Stormproof stage keeps Oceanfront music fest on track

Under a merciless sun, about a dozen men climbed 50 feet in the air on what looks like a giant boxy jungle gym. They hoisted, locked and hammered into place steel scaffolding for an enormous stage at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, doing it all with impressive speed and agility.

The 32 workers who buzzed around the structure on Wednesday, including two forklift drivers building mountainous sand berms, had roughly another 24 hours to get everything done for the Verizon Wireless American Music Festival, which starts today despite the threat of Hurricane Earl.

"What we have done is we have positioned ourselves to take advantage of every window of opportunity to do things right," said Bobby Melatti, program director at BeachEvents. "What you see here is an engineered stage. This isn't something just thrown up."

The structure - which is 50 feet high, 132 feet wide and 44 feet deep - is designed to withstand the rush of hurricane winds. Anything that would create resistance, such as banners, roofing and the dark canvas that covers the scaffolding, will stay off until this evening, just before the first show at 5:30 with the Right On Band.

"By then, the peak of the storm should be over," Melatti said.

Ten-foot-tall sand berms should provide another barrier against high winds.

"They block a lot of the incoming winds so that they aren't hitting the stage or the base directly," said Jake Smolenak, a supervisor with Pennsylvania-based Mountain Productions, the company building the AMF main stage.

The berms should also block the winds from eroding the sand at the base of the stage.

"Everything is strapped, locked and secure," Smolenak said. "From the staging to the city electricians coming out to help with the power, this is by no means a small undertaking."

But just in case the weather is too severe and the main stage at 5th Street isn't an option, Melatti said the three other city stages at 17th, 24th and 31st streets will be used.

"The philosophy that I employ is that cancellation is a bad thing," said Melatti, a 30-year promotions veteran. "It's like an onion. We peel the layers. We may get down to one stage, but we still have a stage. Unless the integrity of this thing is compromised by some unforeseen, cataclysmic disaster, the show will happen."

Rashod Ollison, (757) 446-2732, rashod.ollison@pilotonline.com