O.A.R. Tours with Bandit Lites

	O.A.R. on the XX tour with Bandit Lites

American rock band O.A.R. recently wrapped their summer tour with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites. The tour coincided with the band's 20th anniversary complete with a double compilation album entitled XX released August 5.

Tour manager and lighting designer Chris Wrightsman evoked the double "X" symbol within the look of the show creating a truss design of two interlocked Xs. Philips Vari-Lite VL 2500s and Martin by Harman MAC 2000s spread throughout the rig, providing maximum coverage and tight shots, and coupled with ACL floor bars placed upstage of the riser line, four-cell Mole lights in front of the riser line and four restored old time fresnels for side glow, the result was a production that was unique and memorable.

"We wanted to create a great 'big arena' concert experience in smaller venues, specific to O.A.R., and emphasize on the band's history," Wrightsman explained.

Bandit also supplied ETC Source Fours, Martin Atomic 3000 Strobes, MAC 101s, GRNLite LED Pars, and a MA Lighting grandMA 2 Lite for control.

The crucial aspect of the design, in addition to looking amazing and meeting the budget, is making it adaptable to wildly different venue sizes. "O.A.R. plays in every size venue imaginable, usually all within the same week," Wrightsman explained. "Wednesday might be a proper shed, Thursday a festival, Friday a club, and Saturday a band shell with no rigging capability. Knowing this in advance and from past years, we tried to prep as best we could, coming up with a few options so that we could still use as much gear as we could and maintain the look as closely as possible."

"I have truly appreciated working with Chris and seeing this tour come together, both up close in our Venue One facility and out on the road," said Bandit's business development officer, Brent Barrett. "Chris has a great personality, and working with people who love what they do makes my own job that much more enjoyable."

Bandit prides itself on providing the best experience for its clients, both by offering a previsualization studio in its Venue One facility, where the entire system was hung for programming prior to hitting the road, and with gear maintenance while on tour. Support for O.A.R. was provided by Bandit project manager Matt King and lighting techs Teresa Fensler and Mark Scherer.

"I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Venue One and working with Brent, Matt King, Andrea Bowen, Teresa, and Mark," said Wrightsman. "Overall, the crew did a great job keeping up with everything and doing it with a smile. Our unorthodox method of having the TM also be the LD is unique, so I had to trust my crew to keep things moving and make critical decisions in my absence. Once we were on the road, Teresa and Mark were terrific: both as professionals and people. I can't wait to do it again."