"The biggest decision I made when looking at the TV show was to go completely in the opposite direction," said Jackson. "This design focuses on crafting a look that celebrates the feel of the show, but has its own identity."
Additional measures were taken to ensure that the differing artists were given varying looks: Musical artists require the feel of a concert, comedians, a television special appearance, and acrobatic sequences were lit like a dance piece.
One challenge to designing the show came from the fact that truck space was going to be tight and the spaces the show would be performed would be in smaller venues, as opposed to the Radio City Music Hall the television show takes place in.
"Dizzy (Bandit's production director) suggested using some wire ladders he had developed that allowed a number of Bandit GRN moving wash lights to create a vertical array down the left and right side of the stage that looked as if the lights were floating in thin air," Jackson said. "The result was a big look in a very small space."
The equipment used includes VL 2500 spots, GRN Moving Washes, VL 3000 spots, GRN LED Pars, Mac 300s, and two Grand MA2 Ultra Lite consoles.
"The AGT production team of Steve Ehrenberg and Lane Marsh has been excellent to work with," Mike Golden, Bandit's vice-president said. "Steve Ehrenberg had worked with both Seth and I on another project earlier this year that went extremely well and therefore we all had a comfort level with each other's abilities."
"As always, Bandit is a group of problem solvers," added Jackson. "We kept working the design for budget, truck space, ease of assembly, everything you can think of in the process. Even the crew came into the equation. We were able to move our team from Toby Keith (Chuck Hastings and Cody Stoltz) from their last night on Toby overnight into their first day on AGT. They were the final piece of the puzzle. I've worked with Chuck for years and have total trust in his ability to make the show flow in the most effective manner. Cody was our young rock star. He is operating the show and adapting it to various venue shifts as the tour progresses."
(Jim Evans)
