Annual Xmas Jam electrifies with Bandit
- Details
The winter spectacular began in 1988 and has raised more than $2.8m over the years, helping those in the area who have been unable to be homeowners due to financial setbacks.
"To take something as simple as playing music, which we all love to do, and turn it into building houses, it's an opportunity that I can't be more thankful for," Haynes told area news.
Bandit Lites provided over 100ft of Tyler Truss and more than 165 fixtures for the epic jam night including Ayrton Khamsin S, Chauvet COLORado PXL Bar 8, Elation Fuze Wash Z350, Elation ACL 360 Bars, Elation CuePix WW2 Blinders, GLP X4s and Robe MegaPointes as well as well as two grandMA2 Full consoles for control.
Lighting designer Preston Hoffman took to the epic lineup for inspiration, noting the heavy rock performances would be “saturated with amazing guitar licks and big moments.”
“The original idea that I had was to create a modern ACL look which paid homage to a classic rock look,” explained Hoffman. “To achieve this, I arranged Chauvet COLORado PXL Bar 8s along a curve. That produced a fan of fat beams that had some animation to them. I put some Robe MegaPointes on the curve as well for a more traditional ACL look that also has a load of functionality as well. By placing these curve pods around as though they were ACL bars really created a modern big rock look.”
To complement this look, side trusses echoing the curved pods were outfitted with the same PXL Bar 8s and bigger spot fixtures for “over the shoulder” gobo looks. The backdrop truss also had a curve-lined ACL Bar 360s providing a pan and tilt bar to illuminate the backdrop as well as control for different patterns.
“I liked the PXL Bar 8,” said Hoffman. “It was a fantastic punchy LED bar. It was the first time I used them on a production like this and was very happy with their performance and brightness! The Khamsin also performed very well. I have used the smaller fixtures in the Ayrton line, but this was my first with the Khamsin. It was super crisp and had plenty of brightness to punch through the many layers. I have been very impressed with the Ayrton line and I look forward to using their fixtures for a long time to come.”
As the extravaganza reached midnight, the arena filled with the sound of electric guitars as Gibbons, Slash and Haynes took to the stage for a final set with Gov’t Mule, Joe Russo, George Porter Jr., John Medeski and other artists.
“This is our 14th Warren Haynes Christmas Jam and we love being a small part of such a great event for a great cause,” said Dizzy Gosnell, Bandit vice-president of production.
