BLACKSBURG 鈥 Exit football. Enter Metallica.
Five hundred and eighty-eight speakers blared the first few notes of 鈥淣o Leaf Clover鈥 early Tuesday afternoon as students walked along Beamer Way. A few minutes later, the introduction of 鈥淥ne鈥 began reverberating inside Lane Stadium.
Two iconic Metallica songs were heard throughout campus as the technicians worked on perfecting the different zones of sound that will go to the band, those in the snake pit and the thousands of fans either on the floor or sitting in the grandstands.
Drum technician Jimmy Clark performs a sound check Tuesday on one of four drum sets that will be used by drummer Lars Ulrich during Metallica鈥檚 M72 World Tour stop at Lane Stadium.
The inside of Lane Stadium looked nothing like what it does during football season. Eight towers with curved video boards weighing a combined 112.8 tons surrounded a massive circular stage. The near 600 speakers were scattered around what was once Worsham Field. Nearly 40 miles of fiber optic cable connected the audio, video and lighting aspects that make up the production.
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Three hundred and fifty crew members spent Tuesday putting the finishing touches on the setup for the next stop in Metallica鈥檚 M72 World Tour. Wednesday鈥檚 stop will be the first for the legendary rock band in Blacksburg as it connects with a fan base that has jumped around and sang the lyrics to 鈥淓nter Sandman鈥 for nearly a quarter of a century.
鈥淚 imagine this was a collaboration a long time in the making,鈥 Metallica tour coordinator Jon-Michael Marino said Tuesday. 鈥淚t depends on the tour, on the routing, on the production, and I would say that this time around the stars aligned, which I think it鈥檚 going to be a hell of a show for sure.鈥
Marino spent 30 minutes giving a tour of the stage setup to members of the local media Tuesday and detailed all of the work that went into setting up the stage and eight towers for the one-night show.
Metallica tour coordinator Jon-Michael Marino conducted a media tour of the stage installation Tuesday.
Eighty-seven trucks (45 production and 42 steel) brought in the equipment that went into the massive staging for this event.
Each of the eight 90-foot towers weigh 14.1 tons and have curved video walls, speakers and subwoofers mounted at the top. Marino said there are 256 motors in each tower that can raise the video and lighting rings in about 33 seconds.
鈥淭he goal of this production is to have somebody who鈥檚 up in the 300 level feel like they are sitting as close to the production as somebody who鈥檚 in the snake pit looking up at the band without the video wall,鈥 he said.
The eight curved video walls are made up of a combined 13,000 square feet of LEDs and 36.3 million pixels that will show footage from 72 cameras around the stadium.
Eight 90-foot arena concert towers have been erected in Lane Stadium in advance for Wednesday鈥檚 show. Each tower has a curved video board, speakers and subwoofers to optimize the experience for all of the fans in attendance.
There are 15 miles of fiber optic cable connecting the cameras, two miles of fiber optic cable connecting the speakers and subwoofers, and another 22 miles of fiber optic cable for the 72 lights in the towers and 650 moving lights around the stadium.
Mario said the production requires 192 audio inputs.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the single-largest touring audio production that鈥檚 ever been brought out on the road,鈥 he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 been two or three other examples of festival one-offs that had a larger amount of audio inputs, but they get to set it up and leave it there in one spot, then break it down and not have to use it again.鈥
Live Nation, which is organizing Metallica鈥檚 M72 World Tour, will pay Virginia Tech $500,000 for hosting this concert, according to a contract obtained by The 麻花视频 in response to a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request.
Most of the payment 鈥 up to $300,000 鈥 will cover repairing the field to pre-concert condition.
Virginia Tech will get 100% of the concession sales and a small cut of the ticket sales.
The Metallica M72 World Tour merchandise trailer is parked outside of Tech Softball Park on Tuesday. The trailer was joined by a fleet of 87 semi-trailers that brought in production and steel elements that will be used for Wednesday鈥檚 concert.
鈥淭his process takes place from four days before the show to load in,鈥 Marino said. 鈥淭he first day is covering the field so that we鈥檙e not damaging it and getting a huge expense charge from each venue we go to. It then takes about two days to set up all eight of these towers.鈥
The crew will begin disassembling the stage and towers not long after Wednesday鈥檚 concert concludes and Lane Stadium will be turned over to Virginia Tech by Friday afternoon so the university can get the field ready for next week鈥檚 graduation.
鈥淕raduation is obviously a massively important deal here at Virginia Tech as well, as it should be,鈥 Virginia Tech executive associate athletic director Brad Wurthman said Friday. 鈥淏eginning Friday at noon, the stadium kind of flips back to us and we鈥檙e rolling, getting everything ready. Sod should be put down beginning on Saturday, Sunday at the latest, and then they鈥檒l be ready to go for graduation only maybe 48 hours after that.鈥
The setup for Wednesday鈥檚 concert actually began on April 15 鈥 three days after the football team鈥檚 annual spring game 鈥 when Virginia Tech鈥檚 grounds crew began removing Worsham Field.
It was a process that took more than two weeks of scraping the top of the field and tiling the remainder of the field to make it a smooth surface. Sprinkler heads and trays that were below the field were removed.
鈥淔acilities are the unsung heroes of every place of every department nationally, and no more than right now,鈥 Wurthman said. 鈥淭heir work will be around the clock, nonstop.鈥
The first layer of flooring was installed Friday. The first handful of the 87 trucks that brought in the production and steel elements were parked south of the stadium, and the installation of the stage and the towers began Saturday.
鈥淭he building process has been fascinating,鈥 Wurthman said. 鈥溾 Having the ability to work through the Lane Stadium facility process and get this ready to go, I think when people have the chance on Wednesday night to actually get in and see what this looks like, it looks like a completely different venue once the lights are on in there.鈥
The stage will be surrounded on the field by a snake pit and general admission floor seating. Wurthman said 8,000 fans will be on the field in addition to those in the grandstands.
Fans in the snake pit will see Metallica playing a two-hour long setlist packed with favorites on an in-the-round stage design inside Lane Stadium.
鈥淚t will be something,鈥 Wurthman said. 鈥淭he snake pit, speaking for that, for the thousand-ish fans that are in that snake pit, it will be a night that they remember forever.鈥
The north end zone seats students for football games. The section will again be used for a student section that will seat 6,000 for the concert.
鈥淚鈥檓 excited for the student section. They鈥檝e never had a student section at any of their concerts, and we鈥檒l have a 6,000 strong student section in the north end zone,鈥 Wurthman said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 one of the things that going through this process has been cool with them because they wanted it. It鈥檚 nice when both camps have the same idea, and it made it pretty easy.鈥
Marino said drummer Lars Ulrich 鈥渋s the ringleader of the setlist for every show,鈥 and the band will come up with the songs for its two-hour show after it arrives at Virginia Tech.
When will 鈥淓nter Sandman鈥 be played? Marino didn鈥檛 know Tuesday but felt like it will be played at some point.
鈥淚 would be a little surprised, personally, if they started the show with it. I feel like that鈥檚 going to be a bit of a climactic moment in the production,鈥 Marino said. 鈥淭o me, personally, it makes more sense at the end. I鈥檓 not one of the four guys on stage, so that鈥檚 not for me to decide.鈥
