The theme of the band’s second world tour ‘In the Round’ was ‘heroes’ and the touring automation and performer flying needed to integrate this concept in both imagination and scale. The band wanted to fly right above the heads of the audience on a moving platform and The Rigging Partnership and Stage Technologies worked together to achieve an impressive solution. A 1,000kg-capacity BigTow winch lifted the main platform and the band above the audience. Secondary BigTows and two tracking motors then moved the flying stage out nearly two hundred feet over the venue in a traversing action.
‘The Greatest Hits’ tour in 2003 covered the UK and Europe in 62 tour dates. The chart-toppers wowed audiences with automated effects on a futuristic sci-fi set, the most spectacular of which were flying globes, weighing nearly a quarter of a ton, that carried the band members over the audience and brought them onto the stage. The globes were moved using a system based on 20 Stage Technologies BigTow winches and Acrobat control.
