B-stage
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A B-stage is a small, secondary stage, featured at pop and rock concerts held in arenas and stadia, and is usually located in the middle of the concert floor, connected to the main stage by a walkway.
An example of a B-stage from U2's Innocence + Experience Tour. The circular B-stage (left) connects to the main stage (right) by a walkway.
The B-stage on U2's Zoo TV Tour (1992–93) is considered one of the first mainstream examples of the stage setup.
The stage for Madonna's Rebel Heart Tour had a long cross-shaped runway and ended in a heart-shaped B-stage.
Zoo TV Tour
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The Zoo TV Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of their 1991 album Achtung Baby, the tour visited arenas and stadiums from 1992 to 1993. It was intended to mirror the group's new musical direction on Achtung Baby. In contrast to U2's austere stage setups from previous tours, the Zoo TV Tour was an elaborately staged multimedia spectacle, satirising television and media oversaturation by attempting to instill "sensory overload" in its audience. To escape their reputation for being earnest and over-serious, U2 embraced a more lighthearted and self-deprecating image on tour. Zoo TV and Achtung Baby were central to the group's 1990s reinvention.
Zoo TV Tour
U2's interest in Trabants while recording Achtung Baby in Germany inspired tour designer Willie Williams to use them as lighting fixtures on the tour and to paint them.
Bono filming himself with a video camera during a Melbourne concert in November 1993
The Edge and Bono during an August 1992 show, with one of the Trabants from the lighting system visible behind them