Super Bowl History

UWP at the Super Bowl: Facts

1. Up with People was the first non-marching band to do a halftime show.
2. Up with People was the first to move a complete concert sound system into the stadium to cover the entire audience in just 3 1/2 minutes. Six speaker arrays were constructed on flatbed float trailers and pulled via golf carts into the stadium and moved into position at each corner of the field and the 50-yard line in 3 1/2 minutes. This maneuver included proper exact placement and connection of the power and signal cables and was repeated for all four of our Super Bowl Halftime shows.
3. Up with People were the first entertainers to install theatrical lighting in the ceilings of football stadiums. Installation took two weeks for the technical staff to complete at both the ceilings of the Pontiac Silverdome and the Louisiana Superdome. This was done so that the lights could not be turned off due to the length of time it took for re-strike to achieve color temperature for TV. UWP, developed and installed a series of “12 foot window shades” and a pulley systems with 4 window shades each, 3 with color gels and 1 blackout (red. blue, yellow and blackout curtain) that extend out and over all the lights banks in the stadium. The shades were operated and queued via headset to 100 Airborne Rangers who had the ability to change the overall color of the stadium or completely black it out. A series of installed theatrical lighting trusses were hung from the ceiling and motored down to presentation height for theatrical lighting enhancement of the stage center piece.
4. Up with People was the first performance group to use partial playback tracks for audio clarity. This consisted of one completely “Dry Playback” recording feed sent to the stadium sound system (that we installed) and one “Reverb Enhanced Playback” recording feed sent to television. This was done so the television audience had a sound signal that represented the live performance that the stadium audience was hearing and experiencing.
5. The set for Super Bowl XX at the time was the largest constructed set to have ever been put on a football field. It spanned from the 32-yard line to the opposite 32-yard line and was 36 yards wide. The set was pushed onto the field via hydraulic wheels in 32 pieces. As each of the 32 pieces arrived at its destination location, hydrogen would be let out of each component piece wheel system, and it was lowered down and sat on a series of 8×8” pads. This was done so not to leave over 100 wheel indentations for the second half of the game–a situation that was unacceptable. After the performance, hydrogen air bottles were plugged into each piece and filled their corresponding wheel system, then the wheels would extend down and lift each piece up and back on its wheels. At that point, the set was then ready to be pushed off the field. Moving all 32 pieces onto and off the field, assembling it and locking it together, disassemble and moving off the field had to be done in 3 1/2 minutes! This entire operation was choreographed by Lynne Morris and rehearsed just as the rest of the halftime was rehearsed.The set contained as much lumber as a 3-bedroom house. In fact, it was also designed to be rehearsed upon in our indoor rehearsal set, which had pillars. The set was originally built to be moved into the rehearsal site in 64 pieces. During the rehearsals, time became of the essence and the cast needed a bit more rehearsal time before transporting the set down to the Superdome. We were faced with the challenge of not having enough time to break it down from the 32 pieces back to the original 64 pieces to get it out of the rehearsal site. Even though the rehearsal site was a large brick warehouse, we had no choice but to take out a good portion of the brick wall of the building! We moved the larger 32 pieces out, and then rebuilt the wall back to its original state.
6. The cast for the Super Bowl XX Halftime show included a total of 604 cast members, representing 22 countries.
7. During Super Bowl XX the Super Bowl, the audience participated in the show by waving flags of every color.
8. The cast for the Super Bowl XVI halftime show included 425 cast members, from 24 countries.
9. Community Involvement–While in Pontiac, Michigan, the casts performed 25 shows for area high schools, 35 shows at elementary schools, 13 shows for GM employees and their families, and 25 at area nursing homes, hospitals, correction centers, and other special care institutions.
10. While in New Orleans, Louisiana, the advance team performed 20 days of Community Involvement activities.
11. Super Bowl XVI stats by the numbers—
    • ½ ton of screws, hinges, bolts, staples and nails
    • 2 forty-five foot semi trucks
    • 2 miles of electrical wire
    • 12 spotlights
    • 34 car batteries which produced 11,000 amps of power.
    • 45 gallons of paint
    • 50 Boy Scouts
    • 60 electromagnets
    • 430 cast members representing 21 nations
    • 500 pairs of Puma athletic shoes
    • 800 flashlights
    • 852 chaser light bulbs
    • 1,500 pounds of caster wheels
    • 2,456 articles of clothing
    • 3,000 yards of imported, multi-colored Chinese silk
    • 7,000 pounds of lumber or enough to build a four-bedroom house
    • 22,848 square feet of multi-colored theatrical lighting gel paper
    • 80,000 stadium spectators
    • 204,000 individual man hours of rehearsal
    • 125 million people watching live on TV from 16 nations