Dennis,
I included a photo of the 1973 B$B stage below.
I know the musicians who played on it had complaints about the stage: slippery, jagged flakes that tore your clothes and skin. Unfortunate the musician’s weren’t consulted in the design.
But even by today’s standards, if I saw a band with this stage, it’s still impressive looking never mind what it must have been like in 1973.
Did you know a stage was being developed?
What was the first day you saw and rehearsed on the fully erected stage?
What was it like the first day using the stage with all the musicians?
Where was the rehearsal?
Thanks
https://www.sickthingsuk.co.uk/01-disco ... 6-bdb8.jpg
1973 Billion Dollar Babies Stage
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livinluvin72
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Re: 1973 Billion Dollar Babies Stage
Yes, we knew we could finally afford the kind of spectacular production we had spent years planning, however, Shep hired Joe Gannon who had worked on stage productions for Neil Diamond and Liza Minelli and his credentials warranted putting him in charge of getting it done, which he did in style. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Joe prioritized his concept of what Alice Cooper needed with little regard to our ideas. He did the same for the Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper film.
We set up the new stage in the Ballroom at the Galesi Estate, which is when the band expressed our concerns for the sharpe metal glitter on the posts that we thought would be very restrictive to our stage performances. The band had always operated as a group on stage and these barriers, and various levels, struck us as a ploy to feature our singer as a separate entity from the group.
Gannon wasn't open to any of our changes, and there was a looming deadline, so our great road crew tried to remedy things by putting tape over the sharpe edges on the back of the posts as best they could, but it was obvious that we would just have to learn to avoid getting cut. A few bloody gashes and we learned.
Up until then our stages were measured out from amp line to the front floor monitors so we knew how many steps to the front of the stage as a safety precaution in feather storms, blackouts between songs, and stage fog. We had it down and didn't even have to worry about tripping and falling off the front of the stage. But now we had an almost M. C. Escher-like set up with different measurements with sharp posts and staircases.
Rehearsals involved that big learning curve on top of whipping the musical presentation into shape.
Our full-blown dress rehearsal took place at The Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York (which is still a great music venue). Other than our band and our crew, the theater was empty so we went out on the street and invited people in to see our dress rehearsal. We were still getting accustomed to our altered maneuvers but it was obviously going to be a landmark presentation.
We could see through the clear Plexiglass floor to Charlie's multi-colored lights down below. The vividness of the colors was ultra intense (regrettably the only time they were barely used was during the two nights when we were filming Good to See You Again).
We didn't fully realize how slippery the Plexi surfaces were until we did actual concerts in which sweat and spilled beer became another ongoing danger. There were some falls. I got some anti-slip shoes that sailors wear on boats. And the roadies were always ready to ninja out in the dark to towel off any spills.
All in all, these behind-the-scenes challenges were well worth it.
We set up the new stage in the Ballroom at the Galesi Estate, which is when the band expressed our concerns for the sharpe metal glitter on the posts that we thought would be very restrictive to our stage performances. The band had always operated as a group on stage and these barriers, and various levels, struck us as a ploy to feature our singer as a separate entity from the group.
Gannon wasn't open to any of our changes, and there was a looming deadline, so our great road crew tried to remedy things by putting tape over the sharpe edges on the back of the posts as best they could, but it was obvious that we would just have to learn to avoid getting cut. A few bloody gashes and we learned.
Up until then our stages were measured out from amp line to the front floor monitors so we knew how many steps to the front of the stage as a safety precaution in feather storms, blackouts between songs, and stage fog. We had it down and didn't even have to worry about tripping and falling off the front of the stage. But now we had an almost M. C. Escher-like set up with different measurements with sharp posts and staircases.
Rehearsals involved that big learning curve on top of whipping the musical presentation into shape.
Our full-blown dress rehearsal took place at The Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York (which is still a great music venue). Other than our band and our crew, the theater was empty so we went out on the street and invited people in to see our dress rehearsal. We were still getting accustomed to our altered maneuvers but it was obviously going to be a landmark presentation.
We could see through the clear Plexiglass floor to Charlie's multi-colored lights down below. The vividness of the colors was ultra intense (regrettably the only time they were barely used was during the two nights when we were filming Good to See You Again).
We didn't fully realize how slippery the Plexi surfaces were until we did actual concerts in which sweat and spilled beer became another ongoing danger. There were some falls. I got some anti-slip shoes that sailors wear on boats. And the roadies were always ready to ninja out in the dark to towel off any spills.
All in all, these behind-the-scenes challenges were well worth it.