ROLLING STONES MANHATTAN 2005 STAGE PLANS. BIGGER BANG TOUR. ORIGINAL. COLLECTIBLE. RARE.

THE

ROLLING

STONES

From the ..

“MANHATTAN BEACH”

TOUR.

2005-2006

a/k/a

Bigger Bang!

THE TOURING STAGE PLANS.

My Stones Story.

Everyone has a favorite Stones Story, especially those of us past 60.  Because they are our band.  And they always will be our band.

My Stones Story starts with me riding in the back of my parents’ 1959 Ford on our way to our family reunion in May of 1964.  I had my red Channel Master transistor radio stuck to my ear with its antenna stuck out the window just trying to get a Beatles fix.  Suddenly, a bolt of Bo Diddly hit it straight own-and the Stones entered my life from then on thanks to “Not Fade Away”.  So my Stones life after that was made up of worn out grooved vinyl records and maracas. My first Stones concert was November, 1965 in Raleigh, N.C.  Yes, the Devils came straight into the mist of the Holy Spirit.  And I was lost forever.

And how many times did I see the Stones after that?  Lots.  They got bigger-their shows got bigger-and so did I.

Last time was October 8, 2005 at Wallace Wade Stadium at Duke University just down the road from my house.  All week I watched through the fence as the universe was rearranged into a single megalith that was, and still is, impossible to comprehend.  For those of us who are mystified and enthralled by creations-this was the ultimate machine.   It must never be called a “stage”.  It was organic.  And I will never see anything akin to it again.

For that reason, I was awestruck when a very good friend of mine who was involved in the “care and feeding” of the organism, gave me a couple sets of the plans for the “stage”.  I am now offering one set of those plans, along with a DVD of photos, taken along the way showing it being brought to life over and over.  There are 62 pages of detailed plans of all facets of the structures.  It is my understanding that these plans were used for reference by the field crews who assembled, disassembled, moved, assembled, disassembled, moved,  ……. the stages all over the world.   These are original blue ink marked plans.

As you can see on these plans, the original “working name” of the Tour was “MANHATTAN BEACH” but somehow became a “BIGGER BANG!” sometime after the plans for the three stages had been drawn up. 

These are extremely rare and the ultimate Rolling Stones collectible.

THE BIRTH OF THE MANHATTAN BEACH TOURING STAGES.

“This ‘MANHATTAN BEACH”, aka, ‘Bigger Bang’, touring stage was designed by STUFISH, aka, the Mark Fisher Studio, who worked with the world renown firm, STAGECO, to turn their ‘visualizations” into a ‘practical touring system”.  “Three stage sets were manufactured to be used on the worldwide ‘MANHATTAN BEACH TOUR’, all based on STAGECO’s innovative ‘tower and trusses’ system along with ‘scaffolding, deck, and floor systems’”.  “The base structure, balconies (accommodating 400 VIP members of the audience within the stage), stairways, lift and tusk arm elements of the stage were all tailor made in STAGECO’s Belgian fabrication facility.”  The final result was a “62 meter wide by 27 meter deep by 26 meter high structure that required 34 articulated trailers to transport the steel work of each of the three sets”.

From its designers:

The A Bigger Bang Tour stage was designed by . Production design was by Fisher, ,  and . The show included state-of-the-art electronics that presented visual screen shots of the Stones Tongue and live footage. The stage was 25 m (84 ft) tall. The multi-level construction included balconies behind the stage with accommodation for 400 audience. As on the  and tours, the band played part of the set on a 'B' stage in the center of the field. A section of the stage detached itself and rolled the entire band along a catwalk, creating an "island"  in the middle of the stadium. Unusual stage designs in and of themselves have been a feature since .

The introduction featured  and computer-generated graphics representing the literal . The four band members' faces hazily appear, and further graphics depicting fast travel through a city's streets before Keith Richards appeared on the screen to the sound of the band's opening song (mainly "" or "" although a handful of other numbers opened shows on the tour).

During the concerts, one large central screen played live footage of the various band members, predominantly Jagger. Either side of the main screen, there were two sets of lighting effect panels that combine with the main screen to produce visual effects at various points in the show.

THE ROLLING STONES A BIGGER BANG WORLD TOUR 2005-2006

The first sketches for the stage design explored decadent, picturesque fantasies of grand 19C opera house décor.  These studies were distilled into the proposition that some of the audience should be placed behind the band in opera boxes.  As the design developed, the boxes metamorphosed into sweeping expressionist balconies that form a streamlined back wall to the stage.  Centred between the balconies was a large hi-resolution LED video screen.  Upstage of the balconies, panels of lo-resolution LED video created a luminous backdrop to silhouette the opera audience.  The primary structure was mostly constructed from rented StageCo stock components.  Two lines of masts and trusses supported a series of cantilever brackets that provided bearing for the audience balconies and lifting points for the fascia panels.  The cantilever brackets and audience decks were custom fabrications.  The two levels of audience balconies (at heights of 12m (40ft) and 15m (50ft) commanded remarkable views of the performance stage.  They were accessed by code-compliant escape stairs and an ADA compliant elevator.

The primary structure took approximately 30 hours to erect.  Three sets of the primary structure 'leapfrogged' between venues.  One set only of the fascia panels, video screens, performance stage and other technical components travelled from show to show.  They were installed during the final 24 hours before the show, and taken down and moved on to the next city immediately afterwards.

MARK FISHER WRITES
Early conversations about the design for the Rolling Stones 2005 ‘Bigger Bang’ tour focused on ideas for placing the band in an ‘operatic’ environment.  The first sketches explored decadent, picturesque fantasies of grand 19C opera house décor.  These studies were distilled into the proposition that some of the audience should be placed behind the band in ‘boxes’.  As the design developed, the boxes metamorphosed into sweeping expressionist balconies that form a streamlined back wall to the stage.  Centered between the balconies is a large hi-resolution LED video screen.  Upstage of the balconies, panels of lo-resolution LED video create a luminous backdrop to silhouette the opera audience.

The primary structure was organized into two lines of masts and trusses that supported a series of cantilever brackets to provide bearing for the audience balconies and lifting points for the fascia panels.  The primary steelwork was mostly from rented StageCo stock components, stabilized by a custom base frame of ‘I’ beams set out beneath the 3ft high substage.  The cantilever brackets and audience decks were custom fabrications.  The primary steelwork took approximately 30 hours to erect.  Three sets of primary steelwork ‘leapfrogged’ between venues.  One set only of the fascia panels, video screens and other show components travelled from venue to venue for fit-up during the final 24 hours before the show.

Please contact me if you have additional questions.  These are from my personal collection of Rock and Roll Memorabilia.

Shipping in the USA is $45.00 by USPS and $85.00 outside the USA.