Bandit Lites Gear Up with LD Paul Hoffman for Widespread Panic 2026 Tour
Nashville, TN – Bandit Lites continues its longtime collaboration with Widespread Panic as the band prepares for a major 2026 touring year. As a trusted lighting provider, Bandit Lites is once again supporting the band with a robust touring system designed to deliver consistency, flexibility, and scale across a wide range of venues.
Visually guiding the production is Lighting Designer Paul Hoffman of Pulse Lighting, whose long-standing creative relationship with the band helps shape a look that feels both timeless and evolving. Working closely with Bandit’s team, Hoffman’s design approach leans into texture, depth, and musical responsiveness – ensuring the lighting breathes with the band’s improvisational style. Supporting the road operation is Tour Manager Mike Smith, whose leadership and coordination help keep the production running smoothly across markets, venues, and schedules. Together, the collaborative effort between artist, designer, management, and vendor forms the backbone of Panic’s consistently polished live presentation.
The lighting design focuses on adaptability – a system capable of expanding or trimming to fit a wide variety of venues while maintaining the same visual identity from show to show. By combining strong foundational lighting with dynamic movement and layered textures, the rig supports Panic’s extended jams and spontaneous moments, allowing the lighting to breathe and respond in real time.
From pre-production through prep and road execution, Bandit Lites’ attention to detail plays a critical role in ensuring reliability across the tour. Fixtures are selected and configured with touring efficiency in mind, prioritizing performance, serviceability, and seamless integration into the band’s production workflow.
The 2026 lighting package is built around a versatile mix of high-output moving spots and washes, providing strong key light, textured beams, and rich color palettes that can shift seamlessly from subtle moods to high-impact moments. Moving wash fixtures are used extensively to create layered looks and broad coverage, while profile fixtures deliver precision and punch for solos and musical accents.
To enhance rhythmic hits and transitions, the rig incorporates strobe fixtures and audience blinders, adding intensity and connection between the band and the crowd during peaks in the set. Audience lighting plays a key role in reinforcing the communal feel of a Widespread Panic show, allowing the lighting design to extend beyond the stage and into the room.
That sense of collaboration and community was highlighted during Widespread Panic’s recent New Year’s Eve run in Atlanta, where Billy Strings – another trusted Bandit Lites client – joined the band onstage for a memorable sit-in. The moment reflected the deep connections shared across artists, crews, and production teams that Bandit Lites has been proud to support for years.
As the band looks ahead to 2026, guitarist Jimmy Herring will temporarily step away while undergoing treatment for throat cancer. Herring is expected to make a full return, and guitarist Nick Johnson will fill in during his absence. Bandit Lites is proud to support Widespread Panic through this transition while maintaining the high production standards audiences expect.
