Knoxville is the tenth city this year to welcome the tour
USA - Garth Brooks wrapped up the 2019 leg of his Stadium Tour with a record-breaking, sold-out show of 85,000 people at The University of Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium. Knoxville is the tenth city this year to welcome the tour following sold-out performances in St. Louis, Glendale, Gainesville, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Denver, Eugene, Boise and Regina.
The concert at Neyland is his second show there since 2003 and comes on the heels of Brooks winning County Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year award for the seventh time. Bandit Lites has provided the lighting for Brooks for more than three decades, and the Grammy-award winning artist once again entrusted his massive vision to the Bandit team.
Brooks also gave an impromptu shout out to Bandit Lites during the concert, sharing how he has worked with Bandit “ever since we could afford lights”. He praised the crew’s work ethic, and how they’ve been with him around the world.
Lighting designer Dave ‘Gig’ Butzler utilised more than 600 hundred Bandit Lites fixtures including Robe MegaPointes, HES SolaFrame 3000s, GLP X4 Bar 10, VL 3500 washes, Martin Atomic 3000 LED Strobes, GLP KNV Cube, Robe BMFL, Robe Robin 1200 LED Washes, Solaris Flares and Showline Nitro 510C. Three grandMA2 Full consoles provide control.
Tyler Truss crafted custom, automated pods for Brooks and Bandit loaded with Robe Robin 1200 LEDs, Martin Atomic 3000s, Nitro Strobes and Robe BMFLs that move about the in-the-round stage. Eight additional BMFL Wash beams mounted with Light Master controls act as the followspot, with each lighting aspect used in coordination with huge large video elements, to giving the stage the larger than life, stadium-sized production.
Garth also welcomed Steve ‘Moose’ Strickland to the stage, sharing how Moose grew up in East Tennessee and now travels the world with Garth’s crew. Additional crew includes Crew Chief Chuck Hastings, Terese Fensler, Savannah Harden with programming done by Aaron Swetland and board op John Hoffman. Bandit Lites Project Manager Don Lockridge provides additional support while Michael T. Strickland is the account’s client rep.
Shows across North America have sold out in minutes and this trend is expected to continue in 2020.
(Jim Evans)

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