Jeff Ravitz and Bandit Light Electric Forest Sherwood Court

	Electric Forest Sherwood Court stage

Due to high demand (with tickets selling out before the lineup was even announced), the Electric Forest Music Festival doubled its days and held its iconic woodland adventure over two consecutive weekends, with thousands making their way back into the effervescent woods that feel straight out of a fairytale dream. Lighting designer Jeff Ravitz returned to design the lighting for the Sherwood Court Stage with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites.

In designing the stage where artists such as Lido, The Floozies, Tycho, and Black Tiger Sex Machine would perform, Ravitz focused on updating the overall look while still maintaining the aspects of the design that made last year's set up successful, foremost of which was ensuring the system was "all things to all bands" (within reason and budget).

"We have four or five of the artists' lighting designers coming in daily, all with the desire to be true to their touring show, and I attempt to give them the building blocks," Ravitz explained. "I retained last year's core overhead lighting positions that seemed to provide everyone with the angles and density of beamage that they liked, and I kept the mixture of fixture types so there would continue to be a variety of textures and effects."

Due to Bandit's extensive inventory of out-of-the-ordinary truss shapes, Ravitz was able to save on custom trussing and transform previously straight runs of truss into curved elements.

"This not only added interest, but it was immediately seen as something cool looking and new as the crowd gathered during the daylight hours," said Ravitz, adding, "If a system looks good in daylight and in the dark, that's a win."

In addition to multiple adder packages for artists, Bandit Lites supplied the stage with Martin by Harman MAC Viper Profiles, Philips Vari-Lite VL 3500 Spots, GLP Impression 90, Ayrton Magic R9, Chauvet Professional Legend 230SR Beams, Claypaky B-EYE K20, VL 3000 Spots, Showline Nitro 510C, Color Kinetics Color Blast TRX, Color Kinetics Color Blaze 72s, Bandit's exclusive GRNLite Battens, GRNLite Pars, GRNLite Moving Washes, and two MA Lighting grandMa 2 full consoles for control.

"I was given a bit more freedom to upgrade some lights to more modern products that have really exciting effects' capabilities," Ravitz said. "We added Claypaky Aleda B-EYE K20s, which gave the system some real spice, and the Ayrton Magic Ring R9 for some oversized punch."

"It was so great to work with Jeff and Dave Mollner again this year," said Bandit production manager Dizzy Gosnell. "Everyone had a base point to relate to from last year's show so it made things so much easier on the planning front. Of course budget, time, and space reared their heads again as they always do on festivals, but Jeff is such a seasoned pro he doesn't bat an eyelid over things like that, let alone lose sleep over it. He just says, 'Oh well Diz, that's a shame, but let's move on.' Just 100-percent professional, which is why he stays busy."

"I always say, 'A light is a light,' and you can rent them from lots of vendors," Ravitz said. "To me, the people and prep are what make the difference, especially out there in an environment that's not always friendly, nor is the always-tight schedule."

Even with a flight delay, Bandit's team of Patrick Sieg, Scott Wesson, Chris Noll, and Elizabeth Weller hit the ground running to accomplish the job, working with programmer David Mollner to make sure that each incoming band's touring package was successfully integrated into the stage's system.

"They all handled the added tasks with professionalism and skill," finished Ravitz. "When all the bands are happy, the Festival is happy. When I get that call or email saying the top brass liked what we did, I can rest easy and say thanks to the team."

"I cannot say enough about our crew out there battling ugly weather and an even uglier transition from a previous festival to Electric Forest for Pat, Scott and Chris," Dizzy added. "Thanks to some massive flight delays on Monday, they had a grand total of four hours sleep after a week of shows and a load out before they started the load in at the Sherwood Stage on Tuesday morning. Project manager Matt King in the pilot's seat back in Nashville oversaw and masterminded the prep for this, with client representative Shawn Lear doing sterling service running the band extras packages."