one man named Hedwig De Meyer, Stageco’s founder and president, who organised an annual event in Werchter (Belgium). This required the hiring of a marquee and soon resulted in the Saturday night disco being extended to accommodate a Sunday concert, which later on became the first Rock Wercher festival (1975).
After five years, the festival had grown out of its original tent and the stage moved completely outdoors on a new site. Looking for appropriate stages at decent prices, the Rock Werchter organisers decided to build their own system. Promoters visiting Rock Werchter noted the unique approach to staging and began asking Hedwig if similar solutions might be available for their own events.
In 1985 the company Stageco was born.
The first steps abroad
For Genesis' Invisible Touch Tour in 1986 Hedwig decided to leave the traditional scaffolding stage approach behind, and to develop a tower system, based on crane technology — the use of such towers requires less labour, results in more rigging capacity and offers safer work manners...
Later on, the same production manager asked Stageco for Pink Floyd's Momentary Lapse Of Reason Tour in 1987. Stageco took on the entire world tour leading to Australia, New Zealand and Europe. It really put the company on the map as an alternative for the traditional (more labour intensive, weaker) scaffolding stages. Stageco’s staging systems also became popular because they provided excellent weather protection by introducing aluminium tent technology into outdoor staging roofs and sheeting.
US, here we come!
Another breakthrough came in 1992: Genesis' We Can't Dance Tour took Stageco for the first time to the United States. That marked the first tour where the company worked in close cooperation with an architect and where the outdoor stage design became part of the show.
After the Genesis tour Stageco continued supplying stages for renowned bands like Metallica, Guns ‘n’ Roses, AC/DC, ... putting up their stages on both sides of the ocean, which led to the opening of the US office in Colorado. Over the following years, more new offices were opened in the Netherlands and France. Stageco also started a joined venture with BSA in Germany which later became a Stageco subsidiary on 3 locations : Augsburg (DE), Berlin (DE) and Vienna (AU). Whilst they all focused on supplying stages for their local events it has given Stageco a unique international network of staging professionals and inventory of compatible staging equipment covering three continents.
Stageco moves into new territory
Stageco took important steps during recent years to provide the expertise it has built in the international touring market (with customers like the Rolling Stones, U2, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen and numerous other artists ) to sporting and corporate productions. Consequently Stageco has already produced an astonishing list of successful projects in this new market segment. Be it product launches, presentations, sponsored events,... in close co-operation with the customer Stageco always succeeds in translating its entertainment experience towards the corporate world. Stageco creates an environment in which people can witness an event in a unique atmosphere.
