stages are doing genuinely unhinged things now and i need to talk about it
i've been to a stupid number of shows in the last eighteen months and the shape of them has changed. i don't think people are clocking it
the stage isn't at the front anymore
in-the-round used to be a novelty. now it's everywhere and once you've been you can't go back. no "bad side", no paying extra for the front because there isn't a front. the performer works all 360 degrees, so they move differently
related: satellite stages — the catwalk into the middle of the floor. sounds gimmicky, isn't. it's the only way anyone past row 40 sees a human at human scale
everything moves now
kinetic rigging. the whole lighting grid on winches, so the ceiling descends and tilts through the set. i saw one drop to about four metres during a slow song and the room went quiet
a ceiling moving hits something primal — your body registers it before you do. launches got good at this too, the oppo reno 8 launch is basically gig staging applied to a phone
drones ate pyro's lunch (partially)
not fully — nothing replaces the concussion of pyro, you feel it in your chest
but drone swarms do things pyro cannot. hold a shape. spell something. build a slow image over three minutes instead of one bang. silent, which is either the best or worst thing about them
smart shows use both. drones for the reveal, pyro for the hit
they finally started designing for the screen
the one i find most interesting. for years the screens just showed a camera feed. now it's composed — treated feeds, cameras cutting into pre-rendered environments, the performer dropped into a rendered world in real time
anamorphic is the extreme end. this ADIPEC breakdown explains it better than i can — content built for one viewing angle so the image looks like it's leaving the screen
so the person 90 metres back isn't getting a downgraded front row. they're getting a different, better-directed one
less sold on
phone pouches. i get the argument, i've had a better time at pouched shows, still find the enforcement grim
"immersive zones" that are just a tent with fog in it
silent disco as a main-stage format. great at 2am in a field, weird at 9pm
outdoors it scales absurdly — the national games opening in goa is a build where the screen is the venue
anyway: the best seat is no longer a fixed location. it used to be dead centre, twenty rows back. now it might be the side, the round, or the raised bit at the back where you see the whole rig doing its thing
go stand somewhere weird at the next show. the view from the back with the whole rig in frame does something the front row completely misses
#live music #concerts #festivals #stage design #production design #lighting design #tour production #gig #show
