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This is the most interesting roof in London.
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- Published on Sep 4, 2022 veröffentlicht
- The @royalalberthall is 150 years old; the roof is 600 tonnes of glass and steel. And it turns out that there's a terrifying technicians' trampoline, acoustic-dampening mushrooms, and a complete lack of connections.
Thanks to everyone at the Royal Albert Hall: www.royalalberthall.com/
Camera by Jamie MacLeod www.jamiemacleod.co.uk/
Aerial operations by Phil Conrad and Freddie Conrad from Photodrones www.photodrones.com
Edited by Taran van Hemert / taranvh
(The Royal Albert Hall is within the Hyde Park no-fly-zone. Drone operations were specially permitted and approved by the aviation authorities.)
I'm at tomscott.com
on Twitter at tomscott
on Facebook at tomscott
and on Instagram as tomscottgo
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I wish I'd had a bit more time up on the mesh, to get used to it - but we had to be finished by the time rehearsals for the day started!
Sick
Hi Scott
drip
Scott i live in that attic i plant weed there shhh.. dont tell the cops.
It starts with
All I know
It's so unreal
Watch you go
I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
One thing, I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme
To remind myself of a time when I tried so hard
In spite of the way you were mockin' me
Actin' like I was part of your property
Remembering all the times you fought with me
I'm surprised it got so far
Things aren't the way they were before
You wouldn't even recognize me anymore
Not that you knew me back then
But it all comes back to me in the end
You kept everything inside
And even though I tried, it all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually
Be a memory of a time when I
I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
One thing, I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind
I designed this rhyme to explain in due time
All I know
Time is a valuable thing
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings
Watch it count down to the end of the day
The clock ticks life away
It's so unreal
You didn't look out below
Watch the time go right out the window
Tryin' to hold on, they didn't even know
I wasted it all just to watch you go
I kept everything inside
And even though I tried, it all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually be a memory
Of a time when I tried so hard
Kudos to the camera guy who was walking on the mesh too. With no free hands.
This. I came here to say this.
They are the unsung heroes of these videos.
the camera man is immune to fall damage by default
He didn't look down...
Edit : my bad, he did. Man's a natural.
Tom making it looks more difficult than it really is
I love how Tom gets terrified of walking in the mesh and then the cameraman is just chilling there, already standing on it
Well, the cameraman never looked down!
cameramen never die, you know
@NoName We just expire and get replaced.
@A Olson He did look down or at least pointed the camera down quite convincingly.
@A Olson he did tho
The reaction “oh my god don’t bounce on it!” Was so genuine 😂
I would be terrified as well
As soon as he started talking about how safe it was, I knew he was gonna bounce to make his point eventually 😂
My heart rate spiked just watching it!
So what you're saying, is that every director that has made a scene of London being destroyed by some natural disaster has missed a golden opportunity to show the roof of the Royal Albert Hall being lifted off and cartwheeling through the city? Or maybe they have and now I know to look for it.
saving the idea
I was thinking of a Gru style villain stealing it with a giant magnet on a helicopter 😂
Write it down, write it down!
Now I want to see that in a movie!! 🤣
I'm just glad I wasn't the only one to think that!
I feel your "this completely illogical" statement Tom. I am a civil engineer. I know how over built bridges are. I still can't walk on anything like glass where I can see down.
I'm quite happy to walk across a mesh floor and look down. What I am not happy to do is be in a position where I can fall a long way down. Falling down hurts.
@EngineeringVision I think it was Douglas Adams who said that it wasn't how far you fell towards a planet, it was how hard you hit it that was the problem.
@Davil Heating up several thousand degrees as you break the speed of sound must be decidedly unpleasant too.
Its not completely illogical if you consider MI5 blowdarting the Queen through the mesh roof haha.
@Buddy Clem worded it like it was nothing but a mild annoyance lmao
I really love how Tom isnt shying away from showing his fear of heights and holding the inspectors arm for safety.
Something you arent seeing often.
He said this long ago before it is his brand to be truthful, real and authentic; and these instances for human weaknesses help sell that brand - and makes us love him for it.
The engineer saying that most people, including the fire brigade, just hold his hand to get across the mesh, and then JUMPING on the mesh to prove its safety is awesome.
this was my job when I did stage work, I was on rail and spot. the catwalks were my domain and it was hilarious to see people so scared when you jump in place and everything shakes slightly xD
I was a ski lift mechanic for a decade and trained several other mechanics. I would bounce the tower or work chair on them early on to test their reaction. You don't want overly nervous or overly confident people working at deadly heights with you.
and then you remember his video abaut riding rollercoasters
@UC5aWUNV-yRy1BV94MOnIJrA You seem to be trying much harder, and not doing aswell. Kinda sad. Remeber you're choosing to act out in this way, so you can break the cycle.
thousandth like
"Terrifying Technicians' Trampoline" is a deeply glorious phrase. Well stated, Tom.
it is also grammatically iffy- oh god i just turned into _that_ guy, didn't i
Im stealing “deeply glorious phrase”
Tom: I'm scared of heights
The cameraman: I don't have such weaknesses
We all know the cameraman cannot die.
I do.
Victorian engineering at its pinnacle. I wish more people would acknowledge the workers that constructed these amazing buildings.
And how many people died either building it or handling and mining and manufacturing the steel.
I learned about it in my World History class (In America). Absolutism stunning architecture that I hope I get to see in person one day.
People did just as amazing things with less. Medieval cathedrals, ancient castles, tombs, and palaces. Amazing in every way in any time period.
I'm terrified just watching this video. I can't imagine how Tom felt. And the calmness of the safety officer is just inconceivable.
The safety of the cameraman:
Job interview for safety officer position: Walk across that mesh.
If you can do it without flinching, you're hired.
"You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means"
My anxiety skyrocketted the moment you stepped on the mesh and the panic set in.
Why? It's a video
Mine sky rocketed when the camera looked down...
fr tho i'm not even there and i felt like i was gonna cry 😭
If it’s not permanently attached, does that make it technically a lid?
Perhaps the biggest lid in London -- or the world?
I think it does.
I wonder it will be lifted if filled with helium or hydrogen.
Please don't do it, but if someone have desire to vandalise monument with tremendous amount of all light gas, that might be a way
It’s pretty common in domed stadiums to have the roof unattached.. I’m pretty sure the USA and Japan both have much bigger ones.
As an orchestral musician I've played in many amazing spaces, including the Royal Albert Hall, but I always zone out in the rests and end up gazing at the roofs of many places, wondering what goes on. Now I have one of the many concert halls ticked off!
What is your opinion on the acoustics there?
its so charming watching tom wig out about the tension grid. you get so used to scary heights so fast when you work show tech -- its always interesting to see a new person approach them with, like, normal and appropriate self-preservation instincts
I feel for Tom, its not easy having to face a phobia.
Its hard to understand how irrational the fear is, you can consciously be 110% certain the situation is safe, but your mind just goes "nope!".
Mine is wasps, if any of those come at me I'm 10m away before the thinking parts of my brain kick in.
A phobia? I think that's common sense.
2:20 - I used to do sound setups for various functions as part of a team and at one of them in 2008 I wasn't on active duty but decided to assist in tear down. Some speakers had been suspended above the stage in a conference center and I was directed to the place I could turn a crank and lower them. The moment I stepped out to the area and felt the bounce, I noticed that I was on a mesh and I could see all the way down to the stage where people down there looked so small. My legs just stopped moving. Regardless of my mind telling me it's safe because other people were walking on it I just couldn't move. My legs didn't respond to anything I wanted. No one helped me and I ended up having to lie down and roll to the edge which was only half a meter away. I didn't take down those speakers. But I discovered a fear I didn't know I had.
Love it. Saw the thumbnail of a tension grid and said "oh, Tom's visiting a theatre". Tension grids are fantastic and yes they do take a little getting used too, but once you realize that there is a crazy amount of safety and engineering that have gone into the design the fear just goes away.
I love how Tom isn't afraid to, well, be afraid on camera. I think it's one of the reasons he has such a great following. He feels more like a friend than a celebrity.
I was thinking the same
So you think Tom Cruise couldn’t do this?
@Egilhelmson acting scared and being scared on camera are 2 different things.
@s70driver2005 Exactly. And I think most of us believe Tom Cruise is completely insane to begin with.
I did find his response hilarious TBH, but not in mean-spirited way, and indeed fair play for being willing to share this.
Tom, your courage knows no bounds. Climbed a grain silo once. Coolest thing I had done in my life up to then. Looked over the edge before climbing down. There seemed infinite space between me and a hard stop. “Look at the ladder, look at the ladder…” Took me a while to latch on and swing over. Well done, You!
Climbed down a cliff on a 200m volcanic plug once and had to encourage the others that theyll be fine once where back at the top because we were like 30m above anything else on a rocky ledge
Should add that im the one thats scared of heights, i jist love the vertigo rush lmfaoooo
Look ahead & look up, not down. That was my experience servicing communications towers.
Totally understand your fear of heights Tom. Its been the bane of my life and in one case cost me a job. I tried to conquer my fear once by climbing a tree that had a death slide at the top. I had to be winched down half way up because I froze.
A death slide? That doesn’t sound like something one should climb towards…
The process is called flooding. But in my case I nearly drowned in fear, though does work for a lot of people, just not for me sadly.
Same - weird thing for me though is if it's natural (e.g. a cliff edge) I'm completely fine even if the drop is hundreds of metres, but if it's been manufactured or grown (e.g. a tree, ladder or glass walkway) then it messes with me big time. LIke i've sideways climbed across a boulder with no safety equipment - nothing but small handholds between me and a 200m+ drop straight down while it was raining and barely even paused but I've also been paralysed by fear on a treebranch only 2m from the ground or a suspended staircase that's a little wobbly.
I am totally so with you...! Five rungs of a ladder and I'm outta here.
I'm an entertainment technician and my reaction to the grid was "oh an easy one to work on" -- wire tension grids are great, you need no additional safety gear to avoid falling. You just gotta not drop anything.
i remember climbing around this thing in assassins creed syndicate! so cool to see it in the modern day, and to learn about what the building does! (in the game the interior was still under construction)
I laughed a lot when Tom stepped out. As a stagehand who's worked at a ton of venues, I'm always curious of places I haven't been to. I thought it would much much further down but it wasn't an unusual height, and much safer with the mesh than just walking out on iron beams or steel/aluminum truss.
Can we just applaud Scott’s cameraman for filming him while walking on the mesh
Camera operators... The silent superheroes.
The cameraman always lives. That's why he wasn't scared.
@bagnome someone has to remain to tell the tale
And for being in position in case Tom goes splat.
+
It's a shame that you didn't go into more detail about the mushrooms. They were designed by Ken Shearer who was responsible for the design of a lot of very important music related acoustic spaces. The original internal canopy that was designed to fix the issues with the acousics for the RAH was less than successful which was why proposals were put forward for solutions to the echo.
Also if you don't like the RAH tension grid, you really won't like the O2 arena's one.
Apparently there are only two fears we are born with; a fear of falling and a fear of loud noises. Good job nobody popped a balloon behind you. Great video, as always!
This video was so fascinating I didn't even care that you didn't explain how many holes it would take to fill the Albert Hall!
Air grids are amazing! 99% of rigging is SO much easier on them, and the 1% that isn't just takes a little ingenuity to change! You get used to the bounciness after about 3 minutes, but I've found that after 30 - 45 minutes on it, you need to take a break on solid ground because your knees start to hurt. Because the work is so quick on it though, you can be on and off in 10.
That fear was so genuine that as someone terrified of heights I was feeling it with you
I used to be a theatre tech, the best part of it was seeing how the new techies reacted to the grid. Some would avoid it like the plague, others would use it like a trampoline. It was amazing bouncy
There are all sorts of people. I am not particularly afraid of heights, but sometimes I can feel a bit uneasy about certain structures. Once, we climbed a telecommunication mast, together with my friend, about 30 meters high. The whole structure was gently moving from side to side, swinging in the wind - just a few centimetres to each side, but one could definitely feel it. I assured myself that it was completely normal, given the properties of the structure, but I certainly had no desire to make it move more. However, my friend, as soon as he had reached the top platform a few moments later than me and had also noticed the swinging, started moving his weight in sync with the mast, trying to make it move more to see the limits of the movement. :) I wasn´t too pleased by that experiment, to say the least... :)
@TheBirchCreek where do you work? what the profession?
There's nothing quite like the joy of bringing a bunch of bouncy rubber balls up to a grid. Obviously on an off-day, obviously with the venue empty and secure. But bouncing bouncy balls from >3 stories high is a right laugh!
@Anthony Long well that’s not an image I ever thought I’d have in my head 😂👌🏻
@Anthony Long i love that omg
Dude when I saw how far down the ground was below the mesh I screamed, that technician was very kind to hold your hand while you were up there. I would have needed the same honestly
I love this stuff. Thank you Tom. I've been an addict for domes, spires, pyramids and towers all round the world, from the Romans, Greeks and later Italians to the O2 and Eiffel, they fascinate me. Thank you for this detail!!!
Tom, your apparent innate fear of heights appears to be as profound as mine. This cannot have been easy. Well done.
This is far and away one of my favorite of your videos. My absolute favorite is the one about microwaves where you located the scientist and he gleefully told the story of thawing frozen hamsters.
This one made me sick from heights. I had butterflies in my stomach, I was literally pushing against the back of my chair to get away from the edge. Very nice, good on you for walking out there. I'm now remembering your trip to the top of the wind turbine, so that's another one that made me sick. Love it. 💚
I was able to visit the grid iron at Radio City Music Hall for a project, I'm not afraid of heights but stepping out onto those 2" wide slats with a 10 story drop to the stage definitely gave me a few fearful moments. The tech we were with told us to leave everything but our clothes outside the door so I couldn't get any photos but it was certainly an experience.
I'm an event production rigger and I can confidently say that that I still experience vertigo above about 50ft. It's completely normal and something that gets easier the more you work at height. No shame in seeking hand holds at those heights.
My worst was having to replace confetty up a 7 meter ladder it was so wobbly that if someone walked in the room I felt it
My dad's got a 50 ft yacht. I'm the one who has to get hoisted up the 70-80ft mast. While I've gotten used to it, I still move slowly and deliberately when handling tools and stuff.
It's actually worse halfway up the mast than it is up the top because the wake of other boats can get you swinging more in the middle than at the top.
You experience the sensation of the room moving or you moving ? That's a strange reaction I've never had that to heights
I wonder if vertigo is an evolutionary adaptation to keep us safely in the trees.
We don't mind distance above or out laterally, but we get pensive about distance below us.
I believe there was a study in the 50s or the 60s about putting babies on glass tables and there was a critical age in months where once the infant developed a sense of spacial orientation and abstraction, they became frightened when placed on a transparent surface too high off the floor.
@Mikowmer out of curiosity, how does it make it worse half way up? If the keel heels by X degrees then the higher you are from the keel then the more movement you'll get.
I hope you don't mind me asking. I've a fair bit of experience of power boats but looking to go into sail soon. Thanks.
I am terrified of heights, particularly balconies where there is some risk of falling. When I visited St. Peters Basilica all I could think about was someone falling from the walkway in the dome. Even now my heart is racing thinking about it.
There is NO WAY I would have walked out onto the mesh. Massive respect, Tom.
What I love about Tom's videos is that he takes topics that I would normally never care about or give the time of day and he makes them fascinating
The scariest part about safety features like the wire net, to my mind, is just the idea of what I _haven't_ been told. For example, it's very reasonable to accept that it's safe to walk on, but not many people will tell you "it's also safe to jump on," or exactly how big of a jump it can take.
Had a similar experience with a wire mesh grid when I visited Drax power station in my teens. Everyone else was fine, but I froze completely when looked down and saw the multiple levels of wire mesh flooring below. The only way that I could start moving again and keep in step with my school party was stare fixedly ahead. I’ve remembered that experience for over forty years.
Victorian engineering is just so wild. Some stuff is incredibly overengineered, whilst at the same time some stuff is incredibly underengineered. Its like that awkward point in the industrial revolution where they became confident enough with the new industrial capabilities to start doing some really crazy stuff, but there wasn't enough precedent to really know what was or wasn't enough. The Forth Bridge and the Tay Bridge (the one that collapsed) are a great example of this juxtaposition.
i think you're refering to being a qualified engineer,
The Victorians knew that they needed to engineer stuff to work right. So they just engineered whatever they could and didn't bother about the things they couldn't.
"Architecture begins where Engineering ends" - Walter Gropius
I think we’re at that point now in Software Engineering.
I mean, you had calculus, but that was it, no CAD, no calculators, and a lot of modern engineering hadn't been invented yet
I can no longer do heights having had a bad experience on a ladder years ago. You all have my most sincere respect.
As a halfway house preparation for the mesh walk at the Albert Hall, Tom might have walked on the glass floor at the Blackpool Tower or the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth. You have the advantage there of a solid floor but you also have the ability to see people walking around or sitting at tables several hundred feet vertically below you. An elderly gent was in the middle of the glass floor, calmly talking to us, when we were taking off our shoes at the Spinnaker Tower (as is required) and we maintained eye contact with him as we edged onto the glass. He stepped off the glass after about 30 seconds and then we looked down but it didn't seem such a big deal by then.
I cannot convey in words how much fear this video brought me. My legs turned to jelly and my stomach is still turning somersaults. How anyone can stand heights is totally beyond me. 😳
I love how your brain is actually physically preventing you from moving onto the mesh. That must feel so weird. There is a VR experience where you exit an elevator from a 50 story building onto a plank. It is sooo difficult to take a step onto that plank, even though you know that you are standing on the ground.
Would loved to have been part of the audio team that designed the acoustic solutions. I bet there's a lot of engineering there managing all of those speakers and keeping them in the appropriate phase
Hello Theatre Lighting Technician here,
Wire tension grids are a god send! I always feel so much safer and more confident when rigging and focusing from a wire tension grid as opposed to ladders or harness work or more traditional common place grids that are just iron beams with gaps big enough for your foot to slip through. Wire tension grids I’ve worked on in the past have had huge signs up that say “THIS IS NOT A TRAMPOLINE!” however…
Fantastic video! Thank you for making it and thanks Royal Albert Hall for the backstage tour!
Completely agree. I always feel safer on a tension grid than a catwalk.
+
@David McGraw I'm not scared of heights, I'm only scared of realistic prospects of falling down.
@EngineeringVision Falling is easy; it is the landing part that is hard.
dare you to add a sign to every grid that says ' This is 'probably' not a trampoline''
As an engineer, this was awesome to see. Great video Tom.
I'm not afraid of heights at all... but your reactions had my heart thumping. Good Job! Love your videos :)
I think this might also be the most _terrifying_ roof in London!
"The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall in London, England. It is known for its distinctive domed roof, which is supported by pillars on the inside and buttresses on the outside. The dome itself is made of iron and glass and rests on a circular brick and concrete structure. The brick and concrete structure is supported by steel beams and pillars, which provide the necessary support for the weight of the dome and the building."
Well done!! Thát grid takes some courage to step out on to the unaware... 👍👍
I generally trust old constructions far more than newer ones, as the latter usually have far less margin (= cost) on safety.
The Royal Albert Hall is the most amazing venue I've ever been to - and I have been attending concerts at the RAH a fair bit over the years. But I've never been on the tour around this British icon. Something for the near future!
It cracks me up that Tom has such a rough time looking down, and then two seconds later it shows these historical images with workers just chilling at the top of the metal frame 😂
4:53 you can see the pic of the workers.
True fact: Many of the construction workers who build New York skyscrapers are Mohawk Indians, who have a gift for overcoming fear of heights!
@James Matthews I have read somewhere that your info is actually an urban myth. They in fact were afraid but in their culture admitting this was not acceptable so they pretend to not be afraid.
@neumde neuer well, if someone hides their fear of heights and carries on working at that height, wouldn't you call that overcoming the fear? Wouldn't you call that brave? It would be stupid not to feel some fear within at those heights, but the difference is whether you keep functioning. I know I'd probably freeze up like Tom did, unlike those workers who didn't only have to stand there but move around steel beams without safety gear.
bin chillin
2:55 "The dead weight of the wrought iron structure"
Now that I know you're a warlock who can animate the entire roof, I'm curious about the living weight of it all. Makes even more sense to know the roof isn't attached. It'd be a pain to bolt it back down every time you've finished taking it out for a spin.
I don't know how many people are up in there during performances for the living weight, but I'm sure there's a number of crew and equipment for testing and setup.
He's right though 'dead weight ' is the correct term meaning the permanent, static weight.
"Dead weight" is as opposed to "live load," which is things like wind pressure that shift over time.
*:::::::::::::::.......... The More You Know
This place is absolutely GEORGEOUS and I would LOVE to visit one day.
every modern brick house is also not attached to the ground. There is a plastic damp-proof course, usually a brick or two above ground level, so no mortar holds the bricks to each other either side, the wall, and house itself relies on the weight of the house to keep it down.
In some places you need very long poles, though. In order for the building not to move over long stretches of time. If there's a lot of mud in the ground.
I loved this video. I suffer from a fear of heights and even made two parachute jumps to try and face my fear but it didn't help. It is genuinely dangerous for me as thing sway and I become unsteady on my feet.
This would definitely send me into a full Hitchcock "Vertigo" spiral.
That was a great finishing line, Tom.
Another great video 💜
Thanks for this view below the roof of one of the most famous buildings in London. Nice to see how simple and reliable it was designed 150 years ago.
I once heard Andrea Bocelli at the Royal Albert Hall. His performance was so outstanding that I bought his CD and watched another of his concerts in Munich later on. (It was not the same magic, though. The acoustics of the Royal Albert Hall was so great, and also, the Olympic hall in Munich was a bit larger, so there was not the same feel.)
2:33 The moment when you understand all the math and it is telling you that it is completely safe but your body still just couldn't trust it
Kudos on taking that step, Tom! And to the camera person.
Thanks for sharing and scaring Tom! Hanging out on the grid is one of my favorite things. I've never seen anything like that one though. Incredible.
I love how Tom both fully admits his fears when confronted with something that terrifies him, and does his best to face them and experience something cool. It’s really admirable.
you should watch Tom Scott Plus then
@Elaine Johnson having fears is cringy? Literally what? Horrible take
@Elaine Johnson Then stop watching him? Nobody is going to miss your view and it won't change your life.
@Elaine Johnson Most people would have the exact same reaction as him walking over that mesh... not hiding it makes Tom extremely relatable to his audience.
I worked in a theater with a mesh floor like this near the ceiling. The soft feeling, like you are walking on sand , takes a little
getting used to, but I never saw anyone react the way he did
I'm honestly amazed that the 150-year-old roof can hold the weight of modern sound and safety equipment that the original engineers could never have predicted.
A fear of height never ceases to amaze me, it's so irrational, yet it is so common
Tom really needs a tv show or do longer in-depth videos
Nothing wrong with having a healthy fear of falling. It makes you respect your heights and work a bit safer.
Even with over a hundred hours of work experience, a fully extended scissor lift, and climbing high fixed ladders with fall harness makes me very aware of my height. Probably the most interesting thing I've climbed recently was a 120yo post office with a huge dome, and a fixed ladder bolted to the outside. Why did I climb it? To get to the pillared "cupola", and change a light bulb.
Tension grids are great once you get used to the idea of walking on air. Actually really practical for gaining easy access to lights.
I loved them when working in theatre world so practical and is much easier than a taliscope
I kinda expected to see you here, good sir.
How common are they and where do you generally come across them? I wasn't aware of their existance and now i want to bounce until Tom Scott screams.
Big Clive!!
Until you drop your screwdriver, I imagine.
That's bloody wicked. And huge points to Tom Scott for walking on that mesh. Because I'm not very good with heights either, and it made my teeth itch a little bit when he looked down! 😬😵💫😅
Thing is though, I'd just try hard to tell myself that every inch of that building is a marvel of British engineering. And I mean, proper Victorian days, from the time of people like Isambard Kingdom Brunel's time. True timeless wonders which really do last, you know...
As someone afraid of heights, the portion on the mesh felt relatable as heck.
Fantastic video! I've always wondered, how do you keep discovering these incredibly fascinating things to make videos on?
Just seeing that and seeing you react is making my anxiety spike. My palms are sweaty. I can only imagine what you must have been feeling.
I used to help change lighting gels in the roof of my high schools theater and that used to scare me. This is waaaaaaay higher.
Fair play to Tom for standing on that mesh. I know I would be terrified aswell 😂
This is beautiful. I love that the engineering has "just worked" for all these years, and the hall is still regularly used for modern productions.
It's absolutely stunning
@GTOger: There are now 542 replies to you asking your community, what might be the reason for you to no longer post any videos - I wonder if that is not yet enough to provide us with an answer?
a lot of stuff in england is like that
@Enno Cramer who are you talking to?
Well, it didn't "just work" acusticly
Very cool! Always wanted to know more about that building. Thank you so much. :)
Du gör alltid väldigt intressant filmer, tack.
This was really nice to see. My Grandad worked a lot on the Albert Hall roof lighting (mushrooms) & sound systems after the war.
This video is fantastic! I have been to many many concerts in the Albert Hall, and always wondered about the roof and how it worked. Now I know!
One of the gardens by the bay in singapore has a see through mesh bridge and i had to keep repeating to myself “trust in modern architecture, trust in modern engineering”
About interesting roofs. If Tom goes back to Germany eventually, he should get into the roofs of the Cologne Cathedral. It is an interesting story. The Cathedral, while construction started in I think the 14th century, had a several century long construction stop and was only finished in the 19th century. The roof, while made look from the outside old, was made with back then modern technology, meaning a massive steel roof construction. This construction was responsible for the Cathedral surviving WWII, as the bomb that did land in the roof did not burn it down like Notre Dame.
Nortredam?
Holy moses my friend. It's Notre Dame.
Also, its crooked, which you can easily see when you are up there.
France already knows the dangers of burning medieval roofs: Chatres Cathedral's "forest" framework in the roof burned down in 1836 and has since been replaced with metal frame
that’s really cool
Was just there, was blown away by how absolutely huge it is
Sydney Opera House concert hall had the same acoustic problems and similar "mushroom acoustic circles" were installed to help solve the problems -only moderately successful but the hall has now been completely overhauled and the results apparently have been superb.This is what happens when a building is designed for its architectural qualities and not its acoustic ones.
I am 100% scared of heights, but have done a great job of not instilling it in any of my family members. They would have bounced the entire time, and your reaction is what i would have done.
Thank you for the fascinating hidden secrets of this iconic building, you looked genuinely scared. Some great engineering for its time.
I loved my concert there with the orchestra performing the Tchaikovsky 1812 overture with the cannons firing, really testing the acoustics.
Been to the Royal Albert Hall a few times and it's magnificent. I always thought the mushrooms were just decorative!
I visited a theater as it was being constructed and it had a large area like this above the curtains. The builders had laid sheets of wood down so they didn't have to look
I always love how Tom is more than willing to put in those moments that show how uncomfortable/scared he is in a given situation and not just edit it out, it makes the videos so much more realistic and raw
And much more relatable to the audience because most of us would feel absolutely the same if high up there.
@soundscape26 without doubt! I don't know if I'd even make it onto the mesh
Him being terrified of everything is what makes his videos so interesting. (OK everything isn't fair, lots of things)
+
I'd prefer not to see his over dramatics
Wow that looked terrifying but was also utterly fascinating. Thank you so much. Victorian engineering was magnificent.
I can't tell what cracked me up more: the absolutely terrified Tom or the (slightly sadistic) jumping of the safety officer... 😂😂😂
I didn't expect it'd take me only three seconds to go from laughing over Tom greeting Guy in a way that reminded me Canadians in South Park ("Hey guy!") to seeing Guy holding Tom's hand the same way I help out my four-year-old. And I'm certain that by now, Tom is beating himself up over not having used the roof as a trampoline.
The Royal Albert Hall is my favourite space in the world. I love it so much.
Thanks for this video. It was really cool and something, I'd likely never seen or known otherwise. Now when I next go, I can stare up in amazement for entirely new reasons
I love tension mesh grids. They’re my favorite to work on because lighting is super easy on them
I love how Tom showed more fear walking on this mesh than he did when he was strapped to the top of a flying biplane.
Or going down a wind turbine backwards!!
I'm terrified of heights, but I love to fly. I think it's a normal thing, but I don't know why it happens that way.
Our caveman ancestors knew, fall from height, bad. Our caveman ancestors never had the need to develop a fear of biplanes.
I think its related to the amount of control. On the plane Tom couldn't do anything to affect whether or not he was safe really once they were up, but the mesh is innately determining on his mind if its a safe or unsafe action with clear things that determined it as unsafe right in front of him.
or going into that place without laws (yellow stone)
Tom, you have one of the world's most professional cameramen.
OMG, I am having the same fright as you're walking. I recently went up skinny little stairs inside of a basilica in Eastern Wisconsin called Holy Hill and experienced the same palpitations and fright. My legs didn't recover for a full day.
Super interesting video Tom! Just wish you’d let us know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert hall