Super Bowl LV: The Weeknd Takes Tampa - ALSO: Lighting & Sound America
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http://plasa.me/lsamar21 March 2021 $10.00 Super Bowl LV: The Weeknd Takes Tampa ALSO: London’s Spectacular New Year’s Eve How Brexit Threatens Concert Touring New Lighting Control for Niagara Falls Keeping The Voice Singing Carallon’s New Phase
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SPECTACLE Copyright Lighting&Sound America March 2021 issue live link: http://plasa.me/lsamar21
Sin CIty
Serenade The Super Bowl Halftime Show
defies the pandemic
with a bigger-than-ever
extravaganza
By: David Barbour
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It
was a Super Bowl filled with surprises. On the
field, the 43-year-old Tom Brady delivered
another superhuman performance. And The
Pepsi Super Bowl LV Halftime Show delivered
a conversation-starting spectacle that stunned with its
scale and invention.
Given the restraints of COVID-19, it wouldn’t have sur-
prised if the show’s producers had opted for a cut-down
edition. (One of the first major sports events in 2020 with
fans, it had an audience of 25,000 at Raymond James
Stadium in Tampa, which seats upwards of 65,000.) A
labor-intensive effort realized under enormous pressures
even in a normal year, it seemingly presented insurmount-
able obstacles this time around. Yet, if anything, the cre-
ative team doubled down, breaking the show out of its
traditional format with startling showmanship.
For years, the halftime show has been staged in the
same way: As soon as the first half of the game con-
cludes, a small army of volunteers hits the field, pushing
40 to 50 carts loaded with lighting, sound, and video gear.
These, quickly assembled, form the stage; more recently,
the stage deck has also functioned as a video screen.
Seconds after the finale, the deck breaks apart and is
rolled away in time for the second-half kickoff.
This year, such plans went out the window. For one
thing, social distancing rules meant that hundreds of vol-
unteers couldn’t be involved. “There was no way [this
year’s halftime show] was going to be normal,” says Erik
Eastland, of All Access Staging and Productions, one of
the event’s scenic providers. “We didn’t know how abnor-
mal it was going to be. You have ten to 15 people per cart
and 45 carts, so do the math.”
Instead, the production—starring pop singer Abel
Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd—was moved from the field to
the stadium’s north concourse area. “We knew we would
have to plan around pandemic concerns,” says production
designer Bruce Rodgers. “Spacing requirements and
union and players association rules came into play, so we
looked for an alternative to the traditional field perform-
ance. Everything was relocated to the north concourse
except for six end-field carts that were positioned by
stagehands.” But moving the event didn’t mean shrinking
it, he adds. “We also knew early on, after meeting Abel’s
team, that he had high expectations for an epic perform-
ance.” Indeed, Tesfaye reportedly contributed millions of
dollars of his own money to the production budget.
As always, the production design was an intensively
Photo: Courtesy of Tribe, Inc.
collaborative process, beginning with the director Hamish
Hamilton and taking in a number of creatives allied with
Tesfaye, including Es Devlin and Jack Headford, who have
designed previous Weeknd tours, and La Mar Taylor and
Al x Lill, The Weeknd’s creative directors, who supervised
the Las Vegas-themed art for After Hours, the singer’s
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most recent album. (Also vitally involved were Roc Nation, that character’s journey. There is an underlying darkness to
the show’s producer; Diversified Production Services for the vibe that carried into the halftime performance, which I
planning; and, of course, the NFL.) The videos from After loved, but it had nothing to do with the pandemic. But it’s
Hours, directed by Anton Tammi, draw on several cinemat- easy to tie the darker vibe to what we’ve all been living this
ic influences, including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, past year.”
Joker, Casino, and Uncut Gems. (Tesfaye has a cameo in Rodgers adds, “[Tesfaye’s] performance provided a
the latter film.) positive lift for the audience and achieved the goal of unity
The hit songs from After Hours—including “Heartless,” through escapism. Abel is incredibly talented, and his
“In Your Eyes,” “Save Your Tears,” and the ubiquitous smooth confidence, combined with our massive produc-
“Blinding Lights”—speak of heartbreak, alienation, and tion, reached that goal, in my opinion.” And in a year filled
emotional addictions in a sin-city environment, albeit using with pandemic workarounds, it was a heartening reminder
driving rhythms and catchy hooks. Across the year, of what this industry can accomplish, even in the most dif-
Tesfaye made all his public appearances in the same red ficult of times.
suit, with his face bandaged and apparently bloodied. (In The show began with a dazzling bit of trickery: Tesfaye
the video for “Blinding Lights,” he is beat up by thugs and was seen seated in a sports car with the top down, insert-
flees along the Vegas strip.) In the video for “Save Your ed in a Welcome to Las Vegas sign with the Pepsi logo
Tears,” he wears facial prosthetics that led some to specu- attached, surrounded by apparently dimensional buildings
late, incorrectly, that he had undergone plastic surgery. As from the Vegas strip. As the camera pulled back, the sign
he told Variety, “The significance of the entire head band- broke apart and the singer emerged from the car.
ages is reflecting on the absurd culture of Hollywood Simultaneously, an angelic character, called the choir boy,
celebrity and people manipulating themselves for superfi- flew in, briefly stealing focus, until the entire multitiered
cial reasons to please and be validated.” stadium set was in full camera view—at which point the
Put all of these ideas together and you get the world of set broke open, revealing a dazzlingly illuminated interior
the halftime show, which Rodgers notes, was not intended from which Tesfaye emerged.
as a comment on recent events: “The Weeknd and his “Abel, La Mar Taylor, and Al x Lill were the masterminds
team created his character for the After Hours album cam- behind this intro,” Rodgers says. “They are self-described
paign and they did something unique throughout the year movie buffs and love creating movie magic. All during their
in every appearance. The halftime show was the finale of campaign, Al x and their film crews created various set-
Photos: Courtesy of Tribe, Inc.
Tesfaye, Gurdon notes, “is not someone who wants to be perfectly glamorously lit all the time. Mood is more important to him.”
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“We built imagery for both the LED screen behind the set and the Jumbotron above it,” Findley says. “It was quite tough at some
moments; there’s almost 40' of depth between them and they’re completely different products.”
tings utilizing miniatures, forced perspectives, and other tric signs, providing a place for the large chorus; a high
effects to explore the mind and world of the After Hours platform for Tesfaye and his three-piece band; a super-
character. I suggested, early on, that we always have a structure for the lighting rig; and, behind it, a video screen;
moving Pepsi logo that introduces the halftime show and it looming above everything was the stadium’s 100'-wide by
would be cool to dimensionalize that intro so it was part of 75'-high Jumbotron.
the show—but that was my only semi-contribution. The The show’s greatest coup de théâtre was the reveal of
magic came from Al x. It’s a mix of real and virtual studio the “infinity room,” its mirrored walls covered with chasing,
shot footage combined with preshot, on-location stadium pulsing white lightbulbs; racing inside, tracked by a hand-
footage meshed in with our live show. The choir boy held camera, Tesfaye was joined, seemingly out of
descent, flown in by the guys at Flying by Foy, was real nowhere, by dancers—dressed like him and their faces
and superimposed live. It became Hamish Hamilton’s task bandaged—for a rendition of “I Can’t Feel My Face.” “This
of tying everything together on the night to feel seamless.” was an impressive solution driven by La Mar and Al x and
From this cinematic sleight of hand, stage magic took over. the Es Devlin design team,” Rodgers says. “When we start-
ed the design process, most of the show concept had Abel
Production design inside a trippy mirrored Vegas environment. But the con-
The north concourse deck at Raymond James Stadium is cern was that he would be hidden in that setting for too
located 27' above the football field level; the stage area much of the 13-minute performance. We managed to con-
measured 190' wide by 65' deep by 48' high. Components vince his team to play primarily to the live audience, which
of the stage included a 120'-wide by 16'-deep mainstage influenced the final design. We held onto this hidden under-
with an upstage lighting deck; a tiered structure designed stage space for this moment. It took a lot of hard design
as a forced-perspective mashup of skyscrapers and elec- work to fit the infinity room in and under the massive set.
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“We used 8,986 pieces of product,” Ross says, noting that the pyro gear was located on the north scoreboard, the production LED
screen, and the northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest elevator towers.
The final layout was sort of a form-follows-function result, brought in to do an x-ray analysis of the structure. “They
but it worked out. We all worked to provide multiple hid- said, ‘Man, you are spot-on’,” Eastland adds. “Everything
den entrances for Abel and his 20 dancers.” sat on the foundation perfectly.”
The set was sufficiently complex, and time so short, as All Access also built a grid to hold the 125'-wide by 24'-
to require the services of three scenic houses. “By the time high LED screen. “That was a big deal,” Eastland says.
we had an approved design, we were very deep into “We needed to meet 110MPH wind loads. At the same
December,” Rodgers says. “It was clear we needed more time, we couldn’t put a lot of weight up there. We used
than one shop to tackle the project. I proposed that we strategically placed ballasts, tying it off the Jumbotron, uti-
bring All Access, TAIT, and Atomic to the table as all three lizing its weight and stable structure” to secure the screen.
were familiar names in our various worlds. All Access pro- (Rigging services were provided by Stage Rigging.)
vided the main superstructures and massive split-reveal The other big task involved getting the 110'-wide choir
tiered structure. Once that was in place, I called Tait and platform to split in two. “We had blocks weighing 40,000lb
Atomic and asked them to divide the scope into some- that had to track,” Eastland says. “We used two motor
thing they were both comfortable with. Tait and Atomic are drive systems per side, for redundancy. At first, we
neighbors [in Lititz, Pennsylvania], so I knew they could thought we could do it with off-the-shelf products, but we Photo: Erik S Lesser/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
work it out. I’m very happy and impressed with all three didn’t have enough of the same type of mobilator to do
shops and how they meshed together.” both sides. We decided a friction drive was the right way
“The set turned into a real beast,” says Eastland, of All to go, but we were worried about slippage due to conden-
Access. “It was a lot of weight concentrated on this sation and cold. We talked about using hydraulics, but
raised-floor concourse and there all sorts of issues there wasn’t enough time to develop that kind of a system,
involved in making sure that any concentration of weight which would have taken eight to 12 weeks.” The compa-
had to be placed over areas with big supporting beams. Of ny’s trolley system was considered but discarded over
course [at the beginning], we didn’t know where the concerns that it might not be able to handle the set’s
beams were.” After work began on the set, engineers were weight.
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Finally, Eastland says, “We got four gigantic gear And, even without carts on the field, there was still plenty
motors and boxes from [automation specialist firm] to do in the precious minutes before the beginning of the
Creative Conners; the custom system was super-smooth show. “About a dozen scenic elements needed to be
and super-reliable. We love our partnership with Creative prepped once the first half was over. The black drape cov-
Conners.” All Access also collaborated with Tait on the ering the set had to come off, and a fair amount of dressing
infinity room, which was heavily wired with electrics. had to happen.” And, by NFL mandate, as soon as the
“There was about 15,000V inside there,” he notes. Hidden show was over, all public access lanes had to be immedi-
hallways built into the space allowed the dancers to spill ately restored. It’s little wonder that Eastland compares the
into view on cue. Other tasks for All Access included cre- stagehands to the crew at a NASCAR pit stop, in which
ating perches on the set for cameras, allowing Hamilton everyone moves with maximum speed and efficiency.
and his team to get certain shots.
Tait and Atomic collaborated on building what Eastland Video
calls the “tombstones,” the skyscrapers and signs that Drew Findley, principal of the video design and production
made up the façade of the multilevel set design, which company DF Productions and the production’s screens
was loaded with set electrics. “Tait and Atomic built LED producer, says, “I got involved in November, but the
accents and internally lit windows into the scenic design was very fluid at the time. We didn’t really start dig-
cityscape,” Rodgers says. “Everything, including ging into what we were going to do with the screens until
control and color, was coordinated with [lighting designer] December. The idea was to have the LED elements extend
Al Gurdon and the creative team.” the set design vertically and play off the dynamic of the
Tait created 17 custom-built 3D buildings, designed to scenery. Once we had the mood and direction from Bruce,
integrate with Atomic’s 2D lightboxes to give the impres- Es, Jack, and La Mar, my team, which included Dan Efros
sion of a vibrant cityscape. Tait and Atomic worked closely and Kevan Loney, started to build out the city skyline.”
on creating paint and textures to ensure that the interac- Also onboard were programmer Jason Rudolph and engi-
tion between Tait’s internally lit 3D buildings and Atomic’s neer Tim Nauss.
2D facades looked authentic. “We built imagery for both the LED screen behind the
“The other challenge and this was big,” Eastland adds, set and the Jumbotron above it,” Findley says. “It was
“is we had to keep the concourse completely open and quite tough at some moments; there’s almost 40' of depth
adhere to all the fire aisles. For example, we had two stairs between them and they’re completely different products.
that were 16' wide and stayed flipped up during the game.” We did some gags with them; for example, [the production
Photo: Courtesy of Tribe, Inc.
PixMob supplied 22,500 LED wristbands for the audience plus 30,000 custom units for the cardboard cut-out “fans” who filled the
empty seats, 500 flares planted in the gloves worn by the dancers on the field, and 75 LED masks and 150 light-up eyes on face
shields for the onstage choir.
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design team] wanted the moon to cross from the lower to of control was important,” he says. “The CB5 screens
the upper screen. Right to the last day, we worked with around the field were at a 30° angle; they needed to be
Hamish, making sure he could get the right shots at the seen during the game, which was brightly lit, and the half-
right time” so the transition of imagery between screens time show, which was much darker. We also used them for
made visual sense. preshow content. We had different settings for all those
Then came the decision to ring the football field with times, trying to meet everyone’s needs..
LED screens facing upwards, a choice that massively “Early on, as LED took a foothold in a lot of scenic
expanded the production’s video component. “We had 26 applications, processing was a secondary thought to the
screens around the field,” he notes, “eight on the east and panel,” he notes. “It makes a big difference” to have the
Photo: David J Phillip/AP/Shutterstock
west sides and five each on the north and sound ends.” added control afforded by products such as the SX40. The
Fuse Technical Group supplied the 300 ROE Visual CB8 media server on the production was Green Hippo’s
panels used in the production (along with the rest of the Tierra+; billed by the company as “the ultimate beast,” it is
video gear). “It’s a good product,” Findley says. “From my designed for shows on this scale, featuring four unlimited
point of view, we get quality shading across the panels.” DP 1.2 outputs, 8K and 4K60 playback, 39,816
Helping to guarantee the integrity of the imagery were two Notchmarks, and dual 10GB. Findley adds, “Jason
Brompton Technology SX40 processors. “Having that level Rudolph had a bunch of good points about going with
“We had 26 screens around the field,” Findley notes, “eight on the east and west sides and five each on the north and sound ends.”
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Tierra+. I’ve used Green Hippo in the past, and we got content that never appeared on the air,” Findley notes.
some special attention from Nigel Sadler [special projects This was, in part, because the design evolved, but also
and strategic products director at the company] about because, he says, “The NFL and Roc Nation didn’t want
making the content the best it could be. It was stellar.” the show to be only for the television audience, even if
Also used were six Barco E2 screen management sys- there were only 25,000 people in the stadium.”
tems, two Folsom ImagePRO-4K presentation switchers, This was Findley’s first Super Bowl gig. “I haven’t previ-
and two MA Lighting grandMA3 consoles. ously gotten to do a show where we spent so much time
The imagery seen on the production screen and on 13 minutes, finessing every little moment. It’s a lot of
Jumbotron included a black-and-white skyline, obscured fun working with people at the top of their game. In
Photo: Ashley Landis/AP/Shutterstock
slightly by a rising bubble effect; the aforementioned rehearsals, Hamish gets very specific about the shots and
moon, a starkly powerful night sky, an infernal display of angles. We’d go through tapes of the show, like a sports
red-tinted clouds, and scudding blue clouds. In addition, team reviewing plays. He’d say, ‘We need to make sure
the Jumbotron and side tower screens (also part of the there’s stuff going on here and here.’ Then we’d go back,
stadium’s rig) conveyed the infinity room sequence to the reconstruct it, and run it again. Being a 13-minute show,
fans in the stands. The field screens often featured color- we could run it three or four times on a rehearsal night.”
ful, eye-catching pulse and chase effects. “We built tons of
The wall of light seen behind Tesfaye when the set first opened up consisted of Chauvet Professional Nexus AW 7x7 WW units.
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The show’s greatest coup de théâtre was the reveal of the “infinity room,” its mirrored walls covered with chasing, pulsing white light-
bulbs.
Lighting advance rather than having to send it out [on the carts].
Al Gurdon, whose resume includes Super Bowl Halftime Only at the north end did we have five lighting carts
Shows in 2010 and 2013, says that, initially, he expected brought in.” He adds that, with much of the show happen-
this year’s production to be scaled back. “More fool me,” ing on the north concourse, the old rules restricting access
he adds, wryly. “It evolved into one of the bigger ones, to the field didn’t apply, allowing for more rehearsal time.
partly because we saw the advantages of using the north Gurdon adds that the lighting’s style “developed out of
concourse for at least some of the show. Abel Tesfaye our conversations. There was a core inspiration from Abel
wanted to perform on the field, too, as it wouldn’t feel like Tesfaye’s album and promotional events, which inspired
a Super Bowl show if he didn’t. We ended up having our Alex and Lamar and Es to come up with various scenar-
cake and eating it, too, having 300 people on the field.” ios.” Tesfaye, he notes, “is not someone who wants to be
(Assisting Gurdon early on with planning was LD Jon perfectly glamorously lit all the time. Mood is more impor-
Kusner, who, working with the line producers and vendors, tant to him. That gave me some creative license to take it
helped to organize the crew and manage the budget.) a little further than I had been able to in my previous years
Indeed, where others might have seen disruption, when the lighting of the faces felt like it needed to be more
Gurdon saw opportunities. “The use of the concourse area conventional. The conversations continued through
offered advantages in many ways: the ability to create rehearsals. I was lighting him fairly conventionally, but he
more permanent structures, to build more lighting into the wanted to be in stronger colors. I was happy to do that, as
set, and to do things that couldn’t be done in the six- I felt that it worked.”
Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
minute set-up time [of previous years]. The carts are limit- During the build process, Gurdon says he was “in con-
ed by weight and problems of wheels on the field, as well stant communication” with Tait and Atomic about the
as the logistics of them being fitted up, tested, and func- extensive set electrics—both the LED neon units used to
tional by the time we go on air.” outline building structures and the conventional units that
Also, because the final sequence, staged on the field, illuminated them from within.
involved performers only, Gurdon says, “We had the oppor- The wall of light seen behind Tesfaye when the set first
tunity to put in most of our gear [for lighting the] field in opened up consisted of Chauvet Professional Nexus AW
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7x7 WW units, which are designed to produce narrow by PRG Icon Edges, located on the truss above the pro-
beams of warm white light. “I had to give this quite a bit of duction video screen; aiding these was the strong use of
thought,” Gurdon says. “The concept of the opening was atmospheric effects. “In ‘The Hills,’ we had a load of cryo-
that [Tesfaye] would come out from a blinding white light. assisted smoke pouring through the set,” Gurdon says.
He would perform in front of us, then go back into the “We were praying for no wind because it had been very
infinity room. I needed something that would give me an windy during rehearsal and we didn’t see any beams. But
intensity and whiteness and also lead us into the tungsten we were lucky on the night.” This component included four
world of the infinity room. Having so many incandescent MDG the ONE atmospheric generators, four hazebaze
fixtures pushed me toward a color-balance choice I rarely Base Touring units, five Look Solutions Viper foggers, and
use. I balanced everything to 3,600 Kelvin, preventing the seven Reel-EFX DF-50 diffusion hazers. Also illuminating
tungsten fixtures from reading too yellow, while adding a the atmospheric effects were Martin by Harman RUSH
bit of blue into the outside world. I had been slightly PAR 2s, delivering uplight from under the stage grille.
unsure how this would play with such a variety of lamp Among the product focused on the field were Proteus
types but, in the end, it felt right, especially using large-for- Maximus units on the highest tier, Icon Edges on the mid-
mat cinema-style cameras.” Inside the infinity room, the dle tier, and PRG Bad Boys under the video screens that
walls were covered with 6,000 Edison lightbulbs. ringed the field. Best Boys, Bad Boys, and Solaris units
Key aspects of the stage lighting rig included TMB were used on the half-dozen field carts.
Solaris Flares for blinder cues and Elation Professional “We also made use of the stadium lights,” Gurdon says.
Proteus Maximus units for cross lighting the stage and Eric Marchwinski—lead programmer and, with Mark
Photo: Courtesy of Tribe, Inc.
members of the choir. “They were bright enough at the Humphrey, lighting director—says, “The stadium has
throws we needed,” Gurdon says. “They have shutters as recently installed a new product, Chromabeams 900, from
well, so we could sidelight-shutter the people onstage. [Austin, Texas-based] Sportsbeams,” he says. The units
There’s no real front light position in the stadium, so we are billed as capable of switching from white light to one
had to come in from the side.” The striking shafts of back- of two million RGB color options using a digital command
light that defined many of the onstage looks were created controlled by a button click. “There was a desire to have
The entrance to the infinity room.
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Running the numbers, the rig, supplied by PRG,
included 64 Best Boy HPs, 32, Bad Boys, 140 Icon Edges,
112 Proteus Maximus units, 118 Robe Robin 1200s, 50
Robe Spikies, 48 GLP impression x4s, six Vari-Lite VL6000
Beams, 18 Claypaky Xtylos, 90 RUSH PAR 2s, 180 Martin
VDO single-pixel video dots, 18 Color Kinetics ColorBlast
TRX units, 200 Solaris Flares, and 65 Nexus 7x7 WWs.
Followspots included two Strong Gladiator IVs and six
Britebox Flame LT3000s; there were also ten PRG Ground
Control long-throw fixtures.
Once again, PixMob, the maker of specialty LED gear,
was involved. The company supplied 22,500 LED wrist-
bands for the audience plus 30,000 custom units for the
cardboard cut-out “fans” who filled the empty seats, 500
flares planted in the gloves worn by the dancers on the
field, and 75 LED masks and 150 light-up eyes on face
shields for the onstage choir. Additionally, PixMob provid-
ed its moving head technology, which was new to the
show this year. With it, Marchwinski, who programmed the
PixMob system, could “paint” with the IR control signal.
This allowed for previously complicated position-based
Tait and Atomic collaborated on the skyscrapers and signs that
made up the façade of the multilevel set design; All Access pro- effects, wipes, and sweeps to be created with ease.
vided the set’s superstructure and automation.
The show was run on MA Lighting grandMA full-size
consoles—there were four on hand, including backups—
us control the house stadium lights during the shows,
which can be a delicate situation when a televised sport-
ing event is involved.”
Which is where Stadium FX came in. The UK-based
company provides creative programming and advanced
lighting control systems to stadiums and other large-scale
venues around the world. Sam MacLaren, of Stadium FX,
says, “With our Apollo install system, we regularly allow for
guest input sources, which safely input their control levels
to the final stadium DMX output nodes. We’re also always
in a position to enable or disable those guest sources. For
the Super Bowl, we worked with the pregame and halftime
teams to design a network quarantine system that allowed
us to input the pregame system and the halftime show
system, both merged in with the main Raymond James
controller. The system was active at all times, based on an
HTP merge, so everyone knew they could get control
when they needed it.”
Marchwinski says, “Michael Dodge, of PRG, was the
dedicated house light network technician. His role was to
manage the network that we developed to control the
houselights. We sandboxed the whole system, converting The replica of a pirate ship, a feature of the stadium, provided a
control booth for video, pyro, and stage management.
all inputs to hardline DMX, so we didn’t need to worry
about any individual show’s network traffic interfering with
another. Additionally, Dodge had the ability to bypass any covering 80-plus DMX universes. (The system also includ-
active input source and fall back onto the stadium’s in- ed one Sensor 48 and four ETC Sensor 96 dimmers.) The
house control if there were to be a larger problem. This previz file, including all of the scenic elements, was built
ensured we didn’t negatively impact the game and gave us by Nick Coauette and Mark Humphrey, of Earlybird. This
the flexibility to work in an HTP environment for handing was the culmination of weeks of working with Tait, Atomic,
off control of the houselights system.” and All Access to collate over 350 custom LED elements,
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An early rendering shows how the design was influenced by the artwork associated with the album Sin City.
and over 430 channels of dimming that comprised the The lighting system was largely connected by a fiber
scenic design. “Eric Marchwinski and I spent about a week network. Green says that wireless isn’t a good option,
in Los Angeles doing previz,” Gurdon says. “We were in a since the stadium is already jammed with personnel—
suite at Earlybird using Depence² previz software.” The lat- especially television networks—vying for limited RF space.
ter, a product of the German company Syncronorm, may “All of our power was fed by Aggreko generators,” he
be unfamiliar to LSA readers. “I was very impressed with says. “Nathan Wilson was in charge of how and where
it,” Gurdon says. “Once we programmed the show, we large runs went through the building. The NFL wants
made a demo video, putting in camera angles and figures everything to look clean and pretty,” and too many visible
to see how certain things would look. We did a camera cut cables could be problematic. Like everything else about
in the previz, which was great. Eric loaded up the video the event, execution was just about flawless.
content, which he had on his console, and mapped it to
the screen surfaces in the Depence model and it worked Sound
perfectly with no delay. The program’s resolution and pro- Because of the change of format, especially the elimina-
cessing power was very impressive. We were able to rely tion of the on-field carts, Kirk Powell, engineer-in-charge
on the previz more than we have in the past. Of course, from ATK Audiotek, says he had to take a different
you have to adapt to circumstances, but we pretty well approach to get the necessary audio coverage: “We had
had the show in the desk before we got to Tampa.” 12 full-range speaker lifts and four subwoofers lifts along
Ben Green, who served as lighting director with Jeff the sidelines.” These were fitted out with JBL VTX A12
Nellis, says that the front-of-house position was located in [line array] speakers and S28 subs. “In the south end zone,
the southwest corner of the stadium on the suite level. we had two lifts with JBL VTX A8s.” The lifts, which served
“There was a little opening in the switchback ramps that to keep the speakers out of sightlines during the first half
people used to go up and down. They walled us in and we of the game, were manually operated. “The first ten rows
Photos: Courtesy of Tribe, Inc.
did our programming there. We also had GroundControl in the stadium are operational—the NFL doesn’t sell
operators on the roof of a bathroom on the 300 level and in them—and are reserved for photographers and other
the lower deck of the ship.” The latter is a replica of a members of the media,” he says. “We had guys there, who
pirate ship, located next to the north concourse, which also controlled the lifts”—raising them into place for the show
served as a control booth for much of the audio and pyro and lowering before the second half began.
departments as well direction and stage management. “The lifts were installed about two-and-a-half weeks
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SPECTACLE
This layout illustrates one of the design’s principal challenges: “We had to keep the concourse completely open and adhere to all the
fire aisles,” Eastland says.
before the game,” Powell adds. “Once they were in posi- ability to convert sample rates between disparate audio
tion, the speakers went in; they had weatherproof covers systems on a multitrack scale, providing glitch-free inter-
that got pulled off on game day; the coverings were useful, system audio transfer and sharing without a common mas-
as we had some nice thunderstorms roll through the week ter reference clock. While the front of house and stage
before the game.” The positioning of the speakers in four- monitors could share a clock, Powell says, “The produc-
box clusters, so close to the audience he notes, resulted in tion tracks were on a different clock, because they’re not
some sonic gaps, “but the NFL was willing to go with that used all day long. The D64R allows me to break the clock
compromise. It was a difficult year, with things changing between my system and the production tracks because
daily because of COVID. We moved the front-of-house they’re done after halftime. They start to pack up, and I
position a couple of times.” The stadium’s house speak- don’t want to be on their clock and have them shut down.
ers—mostly JBL with some Meyer Sound—on the upper “A third independently clocked system is used by
deck were also enlisted. The amplifier component consist- CBS,” Powell adds. “We’re done before CBS at the end of
ed of Crown VRACK 4x3500 and Crown VRACK 12K the night.” If ATK had provided a master clock reference,
racks. On the monitor side, Tesfaye and the members of that clock would have to stay live until CBS was through
his band wore Shure PSM 1000 in-ears; also, ATK’s LM3 for the evening. “The D64R connects everyone and
compact wedges were also installed into the set design, resolves any clocking differences between the systems.”
Consoles included a Yamaha CL5-and-Rio setup for He adds, “I used several D16Rs just to throw some
stadium PA mixer Jack Bowlin; a DiGiCo SD5 for monitor feeds out for certain entities that needed them all over the
engineer Tom Pesa; and another SD5 for Alex Guessard, stadium. Some people are able to take AES digital audio
the entertainment PA mixer, and Dave Natale, serving as and, the D16RS is great because we can separately sam-
music front-of-house mixer. “The front of house was right ple rate convert those as well—we don't have to worry
behind the goalpost in the south end zone,” Powell adds. about clock.” Focusrite RedNet AM2 stereo audio monitor-
“It was a pretty good position, although it was a long way ing units were also used where additional monitoring
from the stage.” points were needed.
In terms of networking, Focusrite RedNet A16R and Gary Trenda, the RF engineer, says, “We had the largest
RedNet D16R 16-channel interfaces were used to connect area we’ve ever had to cover from an RF standpoint. The
digital and analog sources and feeds to and from a Dante infinity room was a special challenge and then the show
Audio-over-IP network. RedNet D64R 64-channel MADI finished on the field.” Therefore, “We had four RF zones;
Photo: Courtesy of Tribe, Inc.
bridges were deployed for connecting signals to and from we had to figure out how to do that and use the same mic
the consoles in the system, and for connections between and in-ear” across the full 13 minutes.
production groups. The solution, he says, was to “set up a multizone anten-
Clock management during the Super Bowl is important na system. We did a traditional diversity setup on stage
for the teams on the field, but also for audio production. left with an A and B pair and IEM transmit. We also did
The RedNet D64Rs blend high channel counts with the another full set of antennas for the infinity room, and two
54 • March 2021 • Lighting&Sound America042_LSA_SuperBowl2021FINAL TO SCOTT.qxp_LSA template 3/24/21 2:21 PM Page 55
more antenna zones on the field level. We had a total of tion videos for clients in 1080p or 4K. “We’ve worked with
four receive antennas picking up from the field on an RF- the developer of it for a number of years,” he says, “and
over-fiber system. I could take [Tesfaye’s] IEM feed and some of our designers were involved in refinement of its
send it to transmit antennas on the stage, infinity room, or applications, based on our needs. Our manufacturers have
the field.” He adds that the antennas in the infinity room worked with them on a robust library of products.”
had to be carefully placed to stay out of camera view. By Christmas, Ross says, orders were sent to the man-
Professional Wireless System (PWS) antennas were used, ufacturers Ultratec, Santore Fireworks, and Next FX. “We
a combination of the company’s standard four-turn helical used 8,986 pieces of product,” he adds, noting that the
unit and compact two-turn Tour Series helical, which is gear was located on the north scoreboard, the production
slightly shorter. “The Super Bowl is always a challenging LED screen, and the northeast, northwest, southeast, and
RF environment,” he continues. “There’s an amazing array southwest elevator towers. (The design of the stadium’s
of frequency requests. Loren Sherman, the lead frequency roof didn’t allow for the sort of full-bowl effects seen at
coordinator for the NFL, and his team do a great job mak- other Super Bowls.) “We had 86 pyro boards on each
ing sure we get what we need.” scoreboard, which was 16 stories up,” he says. “But there
Trenda adds that COVID altered the traditional produc- was no elevator. Did the crew ever get a workout!”
tion schedule. “Normally, we would do a site survey in Following the directive to make a display, not to accent
October. But, this year, it was December.” Even as he the music, the design team, consisting of Rocco Vitale and
made plans to deal with the changed layout of the show, Ron Bleggi, went all out. “As well as what you saw on
he considered that other positions in the stadium might camera, there was no dead time in the last three-and-a-
come into play: “What if they wanted to do the national half-minutes,” Ross says. “We continued to light up the
anthem from the south end zone?” To deal with any even- sky.” The cues were fired by an FC-A controller, made by
tualities, he made use of custom RF-over-fiber racks, the Stuttgart, Germany-based Pyrodigital.
made by PWS using a combination of its gear and a Nearly everyone interviewed for this story says that they
WYSICOM MFL wideband optical link. “We can build that worried about storms, which seem to happen in Tampa
into a small rolling rack, put it somewhere, and run an almost every day. This was a particular issue for the pyro,
antenna to it to get the coverage we need.” which was installed well in advance. “A lot of the product
Communications, supplied by ATK Versacom, ATK’s was weatherproofed at our facility in New Castle
sibling company, consisted of Riedel gear, with numerous Pennsylvania,” Ross says. “We put a 3M product, a 24"-
team members on a Bolero wireless system. “I get a little wide adhesive film over the pyro on each board. We also
bit involved with that from the RF standpoint,” Trenda bagged everything; after dress rehearsal, it all remained
says. “We arrange a time-sharing system for Bolero users open to the elements. We started off the day of the game
between NFL officials, stadium operations, and the half- with a tornado warning and stay-at-home orders. But, in
time show. We need to ensure the halftime belt packs the end, we had a great event.”
don’t turn on until the end of the first half. There are only Ross is far from alone in noting the teamwork needed
so many slots for so many belt packs.” to pull off such a complex show. “You know at the Super
Also making this a memorable event for Trenda: “I got Bowl that you’re dealing with A players,” he says. “When
to run the RF from the pirate ship,” he says, clearly you have collaborators like that it makes everything much
amused. “You can’t say that about every gig.” more manageable. It was a great experience, and the first
show I had done since February 27, 2020.” He add, “The
Pyro combined effort became a testament to all the hard-work-
Adding a final exclamation point to the proceedings was ing people that make up our industry and a salute to those
the impressive pyro component, supplied by Pyrotecnico. who were out of work during the pandemic.” As the indus-
Bob Ross, the company’s chief operating officer, notes try slowly moves toward something like normal, maybe it
that he began working with the design team in early was a preview of things to come.
October. “From there, we were introduced to Abel
Tesfaye’s camp. And then we took it in-house to our inter-
nal design team, putting together a series of renderings
and animations. We continued to monitor the process
closely as new segments of the performance were
designed. They were looking for more of a traditional dis-
play, as opposed to accents on music notes or segments
of the performance.”
Ross’ team use Finale 3D, a real-time simulation and
drag-and-drop user interface that creates ultra-HD simula-
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