RIP Mark Fisher

[U2girl]

Mark Fisher

 

[chrissybaby]

Saw this earlier at @u2. Very sad. He'll be missed.
Anyone who has visited a U2 show and has had "that moment", should have Mark in their thoughts today. He helped create some great memories for so many of us.

 

[Rhiannon64]

Thanks for posting. Check out the sketches for the concept of the 360 tour (as well as the drawing from all the other tours starting with ZooTV). It looks like the design concept for 360 went back as far as 2004--although it is listed as 'sketches from Vertigo concepts.' I find it fascinating to see the development of the stage from its initial drawing to the finished product.

In any case, what an amazing talent and a great loss. His designs have transformed the way an audience experiences a rock concert. RIP.

 

[last unicorn]

Great and sudden loss, so sad RIP.

I wonder how U2 will continue with their tour plans without him.

 

[Iskra]

The Stones, our boys, Floyd, The Olympics, the man was a legend. I spent several years tracking down his monograph. I highly recommend it if you can find a copy. They're pretty pricey on Amazon but I found mine in a store in L.A.

 

[U2girl]

The Beijing Olympics opening ceremony was great to behold

I feel lucky to have seen 360 live now and experience one of his creations.

 

[digitize]

Wow, that's awful. He was ridiculously talented.

 

[prbiker15]

Wow, was not expecting this. Incredibly sad, really makes you wonder what will happen to U2's future staging for their tours. He was a very special and talented individual.

 

[Rachel D.]

That's really sad news. I was watching part of the ZooTV Sydney DVD today and thought about him and how unfortunate it is that he won't be a part of U2's tours anymore. He was a genius.

 

[last unicorn]

U2 > News > 'He made the impossible possible.'

The Edge has been speaking about the passing of Mark Fisher, groundbreaking stage designer, architect and friend of the band who worked with them for more than twenty years.

'Mark Fisher's vision and genius was his ability to translate dreams into reality. With his talent and passion, he created designs which never failed to push every concept to the absolute limit. He made the impossible possible. And it always looked beautiful.

'Mark was a dearly beloved member of the U2 family and we shall all miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.'

 

[gvox]

I was looking at a picture of the Claw the other day and just thinking to myself how utterly improbable that design was. It really is an engineering marvel.

 

[powerhour24]

Just saw a note in memory of Mark Fisher on Facebook from Peter Gabriel & audibly gasped, I had no idea he wasn't well. Thanks for all you contributed to live music production & to all the memories we have with U2.

 

[Dragonfave]

U2 Manager Paul McGuinness on Mark Fisher: 'He Turned Everyone’s Wild Ideas Into Steel, Lumber and Canvas Reality' | Billboard

U2 manager Paul McGuinness had a long and fruitful relationship with late, great architect/set designer Mark Fisher, who passed away on Tuesday (June 25) and was invovled with every U2 tour since 1991. Here’s his thoughts on Fisher's "genius."

“I had known Mark in a previous life. Before I managed U2, back in 1973 I worked on a movie called "Zardoz,” made in Ireland by the director John Boorman. It’s kind of a cult movie now, sci-fi, Sean Connery, Charlotte Rampling were in it. In those days, Mark Fisher was a student at the Architectural Association in London. He and a couple of other kind of hippies from the Architectural Association worked on that movie building inflatable buildings -- it was set in the future. I always thought [the Rolling Stones tours] was where they developed the technology, and John Boorman must have heard about it and brought them in. That was the first time I met him, and then some years later he cropped up in rock ‘n roll. We started working with him in 1991 and he was involved in every production since then.”

On U2 360: “What happened with that production, we only played football stadiums, and we increased the capacity of those stadiums around the world by abut 20%. Unfortunately, because we sold out all those shows, in every city we played, the authorities – the transportation, the highway people, the cops – they never took it quite seriously. We told them, ‘This is not just another sold out rock ‘n roll event, it’s not the same as a sports event in that stadium. It’s 20% more people, you have to be ready for that.’ And they hardly ever were, there were a lot of delays around the world on that tour."

“Mark was really a genius, that was the key to it. He was an architect with an extraordinary imagination. Some rock ‘n roll production people are very set in their ways, the band or the artist comes to them with an idea, ‘How can you execute it?’ Some [set designers], I’m afraid, say, ‘Oh, you can’t do that, that’s never been done before.’ But Mark was never like that. He turned everyone’s wild ideas into steel and lumber and canvas reality. He built extraordinary things for us.”

 

[Von Schloopen]

Paul worked on "Zardoz"?

Mind blown.

Now I know who provided Edge with costume ideas for the "Discotheque" video.

 

[last unicorn]

Not only is this very sad news, it's also a bit depressing to think about the possible effects Mark Fisher's passing may have on the upcoming U2 tour.

 

[Aleh_Hewson]

Not only is this very sad news, it's also a bit depressing to think about the possible effects Mark Fisher's passing may have on the upcoming U2 tour.

I thought about that as well, but the few infos that we had, seems that he was ill/in hospital for sometime, so they may have a "Plan B"

I feel very sorry... I always liked to read his ideas, and his way to make everyone's dream stage come true... That's sad =(

 

[last unicorn]

Here's a Mojo article with statements from Willie Williams

Rolling Stones/U2 Stage Designer, Mark Fisher, Remembered - News - Mojo

 

[ouizy]

I started listening to U2 somewhere around 1985 (when I was 11 years old) and had been going to other bands shows with my parents starting when I was about 8. Very young for a kid, but I absolutely loved it. No matter who the band was, I wanted to go to every arena or stadium show not only for the music, but for the spectacle. I loved the lights, I loved the sound, but most of all I loved the stage.

Then came 1987 with the Joshua Tree stadium tour which blew my mind. Huge stage, enormous crowds, and a great band. I must have gone to a few hundred shows before ZOOTV which in the end for me was a defining moment.

I went to school for engineering, then studied architecture always with stage design in the back of my mind and at the front of my interests. The shows became more elaborate, the lights more advanced, and what was with all that video - simply crazy. While 360 and Popmart are generally considered U2's biggest steps forward in technology, ZOOTV demolished all expectations in terms of an outdoor concert. This is all thanks to Mark Fisher.

While Willie Williams is always (and rightfully so) considered a creative guru and very much the eye behind how a U2 show looks, it really was Fisher who made all of these pioneering ideas possible. Just imagine what kind of creative genius you have to be to be able to sit across a table from U2, The Stones, Pink Floyd and many others and not only fully understand and appreciate their music, but be able to communicate the goals of a show (which are very often artistically and politically, let alone monetarily driven) through architectural ideas, draw them, calculate them, and produce them to be able to be broken down every night and stuck into trucks for transport. Hard to believe.

In 1996 after finishing university I backpacked around Europe for the summer with two friends. At a point in time of the trip we split up as we each had different passions - one went to Belgium, one went to Spain and I went to London to meet Mark Fisher. I was just a kid and there was no internet or mobile phones - very hard to navigate. I tried to track him down by using a phone book and word of mouth. I got on some train and ended up in a residential neighborhood with a number and a street. I knocked on the door and a nice receptionist asked what I wanted. I told her I would like to see Mark Fisher and she had no idea who that was or what I was talking about. After a very lengthy explanation I got to the point that he worked for U2, no reaction, Floyd, no reaction, and the Stones. The receptionist then said I happened to be standing in the studio of a photographer who very often took pictures of Mick Jagger. She was kind enough to make about five interconnected phone calls and eventually tracked down another address for me.

I found what ended up being what we call in the states a brownstone and knocked on the door. To my surprise Mark Fisher opened the door barefoot. He asked me what the hell I wanted and I told him I traveled a few thousand miles to see him and he asked me to come back in an hour as he was about to have a meeting (his home was his office at that time.) I came back looking haggard and he asked me inside. We sat for about 45 minutes discussing all his past designs, what he was currently working on and I finally built up enough courage to ask what the next U2 stage would look like. At that time he was working on Popmart and would not tell me anything but said, "This next one is going to blow your mind." Which it did.

The kindness of the man I long considered my hero of letting some strange American into his home was incredible. He was warm, generous with his time, and a complete gentleman. Each and every U2 show I went to after that I would look towards the soundboard to see if he was there. I would never go down to try to say hello again, but at a few shows (particularly the MSG shows) I would see him and just smile to myself because that one rainy day in London in 1996 is permanently burned into my memory bank. It is rare you ever get to meet your hero in life, it is even rarer they let you into their dining room.

Since the 1990's my love for U2's music has somewhat waned, but has always come back strong when I saw them live. For me, going to a U2 show was more than just a concert, it was all that built up history with the band that made it something I had to do every time they came around. It is no longer about the music for me, but always a way for me to admire the work of Fisher and Williams as they have always pushed the live touring industry to places it had never been. It has always been about the spectacle for me and Mark Fisher was the leader in making the impossible possible.

I just read the news today that Mark has passed and I am just heartbroken.

I join everyone else here in mourning this loss, but will always remember the day I met him in London and every U2 show since 1991 that his hand touched. For me a major part of my love for this band is now gone and is almost as significant as losing a band member.

Without even considering what the future may hold in terms of the live U2 experience, I just wanted to point out what a huge loss this is for all of us gear-heads, and what joy Mark Fisher's creations have brought me for the past 22 years. I only wish he and his family are at peace and truly understand the huge impact he has had on me and millions like me around the world.

Rest in Peace
Mark Fisher
1947-2013