Bonnaroo Parties with Bandit Lites Again

	U2 performing at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Photo: Josh Brasted

The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival returned to the 700 acre field known affectionately as "The Farm" with more than 65,000 in attendance in search of good vibes and great music. Bandit Lites was proud to be asked by Lambda Productions to provide a lighting package for multiple stages, the iconic Tower at Bonnaroo, along with several floor packages for artists in attendance.

This year's line-up of more than 100 acts included U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Weeknd, Chance the Rapper, Major Lazer, Flume, Lorde, The XX, Travis Scott, Cage the Elephant, Marshmello, and The Head and the Heart.

U2's show designer, Willie Williams, designed the mainstage festival system for U2's immense show on Friday night. It was then dropped, re-hung and re-configured for the acts to use on Saturday and Sunday.

"Willie's design had a similar flavor to their current touring system in stadiums," said Bandit production manager Dizzy Gosnell. "Lots of tungsten DWE's and scrollers on the Atomics and very high trims to allow for the 40' high video screens. For a variety of reasons we decided to re-configure most of the lights and trusses over the stage after U2. It was Willie's design tuned to U2's needs and made total sense for their show, but some of the real estate in the air was needed on the following days by the Chili Peppers, Chance the Rapper, and the Weeknd, all bringing their own large flown elements for their shows."

Lighting for the main stage consisted of nearly one hundred Martin by Harman MAC Viper Profiles, Robe BMFLs, Martin Atomic 3000 Strobes and scrollers, Lycian M2 Spots, Lightning Strikes, and two MA Lighting grandMA 2 full consoles for control.

"The massive permanent Bonnaroo Mainstage can hang a battleship, so being able to fly a 21,000lb video wall upstage, Red Hot Chili Peppers' rig, Chance's rig, the Bandit system and the full sound package at the same time was a testament to that roof," added Gosnell. "It really helped for the logistics. Looking at the large elements for the three days on paper on my desk it was a lot like playing Tetris. It was nice to be able to work with Jake Berry and Willie again on this show, U2's second ever festival which was both amazing to me and cool."

The Which Stage, Bonnaroo's second stage, saw artists such as Major Lazer, Travis Scott, and Tove Lo, and needed to allow space for additional lighting, scenic designs and pyro, while still giving all other acts bold looks no matter what time of day they performed.

Bandit's system for the Which Stage included dozens of Philips Vari-Lite fixtures, Claypaky Sharpys, Claypaky Mythos, Solaris Flares, and various grandMA 2 full desks at front-of-house.

In addition to the stage lighting, Bandit Lites also supplied Major Lazer a floor package featuring Martin MAC Auras, Claypaky Mythos, Solaris Flares, Tove Lo's floor package of VL 3000 Spots and Elation Professinal Color Chorus 72's, along with a floor package for Travis Scott's with additional Martin MAC Auras, MAC 2000 Washes, MAC III Profiles, and Solaris Flares.

"Hadden Hippsley and his crew of Marc Immerman on the mainstage and Joe Gordon on the Which stage were so good to work with," said Gosnell, "but massive thanks, kudos and a polite golf clap must go to our crew of Ryan Waldron, Shawn Worlow, Elizabeth Weller, Michelle Saintey, Wayne Lotoza, Chase Strickland, Craig Richter, Sam Morgan, Savannah Harden, Scott Wesson, and Patrick Sieg. They worked their socks off for seven days making this all happen, while Gene Brian, back with Bandit again after a sabbatical, was tireless in the shop as project manager."