Hey All,

Does anyone have some nice shots of the massive steel wheels stage from '89 that they can share. I was blown away seeing that show in Foxboro in '89. I had no camera though. I've since collected a few from the internet from various places, but none seem to capture how cool the thing was. Anyone have daytime shots or something unique? It felt like they were performing at an abandoned factory LOL. I think it still might be my favorite stage they used - can't imagine the costs involved. Looking forward to the book in the upcoming boxed set.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-09-02 19:15 by Lynd8.

There are tons of pics on Google images
[www.google.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-09-02 19:26 by Cooltoplady.

[www.stufish.com]

Great memories seeing these images

I bumped into one of the stage designers of that tour in an LA club. Up until then 500,000 watts was the most power ever supplied for a concert - the Steel Wheels stage took 1.5 million watts. No wonder we all remember being in awe at the time. That stage was a living thing.

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.

I would imagine that Rockman might have some good ones. He's always coming up with good Stones fotos.


plexi

More on Mick and science fiction...

Mick paid a visit to Japan in 1992 for the promotion of Freejack, the sci-fi flick co-starring himself. During the stay, he gave several interviews to the media, and commented that, as a young boy, he was an avid science fiction fan and subscribed to a science fiction magazine, looking forward to the monthly arrival of the latest issue. He also stated, although I am not sure where and when, that he read all the works of Asimov and Clarke’s.

Young Mick Jagger as a sci-fi geek...can you imagine?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2020-09-07 20:15 by RisingStone.