It took 12 weeks, and more than 90 truckloads of construction materials, but what was a dusty, forlorn corner of the Las Vegas Strip was transformed into the ultimate rock ‘n’ roll playground by Brown United. The company’s largest undertaking to date, Rock in Rio USA took outdoor festivals to a new level, incorporating not just multiple stages, but an elaborate VIP area, “Rock Streets” filled with shops and eateries and even a Ferris wheel and zip line.
The Staging
Brown United’s decades of experience proved valuable in devising efficient, cost-effective solutions for the festival, which has been putting an emphasis on reusable components that will be able to be redeployed for Rock in Rio USA festivals planned for 2017 and 2019.
In total, Brown United utilized 3.5 million pounds of steel to erect everything on site. At one end of the fairgrounds was built a mini city with a storefront design, areas dubbed “Rock Streets.” This area housed various vendors, and the client initially proposed using 400 shipping containers to construct the area.
After assessing the cost and logistics of that approach, Brown instead proposed using scaffolding skinned in sheet metal to construct the individual booths. The existing facades from previous festivals were then attached to the scaffolding and the interiors finished with lighting fixtures, drywall, carpeting and the like.
The Rock Streets’ three different themed streets — Brazil, U.K. and USA — had 52 individual booths, each 20 feet by 20 feet. That added up to 40 truckloads of scaffolding and a major investment for Brown United.
“The scaffold was put to good use,” explains John Brown, CEO of Brown United. “They wanted to have the structures totally weatherproof. We bought all the sheet metal to make it so —there’s no vinyl or anything. And it is reusable, because the event is scheduled to do three shows over a five-year period. Material costs could be amortized over that period. There was a lot of investment made, because we have the contract for the 2017 and 2019 festivals as well.
“I don’t manufacture things to use once, ever,” Brown continues. “I’m not a scenic company that just makes art for one time. We build structural art. Our stuff lasts for 20 years or more.” Brown also took a different approach to the design of the main stage, incorporating a double supergrid to support both the fascia and the lighting rigs.
Measuring in at 90 feet tall with a 22-foot proscenium, the main stage is the largest Brown has ever built. Described as “Frank Gehry-ish,” it sported 140 curved metal panels and three massive video screens, all connected to a separate grid. In addition to being easier to build, the double grid system also added reinforcement and stability in high winds. In contrast, the main stage at the last (2013) festival in Brazil was composed entirely of scaffolding and took 17 days to construct.
“That was a game-changer for them, because the skin that was used there leaked water. The scaffold came up through the skin as opposed to our grid, which goes over the skin, allowing it to float free with nothing sticking up to puncture it. Our roof is free and clear of any obstructions, so it’s completely weatherproof,” Brown adds. The double grid system was also used on the second stage, a 60 feet wide by 70 feet tall dome sheathed in white metal, again reminiscent of a Frank Gehry design. While visually eye catching, the fascia’s unique geometric shape “presented rigging challenges where we actually had to punch beams through the scenic elements to attach the audio, but it looks really cool,” Brown says.
While tropical downpours aren’t typically an issue in Las Vegas, strong springtime winds are. “We had winds of up to 67 m.p.h., [close to] hurricane conditions. It did blow our skin apart a little bit early in the build. We lost a couple of skins. We lowered our side walls and skins, but it took us about a week to recover,” explains Brown. “The wind was a factor when the guys were building, especially when it was dirt. Some became sick from breathing in whatever was in the dirt.”
Tackling these logistics with an international crew also presented challenges. “This one’s very much a design/build situation,” notes Simon Franklyn of International Rigging. “Normally, we do a festival or a show that we’ve done before, or if it’s a tour, it’s the same in every city. This one was a little bit different, with an international cast of characters that have a different way of doing things. There was a little bit of confusion going from metric to imperial, for example. If you’re a couple of inches off in your conversion factor, it’s a few feet by the time you’re hundreds of feet in the air.”
In the 12 weeks it took to complete the site build, Brown United’s crew grew from eight people to 50, along with teams of laborers from California and Nevada. Brown credits David Vujicik, Roy Bickel and Simon Franklyn with keeping everything running smoothly. “We were able to get Simon Franklyn, who is the top guy at this position. I don’t know anyone better than he is. He was the site manager, basically doing the biggest stages, the rigging and all that. He is known very well for his rigging; International Rigging is one of his companies. And I got Roy Bickel to work for me. That’s a great thing,” says Brown.
As Rock in Rio USA was wrapping up, Brown was already looking forward to return trips in 2017 and 2019. “Brown United is very fortunate to be able to do all of these events. I’d like to thank Nuno [Sousa Pinto] from Rock in Rio for hiring us, and for saying such nice things about us through the build. I think it’s a really great Rock in Rio family we’ve created here.”
The Lighting
Woodroffe Bassett Design’s Terry Cook and Rich Locklin handled the festival’s overall lighting design. Cook was most heavily involved in the earlier stages, and Locklin oversaw the on-site details once Cook moved on to his next project. Joining them were a long roster of guest LDs crafting individual stage looks for the various artists, from the sleek elegance of John Legend’s looks to the over-the-top theatrics of acts like Empire of the Sun.
While LDs might get the name recognition and artistic accolades, they’re also the first to tell you that pulling off an event like Rock in Rio would be impossible without someone like PLSN columnist and contributor Vickie Claiborne. Working as PRG’s front of house system tech/programming assistant, her responsibilities included helping incoming LDs interface with the main lighting rig and programming audience lighting.
“Wearing multiple hats was part of that role,” she confirms. “Whether an LD came in and didn’t have a show programmed, or did, I still made sure that they had what they needed on our lighting system. Any questions they had — fixture numbers, fixture patching, whatever needed to be done to make them comfortable, was my gig. In most cases, they wouldn’t have the time to handle the audience lighting portion, and so I handled that to make it match what they were doing on stage. I bounced back and forth between all of those roles, depending on what was needed.”
Her expertise was indeed needed when illness forced a change in the festival lineup. Claiborne came to the aid of Hal Deiter, LD for John Legend. He had been contacted by the lighting team and issued a plot and patch list long before the event and had set up a punt page through the use of a visualizer in advance. But 48 hours before John Legend was to headline the Sunset/Mercedes-Benz Evolution stage, festival organizers notified Deiter that because Sam Smith was ill and would not perform, Legend would be moved to the main stage, and Deiter would need to be working with a completely different light rig.
“It was pretty amazing how quick and professional Vickie and everyone was on site,” says Deiter. “I called Vickie and told her there was no way I had time to program the performance, as I was traveling from another show. I basically begged her to set up a punt page ahead of time. She came through big. Once I was on site, it was afternoon Vegas sun time. There was no way for me to focus lights other than on my artist’s piano. Erin, the girl running the previz ESP setup backstage, assured me that the focus positions I saw on the previz screen would match the real thing. They were indeed, dead on,” Deiter says. “I couldn’t have had such a smooth sailing show without all the programmers who helped me out. Much obliged for the teamwork.”
Claiborne deflects the compliment, crediting her fellow programmers and the crew at PRG, including fellow PRG programmers and the lighting crew led by PRG crew chief crew chief Jason “Attaboy” Stalter working the show. “Having a really good team of guys that all helped each other was incredibly valuable to me,” Claiborne says. She adds that both she and co-programmer Chris Lose appreciated the opportunity to pick up new ideas and “a ton of new macros for the grandMA2” from all the interaction with guest LDs.
“My favorite part of festivals is watching so many LDs who are very set in their ways all come together and have to use the same gear to make their own distinct looks,” says Lose. “Some like to collaborate with a programmer and see what they have already programmed and borrow their looks. Other LDs want nothing to do with the house programmer past getting the patch and the fixture profiles,” he adds. “Both ways work.”
The differing approaches were illustrated by the designs for headliners Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift. For Mars, the festival’s final act, LD Cory FitzGerald went all out. “It was an incredible looking show,” says Claiborne, of the looks driven by eight grandMA2 NPUs and “something like 58,000 parameters — he came the closest to maxing out the grandMA2 system that I’ve ever seen.”
In contrast, Stephen Foster, LD for Taylor Swift, was able to use a simpler setup for a “very professional, very beautiful show” with the house rig complemented by a less elaborate floor package. “It’s just different approaches. It was interesting for me to see how people used what was already there and what they brought with them and how it could completely change the look of the main stage.”
For the Main Stage, Sunset Stage and Electronica Stage, PRG provided grandMA2 consoles, GLP impression X4 LEDs, Clay Paky Sharpys and Vari*Lite VL3500 Spot and Wash fixtures, all driven by an array of grandMA2 Full Size and Lite consoles. (The Main Stage also included PRG’s Bad Boy Spots.)
“Most LDs were happy to see the MA2,” Lose says. “Eamonn McKiernan (Foster the People) was able to pre-patch and build his entire show in his hotel room on a PC and then load up his show on the house console and just update focuses,” Lose adds.
All in all, everyone in attendance deemed the show a success, with kudos extended to PRG as the lighting company, VER for the video and Brown United for the staging, along with the various other companies supporting the event. Extremely long days followed by even longer nights of programming probably brought the crew well within burnout range. But as we like to say in the biz, “The kids loved it.”
See you in 2017, Rock in Rio.
Rock in Rio 2015 Lighting Crew and Gear
Lighting and Lighting Rigging provided by PRG
Lighting Crew
Production Manager: TJ Morehouse
Crew Chief: Jason Stalter
Crew Chief: Jerry “Hodgie” Vierna
Crew Chief: Dak Harris
Crew Chief: Rob Simoneaux
Rigger: Ken Flagg
Rigger: Jeff Adkinson
System Engineer: Bob Fry
Programmer, Main Stage: Vickie Claiborne
Programmer, Mercedes-Benz Evolution Stage and Zipline Tower: Chris Lose
Programmer, Rock Street UK, USA, and Brazil Stage: Dan Renfro
Programmer, EDM Stage and the VIP Tent: Evan Bloom
Programmer: Erin Anderson
Lighting Tech: Josh Bazett-Jones
Lighting Tech: Tom MF Bider
Lighting Tech: Doug Eder
Lighting Tech: James Eyers
Lighting Tech: Dale Jewett
Lighting Tech: Matt LeRoux
Lighting Tech: Russell Lyons
Lighting Tech: KB Noffsinger
Lighting Tech: John Scalera
Lighting Tech: Ryan Textor
Lighting Tech: James Thom
Lighting Tech: Dean Thomsic
Main Stage
2 MA Lighting grandMA2 Full Size
68 Clay Paky Sharpy Wash
84 Clay Paky Sharpy Beam
18 PRG Bad Boy Spot
48 Philips Vari-Lite VL3000 Spot
10 Philips Vari-Lite VL3500 Spot
62 Philips Vari-Lite VL3500 Wash
24 Philips Color Kinetics iW Blast
56 Expolite LED PAR
46 Martin Professional Atomic Strobe
134 GLP impression X4 LED
5 Lycian M2 Followspot
8 Strong Gladiator 3/4K Followspot
Sunset Stage (a.k.a. Mercedes-Benz Evolution Stage)
1 MA Lighting grandMA2 Full Size
1 MA Lighting grandMA2 Lite
8 Clay Paky Sharpy Wash
12 Clay Paky Sharpy Beam
12 Philips Vari-Lite VL2500 Spot
25 Philips Vari-Lite VL3000 Spot
32 Philips Vari-Lite VL3500 Wash
16 GLP impression X4 LED
6 Solaris Flare
1 Lycian M2 Followspot
Electronica
1 MA Lighting grandMA2 Lite
68 Clay Paky Sharpy Wash
18 Clay Paky Sharpy Beam
20 Clay Paky Mythos
24 PRG VL6C+
24 GLP impression X4 LED
24 Solaris Flare
26 ETC Source Four Zoom
8 1×2 2-Lite
24 Sunstrip
VIP Tent
1 MA Lighting grandMA2 Full Size
12 Clay Paky Sharpy Wash
16 Philips Vari-Lite VL3500 Wash
24 Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlaze
82 Expolite LED PAR
73 ETC Source Four Ellipsoidal
6 Cineo Lighting TruColor
Entrance
1 High End Systems Road Hog Full Boar Console
8 Clay Paky Sharpy Beam
5 Philips Vari-Lite VL3000 Spot
5 Philips Vari-Lite VL3500 Wash
12 Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlast
56 Expolite LED PAR
4 ETC Source Four Zoom
12 ETC Source Four Ellipsoidal 10?
28 ETC Source Four PAR
5 Lycian M2 Followspot
8 Strong Gladiator 3/4K Followspot
Streets
3 High End Systems Road Hog Full Boar Console
6 Clay Paky Sharpy Beam
8 Clay Paky Alpha Spot 300
12 PRG VL5B
8 PRG VL6C+
18 PRG Bad Boy Spot
24 Philips Color Kinetics iW Blast
13 PixelLine 110
18 Expolite LED PAR
16 GLP impression X4 LED
4 Solaris Flare
7 Sunstrip
Zipline
1 MA Lighting grandMA2 Lite
8 Clay Paky Sharpy Wash
8 Clay Paky Sharpy Beam
4 PRG Bad Boy Spot
6 Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlaze 72
24 GLP impression X4 LED
