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Bandit History: 40 Years of Excellence

Part 5: The 2000's

The new millennium began for Bandit at Mach 10 with their hair on fire! Bandit was involved globally in a huge number of events to mark the change of the century and it took all hands on deck for a three-month period to assure the quality Bandit was hired to deliver. The global Bandit team went above and beyond the call of duty and by New Years Eve, the ‘Bandit Standard' was in force from Los Angeles to New York, London then Beijing to Honk Kong and back again. As the new era came rushing in, Bandit continued to add new inventory, employees, higher standards of training and purchase more real estate. There was certainly a market for the high quality product that had become known as the ‘Bandit Standard.'

Many high-profile events came to Bandit, starting with the Presidential Inaugural Balls. Bandit was chosen in 2001 and 2005 to light the four largest celebrations in Washington, D.C. for the incoming President. In the UK, Bandit was tapped as the lighting supplier for the prestigious Blenheim Palace Festivals. During that time, Bandit also began an ongoing relationship with NASCAR by lighting the culmination of the racing season, the NASCAR Cup Awards, which is broadcast live on worldwide television every year.

In the European market, as the Lord of the Dance brand continued to grow, Michael Flatley turned to Bandit and rolled out two new and very successful products, Feet of Flames and Celtic Tiger. The Feet of Flames tour gave its swan song at a sold-out Hyde Park performance to over 100,000 exuberant fans. For 10 continuous years, the Bandit staff has helped Mr. Flatley present Irish Dance globally, with troupes in the U.K., Europe, Asia, South America and the U.S.

During the 2000's, Bandit would have many opportunities to work on the grandest stages in Europe. Many notable events were supported by Bandit in Hyde Park including sold-out mega events by R.E.M., Feet of Flames and the reunion of legendary rock icons, Queen. Manager, Jim Beech, tour manager, Robbie Williams and lighting designer extraordinaire, Baz Halpin called on Bandit in 2004 to provide global lighting service for the remarkable band, Queen. Queen is slated to return for another world tour beginning late 2008 with Bandit on board again. Today chief executive, Lester Cobrin, general manager, James Harden, Roger Grybowicz, Mick Freer, Emma Russell, Stuart Christie and the wonderful team in the UK are always on top of their game and continue to provide tour support for many outstanding acts.

In 2004, designer Steve Cohen engaged Bandit for the long awaited reunion of the Monsters of Rock, Van Halen. The dazzling Cohen design for Eddie, Sammy and the gang took the world by storm as Van Halen's fierce brand of music was heard again for the first time in over a decade. The rig was massive as always and featured 300 plus powerful moving lights, miles of truss and audience abuse beyond belief.

As Bandit continued to grow in the UK and Europe, the opportunity presented itself for Bandit to sponsor a Porsche Super Cup car, which races before the Formula 1 races on the same courses. For two years, Bandit and their clients had unfettered access to the pit and paddock area of every F1 race. This partnership led to Bandit illuminating a number of F1 cars, booths and events during that time.

Also in the early part of the decade, Bandit became more heavily involved in television specials and event lighting. The Clinton Economic Summit led into a number of political events with some of the most notable names in TV lighting. Bandit lit several conferences in the East Room of The White House as time progressed. MTV, CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, VH 1, BBC, SKY TV and many other entities became regular clients of Bandit. Rob Baxter and Randy Nordstrom engaged Bandit to light the NBA Finals entertainment for worldwide TV in the mid-2000's. The move into sports would continue globally as the U.K. office began to light soccer Premier League events and other such items.

Bandit also began a relationship with several festivals during the 2000's. Radio One's One Big Weekend became a Bandit client in 2003 and a host of current pop and rock stars made the event a very special day. The Cork Festival in Ireland also engaged Bandit. The Country Music Association hired Bandit Lites as the illumination company for a huge event known as Fan Fair, held every year in Nashville, Tennessee. Virtually every artist of note in the country music industry participates in the event. By 2003, the CMA Music Festival moved into the Tennessee Titans Football Stadium, playing to 80,000 people a night for four nights. This event is broadcast worldwide on live television. The inventory and planning required for this single event is massive and continues to grow and evolve every year.

Bonnaroo, another Bandit-lit festival, takes place 100 miles below Nashville in Manchester, Tennessee. The event's production guru, Hadden Hippsley, works yearly with Dizzy Gosnell and Steve Powell from Bandit to come up with the design, schedule and equipment that works over a four-day period. Over the years, The Police, Metallica, Neil Young, Pearl Jam, Kayne West, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, The Dead, The Allman Brothers Band, Radiohead, Dave Matthews Band, Tom Petty, Widespread Panic, Phish, James Brown, String Cheese Incident and other acts graced the stage at Bonnaroo.

The demand on Bandit in the U.S. pushed all of the facilities and staff beyond the limit and in 2002, Bandit purchased a 150,000 square foot building in Nashville. This new building, in conjunction with the original 30,000 square foot facility, gave the company the much-needed space to deliver even more quality jobs and make life better for both staff and clients. The new facility serves as a storage and preparation area, which allowed the original facility to become a fulltime rehearsal facility. The facility (known as Venue One) is available to Bandit clients at no additional charge and is booked 40 weeks every year.

Lighting designers are also able to use Venue One to hang their systems for base programming. The additional space became an invaluable tool for Bandit clients as the light systems now show up fully prepped, labeled, tested and programmed.

Bandit now services the U.S. from its three bases in Knoxville, Nashville and San Francisco. Mike Golden, Pete Heffernan, Dizzy Gosnell, Lee Anne Cooke, Richard Willis, Brent Barrett, Steve Powell, JR Sander, Richard Owens, Roth Edwards, Leonard Cox, Kimberly Ainge, Cori Link and a great staff steer things in the U.S. and strive to be the best in the world at what they do.

Going from strength to strength, the Bandit installation sales team has grown and becomes better and better. Today, led by senior sales director, John Rolison, with Richard Owens, Roth Edwards, Chris Barbee, John Jenkinson and an invaluable support staff, Bandit has multiple installations ongoing. Everything from the CNN Studios, the Home Shopping Network to Ripley's Aquarium and The Superdome in New Orleans, Bandit delivers constant service and quality to the world's top facilities. Thousands of churches, schools and theaters have also used Bandit for their installations over the years. Turnkey installation with exemplary service after the sale is the hallmark of the Bandit Lites' sales team.

Corporate firms have also come to trust Bandit with their image presentation. When industry leader, Harley Davidson celebrated their 100th Anniversary in Milwaukee Wisconsin, Bandit Lites was there to illuminate Elton John, Tim McGraw and many other world-class artists as well as a crowd of over 100,000 Harley fanatics. Playboy magazine turned 50 in 2005 and selected Bandit to light their traveling exhibit of memorabilia as it toured the world for a year. The one of a kind Chevrolet Corvette celebrated 50 years in 2006 and once again, Bandit was the company of choice to make this revolutionary car shine at the event. Finally, the legendary Fender Stratocaster turned 50 and celebrated in London with a star-studded event for the ages. Brian May, Joe Walsh, David Gilmour, Paul Rodgers, Ronnie Wood, Gary Moore, Paul Carrick, Mike Rutherford, Amy Winehouse and many other celebrities played at the event with Bandit providing a 50 ft. Strat guitar out of truss and lights along with the rest of a massive Baz Halpin lighting rig.

In the 2000's, Bandit continued to diversify its clientele. For several years, Bandit has worked with designer, Simon Tutchener on London Fashion Week. The wildly popular TV show, X-Factor hit the road with Bandit as the hire company and worldwide sensation UFC, Ultimate Fighting Championship has contracted with Bandit for their European lighting needs. The fine people at Production North, Steve Levitt, Iain Whitehead and Sarah Hollis as well as their staff continue to collaborate with Bandit on many different and exciting opportunities.

A 15-year Bandit client, WWE, has continued to grow and trust in Bandit as each extravaganza is larger than the one before. The team of Kevin Dunn, Jason robinson, Duncan Leslie and Michael Grossman work tirelessly every day to deliver the best worldclass sports entertainment television. Over 1,000 hours of live TV are shot every year with 16 major Pay-Per-Views and the grand daddy of them all, Wrestlemania. Bandit delivers lighting quality in bulk at an unmatched level. The biggest event yet was the just completed Wrestlemania XXIV at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida.

As the company grows, Bandit continues to develop and manufacture products to meet the market demand. Bandit proudly uses its own PowerPro power distribution system in the U.S. and System 125 in Europe. System 125 power distribution equipment was designed to meet all VDE, UK and EU standards and all components are CE marked.

The patented Bandit Moto Data and motor control systems are synonymous with a Bandit system on a global basis. The manual motor control consoles include a virtual light rig on the face (with switches placed where the motors are located) provides both an artistic masterpiece, a must have safety device and a great piece of wall art after a tour.

The industry as a whole continues to morph into newer versions of itself. Somewhere along the way, the Vari*Lite brand was purchased by Genlyte, and latter by Phillips. As the Vari*Lite products were made available to purchase, Bandit took one look and bought in big. Today Bandit is one of the world's largest Vari*Lite rental houses with a complete offering of the fine products. Owning VL products has allowed Bandit to work with a pool of quality designers that previously used other vendors. Lead by TSD leaders Roth Edwards and Jake Tickle, Bandit has one of the best VL service capabilities on the globe.

Bandit has fully embraced the brave new world of digital lighting with numerous media servers, sophisticated consoles, LED products and other innovative technology. There is a lot of time and money being spent at Bandit to train the staff in the application and operation of the many new technologies. This education benefits each individual, each client and Bandit. The entire industry gains from ongoing education. Mr. Rick Berry, Director of Global Education Services maintains an unbelievable digital database of all technical things Bandit-related. Any Bandit tech can access the entire knowledge base from any computer in the world. This is no small accomplishment. The Bandit Global IT Director, Jim Guinn along with Jeff Vogt and the entire team keep a worldwide VPN up and running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Over the years, Bandit has had the great fortune to work with many of the world's leading production talents, including Willie Williams, Seth Jackson, Baz Halpin, Dave Davidian, Simon Tutchener, Randy Nordstrom, Sean Motley, Sid Strong, Tellson James, Patrick Woodroffe, Mark Fisher, Abbey Rosen Holmes, Mark Cunniffe, Andi Watson, Bob Peterson, Dave Butzler, Keith Wissmar, Peter Morse, Mike Swinford, Allen Branton, Steve Cohen, Joel Young and a host of others. Bandit looks forward to making newfriends and gaining the trust and respect of new designers in the future. Some of the clients Bandit has had the pleasure of working with in the last decade includes Van Halen, Queen, Seal, Alice Cooper, Barry Manilow, Christina Aguilera, Def Leppard, Donny Osmond, CSNY, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, Jimmy Buffett, Keith Urban, Linkin Park, Mark Knopfler, Melissa Etheridge, The Offspring, Radiohead, REM, Savage Garden, Star Wars, Status Quo, Toby Keith, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Roxy Music, Brian Wilson, Westlife, ZZ Top, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Shinedown, Santana, Dierks Bentley, Garth Brooks, Disturbed, John Fogerty, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Martina McBride, Pink, Pussycat Dolls, Joe Cocker, String Cheese Incident, System of a Down, Cbeebies, Girls Aloud, Shayne Ward, Travis, White Stripes, Smashing Pumpkins, Carrie Underwood, Brooks and Dunn, Alan Jackson and many, many other fine artists. The roster is impressive and continues to grow.

Bandit is committed to a better future through aggressive education programs, fulltime employment, great retirement plans, benefit packages for staff and also through active partnerships with many schools and universities. Every year students work at Bandit through internship programs and gain insight and education into the real world operation of the entertainment industry. In the UK, Bandit works with Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, or LIPA, which is Sir Paul McCartney's personal mission. Every year Sir Paul and Bandit present the award to the ‘Lighting Designer of the Year' at LIPA graduation. There is a very active partnership in Nashville with Belmont University and in Knoxville with the University of Tennessee to help young students advance in the world of entertainment lighting.

As Bandit looks back at the first decade of the new millennium, the opportunities and rewards have been unbelievable. The future looks very promising and the staff is very eager to move ahead and provide the industry with the best possible illumination services on the planet. It would be remiss to not also mention the wonderful wives, husbands and families of all the Bandit staff globally, as without their unbelievable support none of the last forty years would have been possible.

In February 2008, Pollstar CIC awarded Bandit Lites the coveted ‘Lighting Company of the Year' Award. This was the 16th time Bandit has won such an award, more than any other lighting company in the world. This was all made possible by the dedication and desire of the fine people that are the heart and soul of Bandit Lites.

Bandit CEO, Michael T. Strickland comments on Bandit's 40 year history: "If one were to sum up the last 40 years of Bandit Lites' success it would be simply put: Humility, Humanomics and The Bandit Standard. As long as Bandit delivers these three things with grace and passion, the sky will be the limit."

www.banditlites.com

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Bandit History: 40 Years of Excellence

Part 5: The 2000's

4th August 2008

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