PRG Delivers Multi-Discipline Support For Apple Music Halftime Show & Pregame Coverage

The results are in, and Sunday’s big game was third most watched television program ever. More than 118 million viewers and 7 million streamers watched as The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles went head-to-head in the big game, and Rihanna took the stage during halftime for her first performance since 2018. PRG brought technical labor, lighting, rigging, networking and LED to 2023’s pregame coverage and player introductions, and once again provided lighting and networking for the Apple Music Halftime Show.

Pregame LED, Lighting and Rigging

Production Club was back designing the custom light show, video wall and display featured in FOX sports coverage prior to Sunday’s game. PRG provided lighting and LED for the Lombardi Trophy presentation, lighting for DJ Snake’s performance, and lighting and LED for the player intros.

Credit: Danilo Lewis

Photo by Danilo Lewis
Live locker room footage featured PRG’s tunnel lighting and LED walls. Then, players from both teams entered the field through custom carts fabricated by All Access, outfitted in ROE CB5 LED panels and lighting supplied by PRG. Production Club described it as “a vornado of scenic, lighting, SFX and video.” Visuals were Art Directed by Native Arizonian and Navajo Artist Randy L. Barton.

Tim Fallon acted as the Technical Director with Sophie Reeves as Lead Producer and Griffin Behm as Designer and LD for the segment.

PRG sent six lighting technicians, a fiber networking engineer, and an on-site project manager for the pre-game segment. The lighting order included four GrandMA2 consoles distributed on site and more than 100 fixtures.

Halftime Lighting and Networking

Rihanna made her highly anticipated, gravity-defying debut to the halftime stage, featuring seven flown platforms, more than 200 dancers in all white, and zero guest performers. This was Rihanna’s solo moment, and the Roc Nation superstar artist did not disappoint, playing a medley of her biggest hits before finishing off the 13-minute mash-up with a performance of her song ‘Diamonds’.

PRG

PRG has been the trusted lighting provider of the halftime show for more than 20 years, once again providing lighting and fiber network integration throughout the stadium for the lighting design by Al Gurdon and Ben Green. The Lighting Director was Harry Forster, with Eric Marchwinski and Mark Humphrey programming the show and Alen Sisul gaffing. Willo Perron conceptualized the show, with Bruce Rodgers as Creative Director and Production Designer.

Gear from PRG included cables, networking, power, infrastructure and more than 600 lighting fixtures, among them 6 proprietary PRG GroundControl Longthrow™ units, controlled by three Full GrandMA3s and one Light.

During the halftime commentary, fans got a glimpse of the 7.5-minute setup, as the crew quickly assembled the stage and all production elements.

“This halftime show was a historic moment for Roc Nation, and PRG was proud to support it,” said PRG VP of Sales Tony Ward. “Providing lighting for the most watched moment in television is a challenge and a privilege that we look forward to taking on each year.”

PRG

Pre-Game Lighting Crew

  • Lighting Designer & LD: Griffin Behm
  • Technical Director: Tim Fallon
  • Lead Producer: Sophie Reeves
  • PRG Account Executive: Bobby Allen
  • PRG Project Manager: Bryan Barry
  • Fiber Infrastructure Manager: Michael Dodge
  • Lighting PM: Josh Fenn
  • Lighting Crew Chief: Thomas Walls
  • Lighting Tech: Luis “Koach” Collazo
  • Lighting Tech: Shawn Whitton 
  • Lighting Tech: Ryan Textor
  • LED Lead: Josh Marrano
  • LED Tech: Colton Carroll

Apple Music Halftime Show

  • Design Concept by Willo Perron and Rihanna
  • Creative Direction and Production Design: Bruce Rodgers
  • Art Direction: Shelley Rodgers, Lindsey Breslauer, Maria Garcia and Lily Rodgers.
  • Art Department: Regan Eastland

Lighting Crew

  • Lighting Designer: Al Gurdon and Ben Green
  • Lighting Director: Harry Forster
  • Lighting Director/ML Programmer: Eric Marchwinski and Mark Humphrey
  • Gaffer: Alen Sisul
  • Lead Best Boy: John Cox
  • Best Boys: Dennis Sisul, Chris Latsch, Damon Isaacks
  • Best Boys / Followspots: Adam Hagin, Michael Smallman, Daisy Toledo, Ron Murphy
  • Pre-vis Tech: Nicholas Coauette
  • Lighting Systems Tech: Jonathan Martin and Aria Grosvenor
  • PRG Chief Tech: Robb Minnotte
  • PRG Lead Techs: Matt Genezcko, Janos Bode
  • 22 Degrees Lighting Project Coordinator: Marie Turner
  • PRG Account Managers: Tony Ward and Patrick Osuna

ROC NATION:

  • Executive Producer/Director: Shawn Carter
  • Executive Producer/Co-Director: Desiree Perez
  • Executive Producers: Jesse Collins, Jay Brown, Roger Goodelll
  • Producer/Director: Hamish Hamilton
  • Co-Executive Producer: Dionne Harmon
  • Event Producer: Dave Meyers
  • ROC NATION: Jana Fleishman
  • Supervising Producer: Aaron Cooke

Pre-Game Gear

Lighting

  • 8x Vari-Lite VL6000
  • 20x GLP JDC Line 1000
  • 14x Martin VDO Fatron
  • 38x Martin Rush Par 2
  • 7x ARRI Skypanel
  • 10x Chroma-Q Color Force II 72
  • 3x Chroma-Q Color Force II 48
  • 2x Source 4 LED Lustr

LED

  • 40x ROE CB5 tiles
  • 5x ROE CB3 tiles

Control

  • 2x GrandMA2 Full
  • 2x GrandMA2 Light 
  • 13x Pathway VIA12 6740 w/SM SFP
  • 11x Pathway OCTO
  • 4x Pathway eLink

Halftime Lighting

  • 146x Vari-lite VL3600 Profile
  • 72x Robe Robin 1200
  • 35x Vari-lite VL2600
  • 325x GLP X4
  • 76x TMB Solaris Flare
  • 6x Strong Gladiator IV
  • 6x  Britebox Flame LT3000
  • 6x PRG GroundControl LongThrow
  • 3x MA Lighting grandMA3 Full
  • 1x MA Lighting grandMA3 Lite
  • 2x zactrack PRO servers

Atmosphere

  • 4x MDG theONE
  • 8x Reel EFX Diffusion DF-50
  • 8x Reel EFX Fans

Networking

  • 24x PRG Virtuoso Super Node
  • 2x SMPTE Distripalyzer Brainstorm
  • 24x Pathway VIA12 6742