If you’re planning an event with live music, the stage is an essential part of the design and planning process. It creates a focal point and elevates the band above the audience to help with sight lines, among serving other purposes. Whether your stage is 1 foot off the ground or a large outdoor structure, it’s important to ensure you’ve got enough space to accommodate your artists, as well as any additional technical production you might need to put on the stage.
Well, it depends on a number of factors, but primarily the size of the stage you need will be based on the requirements of your entertainment. Some acts, especially dancers or acrobatic performers will have a detailed specification of everything they need including stage size, layout, access, and sometimes even materials. However many music acts and bands won’t necessarily have this. If you’re lucky they may have a ‘rider’ or tech spec that details suggested stage dimensions or space needed, but more often than not it will simply state ‘enough stage space for X-piece band’ or perhaps not mention the stage dimensions at all. In that case, it’s up to the organiser to ensure they have the right size stage for the band they’ve booked.
If you’re booking a musical performance, the first question will be how many people are in the band. Usually a band will describe themselves as ‘3-piece’ or 12-piece’ where the number of ‘pieces’ refers to the number of performers on stage.
Note: the below guide is indicative only, and we’d always recommend speaking with your performers about stage size if possible. Certain instruments require considerably more stage space than others, for example, drum kits compared to vocalists.
| Band Size | Suggested Width | Suggested Depth | Minimum Width | Minimum Depth |
| 2 piece | 3m | 2m | 2.5 | 1.5m |
| 3 piece | 3.5m | 3m | 3m | 2m |
| 4 piece | 4m | 3m | 3m | 2.5m |
| 5 piece | 4m | 3m | 3m | 2.5m |
| 6 piece | 5m | 3m | 4m | 3m |
| 7 piece | 5m | 3m | 4m | 3m |
| 8 piece | 6m | 3.5m | 5m | 3m |
| 9 piece | 6m | 3.5m | 5m | 3m |
| 10+ Piece | 6m | 4m | 5m | 3.5 |
Remember, the more space you have for the band to set up and play, the better the performance is going to be, and the more flexibility you have for changeovers between bands and other important logistical elements! We’d always recommend going larger than needed if you can, as nobody ever complained about a stage being too big.
You’ll notice that we haven’t recommended a height in the table above. That’s because your stage height depends on a number of other factors, and is not always related to the entertainment or band you have booked. Your stage height depends on things like your audience size, the location of the event, whether it’s inside or outside and on flat ground, and whether people are seated or standing!
Again, the short answer is: it depends. You should always aim to have handrails on a stage if the design allows for it, however there are a number of reasons you could elect not to have handrails or barriers – it’s completely up to the event planner to make that decision. Whatever you decide, you should ensure you have a full risk assessment in place, and always get stages installed by a professional, competent contractor.
If you’d like more advice on stage sizes, or would like to talk about getting a hire quote for your stage, you should get in touch with our production experts:
production@enlx.co.uk
01179 727 123
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We provide a one stop shop for all lighting, audio, video and staging solutions whether it be for hire, sale, production, repair or permanent installation.
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