I saw another dimension to The Smith Center the other night at The Symphonic Rockshow. In fact, Reynolds Hall was virtually turned into a supporting cast member of this live production.
Besides great rock music from Yellow Brick Road and a symphony orchestra of over 24 musicians and backup singers, the venue shone with tremendous lighting effects and the first use of pyrotechnics inside this marvelous auditorium. Lasers not only created complex changing patterns of green lights that extended to the top of the art deco ceiling, but also swirling arcs of green and red lights that actually curved around the various levels of the cream-colored wooden buttresses that supported the box seats. Then colorful projected pink, blue, and yellow kaleidoscopic patterns on both stage and ceiling in the form of large pebbles accompanied The Beatles' lyrics "I am the walrus" to soon be outdone by clusters of rays bursting with all the colors of the rainbow that were pointed toward the ceiling of the soaring structure.
Blinking white lights blazed to the strains of "Live and Let Die," and two plumes of red and orange flames leaped into the air to punctuate other songs that were from the heavy metal genre. Images of World War II bombers wheeling and diving in the air were projected on a giant video screen to accompany Pink Floyd's "The Wall"; bursts of both white and blue smoke punctuated the sounds of still more songs; and at one point dry ice rolled across the stage like a solid blanket of fog that even covered the lower half of the piano legs that were firmly mounted on the stage. Finally, a cascade of frosty white lights dripped down onto the performers like broken star particles during the encore number of Van Halen's "Jump!"
The Smith Center was showing off additional capabilities on this memorable evening! It is truly a great new resource for the performing arts in the heart of Las Vegas!