PREPARATIONS UNDERWAY FOR TOMORROW'S STONES CONCERT IN ZAGREB

( Editorial: --> 4603 ) ZAGREB, Aug 19 (Hina) - On Wednesday afternoon about 250 people finished assembling the stage, wiring the sound system and putting up lights for the huge Rolling Stones concert to be held on Thursday at Zagreb race course. The stage for "The Bridges to Babylon" world tour is 54m wide, 45m long, 25m high and weighs 300 tonnes, which makes it one of the largest in the history of rock and roll. At the race course and in its vicinity are parked 45 hauling trucks for transporting the stage components and 31 trucks for production requirements, as well as 10 buses for the huge technical and production crew of the world's greatest rock and roll group. A mobile, 52m-long hydraulic bridge leading from the main stage to a smaller one placed among the audience is to be used during the concert. There the Stones will perform three songs, which is usually the culmination of the spectacle. The light show consists of 500 static and 160 movable lights, 80 different symbols, 62 light-changing devices and eight stroboscopic lights. The sound system power amounts to staggering 252,000 watts. The Zagreb show is the 95th concert on this big Rolling Stones world tour which kicked off on September 23, 1997 in Chicago. The Scottish group Big Country opens the concert as the support act, while the Rolling Stones will start playing between 9.30 and 9.35pm, and the concert will last between 2 hours and 27 minutes and 2 hours and 31 minutes, a Rolling Stones spokesman announced. About 60,000 tickets have been sold until Wednesday, but the organisers expect more than 70,000 visitors from Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria and Italy. Considering such a great number of people, the Zagreb police in accordance with the city authorities have organised special traffic regulations. For example, the traffic will be banned from Bundek Street to Veceslav Holjevac Avenue and Zimmermann Street for the passage of the organisers' vehicles. The Sloboda Bridge will be temporarily closed to pedestrians and cyclists, except those with concert tickets, from 2pm on August 20 to 1am on August 21. The race course will open its gates from 2pm on Thursday, and apart from a large police presence, there will be 350 monitors, as well as personnel from the Sokol security firm. Meteorologists have forecast unstable weather for Thursday, with a possibility of light showers. The Rolling Stones were expected to arrive in Zagreb on Wednesday night. (Hina) jfk /mbr 192149 MET aug 98