30 Jun 2017
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame launches new Power of Rock experience
BY Tom Anstey
Music fans can now get a taste of what it would be like to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with a new US$14m (€12.3m, £10.8m) visitor experience at the iconic Cleveland, Ohio, attraction set to launch on Saturday (1 July).
Created by BRC Imagination Arts, the immersive Power of Rock exhibition brings to life more than 30 years of legendary induction ceremonies through a three act pre-show, film and exhibition.
The show starts on a bridge three storeys above the building’s main atrium in the centre of the I.M. Pei-designed pyramid. There, visitors are presented with a roll call of Hall of Fame inductees, with short bursts on a digital screen from artists such as Elvis, Journey and The Who.
Fans then enter the Connor Theater, capable of accommodating up to 130 people, for the main event – a short film produced by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme.
In the theatre, moving screens, concert lighting, smoke and dynamic concert-style audio recreate the experience of attending a Hall of Fame induction. The film itself was Demme’s final piece before his death in April this year, with more than 100 artists featured, including the likes of Bob Dylan, Metallica, Prince, Alice Cooper and The Beatles.
“Not only did Demme direct films like The Silence of the Lambs, but he was also one of top music documentary makers of all time,” said BRC executive creative director, Christian Lachel, speaking to Attractions Management and making reference to Stop Making Sense – a concert movie for Talking Heads shot in 1983.
“When the inductions air on TV, you see the final cut for the HBO show, which is wonderful. But there are usually 18-20 cameras filming at any one time in those inductions. We went into the vault to look at this footage, look at the different isolated cameras, look at the things people have never seen before – the little moments.
“Demme used this footage to create a rock concert feeling with moments he thought were phenomenal. That’s what the film is. It feels like a concert when you’re in there with the lighting and the film and the audio. It’s really just a special view of a master filmmaker with a love and passion for music.”
Following the show’s conclusion, guests view artefacts from the performances they have just seen, including a black-and-red suit worn by Prince and the bass guitar played by Tina Weymouth when Talking Heads were inducted in 2002.
Visitors also have the opportunity to interact with inductees and capture their own personal memories for both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and for social media. The ‘Say it Loud’ story booths have inductees including Deep Purple’s Glenn Hughes, Smokey Robinson, Alice Cooper and others, ‘interview’ visitors in special interactive booths.
“You come into the booth and the musician will share a story they have around music. Then they ask you to share yours,” said Lachel.
“That footage goes to your social streams packaged like it's a personal interview with this inductee. We have our first set of musicians and we’ve got more lined up for the summer. We have a lot of inductees that we’ve been talking to about doing this with.”
The Connor Theater was funded by a US$9m (€7.9m, £6.9m) contribution from Chris and Sara Connor, with Chris the executive chair of Fortune 500 company Sherwin-Williams. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation contributed US$5m (€4.4m, £3.8m) towards the new visitor experience.
The attraction is currently undergoing a multi-year transformation led by BRC. In addition to its new Power of Rock Experience, the institution has announced a satellite site in Japan and has reimagined its Cleveland museum with new exhibits, a redesigned atrium, new visitor engagement initiatives, an outdoor live music stage and a new café. According to the Hall of Fame, this work has led to a double-digit attendance growth over the past two years.
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