The seven floating stages during Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show were theatrical and cool, but they also served a very practical purpose. And it has everything to do with the grass in the field.
Bruce Rodgers, the halftime show’s production designer, spoke to American magazine wired about how he helped create the show before the performance.
Rodgers explained the LED-lit stages that rise above the field with Rihanna and her dancers, “has never been done before”.
“With Katy Perry, we lifted her up in a flying device, like a rocket ship,” he said. “But this is a totally different animal.”
Rodgers said he came up with the concept and worked with Rihanna’s team, which included designer Willo Perron, choreographer Parris Goebel and production manager Joseph Lloyd, to implement it.
With the singer and dancers in the air, there is no stress for the turf on the field at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, which is nine square miles of Bermuda Tifway 419 hybrid grass.
Grass is very important to the National Football League (NFL) as it can affect how players are able to perform on the field.
And while it may have seemed risky for Rihanna, who debuted her new baby bump during the performance, to be suspended from a stage 14 to 60 feet off the ground, according to the report, the stages had “enormous Brunel trusses,” which Rodgers assured Rihanna’s team that they are “strong enough to carry a freight train”.
“This will be, in my opinion, the most technically advanced Super Bowl halftime show ever made, because of the amount of technology used to move the platforms,” said Aaron Siebert, project lead for Tait Towers, who made the platforms before of the show.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m Robert Neff, a professional writer and editor. I specialize in the entertainment section, providing up-to-date coverage on the latest developments in film, television and music. My work has been featured on World Stock Market and other prominent publications.
