Carrie Underwood Dazzles In The Cry Pretty Tour 360 With Bandit Lites And Fireplay posted: 14/11/2019
Carrie Underwood recently wrapped up her powerhouse Cry Pretty Tour 360 with a lighting package provided by longtime vendor, Bandit Lites. Nominated for Entertainer of the Year at the 53rd Annual Country Music Association Awards, Underwood has been thrilling audiences around the globe all year with her all-female tour featuring a stunning in-the-round' lighting design by Nick Whitehouse of Fireplay production studio.
This tour is by far the most ambitious design yet for Ms. Underwood and it has certainly paid off in terms of visual artistry, said Bandit Lites Vice President, Mike Golden. Carrie has a veteran staff in Tour Manager Geoff Donkin, Production Manager Graham Holmes, Show Producer Barry Lather and Lighting Director Nate Cromwell, and with Nick Whitehouse and the visionary team at Fireplay, this year's production is unmatched and flawless.
Drawing inspiration from the Cry Pretty album artwork, Fireplay designed a stage using the eye logo and infusing an impressive pod design that held the majority of the light fixtures.
When lighting in the round, each side of the stage needs to have key lights, effect lights and audience lights as each person's perspective of the lighting show will be different, explained Whitehouse, so each pod contains just that: an amount of each. The rest of the design came out of the necessity of lighting around the screens.
Bandit Lites supplied nearly 400 fixtures for the design, including GLP JDC1 Strobes, Martin Professional MAC Viper AirFX, Claypaky Sharpys, Claypaky Mythos 2, VL 3000 Spots, Scenius Unicos and Robe Spikies. Two grand MA 2 full consoles provide Lighting Director Nate Cromwell control.
Every moment in the concert is treated as an opportunity to dazzle the audience visually, and with lighting playing a key role in each song, Creative Director Barry Lather, Carrie Underwood and her creative team provided direction on the color and type of lighting for each number.
It was my job to take that, put my spin on it, add some drama, theatricality and dynamics and make sure that the whole show flowed and was cohesive, Whitehouse said.
Whitehouse used Claypaky Mythos 2's spread out over six pods, providing massive air effects out wide of the stage, while Martin Viper AirFX units in the pods supply a second siren unit' and double as stage and audience lighting. GLP JDC1 fixtures in the pods provide big hits into the crowd, and each pod also features a BlackTrax follow-spot Unico in the center for 360 coverage of Carrie as she moves. The remaining JDC1's, Vipers and some VL3000's are distributed over two arc trusses that follow the long sides of the stage.
The looks we managed to get from the pods were massive and awesome, said Whitehouse.
It is an extremely dynamic and elaborate show, said Cromwell. Over 3,500 cues triggered in a 120-minute set. Nick Whitehouse did the programming himself, and it is cued and laid out brilliantly.
With so much going on visually during the show, Whitehouse also had to find a way to work in key and effect lighting without blowing out the projected images from the roll drop screens.
Luckily, I had Nate Cromwell and he spent hours and hours per song making zones for the BlackTrax so that we could avoid these obstacles and also light Carrie perfectly and constantly wherever she moved.
Nick worked with us on the fixture selections and produced a beautiful layout for the gear, added Golden. Nate Cromwell added his skills and expertise in utilizing the BlacTtrax system to its fullest, and Graham Holmes figured out the way to wrangle twenty-one trucks in and out each day all the while making it look easy. Our crew has done an exceptional job taking care of business on the road, and between all parties, this project has been an amazing success.
The crew has been outstanding, echoed Cromwell. It is a lot of work getting over 350 fixtures in the air every day, and they have done extremely well at all the variables different venues bring every day. The back end support the Bandit shop has provided is also a stand out; we have always had the resources we need to keep the rig going and in top shape.
Bandit and their team on this show have been excellent, finished Whitehouse. The crew went above and beyond to make this monster of a show feasible to load in and out and keep working despite a tough tour schedule. I have been very impressed with the service we have received from everyone at Bandit.
Creative Director: Barry Lather Assistant Creative Director: Bryan Anthony
Tour Manager - Geoff Donkin Assistant Tour Manager - Amy Reynolds
Creative Producer and Lighting Designer: Nick Whitehouse (Fireplay) Creative Producer and SFX Designer: Kelly Sticksel (Fireplay) Assistant Lighting Designer: Brian Vaughan (Fireplay) Lighting Director: Nate Cromwell (Carrie Underwood) D3 Programmer: Rich Porter D3 Operator: Colleen Wittenburg
Production Designer: Josh Zangen (Fireplay) Fireplay Creative Director: Benny Or (Fireplay)
Lighting Crew Chief - Chris Noll (Bandit Lites) Bandit Lighting Techs - Tanner Peterson, Mark Scherer, Darryl Newcombe, Samuel Morgan Bandit Lites Client Representative: Mike Golden Bandit Lites Project Manager: Don Lockridge
About Fireplay Fireplay is a dynamic, open, and collaborative multidisciplinary design studio made up of artists from all walks of life who combine their talents to make each and every project impeccable.With a team of live design masterminds, Fireplay has quickly become the go-to team when an artist is looking to take their tour to the next level. From Super Bowl performances to sold out world tours; from conceptual performance spaces to art installations; Fireplays team has the skill to
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
13/03/2026
Spotify has always been built around your taste. More than 80% of listeners say personalization is what they love most about us. Now we're taking that even ...
13/03/2026
The new Spotify Legends Club has opened its doors. Its members: select German-sp...
13/03/2026
Pushing drum sampler technology into new territories
The latest version of Klevgrand's software drum sampler has just arrived, boasting a newly designe...
13/03/2026
Expanded headphone support & engine improvements
IK Multimedia's recently introduced ARC On-Ear system brings the power of their monitoring-correction s...
13/03/2026
Extra sound collections, more presets & new Keys category
UVI's rhythm and pattern instrument has just received a major update that introduces four new ...
13/03/2026
13 Mar 2026
VEON Delivers Record Digital Growth: 4Q25 Digital Revenues Grow 84%...
13/03/2026
Friday 13 March 2026
Sky Adds Blood on Snow to Original Film Slate in Acquisiti...
13/03/2026
RT has announced today that Rick O'Shea is the new presenter of Arena RT Radio 1's flagship weeknight arts and culture programme. Rick has been pres...
13/03/2026
Lights! Camera! Action! The 98th Oscars set to air live as RT backs the Irish n...
12/03/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 11th March, 2026 - Yospace, the trusted leader in Dyna...
12/03/2026
In Latin America, women are shaping music and defining its future. To kick off t...
12/03/2026
En Am rica Latina, las mujeres est n moldeando la m sica y definiendo su futuro....
12/03/2026
Let's turn back the clock 20 years: The music landscape was a world away fro...
12/03/2026
Bad Bunny is no stranger to Spotify's Billions Club. In fact, he has a whopp...
12/03/2026
Spotify was at the London Book Fair this week, joining conversations across the publishing industry about how people can make reading part of their daily lives....
12/03/2026
Mastering tool improves mono compatibility
Tokyo Dawn Labs' Ohlhorst Digital range is a series of mastering-focused plug-ins developed by Jan Ohlhorst, ...
12/03/2026
Wave FX processor integrated into four products
Lewitt have teamed up with Elgato to create a new processor for the company's Wave Next product range, i...
12/03/2026
Free tool for annotating audio files
Mix Notes is a new, free iOS App that provides users with a simple way to annotate their audio files. It's been cre...
12/03/2026
Side-chain ducking tool gets an upgrade
Devious Machines' popular side-chaining and envelope-shaping tool has just been kitted out with an improved enve...
12/03/2026
Ceremony to take place on 16 April 2026
The MPG (Music Producers Guild) have revealed the full shortlist for this year's MPG Awards, which will be takin...
12/03/2026
Emulates three classic dbx 160 variants
The latest arrival to Overloud's Gem Series plug-in range faithfully recreates not one, but three versions of th...
12/03/2026
New granular soft synth announced
Said to be their most advanced software synthesizer to date, Baby Audio's latest release has been built on a new granu...
12/03/2026
Latest version now live!
Edit 11 March 2026 - Bitwig Studio 6 is now live, and available for all to download!
The latest version of Bitwig's DAW softwa...
12/03/2026
Latest free eBook now available!
Designed for recording engineers, audio-technology students and technically minded musicians, our latest free eBook deliver...
12/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Cybersecurity expands SITLine network encryptor portfolio - more...
12/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz to showcase future-proof EMC testing solutions at EMV 2026 Rohde & Schwarz will participate in EMV 2026, Europe's premier trade fair and c...
12/03/2026
Modern media operations demand a platform that unites automation, orchestration, and human oversight without compromise. In this post, we explore the six key te...
12/03/2026
A deep dive into the platform
Architecture The Blue Lucy platform follows a distributed microservices architecture, meaning the overall operational capability...
12/03/2026
Orchestration platform enables broadcasters to deploy multiple AI models safely with full auditability, rights protection, and regulatory oversight.
LONDON, En...
12/03/2026
Wuppertal March 12, 2026
Riedel Expands Managed Technology Division in the Ame...
12/03/2026
Advanced Media Server Delivers Double the Channel Density at Half the Cost per C...
12/03/2026
The Late Late Show Show St Patrick's Day special
Dancing with the Stars f...
11/03/2026
First Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) deployment of the emergency.lu platform for refugees and their host communities' use provides dependable broadband for humani...
11/03/2026
Following a successful first series, UKTV today announces the commission of two ...
11/03/2026
Wednesday 11 March 2026
Sky and CANAL launch new partnership to develop English-language drama
Sky and CANAL are today announcing a strategic co commissioni...
11/03/2026
NTCA, Cartesian Release New Report on the Business Case for USF
March 11, 2026
Network Economics
News
NTCA - March 11, 2026 - As the FCC and Congr...
11/03/2026
TELL US YOUR (SHORT) STORIES
The 2026 RT Short Story Competition is now open for entries
Recognising and rewarding the best new Irish fiction writing for...
11/03/2026
RT 's The Traitors Ireland is among the nominees for the 2026 Celtic Media Festival Torc Awards for Excellence, announced today....
10/03/2026
10 Mar 2026
VEON's Largest Market Pakistan Almost Triples Mobile Spectrum i...
09/03/2026
Contains all six dual-ensemble libraries
VSL's Duality Strings series offers an intriguing alternative to your average string library, capturing two str...
09/03/2026
Outstanding Contribution To UK Music
Photo: Samuel Bradley
Ahead of their upcoming MPG Awards, the Music Producers Guild (MPG) have revealed the latest win...
09/03/2026
Two new high-quality DI boxes announced
Boasting some impressive technical specifications and versatile routing options, Strymon's latest active DI boxe...
09/03/2026
Latest MPE-capable Soundbox library released
The follow-up release for Sonora Cinematic's Pure Nylon has arrived, and becomes the latest addition to the...
09/03/2026
Popular wireless mic head design revived
Sennheiser have revealed that the MD 9235, a cardioid mic head designed to pair up with their handheld wireless sys...
Carrie Underwood Dazzles In The Cry Pretty Tour 360 With Bandit Lites And Fireplay posted: 14/11/2019 
