For the first time, you’re coordinating a major event for your town. There’s going to be plenty to eat, plenty of people to see, and—the piece de resistance—a live performance of which you’re in charge. This is an opportunity to do right by your town; to give it a night its residents won’t forget.
If the number of different stages overwhelms you, a better place to begin is with the vendor. Is this vendor reputable? What kind of reviews does this vendor have? How much does it charge to rent a concert stage? After deciding whether a vendor is worth your time and good enough to support an event in your town, you can work with that vendor to discern where you can find the best concert stage rentals near you.
Whatever you ultimately decide, we anticipate that your best option will be easy to set up or dismantle, durable against high winds and luxuriously spacious.
What Factors Are Most Important?
When buying or renting a stage, there are many items to consider. The most obvious factor is size, but we’d like to address the subtler differences between the two major categories of small and large.
Small Stages
Many of the smallest stages are among the best, requiring no more than 2-4 people for setup. The absolute biggest outdoor stages may require 8 or 12 people to set up. Even the smallest stages can meet the needs of crowds as big as 5,000.
Compactness and hydraulic capabilities make effective small stages easy to erect and dismantle quickly. The best small stages still maximize visibility for large numbers of people. If you’re browsing small stages for a local event, make sure the stage offers as much visibility from the sides as it does from the front.
At around 6,000 or 9,000 pounds, small stages are towable with standard pickup trucks. In spite of size, they resist winds as high as 100 mph. Some small stages come with side trusses that maximize stability for wind walls and provide extra protection from elements.
In particular, the SL260 has enjoyed popularity at festivals as esteemed as Warped Tour. Taking no more than an hour and two people to set up, it enjoys covered wings to offer a dry, spacious area for musicians and VIPs. Full-height rainproof windows also adorn this stage.
Stages as small as this are perfect for local summer events.
Large Stages
If we’re talking about the best stages available, there are bigger stages with more deluxe capabilities that require no more than three hours to set up and take down, even if a single pickup truck can’t carry them.
Effective large stages also demonstrate comparatively low weight. Mechanical assembly with aluminum and steel makes for quick setup with as few as four people across the board.
Large stages suit crowds with 10,000-20,000 people or more. Dimensions range from 50ft by 40ft to 70ft by 60ft.
Large stages also have several LED screens with which to enhance the performance. At around 30 feet high, the trims of such stages will allow for adequate viewing of these screens.
Effective large stages are even more durable than small well-made stages. Setup takes a couple of hours, so more than four people are sometimes necessary. At most, a large stage requires 12 workers for a 16-hour setup.
With so many capabilities, large stages are perfect for the year’s largest festivals.
Which Stage Is Best?
We recommend stages by Stageline. We rent out these exclusively because this vendor equips sturdy stages of all sizes with hydraulic equipment that allows for easy setup and dismantling.
From the cutting edge of mobile stage equipment, Stageline has provided the safest, most reliable stages for 30,000 events per year in 50 different countries. For decades, these effective stages have been standing strong against winds as high as 115 mph.
Stageline stages come in many sizes; SL260s are the bare minimum for any outdoor national act. In combination with protection from inclement weather, these stages have the required dimensions of 32 ft by 24 ft to give most conventional four-person bands the right amount of space.
Stage sizes can max out at around 100 ft by 50 ft. The dimensions of the stage will inform weight and setup time. The smallest stages take hours to set up, while the largest ones can take the better part of an entire day.
Whichever stage you choose, mobile stage rental prices take up around a third of most overall production budgets, so invest in a good one, whether you need it for two days or a full week. The remainder of such budgets often goes to sound equipment and lighting, which many of the best vendors also have for one-stop shopping.
Why Go Out of Your Way to Find a Good Rental Company?
An event rental company’s mission is to help your crew immerse audiences in pristine audio at every show. Rental companies make this happen through detailed preparation, precise communication and, of course, the best possible equipment.
The best concert stage setup companies love the concert as much as you do. This passion is what connects event planners with cutting-edge equipment that includes remote-control speaker mounts.
Event rental providers usually have a lot of experience working with high-profile bands. For instance, STS Concert Sound has done shows for Styx as well as the Dave Matthews Band and Shinedown.
Rental companies may also go on tour with you to help with setup and teach your tech crew how everything works.
STS Concert Sound Provides the Nation’s Best Stages
There’s a lot to consider when you rent a stage. From the requisite number of workers to setup time, fitting a mobile stage into your budget can be difficult. Our hope is that you’ve learned enough here to find the best possible stage for your needs.
If you’re looking for a portable stage rental in Chicago, STS Concert Sound has the best Stageline stages available for rent. Among the best outdoor stages in the country, these stages have hydraulic capabilities that drastically reduce setup times and provide lasting protection against rain and wind.
Our team is well-versed in how to deploy these technologically advanced stages, and we’re happy to share the wealth with customers. We’ll be there with the equipment to show unfamiliar crews how everything works, so if you’re ready to knock your upcoming live event out of the park, please call us or email us to schedule a consultation.