Solotech Brings Latest Tech to 4,300-Seat Showroom
A new day is dawning for the 4,300-seat Colosseum at Caesars Palace, which pioneered the artist residency model of live music in Las Vegas when it opened in 2003 for the first of Celine Dion’s epic multi-year run of shows. Dion’s first residency, A New Day…, brought in $385 million from 717 shows from 2003 to 2007, and her second residency, Celine, was a 427-show, $296 million series of shows that ran, off and on, from 2011 to mid-2019. The venue has also hosted other top artists including Elton John (2009, 2018); Bette Midler (2008-2010), Cher (2008-2011), Rod Stewart (2011-2017), Mariah Carey (2017-2019), Shania Twain (2011-2014), and Reba McIntyre/Brooks & Dunn (2015-2019).
This year, before Celine Dion’s second mega-residency came to a close in June, Caesars Entertainment announced that it would be assuming operational control from longtime operator AEG and partnering with Live Nation, while also continuing with AEG in a more limited capacity. They also brought in Solotech and Scéno Plus, a Montreal-based entertainment design firm, for a technical upgrade, setting the stage for a roster of performers this year and next that includes Keith Urban, Journey, James Taylor, Mariah Carey and Sting.
PLSN sat down with Thomas Kachnik, general manager of integration solutions and live production for Solotech Las Vegas, to chat about this project and their longstanding association with the Colosseum at Caesars. “The original Mitsubishi Diamond Vision 16mm LED video wall inside the Colosseum was provided by Solotech over 16 years ago, and we have been supporting the venue through AEG ever since,” Kachnik notes.
“The room was recently purchased back from AEG, and soon after, Caesars reached out asking us to handle the design for the upgrade,” Kachnik adds. “We then got to work on some concepts in collaboration with Scéno Plus. Once the concept was fully developed, and engineering validated the Scéno Plus design, it was then presented to Caesars for approval. The design was approved and we were awarded the contract to provide the lighting, audio, video and rigging for the new showroom upgrade.”
Project Vision and Goals
PLSN talked with Kachnik about the vision and goals for this new project. “Updating to current tech was certainly a priority for the client. Additionally, they wanted to change the way the room is used without losing the luxury feel of the space. In the past, the room has been used almost exclusively for long-term residencies in which the room can be designed to theme with the act. Caesars decided they wanted to have the room equipped with the ability to handle multiple shows every week, much like a roadhouse, as their long-term goal is to start bringing in a variety of acts that cater to a younger crowd. With this new setup, there are multiple ways for the artists to get into the system via analog, digital, etc.” Along with the new roadhouse setup, one of the industry’s first automated mechanical lift system was installed by Gala Systems that allows for multiple seating layouts, including the ability to create a festival-style crowd atmosphere for selected acts.
Caesars Entertainment got input from Live Nation in spec’ing the gear package they required in the room. For audio, a new system from Meyer Sound was chosen, with Yamaha for control. On the lighting side, the showroom is being updated with a variety of Robe fixtures controlled by grandMA3 consoles. And for video, the upgrade includes a custom Daktronics LED wall that measures 110 feet in width and 43 feet high. It’s being fed imagery from disguise VX4 Media Severs via a Christie Spyder X80 Processor. Once the specification was completed, the gear list was provided to Solotech for purchase, and the next phase of the job was officially underway.
A (New) Monster Video Wall
The Colosseum’s colossal video screen generated headlines when it made its 2003 debut, and the new wall is a monster as well — with a big boost in resolution as a bonus, going from the original wall’s 16mm pixel pitch to 5.9mm. The new Daktronics wall is comprised of more than 1,700 cabinets and 7,000 LED tiles, covering approximately 4,688 square feet, and producing 281 trillion colors. Interestingly enough, if each LED panel were placed end-to-end, it would stretch higher than 2.5 Stratosphere towers or six Caesars Palace towers in Vegas.
To control all those pixels of content appearing on the massive new wall, Solotech is providing disguise VX4 media servers. PLSN spoke with Solotech senior PM Dave Cerullo about the setup, who noted that Solotech has been relying on disguise technologies for years. disguise servers, Cerullo says, are being used with “some of the biggest tours and live music events, large performing arts theaters, broadcast and global fixed installations. This program is another rider standard and is often already being utilized in a video production rig. At Caesars, we are using the VX4’s to design, sequence, format, and control every video element of a show, for the precise experience we want.”
Thyge Naarberg, hardware manager for disguise, describes the VX4 as “our most powerful server to date, and has been engineered from the ground up to deliver uncompressed playback and even bigger video than before. Building on the legacy of the pro range, it’s the most robust hardware we’ve built. We’ve put it through extensive shock and vibration testing to ensure it meets the demands of touring and live events.”
A Lighting Refresh
In regards to the lighting package, Live Nation and Solotech pinpointed a variety of Robe fixtures to handle the visual workload within the Colosseum including the MegaPointe, Tarrantula and T1 Profile. The MegaPointe was a key fixture and chosen specifically as both companies have had great success with these fixtures in other projects. It’s a compact 470W discharge lamp moving light promising bright, sharp parallel beams, excellent gobo projection, precise movement, smooth CMY color mixing and dimming, plus a multitude of beam splitting, wash and shaping effects. Kachnik pointed out that the support he continually receives from Robe made it an easy decision to go with their line of fixtures for this project.
PLSN also touched base with Dave Cerullo regarding the Robe fixtures. “Robe was chosen for a variety of reasons. We were able to accomplish the desired level of lighting with less fixtures and a smaller form factor. Robe has packed the multi-functional large format features (Wash/Spot/Gobo, etc.) into smaller packages to serve the touring market and are a standard on a high percentage of riders. They also have the longest-lasting light engines in the industry, making it a very easy choice when factoring service/warranty.”
On the control side, MA Lighting consoles were specified. In particular, a grandMA3 Full Size along with a grandMA3 Light were the models best suited for this installation. These consoles have already been set up for full MA3 integration once available and are the perfect control option for the Colosseum’s new multi-show format.
Audio
Along with video and lighting, Solotech supported the audio upgrade within the Colosseum. Meyer Sound was the favorite when it came to the majority of the audio gear including the loudspeakers and processors. Kachnik commented on the technical aspects of the Meyer gear saying, “The new Meyer LEO Family system was built around twin arrays of 16-each Lyon line array loudspeakers with a center hang of 12 Leopard line array loudspeakers. Forceful low end is supplied by 12 1100-LFC low frequency control elements flown in center cardioid arrays, twin side arrays of seven each 900-LFC low frequency control elements, and six more 1100-LFC elements on the ground.” Kachnik continued, “Completing the design are four UPQ-D1 loudspeakers for floor coverage, six LINA loudspeakers for front fill, and 26 UPM-1P loudspeakers for under balcony fill. Eight Galileo Galaxy processors are linked via an AVB network, and the main arrays utilize Meyer Sound’s exclusive Low-Mid Beam Control technology for uniform front-to-back response.”
Yamaha consoles and racks were added for audio control and included a Yamaha CL5 Digital Mixer to handle the heavy lifting.
The Completed Project
It took approximately 10 months from concept to opening night for Keith Urban’s shows in September to complete the upgrade in the Colosseum, with a tight seven-week install in order to change the entire room out, so time was extremely tight to complete all the work needed within that timeframe.
PLSN asked Solotech’s Thomas Kachnik if there were any unique challenges that they faced on this job due to the time constraints. “There were obviously many obstacles with a job of this size and the limited window for the integration, however having our tech PM Kevin Roberts there was essential. The guy is a genius and made everything work.” Kachnik also credits Keith Wright of PSLV for being “instrumental in assisting with the labor and logistics of the installation.”
Kachnik notes that “all of the video, audio and lighting systems in the new Colosseum can work in unison or separately, depending on how the acts want to use them. Dave Cerullo and Kevin Roberts made sure that fiber optic connections for both audio and video were in place to send audio cues to video or lighting.” Dave Cerullo also spoke about the finished project, and the audio side of things particularly, saying, “The new future proof system is both powerful and incredibly flexible. It’s humbly the best sounding theater on the strip right now.”
As noted, Keith Urban was the artist who performed the first show in the redesigned Colosseum, showcasing the new state-of-the-art sound, lighting and video systems in September, and word on the street is that he loved the room. He’ll be back for a run of shows in Jan. 2020. Other acts slated to perform in the coming months are Madonna, Guns N’ Roses, Mariah Carey, James Taylor and Sting. Once again, Solotech has come through with an amazing job completed, all within an incredibly tight window for their client and this much-in-demand venue.
Upgrading Caesars’ Colosseum in Las Vegas
Crew
- Thomas Kachnik (Solotech GM)
- David Cerullo (Solotech/Sr. PM)
- Kevin Roberts (Solotech/Tech PM)
- Angela Brown (Solotech/Project Engineer)
- Kent Laue (Solotech/Video Engineer)
- Aaron Roberts (Solotech/Tech Validator)
- Dave Torti (CES/Head of Audio)
- Rich Stout (CES/Head of Video)
- Greg Whittle (CES/Head Electrician)
- Johnny Percelly (PSLV/Foreman)
- Keith Wright (PSLV/Owners Rep)
- David Vincent (Meyer Sound)
- Bob McCarthy (Meyer Sound)
- IATSE
Gear
Video:
- 1 Daktronics 5.9mm video wall (110’ x 43’)
- 6 Christie Boxer 2k30 (projectors)
- 2 disguise VX4 (video servers)
- 1 Lightware MX2-24×24-HDMI20 (video matrix)
- 1 Christie Spyder X80 (video processor)
- 1 Ross SRG4500 (master reference)
Also: Extreme Networks switching, Fibertronics fiber patch bays, Canare video patch bay, Crestron NVX, AJA converters/transceivers
Lighting:
- 1 grandMA3 Full console
- 1 GrandMA3 Light console
- 2 GrandMA2 NPU XL-16
- 24 Robe Tarrantulas
- 20 Robe T1 Profile
- 30 Robe MegaPointes
- 8 Robe ColorStrobes
Audio:
- 1 Yamaha CL5
- 2 Yamaha RIO 3224 D2
- 1 Yamaha RIO 1608 D2
- 1 Lake LM44
- 32 Meyer Lyon
- 12 Meyer Leopard
- 6 Meyer LINA
- 4 Meyer UPQ
- 26 Meyer UPM-1P
- 18 Meyer 1100-LFC
- 14 Meyer 900-LFC
- 12 Meyer Galaxy 816
- 4 Meyer RMS Server
Also: Extreme Networking switching and control — plus redundant audio networks (AVB, Dante); custom power distribution and cabling by Solotech
