In 2015, the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles became the focus of a hostile bidding war that pitted the Nederlander Organization against Live Nation, AEG’s Goldenvoice and others for exclusive management rights. Offers and counter offers flowed as deadlines for the 2016 season grew closer. A deal was finally reached allowing the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks and management company SMG to create an “open door” policy for all promoters.
With the recent closure of the Universal Amphitheatre (now The Wizarding World of Harry Potter), no one doubted that this nugget of rock history was worth fighting for. The historic venue that had hosted Sir Elton John, Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen and Carlos Santana embarked on an eclectic 2016 season with a big serving of déjà vu. Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and the Steve Miller Band are standouts in a strong lineup.
The gently raked, 5,700-seat auditorium carved from the Los Angeles landscape in Griffith Park is the stuff of rock ‘n’ roll legend. Perhaps best known for Neil Diamond’s 1972 live double album, Hot August Night, playing the Greek has been a rite of passage for every major American act of the 1960s until today.
More intimate than its big brother, the Hollywood Bowl, its perfect theatrical geometry has been preserved since it first opened to audiences in 1931. No corporate marriages or name changes for this classy venue. The maze of reception rooms and the fabled wooden patio were the backstage hangout of rock’s elite and their friends who made up the hottest guest list in town.
While the battle for control was playing out in the local media, it became clear that someone would acquire a giant “fixer-upper” project combined with weighty custodial responsibility. The new management team at SMG had the daunting task of being show-ready by April 2016. As production manager Terry Gerard explains, “After the City took control in October, it was a full court press to get ready for an April opening . The people of Los Angeles should be proud of the job the City has done. For months, we had 30 or 40 City trucks a day.”
With years of road credits as LD for Gloria Estefan, Barry Manilow, Air Supply and a 10-year run with Hall and Oates, Gerard knew the venue as a visiting production manager, and he soon formed a team with the City’s contractors. “We had no phone lines or office furniture — we spent two months just working on the seating.” SMG was tasked with a full refurbishment on a tight budget and an even tighter timeline. Before production needs were considered, the entire property was cleaned and painted and new concessions area were built.
Backstage, the dressing rooms got a welcome step up to the 21st century — a fact no doubt appreciated by Hillary Clinton who enlisted the help of her rock buddies for a June fundraiser. Gerard soon came to terms with some of the building’s oddities — a resident ghost, two staircases to nowhere, cable runs with no obvious purpose and a lockable pyrotechnics room. “I just took my production manager training and applied it to a building,” says Gerard. It didn’t hurt to have a full highly crafted IATSE crew, many of whom had worked the Greek for more than 15 years.
Lighting, Video and Snakes in the Bushes
The house lighting rig is an homage to the 1990s, with three full pre-rigged trusses of silver Par cans and a few overhung Source Fours. Two 48-way ETC rolling racks and an Avolites Pearl 2010 Rolacue console complete the classic setup. Gerard explains, “We didn’t want to buy a bunch of the right moving lights for the wrong LD, and we can rent in anything the rider calls for — this year, a surprising number of acts are using the house rig.”
With Socapex based distribution around the stage, an act can bring in a complete rig or just hang a front truss on the pre-rigged motors over the forestage. With an eye to the future, the decision was made to increase network infrastructure with multiple Ethernet and data ports around the stage and front of house, eliminating the dreaded chore of dragging cables under the seating.
This will come as good news to lighting designer and PLSN editor Nook Schoenfeld. “The one thing I always remembered was, we had to run the control snakes to FOH through the basement. This required all the hands at once, as it was not an easy task. We would lose the stage crew for half an hour during the day and again at the end of the evening.” A new single-man Genie lift makes focusing the front truss, another arduous task, a lot safer and less labor-intense.
The architecture also deserved a facelift. The egress, audience and courtyard lighting are controlled by an ETC Sensor rack linked to a Paradigm controller. The ETC Desire fixtures allow full color washes of the audience and RGB strips highlight the impressive hillside foliage. With an eye toward staying within budget, Gerard says, “we bought four used Gladiator II” followspots. “Greg Smith at Arc Light EFX worked his magic on them, and they run like new.”
The original chrome Par cans were retained for audience lighting along with additional AC outlets. The renovation budget did allow some major eye candy. After a video wall shootout, Matrix Visual Solutions of Orange, CA installed two Absen C7 7.5 mm 23-by-12-foot front of house video walls that can be conjoined for movie nights and interfaced with touring video systems. The new house system has five robotic cameras and one manned camera. “We figured that a touring act will bring in all their own video and media servers — they drive that particular bus,” adds Gerard.
Everyone has a story of playing the Greek. “We used to do week long residencies of shows there with Neil Diamond,” recalls Nook. “LD Marilyn Lowey decided that it would be a great idea to place 9-lite Moles all through the surrounding trees for some ambience lighting. It looked great. But Marilyn thought they could use some focusing and sent me out to touch them up one night. I got to the first set of lights and heard some rattles. Turns out the local snakes had been attracted by the light’s warmth. There would be no focusing.”
Marilyn may have been referring to this incident when noting that, “as romantic as the idea of playing the Greek [Theatre] might sound, it is as challenging to design a show there as well. The staff that works there are terrific, and many of the times I have programmed racing with the sun rising in the East. It will always remain a beautiful location, especially when the trucks roll at 5 a.m.”
House Rules
The theatre has two sacred house rules — no sound level over 95dB, and no act can run even a minute past the 11 p.m. curfew. Over the years, the venue has been plagued with neighbor complaints of excessive sound levels. Apparently, if you plunk down $5 million for a Los Feliz mansion, you don’t want your backyard blasted by The Goo Goo Dolls.
A recent Iggy Pop sound check tested the limits of the audio system and the strained détente with local homeowners. The City has an onsite Public Relations office (the department of saying sorry) and a full time team of 25 ambassadors, whose job is to keep the locals happy. However, no complaints have been leveled at the high quality of the permanently installed d&b audiotechnik line arrays, which were supplied by Schubert Systems without the familiar delay towers.
Speaking of audio, few know this venue better than 2009 Parnelli Audio Innovator award winner Stanley Miller, who mixed many Neil Diamond seasons, starting in 1971. “In 1976, I built a special mixer with multiple outputs and a pin matrix patch to route the signal for left, center, right (on the roof) and stage left and right front fill plus 3-channels of surround,” Miller recalls. “This was all done to get the surround balance and not overpower the audience.” Miller also confirmed the many stories of local skunks and raccoons boldly taking to the stage during shows.
The venue is a landmark destination for many a rock star (including the fictional Aldous Snow from hit movies Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) and Get Him To the Greek (2010). But stars (and there are many of them) making a return visit would not recognize their old smoky, wood paneled dressing rooms. Stripped back to the studs and completely resurfaced, the rooms retain their charm and the rows of excellent period photographs are a reminder of the building’s place in history. The doors retain the original “Men’s Chorus Dressing Room” script from the 1940s. The audience of today is served by a full Wi-Fi system for streaming and online ordering — a feature unimaginable to the Bic lighter waving generation who will get their chance to revisit the acts of their youth. A new Gallagher Staging barricade will help keep those aging boomers in check. Looking sharper than ever, there is no doubt the Greek will keep a new generation of Angelinos rocking on those hot August nights.
Marshall Bissett is chairman of the Parnelli Awards Board of Advisors.
