Stage Design
Florian Wieder
Wieder Design Studio · Munich · "Metropolis" concept
The stage was designed by Munich stage architect Florian Wieder (Wieder Design Studio) — a sprawling homage to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), laced with steampunk, Blade Runner and Tron references. Show and lighting design were handled by Patrick Woodroffe and Roland Greil of Woodroffe Bassett Design. Technical consultant was Jeremy Lloyd (Wonder Works). Responsible for production and special effects: Nicolai Sabottka.
The centerpiece: a central tower of black steel, roughly 36 m tall and 60 m wide, fitted with around 45 m² of automated video surfaces, moving band platforms and flame effects. (Robe and Claypaky alternatively quote the tower height at 38 m — the difference is whether superstructures are counted.) Behind it a roughly 55 m wide back wall — not a video wall, but the carrier of a huge light display; on top a level at 12 m height for "sky-tracer" searchlights and pyro. At the front, two purpose-built 23 m tall PA towers with a 1.4 m × 1.4 m cross-section flank the stage, engineered for above-average wind loads.
The official Stageco data points for the tour. Every item carries the structural responsibility of a steel builder who has worked with the world’s biggest tours for decades.
| Central tower | 36 m tall · 60 m wide · black Stageco steel · ≈ 45 m² automated video surfaces · moving band platforms · flame effects |
|---|---|
| Tower height (alternative) | 38 m — Robe / Claypaky · difference from superstructures |
| Back wall | approx. 55 m wide · no video wall · carrier of a light display · platform at 12 m height for sky-tracer + pyro |
| Downstage PA towers | 2 units · 23 m height · 1.4 × 1.4 m cross-section · engineered for above-average wind loads |
| Lighting pods | 2 units · ⌀ 5 m · ride up the tower on a rail |
| Stage canopies | 2× custom · transparent · 4 columns each · pyro wiring integrated |
| Delay towers | 4 units · distributed in the audience · audio + video |
| FOH | Control riser · complete stage deck · all platforms Stageco |
Motion control came from WIcreations in Belgium, based on their in-house WIMOTION system with SIL3 position monitoring — the highest safety integrity level actually applied in the live entertainment industry. Two devices carry the show’s entire vertical choreography: a 5 m × 9 m HD video wall that travels 27 m up and down the tower — wind-secured up to 15 m/s. And a lift platform that raises all 6 band members together 26 m above the main stage. Both are driven by a total of 10 WIHOISTs at up to 0.4 m/s. For the first run, WIcreations supplied around 72 tonnes of specialist equipment on 10 trailers — built in just 14 weeks.
Roland Greil called it a "rig with over 1,000 fixtures". The vendor was Neg Earth Lights of London. Each manufacturer only names "their" units — the quantities below add up to the much-cited thousand threshold without every single item being publicly listed. Programming: Marc Brunkhardt, on tour with Faren Matern. Control: 4× grandMA2 full-size + 1× grandMA2 light.
The entire show runs on four grandMA2 full-size plus one grandMA2 light. Programming was done by Marc Brunkhardt; on tour Faren Matern runs the desk. The consoles communicate over sACN / Art-Net across the tour network with the whole rig — including all spot-operator sessions.
Each grandMA2 full-size offers 4,096 parameters and 2 internal screens; plus two external touchscreens. Hot-backup link between all consoles.
| Main consoles | 4× grandMA2 full-size |
|---|---|
| Backup / Spot | 1× grandMA2 light |
| Programmer | Marc Brunkhardt |
| On Tour | Faren Matern |
| Network | sACN · Art-Net · MA-Net2 |
600 tiles of the in-house 9 mm modules Solotech / Saco S9 with Saco Nano processing formed the 5 × 9 m HD centre wall that travels 27 m up and down the tower. The image is fed by two disguise GX2 Pro media servers, controlled by a grandMA2 light. Plus a Barco ImagePRO dual scaler. The Solotech flypack includes a Grass Valley Korona switcher and a Ross 32×32 SDI router as well as an extensive camera package.
Supplied by SSE Audio (UK) and Solotech — according to SSE, the house’s largest AVB tour at the time. Audio transport over Milan AVB. Powered by 180× LA12X controllers. FOH engineer: Olsen Involtini. Systems tech: Andreas Vater. Crew chief: Nick Pain (10 technicians). Load-in 4–6 h, load-out often just 2 h.
FOH: two Avid Venue S6L with two S6L-32D surfaces each, two E6L-192 engines, two Waves SoundGrid Server Extreme and two Stage-64 stageboxes. The monitor side is built identically — full failover and the same show files when needed. Audio crew: 10 technicians under crew chief Nick Pain.
Sabottka’s Berlin company FFP was responsible. Rammstein runs its own in-house research & development department where effects are prototyped and tested. On consumption: the stadium setup uses around 1,000 litres of fuel per show (other sources cite ~700 l — depending on show version and venue). According to Sabottka, Lycopodium is frequently used, a yellowish powder that produces large, relatively controllable flames. Depending on the authority, between zero and around a hundred firefighters are on site.
On the US run (2022), around 1,300–1,350 tonnes of equipment were driven into the stadium, with roughly four days of build time per venue. The WIcreations delivery for the first build alone comprised 72 t on 10 trailers. Audio load-in: 4–6 h. Load-out: often just 2 h.
| Equipment weight (US stadium) | 1 300–1 350 t |
|---|---|
| Build time (stadium) | ≈ 4 days |
| WIcreations · first delivery | 72 t · 10 trailers · built in 14 weeks |
| Audio-Crew | 10 technicians · crew chief Nick Pain |
| Audio Load-in | 4–6 h |
| Audio Load-out | ≈ 2 h |
The basic framework (tower, video wall, PA towers, lighting concept) was kept and continued. In 2022, L-Acoustics K1, K2, KARA, K1-SB and KS28 plus Avid Venue control were still used. In terms of content, the setlist changed (new album Zeit) along with individual props / effects; in 2023 some single show elements (e.g. the "Pussy" cannon) were dropped in part.
The tour ran under the umbrella term Stadium Tour in five years from 2019 to 2024. Paused in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic; continued from 2022 (around the album Zeit). Final show: 31 July 2024 · Gelsenkirchen, Veltins-Arena.
The information on this page comes from official statements by the houses involved and from the international trade press — filtered down to what is actually documented. Exact total counts of each individual fixture are not fully published; manufacturers each name only "their" units, which is why the individual items add up to "over 1,000 fixtures" without every position being publicly listed.