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The trucks carry Garth Brooks’ concert tour’s stage, lighting and all the other apparatus needed to transform the city’s 28-year-old arena to host a modern show.

Hosting six shows in four days will test the limits and expose the shortcomings of the aging facility on the northwest outskirts of the city.

“We almost lost this show,” SaskTel Centre chief executive officer Will Lofdahl admits. “We had to rejig some things.”

The start

The seats at the west end of the arena — the same end where the stage will be built — have already been lifted to allow the material from the trucks to be unloaded. The three doors at the arena floor level are each open for a truck to unload.

SaskTel Centre, built as Saskatchewan Place in 1988, lacks a loading dock, so much of the heavier material needs to be unloaded using forklifts.

After about a couple of hours of work, the major components of the concert series lie strewn on the concrete arena floor like jigsaw puzzle pieces waiting to be fitted together.

While the 20 trucks may seem excessive, Justin Bieber’s show next week will arrive in at least 25 trucks.

“Garth doesn’t have many whistles and bells,” Lofdahl says. “Garth doesn’t need many whistles and bells.”

High-wire act

About a dozen workers with harnesses are crawling around in the rafters. The low bars are 52 feet above the floor and the high bars are 80 feet above it.

While these may seem high, Lofdahl says today’s acts want more space and more options. The beams in the Staples Center in Los Angeles are nearly twice the distance from the floor. SaskTel Centre’s beams are 42 feet apart, while newer venues feature a grid system.