Stars gathered at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena for Love Rising, a benefit concert for Tennessee Equality Project, Inclusion Tennessee, OUTMemphis, and The Tennessee Pride Chamber. Bandit Lites provided the lighting for the evening of joy and dancing, where performances included Allison Russell, Maren Morris, Sheryl Crow, Amanda Shires, Brittany Howard, Hozier, Jake Wesley Rogers, Jason Isbell, Joy Oladokun, Julien Baker, Mya Byrne, The Rainbow Coalition Band, and YOLA.
Arthur Switzer of Live Nation connected Bandit Lites Vice President Mike Golden with Lighting Designer Eric Cathcart of Bigtime Lighting Design, who developed a lighting system in 10 days for nearly 32 different performances. “Eric is as a fantastic designer and he certainly didn’t disappoint,” said Golden. “Between Arthur, Eric, and a great crew from us, the rig went in day of event. I think the pictures speak for themselves in terms of how well the show came off.”
Using big washes over the band and tight key lighting, Cathcart tackled programming the show by keeping camera images at the front of mind. Bandit Lites supplied more than 160 fixtures for the concert including Chauvet Rogue R2X Washes, Martin MAC Viper Profiles and Martin Sceptron VDO 10-1000 mm fixtures as well as two grandMA 2 full consoles.
“All of the fixtures used were mainly for the cameras,” Cathcart explained. “The washes used over the stage were for washing the stage; the side and tower washes were intended for ariel beams as well as to fill up any black holes that the cameras might find. The profiles were mainly used to paint the stage and the audience with patterns and colors for the cameras. There were 10 profiles in the DS truss that were dedicated to key lighting. The Sceptrons were purely eye candy for the camera.”
Cathcart brought in his main collaborator Michael Grant to assist on show day, putting him in charge of key lighting and ensuring everything translated well on the preview monitor for video. Given the tight timeline, trusting the gear and crew to Bandit Lites proved essential in executing a successful event.
“Not having any production time, loading in morning of show, I knew that we needed to go with a company that would have everything prepped and ready to go right off the truck,” finished Cathcart. “Having worked for Bandit years ago, I knew that everything would be top notch. The gear loaded in and worked the first time.” “My thanks to both Arthur and Eric for giving us the opportunity to work with them,” added Golden. “I certainly look forward to the next time Bandit may be of service.”
Further information from Bandit Lites, Inc.: www.BanditLites.com
