Following the success of Halestorm’s third studio album Into the Wild, the Grammy-Award winning band returns to the road for a rock tour that takes high-octane energy and powerful female voices, including special guests Lita Ford and Dorothy, and combines it all into one epic event. Bandit Lites is to once again provide a lighting package that brings mind-blowing visuals to Halestorm’s hardcore sound.
By using Clay Paky Sharpys, GLP X4S fixtures within black truss towers (evoking a modern, updated look to par ACL Bars), Martin Atomic 3000 Strobes, Bandit 5x5s and GRNLite LED Battens, lighting designer Julie Cox focused on creating a rig that could “push fixture capability instead of quantity,” adding, “the fixtures are in their highest effect settings to really up the visual options.”
New to this year’s tour design was the addition of the Bandit 5x5s, a fixture that Cox shares suits the band and their sound “like hand in glove.”
“I just wanted a vintage theatre feel of an awesome, in your face, rock show,” she said. “The 5×5’s are a dead ringer for that concept. It’s a perfect fixture that will go from a blinding crowd hit to a slow rolling dimmer chase for a piano ballad.”
By drawing inspiration from the varying venues and late night brainstorming sessions on the bus with the band, Cox is able to modify and mould the lighting with small changes that yield big results, so every performance matches Halestorm’s ingenuity. Bandit’s Brent Barrett shared he has come to view Tour Manager Michael Mahar as a friend, saying: “He is a true professional and he makes the client/vendor relationship enjoyable,” before adding, “Julie has put together a great looking and practical lighting design. We consider her a part of our family and it is great to be working with her again.”
Julie reiterated the same sentiments of Bandit camaraderie: “Bandit is family when it comes to lighting. I knew going into it that I would have complete support in making my ideas become a sustainable reality, plus Project Manager Matt King has had to deal with plenty of my napkin drawings, so I knew I was in good hands.”
