LOS ANGELES — It may not whisper Currier & Ives, but the Christmas tree at Nokia Plaza near Staples Center, switched on by Britney Spears Dec. 4, is heralding the opening of L.A. Live with an intense, pulsing video spectacle called The Light of the Angels. The show links video imagery from the 54-foot-high metal tree’s 11,187 XL Sphere units to 12 surrounding video screens, which are permanently installed. The free spectacle is appearing nightly through Dec. 31. AEG Worldwide, the tree’s owner, had it built by Kish Rigging. It’s 40 feet in diameter and weighs 37,500 pounds. XL Video developed and provided the spheres. Each of the spheres has 42 individually programmable LEDs, adding up to about 470,000 LEDs in all. The show, which runs seven minutes on the hour and three minutes on the half-hour, with ambient effects in between, incorporates video and more than 10,000 holiday images.
Spears, who was also on hand at Rockefeller Plaza earlier in the week for the lighting of that Christmas tree, also lit this year with LEDs, is staying in the public eye to promote her newly-released album, Circus. The nightly shows are part of a month-long series of events promoting the grand opening of L.A. Live, a 4 million square foot sports and entertainment complex.
For more information, please visit www.lalive.com.
