Johnny Halliday 'Tour 66' - 2009

France’s leading rock and roll star Johnny Hallyday used a bespoke stage built by Stageco when he embarked on his tribute to American rock culture, Tour 66. Hallyday, who took the inspiration for this tour from symbols such as the Harley Davison, the American eagle or the iconic Route 66 “shield” emblem, needed a stage which would look impressive on an international scale. The tour was scheduled to play stadia of all sizes in France, Belgium and Switzerland, so it required a flexible touring set that would create a dramatic visual impact in different capacity venues, from the 60,000 seat Stade de France in Paris to smaller venues like the Stade Jules Deschaseaux in Le Havre. Renowned stage designer Mark Fisher of Stufish designed a stage dominated by an enormous mythic bird, wings outstretched and spanning the entire width of the performance area. Beneath it were two pairs of giant caryatids, half human, half avian; in transit, these figures were protected by a structure which doubled as a video wall support during the show, demonstrating the ingenuity and economy of Stageco’s engineering. In addition, four robots were built into the stage design to move video screens dramatically during the performance.