Delivering concert-level sound at Super Bowl LIX

The Caesars Superdome in New Orleans has seen it all, and then some. It hosted Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, February 9, its eighth NFL Big Game since the iconic domed venue opened in 1975. In that time, it also served as the Big Easy’s largest event facility and, more importantly, as its main refuge during storms. Even in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina damaged the structure’s outer cladding and forced its closure for repairs, the Dome’s eventual reopening became a powerful symbol of the city’s resilience and determination to rebuild and thrive.

What also endures about the Superdome has been its sound. Each of those Super Bowls additionally hosted one of the event’s emblematic halftime music shows, including this year’s concert by 22-time Grammy award-winner Kendrick Lamar. Like the phoenix that it is, the Superdome arose and readied itself once again, this time with a completely new sound system brought in specifically for the halftime show and the game, and one that’s become a mainstay of high-end concert performances globally: an L-Acoustics K2-based system, provided by ATK Audiotek/Clair Global, which has managed the halftime-event sound for nearly 30 years.

The system comprised 16 hangs of K2 arrays and eight hangs of KS28 subs. A dozen of those K2 hangs had K1-SB above; eight of the K2 hangs had closely coupled K1-SB, while four of the remaining K2 hangs used K1-SB as a line extension. The number of subs has been increasing over the last few years, reflecting the halftime shows’ production by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation company, which has steered the events in a hip-hop direction since 2019.

This temporary sound system was similar to that used in the past two years. It is, in fact, the third time that Kirk Powell, design engineer at ATK Audiotek (acquired in 2021 by Clair Global) and his staff – including show mixers Alex Guessard and Dave Natale, monitor mixers Tom Pesa and Chris Daniels, and systems engineer Johnny Keirle – have put a separate sound system up in the air in a Super Bowl venue. That process began two years ago when State Farm Stadium’s roll-out grass field prevented the carts that had been deployed for decades to trundle PA components quickly out to the field for the changeover to Usher’s halftime show. Until 2023, the halftime-dedicated sound systems were used exclusively for the music performances, with the installed house PA used for announcements and effects sound.

Since then, the temporary L-Acoustics PA systems have also handled all of the live sound in the bowl for the game and all related events, such as the Opening Night event at the stadium on Monday, where hundreds of media interview Super Bowl players and coaches for the first time during their only public appearance before taking the field for The Big Game. But because this year the temporary system was also being used for the entire game, there were actually a total of 200 K2, 40 K1-SB, and 64 KS28 – the largest such system yet deployed of any type for a Super Bowl. It also served as the first-listen opportunity ahead of the game and halftime events, as well.

“The halftime show is so different from what we’re doing for opening night, but we get a good handle on how the room feels,” Powell said. “Having a flown system makes a lot of difference because the coverage is better and it’s consistent – it’s there all day; we’re not moving it in and out during rehearsals. It’s the third time we’ve done this and it’s a continuation of just trying to improve and tweak and see if we can make it a little bit better than last time.”

The Superdome – the fifth oldest in the league and the second-ever domed NFL field – is an iconic relic from an earlier era of stadium architecture and a living historical record of sound-system design. “It’s got really deep under-balconies and that creates a big challenge,” explained Powell. “You have to rely on the installed house system for the fill speakers you need to reach those areas. And acoustically speaking, there are other challenges, because it’s an older stadium that wasn’t updated like a newer stadium would be for acoustic treatments to address, for instance, the reflectivity of a lot of exposed concrete. Plus, it’s a big, roofed room. So yes, there are acoustic issues.”

“One of the biggest challenges was the trim height restriction, as no rigging elements could be lower than 153 feet from the field,” explained PA systems designer, Johnny Keirle. “That forced me to design the system higher than ideal, which introduced coverage and tonal balance challenges, as well as potential temporal issues. The flexibility of the K Series, particularly K2’s adjustable Panflex and rigging flexibility, was key in combatting these constraints. Narrowing the horizontal dispersion of the K2 using Panflex, and using K2 rigbars to allow for extreme curvature where needed, helped to both maintain coverage and tonal consistency despite the higher-than-optimal trim requirements.” Further, he added, L-Acoustics’ Soundvision design software allowed for fast and accurate on-site optimisation of the designs.

Keirle continued, "As with all my projects, I spend a lot of time working in Soundvision and really trust the software when making design decisions. All system management/optimisation was done in Network Manager, and Smaart for the deeper acoustics analysis, particularly room reflections for referee mic equalisation.

“Bringing in my usual PA team from the EU was essential to ensuring a smooth setup and management throughout rehearsals and gameday. Having Gui Burguez, Juan Beilin, Claus Köpplin Orrán, and even Clair Global operations coordinator, Rob Gurton, working alongside the core ATK team, made the entire PA deployment and management process seamless.”

DiGiCo consoles provided mixing stability for the entertainment portion, while Yamaha was chosen for game feeds, totalling five live mix positions. The event has its own outside broadcast trucks. 

“They receive signals from us and also send signals to us, so there's a lot of back and forth between our parties to get a seamless production for the global TV coverage,” added Kirk. "The Super Bowl requires such a large array of audio sources, and guaranteeing they are routed accurately to their respective destinations is another challenge. To handle this, we use Focusrite RedNet components for seamless connectivity as we work through the demands of the event.”

ATK’s communications delivery, led by ATK Versacom, was overseen by Matt Campisi, who commented, “This year was an especially testing event as we took on all aspects of communication deployment; we not only supplied intercom systems for the Halftime Show and NFL Broadcast Executives, but to the Stadium Control, production company Van Wagner and the Production Club. “We also integrated several other entities such as the Halftime TV truck and the network TV trucks, NFL Films and to the tailgate entertainment concert, which takes place outside the venue.”

Riedel

ATK supplied several Riedel frames with integration to Caesars Superdome, two Riedel 1024 frames and Riedel Legacy frames were deployed in one large ring to make up a huge intercom system. Along with the utilisation of the stadium infrastructure and a matrix smart panel, ATK brought in an additional 125 smart panels for all positions during both the football game and the Halftime Show.

Campisi’s team worked closely with Riedel Communications. “We supplied 140 Bolero wireless belt packs; wireless is the most challenging aspect of this setup, as it’s critical to most of the 250+ end users. Additionally, Riedel Communications provided extended frequency channels that were applied to our system,” he explained. “The stadium dome can cause reflections which creates multipath issues, and Riedel supplied us with special directional antennas to adequality combat this issue.”

The event’s music component was substantial – in addition to the Kendrick Lamar halftime show, Louisiana jazz legends Jon Batiste and Trombone Shorty with singer Lauren Daigle also performed live – and the K Series assured they all had a great show. “With K Series, rather than having a public address-type system, I can design a system that delivers a true rock and roll experience, not just for the halftime show, but also for pre-game entertainment and the game itself,” said Keirle. “Both elements of the event – the game announcements and the halftime show – have different criteria, and I approached the system design with both in mind from the start. The system was designed to deliver plenty of SPL and LF contour for the halftime show to hit with impact, while maintaining the clarity, intelligibility, and immediacy required for game announcements and referee calls.”

The Big Game had an unexpected ending: a lop-sided score that saw the Philadelphia Eagles prevent the Kansas City Chiefs’ widely predicted three-peat win. But what everyone got was a superb sonic experience via the L-Acoustics K Series arrays. “Everything went just as fantastic as we expected,” Powell concluded. “We had plenty of headroom with the L-Acoustics system all night long, and it sounded great for both the halftime show and the game itself. It was a win.”

The 2026 Super Bowl will take place at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Ca, on February 9th.

LIGHTING

ETC's Zeo fixtures lit up the much-anticipated halftime show. Among the crew who put on the show were lighting designer Al Gurdon, lighting director Ben Green of 22 Degrees, Gaffer Alen Sisul, moving light programmer and lighting designer Mark Humphrey of TruCreative Design, and moving light programmer and lighting director Eric Marchwinski of Earlybird Visual. The lighting package was supplied by PRG.

“We had a very clear aesthetic approach to this year’s halftime show, which was very much aligned with the wishes of the artist’s camp,” said Gurdon. “This was to always aim for contrast and lighting angles different from those of conventional television lighting. We wanted to prioritise drama over ‘beauty light.’ It needed to feel monolithic and synchronised to the heavy beats, without the ‘sparkle.’”

To support this approach, 88 Zeo automated luminaires were placed on the mid-audience rail upstage of the main camera point of view. Zeo features a unique, square face design, highlighted by a central LED monolith, four reflectors, and four RGBW engines. 

For high-intensity moments, Zeo is capable of delivering 30,000+ lumens. Humphrey commented: “The Zeo has good colour range, zoom, and versatility. You can treat it as a simple wash fixture or an effect fixture with its multiple pixels. I like the ability to have the fixture with the frosted lens or without, as it can create an entirely different look.”

“Given that the show was lit with an emphasis on heavy directional gestures, the row of Zeos offered a versatile option to make effects with and wash a large area, along with the smoke in the air,” noted Green. “Having the pan and tilt also made it a good option, as we were able to sweeten it for camera more than a static strobe fixture. It works well as both a space filler seeing the lens on camera and as an aerial effect light which we leaned on heavily here.”

Both the face design and output of Zeo proved beneficial for the televised event. Marchwinski added: “The Zeo gave us a dense system of light with a large aperture and noticeable visual footprint on camera. The distinct look the face of the fixture has on camera lends itself to camera backgrounds for a smaller scale show. On this show, the density and throw of the fixture were showcased, as well as the excellent output.”

Wrapping up the high-profile event, Gurdon said, “The Zeos were a great asset in creating the show’s heavy dynamics. They are a bright fixture with good colour, and worked well as a dramatic in to camera effect. Because of its scale, we have used them on the halftime show in a fairly simple way, but can imagine they would have a lot of versatility in other contexts as well. I would definitely spec them again.”

Zeo is available to rent through Main Light.

IMAGE CREDIT: Matt Neustadter