Rolling Stones Recreating Famous Hyde Park Stage Set
The Rolling Stones will perform at London's Hyde Park tomorrow (July 6), and the band wants the stage, and its view from it, to look exactly like it did 44 years ago, when they famously played a free gig there.
The Stones are preparing for the concert, part of the Barclaycard British Summer Time celebration, by placing huge trees and bushes onstage and on top of equipment, reports The Sun.
“When Mick and the band looked out from the stage back in the '60s, all they could see was a sea of people and a load of trees," a source is quoted. "But many of those have been cleared or replanted since. So they want to recreate the woodland ... They want it to look as authentic as possible.”
So that means 70-foot tall oak model oak trees, including 10,000 branches, are being installed onstage and on the sound desk and other gear.
The Stones' appearance marks the anniversary, almost to the day, of the band's famous 1969 shows at the royal park -- their first with Mick Taylor as part of the lineup (Brian Jones, already out of the band, had died only two days before).
Mick Jagger kicked off the 1969 concert with a tribute to Jones by reading a poem, which concluded with more than 2,000 butterflies being released. No word on whether or not he will repeat these decidedly late-'60s acts at this weekend's show.