All photos by RUKES
On June 17th, DJ Nicholas Daniel Miller, who performs as ILLENIUM, hosted Trilogy:Colorado at Empower Field (formerly Mile High Stadium) in Denver, CO. With 50,000 people in attendance, he broke electronic music attendance records not only for Colorado, but for the U.S. Denver’s Brown Note Productions, who has been supporting ILLENIUM’s entire Spring/Summer Tour with lighting, video, staging, rigging, and audio added a significant amount of additional production gear to scale up to the stadium-sized production for this special EDM event. Ryan Knutson, President of Brown Note Productions and his team worked with ILLENIUM’s Manager and Field Production Designer, Ha Hau and Lighting Designer/Director, Chuck Williams of Nexus Productions. PLSN spoke with Knutson, Hau and Williams about how the enormous production immersed fans in the experience.
Ha Hau
Manager & Field Production Designer
Tell me about the overall design for Trilogy at Empower Field.
ILLENIUM’s music is very emotional, it provokes a lot of emotions and feelings from being happy, to being angry. I wanted a production that complements his music. I wanted the fans to not only listen to music, but I want them to feel it. The production is built around that.
These venues are not meant for concerts, they’re meant for football where you watch everything on the field. When it comes to a concert, you see everything at one end for the most part. I wanted to take advantage of having the field and make it part of the visual aspect. When you have the nosebleed seats, the seats are so high and watching everything happen at one end of the field of the stage is not as immersive. So, I wanted to create an immersive experience from the field for the people that are up high. Nick really likes flames, pyro, and all those effects. For the safety of the audience on the field you must build a radius around the effect, so we created six flame pods on the field. Then we made these four large pods with LED video on them that are I-Mag screens that show what’s onstage. In addition to those 10 pods, I had a huge pod at center for performances in the first act. So, basically, the field design was built around the flames, and I-Mag video solution for the audience up high to experience.
Describe the video pods a bit more.
The issue with a one-off show is that you can’t really create huge custom pieces because of budgetary constraints. I took standard trusses and configured them to look custom. I wanted to create a shape that is as close to a circle as possible. So, I worked with octagonal shapes. For the video aspect, I created four 60’ diameter pods on the four corners of the field. In the center of the pod was a video screen oriented towards the crowd. If you’re on the left or on the right side, where you don’t have a straight on visual of the stage, you have this video screen that faces you, so you can actually see what’s going on stage from where you’re sitting when you don’t have a clear sightline to the stage.
What are some of the other fan immersion elements?
In the second act, the center platform is cleared of the DJ riser and is used as a performance platform for guest artists. That brings the artists out into the crowd. In the third set—ILLENIUM’s live performance on stage—we clear the center platform and make it a huge flame pod. JDL FX provided a huge flame ring around that platform for a huge flame effect that went 50’ to 60’ high.
Also, we used the LED bracelets from PixMob as well as flames at the top of the stadium. The fans are in the middle of the whole show. We wanted it to be as immersive as possible. My goal was I didn’t want any seat in the house to be a bad seat. From any seat you were part of the production and didn’t feel too distanced from it. Those effects, along with the lasers that we had, really brought the production as close as possible to the fans. We had eight 42W lasers, provided by Polar Productions, surrounding the center platform shooting 360°.
How was working with Brown Note on this Trilogy event?
I’ve worked with Brown Note for many years; Ryan and the teams are amazing. I showed them this vision, they thought it was great and they made it happen. They provided all the equipment and the crew to match as close as possible to our vision. It looked amazing. I think Brown Note is the best of the best. They crushed it.
Chuck Williams
Lighting Designer/Director
Walk me through your lighting design for Trilogy:Colorado.
The base of the system was our A+ touring rig, but on steroids. We added gear to it, because here we had a much larger stage and we added all the field production. Ha and I worked closely together to get the field production to tie into everything and hit the vision that everyone was trying to achieve.
Talk about collaborating with Hau and making this a reality.
Ha is Nick’s [ILLENIUM’s] manager; I’ve worked with Ha for close to 20 years now. Ha had this idea for ‘pods’ on the stadium field that would give more of the people in the stands an experience, because everyone on the field gets the stage side. But then for everyone up in the nosebleeds, we really wanted to bring the show to them and give them more eye candy. Ha did a rough layout in SketchUp, then I drew it in WYSIWYG and sent the drawings to Brown Note to make it a reality.
Is it a challenge to create so many looks over the course of the performance?
Being a timecoded show, and adding so much production, was definitely a challenge to make it all make sense. A tour is very curated, but then to throw an extra 15 trucks of production, LED panels and lights at it, and tell the same story, is a challenge. At the end of the day, it came together and was an awesome experience that was received well by everyone who attended. It was an amazing thing to be part of.
What were some of your key gear choices?
I used the Pixel Line IP from ACME. It’s a one-meter pixel bar with RGB LED with a bright white center LED tube. I love it; it’s a really cool pixel light. I’m a big fan of the GLP JDC1, so I have 72 of those, and 30 of the CHAUVET COLOR Strike Ms as well. For the main spots on our tour rig, I ran the Robe FORTEs, one of my favorite lights, and very versatile. The gobo sets are nice. It’s just been reliable. Out in the field, we had a bunch of Elation Maximus, which is just a workhorse. Quick, nice gobo sets, really bright, and waterproof, obviously. It’s a perfect light for a show like this outdoors. Then, it was first time I used, the [Elation] Proteus Excalibur, a crazy bright beam searchlight that’s fast, and a real pleasure to use.
Tell us about working with Sandy Meidinger and blending lighting and video.
Sandy is our Visual Director and I think we make an amazing team working together. We really play off each other. She has an idea for this, I have an idea for that. It’s just been a solid team effort to get where we are. We had ideas for lasers and are working with a new laser designer this year—Bill Loftus. We work with him on creating ideas for colors, looks, and soft/or hard moments. This show is our baby and it’s been a real treat putting together both of our visions; it’s worked very well together.
How was the support from Brown Note for Trilogy?
It’s been great. I’ve been working with Ryan for close to 15 years or so now. I own a smaller lighting company in Denver called Nexus Productions and Ryan has always taken great care of us. It’s funny because my designs aren’t always easy to execute or build. It makes for a hard day on the crew a little bit, but he helps us find the middle ground to make it as easy as we can. The gear is always wonderful, and so are the crews. He and Brown Note have been a vital element in all our shows and the success we’ve had over the years.
Talk about working with JDL FX on the show?
Lou has been with us for a few years now; they’re awesome guys at JDL FX and it’s been great. They have always taken really good care of us. They’re like family at this point. They have a vision that’s different; they always bring cool ideas to the table. We had this set piece in Trilogy that has pyro and cryo elements built in. When we designed it, I didn’t even know if it was possible. Lou had this idea to have a flame built into the set piece with risers that pitch up and down and the fire follows that shape. It’s cool. There are a few moments in the show where the whole deck lights on fire. It’s one of those moments people don’t expect, and then when it hits, everyone’s like, ‘holy sh*t!’
Any other thoughts about working on Trilogy:Colorado?
I’m thankful that Nick, as our artist, trusts my vision for all the stage designs, and for everything we’ve done. He doesn’t really have a ton of input other than ‘make it cool’. The fact that he just trusts us to guide his show is great. We’re all happy to be here and we try to keep pushing the boundaries of what we can do to always have a great show.
Ryan Knutson
President, Brown Note Productions
Talk about supporting Lighting Designer Chuck Williams and Video Director Sandy Meidinger for Trilogy:Colorado.
I’ve known Chuck for about 15 years and watched him grow in his skillset over the years. His programming, design, just his overall show presentation, has just gotten to be really precise. Especially with this type of music where it’s a lot of hits, a lot of drops, lasers; he has a really great sense of how to fill those gaps with visual production. Sandy has a really good vision of what the artist wants and how to communicate that to the different operators—pyro, laser, lighting, and video. The two of them have this good synergy between them. They know what they want. It is a pleasure to work with them and support their vision.
Tell us about working with Ha Hau on this immense design.
Ha had this idea to give everybody a different show—and view; make it feel more immersive with LED, lighting, lasers, and pyro. Ha sent us his concepts and then we just figured out how to make them happen. He sent me a text from the stadium saying, ‘I think it actually looks better than my rendering.’ To me that means we did our job. That is what we are supposed to do at Brown Note, turn his vision into reality. It came together in the way that he wanted and exceeded his expectations. We are really proud of that.
Why was Brown Note Productions the right vendor for this event?
I think it’s our 360° capabilities, being able to manage the expectations of the show through one account manager, one company for the bulk of the production. Obviously, they have SFX vendors, but I think that 360° capability is really a big thing for our clients. The synergies of our crews; we have some great people and great attitudes. When we put all those people together from audio, lighting, and video, it is a great team. Also, our history with the ILLENIUM team, we’ve been able to produce a lot of their dreams, as well as last minute ideas. We’ve had a lot of success creating their vision and I believe, being there for them when they needed us. It is a great relationship with a lot of trust established. And that’s what it’s got to be with every Brown Note client. Ha can call me, any client can call me and we can work things out, and if they need something, we’re there with it.
Production Team
- Production Manager: Royal Jensen
- Lighting Design/Director: Chuck Williams
- Video Design/Director: Sandy Meidinger
- Field Production Designer: Ha Hau, Cinder Management Group
- Laser Programmer: Bill Loftus
- Tour Manager & Pyro/SFX Designer: Peter Witting
- Manager & Pyro/SFX Designer: Sean Flynn, Cinder Management Group
- Manager: Mike Bedard, Cinder Management Group
Vendors
- Lighting, Video, Staging, Rigging, Audio: Brown Note Productions/Ryan Knutson
- Pyro/Lasers/SFX: JDL FX/Luis Torres
- Lasers: Polar Production
- LED Bracelets: PixMob
- Drone Show: Digital Sky Productions
- LED Tubes: Electronic Sales and Production
- Flying Phoenix Bird: Algorythym Designs
- ILLENIUM Logo Sculpture: Rhythm EFX
Gear
Lighting
- 42 Robe Robin Forte
- 31 Robe Robin iForte
- 22 Robe Spiider
- 69 Elation Proteus Maximus Profile
- 48 Elation Proteus Excalibur Beam
- 18 Elation Proteus Rayzor 760 Wash
- 2 Elation Proteus Brutus Profile
- 88 Elation CUEPIX LED Blinder WW2
- 48 Elation DTW Blinder 350 IP
- 72 GLP JDC1 Hybrid Strobe
- 30 CHAUVET Color STRIKE M
- 124 ACME Pixel Line IP
- 16 hazebase Base Hazer
- 4 MDG theONE Atmospheric Generator
- 2 grandMA2 full-size
- 7 grandMA3 Processing Unit L
Video
- 260 ROE Visual Vanish V8T
- 384 ROE Visual CB5
- 358 ROE Visual CB8S
- 384 INFiLED AR3
- 6 Brompton Technology Tessera SX40 LED Processor
- 8 Brompton Technology XD 10G Data Distribution Unit
- 6 NovaStar NovaPro UHD Jr 4K LED Processor
