The Show
There were five different ticket options at each concert in the USA: Gold Seating $100, Diamond Seating $350, Premium Seating $175, General Admission $100 and Side Seating $50. In the United Kingdom, the price levels were £40, £60, £90, £150 and £340. Tickets had been seen on eBay for up to $4000. Hundreds of tickets remained unsold at some of the band's British shows, such as the show at Hampden Park, Glasgow, though the show at The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff was a sell out. The first concert at Fenway Park also saw California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger charge 36 Republican donors US$100,000 each to view the show with him in his VIP box. Jagger quipped about the Schwarzenegger, "Apparently he's been fundraising outside, selling bootleg T-shirts and scalping tickets", to the crowd, with Richards adding, "Hey, Arnold, don't forget our cut on the T-shirts."
The A Bigger Bang Tour stage was designed by Mark Fisher. Production design was by Fisher, Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger and Patrick Woodroffe. The show included state-of-the-art electronics that presented visual screen shots of the Stones Tongue and live footage. The stage was 25 m (84 ft) tall. The multi-level construction included balconies behind the stage with accommodation for 400 audience. As on the Bridges to Babylon and Licks tours, the band played part of the set on a 'B' stage in the center of the field. A section of the stage detached itself and rolled the entire band along a catwalk, creating an "island" B stage in the middle of the stadium. Unusual stage designs in and of themselves have been a feature since Rolling Stones Tour of the Americas '75.
The introduction featured fireworks and computer-generated graphics representing the literal Big Bang. The four band members' faces hazily appear, and further graphics depicting fast travel through a city's streets before Keith Richards appeared on the screen to the sound of the band's opening song (mainly "Start Me Up" or "Jumpin' Jack Flash" although a handful of other numbers opened shows on the tour).
During the concerts, one large central screen played live footage of the various band members, predominantly Jagger. Either side of the main screen, there were two sets of lighting effect panels that combine with the main screen to produce visual effects at various points in the show.
At stadium gigs, during "Sympathy for the Devil", huge flames were sent into the air above the stage. During the 1970s, this song only made sporadic live appearances, though is captured on 1977's Love You Live. However, since 1989's Steel Wheels Tour, "Sympathy for the Devil" has become a setlist mainstay and a vehicle for the show's most elaborate effects.
On Saturday 11 November 2006, Mick Jagger's father, Joe Jagger, died of pneumonia at age 93 in Kingston upon Thames near London. Jagger flew to Britain on Friday to see his father before returning to Las Vegas the same day, where he was to perform on Saturday night. The show went ahead as scheduled.
Read more about this topic: A Bigger Bang Tour
Famous quotes containing the word show:
“It is necessary to get a lot of men together, for the show of the thing,—otherwise the world will not believe. That is the meaning of committees. But the real work must always be done by one or two men.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“The virtue of dress rehearsals is that they are a free show for a select group of artists and friends of the author, and where for one unique evening the audience is almost expurgated of idiots.”
—Alfred Jarry (1873–1907)