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BRIAN ORLOFFMTV stages its new summer TV series, AT&T Wireless Presents Hard Rock Live, in Florida.
ORLANDO - It's a challenge to out-sing each other. Fans strain their voices, crying "wake me up inside/call my name and save me from the dark," as the guitars swell. Fists pumping in tandem with the dizzying light show, Evanescence fans relish the experience. An impromptu mosh pit forms in front of the stage.
But Evanescence is not yet on that stage.
Instead, a recording of Bring Me to Life, the band's breakout hit, streams through the speakers at Orlando's Hard Rock Live. Cameras on rigs soar over the capacity crowd of about 2,000 and snake up to the fan-filled balcony.
"MTV's here. . . . When does that happen to us in Orlando?" a local DJ asks, instructing the crowd to appear enthused before the cameras but not to gaze at them. Otherwise, they'll be edited out of the show.
Beginning Wednesday, MTV will air a new series,AT&T Wireless Presents Hard Rock Live, filmed exclusively in Orlando; the first episode features pop-punksters Good Charlotte. The half-hour show will be broadcast each Wednesday for 10 weeks. After a three-week break, the show will resume with 10 more episodes.
Camera crews capture the frenetic action, gathering close-ups and footage of fans wailing. Later, clips of fans grooving to the taped tunes will be spliced with live footage.
Local music fans can appreciate the show for delivering popular acts, including Matchbox Twenty and the Roots to Florida. Queens of the Stone Age and Michelle Branch also are among the acts scheduled to tape this summer. Because of geography, a loop through Florida doesn't always pay off for touring bands, but the TV show is a powerful inducement.
Tickets for the tapings are $10, a bargain in these days of $100 concert seats. And fans have the bonus of being part of a TV show.
"The whole production, even the audience, it's all geared for the broadcast production, which I think the crowd really enjoys," said the show's executive producer, Christina Hull of Fearless Entertainment.
"The bands that we choose and go after are MTV-centric and this is truly an MTV program in a half-hour format," Hull said, noting the roster's diversity. "The target (audience) is 18 to 24, and primarily when the series started we were trying to get up-and-coming bands right when they're breaking. So it will naturally tend to give you an eclectic group. We also want to have a good balance of urban bands as well as rock bands and pop-rock."
The main eventLong before the music begins, camera crews and production staffers labor over details, such as adjusting stray lights at the bottom of the stage. Concertgoers normally are bathed in pitch-black; in this concert, the lighting remains a warm glow. The stage is decorated in lighting rigs and an MTV logo.
Just like a normal concert, there's an opening act; this time it's Revis, a quintet with fierce rock 'n' roll charisma. Their pounding songs, including the kinetic single Caught in the Rain, prime the raucous crowd, which sings along.
The performance allows the crew to test their gear and see how the crowd moves. Lead singer Justin Holman gives them a workout, kicking over stage lamps and spraying his water bottle all over the stage. Crew members rush to dry off the electrical equipment while the fans are lost in the music. After Revis' brief set, crew members set the stage for Evanescence.
As if the crowd weren't already warmed up, the DJ comes out to stir them up more. At last, he exits and the band members bound onstage to a spacey, organ-led anthem. Lead singer Amy Lee leaps before her microphone, resembling a cross between Elvira and Gwen Stefani in her black-and-white-striped tights, frayed white skirt and half-buttoned leather corset.
Forty minutes into the show, the guitars snarl familiar notes, backed by ethereal keyboard. The fist-pumping begins, and the fans sing, "wake me up inside, call my name and save me from the dark."
This time, there's Lee, singing along with them.