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Bandit ‘Irreplaceable’ for George Benson
Bandit Lites UK is supplying the UK and European legs of George Benson’s current ‘Irreplaceable’ arena tour. Bandit was chosen by tour manager and lighting designer Billy Heaslip, who has been Benson’s LD since 1978. Heaslip, a great believer in the culture of multi-tasking is also tour managing.
The lighting rig includes Martin Professional MAC moving lights, a Catalyst digital media server and two DL1 fixtures. Heaslip explains that he likes to imprint his own distinctive signature on the stage ‘look’ each time, and enjoys researching for the latest “technical bells and whistles” to use before the our commences each time.
Bandit is supplying a large Par rig with colour changers, supplemented by a package of colour changers, Martin MAC 2000s, a fibre optic star cloth, 8-lite Moles and four Lycian FOH follow-spots. Heaslip is a great believer in not needing a massive rig to create a good show. The fixtures are spread between the floor and across four overhead LX trusses. The two mid stage trusses are both split into two to give a fuller, larger feel to the stage. Trussing, rigging, including 18 motors and control, plus all fall-arresters and horizontal safety lines have also come out of Bandit.
Taking advantage of having a full lighting production available for Benson’s European shows, Heaslip asked Brad Bruehler onboard as lighting director/operator. With no production rehearsal time and straight into the first of three preliminary shows in the US before coming to Europe via three warm-ups in Russia, Heaslip and Bruehler pre-programmed at the ESP Studios in Las Vegas. Here they laid the foundations for the show’s basic building blocks using ESP show simulation software and facilities.
By the time they reached the UK, the Bandit team, headed by Lester Cobrin, ensured everything ran like clockwork in terms of the prep and lighting logistics. Bandit’s crew of Peter Parchment, Mick Freer and John Ashton are all absolutely integral to the lighting package and the smooth running of the department, and Brad Bruehler comments: “The whole Bandit experience has been excellent.”
The show’s primarily vibe is smooth, jazzy and funkily sophisticated. There’s plenty of mood and emotion, and although it’s not a massive ‘bump-and-flash’ event, there’s still some seminal pop-tastic and anthemic moments requiring large, powerful ‘arena rock’ looks. So they needed the visual tools to embrace a wide range of aesthetics. Benson also doesn’t follow a set list each night, but he picks from a pool of approx 35 songs, and so keeps everyone well on their toes!
This year Heaslip was keen to utilise Catalyst projections to introduce a new visual dimension to the show. This is in addition to the trademark Benson soft goods ‘specials’, which are used sparingly and appropriately in an almost architectural fashion. It’s the first time Heaslip has used Bandit, but he’s very pleased with the results. A Clair Brothers sound system is supplied by Audio Rent from Basle, Switzerland, and after finishing in Europe, the show goes to America for the first of several legs.
11th June 2004
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