Preston Hoffman, who has designed the lighting for the event for three years now, was tasked by producer Joe Dindas to create something spectacular for the 25th anniversary.
"The idea behind the show was to do something that we had never done and that would push the show over the top," explained Hoffman. "This is always a tricky subject because every dollar I spend for this show is one less dollar that goes to Habitat for Humanity, so I tend to want to simplify and get the best bang for my buck."
While the US Cellular Centre has what Hoffman refers to as "special eccentricities" (in regards to the rigging and visibility to the people seated behind the stage), he was aiming to have a video element using Bandits Mirage video panels and hanging the wall at 45 degrees so it would not block the stage.
"To accomplish this we hung a circle truss with a matrix of pipe protruding from the back of the circle which we then hung the video mesh off of," Hoffman said. "This not only helped us with trim height, but it created a video ceiling of sorts over the band that looked as good from the back of the room as it did from the front row. We ran the content off of a Maxedia server which has a very easy to use "on the fly" interface which guest LDs were comfortable triggering at FOH."
Hoffman also hung a star in the middle of the room as a stunning focal point. "Many people told me that they thought it was so beautiful and added that little sparkle during the most beautiful moments of the show. I remember specifically Warren and Greg Allman's acoustic set had many of those moments."
Another of Hoffman's favourite aspects of the event was using the wide range of new equipment Bandit has added to its inventory including the GLP X4S, Robe Pointe and Coemar StageLite LED FX.
"It didn't take me long to realize the versatility of these fixtures," Hoffman said of the X4S's, which he used as front wash, front key lighting as well as US wash lights. "I put 20 of them on the DS truss, using 14 of them for wash and 6 as key light. My reasoning for this is it gave me so much versatility to take wash lights and turn them into key lights depending on how many band members I had to deal with in any given band. I am very grateful that I did that because some of the bands turned into 12 - 16 musicians as more and more guests would pile on stage. I picked up musicians joining in the fun at will with this set up which was invaluable given the spur of the moment nature of this show."
Upstage, Hoffman had X4S's in groups of four in addition to a dozen of them around the circle truss, a design decision he said he knew within minutes added a fullness and complexity to the show that was "truly stunning."
(Jim Evans)
