Artists around the world invest a lot of time and energy into planning their tours, and the most expensive concert stages also require a big spending budget. This B-side of the concert world is the one that many fans take for granted, but production companies know that some musicians are willing to invest millions for the perfect stage set-up to enhance their show. From lighting, to custom made stage props and meticulous engineering, creating the perfect atmosphere for a live show takes time, and most of all, money.
Some of the top 10 most expensive concert tours in 2013, which we recounted in a previous article, featured extravagant stage settings and costume changes, so in this article we’ll take a closer peek at how much artists spent on ambience. From pop icons to rock legends, these five musicians pride themselves on having the most expensive concert stages.
5. Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Ball
Cost per set-up: $1 million
When Lady Gaga announced her Born This Way Ball tour in 2012, music critique and fans expected supreme extravagance. And they weren’t disappointed: the pop icon invested $2 million to create an enormous 30-ton Gothic castle that was five stories tall and featured with three dimensions. The structure was designed from sketches that Gaga made herself and its ground-breaking technology allowed for the 400 square foot stage to be assembled in six hours. Along with the mega-stage, Gaga also required specific props for her 98 shows, including a massive zipped vagina, a meat rack, a human horse, and knights in shining armour. The extremely controversial visuals earned the singer $181 million, making her the fifth highest grossing tour by a female artist.
4. The Rolling Stones’ A Bigger Bang Tour
Cost per set-up: $1.6 million
Back in 2005, the Rolling Stones embarked in a two year world tour with 147 shows on the menu, in order to promote their album A Bigger Bang. In spite of being one of the most popular bands in the world, the rock legends decided to go all out and invested big bucks in a massive stage setting. Spread out over 200 feet, 85 feet tall and weighing 80,000 pounds, the mounted structure designed by Mark Fisher (creator of The Wall stage) featured firework shows and computer graphics, as well as two 60 foot stage towers with balconies for VIP tickets. The tour, which grossed $558 million, required a permanent crew of 150 people and 100 tractor trailers for each set-up.
3. Madonna’s Sticky and Sweet Tour
Cost per set-up: $2 million
Every diva needs her stage, and Madonna speared no expenses when it came to her Sticky and Sweet tour in 2009, which became the highest-grossing tour by a female artist with $408.6 million in earnings. The stage, which included a gigantic screen to hold the virtual appearances of Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Pharrell Williams, and Kanye West, as well as a T-shaped catwalk on which the queen of pop made her grand entry sitting on a white Rolls Royce. The flanks of the stage featured two M’s encrusted with diamonds, which alone cost over $2 million. But given the end result, it seems the $261 million investment was worth it.
2. Roger Waters’ The Wall Tour
Cost per set-up: $10 million
Pink Floyd started a real revolution of on-stage theatrics when they toured the world with their album The Wall, so it was somewhat expected that Roger Waters’ recreation of the message-driven stage would create noise. However, the rock legend’s budget was much larger as he invested $60 million for the props alone, and another $16 million for the wall and giant inflatable pig that would knock it down after every show. The Wall Tour, which took place from 2010 to 2013, required an average of $200,000 a day in maintenance and for every one of the 219 concerts the staff had to build a 500 foot long and 80 feet tall video screen that stretched out over the entire stage. The biggest on-stage video screen in history was used to project pictures of deceased war veterans, with the intention of promoting an anti-war message.
1. U2’s 360° Tour
Cost per set-up: $23 – 31 million
The highest grossing tour in history earned U2 $730 million, but also required a massive investment to build and maintain the famous Claw structure throughout the bands 110 concerts (2009 – 2012). The idea behind the 360° Tour stage was to allow all fans a great view of the show. The band reached its goal by creating a 400 ton arachnid structure, which reached 151 in height at its center, and also featured a $1 million video wall placed above the stage. The set-up required a crew of 300 workers and a daily budget of $750,000 to complete, but it broke the record of the most expensive concert stages to ever be created.
