Tom Sutherland Creates Visual Worlds For Snoop Dogg's Holiday Party

A black and white photo of a young man moving between outdoor walls with energy

Live Design: What attracted to you to this project?

Tom Sutherland: The opportunity to work on a show of this scale within the context of a Christmas Day football game, which is such a long-standing tradition. Having also been part of the Beyoncé Bowl the previous Christmas, there was a real appreciation for how unique and demanding these holiday halftime productions can be.

There is something special about combining a major live sporting event with a large-scale musical performance on a day that already carries so much meaning for a lot of people. It was also a great opportunity to collaborate with an experienced and trusted team under very real time and logistical pressures. Those conditions tend to bring out the best in everyone involved, and being able to contribute creatively while executing at that level makes the project especially rewarding.

LD: What references/themes influenced your work?

TS: Early in the process, one of the core ideas that influenced the design was how we could use atmosphere to help define and differentiate the lighting looks throughout the show. We worked closely with the creative and production teams to explore how elements like haze and snow could become active parts of the visual language, rather than just environmental effects.

That approach led us to rely heavily on beams and lasers as primary tools for shaping the space. In a stadium of that scale, atmosphere allowed the light to live in the air and helped create a sense of enclosure, making the performance feel more immersive and intentional. By treating the stadium as a fully controlled environment of light, music, and atmosphere, we were able to support a wide range of moods while maintaining a cohesive visual identity across the entire halftime show. 

There was a high level of collaboration across the project, with the primary creative alignment happening between myself and the DX7 Design team, our director Alex Rudzinski, Fatima Robinson, Snoop Dogg’s team, and the producing team from Jesse Collins Entertainment. That collaboration helped balance creative ambition with the practical realities of schedule, footprint, and broadcast constraints.

LD: How did you treat each of the (very different) artists? 

TS: With such a wide range of performers, each segment was treated as its own visual world while still fitting into a cohesive halftime show. The lineup crossed multiple genres and performance styles, from Snoop Dogg, where the lighting could lean into movement, rhythm, and more aggressive effects, to Huntrix, where the focus was on supporting the energy of both their song and the dancers around them, and Lainey Wilson performing holiday material to a sea of red and white candy cane-style lighting.

The closing performance by Andrea Bocelli and Matteo Bocelli called for a more restrained and emotionally driven approach. The look was intentionally more static and composed, allowing the weight of the song to lead while still maintaining scale and presence. We leaned heavily into tones of blue and white to support the emotional quality of the performance and to visually tie into the snow effects used throughout the stadium. Beams and lasers were still very much part of the design, but they were treated in a more controlled and architectural way to ensure they complimented the music. 

Across all of the performances, the goal was to give each artist a distinct visual identity while maintaining a consistent visual language for the broadcast. Careful control of color palette, intensity, effects, and transitions allowed the show to move between high energy moments and more intimate ones without feeling out of place.

LD: Can you walk us through some of your gear choices?

TS: Given the wide range of music and performance styles, versatility and reliability were the primary drivers behind our fixture choices. We needed a system that could support everything from high energy, effects-driven moments to more restrained, calmer performances, all within the scale and constraints of a football stadium.

Robe Lighting MegaPointes were used primarily for texture, beam work, and effects. They allowed us to create depth and movement in the air and across the stadium without overwhelming the performers. Robe iForte LTXs served as the backbone of the lighting system, functioning as our key light, backlight, and camera lighting package. Their output, zoom, and color quality made them well suited for broadcast in a large stadium environment.

For pixel based looks and color impact, we leaned on ACME Lighting Pixel Line IPs and Chauvet Professional Color Strike Ms. Both fixtures gave us strong pixel effects and the ability to add color punch when needed, while still remaining flexible enough to blend into more restrained looks.

At the same time, when choosing these fixtures, we had to be mindful of footprint and placement, ensuring the rig delivered scale and flexibility without interfering with football operations, stadium infrastructure, or the actual game broadcast.

LD: What was the most challenging part of this project, and your favorite part?

TS: The compressed execution window that comes with a halftime show. Unlike a traditional concert or television production, we were working within much stricter time and logistical constraints.

We had approximately seven minutes to move all ground and stage fixtures from back of house positions onto the field, place them accurately, cable them, and confirm they were fully show ready. That window also had to account for beginning to build atmosphere in the stadium. Haze was a critical element for the design, especially for beams, lasers, and aerial effects, so those same minutes had to be used to establish an even fill across a very large space.

It required a high level of coordination between departments and a lot of pre-planning. Every position, cable run, and movement path was carefully thought through ahead of time so that once the field was turned over, execution could be fast, clean, and repeatable. When everything comes together in that short of a window, preparation is what makes the difference.

My favorite part of the project was the transition moments between each segment of the show. Because the lineup spanned such a wide range of artists and musical styles, those transitions became important creative opportunities rather than simple handoffs.

Each shift from one performance to the next was treated as a visual reset and a bridge. The goal was to smoothly carry the audience from one world into another while maintaining momentum. From a design standpoint, those moments allowed us to be very intentional with pacing, color, and atmosphere, and they ended up being some of the most creatively satisfying parts of the show.