Behind the scenes: The Jonas Brothers' ties to Canada's nuclear weapons program

Did you know that the base of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo's concert stage is a converted Canadian nuclear missile launcher? Or that Canada even had a nuclear program?

Neither did I, and these were just a few of the quirky tidbits stage designer, marketing manager and wearer-of-many-hats Scott Justis let me in on in a look behind the scenes of the Houston rodeo's famous concert series.

Reliant Stadium was designed to be the loudest stadium in professional football. Anyone's who's been there on game day (I sit in the bullpen) knows it's cacophanous. But what makes for a high-energy NFL crowd makes for an astoundingly crappy concert venue.

So Houston-based company LD Systems, which runs the audo/visual production for the entire Rodeo — from headlining concerts to the pig auction — developed a system incorporating more than 110 individual speakers suspended from the ceiling to create a stereo concert experience (most concerts are in mono). It depends on clever ways of insulating sound like the giant black ceiling you see during the rodeo (Reliant actually has a translucent roof).

Justis designed the stage and a small crew of 16 mans the multi-million-dollar system, which the Rodeo has signed on to use for 10 years. The stage incorporates more than 200 stationary lights, 163 moving lights, eight HD video screens and 5,000 LED tiles in a wave pattern behind the rotating stage. The stage is designed feature a video wall when viewed from the front, but allow audience members facing the back of the stage to see straight through it.

They made some improvements this year — like the ability to project one cohesive image onto the LED backdrop and display panels — but for most of the crew, production is as familiar as clockwork.

Justis has worked with his fair share of artists, and named Kenny Chesney as the most multi-media aware Rodeo performer. Others, like the Jonas Brothers, take a more laid-back approach. Justis said the tween heartthrobs arrived with just a color palette and left the creative reins to the lighting crew and videographers.

And they put together an impressive show, says Justis, who brought his young daughters. "Those guys were really on."

 

Videos detailing RodeoHouston's cutting-edge stage:

• Concert, HD, Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, LED, Technology
• Jonas Brothers, Kenny Chesney, Scott Justis

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