American rock band ZZ Top recently wrapped up a tour celebrating their 50th year as a band with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites. Comprised of Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard and Dusty Hill, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band formed in 1969 and have sold more than 50 million albums worldwide.
Lighting designer John Lucksinger conceived a classic par can rig made up of moving lights to give the band the authentic rock look of yester-years. “It’s been a fun time,” said Lucksinger. “Three guys on stage. No real frills. Just guys playing great music. It has been different in that the last few tours I was behind the console for where we had a lot of trucks, huge video walls, and lots of lights. This is just a plain and simple rock show. The band doesn’t like movement in the lighting, so the show is mostly big rock looks with
hits of lights and colour chases. I’m just trying to accent what is being played on stage and not distract from it.”
Bandit Lites supplied Martin MAC Auras, GLP X4, GLP X4S, GLP JDC1, Elation CuePix WW4
Blinders, Chauvet Rogue RH1 Hybrids, Claypaky Sharpys, Bandit’s exclusive GRNLite Moving Washes and a grandMA2 Full console for control. “I tried to get an old school look with newer technology,” Lucksinger explained.
“I chose the fixtures based on that. Also, the functionality of the fixture was important; color mixing and zoom was a must. I went with the RH1s due to size, as I needed a small powerful fixture. “I’ve always been a fan of the X4s,” continued Lucksinger. “It’s small and versatile, plus it fits great in the Bandit GoGo truss.” The GoGo truss proved to be instrumental in solving the ever-present truck space dilemma, with the band wanting big lighting looks but only having half a truck. With the GoGo truss fully loaded with 106 fixtures, Lucksinger ended up with four runs of 40’ truss in 10 feet of truck without any boxes.
“Bandit has been great as always,” said Lucksinger. “From being able to sit in the 3D suite to preprogram to actually hanging the whole thing at Venue 1 to incorporate the video elements, it’s the type of thing that makes the start of the tour so smooth.”
“From top to bottom, ZZ Top is an incredible collection of people to work with,” said Bandit Lites Vice President Mike Golden. “There are no egos, there is no drama; they are an incredible road family and they make everything look very easy. Having said that, making any show look easy requires hard work, a positive attitude and professionalism and this entourage encompasses every aspect of that. John Lucksinger was tasked with the creation of a design that fit very specific parameters and he did an incredible job. Jake Mann, Pablo Gamboa and Dwayne Taylor led the way as the production team and I could not be any more complimentary of their leadership. It was a sincere honor to light the ZZ Top 50th Anniversary tour and I look quite forward to what they cook up in the years to come!”
Bandit’s crew for the tour included Scot Sepe and Kelly Feild with additional support coming
from Project Manager Don Lockridge. “When our show got hit with a huge rainstorm, all I had to do was send an email out and everyone was on it,” finished Lucksinger. “They had everything ready to go the next day when I sent the request of what was needed. The next day, we had 24 fixtures on the dock of our next show waiting for us. That is what Bandit does.”