Recorded in New York City, Cheek To Cheek is a brand new album of jazz classics that showcases the successful collaboration between the legendary Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, artists from two distinctly contrasting musical eras whose shared love of the genre encouraged them to introduce songs such as Cole Porter’s ‘Anything Goes’ and Duke Ellington’s ‘It Don’t Mean A Thing’ to a younger generation.
On the evening of the album’s release, September 22, Universal Music Belgium hosted a special one-off performance by Bennett and Gaga at the beautifully lit Grand Place in Brussels, as a prelude to the Fête de la Federation Wallonie – a series of concerts celebrating the French-speaking part of Belgium.
Filmed with 4K cameras for worldwide broadcast before the end of the year, the production was assisted by Stageco who built a 16m x 9m arched stage with a transparent canopy in combination with a 14m catwalk that connected a B-stage with the main performance area.
Headquartered just 30km from the Belgian capital, Stageco covered the small, 6m x 4m B-stage with a BJ-Roof and an additional transparent canopy, whilst providing decking for disabled audience members and the cranes deployed for the TV cameras.
Stageco crew chief Olivier Emoux led a team of 26 for the two-day production build, while Stijn Bortels headed an 18-strong crew for the load-out. They both reported to event production manager Erik Lybeer of EVL Productions who was working in co-operation with Geoffrey Campé and Stéphane Rischette of BME.
“I was very proud of our crew,” said Stageco project manager Lies Rombouts. “This job was pending for quite a while and it was only a week before load-in that we received confirmation of the Bennett/Gaga performance. Some elements of the job were cleared just one day before we arrived on-site and right up until the end of our load-in the details about the camera cranes kept changing. Nevertheless, our crew managed to get the job done with a good spirit, delivering a great result as part of a happy production.”
The Telegraph’s Anne Billson described the show as a “cross-generational triumph” and as the ink of her review was drying, Cheek To Cheek débuted at No.1 on the Billboard album chart. A fine start for one of the most unlikely duos since David Bowie and Bing Crosby!
www.stageco.com