An Entertaining Idea by ELLEN LAMPERT GREAUX
(Live Design November 2007)

The Nokia Theatre Brings A Major Music Venue to Downtown Los Angeles

Let's face it, downtown Los Angeles has never been a place you'd want to spend more than a few hours. In fact, desolate-after-dark would be a good way to describe certain areas of downtown L.A.‹until recently. Vibrant and alive are a better way to describe what's happening there now as a major urban renewal project is reshaping the landscape around the Staples Center sports arena (home of the Lakers and other local pro teams), and the Los Angeles Convention Center. And in the midst of glittering new hotels, sky-high condo towers, retail, and restaurants, is the Nokia Theatre, a major music venue built by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), as part of a $2.5 billion project called L.A. Live. The architects for the theatre are ELS, an architecture and urban planning firm in Berkeley, CA.

With opening concerts by The Eagles and The Dixie Chicks late last month (the official opening night was October 18, 2007), the Nokia Theatre flexed its muscles as a serious player on the touring music scene. With a total of 7,100 seats, the shape of the theatre is like a concert bowl, or half an arena, yet upgraded with comfortable fixed seats and carpeting throughout (certain sections are removable for camera positions when the theatre is used for live broadcasts of concerts or awards shows). With 4,000 seats in the lower sections, the upper balcony can be closed off with a curtain if need be for smaller, more intimate events.

"The Nokia Theatre is the perfect alternative to the Staples Center, which is too busy during sports season for a lot of concerts," says Paul Flanagan, project manger for AEG, who supervised the fast-track construction process. "The theatre is fully wired for HD television transmission, and may just be the largest indoor theatre in North America," Flanagan adds. "It is the first true concert venue of its kind, where arena shows will fit unchanged, from rock tours to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The design of the theatre reflects the needs of the industry."

A large loading dock with sliding doors offers flat, direct access to the stage, which measures 80' deep x 120' wide, with 35' wings on each side. The dressing rooms are under the stage. The grid height is 78' with a 60' to the lowest steel. Off-stage left is a post- and pre-show lounge area.

Also closely involved with this theatre is the Canadian company, Q1 Production Technologies. "Q1 worked on our first project for AEG back in October 2005 at The Nokia Theatre at Times Square in New York which led to several others in L.A. and Seattle," says Q1 president and COO Brian Konechny. "But it was right after New York when AEG's Paul Flanagan brought in the concept of using a rolling gantry crane-style catwalk lighting truss for the new venue at the L.A. Live site."



The idea for this kind of moveable catwalk is that instead of using a boom lift or rigging a truss over raked seating, the lighting trusses come down to the stage, get loaded at ground level, then each truss flies out its respective position. "Q1 project division's Chris Nash, Eric Sambell, and Larry Darling got to work on this system and came up with the final design," says Konechny, who notes that their crew also included Bob Smith and Todd Martin.

There are three steel I-beams that run the length of the venue, perpendicular to the stage. On these sit six custom-built 115'-wide catwalk trusses that can travel from out in the house to onto the stage. "The labor-saving concept of having the truss come down to the stage for convenient loading is only one of the reasons this venue is unique in North America and perhaps only a few in the world," Konechny adds. "Q1 collaborated with Total Structures on the custom catwalk design, which features four fixture loading pipes on each. They have a special trap door that allows access to the fixtures on the bottom of the truss very easily."

For the trolley system, Q1 brought in ChainMaster from Germany and Show Distribution from Quebec for the BGVD8+ rated trolley system using six-ton trolleys for each truss line. "Under each trolley is a three metric ton hoist (6,600lbs) and after the weight of the truss, still gives each truss a load capacity of 14,000lbs or seven tons, Konechny explains. "We wanted to go to the BGVD8+ rating to allow for rated static loads overhead. The trolleys use no festoon cables as the power is supplied by an electrified rail power supply track with a digital Microwave control system making for a very clean setup. The control system features a sophisticated computer interface that will make it easy to control."

In addition to the catwalks, the venue also has a comprehensive ribbon grid that features 37 custom motor transport dollies, each with a ChainMaster one-ton or 1/2 ton motor, allowing for a chain motor drop almost anywhere. The space was intentional conceived without a fly tower, and the industrial-style ceiling will remain exposed as a design element.

Each of the six catwalks features at least one 48-channel Strand Light Rack dimmer/power distribution system (with the remainder of a total of 14 racks that can be located anywhere in the theatre as needed). "Q1 had an advisory role in the new dimmer/distro concept as we wanted something that we could configure the way we need it," says Konechny. "For example, you can have all 48 channels of dimming or perhaps 24 channels of dimming for conventional lights, 12 channels of 120V distro for LEDs and PSUs and then 12 channels of 208V for automation."

Gordon Pearlman, director of research and development for Strand Lighting, developed the Strand Light Rack system, which features quiet IGBT dimmer modules. "The idea was to develop a lighter, more versatile dimmer system as requested by rental houses," says Pearlman. "I worked with Marc Raymond of Q1 for two years and went through lots of schemes." Pearlman, who did his concept drawings in Google Sketch Up, was amazed at how much the finished product looks like the drawings.

What he has created for The Nokia Theatre (and is now being released as a new Strand product) is a rack with interchangeable plug-in modules that can be easily replaced in the shop to meet the requirements of each tour that is going out, based on the number of automated fixtures VS conventionals for example. "They are primarily a touring product, with Socapex connectors only," Pearlman points out, adding that a fan-out can be used if pin connectors are needed. "The Nokia Theatre is built like a touring venue. They can set up the racks they way they need them for each show." In-house control is via a Wholehog 3 console (a second Wholehog 3 serves as a back-up).

Emmy Award-winning LD Jeff Ravitz, of Visual Terrain in Los Angeles, designed and specified the in-house stage lighting package, which was then supplied and installed by Q1. "This is the second project I did for AEG, having worked on the Nokia Theatre in Times Square. I wanted to design a system that can be used by any band that comes into the venue, so we built in a lot of flexibility, so I speced every type of light and wattage for every position,. Then we worked with Q1 to massage the system, and found some solutions that worked best for everybody," he says, noting that many bands will be able to leave their touring rigs in the truck and use the in-house rig, or use it as a excellent backbone for a custom-touring rig. The automated catwalks provide a multitude of lighting positions, even out over the audience as the catwalks can be used in front of or behind the proscenium. "It makes it a very multi-purpose room," adds Ravitz. "They asked me to design a space I would be comfortable using, and I did. What's great about the theatre is that no one is further than 250' from the stage." Kristie Roldan from Visual Terrain was the on-site project manager, handling the day-to-day follow up.

"The amazing output of the Vari-Lite VL3500 wash fixture, the versatility of its zoom and lens kit make it the perfect fixture for a venue of this type," Konechny says. Vari-Lite VL3000 spots round out the automated portion of the rig. The conventional lighting package consists of ETC Source Four Pars and Source FOur ellipsoidals, with Lycian 4K Xenon long throw units chosen for the followspots. "Not a lot of venues have a house lighting rig as comprehensive as this," Konechny notes (see list below). "Although everything about this job was executed very well, with all the new dimmer and control systems, it took many, many long hours, especially by dedicated guys like Eric Sambell to make the opening night happen."

The Nokia Theatre is designed as a touring venue so that individual bands can bring their own lighting and audio gear when desired. In terms of the audio, the in-house system is pulled up on hoists, out of sight into the grid area, when not in use (as was the case for the opening concerts). The in-house audio system (see attached list) was designed by Robert Patrick of LA-based IPR Services in conjunction with JBL Professional. "Overall the goal of the Nokia Theatre is to provide a flexible venue for concerts and award shows," says Patrick. "In addition to video I-Mag, the theatre has a HD production studio that feeds the in-house displays and also the Plaza displays. It is configured for up to six HD cameras." The I-Mag screens are 20' wide x 16' high Mitsubishi 10mm LED screens, set into the walls of the theatre, on either side of the stage. For the opening series of concerts, The Eagles added "eyebrow" screens at the top of the proscenium arch so that the video wrapped around the stage.

"The Eagles used Doremi video servers for their playbacks. Our inhouse playbacks are via Sony XDCAM HD F70 blu-ray disc players. We feed full HD to the screens," says Dennis M. Kornegay, an independent technology consultant who served as chief technology officer for the project as part of the IPR Services team. He notes that while there are no in-house projectors at the moment, the projection booth is in fact wired to support large projectors. "Analog Way Ultra VIO boxes are used to cross convert signals to feed the screens," Kornegay explains. "The video control room and the theatre are connected by Evertz HD fiber media converters so we can send signals both ways." Larry Spurgeon from Las Vegas was alsp part of the team, brought in by Robert Patrick specifically to assist in some of the audio requirements and designs for this project. The acoustician was Chips Davis from Concord, CA (whose acoustics are getting rave reviews from concert-goers).

Q1 also supplied all the Color Kinetics architectural lighting fixtures and control both inside and outside of the building, including 2,400' of Color Kinetics iCove MX Powercore. The Nokia Theatre opens onto a 40,000 sq ft outdoor plaza that features six 80'-high towers on which an array of signs, high-resolution Mitsubishi LED screens and lighting fixtures are mounted. Shows from The Nokia Theatre can be broadcast live on high-def video screen and live events can be produced right on the plaza.

Around the plaza are additional buildings destined for an array of uses including AEG's headquarters, the 2,300-seat Club Nokia, The Grammy Museum, ESPN studios, retail, and restaurants. The plaza also has access to sub-level parking. "L.A. Live will be like Times Square in downtown L.A.," says Flanagan. Without the horn-honking and yellow cabs!

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