Country star Jimmie Allen kicked off his Down Home Tour 2022, his first headlining tour, with a lighting system provided by Bandit Lites. The multi-platinum recording artist and songwriter is currently nominated for Best New Artist at the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards, his first ever GRAMMY nomination; he is the only Country nominee in the all-genre category. His newest single “Down Home” was released March 8 and serves as the first single from his forthcoming third album.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the entire Jimmie Allen team,” said Bandit Lites Vice President Mike Golden. “Tour Manager David Schultz and I began working together when he first graduated from Belmont. As time moved forward, he involved Production Manager Parker Anderson, who David met while attending school. They in turn hired Lane Hymel, who had also worked with Bandit in the past. This group is a highly motivated team that has taken Jimmie’s production to a new level, and we are very proud to be working this team.”
“We wanted a rig that could give us the biggest impact and fit into our budget,” explained Lighting Designer Lane Hymel. “Choosing fixtures like Chauvet’s EPIX Bar Tour allow us to offer the big eye candy look that we knew we wanted while also fitting within our budget. The Robe Spikie was also a great option for us with its small form factor.”
With the builds happening later in the afternoon on most days, load-in needs to be both quick and efficient. Hymel configured a design that utilized pipe and GT Truss that would transform into buildable set carts making changeovers and load-outs quick and easy. Twelve pipe uprights are mounted with Chauvet EPIX Bar Tours, while the top of the bars feature ROBE Spikies. Affixed along eight of the pipes are Elation WW2 blinders while additional EPIX Bars line the edge of risers to accent the stage and offer clean lines.
With no wash fixtures in the ground package, Hymel was tasked with formulating a rig that bridged that design gap. His solution: Chauvet EPIX Bar Tour. “I am a huge fan of the Chauvet EPIX Bar Tours,” said Hymel. “They add the punch I was looking for without having wash fixtures in our rig. I’m able to use solid colors to have an unconventional wash for the stage as well as mapping our content from the media servers onto them. It gives an extra layer of depth to our design.”
“I can’t thank Jake Tickle and his team in the Nashville shop enough,” finished Hymel. “We were really in a time crunch to get this rig prepped and out the door for rehearsals. The team at Bandit Nashville really stepped up and helped us get it together quickly and efficiently. We are happy to have Michael Golden, Matt King, and Jake Tickle in our corner. We are very excited about the future of working with Bandit!”
The Jimmie Allen Tour is also carrying an audio package provided by Sound Image, set pieces and risers from Gallagher Staging, and a video package from Moo TV.
