I need a stage, nothing fancy or big. I'm throwing a concert and I need one for a few local bands to play on. It needs to be portable. Hopefully I can find something to lay down to use as a stage or something.

Any ideas on making a stage?

Specifics, por favor.

It needs to be portable, like can fit on a trailer? Or should just have wheels? How big are you thinking?

http://www.atlasbleachers.com/stages.html

Stage scaffolding like this can be rented, if you just need it for short term.

Tables with carpet over them.

Or similar, you could make one if you know enough about carpentry to make adequate support for say... 400kg (about 750-800lb).

milk crates + plywood = winnar!

http://johnfreeborn.com/wordpress/2007/10/12/don-kahler-video-building-a-milkcrate-stage/

probably dont need to go to that much trouble, maybe just bolts with big washers into a stack of 2 milk crates, which can be found behind any retailer selling milk.

I've made one using plywood nailed to 2x4's (underneath) on top of hay bales. It worked great.

Tables with carpet over them.

Or similar, you could make one if you know enough about carpentry to make adequate support for say... 400kg (about 750-800lb).

750-800lbs for a small stage? No way.

Players: 100+ lbs each, 4 per band.
Guitar and bass amps: 50 lbs each.
Drum set might be another 100 lbs.
Count the small stuff like voice PA, mixer, pedals, instruments, chairs, etc, you might have another 100lbs.

That is 700lbs right there going way light, not counting people jumping around. I wouldn't build any less than 1500lbs capacity. 2000lbs to be on the safe side. It's better to build it heavy than to have liability issues.


I think the smallest you would want to go on a stage size is 12x24'. A show can be had on a smaller stage, but it's cramped.

The sheeting for something that size would be around $150-$200. Then you have to cover the sheeting with something to keep it from getting damaged by the weather. That, and the way you frame it largely depends on what you do.

I'd figure to spend about a grand in materials on this if it were getting framed from wood.


The hay bale/milk crate idea sounds like the cheapest route. You might be able to keep it under $300 that way.

borrow a trailer from a local farmer. works every time.

borrow a trailer from a local farmer. works every time.

hehe

Jackyl did something like that. K-Mart wouldn't sell their albums, so they set up a mobile stage on a semi-truck and went and rocked out in their parking lot.

plywood resting on top of tables, combined with lots of power cabling and heavy equipment and a crowd pushing against it sounds like a deathtrap.

hay bales could be a good way of doing it, though beware of potential stability and fire risk issues...

the 'proper' way to do it would be the back of an artic lorry, with one side of the plastic sheeting off, so that it is open, basically making an instant stage. You can rent ones that are pre-customised to be a stage with lighting etc fixtures in place, or for a cheaper alternative if you can use contacts to hire / blag a trailer for free/cheap, then put up some lighting goalpost stands or similar to hang lights off, speaker stacks can just go on the floor as it'll be a good height above the audience.

of course, this may be way way too big for your concert, the back of an artic is quite a big stage in some ways (though fairly shallow, not much room in front of the drums), so a farmer's trailer could be a good alternative if you can borrow one... again, they're not huge, but the band will just have less running around space.
A problem with a farmer's trailer is lighting, you will need either some tall goalposts, or seperate scaffold structures, for lighting, because the small size and stability of the trailer means you won't be able to put up goalposts or T bars.