Tour execs Dale Skjerseth, left, and Tim McWilliams stand in front of the Stones' massive stage set at Rogers Centre. (Ernest Doroszuk/Sun)

It will be a sort of homecoming tonight when the Rolling Stones play Rogers Centre in Toronto.

The veteran British rockers may have officially launched their A Bigger Bang trek in Boston's Fenway Park on Aug. 21, but they rehearsed in T.O. first during July and August and wrapped up their stay with a very special club show at the Phoenix on Aug. 10 in front of a select 1,000 fans.

"We've put our time out there on the road, making this thing work and getting it better and better every day, and it's great to come back home to Toronto and put it back on for all the fans here," said Stones tour promoter Tim McWilliams yesterday afternoon during a media tour of the Stones' enormous stage at Rogers Centre, where dozens of workers were in major construction mode.

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Charlie Watts, their touring band and crew spent a total of five weeks in Toronto rehearsing at Greenwood College School on Mount Pleasant Road.

Although the Stones' steel stage began arriving three days ago, the band's production crew pulled into town only yesterday morning, and were expected to have the stage finished by 10 p.m. last night.

"Their stage is the biggest (yet)," said Stones production manager Dale Skjerseth. "It's 35 trucks of steel. Thirty-six trucks of production. We're 235 crew. It's 90 feet tall, 204 feet wide and it never ends. This is 25% bigger than last time."

Skjerseth said the Stones, who have a major hand in designing the stage, haven't made any adjustments to it since launching their world tour in Boston.

"It's all been positive. There's been no negativity, which has been great."

Stadium shows, as opposed to arenas, get seats built right into the Stones stage, on three levels of balconys -- ranging from 35 feet to 50 feet high.

"As you can see we've got about 240 people that are going to be up on stage around the band and getting a unique perspective of how the show is," said McWilliams. "Kind of like what it's like to be on stage during a Rolling Stones show with all the thousands of people looking at them, and really absorbing the roar of the crowd and the feel of the stage. The reaction of the crowd has been really fantastic; they've all come having a really great time."

One thing Skjerseth didn't want to talk about was the fan who fell from Fenway Park's right field rafters during the tour opener. She broke both her ankles and a wrist.

"She fell from the building. I have no comment about that," he said.

One unusual sight yesterday at Rogers Centre was the grass baseball turf, which is remaining on the floor for tonight's Stones show.

'"Yes, the grass is staying," said Skjerseth. "(The Toronto Blue Jays) have a game coming in shortly after we're done so they need to be somewhat prepped."

That means those with seats on floor will have "a nice foot cushion. It's a lot better than cement," said Skjerseth with a smile.

The baseball diamond was also on display at Fenway Park, but without seats and more as a shrine to the World Series champs Boston Red Sox.

The Stones have arrived in Toronto -- they were expected in town last night -- after playing Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday night.

"I actually don't know where the band is right now," said Skjerseth.

He said it wasn't necessarily typical that they arrive in a city the night before a show.

"There's no 'typical' in our business," he said.

Their next stop is Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.

But, so far, the biggest show on their tour has been in front of 80,000-85,000 fans in Moncton, N.B. on Sept. 3 -- also the biggest concert in the history of Atlantic Canada.

Locally, if you've waited until the last minute to pick up Stones tickets, you may be in luck.

McWilliams said now that the production has moved into Rogers Centre, there are still some good seats left.

"We've taken a look around after we've got ourselves a little bit more situated with the production, and we've got some really great seats available in all the different price categories," he said. "So make sure you check at your ticket outlets between now and the show, 'cause as we get closer and closer we're going to be releasing some more seats that'll be really great seats for the fans."

ROLLING STONES A BIGGER BANG
Tonight, 7:30 p.m. Rogers Centre
Tickets available 416-870-8000
ticketmaster.ca