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October 6, 2002
BY BRIAN MCCOLLUM
FREE PRESS POP MUSIC WRITER
The Rolling Stones probably played some great music at their Pontiac Silverdome concerts over the years.
Too bad we never got to hear it. Not the way we were supposed to, at least.
In what many fans probably view as a merciful move, the Stones arrive in Detroit on Saturday to launch the concert career of Ford Field and leave behind the Silverdome, which for years served as the region's primary big-concert venue. Built in 1975, the Dome was a concrete behemoth where sound zigged, zagged and generally disintegrated before reaching listeners' ears -- an unwitting echo chamber that one acoustics expert describes as the "world's biggest racquetball court."
So while Ford Field might not be transforming the fortunes of the Detroit Lions, it is promising immediate relief for music fans.
It won't be just the sonics. The new stadium features bigger concourses, wider aisles and a seating design offering about as much intimacy as you can ask of a 1.8-million-square-foot building.
"If your only stadium concert experience was at the Silverdome, you're in for a big surprise at Ford Field," says Dave Clark of Clear Channel Entertainment, which booked the latest Stones gig and presented shows for years at the Silverdome. "I don't think there will be a bad seat in the house."
Good thing. Tickets for the Stones' latest Motown visit start at $50 and top out at $300.
The buzz is building as the tour makes its way to Detroit from the East Coast, where it kicked off Sept. 5 in Boston. True to form, the latest edition of the Rolling Stones' road show is larger than life: The first of 53 tour trucks arrives late Monday night, carting the steel that will form the 82-foot-tall stage where Mick Jagger and company will crank out two hours of greatest hits.
Saturday's show won't be the stadium's first entertainment event. That honor belonged to Impact, a variety show that featured Gladys Knight on Sept. 5. The band won't even perform Ford Field's first rock concert; the veteran Detroit act Rare Earth is to perform on a small stage at 11 a.m. today, part of the festivities for the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank International Marathon.
But the Stones show is certainly the first prime-time concert spectacle at the new building. And it's the show that will provide Ford Field officials and area concert promoters their first real test run at the stadium.
"All our questions will be answered Saturday night," says Rick Franks, who heads Clear Channel's local operation.
Many Detroit concertgoers will tell you it's about time they got some bang for their buck.
Ticket prices have skyrocketed. In 1996, the average ticket for an arena concert in metro Detroit was $24.81, according to data compiled by the Free Press. Five years later, that price had jumped 44 percent, to $35.72. And that's adjusting for inflation.
Fans who used Ticketmaster to buy a top-end ticket for next weekend's Stones show paid nearly $350 after convenience charges and facility fees. When staring at those kinds of numbers, fans figure they deserve a quality venue along with a quality performance.
Nationwide, stadium owners have caught on. This is a new era in stadium design; gone are the days when buildings were tossed up to squeeze in a bunch of football fans. Venues such as Ford Field are built as multipurpose facilities, primed for year-round use.
"People recognize now that it's about more than having X number of seats and not getting wet," says Jack Wrightson, a stadium design consultant in Dallas. "There's a lot that goes into a modern entertainment building to make it a longterm success."
A building's acoustics -- the character of sound in the room -- is among the qualities that have earned new appreciation among stadium designers. As a principal in the firm WJHW Inc., Wrightson came aboard the Ford Field project in late 1997, responsible for the in-house sound and video systems.
Using computerized three-dimensional models, Wrightson and his colleagues were able to pinpoint the building's sonic hot and cold spots even before the stadium was built.
That's how Ford Field wound up with a couple acres' worth of fiberglass ribbon strung overhead, massive absorbers that prevent sound from careening off the highly reflective ceiling. And while the stadium's artificial turf will be protected with plastic covering, the key is that it's there, helping with sound absorption. At the Silverdome, concerts were usually played in front of a massive concrete floor after the turf had been removed.
Wrightson says he's confident Ford Field will emerge as one of the top three domed stadiums in the country for concerts.
"One thing everybody has to remember is the thing is not designed primarily as a concert venue," he says. "But within the larger context, it has much better than average acoustic characteristics than other domed stadiums."
Another major variable can affect sound quality: a tour's audio system. Most bands travel with their own sound systems -- in the Stones' case, a 252,000-watt set-up. Four generators stationed on semitrailers will fuel the show's sound and lights, pumping out enough energy to power four city blocks.
It could add up to one of the best-sounding big concerts Detroit has seen in years.
Veteran concertgoers are keeping their fingers crossed. Deb Freedlander of Southfield has a pair of tickets to see the Stones, and after attending a couple of Lions games this season, she has high hopes for Ford Field as a music hall.
"I think it's going to be a really good venue for shows. I like the character of the building -- that will add to the enjoyment factor," she says.
And, hey . . . it's no Silverdome.
"Ford Field should be better," Freedlander says. "I know it can't be worse."
Contact BRIAN McCOLLUM at 313-223-4450 or [email protected].
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| Martha |
Thanks for posting this CS...my Hubby and I will be there on the floor 27 rows back..and I CANNOT WAIT!!!! |
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| chevysales |
makes me wanna make the trek but alas football calls. |
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