Welcome to The Show: A History of Rock in Concert
This brand-new exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame invites guests to explore how live music, specifically the rock concert, has responded to, rebelled against, and even helped shape political and social movements around the world.
An interactive timeline guides visitors through 70 years of history, offering a dual experience: a chronological journey through landmark concerts and a step-by-step progression that mirrors the experience of attending a live show; culminating in a dynamic, immersive concert finale.
Note: Click on images to expand.
Walkthrough Video
The Brief
Client: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (Cleveland, Ohio).
Expectations: A visual, perhaps interactive, etc. Timeline of the History of Rock and Roll. Please note that you may look at any aspect of Rock and Roll such as: Overall History, History of Band(s), Types of Rock and Roll, Album Covers, Costumes, Memorabilia, etc.
Venue: The Timeline will be located in a Gallery on or in front of a wall (100’-0” Long x 15’-0” High).
Timeline: 7 days from kick-off to presentation of the initial concept deck including moodboards, layout, and spatial study.
Note: I chose to continue to work on the project after presentation to complete the graphics and full renders.
Process
As a lifelong fan of live music who has attended hundreds of shows, I knew from the beginning that I wanted this project to celebrate the history and experience of attending a rock concert.
My goal was to share that passion, electrifying and inspiring guests who’ve never been to a show to go buy a ticket, while helping seasoned concertgoers relive their favorite moments and gain a deeper appreciation for how concerts have reflected and shaped the world around them.
Concept
The Show: A History of Rock in Concert seeks to create a timeline that gives guests a chronological overview of the history of Rock Concerts while immersing them in an experience that will leave them emotionally charged and feeling like they just attended an actual concert. The timeline works on two levels:
- The overall experience takes guests chronologically through the key moments of attending a concert.
- Each of these moments acts as an independent timeline focused on educating the guest about specific historical aspect of concerts.
Moodboards
Each area was designed to present information in a unique manner while creating a cohesive look and feel across the entire experience by drawing reference from rock show iconography such as wheat-pasted posters, ticket stubs, amp stacks, and neon marquees.
Layout
With permission from the “client” I divided the space using temporary walls in order to create separate areas for each step of the progressive experience. The long hallway helped to reinforce the chronology as guests progress through each area in a linear manner.
Initial Sketch:
Final Refined Layout
Spatial Study
The Experience
Entrance
The main entry point for the timeline and the exhibit, the entrance will include the exhibit signage and statement. The primary signage consists of wheat pasted posters affixed to construction scaffolding with the exhibit name spray-painted over top – a nod to one of the most classic forms of street level advertising for concerts. The opposing wall features the curator’s statement, providing context for the exhibit as guests enter.
Ticket Hall
Concert tickets are sacred objects to the concert goer. They represent all of the anticipation and excitement leading up to a show, they are the key to entrance at the venue, and they serve as a keepsake after. They are also temporal – rooted in the specific date, time, and location of the show. They are the perfect symbolic representation of the chronology of concerts and a fitting first experiential touchpoint for the exhibit.
The walls of the hall will be lined with ticket stubs, in chronological order, showing a history of rock concerts covering a wide range of notable bands and shows. Concerts of particular historical significance (The Beatles at Shea Stadium, Nirvana at Reading, The Grateful Dead’s last show at Soldier Field, etc) will be showcased using posters to give them more prominence. Whenever possible authentic ticket stubs and posters will be shown, but reproductions may be used if an original is unavailable.
Click and drag to explore.
The middle of the ticket hall is dominated by two long double sided console tables. These consoles act as an interactive timeline, allowing guests to dive deeper into specific time periods, bands, and shows.
Guests can either explore by browsing through shows (again using ticket stubs as visual representations) or search by artist, date, location, venue, etc. Each digital ticket acts as a portal to more information about that show including text, images, and audio/video if available.
Gear Wall
Artists and venues continually push technological boundaries with equipment, lighting, and effects in the service of improved sound, increased flexibility and portability, more intense theatrics to thrill audiences, and an overall better show.
The load in and setup of equipment serves as the prologue to the show. The wall of gear will serve a similar function – helping to break up the timeline, give guests an overview of the evolution of equipment, and transition them to the next touch point at the venue.
The Venue
If the concert is ritual then the venue is Church. From residential basements to small clubs to massive stadiums the walls of these spaces echo with the history of the thousands of bands who have graced their stages.
Their facades and marquees are iconic. Fans follow venues with almost as much fervency and reverence as they do their favorite artists and they mourn when a cherished venue closes. The Venue wall will be lined with photos, information, band lists, and artifacts from historical venues, inviting guests to learn about and explore some of these hallowed spaces.
The venue door is the final threshold to a concert and will serve as the gateway to the next part of the exhibit experience as guests pass through a full size recreation of the facade of an iconic long lost venue.
Click and drag to explore.
The Show
The concert is the culmination of everything that has come before it, the rush and release of all the pent up excitement leading to that moment and the feeling of being surrounded by hundreds or thousands of fans all screaming and dancing along with you and with the music.
This is the final experience of the timeline and as such the theater is meant to recreate the feeling of being at a live show with the goal of leaving guests emotionally charged and filled with excitement and energy.
The room will be modeled to mimic a venue with a large screen on the stage. The screen will play a video loop consisting of a dynamic edit of short snippets of footage and audio from historical concert performances seamlessly fused together, similar to a remix or mashup, in loose chronological order (music example / video editing example).
Multi-dimensional audio will envelope the guests in music and ambient crowd noise and a programmed lighting rig will react in real time to what’s happening on screen to create an immersive environment.
Exit – Tour Van
The tour van is the workhorse of the touring band, it’s where they often start and end the day as they travel from city to city, it will also serve as the end of the exhibit.
After exiting the theater through the side door guests can continue to explore the wall of gear or move to the left where they will find a full size tour van and trailer from a well known band’s early days. The positioning of the van and trailer will make it look like it’s haphazardly parked outside a venue.
Elevations
Entrance
Ticket Hall
Gear Wall
Venue Walls
Theater Facade
Theater Interior
Tour Van
Credits
R. Kyle Everett
Concept, layout, spatial and environmental design, 3D modeling and renders, graphics, writing.
Portfolio // LinkedIn
The 3D model includes models and elements sourced from 3D Warehouse (ex: van and trailer, amps and elements on the gear wall, truss, and other misc pieces).
Music in video remixed by Ithaca Studio.
Photos and venue descriptions are sourced from various websites.
With the exception of using Topaz Gigapixel to upscale one image (Dave Grohl at the exhibit entrance) no AI was used in the creation of this project.
All copyrights belong to their respective owners.
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