Taking the Stage By Storm - The Best Stage Productions Ever Made
The beauty of live music is that it can often be complimented by a high-budget lavish production which brings new life to the band and music. In a world where stage deigns are now being limited to just a screen and lights, it’s strange to think what bands have achieved in the past. Many bands saw themselves propelled to success through pushing the limits on how intricate a stage setup can be. Sometimes rock and roll needs to be truly over the top, and we've compiled a list of our top 10 memorable stage productions that stayed with fans long after the curtain closed.
10) THE DAMNED - A Night of a Thousand Vampires 2019
In 2019, punk and goth legends THE DAMNED combined circus, theatrics and their signature sound to create a one-off performance. The stage was a gothic castle and the theatrics did not just stop there. Performers form The Circus Of Horrors performed alongside the band to add an element of spectacle, with everything from sword swallowing to contortionists. With a lot of the design harkening back to the early years of horror movies, the concert is the perfect watch for Halloween just to bask in the gothness of it all.
9 KANONENFIEBER
German blackened death band KANONENFIEBER have pushed the theatrics of what can be seen in a 500-cap venue with the sheer amount of stuff they put on a stage. With the stage already covered in sandbags and at some moments fIr trees, they push it even further with costumes, props and effect, the band all wearing matching uniforms which change between songs. When they sing about being in a submarine, they will have submarine worker outfits on. When the band use a snow machine on stage to signal the brutality of winter, they will be wearing massive coats. Using flamethrowers in many performances, they treat every song live like a tale to be recounted. There’s nothing like leaving a gig covered in fake snow.
8 Peter Gabriel - Secret World Tour 1993-1994
Peter Gabriel has always been theatrical, from his early days with GENESIS to helping to define the music video as a medium. His Secret World Tour opens with him rising onto stage in a phone box, from that moment on you are taken into another world created on stage. The stage itself was crafted with a circular stage, a catwalk with a treadmill built in, and a traditional square stage which has since become standard for many arena tours. Featuring a tree rising from the stage, a boat floating on stage, and trapdoors hidden in luggage, the tour was captured on film and it’s just as impressive now as it was back then.
7 GWAR
Legendary evil alien overlord metal band GWAR have always pushed the absurdity on stage. Clad in giant spiked armoured monster outfits whilst dousing the stage and crowd in fake blood, they embrace the absurdity of extremity where the sheer amount of violence on stage is always comical. Each tour they have done since the 80s has simply added to their legend as putting on a true spectacle of humour and blood. Many fans have embraced the fact that you will leave the front row of the concert doused in blood and bring along white t-shirts to show just how much blood there is on stage. They transport the stage into a cheesy 80s B-movie.
6 CULT OF FIRE
CULT OF FIRE remain unique within the world of black metal with a lot of their imagery stemming from Buddhist and Hindu traditions, with the guitarists of the band sat cross-legged on thrones in priest-like robes whilst the stage is surrounded by the smell of incense and candles. Often featuring giant statues and decorative backdrops to try and bring the stage into being a temple they look like no one else, the band will have offerings on stage such as fresh fruit and flowers. This spiritual approach to black metal makes them stand out so much within their genre.
5 BATUSHKA
Polish black metallers BATUSHKA are another religiously inspired band, with their influence coming from the Orthodox church. Their concerts are based upon traditional mass and the stage reflects it. Spending a lot of the time before they take the stage lighting the copious amount of candles and setting up the alters on stage, there is something so deeply ominous about BATUSHKA when they hit they play, it feels like you are watching some sort of spiritual event. The band members stay still throughout the performance, making the metal feel almost like some forgotten chant. A true marvel of using atmosphere to build theatrics.
4 MUSE
MUSE have become renowned across the world for their stage shows and how far they push creative limits. Often being built upon a sci-fi aesthetic to match the band’s sound, their sets feature an obscene amount of pyro and lasers that turn up the maximalism on their shows to infinity. Many of their recent tours have featured a robot statue overlooking the band from the back of the stage that works as a major set piece. Frontman Matt Bellamy becomes a futuristic rock god, often wearing light up outfits and wielding a guitar with a screen. It’s arena rock at its most theatrical in the modern world.
3 David Byrne - American Utopia Tour 2018-2022
David Byrne has pushed forward the medium of concerts ever since he first started playing music. From his time in TALKING HEADS to where he stands now, every show is a masterclass in performance. His American Utopia tour was a natural evolution of everything that came before. Although the most simple stage setup on this list is made up for by everything that is done on it, coming across less as a concert and more like some modernist theatre piece. Every member of the backing band is moving including the drums, so the stage is truly bare to showcase the music. The choreography and lighting works in tandem with individual squares of light following some performers during each song. Every moment is choreographed in David Byrne’s signature style. The tour had a yearlong period on Broadway which arguably brings it the closest to true theatre.
2 PINK FLOYD - The Wall Tour 1980-1981
One of the most legendary tours in the history of rock, PINK FLOYD redefined what a concert can be with The Wall Tour. The most iconic part of the tour was the literal 10-metre wall gradually built throughout the set to separate the band from the audience to showcase the disconnect being sung about on the album. The show opened with a plane crashing into the wall and exploding, while other highlights included giant puppets and projections onto the wall itself. The show was just the album played in full as one continuous performance piece. The tour has become one of the most legendary within the history of rock and is still seen as being a true theatrical spectacle.
1 GENESIS - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway Tour 1974-1975
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway was already a deeply confusing concept album without the addition of a full stage show. The tour marked Peter Gabriel’s end with the band before both became major pop stars. The tour featured 1,450 slides to help tell the story, complete with costumes, stage props and pyro. The tour became a way for Peter Gabriel to push the performance art he had already been doing with the band to another level. During one song a giant spinning cone came down to surround him on stage and other songs featured mannequins of him on stage lit with strobes to make it look like he was moving about. The most famous element of the show was the Slipperman, a truly grotesque over the top costume which made it nearly impossible to use a microphone with. The tour is the book end of the Gabriel era of GENESIS. The tour is so legendary that tribute bands recreate the whole production in large venues. It’s rock theatrics at its most over the top.
Words: Will Freeman
Comments