Chris Lisle Brings Bandit Lites to Perry's Stage at Lollapalooza Lollapalooza returned to immense fanfare, celebrating not only its 30-year anniversary, but the return of large-scale gatherings following the pandemic's shut down of live events. Nearly 400,000 fans made their way into the massive Grant's Park for the C3 Presents produced festival, boasting four days of live music, nine stages, incredible DJ sets and outdoor raves. "I have had the pleasure of working with C3 Presents on many, many projects and I am constantly amazed at the operation they have in place," says Bandit Lites vice president Mike Golden. "Brandon Sossamon oversees the operation, and his team is always extremely focused and professional. Our C3 stage manager, Jeff Goodin, was fantastic and kept everything running on a timely fashion." Known for its EDM acts, Perry's Stage featured a lighting system designed by Chris Lisle and supplied by Bandit Lites. Artists including Steve Aoki, Alison Wonderland, Oliver Heldens, Yellow Claw, and more took to the stage, where the visual were elevated and the lighting and video were nearly as crucial as the music itself. "Since this is the EDM stage, it does open up the doors creatively to do some fun things with both lighting and video," says Lisle. Outside of simply illuminating the DJ, Lisle set up the rest of the system with horsepower directed at the audience. "For stages like this, I always like to do designs that fill a lot of space visually, and that also compliment video as well," explains Lisle. "Most of the performers have custom video content, so that aspect is important; with that, I like to frame walls with lighting fixtures to enhance the big video visuals." Bandit Lites supplied 350 fixtures for the stage including ROBE BMFLs, Claypaky Mythos, Chauvet COLORado Solo Battens, Elation Smarty Hybrids, Elation CUEPIX Blinder WW2, and Elation PALADINS. Bandit also sent more than 700 fixtures, 5,500' of festoons, and various trusses of all shapes and sizes for site lighting, creating arches, goal post and 20' towers showing location, directional and general information. "I always like to do a version of a mole/blinder along with a strobe on a rig like this," says Lisle, "they are a core part of most of the LD's programming and looks." The BMFL and Smarty Hybrids were positioned to offer big, bold beams, while the Chauvet COLORado Solo Battens supplied bright punches as well as the linear chases and effects. With the show taking place entirely outdoor, Lisle made note what gear would potentially be most exposed to rain and selected IP65 rated fixtures. "Beyond that, this gig is pretty straight forward," says Lisle. "C3 Presents always does a great job in putting together vendor teams that work well together -- so that keeps challenges pretty minimal and manageable." "Chris's EDM design was a fun build," says Bandit Lites project manager Gene Brian. "In the back of your mind, you wonder what it would look like if you lined up fixtures in geometric shapes and let a good LD cut loose with it: this was that kind of design." "Chris Lisle once again delivered an impressive design," adds Golden. "I saw pictures of the stage as the festival was underway and was stunned by the looks put together by programmer Aaron Luke. The Perry Stage at Lollapalooza project was beautifully orchestrated and quite honestly I was sad to see it end. "Gene Brian did an outstanding job of working through the nuances of this design," says Lisle. "The whole system was extremely well prepped, and the on-site crew did a fantastic job of getting loaded in and loaded out very efficiently." 
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