The organizers of the KAABOO Festival outside San Diego had quite the inaugural show in 2015. Deemed a success by all, the festival reconvened from Sept. 15 to 18 this year for a second go-round. Festivals usually have multiple stages for music, boasts of artistic structures, and various places on-site that a patron can go to in order to take a break from the music, mingle with friends, or in the case of San Diegans, get out of the sun. This festival indeed had seven stages devoted to entertainment that were scattered over the 370 acres at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, just north of the city, but it is also an artwork experience. We take a look at this site to see why it stands out among all the other festivals this summer.
An Art-Infused Event
PLSN sat down to talk with design/project manager Marian Morioka and art director Amanda Lynn, who are independent contractors employed by KAABOO. They work in tandem with fellow production designer Joe Styles, an architect who dreams up some of the cool structures one sees as they walk the grounds. It’s a long process for this team to put together a show of this magnitude. Marian explains, “We are all independent contractors. Joe and I have been design partners on certain projects for a long time. His background is commercial architecture and mine is commercial interior design. Amanda Lynn joined us with her art background. When we were all hired by KAABOO, we brought in a very different perspective to the festival world.
“We started this year’s design by taking into consideration what happened the previous year,” Marian continues. “One of the key factors for changing the layout was based upon what our talent team books for each stage; we try to anticipate the audience sizes and then shift some stages, and other structures to better accommodate the masses. Also, we repositioned the stages based upon our acoustical engineer. Our main goal this year was to reduce the stage sound bleeds into the Del Mar neighborhoods.”
There are two entrances to the grounds, with attendees being shuttled to these main gates. On the west side sits a large pyramid looking structure that marks one entrance way. It is covered with artwork provided by Australia’s Vans the Omega, a contemporary artist who often paints murals. This freestanding structure is certainly an engineering marvel. Marian explains its origin: “This was really a pet project of Joe’s last year when he designed it. He creates all the 3D drawings then sits down with Gallagher who draws it into a CAD program. Everything that is freestanding has been engineered. We stick to the letter of the law.”
The Obelisk
There’s another tall square structure by the entrance way. Amanda describes its purpose: “We have an obelisk, which is basically a rectangular monument with a pyramid shaped top. This is a landmark, so people can find their way.” Amanda’s role includes the selection and placement of every piece of art or visual material you see on-site. The Obelisk on the west side is actually built from truss and G-Blocks, wrapped with a yellow and black painted material to mimic a stone structure. It stands out from afar when illuminated at night.
For the KAABOO festival, there are several levels of VIP packages other than general admission (Hang Loose passes) that the public can choose from. These are referred to as the Hang Ten (the deluxe package) and Hang Five passes. These enable the patrons to stray into certain areas that the general public cannot access.
To the north of the entranceway is a giant stage called Sunset Cliffs (continuing the surfer theme, named after a well-known surfing spot). The large stages for the live bands were provided by Kleege Industries and G2 Structures, both of whom have business locations in San Diego. The audience watching the events at Sunset Cliffs is split in half via a series of barricades with the house right portion being able to hang in a less crowded area, set aside for Hang Five and Hang Ten ticket holders. In this same area is an elevated VIP platform, complete with a mammoth trussing grid covered by rectangular shade cloth to protect the partygoers from the sun, should they prefer. Spread throughout the KAABOO site there are Hang Five and Hang Ten zones at all stages and within most of the building venues.
Upscale Shopping and Dining
We pass by an actual retail store that sells all kinds of KAABOO merchandise. Not to be confused with the typical kiosks where attendees can purchase sun block and shades, this is an actual real shopping place. Speaking of out-of-the-ordinary, located alongside the Gear store is Posh Nosh, an upscale dining place where people who desire more than your typical food truck at a festival can sit and relax while dining on quality meals. And, of course, there are two large food areas set up on-site that everyone can find food and relax while eating.
An event priority is to
give fans a place to relax and chill out from direct sunlight. The design team came up with two massive freestanding truss structures that are artistically decorated with colored transforments that stretch across the top, offering shade to people taking their meals on the grass lawns or eating at wooden tables.
As one walks the grounds, they come across several painted murals that are attached to temporary structures. One in particular depicts the work of Hong Kong-based artist Caratoes. These murals are attached to trusses, which are held up sturdily by G-Blocks, a Gallagher-designed ballast that consists of intensely heavy metal truss blocks full of concrete. These blocks make it virtually impossible to knock over the structure unless perhaps a semi-truck ran into it.
There is a professional comedy club on site as well. The Humor Me area expanded this year and gives fans a destination to relax, get away from the music and laugh for awhile. Popular comedians such as Cheech and Chong, Dana Carvey, Natasha Leggero and Jeff Ross performed along with lesser-known, up-and-coming comics.
The ArtworK Experience
Moving on, we get to a building housing the ArtworK Experience, a place where guests can browse and view contemporary art and participate in a journey of discovery and creativity. This includes painting, jewelry, sculpture, photography and mixed media. Amanda explains, “Marian created a full-on arts fair with walls to hang exhibits and proper lighting. We work with a lot of professionals on this gallery to create an ArtworK experience.”
The ArtworK space is shared this year with Palate, described as KAABOO’s artisanal food and spirits experience. Art viewers can enjoy gourmet bites and cocktails from some of California’s best chefs and mixologists.
Next in line is a place called Indulgences. “This is a building that was here in 2015, but was fully realized this year,” explains Marian. “This was like a luxury building. Men could get a shave and their hair cut, women could get their hair blown, straightened, pedicures…the whole nine yards. A lot of the vendors were curated by our corporate partner, to bring in lines of skin care products and educate the concert goers on them.”
Moving along, we see the Encore Stage, a place where patrons could go after the main stages closed at 10:00 p.m. They played dance music and gave the attendees a place to go for an afterparty scene once the concerts were over.
Grandview and BASK
On the Northeast side of the grounds, there was another large performance stage called Grandview. This stage is adjacent to what is referred to as the BASK area. Marian fills us in on what goes on there. “There are several components that made up BASK. The first would be, based on my calculations, about 12,000 square feet of sand laid out on the ground level. Then we had a large truss structure built by Gallagher on which stretched more transforments across the top to cover the sand area and lounge chairs with shade. A large bar was placed in the center, and a separate DJ platform was erected so they could play music alternating with the acts appearing on the Grandview stage.”
There was a second component in the BASK area. “Gallagher built a raised platform that was up about four feet high,” Marian continues. “We put tent structures on top that we built into personal cabanas. Tents were provided by URS and furnishings were by Town and Country. In the center of that structure was a large swimming pool.” These were not VIP areas. Cabanas were an additional cost for the day and included bottle service.
31 Trucks, and Counting
Gallagher’s project managers Dan Broadhead and Adam Swingler oversaw the building of many of the structures. Dan describes the gear and crew his team worked with: “We came in with 31 semi-trucks worth of various gear just from Gallagher Staging alone. Besides the VIP decks, pool surrounds and overhead structures to provide shade, the company brought along a mile of barricades, structures built to hang video walls, towers designed for speaker arrays and enough of our patented G-Blocks to keep everything tightened down and safe on the California coast.” It took 106 supervisor shifts and 520+ labor calls over an 11-day install and four-day strike to set up 32 structures and 12 platforms, plus all the onstage risers. This does not include the seven performance stages.
For more details, visit www.kaaboodelmar.com and www.gallagherstaging.com.
