Fisher Builds The Wall Again

Mark Fisher, arguably the biggest name in concert stage design of the last 30 years, was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal.

Although much of the detail is well known to the concert industry – that Fisher designed U2’s “claw” or the staging of AC/DC’s Black Ice tour among so many others – the scope of Fisher’s work is still surprising.

For instance, although the Opening Ceremonies at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing were touted as an accomplishment for the East, Fisher quietly worked behind the scenes with Zhang Yimou. The magnificent world globe that had Chinese acrobats traversing it in seeming weightlessness was fully realized by Fisher.

And now audiences get to see Mark Fisher again, this time for Roger Waters’ massive production of “The Wall Live.” Fisher designed the original set 30 years ago. And although the concept is the same – for instance, the bricks are still made of cardboard – technology has infused the “The Wall” with a fresh perspective. In 1980, the production used 35mm film projectors to put images on the wall. Now, because of precision video, each brick on the 245-foot-wall can have its own image.

And although the production still has a familiar feel, it includes $5 million in machinery and 15 digital video projectors, the WSJ noted.

Fisher saw the tour launch in Toronto Sept. 15. He told the paper, “There were moments where you could feel the house on the edge of tears. … Considering it was a room of 17,000 semi-drunk Canadians, it was quite an achievement.”