New immersive Las Vegas exhibit brings rock 'n' roll history to life
Bryan West- “Amplified,” a new exhibit in Las Vegas, immerses visitors in the history of rock ‘n’ roll.
- The exhibit features a 360-degree theater with vibrant photos, videos and animations, as well as narration by actor Kevin Bacon.
- More than 300 artists are featured in the exhibit, including Taylor Swift, who appears nine times.
It's one thing to hear the story of rock 'n' roll; it's another to be fully immersed in it.
"Amplified" is a new exhibit in Las Vegas hoping to bring fans of the guitar jamming, drum banging music genre to Illuminarium, an attraction about a mile west of the Strip.
Eventgoers walk into an L-shaped room and stand under a sky of 50 projectors. The show envelops visitors in a sea of vibrant photos, videos and animations.
The audio smoothly transitions between seven decades of rock 'n' roll history. Actor Kevin Bacon narrates. The clips play on every inch of the 360-degree theater, including the floor.
"We approached one of our partners, David Rockwell, who's done every Nobu restaurant in the world," says Alan Greenberg, the CEO of Illuminarium Experiences. "He didn't want this to be a box or a sphere design. He wanted to have a surprise where people could walk around a corner to see things."
The storytelling weaves through the evolution of rock 'n' roll with backstage videos, recording studio clips, muscle cars, the fight for civil rights and larger-than-life hair. Keep your phone at the ready if you want to capture moments of your favorite artists, because they fly by in the strum of a guitar chord.
"The story is not only told through narration," says executive producer Brad Siegel. "The story is told through the song choices. Every one of the songs needed to work hard enough to reinforce and fill out the story."
There's a dance break to "Pink Pony Club" by Chappell Roan halfway through.
Siegel, the founder of Brand New World Studios, started working on the project two years ago. In conjunction with Illuminarium Experiences and Rolling Stone Magazine, he oversaw the production combing through 10,000 photographs and 250 archival clips.
The culmination includes a carousel of all 1,300 Rolling Stone covers chronologically displayed.
"That shows the impact on pop culture," Siegel says. "Being on the cover of Rolling Stone is, as we say, the Mount Olympus of a career. Doing the Rolling Stone interview is the apex of a career. You've made it."
Images zip by swiftly
More than 300 artists are included in the show including Taylor Swift. Before you walk into the gnomon-shaped theater, you stand in a room with the names of every singer and band snaking along the wall.
Swift appears nine times during the show: four times in the 50 minutes leading up to the magazine cover rollout, four magazine covers (one in the 2000s and three in the 2010s) and then once during the ending credits.
Can you spot the two Swift covers in the image below?
"A lot of people have affected rock 'n' roll," Greenberg says. "A lot of people have been affected by rock 'n' roll. We wanted to broaden the audience to tell the overall story."
The experience opened to the public Wednesday. Tickets start at $39. The hope is to expand "Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified" to more locations, possibly including Scottsdale, New York, Montreal, Sydney and Melbourne.
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