BANDIT DONATES $150,000 WORTH OF LIGHTING TO GARTH BROOKS’ CHARITY CONCERT SERIES

Bandit Lites recently donated $150,000 worth of lighting to long-time client and country music legend, Garth Brooks again for five-performances in Los Angeles, CA. The 2-day event took place at the Staples Center January 25-26, 2008 to raise money for the Southern California 2008 Fire Intervention Relief Effort (F.I.R.E).

Lighting Designer, Dave Butzler chose to use 20 VL 3500 Washes, 49 VL 3000 Spots, 55 Martin MAC 2000 Washes, 22 MAC 2000 Spots, 18 Coemar Halos, 33 Coemar Infinity Washes, 49 Coemar ParLite LEDs, 6 Martin Atomic Strobes, 23 Color Kinetics iW Blasts and 4 Lycian M2 Spots to light this event. Police Beacons were added as a tribute to the firefighters and police officers that put their lives on the line to fight the fires. Lighting was controlled by three Grand MAs, one Grand MA Lite and four Grand MA NSPs.

The truss was changed to look like lighting bolts for opening song, "Thunder rolls," but the fundamental design concept was very similar to what Brooks used for the Kansas City run in late 2007- a wide rig with all moving lights. The rounded truss structure featured a custom-built centerpiece, surrounded by VL3500 Washes. Coemar ParLite LEDs were used as truss illuminators.

Lighting design was created to work well in hi-definition production, as the first concert of the series was filmed for a one-hour special titled, Garth Brooks: Live in LA!

On-site Project Manager, Don Lockridge touched on the logistical challenges of this event, “Programming was a marathon. We had 2 nights to set it up. There was a basketball game the first night, so we loaded in from midnight on. Then the next day there was a hockey game. We finished loading in after the hockey game and worked til the doors opened at 6pm for the first show and then did 2 shows that night.”

Butzler added that the crew was the key element to making this possible. “They were able to install for live TV in 18 hours, which really impressed the networks.”

Kevin Lawson was lead programmer, Kyle Russelburg was board operator and Micah Andrews was crew chief for this event. Additional Bandit crew included Andrew Heid, Chaz Martin, and Michael Shucher.

The event would not have been possible without help from Television Lighting Consultants, Bob Peterson and Bobby Dickinson, Production Manager, Brian Petree, Director, Jon Small, Garth Brooks’ Personal Assistant, Tracy Greenwood, and his Manager, Bob Doyle.