Torontonian singer, songwriter and producer THE WEEKND’s first-ever stadium tour,AFTER HOURS TIL DAWN? a lavish, widescreen live extravaganza based on his last two studio albums, aided by the skills, know-how and experience of STAGECO US. Designed by the celebrated Es Devlin, the set combines three stages: the main stage, showcasing a row of 17 custom-carved, “semi-destroyed” buildings including Toronto’s CN Tower, and a screen behind them showing visuals of a futuristic post-apocalyptic skyline; the main stageleads to a catwalk leading into a quadrangular stage, which features an inflatable moon over its edge and also unites the catwalk leading into a circular stage. STAGECO US’s Tom Frederickx has liaised throughout the project with production manager Robert DeCeglio and scenic/automation specialists Tait to help steer the show to fruition. In total, this first leg has spanned 18 cities across the USA and Canada. The tour has been using three leapfrogging systems, based onthe tried and tested design STAGECO had in place for U2’sThe Joshua Treetour in 2017,with one main difference: this time, the enormous 55m wide x 15m tall video screen is not curved.. Underneath the trapezoidal scenic main stage is a sub-deck built by STAGECO in collaboration with Tait that factors in added capacity for the heavy weight building set pieces that appear burnt and rusted to highlight the apocalyptic narrative. Seventeen trailers of black steel and a construction crew of 14 are required per system. For the most part, the wholly American teams havebeen led by Farley Gross, Jesse Winn and RyanBarry, however, when a third system was needed to cover two cities towards the end of the leg, Frank Böhme came into lead a European crew.
Stageco United States