The 1970s

Abstract

During the 1970s, the practices which began in the previous decade were professionalised. In both Britain and the United States, networks of touring venues opened up to accommodate rock bands: at the same time, the larger bands began to carry their own backstage crews. For example, the Stones, touring America in the early 1970s, employed a lighting designer — E. Beresford, or Chip, Monck — to create a lighting design that could be carried from venue to venue. At the same time, in the early part of the decade, stage sets tended to become more elaborate (see below), and sound technology also improved; a band that had the money could now be reasonably certain that a show could be reproduced in each venue, no matter what the particular constraints of that venue might be. For these reasons, it could be said that performers in the 1970s found themselves exploring rock performance as theatre; in fact, as I shall argue below, even those performers who eschewed overtly theatrical sets and lighting found themselves involved in a theatricalised performance environment by default.