Flying Kylie!

Jaws dropped at the MCG – and in lounge rooms and pubs across the country – on the final weekend of September. Before Shai Bolton became only the fifth player ever awarded the Norm Smith Medal on a losing side, and before the Lions kicked four goals in four minutes to secure their third consecutive flag, Kylie Minogue delivered a 20-minute preshow bonanza.

Packed with ten of her greatest hits, dancers, costume changes, pyrotechnics, a giant inflatable disco Sherrin, and guest appearances from William Barton, G Flip, The Inspired Unemployed, and Dom Dolla, the spectacle culminated in Minogue stepping aboard a gondola that raised her high into the air singing ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head.’ While she travelled around the stadium. No matter who won the ensuing game, the crowd were not going to get Kylie out of their heads.

The national treasure’s smooth journey was a collaboration of rigging and automation from Showtech Australia and SimpleMotion. Minogue could not have been in more skilled hands.

Showtech Australia is renowned for precision performer flying while SimpleMotion leads the way in complex scenic automation for major musicals; however, the average theatre typically requires only 30-to-40-metre cable runs, a permanent fly system, and, well, a roof. The MCG is not just the largest stadium in Australia, but in the Southern Hemisphere. Open-air and with a height difference of roughly six metres between the northern and southern grandstands, it presented a complex equation.

Not long after the show the term ‘Kylie Cam’ began circling online as journalists hypothesised that Minogue was travelling on the aerial camera’s rigging system. In fact, it was a separate system, one that created another problem for the team – how to have two separate fly systems rigged without any wires literally being crossed. Gareth Lieberman, COO of Showtech Australia, and Greg Gowans, Managing Director and Principal Engineer at SimpleMotion, walked us through the engineering and design.

Temporary installation of diversion trusses off the northern and southern grandstands allowed for the two operating systems. Winch farms were positioned in voids between the seating banks, with lines running straight up to the lip of the roof and out over the field of play. In years past, winch farms for aerial cameras were positioned in the player races, but the introduction of LED screens in those areas over the past two years meant moving the setups to the stadium voids. “It’s quite a process of positioning, working collaboratively with the stadium engineering,” Lieberman says. Nine winches were utilised in total – four for Kylie’s rig and five for the Raptor Cam. The winches used were built and are owned by SimpleMotion.

SimpleMotion provided the winches and automation control for the Kylie 4-point system. Raptor Cam have their own five winches; four flying and one comms cable winch for the camera system on their own separate control. This added the additional issue of engineering and coordination between the two systems, occupying the same winch locations, and imposed loads on the MCG structure, not to mention possible crossover between the two independent control systems, and the ‘live fly’ nature of Raptor Cam – this is where the Fly Envelope models were critical pre-install.

Minogue’s gondola was rigged using a four-way bridle and was equalised using a gimbal rigging system. The gondola travelled to the ground for the star to step aboard – secured and clipped in by two Showtech Australia staff – before travelling upwards. The four hoists lifting her were able to move at two metres per second and were programmed to update to a new position every 20 milliseconds. Her journey was limited to a height of 15 metres to keep clear of the Raptor Cam’s system, which operated directly above hers. The systems were all precalculated in virtual 3D and programmed to track, ensuring they wouldn’t collide with one another or any other theatrical elements below. Despite this meticulous pre-programming, the pilots for the two systems sat side-by-side to ensure constant communication.

While the winches were positioned in the stadium’s east and west wings, the control positions were up top of the stands in the north. The control systems were run with Beckhoff Industrial Automation, and the drives, gearboxes, and motors by SEW-Eurodrive. SimpleMotion have developed their own software, Simplicity, which allows the operator to program, control, and monitor all aspects of the automation system. Simplicity has been used on many major productions, including Moulin Rouge!, Romeo & Juliet, and The Picture of Dorian Gray. “We’re bringing all the best practice of modern industrial automation into the arena space,” Gowans says. “We run all the highest levels of safety and a deterministic network.” Twenty years ago, Gowans was part of the team that flew a tram onto the ‘G as part of the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony.

While bump-in for the preshow entertainment began a week prior – a week that involved the production team having to allow for the Hawks to play a home preliminary final – collaboration between all departments began months earlier. This involved weekly integration with Minogue and her production team. Gowans says that with an event as high-profile as this one, the administrative challenge can be as difficult as the engineering. “It’s about building the confidence of all the different stakeholders – whether that’s the producers at Mushroom, the MCC, or Kylie’s team. There’s a lot of work that happens before we even get to the field of play to make sure everybody is happy.”

Everyone interviewed emphasised safety as the number one priority. Adhering to legislation without shortcuts involves full suites of SWMS and Risk Assessments. While Gowans emphasises the heft of this job, he doesn’t do so without commenting on how wonderful Kylie and everyone involved was. “It’s great to work with a lot of talented people who really care. It makes my job easy.”

Beneath the flying diva, a raised centre-stage platform housed an inflatable disco Sherrin that blew up during these final moments and sat glittering despite the drizzly Melbourne weather. This ball was built by Airworks, an inflatables manufacturer based in Amsterdam. A technician was flown out from the Netherlands to work with the local crew to trial the technology in a factory and train them to operate it.

Travis Hogan, Chief Production Officer at Mushroom Group, has been working on the Grand Final pregame entertainment for 15 years – first as a production designer, and now as a producer.

Every year, the production elements grow in scale, and this year that expansion extended to the broadcast. The pregame entertainment had its own dedicated broadcast department, which included a Director of Broadcast working alongside Minogue’s own personal director, as well as a dedicated broadcast truck, all completely separate from Channel 7. While the network’s TV broadcast cameras were utilised, the production team also rigged an additional eight specialist cameras to best capture the magic. In addition to the Raptor Cam, they deployed their own Steadicam, a Polecam, and two drones. Hogan says; “We have been in control of the AFL entertainment broadcast for many years but this year we took some big steps to elevate the broadcast experience.”

Until recently, drones were not allowed to fly cameras directly above people, but recent changes to legislation have allowed for this. These changes require extra safety measures, such as propeller guards and automated parachutes that activate if the drone were to fall.

This is all without even touching on the pyrotechnics – frequent and colourful – the reuse of programmed lighting on the light poles as first seen in 2024 during Katy Perry’s set; the theatre lighting and grandMA3 console; and, possibly the biggest challenge of all – protecting the MCG’s turf.

The moniker ‘the Big Dance’ may well need to be reapplied to the pregame entertainment itself as it continues to reach new heights. With this year’s spectacle officially the biggest and best yet, it’s hard to imagine what they could possibly fly out of the box next.

—

CREDITS

• Travis Hogan – Producer
• Simon Johnson – Production Manager
• Gareth Lieberman, COO of Showtech Australia
• Greg Gowans, Managing Director and Principal Engineer at SimpleMotion
• Structural engineering by Tim Graham and Mark Sheldon of Aurecon
• Structural Engineering overlay was coordinated between SimpleMotion, Raptor Cam, and Aurecon by Gareth Lieberman from Showtech Australia
• Kenji Oates, Senior Mechatronics Engineer, SimpleMotion
• Staging – Cliftons Runways – Pro-Stage Stage Design – Stufish Inflatables – Airworks Lighting – PRG/AABPS Audio – JPJ Pyrotechnics – ShowFX Video control – CT Group
• Broadcast supplier – NEP Communications – Articulate Specialist Cameras – Luna
• Rigging and Performer Flying – Showtech Australia
• Automation – SimpleMotion Aerial Camera – Raptor Cam