Garth Brooks Returns to the Stage with Bandit Lites posted: 03/07/2020
Garth Brooks returned to the stage in true spectacular fashion, as only Garth can, in a coordinated live concert at over 300 drive-in theaters across North America. Nothing like this had ever been seen before, and Bandit Lites provided the lighting for the special event, where more than 350,000 fans were entertained while safe in their own vehicles.
This time, I was the fan and the people were the entertainment. Watching people all night from coast to coast, in Canada and here in the U.S., laughing, dancing, and singing, made me smile, said Garth Brooks in a statement. It reminded me how much I miss the crazy, happy, and unpredictable life we lead as entertainers. For one night, things seemed...right.
The event was produced by Encore Live and recorded in Nashville with a full band. Brooks' long-time lighting designer David Gig' Butzler modified his original in-the-round lighting design from Brooks' current world tour, all at a breakneck pace while programmer Aaron Swetland reworked the show.
We only had a week to put this together before he wanted to load in, so without a lot of time, we used the same lighting rig. We just hung it differently, explained Butzler. Dizzy Gosnell was the mastermind behind all of the CAD work.
We had to reign in some focus positions that just didn't work for this layout, said Swetland. No big deal, really. Just like an odd festival day! Second, some of the elements of the rig didn't fit and that forced us to create some new looks to augment moments from the missing fixtures.
With the drive-in wall being the key focus of the event, Butzler kept the video wall the main key element. Substituting a studio venue for what is normally a massive arena meant the lighting team had to do a rare thing for a Garth Brooks show: turn the lights down.
We had more light than what was needed, but that's the normal way for Garth, said Butzler. we just cheated by only having a couple of focuses that we put around the band instead of on them, but of course they walked in and out of hotspots.
Bandit Lites supplied nearly 400 fixtures including Robe BMFL Wash Beams, Robe BMFL,
Robe Robin 1200 LED Washes, GLP KNV Cubes, GLP JDC-1 Strobes, GLP X4 Bar 20, GLP X4S, VL 6000 Beams, Martin MAC Viper AirFX, Martin Atomic 3000 LED Strobes, Showline Nitro 510C, two grandMA2 Full consoles as well as a grandMA2 light.
The light masters made it extremely easy for us to keep light and follow the band, said Butzler. I was able to put eight units on an 80-foot truss to make it easier to key light the band. This could not have been done so easily using follow spot old school method, but otherwise everything did its job.
With the live entertainment industry frozen, this concert not only gave music fans something to come together and enjoy, but it also provided the opportunity for Bandit to quite literally shine a light in these dark times, something that was not lost on the team. Even more important, all of Bandit's employees were healthy and ready to go the moment the call came from Garth.
All our team jumped in, said Crew Chief Chuck Hastings. I had four to sixteen extra Bandits being stagehands for everyone. We helped to put together the stage, helped the audio guys push gear and run their cable, acted as downriggers and assisted the backline guys. We put down the that's not my gig' mentality, and made the show happen.
Thanks to Garth for putting this together and allowing us the chance to work again, added Swetland. I also want to give a big thanks to all the great Bandit LDs and techs that came out to help, from fork driving to deck slinging to spot opp-ing. They were awesome.
Bandit's crew included Cody Cheatham, Terese Fensler, Carter Hopkins, Andy Knighton, John
Lucksinger, Sam Morgan, Chris Noll, Craig Richter, Scot Sepe, Steve Strickland, Aaron Swetland, Ty Veneziano, Ryan Waldron, Elizabeth Weller, Scott Wesson, Justin Wilk, Carter Fulghum, Chuck Hastings and Dave Butzler.
Garth called me a few weeks back about his concept for a Drive-In Tour, said Bandit Lites
Chair Michael T. Strickland. I thought he meant playing multiple drive-ins. He quickly told me, No, not that. We will play 300 drive-ins at once!' Only Garth! Always a trail blazer, always a leader, he comes up with this unique concept and, like all things Garth, it is a home run. The care, love, and compassion that Garth has for his fans, his band, his crew and his friends and family is second to none. In a time when we are all looking for a way to connect, Garth figures it out. Thank you, my friend, I love you sir!
About Bandit Lites, Inc.
Bandit Lites is a global leader in the entertainment lighting marketplace. From touring productions to fixed installations, Bandit Lites has a full staff of highly trained professionals to deal with all types of lighting needs. Bandit's global presence will ensure seamless transitions no matter where your next show takes you.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it's given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what ...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...
12/06/2026
With John Daro, DI Colourist at Warner Bros. Water Tower Color Tuesday 23 June, 10am-1pm or 3-6pm
Restar Corporation
Tokyo
Register here
John Daro is the ...
12/06/2026
Meet The Grumpy Onion Ireland's newest online sensation, all he wants is to ...
12/06/2026
RT stays Up All Night with brand new daily 2026 FIFA World Cup Vodcast
Adding to the fun around 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament, RT has launched a brand new d...
Garth Brooks Returns to the Stage with Bandit Lites posted: 03/07/2020 
