Meet White Williams

Electronics meet art pop with White Williams, the opener for the upcoming Nine Inch Nails show. White Williams doesn’t only have a unique and interesting sound, but they are only opening for Nine Inch Nails for a single show in Lexington, KY. Want to know more? Hit the jump to read a biography about them and and interview. Read more

Taste of What’s To Come

While on vacation, I was able to catch the Nine Inch Nails show this past Saturday at another venue. Bad news: I won’t be able to make the Lexington one, Good news: I can tell you how extremely awesome it is going to be. Read more

Sharon Little: Diamond In The Rough

Sharon Little opens for Robert Plant & Alison Krauss on Friday, July 18. Guest blogger for the show, Anne Sabatino, talks about the upcoming show and an opening act you shouldn’t miss. Read more

Day With A Diva: Mickie James

WWE Summerslam was this past Friday, July 11 at Rupp Arena. As with every event, we at the Rupp Arena Blog do our best to get as much behind the scenes coverage as we can available to you. On Friday though, I was able to ride along with WWE Diva Mickie James as she traveled around Lexington to meet up with fans. Read more

Rowdy Frynds Load-in

Here are some photos I snapped of today’s load-in for the Rowdy Frynds Tour. There will be more uploaded to our Flickr at a later time, but for now this should be a nice tease for the concert tonight. Read more

People Behind the Curtain

Although the Wizard of Oz was great and powerful, perhaps he misspoke when he said “pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.” With productions of the scale that take place in Rupp Arena, perhaps it is the ‘people behind the curtain’ who should be given the most attention (except for the event itself of course). When you go to an event keeping the video production in mind, it can seem almost daunting at the amount of well edited videos that are displayed on the LED screens. As a good example, take note of the eRUPPtion Montage I posted up yesterday. Numerous montages like that are made for nearly every event that happens at Rupp Arena (be it a basketball game, concert, truck pull, etc.).

Each event definitely has it’s fair share of video production, but compared to a UK Basketball game, all our other events fall short. Of course that should not discredit the amount of work that goes into each show at Rupp Arena, but is more to emphasizing the amount of video production that goes into a single basketball game. This past Sunday, during Senior Day for UK Basketball, I was able to step inside the video production room and take some photos and a short video. Below is a clip from during the game where there are many tasks being done without a hiccup by our experienced crew.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxtC5Jg_uwQ]

It is one thing to have to produce a bunch of videos for an event and play them in the right order. It is another thing entirely to have to capture and play video on-the-fly, switching between multiple cameras, and getting the best shot for a particular situation. On top of that, there are trivia, montages and replays that have to be done and inserted into the gaps during the game. Not only is this done once, but for every UK Basketball game, men and women. That is a total of twenty-five times just this season.

To get a better sense of being in the room and seeing all the action happen, as well as the many knobs, switches and buttons that I strategically avoided to prevent meltdown, have a look at the Video Production Room set on our Flickr page. There are quite a few shots there for you to feast your eyes on. Next time you attend an event at Rupp Arena, pay attention to the many elements that go into that show. Who knows, if you like the event a lot, maybe you can treat the video production crew to a hotdog from the concessions stand.

Calm Before the eRUPPtion

Things are in place for everything tonight. The stage is set, the lights programmed, and there are willing people ready to beat the snot of out each other, gracefully of course. It was very interesting watching them setup since a cage match isn’t like any other show. It is sort of like the offspring of professional wrestling and boxing. It has an entrance stage which leads to the cage where the fight takes place, but has less emphasis on the performance and dialog, and more on the fight itself like boxing.

I hope to see you all there, but regardless of your attendance, you can check out a recap and photos I will put up in the next few days following the event. Be sure to post your comments and let us know what you thought of the show, good or bad. We are always looking for honest feedback. To tide you over, here are a few shots of the ring from the floor.

eRUPPtion Load-in

Things are coming together for the eRUPPtion event tonight at Rupp Arena. The mixed martial arts (also sometimes referred to as “ultimate fighting”) event will be going on at 8 PM tonight. If you would like to attend then you can buy some tickets online or grab some at the ticket office when you walk up. They are setting up the stage now as you can see in the photo above. It should definitely be an exciting night. Be sure to take lots of pictures if you go and send them our way. I will likely post some more behind-the-scenes shots today, and then will have a recap of the event up in the next few days.

George Strait Opening Acts

The approval and appraisal of George Strait means a lot in the country music industry. When he decided to bring along hit group Little Big Town and green-shirt Sarah Johns, it was no accident. Both acts were full of energy, and the audience seemed to agree with George’s choices, showing their enthusiasm. Below are a few photos of the openers, as well as some information about each.

Sarah Johns

Playing for her home crowd, Sarah Johns really gave it her all on stage. Sarah went to West Jessamine High School and then attended University of Kentucky. Now she has a video nominated in the CMT Music Awards and is touring the country with some of the most well known country musicians out there. She seems humbled by her success, yet extremely excited to be doing what she is doing. I am sure this is not the last everyone will hear from her.

Little Big Town

Little Big Town is no stranger to the stage, or the top of the music charts. Although not quite as successful as George Strait (yet), they have had a lot of hit singles. All four members of the group are amazing vocalists, each having their own solo sections in certain songs. The truely breathtaking part is when they perfectly harmonize with each other to create a soothing and unique sound. With four highly skilled members, they were able to move around the stage (which was in-the-round, meaning that there is seating on all sides) and each command their own portion of the crowd, and then join up together for a nice line-up of vocal talent. For their finale, the lights went dark and the first words of their song was uttered, “I have no shame…” which caused everyone in the audience to roar with excitement and get off their feet.

Tomorrow there will be a full write up of just the George Strait portion of the concert. Early next week we will be posting up all of our photos from the event to our Flickr account. If you would like to be notified as soon as the posts go live, then be sure to follow us on Twitter.

Linkin Park Load-in

Linkin Park is in Lexington!

The crew is already hard at work loading in all the instruments (above) and stage parts to prepare for the show tonight. I was able to get some shots behind-the-scenes of the stage being assembled and built. Complicated is an understatement when talking about all the detail that goes into the construction. Thousands of cords have to find their appropriate sockets, frame have to fit seemlessly together, and then it all has to be perfectly suspended about 100 feet above everything.

Below are some exclusive photos from the Linkin Park load-in to Rupp Arena.

For some more photos, stop by our Flickr page. Stay tuned for more preshow content coming later today, and then an event recap right after the concert.