NASHVILLE – Bandit Lites is on the road again with Miranda Lambert, who is touring with Dierks Bentley on her Locked and Reloaded tour. LD Chris Lisle has worked with Lambert for eight years, and says this is her biggest production yet. Lisle’s challenge was incorporating a design based around Dierks Bentley’s portion of the show. In the design, Lisle is using – for the first time on the road – Chauvet’s newest Professional Legend 230SR Beam.
More details from Bandit Lites (http://www.banditlites.com):
NASHVILLE – Bandit Lites is on the road again with Miranda Lambert. Hot on the heels of her fourth album, Four the Record, Lambert is hitting the road with Dierks Bentley for her newest tour, Locked and Reloaded.
LD Chris Lisle has worked with Lambert for eight years, starting in 2005 when she began touring with Keith Urban.
“As a support act, you work with a minimal amount of rig,” said Lisle of the early Lambert shows. “From that, her next step was growing into carrying her own lighting director, and with that we put out a basic 10-light lighting package.”
Miranda’s tour now boasts more than 100 moving lights and a full crew.
“It’s one of those things that is always cool for me to work with an artist from that level up because you get to go through all the current stages,” said Lisle.
To design the lighting system for her Locked and Reloaded tour, Lisle worked with Lambert for over nine months. “Every artist is different in terms of what information they give you, what direction they give you for a design,” explained Lisle. “Some are specific. Miranda is very general: There are some big, broad strokes of things she likes to see.”
After designing multiple versions of plots, Lisle combined the artist’s favorite aspects of each plot into one grand concept. After addressing budget and corresponding equipment lists, Lisle worked with the set designer and video production to build the massive rig.
“It’s an on-going progress,” said Lisle, “and it won’t be (but) three or more months from now that we’ll start talking about her 2014 tour. It’s a constant cycle.”
A challenge for Lisle was incorporating a design based around Dierks Bentley’s portion of the concert. “As Miranda was coming up, she went out on tour with Dierks and he took very good care of her, as a support act,” said Lisle. “She gave me a specific direction to make sure that he gets as much of the rig as possible. The toughest part was coming up with ways to make my vision work for her, but also letting Dierks’ team come in and do their thing and make that happen.”
Fortunately, it did happen, as everyone worked together to create the massive rig. “It’s a lot of toys,” said Lisle. “I have a lot of toys in the toy box and it’s one of the biggest things I’ve done in a long time.”
A main part of the design features three massive chandeliers comprised of two circular trusses hanging over the stage. A large archway looms out in the front while a five-foot mirror ball is aloft on high, waiting for the perfect moment to descend.
“That is one of the moments where the crowd knows what I am talking about,” said Lisle, always mindful of how the lighting adds and not distracts from the artist’s performance. “It’s something I’m adamant about,” he explained. “It’s about her performance. So even when I’m about to do the mirror ball, I try to do it in a way that still goes along with what she’s doing, because it is a big moment. You have a five foot mirror ball, and that really stands out.”
Lambert’s tour is the first to hit the road with Chauvet’s newest Professional Legend 230SR Beam. The new intelligent light is an ultra-narrow beam moving yoke fixture and is powered by the new Osram SR230 Lamp. Other equipment used includes MAC 2000 washes, VL 3000 spots and Bandit 5×5 matrixes.
Additional support came from lighting director Craig Richter, production manager Todd Ortmeier and Miranda Lambert’s tour manager, Ryan Westbrook.
“I am proud to be associated with the Miranda Lambert organization,” said Bandit Lites’ vice-president Mike Golden. “I have known Chris Lisle and Todd Ortmeier for over 20 years, and I am very much honored to work with these great people. The design, planning and operation of that tour are beyond stunning. My hat’s off to the entire team.”
“I’m thrilled with the Bandit crew,” said Lisle. “They worked really, really hard. It’s a lot of work, especially when you begin a tour, working out the kinks. They have done a really good job, and I’m thrilled with the crew. The Bandit customer service is fantastic: we need lamps, they get us lamps. They’ve been very supportive of the tour.”
More details from Chauvet Professional (http://www.chauvetlighting.com):
FT LAUDERDALE, FL — Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley kicked off the Locked & Reloaded Tour Jan. 17, with concerts scheduled throughout the U.S. LD Chris Lisle carefully conceived a design to suit Miranda’s rock’n’roll style and to capture her talent, also incorporating 66 Chauvet fixtures. Bandit Lites provided the Chauvet gear.
“Miranda’s music can have a very rock’n’roll feel as well,” Lisle said. “I wanted a design that can accentuate her music, while filling the space visually. We also use a lot of circular truss to make it look like a big rock’n’roll concert.”
For dramatic and energizing looks, Lisle uses 26 Chauvet Professional Legend 230SR Beam moving yokes that steal the show with their big, punchy beams. “Twenty of these powerful fixtures shoot bright, powerful beams from behind the band, while six are on the floor, at the front of the stage,” Lisle said.
“We are excited we got the chance to work with the Legend 230SR Beam fixtures,” Lisle said. “Initially we were looking to use the Sharpy from Clay Paky, but we saw a demo of the Legend 230SR Beam and we were surprised. It has a great color, nice gobos and beam effects, and has proved durable on the tour.”
Twelve Chauvet Professional COLORado Batten 72 Tour linear wash lights uplight a large Plexiglas guitar built in the thrust. Twenty Chauvet Professional COLORdash Accent low-profile fixtures warm the truss that frames the two video screens on each side of the stage. “These are durable and reliable lights,” Lisle said. “We have used them on a previous tour and they have performed very well. We love them.”
Eight Chauvet DJ Geyser RGB pyrotechnic-like effect fogger/wash fixtures work for bold effects from a riser behind the band. “We use the Geyser RGB to accentuate a couple key moments during the show. Geyser RGB is unique and it creates a jet-like effect, which adds so much to the show. We really like them.”
“We’re very happy with the Chauvet products,” Lisle said. “Customer service has been fantastic and I look forward to using the products more.”
Photo: Chauvet
