For the past 23 years, Warren Haynes has coordinated his annual Christmas Jam. Like a family reunion, the annual, one-of-a-kind, semi-structured marathon of music brings together old friends on stage and in the audience at the Civic Center Arena in Asheville, N.C. for one of the countries greatest live events. The London Times has rated it "One of the top ten concerts in the USA". Both Paul and Preston have been asked to design this event's lighting, Paul in 2010 and Preston in 2011.
2010's concert featured The Steve Miller Band, The Warren Haynes Band, Gregg Allman, John Bell, JoJo Hermann, Umphrey's McGee (LD: Jefferson Waful) and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Paul Hoffman served as Lighting Director for the concert and brought a traditional moving light package as well as some additional audience elements to give the show a holiday/festive feel. 2011's concert featured, Gov't Mule, Phil Lesh & Friends, Los Lobos and Bela Fleck. w/ Special Guests, Mike Barnes, Jeff Chimenti, Bill Evans, Audley Freed, Jackie Greene, Jimmy Herring, Robert Kearns, Kevn Kinney, Brad Pemberton, Joe Russo and Jeff Sipe. Preston Hoffman served as Lighting Director. The lighting design was conceived as a giant snow flake to keep with the Christmas theme. Audience elements were also added to give the whole room a festive feel.
Press from these shows:
Warren Haynes Dreams of a Green Christmas with Bandit - December 14th 2011
Lighting designer Preston Hoffman and musician Warren Haynes again called upon Bandit Lites for the 23rd edition of the Warren Haynes Christmas Jam. Held each year at the Asheville Civic Center in Asheville, North Carolina, the event is always a sure fire sellout, and this year was no exception. The London Times calls the show “One of the Top 10 Concerts in the USA”. This year’s stellar cast included Haynes and Gov’t Mule, Phil Lesh and Friends, Los Lobos, Bela Fleck and a host of other notable artists. The show was a mind altering seven hours long and no one left empty! It took place this year on December 10.
Production Manager Kit Blanchard worked with Hoffman and Bandit San Francisco GM Dizzy Gosnell on this year’s edition of the Jam. The show took on a very ecofriendly Green direction this year, as Hoffman utilized a large amount of LED fixtures. The heart of the system was comprised of GRNLite Moving Washes, GRNLite PARs and GRNLite Wash fixtures. All of the GRNLite equipment provides a huge, vivid, base wash that was stunning to the eye. The color palette used by Hoffman painted ever-changing pictures for the enjoyment of the fans. The truss structure overhead resembled a spider encapsulating the stage. The entire arena became part of the event as long strings of festoons and oversized mirror balls took over the ceiling space. The feeling was very ethereal the entire night long.
For hard edge effects, Hoffman used VL 3000 Spots as well as the stunning Martin MAC 2000 Beam. The power consumption on the show was greatly reduced by the large numbers of LED fixtures, which eliminated the need for generators. As an added bonus, the stage space was not blazing hot as it normally is for concerts of this nature. Bandit Lites is very proud to be able to supply dynamic illumination solutions using state of the art LED fixtures that reduce power consumption and heat on stage. All of this leads to a greatly reduced carbon footprint, and that fits with the mantra from Warren himself.
Many different videos of the event can be seen on You Tube. The fantastic art created by Preston Hoffman and the various musicians can be seen online. Hoffman is the lighting director for Further, and on that tour, he is able to expand his visual horizons on a nightly basis. Preston Hoffman and his brother Paul (Widespread Panic LD) are both two of the most innovative minds in the industry today.
The Christmas Jam is held each year to benefit Habitat for Humanity, and has contributed well over a million dollars to the organization. The entire city of Asheville has embraced this event and it indeed takes over the town for 3 days. Bandit Lites is also a proud supporter of Habitat in Knoxville, and has worked with Anderson Merchandisers the past 4years to raise an additional one million dollars in Knoxville.
Bandit looks forward to many more great years with the Christmas Jam and to being a part of a wonderful team that is working magic in the mountains of North Carolina.
-Live Design blog.livedesignonline.com/briefingroom/2011/12/14/warren-haynes-dreams-of-a-green-christmas-with-bandit/
Warren Haynes Shines With Bandit - December 15th 2010
On December 11, 2010 as the weather was turning frigid, Warren Haynes began his 23rd Annual Christmas Jam inside the Ashville Civic Center and the temperature was blazing! This legendary event again hosted a who’s who of the music world and everyone was delighted. Warren premiered his new endeavor, The Warren Haynes Band, along side notable artists such as Gregg Allman, The Steve Miller Band, Umphreys McGee, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Missing Cats and John Bell of Widespread Panic.
The event began at 7PM and lasted well into the wee hours of the morning. The focus of the concert is to raise money for Habitat for Humanity, which builds housing for those in need. Haynes has raised well over a million dollars for this noble cause and looks for ways to increase the stake every year. The countless professionals that sign on and happily work for this wonderful charity give a tremendous amount of themselves.
This years edition found production manager extraordinaire Chris Rabold assembling a team that included the unbelievably talented lighting designer Paul Hoffman at the creative helm, along with Bandit Lites and client representative Dizzy Gosnell. Rabold worked his normal incredible visual art that included a “festive” treatment of the audience as well as his normal dynamic stage lighting. For this “happening”, the lighting in the audience was just as important as on the stage in order to help the fans get in and stay in the holiday spirit. To that end, Hoffman delivered a 40-foot oval from which he suspended 40 different size mirror balls, 24 GRNlite LED PARs, and 600 feet of festoon, that floated throughout the arena ceiling. The effect was quite ethereal and it turned the sky above into a true winter wonderland. The wall behind the stage was adorned with a star drop to complete the winter sky picture, and the entire effect was breath taking.
The stage system was comprised of VL 3000 Spots, GLP Impressions, ETC Source 4 Lekos and PARs, Thomas ACLs and Martin MAC 2000 Beams, all controlled by 2 Grand MA Consoles.
As the night unfolded, the superstars on stage all delivered hit after hit and kept the audience in complete euphoria. Video testimony to the brilliance of Hoffman’s work can be found all over the internet, with a great deal on You Tube. As with all of Hoffman’s art, you simply have to see it to believe it! When the last chords of music ended at 3:15 AM and the elated crowd wondered outside they found themselves in the midst of a huge, wonderful winter snowstorm. Somehow, it magically seemed to be the perfect ending to a perfect night of music, and all of it for a most noble cause, Habitat for Humanity.
-Live Design blog.livedesignonline.com/briefingroom/2010/12/15/warren-haynes-shines-with-bandit/
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