International. Caesars Superdome in New Orleans hosted Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, Feb. 9, its eighth major NFL Game since the iconic domed venue opened in 1975.
In that time, it also served as the Big Easy's largest event facility and, more importantly, as its primary shelter during storms. Even in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina damaged the structure's exterior cladding and forced it to close for repairs, the Superdome's reopening became a powerful symbol of the city's resilience and determination to rebuild and thrive.
What also endures about the Superdome is its sound. Each of those Super Bowls also hosted one of the event's signature halftime musical performances, including this year's concert by 22-time Grammy Award winner Kendrick Lamar. Like the phoenix that it is, the Superdome rose and prepared once again, this time with an all-new sound system, which was brought specifically for the halftime and match show, and which has become a mainstay of high-end concerts globally: a system based on L-Acoustics K2, provided by ATK Audiotek/Clair Global, who have managed the half-time sound for almost 30 years.
The grid above and around the playing field
The system consisted of 16 sets of K2s and eight sets of KS28 subwoofers. A dozen of those K2 sets had K1-SB on them; eight of the K2 sets had K1-SB tightly coupled, while four of the remaining K2 sets used K1-SB as a line extension. The number of subwoofers has increased in recent years, reflecting the production of the halftime shows by Jay-Z's Roc Nation company, which has run the events in a hip-hop direction since 2019.
This temporary sound system was similar to the one used for the past two years. In fact, it's the third time that Kirk Powell, design engineer at ATK Audiotek (acquired in 2021 by Clair Global) and his staff, including show mixers Alex Guessard and Dave Natale, monitor mixers Tom Pesa and Chris Daniels, and systems engineer Johnny Keirle, have placed a standalone sound system in the air at a Super Bowl venue.
That process began two years ago, when State Farm Stadium's deployable turf field prevented carts that had been deployed for decades from quickly bringing PA components onto the field for the switch to Usher's halftime show. Until 2023, sound systems dedicated to halftime were used exclusively for musical performances, and the sound system installed in the house was used for advertisements and sound effects.
Since then, L-Acoustics' temporary PA systems have also handled all live sound in the stadium for the game and all related events, such as the Opening Night event at the stadium on Monday, where hundreds of media interviewed Super Bowl players and coaches for the first time during their only public appearance before entering the field for the Big Game. But since this year the temporary system was also being used for the entire game, there were actually a total of 200 K2s, 40 K1-SBs, and 64 KS28s, the largest such system ever implemented of any kind for a Super Bowl. It also served as the first opportunity to listen before the game and halftime events.
"The halftime show is very different from what we're doing for opening night, but we have a good idea of how the room feels," Powell says. "Having a system hanging makes a big difference because the coverage is better and it's consistent – it's there all day; we don't move it back and forth during rehearsals. It's the third time we've done this and it's a continuation of trying to improve and adjust and see if we can do a little bit better than last time."
Super challenging dome design
The Superdome, the fifth-oldest in the league and the second NFL field with a dome, is an iconic relic of an earlier era of stadium architecture and a living historical record of sound system design. "It has very deep lower balconies and that creates a big challenge," Powell says. "You have to rely on the system installed in the stadium to get the fill speakers to those areas. And acoustically speaking, there are other challenges, because it's an old stadium that wasn't updated as you would with a newer stadium so that acoustic treatments address, for example, the reflectivity of a lot of exposed concrete. In addition, it is a large and roofed room. So yes, there are acoustic problems."
The K Series
But the L-Acoustics K-Series was up to the challenge. "One of the biggest challenges was the adjustment height restriction, as no rigging element could be less than 153 feet from the field," explains PA systems designer Johnny Keirle. "That forced me to design the system at a higher than ideal height, which introduced coverage and tonal balance challenges, as well as potential temporal issues.
The flexibility of the K-Series, in particular the K2's adjustable Panflex and rigging flexibility, was key to combating these limitations. Reducing horizontal dispersion of the K2 using Panflex and using rigging bars from the K2 to allow for extreme curvature where needed, helped maintain coverage and tonal consistency despite the above-optimal tuning requirements." In addition, he adds, L-Acoustics' Soundvision design software allowed for quick and accurate optimization of on-site designs.
The musical component of the event was substantial – in addition to Kendrick Lamar's halftime show, Louisiana jazz legends Jon Batiste and Trombone Shorty with singer Lauren Daigle also performed live – and the K Series made sure everyone had a great show.
"With the K Series, instead of having a PA system, I can design a system that delivers a true rock and roll experience, not only for the halftime show, but also for the pre-game entertainment and the game itself," says Keirle. "Both elements of the event – the in-game announcements and the halftime show – have different criteria, and I approached the design of the system with both in mind from the beginning. The system was designed to offer plenty of SPL and LF contour for the halftime show to make an impact, while maintaining the clarity, intelligibility and immediacy required for game announcements and referee decisions."
The Big Game had an unexpected ending: an unbalanced scoreline that saw the Philadelphia Eagles prevent the Kansas City Chiefs from winning for the third time, widely predicted. But what everyone enjoyed was an excellent sound experience through L-Acoustics' K-Series systems. "Everything went as fantastic as we expected," Powell concluded. "We had a lot of free space with the L-Acoustics system throughout the night and it sounded great both at halftime and in the game itself. It was a victory."
