The stadium set consists of a 62m long video header, a suspended ceiling grid, a diamond shaped stage flanked by projection screens, drum riser fascias and on- and off-stage rear fascias, a tracking B stage with inset revolving scissor lift and tech bunkers and screamers.
The dominant feature is the video header which appears as a forced perspective ranging from 13.25m high downstage to 4.5m high upstage. Brilliant Stages' CAD team, managed by Kevin Edwards, devised the logistics to transform the design into reality. "With an overall height of 25m from ground level, wind was one of the major considerations," says Brilliant Stages' Tony Bowern. "We produced numerous structural calculations to ensure the video header could withstand wind speeds of up to 20m per second and came up with a combination of steel verticals to take the wind load and aluminium fascias to minimise the static load."
The video header is composed of a double layer of 3m wide panels - a random mix of 51 LED video panels behind rear projection screens and 49 projection surface panels of grey PVC. This gave lighting & video designer Ollie Metcalfe the maximum number of variables on which to project 3D video effects, back-projected LED mapping and standard front lighting.
The vertical guides are secured to steel upper and lower header trusses provided by Stageco of Belgium "We worked in conjunction with Koen Peters and Dirk de Decker of Stageco who provided all the trussing sub-structure for the set," says Bowern.
Brilliant Stages also worked closely with XL Video to accommodate the integration of the video requirements, incorporating video panel attachment points into the design before sending the completed structure to XL Video who added the Barco MiTRIX LED video tiles.
The ceiling grid beneath the video header was constructed by Brilliant Stages' sister company, LITEC, from supplied plans. This consists of 64 ladder truss cells manufactured using LITEC' s custom Libra System. The cells are clad with stretch vinyl and each cell houses a MAC301 Wash moving head within the recess. All lighting for the tour was supplied and co-ordinated by Dave Ridgeway of Neg Earth.
Brilliant Stages manufactured the diamond shaped stage using their own custom decking system and gave it a special non-slip surface specifically for outdoor use. Artwork to the stage was then applied in a silver-grey geometric diamond pattern. The stage design was developed around the sub-stage requirements giving clear passages for the 'underworld' activity and supported on aluminium rolling frames interconnected by Brilliant Stages' custom Hook and Channel system.
A B-stage was created using a trucking system designed to simultaneously track, revolve and extend a hydraulic scissor lift carrying the band into the audience. Finally, tech bunkers with viewing louvres for the crew, screamers and all access platforms were also provided by the Brilliant Stages team.
The Muse tour is due to continue across Europe, North America and Australasia until the end of 2010.
(Jim Evans)
