Detroit Rock City cont....
 
  Stage layout for Kiss Concert. This stage and concert was originally going to be supplied by Kiss, but circumstances
in their Psycho Circus tour prevented them from being able to produce it. This information coming late in our production
schedule, meant having to figure out, design and build it in a very short time. In addition we had to fit into their tour schedule
and have the set established where they were going to be. Conveniently, we were able to prepare the set in Copps Coliseum
near Toronto which was a stop on their tour. Publicity went out to get the crowds needed to fill the space, and of course see KISS.		  
     

The set was quite complex to build, with the moving parts and FX considerations. It required studying old footage to figure out the original stage design, because no original plans existed. As the stage lighting is "on-camera" it became a set dressing element. I figured out the lighting plots, and at Gene Simmons' request, slipped in a number of "Intellabeams" into the grid ( which are wrong for the period, but which are not too noticeable) most all of the lighting back in the 70's were Par cans. As a set it was built quite differently than a real touring stage, as we didn't have to make it pack-up for shipping, or last the rigors of a long tour. The descending rigs were cable controlled from a fork lift truck. The drum riser: a scissor lift. The KISS sign and instrument came from the vast KISS wharehouse. The Ampeg bass stacks had to be manufactured ( just for visual purposes, as they did not have to work) The Playback of the extended and re-recorded song "Detroit Rock City" came through a separate PA system.

  
   We wanted to incorporate all of the Special FX that would normally be sprinkled throughout their entire show into the one song, so that it would embody the whole experience in one concentrated number. The fire, descending rigs, drum riser, smoking guitar, fire breathing, blood and guitar smashing all in one blast. I think it unfortunate that the pressure on the final cut of the films' running time, made the finale a lot shorter than it was meant to be, and that you were not able to indulge in this final spectacle along with the cast, who after all, had spent the whole movie to get to this part!     
     
 

The scene inside the girls bathroom required the use of a set, as all the stalls had to collapse, and water spray everywhere. The dividers were built as lightweight versions of their real counterparts, and hinged in a very specific way.

    The final set shows its adherence to the original concept, and the true testimony of a well built and finished set on a sound stage could not be better vindicated than to have someone "take a dump" in it......and they did! What a compliment.  
 
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