ASHEVILLE, NC – Pulse Lighting and Bandit Lites joined forces to light the 26th Christmas Jam hosted by Warren Haynes at U.S. Cellular Center on Dec. 13, 2014. With access to Bandit’s entire inventory, LD Preston Hoffman used 56 GLP X4s, 14 Martin MAC Vipers, six Robe BMFLs, 12 Clay Paky Sharpys, 30 Elation CuePix Panels, 17 2-cell LED blinders, 12 GRN Pars and two grandMA2 consoles for control.
More details from Bandit Lites (www.banditlites.com):
ASHEVILLE, NC – Warren Haynes and friends took the stage for his 26th Christmas Jam, an event filled with amazing music for a great cause. Proceeds for this “one-of-a-kind, semi-structured marathon of music” benefit the Habitat for Humanity, and this year’s lineup included Gov’t Mule, Jason Isbell, The Hard Working Americans, The Revivalists and Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead’s new band, Billy and the Kids.
This year marked the fifth year of Pulse Lighting’s involvement with the event, with lighting designer Preston Hoffman working each year to create an even more sophisticated design, a feat enabled with Bandit Lites.
“The Xmas Jam is a very special show for me each year,” said Hoffman. “The Christmas spirit is always in the air, and it is a time for me to help give back to families less fortunate than I am. Bandit Lites lends a hand each year by providing the lighting equipment at cost as a way of helping us achieve this goal.”
LD Preston Hoffman used 56 GLP X4s, 14 Martin MAC Vipers, six Robe BMFLs, 12 Clay Paky Sharpys, 30 Elation CuePix Panels, 17 2-cell LED blinders, 12 GRN Pars and two grandMA2 consoles for control.
“The design started off with the X4s, since last year I discovered how great these fixtures are used in large numbers. They really give a big foundation to each look in that they fill a lot of space with full wash or big arrays of tight beams. I then put the Vipers in strategic locations so they can bring some nice textual beams to the design. Sharpys were placed on a low truss so that they have the most freedom to be focused up or down and be the center piece of the rig. The blinders were placed on each truss to spread around a nice blinder look that doubled as strobes.
The newest additions to the rig included Robe BMFLs and CuePix cubes. Hoffman previously worked with BMFLs to illuminate Boston’s City Hall for the Boston Calling Festival, an experience that showcased the fixture’s immense projection capacity. Robe loaned six for the event.
“We were throwing around several backdrop ideas and it dawned on me that these fixtures would be the answer,” explained Hoffman. “I hung a polysilk backdrop and used these fixtures to project from the DS Truss. When they were not being used for projection, they could be out in the house providing sophisticated beams.”
With Xmas Jam being a particularly festive event, Hoffman took the opportunity to use custom fixtures his company Pulse Lighting had fabricated over the summer consisting of 6 CuePix panels mounted in a steel cubic frame.
“We happen to be housing these at Bandit’s Nashville shop, and I thought they would be perfect for this show,” said Hoffman. “They were hung along a center truss spine over the audience giving everyone in the room an engaging piece of eye candy. I brought in LD Kenny Gribbon who had them out this summer to program them and he ultimately operated them for the show as we all had our hands full with the stage show. That looked great, looking at times like snowflakes and at times presents; they really enhanced the Christmas spirit!”
“Adding the cubes to Christmas Jam provided an elegant accent piece above the audience,” added Gribbons. “Going with a Christmas theme, they had a Christmas tree ornament look to them. And since each cube is made up of 6 Elation Cuepix panels operated at 79 channel, this enabled us to have dimmer control of individual cells as well as RGB. This versatility really created some great patterns and colors adding to each performance throughout the night.”
Jon Dindas produced the event and Kit Blanchard provided support as production manager. Hoffman also credits the event’s success to Jefferson Waful (Billy and the Kids) and John Collegian (Gov’t Mule).
“I have to mention how much of a pleasure it is to work with Bandit on this show each year,” concluded Hoffman. “They really make the process easy and possible. It starts with Dizzy Gosnell who really takes my vision and engineers the show to make sure everything works and fits in the truck. Without Dizzy’s hard work, the planning process would be way more difficult. It is so comforting to know that he has your back. Onsite I had Andy French (crew chief), Chelsea Opdyke and Shane Harrington who really pulled through for me. I’m always impressed by the professionalism that Bandit techs bring to each gig.”
