"The tradition of the NFL Kick Off started in Times Square in 2001 as a pre-game public event tying entertainment and sports together," says Spike Lloyd, the show's lighting designer. "This year the concert in Green Bay featured Kid Rock, Maroon 5 and Lady Antebellum. It started at 3pm and went until 6:30."
Lloyd deployed 36 Sharpy moving heads, which he acquired from Atomic Lighting in Lititz, Pennsylvania. "We used them at the back of the stage as floor lights very tightly packed and directed upstage of the band on a scenic piece shaped like a skateboard ramp tucked under the stage's arched roof. We also hung a dozen off the stadium behind the stage, about 400ft away where they bordered a series of four huge video screens hung from the stadium's open staircase.
"The Sharpys were great little lights; I liked them a lot. I didn't know if they'd work, especially given the daylight conditions of the show. But they were amazing. They cut through LEDs and were fantastic at creating the beams we needed in daylight."
NFL Kick Off 2011 Presented By EA Sports was produced by Touchstone Entertainment. Atomic Lighting acquired the Sharpys from A.C.T Lighting, distributor of Clay Paky in North America.
(Jim Evans)
