17 May Beyonce Renaissance World Tour 2023
For the 56-date Beyonce Renaissance World Tour, a specially designed Champagne Armand de Brignac viewing platform was constructed for an intimate group of VVIP guests. In London, guests included Shawn ‘JAY-Z’ Carter, Blue Ivy, Sir. Paul McCartney together with other high-profile names from the world of entertainment. Inspired by Armand de Brignac’s iconic metalic bottle, the space features a customised gold wrap and a bar for guests to enjoy the flagship cuvée Brut Gold whilst enjoying Beyonce’s 3hr performance from the best seats in the house.
With just 72hrs notice, Imaginators were tasked with developing a unique branded platform for VVIP guests of Beyonce including friends and family. From conceptual drawings, Imaginators set into production specialist reflective vinyl which was applied to interchangeable rigid sheets used for both the internal and external cladding of the dual complex 50m2 platforms. With exceptional levels of quality, fit and finish required throughout the entire process, project development, branding, installation, derig and preparation for UK, European and global shipping were managed by Imaginators. A dedicated team of eight crew arrived in Cardiff for the first UK date which moved to Edinburgh, Sunderland and London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for five consecutive nights.
Due to the position of the viewing platforms within the complex stage set-up, the platforms themselves were the last item to be constructed and the first item to be removed to enable access to the stadium floor. This added a significant layer of complexity as no other services could arrive or depart until the construction/derig was completed. Additionally, due to the very nature of the construction of the branded panels, every panel was tagged to identify its position/location as it was delicately packed for shipping to the next phase of the tour.
Imaginators managed the activation of all UK dates and liaised extensively with the other European cities with a particular focus on the Asia and American leg of the world tour to ensure consistency of quality and build.
The tour was planned in the lapse of four years and three identical stages for the show were developed, with one stage being set up in a city while the other two travelled to be constructed in the following destinations. The design process took eighteen months and was held in charge by Es Devlin Studio and Stufish Entertainment Architects, along with Beyoncé and her creative team, Parkwood. The staging consists of two separate platforms connected by a broad ramp – the A stage with a circle shaped cavity in the middle of a giant, flat screen whilst the B stage is subdivided in a circumference structure surrounding the ‘Club Renaissance’ VIP section, with an extension of the ramp acting as the radius of the layout.
The Renaissance World Tour broke ticket sales records worldwide. The tour may break the record for the biggest tour in music history, according to Bloomberg and has already become both the highest-grossing tour by a female artist in history. As of August 31, 2023, Live Nation Entertainment reported that the Renaissance World Tour has grossed $579 million.
The BBC said that the Renaissance World Tour ‘marks a big economic moment’ boosting countries’ economies in a phenomenon dubbed the ‘Beyoncé effect’, ‘Beyflation” by experts. In the UK, the tour led to an unexpected increase in the consumer price index which led to an increase in inflation by the Bank of England.