Tours De Force: The Top Ten Concert Tour Designs Of All Time
by Marian Sandberg
When we started our look at the best concert tour designs of all time—a list we asked you, our readers, to nominate—we had no idea what sort of feedback we would get. Suggestions dated farther back than those on this list, but sifting through all the emails and the piles of submissions we received, we’ve whittled it down to a precious ten. These were the most popular choices for their combined aesthetic and technically groundbreaking value.
Let’s face it, we all know there are probably dozens—even hundreds—more concert tours deserving recognition. Clearly, there is no algorithm that analyzes the data and spits out these results for us (one part genius + two parts budget + nine parts creativity + six parts more budget + 100,000 parts per venue ticket sales X the square root of the top position achieved on Billboard = success? Nah.).
Check back here for updates to materials related to these and other memorable tours. No stone shall remain unturned, no corner of the touring industry uncovered, no design without recognition, no—okay, I think you get the point. We have more than a few more to share. To all the designers, programmers, technicians, and crew on these tours, thanks for the memories.
Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)
The Big Night/Out of The Blue (1978)
ELO’s 1978 tour design was inspired by the jukebox-style flying saucer used on the cover of the band’s Out of the Blue album—vinyl, naturally. The tour featured an enormous mockup of a spaceship housing the lighting rig that started the show sitting on stage and raised—took off—to a position suspended above..
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Talking Heads
Speaking in Tongues (1984)
Conceived for the stage by Talking Heads front-man David Byrne and lighting designer Beverly Emmons, Speaking In Tongues became one of the most-beloved concert films ever, Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense (with a live album release of the same name).
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Genesis
Mama (1983-84)
Genesis' tour really harnessed the moving light in new ways, blowing the doors off all expectations for the visual content of a tour..
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David Bowie
Glass Spider (1987)
Bowie’s Glass Spider Tour was all spectacle, including using scaffolding for multiple levels for the band and dancers and, of course, the 40'-diameter spider dominating the stage...
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Rolling Stones
Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle (1989-90)
Lighting designer Patrick Woodroffe and set designer Mark Fisher have long collaborated on tours for The Rolling Stones, and this particular tour took the cake ...
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Pink Floyd
Division Bell (1994)
Thanks to the massive lighting rig and Hollywood Bowl-inspired stage designed by Marc Brickman and architecturally realized by Mark Fisher, this tour was the largest ever at the time...
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Madonna
Drowned World (2001)
Drowned World was designed as four distinct mini-operas, each with its own set pieces and costumes...
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Daft Punk
Alive (2006-07)
This tour wasn’t breaking any records, winning any awards, playing to tens of thousands in stadiums mega-tour fashion, but visually, you can’t fight the slick style of Martin Phillips’ set and lighting design...
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Nine Inch Nails
Lights In The Sky (2008)
Leroy Bennett has designed lots of shows through the years that have pushed the art of stage design, but Lights In The Sky finds itself on this list for many reasons, not the least of which was the imaginative use of varying resolution screens...
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U2
360° Tour (2009-10)
No amount of print pages could have contained all that needed to be catalogued about this tour, in the same way that only certain venues can actually accommodate the immense production...
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