Re: Looking for some good photos of the Steel Wheels stage
Posted by:
RisingStone
()
Date: September 3, 2020 04:20
After all these years (30+), I don’t hesitate to say the Steel Wheels stage, in its massive, spectacular, overwhelming scale, beats its descendants on The Rolling Stones’ every subsequent tour to this day. In terms of preference, my favorite is the Bridges To Babylon stage. It offered a number of fun and novelty ideas, e.g. the gigantic projector screen that displayed crystal-clear, stunning visuals, the first ever web-vote and b-stage, and above all, that unforgettable extension bridge — a great entertainment it was. That being said, the sensation that hit me once I stepped inside the Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh and the instant my eyes caught the first sight of that towering stage — that was not so much a stage as a building — is incomparable with anything before or after, something I have never experienced again to this day. And most likely never will.
Some more thoughts on the Steel Wheels stage.
A Japanese journalist, reporting the shows from Philadelphia, the tour openers, described the stage as something like “a near-futuristic factory”, the term that would be repeatedly used in the country’s media when it comes to this tour. My first impression was not dissimilar — “this is like dystopian science fiction.” Back in the 80’s, Bladerunner was hailed as a new classic of a science fiction film, establishing an iconic status among movie buffs. William Gibson’s 1984 debut novel, Neuromancer spawned the new science fiction sub-genre called “cyberpunk”. These two items sprang to my mind particularly, among others. Later in interviews, Mick acknowledged the influence from them, commenting that he wanted to reflect or recreate the worlds depicted in these works. Very 80’s Zeitgeist indeed.
Another thing I remember and worth mentioning is that, in an interview with Mick taken during the group’s Tokyo Dome residency, the interviewer (who is a popular novelist over there) told his impression he got from both album cover and stage set of Steel Wheels as reminding him of Constructivism, the Russian artistic and architectural trend of the early 20th century, to which Mick replied, “Yes, exactly.”
Therefore, it could be described that the Steel Wheels stage was a combination of modern science fiction and Constructivism.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2020-09-04 09:38 by RisingStone.