LONDON — British alt rock band, Muse, are now on a world tour in support of their fifth album, Resistance. Brilliant Stages constructed the set, working with a design by Es Devlin, under the auspices of production manager Chris Vaughan. The set consists of an 18-meter-wide circular stage, flanked by 3-meter-high tech bunkers complete with access stairs and topped by three “stair towers,” each weighing 4 tons, which carry video screens on all four surfaces.
Brilliant Stages built the stage to conceal three hydraulic performer scissor lifts, a piano lift to the rear, a set of access steps embedded in the stage behind the central drum riser and three star traps from which appear props and performers throughout the show. The central performer lift also supports a riser into which is set a revolve which carries the drum kit.
Brilliant Stages also made a series of additional props including a pyramid stand for the guitarist’s boutique aluminum-cased amp and matching-styled fascias for the keyboard stand and infill cabinets.
Each performer lift elevates to a height of 3 meters above stage and is located beneath a 6.8 meter “stair tower” suspended above. Initially designed for performer use and to carry lighting, the three stair towers each contain three flights of stairs, crossing internally to form an Escher-like pattern.
They are suspended beneath 1.5-meter-deep balconies, linked by catwalks designed to enabled performers to move between towers, and form an integral part of the visual design.
Once built, Brilliant Stages shipped the towers and performer lifts to XL Video where the sides were clad in lightweight F-LED 30mm screens. These are used to stream video content throughout the show but become transparent when internally lit to reveal the interior structure of the stair towers.
Brilliant Stages also incorporated a hanging facility on the top of each tower from which painted drapes of Trevira cloth are suspended, concealing the F-LED screens and staircases from audience view at the top of the show until the Kabuki drop reveal.
“We have worked with Es’s designs a number of times now and have devised a system which makes deployment of such large constructions easy and fast for touring,” said Brilliant Stages’ John Gittins. “We designed each of the stair towers in four sections of four panels, with a final 1m section at the bottom for lighting fixtures, and incorporated fixings for the F-LED screens throughout. The upper balcony is constructed first and raised so the first section of stair tower can be attached beneath it. The structure is then lifted to a height where the next section can be attached beneath it, and the process repeated until the whole tower is complete.”
Set into the circumference of the stage are 16 recessed stage-level lighting positions, each containing a High End Showgun moving light, for which Brilliant Stages cut 600mm diameter wells and supplied the mounting frameworks, as well as devising the logistics for fitting 16 pyrotechnic CO2 Jets and 64 laser mirrors, angled on brackets, around the edge of the stage.
The finishing touch was added by Brilliant Stages applying a black Harlequin Hi-Shine floor across the whole stage which reflected every nuance of the lighting, video and laser work above. A curved camera track was also constructed to run between the two tech bunkers along which the XL Video live cameras can travel. Remote from the stage but running in front of it, the track clips together quickly for rapid assembly.
“We designed the main stage and bunkers to be built on castors so they can be constructed remotely from the stair towers before being wheeled into place,” continues Gittins. “The performer lifts are then lined up with the stair towers before the whole construction is anchored into position. This speeds up the process of construction at each venue as both parts of the set can be worked on simultaneously.”
The entire set, including the sensitive video equipment which remains attached to the towers and performer lifts during transit, packs down into set carts designed to fit, two-across, into standard road trucks.
The Brilliant Stages constructed set will travel with Muse through Europe, the U.S., Japan, New Zealand and Australia before returning to the UK in September 2010.
Photos by Bronia Housman
For more information, please visit www.brilliantstages.com.
