There are few, if any current pop stars who will enjoy even a fraction of the immortality earned by four lads from Liverpool who tore up the rock and roll rule book throughout the 1960’s and blazed a trail that people around the world are still discovering to this day. I’m speaking, of course, about The Beatles. Whatever your opinion (though I personally find it hard to trust anyone who says they don’t like the Beatles) it’s impossible to deny the group’s lasting impact on not only popular music, but pop culture.
We’ve seen hundreds of tributes, stage shows, films, comic books and exhibitions on the band over the years, but now, almost 50 years after the group imploded, the process behind the creation of the awesome foursome’s recorded output is being put under the microscope in a spectacular new show from event producer and designer Stig Edgren from SG Events. The designer, who has produced major sporting event ceremonies, papal tours and Presidential ceremonies for the likes of Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton, said (rather modestly) of the project: “One day I just thought; wouldn’t it be amazing if the audience could be a fly on the wall for the Beatles’ recording sessions through the eras.” I concur, though hopefully the show is high on performance and low on knob twiddling.
The Beatles’ recorded output is being put under the microscope in a spectacular new show from event producer and designer Stig Edgren
Edgren is looking to faithfully recreate the interior design of the Abbey Road Studio Two, where most of the band’s classic albums were recorded by themselves and legendary producer (and unofficial fifth Beatle) Sir George Martin. The show will take place at the Royal Albert Hall starting April 2016, and features a translucent cube of light in the centre of the auditorium, which will contain live performances by musicians and singers playing the music from records such as A Hard Day’s Night, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band, The White Album and (of course) Abbey Road. Edgren consulted with Abbey Road chief engineer Geoff Emerick, who has helped Edgren keep the show as authentic as possible with real, vintage equipment and a design that gets the look and feel of Studio Two down pat. In fact, the musicians will even be standing in the same places the Beatles would have stood whilst they were recording. The idea is to make it seem as if the audience are actually watching these classic records being made before their eyes.
Edgren has spent months labouring over the designs with his own design consultancy and third party consultancy Stufish, so that it will have exactly the same footprint and dimensions as the studio. The cube shape will be formed from translucent scrims, which drop down from giant rollers and the cube will be adorned by typographic information about the albums being performed as well as imagery from album covers, recording sessions and from the studio’s archive. Edgren does add, however that they don’t want too much generic news footage or shots of Liverpool as he stresses “This is not a documentary.”
Edgren has spent months labouring over the designs with his own design consultancy SG Events and third party consultancy Stufish
He appears to be driven by the idea that the show will be something completely out of the ordinary, not simply a bunch of blokes in wigs on stage messing about with guitars. The key word here is “Authenticity,” and as a man who has seen more than his fair share of dodgy Beatles cover bands over the years, that’s an approach that I hope beyond hope the designer sticks with! In fact, he is so adamant that it will feel like a real recording session with the actual Beatles that he’s planning on keeping the faces of the performers hidden until the end of the show. Instead, it’s the music, the recording process and the interplay between takes that are given precedence.
The records featured will be tackled chronologically, and will be signposted by different colours and types of lighting. For example, black and white will be used during the early years, the mid 60’s will see the introduction of psychedelic colours, and towards the end of the band’s life, those colours will be stripped back to reflect the musical progression of the group. Light will permeate the cube and allow precise shadows to be cast over musicians so that their faces will remain in shadow even as they move around the stage and as the sets are recomposed for different albums.
The show will take place at the Royal Albert Hall starting April 2016, and features a translucent cube of light in the centre of the auditorium
While the show has been designed and produced on a grand scale, The Sessions at Abbey Road will use design in a subtle but direct way. This is partly out of necessity though, as the show isn’t endorsed by the Beatles estate, so they can’t use any Beatles imagery or trademarks. Instead, light projection and video mapping techniques will be used to film and project the hands and mouths of musicians as they’re playing back onto the cube, which Edgren feels will “Help the audience focus and draw on their emotional attachment and personal memories of these songs.” He has said that from a design perspective, the show will be: “Like a technical ballet. Everything will be choreographed so you won’t be distracted by faces – the performers and the equipment will move seamlessly.” This would sound horrendously pretentious in lesser hand of course, but I’m cautiously optimistic for this one. If nothing else, the music will certainly hit the spot!
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and struggling musician from Kidderminster in the UK. His favourite Beatles album is Rubber Soul.