Pixelon | MGM Grand, Las Vegas | October 29, 1999
Event Identity Design • Broadcast Coordination • Stage Video Design & Animation
In October 1999, I was part of one of the most ambitious live entertainment and Internet broadcasting events of its time.
Pixelon, a Silicon Valley startup promising to revolutionize streaming video, spent an estimated $10 million producing iBASH ’99, a massive entertainment event staged throughout the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The lineup was extraordinary: The Who, KISS, Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole, Faith Hill, Dixie Chicks, LeAnn Rimes, Brian Setzer Orchestra, Sugar Ray, The Offspring, and Chely Wright, with David Spade and Cindy Margolis hosting.
My Role
I was brought into the production as Broadcast Coordinator, working with the production team on the complicated schedules, graphics, animation, and logistics required to bring together multiple performances across the property.
But my involvement went well beyond coordination.
I personally designed the original iBASH ’99 event logo and created and animated the entire background video presentation for The Who’s stage performance.
That concert marked the opening of The Who’s 1999 reunion tour and was subsequently released as The Who: The Vegas Job. The background video imagery appearing on their stage during that performance was my work.
Behind the Scenes
Preparation took us to San Clemente, California, where we spent weeks developing and coordinating production elements before moving to Las Vegas.
This was 1999. High-speed Internet was hardly commonplace, streaming technology was in its infancy, and producing a television-quality event for Internet distribution was a considerable undertaking.
At one point during the production, I was physically carrying videotape between the production truck and the broadcast uplink, with roughly 30 seconds separating playback from transmission.
It was an extraordinary combination of cutting-edge ambition and decidedly hands-on production.
An Event That Became Internet History
As spectacular as the entertainment was, Pixelon’s technology never delivered on its promises. The company subsequently collapsed, and iBASH ’99 became a notorious chapter in the early history of Internet streaming.
But the event itself was real. The performers were real. The production was enormous. And the creative work remains part of my career.
Looking back, iBASH ’99 represents something I’ve experienced repeatedly throughout my career: working at the intersection of creative production and emerging technology, sometimes well ahead of where that technology was ready to go.
Historical References
Las Vegas Weekly: iBASH at the MGM Grand, October 29, 1999 — Dennis Mitchell, June 3, 2015
The Who: The Vegas Job — Concert recording of The Who’s iBASH performance
Portfolio images include original event materials, my iBASH logo design, and surviving production documentation from October 1999.
