CLIENT: Elvis Costello
DATE: May 24, 2011
LOCATION: New York City
PROJECT TYPE: Rock and Roll
JEREMY THOM DESIGNS ROLE:
In 1983, whilst a partner at Plumbline Designs in London, I designed for Elvis Costello a 12'ø spinning Ferris wheel, arrayed with 40 song titles, printed onto fabric which could be swapped out at every show. Audience members were invited up onto the stage to spin the wheel. When the wheel stopped spinning the '12 o'clock' indicator showed which song Elvis would perform next, whilst the audience member relaxed at a bar with a cocktail or danced in a Go-go cage. ... 27 years later my phone rang with a request to build the same wheel again for Elvis's 2011 US Tour. He said it was his favourite stage set ever! I did a bit of updating but fundamentally this version was identical to it's predecessor - except this time the cocktails at the bar weren't alcoholic!
The first two images are of the original wheel which was packaged into a single roadcase that doubled as the base unit. The other images are of the new version both in workshop and at New York's Beacon Theater in 2011.