Performing Artists Who Have Used Cherry Pickers as Part of Their Acts
Had it not been for the nail-biting final 30 seconds of the 2015 Super Bowl, Katy Perry’s half time show might have been the high point of the occasion. It was pretty spectacular, nonetheless, and we were there for the football, after all. The big question on everyone’s mind as America’s favorite human cartoon was carried away on a giant aerial lift cleverly disguised as a comet was, did she have the proper training and certification?
The girl-kissing, fire-cracking songstress isn’t the first act to use an aerial lift in her show. Stars like Justin Bieber, Michael Jackson, Kanye West, and the Backstreet Boys have all have made entrances and exits and even performed from high in the air in the name of entertainment.
Bieber was air-lifted onto the stage during his 2013 Believe tour borne on metallic angel wings made up of piano keyboards, cymbals and guitars. Later on in the show, he strapped himself into a cherry picker and performed an unplugged version, of all things, of Fall, as he hovered over thousands of screaming teenage girls.
Rare photos of Michael Jackson’s daredevil antics on a cherry picker are available on eBay. Jackson is no stranger to the aerial lift, having used them on at least nine live tours, including in Bucharest and New Zealand, where he is reported to have almost lost a shoe. Setting a terrible example to aspiring young aerial lift operators everywhere, Jackson was rarely, if ever, seen wearing a safety harness.
Although West’s is reported to have used a cherry picker for his Big Day Out tour in 2012, as can be seen in this video, he was actually using a scissor lift which, we all know, OSHA does not consider to be in the same class as an aerial lift.
During their Back tour at Wembley Arena, the Backstreet Boys, dressed in serious futuristic space suits, made a group entrance via cherry picker.
Even Pippa Middleton, royal sister-in-law to Prince William, is getting in on the act. She helped assemble the Christmas lighting display on Sloane Street in fashionable Knightsbridge. So far, nobody has dared ask if she went through formal training to get a license, although it is reported she did use safety gear.
Luckily for these celebrities and everyone else, AerialLiftCertification.com offers cherry picker training and aerial lift training in just about an hour. Celebrities could even get trained before the show! View our training kit not to get started!