The legendary shock rocker known for his wild on stage antics and heavy metal hits such as Eighteen, Be My Lover and School’s Out is performing around the country with a lighting package provided by long time vendor Bandit Lites for his ‘Spend the Night with Alice Cooper’ Tour.
Lighting Designer Joel Reiff built on last year’s design and layout, but replaced pars with Vipers, while adding a few Nitros for ‘bells and whistles.’ “The old adage, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ applies,” said Reiff. “I tried to come in and give it a fresh look, and started programming from scratch. Every LD is going to see a show their own way. All of us old guys have our own little bag of tricks. What I like most about the show is what I don’t do: I like the theatrics and how sometimes you just sit back and let it unfold.” Bandit provided MAC Viper Profiles, Color Kinetics Color Blaze 72, MAC Auras, Color Dashes, Nitros and a MA Lighting grandMA 2 lite console for control.
“This year the lighting system went through a complete overhaul and with it a new approach and look,” said Bandit’s Vice President Mike Golden. “I really like the energy that Joel has brought to the show and we have thoroughly enjoyed working with him on this project.”
For Reiff, who shared he grew up listening to Cooper, getting into the groove of programming was both easy and a blast. “Shep Gordon, Alice’s manager, is very involved with the lighting and total presentation of the show. The best thing he told me was, “You are the eyes of the audience.” Meaning, it’s up to me to make sure they are looking where they should be, such as when the electric chair or guillotine is going to show up.” Reiff referred to being able to program the show at Bandit’s Venue One facility with the actual fixtures he’d be taking on the road as a ‘luxury’ and added Bandit’s lighting technician (“and General Alice Cooper Lighting Guru”) Chas Albea helped him make a smooth transition to LD. “It’s been great,” finished Reiff of his experience with Bandit. “We need something: Bandit sends it. The only tough part for me is I have nothing to complain about, so any mistakes are all on me.”