My first Stones tour to see was STEEL WHEELS.

I walked down to the field and across to the other side while looking at that stage that looked like a cargo ship or oil ship had parked in the Silverdome. Just an incredible thing to see.

Saw VOODOO twice, that was cool.

However, having last seen the NO FILTER tour in New Orleans, and wishing I'd gone to a BRIDGES show - and that stage was incredible - the NO FILTER stage is my favorite Stones stage ever.

Their first creative stage was, as I recall, the 1975-76 tours. SOME GIRLS and TATTOO YOU were daytime shows (mostly). For that era, pretty cool, but today? They'd still work.

With exception to NO FILTER it seems that the stages going back to A BIGGER BANG (that was fugly) have been... lacking. Even LICKS wasn't exactly different except in comparison to the previous five tours. I get things weren't exactly right for the 60 tour or whatever, those festival stages they rented.

1. No Filter
2. Bridges
3. Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle
4. 1975-76
5. No Security

1975

Super Bowl
Voodoo Lounge

The goalposts have moved haven't they.

With today's screen technology, you don't need much else.

Before screens were so good you needed the impressive architecture of VL or B2B to make a statement ...and they certainly did that...but without really enhancing the experience with the band on stage and as daylight faded.

Today's screens don't look much as you enter the stadium, but they serve the show much better for all but those lucky enough to be close to the stage.

On that basis you have to pick the recent and current set ups.

...but we'll never forget that fire breathing VL cobra.
FOS You could feel the heat from those burners !

81-82 stage

1976 Euro tour. Really exciting opening with the petals all up and then Mick hanging on to the top of the front one as it slowly comes down while Keith hammers the chords out of Honky Tonk Women.

Voodoo Lounge

Voodoo Lounge .....oh yes, Bigger bang was alright too



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024-05-10 12:05 by EddieByword.

A Bigger Bang

Did not like No Filter.

Omelet stage was also something else.

Voodoo Lounge and Bridges To Babylon.

1962 Marquee Club stage - simple and classic.

SuperBowl (obvious)
Licks Tour

1. Lotus Stage
2. Bridges To Babylon
3. Voodoo Lounge
4. Sixty
5. Licks Stadium stage
6. Biggest Bang
7. Urban Jungle
8. No Filter
9. Steel Wheels
10.Hackney Diamonds
11.1978
12.1981-82
14.2014-16

1969-1970.

1975---WOW

The stages from 89 to 99 are among the worst kitsch I've ever seen. Not only they were absolutely awful, they had no relation whatsoever with the band and the music. From No Filter onward they were all good, save the tongue shaped pit for the 50 anniversary. Licks was particularly good.

Before 89 I can only judge on photos. Lotus looked damn good. But the simplicity of the outdoor stages in 78 and 81 was just perfect.

C

no love for the stp stage?

1. Voodoo Lounge. Iconic stage with that giant fire spitting cobra and (for the time) a great video screen. The fireworks during Not fade Away, Start me Up and SFTD reallty added something. As did the inflatable dolls.

2. No Filter. Simple, but very effective Huge screens, good stage size.

3. Bridges to Babylon. Those golden statues, the big oval screen, the fireworks. Very good design.

I'd have to ponder that a bit, but would say that certainly the "bridge to the B-stage" in 1997-98 was pretty unique. Maybe unnecessarily grotesque but I liked that they were trying to be unique & innovative.

Quote
ProfessorWolf
no love for the stp stage?

Great design, but I wonder how many people in the audience could actually see it.

I remember reading that the panels were made of white mylar, and were so slick that they had to be washed down with Seven-Up before the show so Jagger could keep his footing.

Bridges To Babylon from what i've seen (From 1990 to 2022)

I only really got into the Stones in '85 and saw them first time in 1990, but my thoughts are.....

81/82 stage is so iconic. I am probably influenced by Still Life being the first album I listened to. Kicking off with Under My Thumb together with the Hal Ashby LSTNT film at the start with the helicopter flying over it all in daylight with the stage, colours, Stones and the crowd in the sunset, were just incredible. That whole period still thrills me to this day.

Lotus 75/76 was brilliant and so clever. Must have been amazing being in the crowd and this stage opening up in front of you and the mid-70s ragged n glamorous Stones just appearing out of it. Remember this is pre-internet days and I'm guessing any films of the show prior to going to the gig, would have been almost non-existent. It must have been mind blowing !!

Urban Jungle 1990 was the first time I saw The Stones live, so has a special place. Although not as grand as the Steel Wheels stage, for me it was mind blowing as I hadnt seen anything like that before, and it was the Stones man !! The dogs n dolls and Mick singing from the top of the tower, was just the cherry on the top !!!

Nothing to do with the staging, but I used to love it when they finished the gigs off with loads of fireworks and classical music. 1990 Urban Jungle it was Bizet's Carmen - an amazing piece of music and just made them appear almost mystical as they disappeared off into the night............

Quote
blivet

Quote
ProfessorWolf
no love for the stp stage?

Great design, but I wonder how many people in the audience could actually see it.

I remember reading that the panels were made of white mylar, and were so slick that they had to be washed down with Seven-Up before the show so Jagger could keep his footing.

I liked the lighting where they reflected off the mirrors

Licks with the four screens was so so good man

1. Bridges — the curtains that went away to create a different second half feel, the bridge itself, the single central screen and themed figures. Just magnificent. Also the very first “b” stage. A+

2. Steel Wheels — Just impressive in scale, like passing Shaq on a street. A true EVENT. Plus, dark & industrial & Blade Runner. A+

3. 2012-2013 arena — tasteful and spot on. A


4. Voodoo Lounge — Impressive but not the same “damn” factor as Steel Wheels. A-

5. Forty Licks - The band back in focus, elegant. B+

6. Bigger Bang — The last “big event” stage, but somehow not quite as great imo. B+

7. No Filter - something beyond the state fair box set-up. B

8. Everything else

Quote
Spud
The goalposts have moved haven't they.

With today's screen technology, you don't need much else.

Before screens were so good you needed the impressive architecture of VL or B2B to make a statement ...and they certainly did that...but without really enhancing the experience with the band on stage and as daylight faded.

Today's screens don't look much as you enter the stadium, but they serve the show much better for all but those lucky enough to be close to the stage.

On that basis you have to pick the recent and current set ups.

...but we'll never forget that fire breathing VL cobra.
FOS You could feel the heat from those burners !

I sat in the mid ring (I think) of the Silverdome (Detroit) for STEEL WHEELS, maybe 25 rows or so away from the stage and that blast for Start Me Up was indeed hot.

Indeed impressive that they could just blow open the show like that, especially with the riff of Start Me Up.

Fortunately that's the only tour they did something like that for.

The cobra for VOODOO... it could be seen from maybe a mile away. A day before the Michigan State University 'Spartan Stadium' show I saw it from a multi-floor parking lot a ways away, parking to go find used CDs, and saw that and thought

The Stones are HERE

Gratefully it didn't torch anyone in the audience.

Quote
Send It To me
1. Bridges — the curtains that went away to create a different second half feel, the bridge itself, the single central screen and themed figures. Just magnificent. Also the very first “b” stage. A+

As far as the Stones go the first B-stage happened for VOODOO because Mick caught U2's ZOO TV/ZOOROPA tour in 1993 and saw their B-stage.

Brilliantly the Stones had a bridge go out to their B-stage for BRIDGES.

There's no topping that. That was genius.

Since then it's just been a whatever.

Hackney Diamonds.. Best stage ever!

Hmm... Not much opinion about this issue, and I think any stage I've seen has worked for its purpose. But what goes for pre-history - no first hand experience, that is - let's'say the one in Altamont didn't work out that well...

- Doxa

The Steel Wheels 89/90 tour was different, in the sense that in the USA it was called the Steel Wheels tour and had an impressive set, while in Europe it was called the Urban Jungle Tour and had a very different and smaller stage. To be precise, the Steel Wheels tour stage was also used in Turin-Italy, I don't think in other European cities, but I could be wrong.