many of the artists performing with Hotels Live , they ’ re used to a typical run-of-themill club lighting package . For them , what they ’ re getting with these shows is aboveand-beyond anything they ’ ve commonly played with , and that is before you factor in the cool vertical concert setting .
The person who makes these eye-popping experiences possible for the artists and fans ( aside from Cyrynowski ) is George Antonio , the owner , CEO , and production manager at Calgary-based Pulse Concert Works . Antonio and Cyrynowski met through their mutual friend , Greg Cox , who plays in a number of bands , including Pink 4reud . It was Cox who told Cyrynowski that if he ’ s going to pursue this idea of balcony concerts , he should hire Antonio . It was certainly a good suggestion .
“ It ’ s been a lot fun , because these are repurposed hotel atriums and pool decks that we get to use as a blank canvas to create a whole new experience . George certainly is the creative force behind that and I give him all the credit . I love to come to our shows and just be wowed letting George do his thing ,” says Cyrynowski . “ I mean , we did a Pink Floyd tribute … and I think he brought in six lasers for that show . It was quite spectacular , just to see a laser light show and concert during COVID , and it was the only concert in Canada at that time in December . It just blew everyone ’ s minds away and that ’ s what we wanted to do .”
For Antonio , who has over 30 years of experience touring with major acts around the world , Hotels Live presented a fun new challenge . The venues are certainly different than any club , theatre , or arena , and so is the audience ’ s view .
LE CIRQUE DE LA NUIT IN THE DELTA CALGARY SOUTH ’ S ATRIUM
But the first challenge for Cyrynowski and Antonio , before any lighting and video package could be designed , is finding appropriate venues . That ’ s because it takes a very specific style of hotel property for this to work well .
“ That ’ s a unique challenge , because the standard thing is power , of course , and the second thing is exposure and optics to rooms ,” says Antonio , adding that it requires finding a hotel with the right combination of potential stage area and enough rooms overlooking it within the workable horizontal and vertical sightlines . There is definitely no shortage of hotels wanting to host the concerts , but only a small percentage have the right space . “ We ’ ve been brought in by other clients looking to expand what we do into other cities and we found being on a rooftop or being in a parking lot can actually be too big . Some of these hotels are lovely to work with , but they are limited for exposure to a good [ stage area ]. If you ’ re in a half-bowl , that would be the ultimate scenario . Or , if you have a flat and wide area where you can expand your stage , that would be great . I don ’ t know about you , but I get vertigo when I look more than 100 feet straight down . It ’ s not enjoyable at all . So , some of the hotels were like 30 stories tall by 100 rooms across , they were these enormous venues where we would love to do something because of the revenue possibilities , but there wasn ’ t an area for the stage to be far enough out in front of the balconies to present it properly .”
For the shows in the summer and fall , the main venue was the Ramada Plaza in downtown Calgary , with the stage built over the third-story outdoor pool deck .
For Hotels Live ’ s current indoor shows throughout this winter , the venue is the Delta Calgary South , with the stage situated in its indoor Atrium Events Centre , which is roughly the size of a football field .
“ In the hotel that we ’ re in currently … they actually said , ‘ Okay , we ’ ve got a lot of useless space because we have a pool off to one side in the atrium that we haven ’ t used in four years . What can we do ?’ So , the first concept was totally in-the-round . But having looked at that , we went , ‘ Nah , that ’ s four times more equipment , with four times more audio and video coverage , so let ’ s do it at one end .’ We actually went in and constructed a stage over the pool to make the venue fit to what would work ,” explains Antonio .
Of course , designing a stage and AVL system for a concert that plays to hotel balconies is a fairly unusual endeavour , even for someone with decades of concert experience like Antonio . At the Ramada in downtown Calgary , which hosted the outdoor shows , the audience layout was about 20 rooms wide by eight stories tall . What Antonio quickly realized is that if there was a roof over the stage , you couldn ’ t see the band from the upper balconies . As well , in order for the top half of the audience to see the video screens – which are showing IMAG footage of the artists during the shows , as well as sponsorship reels before and after – they would need to be tilted 60 to 80 degrees . “ There were great talks about how we were going to do that with the video team , as well as the equipment manufacturers . We were worried about heat and sunshine and then rain , and then what would happen if we had a deluge ? Of course , the first show that we did was raining cats and dogs ,” recalls Antonio . “ The first couple of dates were a little bit rough , because we were looking at it going , ‘ Well , do we need more tilt ? How are we going to fix this ?’ But we fine-tuned it where the visual experience was pretty impressive .”
The only option for the LED screens to be seen well by the audience was to significantly tilt them . The manufacturer , though , warned them not do it because of the risk of rain pooling inside and on top of the unit . To make it work , Antonio had to cover the screens in poly , and has custom , ultra-clear covers coming for when it threatens to rain . “ But we ran into situations where heat was going to be a problem if we covered the screens and
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