There’s no bigger and more spectacular event than the Super Bowl halftime show. This year was no different. The Super Bowl LVII halftime show had the widest – and maybe the most brightly colored – stage of any halftime show, measuring nearly 235 linear feet. (In football terms, imagine a 78-yard rush starting from the 11-yard line.)
More Stats From This Year’s Set
carts with 236 wheels
feet of LED tape
custom hinging stairs
local crew
gallons of neon paint
semi trucks
CARTS
Every year we’re presented with unique variables and puzzles for our team to piece together. This year, to protect State Farm Stadium’s natural grass, the NFL limited the number of carts on the field to 25. We ended up with 23 carts in total, with 14 for the stage and runway system and eight for lighting. The 31-foot main center stage was comprised of five custom carts, and each side of the runway consisted of four custom runway carts and one end cap cart.
We also built custom framing for the lighting carts to accommodate the large size and quantity of lighting fixtures. As always, we used our Versa field stage system, which uses pneumatic tires specially made for rolling smoothly on – and protecting – both natural and artificial turf.
Flipping Stairs
To reduce the number of overall carts, we designed custom runway carts with stairs that hinge up, which kept everything self-contained and maximized the square footage of each cart. Additionally, it gave the stage a seamless, zero-clearance finished look that appeared to sit directly on the turf, achieving the blocky, solid, monolithic aesthetic. (Every piece of scenery that touched the natural grass was reinforced with Enkamat turf protection material.)
Scenic Painting
As wide as this year’s stage was, it was just as bright. Pinpointing the perfect shade of red to paint the stage turned out to be a difficult task. The design team provided a color reference, and after we narrowed it down to 10-15 options, the designers chose premium luminescent Wildfire paint in Bright Red. Our scenic painters applied 57 gallons to create that vivid fluorescent stage. (We may have bought out the manufacturer’s entire stock.)
LED
The entire stage and runway system was outlined in RGBW LED tape and four rows of LED band at the base. Between 3,500 and 4,000 feet of LED were used, requiring more than 12,000 feet of wiring.
FIELD ACCESS RAMP
Precision
Because the overall footprint of the stage was so wide, perfect placement on the field was critical. Dancers flying onto our platforms from above relied on the stage being in the exact spot to hit their marks. There was no margin for error.
Rehearsal Stage
We built an additional full-scale mock set in a different arena in Phoenix for artist rehearsals, which also had to evolve to reflect any changes to the real halftime set.
Pregame & Postgame
For the Super Bowl pregame, we provided player entrance carts with the dyanmic team towers (utlizing ribbon lifts) with moving lights and fog machines, as well as LED video tiles, strobe lights, and co2 shooters.
For the postgame show, we provided the circle stage with Super Bowl LVII logo sign.
Thank you!
Huge thanks to the entire All Access team who pulled off another halftime show without a hitch. Designing an enormous, custom set for the most watched television event (that’s built during a commercial break!) is always a remarkable feat. Many thanks to the following who made another Super Bowl halftime show the most unforgettable event of the year.
• Bruce Rodgers, Tribe, Inc.
• Dave Meyers, DPS
• Desiree Perez, Roc Nation
• Willo Perron and Catherine Bella, Perron-Roettinger
• IATSE Local 1, 33 & 336
