On Sunday, Super Bowl XLIX featured a megawatt halftime show headlined by Katy Perry. With everything from dancing sharks and illuminated balls to fireworks and a massive shooting star, the performance featured plenty of event inspiration. Here's how to incorporate some of the ideas into events.
The performance included a sea of illuminated orbs, held by performers clad in silver spandex. San Francisco company Got Light has similar fixtures, which they used at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's Modern Ball in 2014. Got Light collaborated with Stanlee Gatti on the night's overall design.
Perry memorably made her entrance riding a giant metallic tiger puppet. A large puppet appeared at the YouthAIDS gala at Washington's Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner in 2007. Supplied by Creative Inflatables, the inflatable Moulin Rouge-style elephant was airbrushed with Indian drawings. The Los Angeles-based company also has three types of inflatable lions and an inflatable tiger.
During one section of her performance, Perry appeared onstage with costumed dancers dressed as beach balls, sharks, and other seaside tropes. To give an event a similar vibe, consider adding beach balls to the decor or even serving thematic snacks. For example: Claire Crenshaw of Chicago's Moto Restaurant created the “100 Days of Summer” dessert with coconut macarons painted to look like beach balls. The treats were plated with white-chocolate seashells and pineapple starfish, as well as “sand” made from brown sugar.
Perry's set also featured dancers clad in polka-dot bikinis. For a similar type of entertainment, consider booking the Aqualilies, a Los Angeles-based a troupe of water ballerinas.
The show featured elaborate projection mapping on the floor of the stage. The Warner Brothers International Television Distribution gala in 2012 filled a Burbank, California, lot with digital mapping by Bart Kresa Design, costumed entertainers, and an array of pyrotechnic stunts and decor. Aerialists from Lucent Dossier entertained from above the party space. Companies like Obscura Digital, Ninjaneer Studios, and Media Stage have also created such visual displays on existing buildings.
The set of Perry's performance also featured an elevated stage that had flooring lit up with vibrant lights. For a similar look, Energy Floors offers human-powered, interactive dance floors for event rental worldwide. The eight-inch-deep tiles each house small generators; the tiles compress when stepped on, activating the generators to convert the kinetic energy produced by the dancers into electricity. The power can be used to activate the colorful LED light tubes inside the tiles that respond to the movement of dancers or nearby electrical systems.
Fitting for a singer who has a hit song called "Firework," Perry's show ended with a spectacular fireworks finale. Fireworks were also incorporated into a Chicago event for Ferrara Pan Candy in 2009, when a barge stationed in the river set off 30 minutes of fireworks so that guests in the riverside host venue could look on. Those fireworks were supplied by Lumina Inc.; there are other suppliers throughout North America.
