Garth Brooks' triumphant 2016 was capped off with the highest honours of the night as he was crowned Entertainer of the Year for the fifth time, the last being nearly 20 years ago. Bandit has served as Garth's lighting vendor since the beginning in 1988 and provides the lighting for Brooks' monumental tour, which has been smashing records including 5m tickets sold in two and a half years.
The country star shows no signs of letting up as he was recently awarded his seventh Diamond Award from the RIAA for having seven albums sell more than 10m units, the only artist to do so and surpassing The Beatles. Additionally, Garth launched his own Sirius Radio channel and is also streaming his music on Amazon's new streaming service.
Long time Garth Brooks' lighting designer David 'Gig' Butzler has outdone himself again, utilizing hundreds of fixtures including BMFL Spot, BMFL Wash Beam, GLP X4, Robe Robin 1200 LED, Ayrton Cosmopix, Chauvet Rogue Beam R2, Chauvet Nexxus 4 x 4, Gig Lites, Phillips Nitro Strobes, Martin Atomic 3000 LED Strobes, Martin MAC III Profile, Elation Six Par 100, Tyler GT and custom Tyler truss and Grand MA2 Consoles to consistently match Brooks' high-octane energy performances night after night.
Additional Bandit clients honoured included Carrie Underwood, who in addition to hosting the CMA's, also took home Female Artist of the Year for the fourth time. The Dirty Laundry powerhouse singer has been selling out arena after arena for her Storyteller Tour with lighting provided by Bandit. Lighting designer Butch Allen utilizes more than 250 fixtures, including Chauvet Rogue Hybrids, Robe BMFLs, Clay Paky Sharpys, Clay Paky Spheriscans and Solaris Flares to bring about mind-blowing visuals that truly make the in-the-round look take the audience's breath away.
Little Big Town celebrated another win as they were named Vocal Group of the Year for the fifth consecutive year. Bandit provided lighting designer Chris Shrom the fixtures for their Pain Killer Tour with the 2015 fall leg featuring VL 3000s, VL 3500 Washes, Clay Paky Sharpys, Martin MAC Auras, Martin MAC Atomic 3000s, Ayrton MagicPanels and Bandit's exclusive GRNLite moving washes.
Thomas Rhett once again celebrated a win for his smash hit, Die a Lucky Man as the song took home the CMA Award for Single of the Year. Lighting designer Nick Whitehouse used a Bandit lighting package of Ayrton MagicDot-R, Clay Paky Mythos, Solaris Flares and GRNLite LED Washes to illuminate the country crooner's act on Jason Aldean's This is Us tour.
"Bandit Lites is extremely proud of all our artists and their tremendous success," said Bandit chair Michael T. Strickland. "We serve each day to help our clients be the best that they can be on the road. Winning these awards exemplifies the excellence of our clients and we are very happy for Garth, Carrie, Little Big Town and Thomas Rhett. We look forward to continued success for all of them in the future and thank them all for allowing Bandit to part of their teams."
(Jim Evans)
