The high stakes game of Vegas entertainment takes on another player in the Palms.
Las Vegas suffers from no shortage of performance venues. Throughout its history as a resort destination, performers have made their way to Vegas to play any one of the many hotels and casinos that call Sin City home, but the Palms hotel and casino has upped the ante with the addition of their new venue, the Pearl.
Entering the space while still in the construction phase evoked intriguing responses. To the passive onlooker, the incomplete space could have come off as the entertainment industry’s equal to a highway construction project: always promised, never complete. The dust from the crews (who worked three shifts of eight hours each around the clock) still lingered over the stage’s skeleton and the open floors still awaiting their seats. Empty members bore a few chain hoists here and there, but the hoists had yet to take on their load. But with even a mildly experienced eye, you could tell that a lot of thought had gone into this facility. Standing on the balcony in most large theatres makes you feel like a small clam swallowed by a blue whale, but despite its incomplete status, the Pearl stage seemed close, verging on intimate. H.C. Rowe, entertainment director for the Palms hotel and casino, told PLSN that part of this might have to do with the fact that the distance from the lip of the stage to the last row of the balcony only measures 120 feet.
But now the facility is complete. The Pearl stage hosted Evanescence as its inaugural show on March 17, and Gwen Stefani for its grand opening on April 21, and if the design of the space is any indication, the stage won’t sit empty for any great lengths of time.
The Pearl seats as many as 2,500 audience members for shows ranging from touring concerts to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. (You have to admit that going from Britney Spears on Friday to UFC on Saturday would be one memorable turnover for the in-house crew.) Seating is on three levels, with seating areas on the ground, in a mezzanine and in the balcony. In the interest of expanding the acts who may fi nd the space useful, however, the Pearl has allowed for smaller expected houses. Where Las Vegas has long been home to mammoth theatres (like the MGM Grand Garden Arena) and intimate clubs (such as the House of Blues or any number of lounges throughout town) with little in between, the Pearl’s mezzanine and balcony can be draped off to reduce the capacity from its 2,500 maximum to approximately 1,100 to fill the void. Regardless of capacity, the house doesn’t just plop down in front of the stage like so many other venues. By curving the seating in a near “thrust” arrangement (which was likely done to accommodate events other than concerts), audience proximity to the stage increases drastically, and that 120 feet to the stage shrinks even further.
In terms of lighting, Michael Keller, designer of the lighting system in coordination with Production Resource Group, has specified ETC dimming, ETC conventional fixtures, CM chain hoists, Thomas Truss, Lycian M2 spotlights, Martin automated fixtures and Reel EFX hazers, and all are to be controlled by a grandMA lighting console. Tours will be able to tie into 400-amp 3-phase tie-ins. The facility will also provide locations for pan and tilt cameras to feed HD video that will shoot onto a 12-foot by 16-foot screen. To facilitate better options for camera angles, feeds have been scattered throughout the space. Of course, while in-house lighting, video and audio have been provided, it has to be expected that a tour will want to load in their own rig.
In its standard set-up (various shows can always be expected to add to the stage as they arrive), the stage itself stretches across the south end of the hall.
To that end, the Pearl has been fitted with a godsend for load-in crews. For loading in touring rigs, the loading area has been outfitted with a two-truck dock that has direct access to the stage via elevator. As yet another boon for wayward techs in need, the Pearl provides an in-house shop equipped for numerous repair, construction and maintenance projects. With that in mind, this could easily become one of those tour stops the crew actually remembers and looks forward to.
The usefulness of the Pearl reaches beyond its live stage capabilities, though. In this age of express transmission and competition to get the show out there as fast as possible, many acts want to be able to perform live while simultaneously recording the show for broadcast or DVD/CD sales. The Pearl has accommodated this need with a studio that feeds directly from the stage in real time. According to Rowe, acts can perform at the Pearl while recording the show and have the final product completed in as little as two days. The Pearl has signed an exclusive deal with iTunes to handle all recordings and linked to the iTunes homepage. Start reading the liner notes on your new live recordings; the words Pearl and Palms could start showing up with striking regularity.
There are multiple camera jacks around the facility to facilitate either the studio or video. While permanent camera positions were included, it ultimately came down to flexibility to determine how and where cameras could be positioned.
“We thought about trying to put connectivity everywhere we could for camera locations,” Rowe states, “and we thought we had it mapped out pretty well, and we ended up scrapping a lot of it because we figured, no matter what we decide now, a director’s gonna come in and say, ‘I wanna do this, this, this, this and this.’ So we’ve got scattered connectivity.”
For pre- and post-show events, the Pearl provides a 3000-square-foot meeting room above the theatre. This facility is intended to serve numerous functions, whether stand-alone events, such as media days or presentations, or hosting events related to the productions going on below.
Regarding the usefulness of the ballroom, Rowe said, “We can do pre- and post-show events, meet-and-greet, after-show parties, press conferences; it’s all kinda tied into what we’re doing in there, and it’s really nice.”
And those crews weren’t just laying in seating, either. The Pearl comes complete with concessions and lobby, while the six box seat areas divide two private bars and concession areas between them, each serving three boxes. To cap it off, the crew laid in a grand staircase to accentuate the lobby and theatre entrance.
In terms of what kinds of acts are anticipated at the Pearl, Rowe indicated to PLSN that the space was not designed with theatrical productions in mind. The lack of wing space on both stage left and right indicate that the space would better serve concerts, of which most should be new bands and large touring shows, and special events; and according to Rowe, booking should be no problem. The NBA has already held an NBA playoff event there, and Rowe expects as many as 50 events at the Pearl between March and November of this year.
Jim Holladay, project manager for PRG, said, “Most theatres are designed to do a few specific things, but the Pearl offers many kinds of options. It can be a traditional theatre one night and a boxing arena the next.”
But in terms of “straight theatre,” the Pearl has no intention of hosting such events. As Rowe puts it, “As far as theatrical Broadway shows, opera, ballet — that’s never been considered. We didn’t even put a fly system in because we weren’t really interested in doing a Broadway-style or Cirque show. We didn’t put in elevators and traps and all of that.”
Planning for the Pearl started two years ago, and the development of the space has continued up to now. While Palms management and ownership were ready to incorporate a topflight performance venue into the design of their building, the addition was not without a certain degree of shuffling. In order for the Pearl to occupy its current location, with direct access from the casino floor level, a movie theatre had to be relocated, as well as the high-limits gaming area. It’s not every day that a casino will mess with their high limits gaming area to make room for a venue, so if we had any doubts about the Palms’ commitment to this project before, the revelation that high limits got moved immediately squashed them. Another good gauge of a company’s commitment to such a project is the allotted budget. When asked what the expenditure was on the Pearl, Rowe simply replied, “A lot.”
The Pearl at the Palms presents yet another Las Vegas venue of choice for incoming acts. If H.C. Rowe’s expectations are met, and the Pearl does indeed book 50 acts between now and November, Las Vegas audiences, whether local or tourist, might find an intimate view to some big shows. While you can never be sure what might happen with ticket prices, Vegas is usually a good bet to get your dollar’s worth.
Shedding Light on the Pearl
Some of the gear used in the Pearl installation.
Gear
16 universe control system w/tracking backup and wireless remote
1 MA Lighting grandMA control console (includes UL listing)
2 VGA flat screen monitors
1 MA Lighting grandMa lite
1 Pocket PC w/WiFi for grandMA remote application
2 DF-50 fog machines with road cases and remotes
2 F-100 fog machines w/DMX remotes
24 Martin MAC 700 Profiles
14 Martin MAC 700 Washes
120 ETC Source Four PARs
4 Lycian M2 Modular 1200W, Med Throw
