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On to the Gig…
I got off my motorcycle and limped passed the giant tourbus in the theatre’s parking lot. I had tweaked my back a bit the day earlier and wasn’t looking forward to unloading a giant semitrailer or even a 24ft truck. Luckily, Asia had only brought a 15ft trailer attached to the crew’s tourbus.
Awesome. More time in the green room eating bagels and drinking apple juice.
Unfortunately that wasn’t true. It turns out that somewhere along the chain of communication a tiny bit of info was lost: the band brought 3 projectors and screens that needed to be hung. Sounds easy, but it’s quite an involved process. The house lighting designer needs to figure out where he can hang the screens safely while losing a minimum of lighting angles. The tour video tech needs to figure out where to place the projectors and cameras without obstructing the audience sightlines. The screens themselves need to be constructed. Nasty things, projector screens. Sharp and pinchy metal frames that can bite you in second need to be set up first… Then the slippery and incredibly resistant screen needs to be stretched and pulled until it can be fastened to the frame.
Looks like no time for bagels and apple juice…
Load-In took forever. Most of the band’s gear was relatively new and didn’t have road cases yet. Road cases are built with wheels and handles and are very easily moved. Loose gear is not. Asia also brought a lot of merchandise with them… Boxes of Asia shirts, posters, cd’s, clocks, stuffed dragons and signed photos needed to be hauled uphill to the merch area. We worked hard and got it done as quickly as possible.
Some shouted the magic word: “Lunch!”. We ate cheesesteaks and tuna hoagies while we watched the drum tech work on Carl Palmer’s clear-blue Ludwig drumkit. Drummers can be incredibly particular about their gear and are legendary for giving a technician hell if something isn’t set up perfectly. We assumed Carl was one of those drummers, his tech worked on the kit for over an hour.
During dinner we got a chance to talk with the band members. British accents are always fun and we humored ourselves throughout the day doing impressions based on the conversations we had with the rockstars from the UK. Carl Palmer was full of energy and really entertaining. Steve Howe spent much of his time practicing in his dressing room, emerging only to grab a meal or ask his bandmates to turn off a cellphone ringing near his practice area. John Whetton talked with us at length over the dessert choices, agonizing over the decision. Singers often face the green room with dread, knowing it’s filled with yummy food that can potentially ruin their vocal performance an hour later.
After a lengthy spotlight meeting we got into position for the show. Iggs and I fired up the spotlights, killed the house lights and the show began.
The band plowed through 2 hours of material with no intermission. They played hits from the individual members’ pasts, including ‘Roundabout’, ‘The Court of the Crimson King’ and ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’. There were solos all around. John Whetton’s voice is as strong as ever and Steve Howe’s accomplished guitar skills were envied by prog-rock fans throughout the theatre.
We noticed Carl Palmer looking up over his should over and over again. Iggs and I figured he was looking for himself on the videoscreen. There were only two cameras, they had to be repositioned often to get good coverage of every bandmember. After a lengthy drum solo, Carl got up from his kit and walked around to the front of his drum riser. We hit him with the spotlight, drawing the audiences attention to him. He grabbed a microphone and thanked the audience, then turned around to see his drum tech refreshing his stick bag. Carl put the microphone on its stand, raised his finger toward the drum tech and began screaming. He shook his hand and flailed his arms in a violent outburst while climbing his way back behind the kit. Iggs and I were shocked and immediately began to speculate Mr. Palmer’s problem.
Moments later a voice came over the headset. “Video, Please put Carl Palmer up on the video screen more often.”
Carl Palmer continued to check the videoscreens throughout the rest of the show, usually he was pleased (the cameras were on him a lot more often). The finished the show, came out for an encore of two songs and left the stage. They grabbed a quick drink backstage and headed out to the merch tables to meet the fans. Turns out everyone in the audience was a fan… over a thousand people lined up to shake hands with the band. They were still out there signing merch when we finished tearing down the stage. You have to give those guys credit, they are real pros. Playing 2 hours and then signing a thousand autographs… that’s showmanship.
Gordon Lightfoot, Joy Behar, Jonatha Brooke, Connie Francis, Joe Sample & Randy Crawford, Five For Fighting, The Smothers Brothers, the cast of the Last Comic Standing tv show, Mountain Stage Live, Riders on the Storm, the Machine, Wierd Al Yankovic, Chick Corea & Bela Fleck… there are more but I can’t remember.
Iggs and I both agree that the Smothers Brothers killed. They are (and have always been) the real deal. We loaded the show in, set it up and ran spotlights during the performance. They cracked us up the entire show, resulting in shakey spotlights all night.
Joy Behar talked about ‘The View’. All night.
The Last Comic Standing cast likes to party. I won’t get into specifics but comedians can be a lot fun. (I know, it’s hard to believe…)
Wierd Al brought a SHITTON of gear. It was a monster show, giant crew, tons of lights and band gear, video screens… it was a pain. He busted his ass on stage and the audience loved it. Highlight of the show: the ALTV interview segments on video. AL recut existing celebrity interviews with his own questions. Fucking hilarious. The show sold out so quickly that a second show was set up for later this summer.
Pictures and an new episode to come soon!
We just finished a week-long stint with those badass Chinese kids, the Peking Acrobats. What fun! Iggs and I look forward to this gig every year. The acrobats speak very little english, so communicating very simple bits of info always turns into an entertaining game of charades. A few tips just in case you run into or work with Chinese acrobats:
Eat your food before they see it! These kids get little time to eat and will consume almost anything in sight.
Avoid looking at the half naked girls doing splits in front of you. These kids are teenagers at the oldest, you perv!
Don’t worry when the 13 year-old girl stumbles and falls off of the 3-story human pyramid and lands on her head; she’s trained to hold in the pain until after the show.
technorati tags:chinese, acrobats, music, live, show, performance, music, musicians, traditional, roadie
Blogged with Flock
It’s snowed, rained and iced over. That makes for terrible working conditions. This week we worked with country star Phil Vassar, Doo-Wop legends The Drifters and even a Bruce Springstein tribute band. Here’s a quick rundown:
Doo-Wop concerts are usually a piece of cake. The same band performs throughout the evening as different singing acts swap in for 3 song sets. No big surprises. Groups like The Drifters and The Cadillacs are made up of men in their 60’s and 70’s but they still put on one hell of a show. Matching suits, shiny jewelry and funky dance choreography are a must if your in a doo-wop group. We had a lot of fun and sound ourselves singing along to most of the songs while running spotlight.
Bruce across the USA is a Springstein tribute band that has no rival (at least not on the east coast of the USA). The Bruce impersonator looks and sounds almost exactly like the boss himself, except the fake Bruce is about 6ft8 inches tall (the real bruce is known to be a little guy). His band played solidly, with a real Hammond organ, backup singers and a badass sax player that looked and played like the Big Man himself. I’m not a huge Bruce fan but you can’t argues with thousands of screaming fans… his music speaks to people. I doubt his rambling storytelling songs are loved around the world as they are here in the Philly.New Jersey area, but check out Bruce or a decent tribute act for a fun concert experience.
Phil Vassar brings a lot of crap with him when he tours! This year he had us unload a giant wall of plastic tiles that changed color (4 walls, actually). What a pain! These giant light contraptions are not only tough to move, they are extremely fragile. Once up though, they look pretty damn cool. Country acts are known for having a lot of risers and lights, and Phil Vassar was no exception. Luckily Phil always puts on one of hell of show and treats everyone very well. He remained accessible to everyone and is happy to chat with the local crew during downtime. A real professional and one hell of a piano-top dancer!
technorati tags:phil, vassar, music, live, doo-wop, bruce, springstein, the, boss, rock, roll, blues, jazz, lights, sound, guitar, bass, drums, keys, hammond
Blogged with Flock
Corporate gigs are funny… the pay is great and there isn’t a lot of work to do. The problem comes from the soulless feeling you get while working. This particular gig was a meeting/awards ceremony for a few hundred real estate professionals. The audio/visual crew waited outside the meeting hall and ate as much catered food as possible. At one point, everyone started filing out of the hall. We thought the event was over and started to head inside when we realized everyone was walking back inside the hall through a different door. Confused, we peaked inside to find out what the heck was going on. Turns out EVERY SINGLE PERSON walked up on stage and received an award before sitting back down. The entire audience walked single file out of the room, then back in the room from a door behind the stage. How weird is that? What’s the fun in getting an award if EVERYONE ELSE gets one too?
technorati tags:stage, lights, sound, music, live, backstage, baltimore, audio, visual, video, screen, corporate, gig, roadie, show, rand, iggs
Blogged with Flock
Ladies and Gentlemen, Elvis has entered the building!
Friday I worked as a house stagehand/spot operator for an Elvis birthday concert. There were two Elvis acts, Young Elvis and Vegas Elvis. The young Elvis was about 6ft4inches tall and covered in makeup. Backstage he looked like a giant carrot with eyeliner and a sparkly jacket. On stage, he looked like Elvis! He put on a good show, filled with wild Elvis dancing and Elvis’ early tunes.
After Intermission, it was Vegas Elvis’ turn. Vegas Elvis was decked out in a rhinestone jumpsuit and had sang EXACTLY like the king. Too bad he looked nothing like him upclose. Oh well, very few people get to see a performer up close during a show. Turns out there are still a lot of Elvis fans out there who can still dance and throw bras on stage! While working spotlight Iggs and I saw a GIANT bra fly at Vegas Elivs’ head. He ducked out of the way but his crazy pompadore hair may have taken a hit. Check out what I found on stage after the show:
As you can see, the 38DD bra is way too big for my scanner. It made us laugh for hours after the gig, especially when we remembered a particular fan during the show. Vegas Elvis walked down into the audience to croon to the ladies. During a particularly sweet moment of a slow song a woman stood up and snatched the mic out of Vegas Elvis’ hands. “It’s my friends birthday today, she has the same birthday as Elvis! WOOOOOO!” Her voice sounded like a garbage compactor crushing a load of cats, puppies, fingernails and chalkboards. Elvis replied with a quick “I’m tryin to sing a song here baby’ and continued to croon.
It was a fun gig, not a lot of physical labor and the Elvi were nice guys. Looking forward to working with them again next year!
technorati tags:roadie, show, music, live, stage, elvis, rock, drums, bass, guitar, keys, vocals, lyrics, tour, concert, venue, theatre, sound, pa, system, blog, vlog
Blogged with Flock
It’s January, and that means there isn’t much going on. If you haven’t noticed yet, check your local newspaper. Bands don’t like to come out in January. It’s nice to have some downtime but the bills have to be paid. Iggs and I usually end up doing a few corporate gigs to make cash in slow months. Annual meetings, satellite teleconferences and other boring gigs go on year-round. It’s not very interesting so I’ll spare the details… Don’t fret, big rock gigs are coming soon, I promise… keep checking back!
technorati tags:roadie, gig, show, stage, music, live, sound, lights, corporate, satellite, bass, guitar, song, singer, drums, keys, concert, fan, ticket
Blogged with Flock
Turns out I have skills that people will pay money to use. All I had to do was offer those skills for hire and ‘POOF’! motorcycle money!
Not that I needed a lot of money, the bike I’m buying is over 20 years old and has 33,000 miles on it. She may be old, but she has 120hp and goes over 150mph without breaking a sweat…
Pictures to come!
technorati tags:rand, roadie, show, motorcycle, bike, honda, sabre, music, live, band, rock, stage, guitar, bass, drums, car, bike, engine, speed, sportbike, cruiser
Blogged with Flock
